Darn you, Destination America Channel! Our 1st Disney Fantasy Western Caribbean (Itinerary C) Cruise

[LennyMachine]

We have developed a family tradition of visiting a Disney park each year: WDW in 2012, DL in 2013, WDW again in 2014. For 2015, my husband and I were toying with the idea of visiting Disneyland Paris, even though our children are still very young. A cruise was never, ever on our radar, having never having gone on a cruise before -- and also because of our irrational fear of being out on open water.

But halfway through that Disney Cruise Line documentary/glorified commercial on the Destination America cable channel . . . we knew we were sunk.

So here I am, a relatively in-the-know Disney vacation planner, trying to find my sea legs and navigate the new, strange world of Disney cruises.

I can't find a template for these things, but they always seem to start with a picture and an introduction. Unfortunately, I don't think I can use photos until I hit 10 posts. So I'm just going to have to start getting busy!

I suppose I can just start with the basic details:

THE TRAVELERS
My husband Austin, myself (Emily), my 2 kids Jack (5 1/2) and Julia (1 1/2), and my mother-in-law, Pat. I actually love my mother-in-law, and I most certainly won't mind the free child care -- ha! But I know that this trip will really test me because I'm a gung-ho Disney planner who tries to get as much done on her touring plan as she can -- and my mother-in-law has a stiff ankle from when she broke it a couple of years ago. So this vacation is going to be an important lesson learned in patience.

THE ITINERARY
We're sailing on the 7-night Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Fantasy (Itinerary C: Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth, Castaway Cay). The ship sails on August 22 and returns August 29.

However, my husband surprised me by saying he wouldn't mind visiting MK for a day before the cruise! So we will arrive in Florida on August 20 and visit MK on August 21.

THE PRE-CRUISE HOTEL
We are staying at the Art of Animation Resort in a Finding Nemo family suite.

THE STATEROOMS
We have Rooms 7098 and 7100 (Category 04C, Deluxe Family Oceanview Staterooms with Verandah).

THE TRAVEL AGENT
Though I consider myself a relatively savvy Disney trip planner, I enlisted the help of a travel agent, because I could see the rooms for this cruise going fast. We're working with Megan from I'm All Ears Vacations.

That's about it so far! Every Disney trip is fun to plan, but this has been especially so because my husband has been more engaged and excited than usual. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with his mom coming along -- he's a mama's boy!

And, believe it or not, it's the first time I've ever planned a Disney trip more than 180 days out! I mean, I'm having all kind of crazy ADR fantasies I've never gotten to have before!! Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest . . . (It kills me that Liberty Tree Tavern won't be open then, because we had to cancel our ADR there last year after we lost a day at MK due to severe illness.) I know my chances of getting my first choices aren't great because we're only at MK one day . . . but it's still nice to dream!

That seems like a good note on which to close out this first post. It is, after all, 4:30 a.m.!

 

[LennyMachine]

Ah, here we go, family portrait time:

​

Me, our dear friend Mickey, my son Jack (5 1/2), my daughter Julia (1 1/2), and my devastatingly handsome husband Austin​

From our first MNSSHP last October. I'd never DIY'ed Halloween costumes before (well, not at this level of complexity/accuracy), but Disney brings out the best in me, ha ha ha ha. One cast member pronounced them the best they'd seen so far! It was all swell until the heat and humidity started melting the glue on the electrical tape accents . . .

 

[kaoden39]

Hi! I'm going to join in now. Your family is adorable! I look forward to reading your plans. We're planning our first right now and our first trip to WDW.

 

[LennyMachine]

Wow, thanks! And !

 

[kaoden39]

Thank you for the welcome!!

 

[Amunet]

Haha I love the costumes!! ^_^

No worries on how to start or update PTRs, it's whatever you'd like ^_^

I can't wait to hear your plans for ADRs! I'm working on some myself

 

[LennyMachine]

You read my mind, because here comes my ADR planning post!

As I said in my opening post, I have never, ever been able to plan a Disney trip more than 180 days prior to arrival. That's my husband's nature -- he can't commit to something as big as a Disney trip until he is reallyreallyreallyreallyreally sure he has the opening in his schedule. (We're also just terrible in general at planning vacations well enough in advance.) When we started pricing out the cruises, though, he was surprised to learn from me that 180 days is actually a little late, and most if not all inside staterooms are already sold out by that time -- so he gave me the go-ahead to pull the trigger much earlier than he normally would.

