Geomom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 17, 2010
Disney Wonder to Alaska: 8/8/16-8/15/16 Trip Report:
Background:
We are a family of 4 from Massachusetts: DH (turned 49 on 8/4), me (45…until 8/24), DD 16, DD 12. We LOVE the Mouse! We are Disney Vacation Club Members (DVC) since 2008 and have been going to Disney World in Florida 1-3 times per year, using our Disney timeshare. We get DVC Annual passes every 2 years, squeezing 3-4 trips out of them by going during April vacation, then a fall trip (Columbus Day weekend or Thanksgiving), and then February vacation. Every time we hit that February one we have a 14 month lag before the next trip—so every 2 years since 2012 (when our youngest was 8), we’ve been taking 2 week trips to National Parks out west. 2012 was Colorado, South Dakota, and Wyoming. 2014 was Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. We’ve hit all the National Parks I really wanted to take the kids to. So here we are looking at 2016 coming up, likely our last big family trip with both kids as DD16 will be graduating in 2018 and heading off to college…when I discover that Disney Cruise line goes to Alaska. DH and I have always said we’d only do a cruise if it went to Alaska…and a cruise with Disney? Yes! It took a while to get DH on board with this idea—and lots of Disney Cruise Line advance research on my part as DH feared he’d be bored on the sea days. When DH said ‘book it’, I really didn’t believe him. So…having done enough research on the DISboards, I had already gone onto the DCL website, decided the cheapest category we’d be willing to do, picked our room based on the availability—and then promptly contacted Dreams Unlimited and booked the room I’d chosen (Category 9C, deck 2 Ocean View, room 2116) through them to get the $300 in onboard credits, and used our Disney Visa (for all payments) to get our $50 in Beverage credits. (Another perk of booking through Dreams Unlimited was the great gift basket they sent us before the cruise!) I booked on March 28, 2015. August 8, 2016 was soooo far away. Sooo much time to plan and research even more…to the point that I totally annoyed DH. We all applied for our first passports in March (after my oldest turned 16), and had all of our passports in hand by late April. I had ‘issues’ with Air Canada…flights and sizes of planes kept changing, messing up my carefully chosen seat selections (that I paid for)…thankfully the last change was in April. But, finally, the day to leave arrived!
Friday 8/5/16, Travel Day--Boston to Vancouver (via Toronto):
We have 10 bags! 3 checked luggage , 3 carry-on size luggage, and 4 backpacks. We left home at 7:30AM, Dad driving us into the airport in Boston. (I have not flown out of Boston in 17 years—we usually use a smaller and closer regional airport that has non-stop Southwest flights to Orlando.) As it was a weekday and Boston traffic is horrendous, we left earlier than we needed to…yeah, we got in by 8:30AM. We drop our checked bags off at the Air Canada desk, then go over to security. I’ve never seen such a thing in my life…it’s only a security line for Air Canada flights—so, no line. We’re through in seconds…and into an area with only 3 gates. The only thing passing for food here is a mini coffee stand with some premade food and some refrigerators full of soda and bottled water to purchase. The women’s bathroom only has 2 stalls—to tell you just how small an area we are in. We’re in here by 9-9:15AM…and our flight is at 12:15PM. We get through that time, and board our 1hr. 50 min. flight to Toronto. On the flight, they came by with the drink cart and free pretzels. In Toronto, we have to go through Customs, and another security line before getting into the area with the Canadian flights. We did NOT have to pick up luggage—it was checked straight through to Vancouver. It might have taken an hour to get through all the stuff in Toronto (an hour with no bathrooms in sight). Once we were through, we found our gate area, and then got dinner at a Noodle place. This was all new to DD12 and she LOVED her noodle bowl! DD16 got vegetarian sushi. DH got sushi. I can’t remember what I got, but it was yummy!
After dinner, we sit at some chairs near our gate for a bit, then I get up and look at the departure boards--our gate has changed. As we initially had 4 hrs. between our flights, we took our time going to the new gate area—where there are actually shops to look through. DH bought the kids their first Kinder eggs there—which the kids loved, especially these 'Palace Pets' themed ones.
Eventually it’s time to board our 6PM flight to Vancouver. The flight is about 5 hrs. long, but with the 3 hr. time difference, we land at 8PM Vancouver time. We get our luggage, get a taxi. (Yes, the taxi driver was just as crazy as everyone has said—zipping around other cars, and despite the fact they’re supposed to take credit cards, they prefer cash—so we pay him in some Canadian cash I’d picked up before we left, $35 CAD fare plus a tip.) By the time we get to the hotel, I’m at my limit as it’s now about midnight to my body…and yeah, I didn’t sleep well last night. Our hotel—Westin Bayshore. We got the ‘pay your birth year’ deal. First night is rack rate, next 2 nights you pay the last 2 digits of your birth year. With the exchange rate, our hotel came to $191 USD/night with tax! We have a gorgeous view from our room—straight on harbor view. I had actually packed smart—one of the carry on baggage had our pajamas, and the first day Vancouver clothes in it, as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste in my liquid/paste/gel bag—so nice and quick getting ready for bed. We got to bed around 10PM local time. Goodnight Vancouver!
