From Reality to Fantasy - May 26, 2012

[jedijill]

Great use of your points! Airfare is so expensive...I cashed in my Frontier points for a free ticket for October. Good plan on the hotels too.

Jill in CO

 

[WAHkoMom]

We sail two months after you, and my kids are about the same ages as yours (DD14 and DS12), so I'm looking forward to following along with your plans and your TR!

 

[goofymama]

Also subscribing since I'll be on the same cruise and the same Cozumel excursion

39 days and counting!

 

[Dawncala]

Joining in! How exciting to be going on the Fantasy! She looks like a beautiful ship. Oh, and I'm from the Seattle area as well.

Hello Northwest neighbor! Our gang is definitely excited. 39 days and counting.

 

[Dawncala]

Great use of your points! Airfare is so expensive...I cashed in my Frontier points for a free ticket for October. Good plan on the hotels too.

Jill in CO

To me the airfare is the worst part. The cruise is expensive for sure, but at least I feel like I'm getting something for my money. Air travel is just an ever increasing pain. You pay an arm and a leg, plus extra for baggage, to be treated poorly going through security, only to be mashed into those increasingly smaller and smaller seats. Then they try to make it up to you with a bag of pretzels and a soda.

Sometimes we get lucky and the frequent flyer miles all add up. Doesn't allow me forgive the prezels and soda, but it helps.

Sorry for my rant.

 

[Dawncala]

We sail two months after you, and my kids are about the same ages as yours (DD14 and DS12), so I'm looking forward to following along with your plans and your TR!

Hi WAHkoMom. I hope your wait flys by speedy quick.

If you have anything you specifically want to know, about the kid clubs or whatever, let me know and I'll try to pay attention and put it in my TR.

 

[Dawncala]

Also subscribing since I'll be on the same cruise and the same Cozumel excursion

39 days and counting!

Goofymama! We can compare notes while we're working on our tans.

 

[Dawncala]

YEA!!! Luggage tags & travel booklet arrived today!

 

[Dawncala]

T-Minus 90 Days (& 3 hours): Reservation Time!
The first big milestone date is the day we can make reservations. We are silver Castaway members so we are able to make our specialty reservations at the 90 day mark. (February 26, 2012) Since we’re on the west coast, when it is midnight, and officially 90 days on the east coast, I was able to go online at 9:00 PM PST to book our reservations. Sometimes the 3 hour time difference actually works to my advantage.

We booked a dinner in Remy, a high tea in Palo, one spa treatment each for me and DH and a shore excursion in Cozumel. Not bad. I was quite pleased to get nearly everything we wanted. We were going to book brunch in Palo, but it was sold out. I am glad we booked the tea though. We have not done that before and rumor has it that high tea will be canceled on the ships starting this summer so they can extend the more popular brunch hours.

 

[jedijill]

when you get on board, go try to make a Palo brunch reservation. They hold back about 50% of the reservations to book on board.

HTH

Jill in CO

 

[Dawncala]

when you get on board, go try to make a Palo brunch reservation. They hold back about 50% of the reservations to book on board.

HTH

Jill in CO

Wow 50%? Good information! Thank you Jill.

 

[Dawncala]

Perry
I briefly mentioned Perry the Platypus was among our Cast of Characters. If you haven’t read my Alaska TR I thought I should probably explain so it makes sense.

When our kids were young, if my husband had to travel for business, he’d bring one or two of their stuffed animals (or toys) with him and take pictures of them in the airplane, in his hotel room and around the city. Then he would e-mail them to me and I’d show the kids that their toys were having fun with daddy and keeping him company. People always got a kick out of him taking crazy photos of the toys having dinner, pushing elevator buttons, taking taxis, and hanging out with his co-workers.

My daughter’s Perry has come with us on our last several trips. Sometimes he’s obvious in the photos, but sometimes we hide him a bit and play “Where’s Perry? later.” We wouldn’t dream of going to the Caribbean without him.

Playing "Where's Perry" in Skagway, Alaska.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

That is a really cute story about your husband taking the stuffed toys with him and taking pictures for the kids Where's Perry is always fun to play too!

