Living the Dream- PTR- June 15, 2012

[RavenRob]

Me-Raven Rob(44), DW-Lisa(44), DD-Allison(13), DS- Jordan(10)

A little bit about us:

Me: I work as a Manager for a Major Financial Services firm in the Baltimore, MD area. Very stressful job managing people, personalities, and remaining calm under pressure.
I am also a HS (Maryland) and NCAA Division 2 and Division 3 College Football referee in the MD/PA/NJ/NY area. This is a great way to keep me in shape (still overweight!!! ) and a great diversion from the stressful nature of my regular day job. Hopefully someday I will make it to the higher levels of NCAA football!!!!!

Besides for my love of Football and the Baltimore Ravens, I also love everything Disney!!!!

Lisa: A social worker for a Hospital in Baltimore, MD. My best friend!!! She is also a wonderful wife and mother and keeps the house in order while I am out doing my football thing in the fall. Glad she loves football as much as I do!!! Also a major lover of Disney

Allison: Where do I begin???? My pride and joy. We have your typical father-daughter love/hate relationship. Most days she loves me more than anything in the world but you know I am still her daddy who tries to embarass her with everything that I do. But in the end, we love each other more than anything. As many of her teachers say to us all the time, "She can light up the room!!!"

Allison faced many health challenges in her life when she was just 6 years old when we thought she was very sick and never knew why only to finally to be diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. It was a very difficult two years for us but thankfully with all of the tests and many doctor's appointments and several hospital stays, we consider ourselves fortunate that she suffers from a manageable and controllable disease and not anything more serious than Crohn's.

Jordan: My little buddy. He loves everything sports. He can rattle off any answer to a sports trivia question you can think of. If he doesn't know it, he will find the answer within minutes. He takes pride in the fact that he has not missed one day of school since 1st grade. I wish I was like him growing up!!!!

Why we decided to take this trip? Well let's see we are all Disney lovers. During a surprise 15th anniversary trip to WDW without kids in 2008 Lisa and I decided to become DVC members. Every trip we would take to WDW, we always wanted to visit the DVC presentation but having the kids with us prevented us to see it. We were sold.

We have visited Disney just about every other year since Lisa and I were married in 1993.

We have taken two Disney cruises, first a Land/Sea on the Wonder in 2005 followed by a 7 day Western on the Magic in 2006. Have not been on a Disney Cruise since. Until now.

The other compelling reason is that Allison had her Bat Mitzvah this past November and for those of you who don't know in the Jewish religion, it is a celebration of a child becoming an adult. Besides a religious ceremony in a synagogue, there are several other ways of celebrating. Well, we went all out...besides a nice party in November, we booked a 5 night Double Dip at Castaway Cay to be followed by a 4 night stay at Bay Lake Tower.

What were we thinking???

Here are the plans so far:

Thursday, June 14th: Fly from BWI to MCO and arrive at 12:20PM Taking Magical Express to Saratoga Springs Resort. Kids will play at the pool in the afternoon and then spend the evening at Downtown Disney with dinner maybe at Rainforest Cafe???

Friday, June 15th: DCL transportation to Port Canaveral to the Dream. Goal is to be on the Aquaduck at least once!!!!

Saturday, June 16th: Castaway Cay #1. I will run the CC 5K in 35 minutes or less. Play at the Beach for a few hours and then back on board for the remainder of the day.

Sunday, June 17th: Nassau. My 45th Birthday!!! Woo hoo!!! Just a little bit of shopping in the port and back on board for a day of R&R and Aquaduck rides galore with Jordan.

Monday, June 18th: Day at Sea. Who knows? Maybe a massage for Allison.

Tuesday, June 19th: Castaway Cay #2. I think I will run the CC 5K again as i will have to be in full training mode for Football in August.

Wednesday, June 20th: Port Canaveral. Back to WDW and BLT until Sunday morning.

That's it for now.....I will try for a weekly update between now and our trip. The next two weekends are busy for me as I have to work some college football spring scrimmages.

Here is our family photo from last summer with the best quarterback in the NFL, Joe Flacco:

 

[RavenRob]

OK...so the countdown has officially began...63 days and counting (62 until we get to WDW)....Very long week at work...I keep reminding myself that we are only 63 days away.

Training for the CC 5K. Got a real nice 2.3 mile run in tonight when I got home from work. It was beautiful tonight here in Baltimore. PR time for my normal run through my neighborhood.

Tomorrow I will be on the Football field for two college scrimmages and one more on Sunday. Looking forward to it.

Check in next week.

 

[Cheryl726]

Sounds like a great plan! I also celebrated my bday this past summer in Nassau on a 5nt Double Dip on the Dream!

 

[RavenRob]

Hi Everyone!!!! This week was a very tough week for me at work. For those of us who work in the Financial Services/Accounting industry, April 17th was tax deadline day. My employees all stressing out trying to accomodate their clients and CPA's with last minute tax deadline requests. With all of that, we have a major computer system conversion coming up on us on May 4th. Trying to keep everyone focused and me keeping the eye on the prize....June 14th!!!! Woo hoo....

While driving DD and DS to school on Thursday and Friday, all I wanted to do was talk about what we are going to do on our Cruise. I even gave them a countdown of 56 days....wow...

DD and DS go to private Jewish day school and since DD graduates from Middle School this year, she and her classmates are leaving for a two week trip to Israel on May 20th. You want to talk about a kid who has a lot going on this year....I wish I was as lucky as she has been growing up!!!!

Change to some trip logisitics on Day 1. We are still staying at SSR the night before but DW does not want to dine at DD but would rather save the money and eat dinner at the Food Court at SSR.

So now the Day 1 plan arrive at SSR resort around 2:00. Get to the Rock Springs pool and grab some lunch by 3. Head to Downtown Disney around 6:00 for some shopping and to allow DS time to hang at the Lego store. Then back to SSR for a late dinner.

I am starting to have second thoughts about staying at SSR Pre-Cruise because from everything I have read on the board, it appears as though if you use Disney Transfers from Hotel to Port, it appears as though we will not get to the Dream until 12:30 or so. I wonder if this is the right thing to do.... However, I think it is worth the savings of paying for a hotel room at MCO the night before.....

That is today's update......looking forward to officiating at the Georgetown University Football Spring game this evening in Washington D.C.

 

[Pluto1130]

Just a thought, you can try a private car company. Then you can get to port when you want. We used one last year and it ended up being less than Disney transportation for a family of four and we were able to make a stop at a store.

 

[RavenRob]

Hi everyone!!!!!

We are at the under 50 day mark..... 46 days to be exact until we fly to MCO!!!!!

Another busy week at work getting ready for computer system conversion and one final spring football scrimmage in California, PA yesterday. It was a cold and overcast day.

It really made me look forward to our trip in June.

This week, new passports for DS and me came in the mail. I know we really don't need passports to travel to the Bahamas but I prefer to have them just to be on the safe side. We went to the Post Office on Good Friday to have them processed and they were received in less than the processing time state on the government website. It is currently showing 4 to 6 weeks for processing and they came in just under the 4 weeks. Not bad.

DD is taking her HS placement exam today. Have to run carpool for her and her friends.

Could not go to the gym today because I tweaked my back carrying a laundry basket into the basement yesterday morning.

I will probably get another CC 5K training run in later today once the temperature warms up.

Next weeks update will have more of a day by day trip plan update. That's all for now. Talk to you next week.

 

[pooksma]

Looking forward to reading your thoughts. We will be taking our 11 yr old DS along with us.

 

[jedijill]

Can't wait to hear about your trip!

Jill in CO

 

[TampaRobert]

Hello,

I saw your thread and thought I would take a moment to say hello. My daughter (Alison, 7) and I will be on the Dream, too. I'm also running the Castaway Cay 5k the first time we stop there and I'm debating on "running" it with my daughter the second time. I live in Tampa and I'm used to the heat and humidity when running, but be careful. It can sneak up on you if you don't drink enough water.

Anyway....hope you have a great trip and maybe I'll see you and your family around.

Robert

 

[pixiedust1216]

Hello! My family will be on the same Dream cruise as yours! I'm so excited to be sailing on the Dream! Looking forward to Aquaduck and double dipping in Casaway Cay! My DH and I ran the CC 5K in October 2010. It was cool,but hard to run in the humidity...we are from California and not used to that. I'd love to run it again, but I think it will be really hot and humid in June, so we will play it by ear...hopefully we'll do it on one of our days at CC!! We are also in training for the Disneyland half marathon on September 2nd.

 

[RavenRob]

Hi Everyone!!!!

40 days until we leave for MCO. Hectic week for us this past week. Computer system conversion at work started last night so I am on standby to go into the office tomorrow night.

Had an offseason NCAA football film review meeting on Wednesday night. Believe it or not for you fans of football at the NCAA and NFL levels, the officials do not just show up the day of the game, work the game for three hours and go home. It is a 12 month a year hobby. We are always working to get better at becoming the best referees in the country. Sorry for rant about football!!!

We also had an instructional showcase at DD's school where the students had the opportunity to display all of the projects they worked on this year. It amazes me just how creative students are these days!!!!