View from our room at Westin Bayshore:
View of Westin Bayshore from Stanley Park:
Background:
We are a family of 4 from Massachusetts: DH (turned 49 on 8/4), me (45…until 8/24), DD 16, DD 12. We LOVE the Mouse! We are Disney Vacation Club Members (DVC) since 2008 and have been going to Disney World in Florida 1-3 times per year, using our Disney timeshare. We get DVC Annual passes every 2 years, squeezing 3-4 trips out of them by going during April vacation, then a fall trip (Columbus Day weekend or Thanksgiving), and then February vacation. Every time we hit that February one we have a 14 month lag before the next trip—so every 2 years since 2012 (when our youngest was 8), we’ve been taking 2 week trips to National Parks out west. 2012 was Colorado, South Dakota, and Wyoming. 2014 was Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. We’ve hit all the National Parks I really wanted to take the kids to. So here we are looking at 2016 coming up, likely our last big family trip with both kids as DD16 will be graduating in 2018 and heading off to college…when I discover that Disney Cruise line goes to Alaska. DH and I have always said we’d only do a cruise if it went to Alaska…and a cruise with Disney? Yes! It took a while to get DH on board with this idea—and lots of Disney Cruise Line advance research on my part as DH feared he’d be bored on the sea days. When DH said ‘book it’, I really didn’t believe him. So…having done enough research on the DISboards, I had already gone onto the DCL website, decided the cheapest category we’d be willing to do, picked our room based on the availability—and then promptly contacted Dreams Unlimited and booked the room I’d chosen (Category 9C, deck 2 Ocean View, room 2116) through them to get the $300 in onboard credits, and used our Disney Visa (for all payments) to get our $50 in Beverage credits. (Another perk of booking through Dreams Unlimited was the great gift basket they sent us before the cruise!) I booked on March 28, 2015. August 8, 2016 was soooo far away. Sooo much time to plan and research even more…to the point that I totally annoyed DH. We all applied for our first passports in March (after my oldest turned 16), and had all of our passports in hand by late April. I had ‘issues’ with Air Canada…flights and sizes of planes kept changing, messing up my carefully chosen seat selections (that I paid for)…thankfully the last change was in April. But, finally, the day to leave arrived!
Friday 8/5/16, Travel Day--Boston to Vancouver (via Toronto):
We have 10 bags! 3 checked luggage , 3 carry-on size luggage, and 4 backpacks. We left home at 7:30AM, Dad driving us into the airport in Boston. (I have not flown out of Boston in 17 years—we usually use a smaller and closer regional airport that has non-stop Southwest flights to Orlando.) As it was a weekday and Boston traffic is horrendous, we left earlier than we needed to…yeah, we got in by 8:30AM. We drop our checked bags off at the Air Canada desk, then go over to security. I’ve never seen such a thing in my life…it’s only a security line for Air Canada flights—so, no line. We’re through in seconds…and into an area with only 3 gates. The only thing passing for food here is a mini coffee stand with some premade food and some refrigerators full of soda and bottled water to purchase. The women’s bathroom only has 2 stalls—to tell you just how small an area we are in. We’re in here by 9-9:15AM…and our flight is at 12:15PM. We get through that time, and board our 1hr. 50 min. flight to Toronto. On the flight, they came by with the drink cart and free pretzels. In Toronto, we have to go through Customs, and another security line before getting into the area with the Canadian flights. We did NOT have to pick up luggage—it was checked straight through to Vancouver. It might have taken an hour to get through all the stuff in Toronto (an hour with no bathrooms in sight). Once we were through, we found our gate area, and then got dinner at a Noodle place. This was all new to DD12 and she LOVED her noodle bowl! DD16 got vegetarian sushi. DH got sushi. I can’t remember what I got, but it was yummy!
After dinner, we sit at some chairs near our gate for a bit, then I get up and look at the departure boards--our gate has changed. As we initially had 4 hrs. between our flights, we took our time going to the new gate area—where there are actually shops to look through. DH bought the kids their first Kinder eggs there—which the kids loved, especially these 'Palace Pets' themed ones.
Eventually it’s time to board our 6PM flight to Vancouver. The flight is about 5 hrs. long, but with the 3 hr. time difference, we land at 8PM Vancouver time. We get our luggage, get a taxi. (Yes, the taxi driver was just as crazy as everyone has said—zipping around other cars, and despite the fact they’re supposed to take credit cards, they prefer cash—so we pay him in some Canadian cash I’d picked up before we left, $35 CAD fare plus a tip.) By the time we get to the hotel, I’m at my limit as it’s now about midnight to my body…and yeah, I didn’t sleep well last night. Our hotel—Westin Bayshore. We got the ‘pay your birth year’ deal. First night is rack rate, next 2 nights you pay the last 2 digits of your birth year. With the exchange rate, our hotel came to $191 USD/night with tax! We have a gorgeous view from our room—straight on harbor view. I had actually packed smart—one of the carry on baggage had our pajamas, and the first day Vancouver clothes in it, as well as toothbrushes and toothpaste in my liquid/paste/gel bag—so nice and quick getting ready for bed. We got to bed around 10PM local time. Goodnight Vancouver!
View from our room at Westin Bayshore:
View of Westin Bayshore from Stanley Park:
