Do you see the signs? Pre Trippie

[krazy4crusing]

I thought I would start a pre-trippie hopefully I will stay with it until we actually go... Now that I have said that I will have to rise to the challenge!

First let me introduce us: We are a group of 6. Myself, DH, DD3 and DS8. My parents are also joining us for the cruise! Gramps and Grams. They are celebrating their 40th Wedding anniversary this summer. Amazing!

so....

We booked a cruise on board our last cruise for this summer but it was only a 4 day cruise and what I really wanted was the 5 night double dip. I had been dreaming of the double dip Dream cruise since our first Disney cruise in 2009.

Disney did the big Dream cruise and new itineraries reveal on the Ariel View television while we were docking at Castaway Cay. It was that moment that I knew that somehow we would make this cruise happen. I had no idea how, but that dream just had to come true!

The last time we sailed on DCL we had the luck of securing a Kids Sail Free Promo so I have been checking religiously EVERY DAY since our last cruise for another sale. There hasn't been one...

Around Easter DH started hinting that he was in need of a vacation. WOO HOO!! I thought, something to plan!!! So I started looking at the DCL site and checking to see what the prices were. Needless to say I was disappointed that there were no deals and the prices were over $5000 (Oceanview) for the 5 night cruise. So we looked at some of the Cruise Competition. We could have booked a 2 week cruise (7 day B2B in an Aftview Balcony Suite) on Carnival for less money than the 5 day DCL cruise. So we decided to wait and see...

In May our final payment was due for our pre-booked Disney Cruise but we switched the date to Christmas 2013 and kept waiting.

One fine day in June I did my daily check on the website again for a Kids Sail Free offer but to no avail (What else is new!) but something told me that I should enter some summer dates and see what came up. Afterall, my father was over that day and he was wearing a Disney shirt... it must be a sign right?! Well, I checked the site and.... What?! an OGT deal!!! Seriously??!!! It was almost midnight and I was over the moon, I woke up DH to tell him about this great deal and that we needed to book it right away! He rolled his eyes, gave me a dirty look and went back to sleep... Ok my timing wasn't the best!! I emailed our DU agent and asked her put a reserve on a stateroom right away.

The next morning I mentioned it again and I was still met with the eye roll and the cold shoulder... He avoided me all morning. It was our anniversary and my parents gave us a card, I opened the envelope and there was another sign.... The card was a Disney card featuring none other than, Minnie and Mickey!! Finally I was able to corner him, and I showed him the card, pointed out the "signs" and explained why this was the right cruise to book. He agreed but had some reservations about the date I had chosen. We talked some more and check other dates and we discovered that the next weekend would work better. Sooooo.... we booked!!

It is an OGT (Oceanview guaranteed) stateroom. That means that we are guaranteed a room in that category or better. There are some restrictions with this category ie you must pay in full, no changes, no cancellations etc... but we didn't care, the price was awesome!!! Less than $3000 for 5 days. Great deal.

Book er Danno!!!!

 

[krazy4crusing]

So my parents were over watching me in action and my dad felt sorry for DH who was being inundated with my Disney Charm...

I got all the specs on them joining us for the cruise. Mom turned to dad and asked "Well hon what do you think?" (I have been trying to get them to cruise with us for about 5 years now...) DD asnwer was Man if it shuts her (meaning me) up we will go on the cruise!!! THen I never ever want to hear about it again! OK?!

Ok... I promise NOT!!!

SO we booked the cruise and spent the day doing the happy dance!

60 (ish) days and we will be on the cruise!! Woo HOO

 

[krazy4crusing]

So now I have a super long to do list...

Flights
Car Rental
Hotel in Port Canaveral
WDW (if I can convice DH)
Magnets
FE Gifts
Journals for 2 kids
Hotel or Airport BUF

This is my favourite part of the trip, I love all the planning!!

Flights

So we got flights with South West Air from Buffalo to Florida for $136 per person. Not bad. Free bags!

And with Air Tran from MCO to BUF 214 (it's the long weekend) $20 per bag I guess we will have to pack light...

We used to fly with these guys at $29 each way, I wish those deals were still around!

Car Rental

After checking mousesavers.com, Disboards, other sites I was able to secure a good deal on a car rental with Budget. The promo code was A376100 (CDN Residents).

Hotel in Cape Canaveral

We booked the the International Palms in Coca Beach. The hotel is right on the beach and there is a cool looking pool with a pirate ship. Last time we stayed at the Radisson by the Port which was also a great hotel.[/SIZE]

 

[krazy4crusing]

WDW (if I can convice DH)

Disney just announced free dining starting the week after the cruise! Selling DH on WDW was easy... Well, we couldn't resist. We LOVE free dining. So now the decision is to do a Value-Specifically Pop Century cause we love the Pop! or back to a Moderate Resort with the awesome waterslides and pools... hmmm well we chose Pop Century. We love the theming, food court and location of the Pop. It is also right beside AOA and we are looking forward to checking out our new neighbour. The last time we were there it was still the unfinished legendary years. So we booked Pop but we upgraded to the DDP.

A few days later I called WDW DINE to get our ressies for our TS credits.

We are going to:

Mama Melrose (Fantasmic Package)
Tony's (at Parade Time)
Chef du France (Remy Visit)
1900 Park Faire (Story Book dinner).... we cancelled it though because DD is afraid of the evil step mother and step sisters. We were looking at someone elses TRs with photos and DD had a very adverse reaction to the photos and said that she didn't want them to come to dinner. Cinderella and "the boy" were ok but not the mean girls

So we booked Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh instead. Hopefully that will be more friendly for her.

We got magic your way passes without park hoppers, water park passes etc... Just one park a day.

Our Park plan is:

Day 1 HS
Day 2 MK
Day 3 Epcot
Day 4 MK

No animal Kingdom this time. We don't care for this park so we are skipping it this time and spending an extra day at MK, our favourite park.

Our CS plan is as follows:

HS: Fairfaxe Fare Ribs and Chicken
MK: Pecos Bills
Ep: Sunshine Seasons
MK: Cosmic Rays or Columbia Harbour House

Snack Plan

HS Milk Shakes, Ice Cream, Funnel Cake or Baked Goods from Starring Rolls
MK: Funnel Cake or Waffles @ Sleepy Hollow, Fudge Brownie Sundae, Milk Shake @ Storybook Treats, Cream Cheese Pretzel @ Lunching Pad, Dole Whip @Aloha Isle
Ep: Mexico: Churros, Norway: Everything, China: Iced Tea, Egg Roll, Curry Chicken Pocket, Germany: Caramel Everything, America: Jalapeno Pretzel, Slushies, icecream, Japan: Kakigori, Edamame France: Pastries and CREPES


Magnets
FE Gifts
Journals for 2 kids
Hotel or Airport BUF

 

[michelle9343]

Just stopped by to say HI. I thought about doing a pre-trip report but never could seem to find the time. Our cruise is coming so fast now and I am so excited

 

[krazy4crusing]

Just stopped by to say HI. I thought about doing a pre-trip report but never could seem to find the time. Our cruise is coming so fast now and I am so excited

Welcome to my pre-trippie!! I hear you about the time! I have never finished one before. I think I may have put 2 posts or so and then quit. I am trying to stick with it this time. It has also been very relaxing and fun to document everything. I have 2 planning journals that I write everything but this is a great way of summarizing all the plans.

 

[krazy4crusing]

For our first Disney cruise I made some T shirts for us to wear. Last time I didn't bother but the craft but has bitten again so I have made 2 different designs for this cruise.


I made mickey head tie dye shirts for us to wear on the cruise. We plan on wearing them on embarkation day so if you see us please come and say hi!!

Here is the website for my inspiration and direciton:

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/mickey-mouse-tie-dye-shirts/

Here is a picture of my Mickey head tie dye shirt:

I also made matching Mickey Head shirts for DH and DS and DD and I. The kids picked the shirt colours and the felt we were going to use. DD LOVES pink so that was her pick and DS picked teal because it's the colour of the ocean. Good Choices guys!!! I would have had them all matching but DD would have had a tantrum if she didn't get her pink shirt and the boys may have had a tantrum if they had to wear a pink shirt! So we compromised! I may still add their names to the bottom but I haven't made up my mind yet. I am not sure about having their names on their shirts for safety reasons.

These were inspired by a great set of shirts made by one of our fellow Disers here in the creative forum but I can't find the link now... sorry.

Here is a picture of our Mickey head shirts:

 

[krazy4crusing]

Magnets So I have made several magnets to bring with us for this cruise and I have also made several for Mom and Dad. It is going to be a surprise though! I will sneak over and decorate their door for them as they don't know how to make the magnets or know where to find them. My mom finds this whole decorate your door and fish extender thing really funny and interesting. They just celebrated their 40th anniversary so one of the designs is for their anniversary, it's very cute.

Many of the designs I got from Milliepies files and personalized myself. Milliepie has very easy instructions on her blog on how to download the disney fonts and how to personalize the magnets using Word. I don't have them saved in photobucket so I don't think I can post them for you to see. I will take a picture of my door and post it in my TR after we return or in the show off your door thread.

FE Gifts These are top secret but I will tell you that it's been a pain trying to nail down 1 thing to make for each cabin. I usually do a movie pack for every member of the group with Canadian candy that isn't available in the States but we are going to be in Florida for a week before the cruise and I am afraid everything will melt in transit... too hot there at this time of year. So now I am making.... not telling! I will have to include this info in my TR. DS still thinks that I should bring candy and chips because my kids each get an FE gift too.

Here are some ideas I have come up with:

Personalized Beach Bags
Back to school kits for the kids
Personalized Autograph books


None of which I will be doing because I have a new plan...

 

[pooksma]

Fellow Canadian here Enjoyed your excitement so far and will certainly keep following along!

 

[michelle9343]

I love the shirts!!. I made us matching red white and blue ones for the 4TH of July, but if I have time I would like to make us new ones for the cruise!! My 16 year will not wear one so I gave up the fight.

 

[krazy4crusing]

Fellow Canadian here Enjoyed your excitement so far and will certainly keep following along!

Welcome fellow Canadian!! We leave in a couple of weeks so now i move onto packing!! Woo Hoo. My friends are heading down east this weekend for a road trip! I love New Brunswick!

 

[Disney owl]

great start

 

[krazy4crusing]

Time to pack up all our bags
Attach our new mickey luggage tags
Look at the list and check it twice
This Disney cruise will be super nice

Alright so the time has come...

Here is the plan, just a plan folks no guarantees here that this stuff will fit in the afore mentioned suitcases

3 carry on suitcases 1 for WDW and 1 for Pre cruise beach trip
1 checked suitcase for all our cruise goodies
1 backpack for the plane to keep the kids busy.

We are flying with Air Tran and they charge $20 per checked bag so we will try to only check 1 bag. The airlines are so crap to charge you for bags...


Backpack for Airplane

DVD Player and DVDs charger
Leapster and Games chargers
Colour Wonder kits x 2
3DS and games charger
GPS

Cameras Chargers extra dvds
Lap top chargers
Folder with all ressies
insurance for car
passports
drivers license
credit cards
US cash

Cruise Suitcase

Formal wear (x 1 night)
Dresses DD and I, Polos and Chinos (x 3 nights)
Pirate Wear (x1 night)
Dress shoes

Bathing suits for all
Disney tshirts x 4
Mickey tie die

Fish Extender
FE gifts
Magnets
Journals for kids and I
Floaties for DD
autograph book
Rain ponchos
Over the door shoe holder
Hair accessories for DD, jewelry for dress up nights, make up

First Aid Kid: Advil, polysporin, bandaids of different sizes, moleskin, after bite, benedryl, hydrocortizone, tweezers, scissors, guaze, tape, bug spray, suntan lotion

Powerbar
Thank you cards
Envelope of $1 bills
Over the door shoe holder



Carryon for WDW

Mickey Head Tshirts
3 tshirts per person
3 shorts per person
Bathing suits
mnm tube with pennies and quarters for pressed penny machine
autograph book
magnets for door
stuffies for window (if space permits)

1 extra carryon that will house all of the stuff that doesn't fit as part of this plan LOL


I will edit this post as I go on this is just what I can think of right now...