I almost forgot to make my post today. It was not until I began my Disney Mom's application that a reminder light came on in my head flashing "Forget Me Not! Forget Me Not!". I promise that I am not trying to make a "Do Not Forget" point with an occasional tendency to forgetting Mondays Forget Me Nots, but having my husband tell me that I should put a reminder in my 'phones' calendar did remind me of a good Forget Me Not.
So, here we go...
Happy Monday everyone. I hope this finds everyone safe from the storms. I have been trying to check out Port Canaveral on the webcams, but nothing is up yet. The reports say that all vessels that were tied off are still there and they appear to be fine. I am sure everything will be back to normal in 18 Mondays (which is how many we have to go!!!!). Getting to this weeks Forget Me Not - your Smart Phone, and your tablet (and there chargers). I know, you are on vacation, and you intended to take a break from the real world, and I am on board with that. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting you go on vacation to work. Quite the contrary. Disney has an app, called the
Disney Cruise app (which I recommend you download by clicking
here or on 'app' [while on your portable device] before you leave home to assure that you have it). The app is free and full of great tools (tools that unfortunately can only use on board). While on board, through this
app, you will be able to access Disney cruises intranet (not to be mistaken with the internet), which will unlock tools that will make life at sea (and port) easier. You will have access to deck plans (so you don't get lost - been there done that), menus for that nights dinners (this is great for those of us who have members of their family who can never seem to make up their minds about what to eat), and you will be able to view the daily Navigator (you will also get this in print in your room every day, but who wants to keep track of a mini booklet when we already have so many other things to keep track of). The Navigator, for those of you who have never sailed with Disney before, is your guide to everything for that day. It tells you when and where you can find your next meal (be it early mid morning snack, or late second, late lunch), what each age group of the kiddos will be doing at any given time, what movies are playing and when, where to find the character that you just must have an autograph for, when yoga begins (yes yoga), where you need to be for the Dance Party, when the Galley tour starts, ......I could go on, but then this post would be four pages long like the Navigator. Plus one of the newer features that has recently been fixed / tweaked/ improved is messaging. You will be able to send messages to your traveling companions (as long as they have the app on their device as well) through out the trip. Disney does offer the 2 wave phones in your room for keeping in touch, but they are not very user friendly, and they have a hefty price tag on them if you loose or damage them. Instead of fighting with those, you can just bring your device (covered in a water proof pouch or cover) and never loose touch.
Charging can be a challenge with several devices being used, and limited electrical outlets in your room. If you have one of the device chargers that you can plug several device into at once, I would recommend bringing that along. You are not allowed to use extension cords, or surge protectors, and I would not recommend leaving a device plugged in while out of your room (just as a security measure). However, if you absolutely need a surge protector for extra plug space, you can borrow one at the Guest Service Desk.
I am planning to get everyone in our family the water proof cell phone/ tablet cases as a hundred mile gift (gifts given during our drive to our destination...topic for another post). That way, they will not only be able to stay connected and know what is going on when and where, but they will be able to capture their entire trip on the camera on their device. And then, they can pull up pics of their vacation and have a Disney moment at any time with out having to download or print their pictures.
***A side note**** If you do bring your device, make sure you put it on airplane mode as soon as you board. If you forget, you could come home to a HUGE cell phone bill. I have talked with someone who forgot to switch over to airplane mode until about day 3, and since his phone was in roaming for all that time, he racked up a $700 bill for those 2 days.
~Tink~