So now I'm 189 days from my check-in date at the Art of Animation Resort -- the time when the savvy Disney vacation planner's thoughts turn obsessively to ADRs. And to girding one's loins for getting up early in the morning and getting on that website! (That is the part I dread the most, waking up before 5:00 a.m. CST to get on the Disney website. I'm not an early morning person. I would honestly do better pulling an all-nighter and staying up until 5:00 than I would trying to get up at 5:00. Ha!)

Here are my top priorities:

1) A pre-rope drop breakfast at either Cinderella's Royal Table or Crystal Palace.

I'm probably foolish for hoping for CRT, because all the good times will likely be taken by the 180+10'ers. But even if pre-rope drop isn't available, I still really want to go because this has so far been my one and only real chance at eating there.

On the other hand . . . We are going to have opportunities to see princesses on the ship. And as it happens, my daughter is developing a little bit of a love for Winnie the Pooh. Nothing huge, but at this moment in time, she would probably recognize Pooh before she would recognize any of the princesses. (Translation: Pooh is on her bibs, and the princess castle hasn't been played with in a while. ) She wasn't that excited to meet the princess at Akershus last year, but I'm betting that the photo opportunities we could get at the Crystal Palace breakfast would be golden.

On the other OTHER hand . . . We took my son to the Crystal Palace when he was 3, and he was . . . underwhelmed. I don't think it'd be different this time around; Pooh is not his favorite. He is very into knights and stuff, so he would really dig eating in Cinderella's Castle.

So I continue to waffle, but I'm pretty certain what will really decide the matter is the availability at 180 days.

2) Dinner at Be Our Guest Restaurant.

Again, probably unlikely because of the 180+10'ers, but I still really want to do this. We got to eat lunch there (through the FastPass reservation system) last year, but never managed to snag a dinner table any of the nights we were at MK.

I wish my backup could be the Liberty Tree Tavern, but since it will be closed for refurbishments at that time, I'm considering Tony's Town Square Restaurant. We have never eaten there before. My mother-in-law is a dog lover, and I'm guessing she loves 'Lady and the Tramp,' and so would probably love this place. On the other hand, my mother-in-law is a very PARTICULAR dog lover, which could mean she hates 'Lady and the Tramp.' (I randomly learned last year that she hates dalmatians . . . which probably means she hates '101 Dalmatians'! )

[I don't plan to make a lunch ADR so that we can return to the hotel for a midday break. Although I might ask my son if he's got the strength to power through the afternoon with me for just one day . . . It's just one day, after all . . .]

3) Dinner at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue on arrival night?

I admit it, I'm one of those: a sucker for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. I've only ever been once, during our first family trip in 2012, and have wanted to go back. But, this trip is already getting a little expensive, and it'd probably be best to save the money we would spend on the Hoop-Dee-Doo for a port excursion or a day at the ship spa . . . Plus, the AoA resort has so much to explore, that it really should take our attention for one day . . . And hey, wait . . . With Grandma there, doesn't that mean the husband and I could go somewhere for dinner on our own???

Hmm. This slot is definitely TBD.

 

[LennyMachine]

173 days to go!

This pre-trip report update has been stewing in my mind for over a week, because last week was a big one.

First, we got our flights booked -- always important. We'll be getting in around noon, so that we have time to explore the grounds of the Art of Animation Resort and hopefully enjoy the pool (I will have to talk about our Pool Curse in some future post). Our return flight heads out at 1:40 p.m., which I think gives us a pretty comfortable margin of time in which to get to the airport, get through security, etc.

Second, we made our ADRs for the two days we're going to be at WDW! It was my first time ever getting to make ADRs at the 180-day mark. (I know I keep mentioning this, but this is a Very Big Deal for me! I've planned three trips to WDW and DL in three years and have yet to get to make ADRs at 180 days!)

So what did we get? Well, we mostly got what we wanted . . . except one thing. (Bet you can guess what that was. )

For the first night . . . We got Victoria & Albert's -- the Queen's Room. I am incredibly excited about this opportunity. The reservation time was earlier than I'd like -- I was hoping we'd be able to help Grandma (who's at WDW for the first time) feed the kiddies dinner and put them to bed. On the plus side, we won't be out for dinner too late, so we'll get enough rest before our . . .