So now for the trip planning.....

We leave for MCO on Southwest Airlines from BWI on Thursday, June 14th at 10:05AM.

I expect to be awake at my normal time as if I was going to the gym. I am debating getting up and going to the gym at 5:30AM or going out at 6:00 AM for one last run before the CC 5K on Saturday the 16th.

DW, DD and DS should be awake around 6:30AM so that they can get ready to leave at 7:30AM for BWI. We only live about 20 minutes from the airport but since it is a work day, the commute to BWI could be tough at that time. Schools in Baltimore will be closed for the summer so I do not anticipate a problem with traffic.

We will make a stop at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast to go. This has become a ritual every time we leave for the airport whenever we go to WDW.

We should be at the Airport Fast Park at BWI by 8:15AM and on the shuttle to the terminal by 8:30. I expect that we will be through security and at the gate by 9:15AM just in time to get one more cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee before boarding.

That is all for this week's update. Have to run errands today with the family. More update next week.

 

[aeirvin3]

We are on the June 15th 2012 Dream sailing as well. I've been getting mixed information as to when Pirate Night is. Has anyone been able to actually confirm this? Online, it says, night 4, which is the day at sea. I've also been told by DCL that it is actually on night 3, Nassau.

Also, does anyone have any recent Navigators for this itinerary? I'd love to see some that are this same schedule.

1-Port Canaveral
2-CC
3-Nassau
4-Sea (Pirate night??)
5-CC

 

[RavenRob]

Hi everyone......

I know its been more than a week for an update but alot has gone on in our house these past two weeks....

First of all we did the document dance..... It was such an exciting time to see that show up in the mailbox.

The system conversion at work went fairly well but anytime you implement change to an organization you will have those who will never embrace change no matter how much you prepare.

Shortly thereafter I came down with a bad cold and had to take a few days off from work. I never get sick but I think it was my body telling me that I have been working too hard and I needed a break!!! Do you know what kind of break I really need? Yep, you guessed it!!! 5 days on the Disney Dream!!!! Only 24 more days!!!!!

This weekend was a bittersweet one for us. The day came for DD to leave on her class trip to Israel yesterday. We said goodbye to Allison for two weeks and will not see her until Monday, June 4th. I never thought I would get so emotional over her leaving on her trip but it really hit me and DW very hard.

Here we are just before she boarded the bus for Newark Airport:

Thank goodness for Twitter because we have been able to follow her class on the trip. All is well and we are relieved that they are having fun so far!!!

It is so quiet in the house with just the three of us. I really miss her.

Stay tuned for more updates for the trip on the Dream. That's all for now.

 

[aeirvin3]

We are on the June 15th 2012 Dream sailing as well. I've been getting mixed information as to when Pirate Night is. Has anyone been able to actually confirm this? Online, it says, night 4, which is the day at sea. I've also been told by DCL that it is actually on night 3, Nassau.

Also, does anyone have any recent Navigators for this itinerary? I'd love to see some that are this same schedule.

1-Port Canaveral
2-CC
3-Nassau
4-Sea (Pirate night??)
5-CC

Just fyi, I heard back from a DCL supervisor this morning. She confirmed that the information online is INCORRECT and that Pirate Night will be on June 17th.

 

[Castillo Mom]

I've enjoyed reading your pre-trip report. My sister and I are on the same cruise and so excited. Just three more weeks!

 

[RavenRob]

Hi Everyone!!!!

For those of you who have been following my updates, DD made it to Israel successfully with her classmates. We have been tracking them via Twitter and Picasa photo album uploads. They are having a wonderful time. Here are some pictures of Allison and her friends:

Archaelogical Dig

Overlooking Masada at sunrise with two of her best friends

Touring Masada during the day (DD is on the end on the left)

I never realized how much we missed her. We are looking forward to her return next Monday morning.

We are starting to ramp up the planning for our trip. Yesterday, with DS at a friend's house for a sleepover, DW and I did some clothes shopping for me and DS. Nothing major but some shirts and shorts for the cruise. Macy's was having a major sale so we took advantage of the time without DD and DS at home to get some things done.

We also kicked around the idea of using a limo service to and from the airport but it still makes sense to just drive to the airport and pay to park the van.

I am also in full training mode for the CC 5K. The humidity here in Baltimore has been very high (81%) and have run back to back 2.3 mile runs in a sub 10 minute mile. That is my goal for the 5K.

I will be running a 5K on June 10th that is a fundraiser for DD and DS school. That should have me ready for the CC 5K on June 16th.

Talk to you next week.....19 days and counting....