 

[Mary Lou in Ohio]

The Mickey Mouse Fan Club at Sea

After booking, the next order of business was joining a DIS Cruise Meet group. We are officially known as Mickey’s Memorial Day Fantasy and have around 60 members. It’s been fun getting to know people who will be on the cruise with us, exchanging tips and tricks and dreaming together about our upcoming adventure.

So far our group has planned a 1st day meet, Fish Extender exchange, Postcard Recipe exchange and we’ll have our own custom lanyards. (Thanks to all the awesome ladies who volunteered to coordinate those.) We are also hoping to take a group photo in the atrium. Plus one very talented member even created us our own special logo.

If you are planning a Disney cruise and you have not joined a DIS meet group I highly suggest it. It is great fun to share the experience with others and meet new people from all over the world. If you’re worried about not having time for Fish Extenders or on-board meets…don’t. You can participate as much or as little as you like.

Can you post a link to the Meet & Greet? We just signed up for this cruise today and would like to join the group.

Thanks!

Mary Lou

 

[Dawncala]

Can you post a link to the Meet & Greet? We just signed up for this cruise today and would like to join the group.

Thanks!

Mary Lou

Welcome Mary Lou! Here is the link. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2582122

We also have a Facebook group with the same name. If you would like to join that too just do a search and ask to join.

Our group is having a "welcome aboard" meet on Saturday, May 26 at 3:00PM at the Vista Cafe on deck 4 and I think we're also putting together a group photo. (date and time not yet determined) Some other people are also having meets the evening before we board the cruise. Read through the DIS thread and Facebook for details on those.

I'll look for you on the other boards and look forward to hearing about you and your travel group.

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Another fellow Washingtonian subbing in !

Your plans seem to be coming together nicely......especially the airfare deal, I'm very jealous!!!!

We are also doing a Fantasy cruise but our countdown marker is at a staggering 300 days!

 

[Dawncala]

Another fellow Washingtonian subbing in !

Your plans seem to be coming together nicely......especially the airfare deal, I'm very jealous!!!!

We are also doing a Fantasy cruise but our countdown marker is at a staggering 300 days!

Will you also be doing the Western Caribbean or are you on the Eastern? I'm sure the time will fly by and you'll be packing before you know it.

 

[Dawncala]

Fish Extender Gifts
I’ve finally started putting together my fish extender gifts. I began researching ideas almost from the day I joined the meet group, but didn’t make a final decision until about 45 days out when I knew closer to the final cabin count. The group tends to grow a bit in the month or two before the cruise and we have added several families in the last couple of weeks. Sorry, no spoilers on what we are bringing. It is a surprise.

For those of you unfamiliar with what Fish Extenders is check out this post which describes the basics. http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33184281&postcount=2

This is our third cruise and third time participating in Fish Extenders. It is definitely one of the highlights of the cruise and our kids (OK yes, and DH & I too) are excited to find special gifts at our room every day.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Joining the fun. Cant wait to hear more I am on a December Eastern on the Fantasy.

 

[Dawncala]

The Packing Paradox
We have reached the 30 day countdown mark cool1: YEAH!!!) so it’s time to get serious about finalizing the packing list.

I predict packing for 7 nights is going to be tricky so I’ve been mulling this over for months. Packing for Alaska was actually pretty easy. We live near Seattle so we simply drove up to Vancouver B.C. the morning of the cruise. No airplanes, no luggage weight limits, and no 3 ounce bottle rules. We could bring pretty much anything we wanted.

Even though we’ll be packing lighter, summery attire for the Caribbean we still have formal and semi-formal night, pirate night (we all have pirate clothes), Remy, Palo and the fish extender gifts. I’m keeping the FE gifts on the small side, but still, 40+ of anything takes up some room. I also know Murphy’s Law will be in play here. If I bring it I won’t need it. If I don’t bring it, I will need it.

My plan is to not pack personal bath items like shampoo, styling mousse, lotion, toothpaste, shaving cream, sun screen…and just pick them up when we get to Orlando. We’re hoping to have only carry-on bags at the airport and the 3oz airport size limit restrictions are a pain. Or, if we do decide to go with some bags under the plane, those items add a fair amount of weight. I plan to just buy new of everything before we board the ship and leave any leftovers.

If you have any packing tips I’d love to hear them.