Pre-rope drop breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table! Also excited about this as well. I still feel conflicted about not taking my daughter to see Pooh and friends at the Crystal Palace, but I really don't know if I'll ever get this opportunity again.

We didn't get dinner at Be Our Guest, HUGE SURPRISE. So we're set for a nice, early dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant. Not world-shaking, but it'll be our first time eating there, and that's something.

So I guess that's it until it's time to make on-ship dinner reservations, port excursions, etc.? I think? I'm still learning the ropes when it comes to cruise planning. Things I'm definitely interested in: the Rainforest Pass at the Spa, dinner at Remy, dinner and/or brunch at Palo. My two biggest worries are when to plan the fancy dinners, and also how expensive the excursions get for a party of 5.

 

[sager1969]

Yeah for your first cruise! You will have a blast.

 

[LennyMachine]

The fun thing about planning a Disney trip is that although there are the big milestones -- ADRs at 180 days, DCL reservations at 75 days, etc. -- there is so much you can do in between those milestones. For instance, getting door magnets!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/225817828/personalized-die-cut-couples-3d-vacation

I hope it doesn't violate any DIS guidelines to post this link. I just had to share it because it was a custom order and, if there was any Disney door magnet that personified my husband, well, that is it. Yes, sadly, he loves Gaston.

 

[LennyMachine]

73 days to go!

Has it truly been 100 days since my last update?! Wow, those days have crawled *and* flown by. I had intended to update my PTR at the 100-day mark, but life interfered, as it unfortunately does.

Though it was an agonizing wait between ADRs at 180 days out and online check-in at 75 days out, I haven't been entirely idle. I made a lot of progress on our pirate costumes -- if you didn't think we were going to go all out on our costumes, please consult Post #2 above -- and I plan to share some of those details when time allows.

In the meantime, the more pressing question is: How did the online check-in process go?! Not badly, considering I wasn't familiar at all with the way check-in and registration would work. Here's what I got:

• An 11:00 a.m. PAT. Not the earliest, but no earlier than we need, considering FL Tours will be picking us up at AoA at 10:00 a.m., and we are scheduled for a pit stop at a grocery store on the way.
• The "Boatswain's Adventure Marine Park" port excursion on the Cayman Islands, and the "Good Hope Estate" tour at Falmouth. Not the sexiest or best-reviewed excursions, but I had to be mindful of the fact that I have a 2 year old and a mother-in-law with some mobility issues (she broke an ankle a few years ago and tore her rotator cuff last year). We'll want to stick together as a family while on foreign soil.
• Dinner at Remy on Day 2.

What we didn't get:

• Brunch at Palo. BIG SURPRISE. But I know I can check to see if there is availability once I'm on board.
• The "Cozumel Ruins and Beach Tour" excursion at Cozumel. I am a little less hopeful that there will be spaces available when we board, especially because there are 5 of us, but hope springs eternal.

So it looks like I still have to get the following done when I get on board: check for Palo brunch reservations; check the availability of that Cozumel port excursion; get character meet-and-greet tickets; pick up a Rainforest Pass at the spa; adjust my dining rotation, if desired (I'm leaning towards going with whatever we get); sign up for Internet service (if my husband needs it for work, but we may get a package anyway for posting-pics-on-Facebook purposes) and add my son to my photo package (since he is technically registered under my mother-in-law's stateroom).

More immediately, I've got to clean up my online check-in profile (filled with filler information, since I wanted to get to the PAT screen), get my daughter a passport, find my husband's passport (eek!), finish planning our pirate costumes, and start setting aside items for packing.

You can tell I'm the overplanning type -- but it's the only way I can deal with the long wait until I'm at WDW again!

 

[Ariel484]

OMG...I LOVE your WALL*E costumes!! They are amazing! Can't wait to see what you are cooking up for Pirate Night.

I know exactly which documentary you're talking about - we recently ditched cable and I had that documentary saved on our DVR. I was so sad to love it! But I just found it on YouTube a couple of weeks ago and have watched it another 2-3 times since then, along with the one on the Re-Imagined Magic.

My husband and I are sailing the same itinerary you are in July (!! Explains why I watched the documentary a ton lately...) and I cannot wait! You and I sound VERY similar with the over planning tendencies - I mean, it's just being smart and prepared!

Definitely a good call on booking Remy - I hope your brunch and Cozumel excursion come through.

You're going to LOVE DCL!

 

[Benchley]

You're going to have a fantastic time on the cruise. We ate at V and A Queens room last time we went to www and it was a truly magical experience. Be warned, We had a 5.30 booking and got back to our room gone 11! Worth every penny

 

[LennyMachine]

Thanks so much, Ariel484 and Benchley! And

We ate at V and A Queens room last time we went to www and it was a truly magical experience. Be warned, We had a 5.30 booking and got back to our room gone 11!

I know, I'm fully expecting that -- and to make it to an 8:25 a.m. CRT reservation the next day! My husband Austin and I are not morning people, but he jokes (and it's true) that I am a morning person within the confines of WDW.


69 days to go!

Because I can't leave well enough alone, less than 24 hours after I made my initial reservations, I changed things a little bit. I booked a Palo dinner for Day 2 and moved the Remy dinner to the the evening of Day 7, as one last hurrah. I'm still not excluding the possibility of a Palo brunch, but my husband and I are big foodies and we don't like to pass up any opportunity for fine dining that comes our way, especially for only $25! I know that Palo brunch is the talk of the town, but I've been impressed by the photographs I've seen and reviews I've read of their dinner.

With our FastPass+ reservation deadline looming, my current project has been to plot out our touring plan. The day will truly be a test of my fortitude, as my mother-in-law will probably stop to fawn over every detail (she's an artist, so she has an eye and an appreciation for these things) and probably talk to every single cast member who'll listen to her. So the true difficulty is not just touring the Magic Kingdom in one day, but winnowing it down to those truly classic rides that I know she and the kids will enjoy together. Honestly, factoring in a midday break at the hotel, we could spend our entire time just in Fantasyland.

In terms of FastPasses, we're not roller coaster people, and we'll have ample opportunities to meet characters on the cruise, so the choices are relatively easy: Peter Pan's Flight, Tomorrowland Speedway, and either the Haunted Mansion or The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Ultimately, my hope is that I can convince Austin to let my son Jack and I stay in the park during the hotel break so that we can ride more rides without having grandma and little sister in tow. I've got a pretty huge chip on my shoulder because we missed a day at the Magic Kingdom during our last trip due to a horribly crippling 12-hour stomach bug Austin and I both got ("luckily," in alternating shifts -- I was sick in the morning, then he got sick in the evening just as I was getting better!). Then, our MNSSHP night was cruelly shortened by a fatal combination of rain, several ill-timed bathroom trips on Jack's part while in line for rides, Austin and Jack getting stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and the kids conking out during the MNSSHP fireworks. So I really, really, really want to get to Adventureland and Liberty Square to do all the things we missed last time. (Can you imagine, missing the Haunted Mansion during MNSSHP?!? Oh, the tragedy!!! )

I'm also hoping to stay late for the MSEP and Wishes. I mean, we're from Chicago, so 10:00 p.m. is really like 9:00 p.m., right?! And it's not like my kids don't like to fight to stay up way past their bedtimes, right?!? So they can do mommy this ONE favor and stay until Wishes is over and nap when they get to the boat the next day, RIGHT?!?!?

 

[LennyMachine]

59 days to go!

So, how'd we fare on FastPass+? Pretty good, not great. As I said, we're not looking to do character meet and greets or thrill rides, so all of the attractions we wanted to get FastPasses for -- Peter Pan's Flight, Winnie the Pooh, and Under the Sea (I struggled with whether to include this one or IASW, but I think we're going to have to pick up the FPs for the rides outside of Fantasyland after we've used up the initial 3) -- were available. The times just weren't amenable to the clockwise circuit of Fantasyland I was planning for the first half of our day. I had to do a little rearranging on the touring plan . . . but I'm also trying to step back and get some perspective on the reality that touring plans never go 100% the way you want them to, and that I will not be allowed by my husband to march his mom up and down WDW on a personal quest to get as much done as possible. When she's in the park, I know we're going to be stopping frequently to smell the roses. And if that means I have to CRUSH MY SPIRIT and ride ZERO RIDES in the morning, then I guess that's just how it's going to have to be.

Outside of my mother-in-law, I think the biggest thing that will determine how our morning goes is meeting Gaston. I wanted my husband to meet him during our last trip, but we were never in the neighborhood at the right time. Now that the popularity of this character meet is skyrocketing because of the viral YouTube videos, a lot will be riding on whether we get in line before they cut it off, how fast that line moves, and whether my husband, a bodybuilder in his teenage years, is injured challenging Gaston to a pose-off.

In cruise news, the repeated adage that you should keep checking the availability of port excursions has come true -- and it *never* has for me before! Right after making my FastPass+ reservations, I just happened to check the port excursions for Cozumel and found that while the "Cozumel Ruins and Beach Tour" is still sold out, the "Cozumel Ruins, Chocolate, and Beach Break," which had previously been sold out, was available last night! Hmm, the exact same itinerary but with a chocolate factory added? For $4 less per adult and only $3 more for the child?? Um, YES, PLEASE!!!

One of my favorite things about planning a Disney trip is what I call "micro-planning." No, not the kind where I cram as many activities into a single minute as possible, ha ha -- but rather putting together those little things that enhance the experience. I just finished rearranging our pin collections -- we were newbies last year, so we unfortunately ended up with quite a few scrappers, which I wanted to set aside so they didn't get traded to anyone else -- and buying new lanyards for myself, my son, and my mother-in-law (so she has somewhere to keep her KTTW card instead of having to root through her cavernous purse). I'm bringing together the supplies to make a Fantasy-themed drinks carrier that I saw somewhere in this forum. I'm starting to get things together that I know we'll need: autograph books, Magic Band accessories, Mickey Ears, water shoes, bits and pieces of our pirate costumes . . . There's a pleasure in taking even the smallest moment out of a busy day to do just a little something.

Today, I was hoping to take my daughter to the local courthouse and apply for her passport . . . We'll have to see if it happens, given that I've just stayed up nearly all night!

 

[kaoden39]

I'm so glad I don't have to deal with FP+. How great about the excursion! Brilliant idea about the lanyard for MIL My mom has that same purse! She doesn't understand that most days I don't carry my purse.

Your trip is getting so close!

 

[LennyMachine]

Brilliant idea about the lanyard for MIL My mom has that same purse! She doesn't understand that most days I don't carry my purse.

Your trip is getting so close!

You and I are the same. I have my iPhone in a sort of wallet so that I can carry my driver's license, credit cards, Costco card, etc., and usually nothing else. I once gave my mother-in-law a tote bag from the Art Institute, and she was like, "Oh, that's great! I've been needing a bigger bag!" And she basically just took her old purse and put it inside the tote.

The really scary thing is, my husband is *exactly* the same way with his briefcases. Once a briefcase gets full, he moves on to a new briefcase . . . then a gym bag . . . maybe another gym bag or a backpack . . . Then, when all of them are full, the contents of the first bag get emptied out into a garbage bag and he starts all over again. The house is filled with garbage bags full of his random work stuff!

Your trip is getting close, too! I love that you're planning a Dapper Day trip. That's on my Disney bucket list.

 

[cheermom2four]

following because I will be experiencing the same Itinerary C in sept 2016

 

[LennyMachine]

Awesome! And

 

[kaoden39]

You and I are the same. I have my iPhone in a sort of wallet so that I can carry my driver's license, credit cards, Costco card, etc., and usually nothing else. I once gave my mother-in-law a tote bag from the Art Institute, and she was like, "Oh, that's great! I've been needing a bigger bag!" And she basically just took her old purse and put it inside the tote.

The really scary thing is, my husband is *exactly* the same way with his briefcases. Once a briefcase gets full, he moves on to a new briefcase . . . then a gym bag . . . maybe another gym bag or a backpack . . . Then, when all of them are full, the contents of the first bag get emptied out into a garbage bag and he starts all over again. The house is filled with garbage bags full of his random work stuff!

Your trip is getting close, too! I love that you're planning a Dapper Day trip. That's on my Disney bucket list.

My daughter carries a huge Nightmare Before Christmas Harvey's seat belt bag. It's so heavy. I don't get it. Yeah, it is getting closer. The oldest daughter finally picked out her dress for Dapper Day. She got a Cinderella dress from Torrid. It's so pretty!