Mince Pie In The Sky - A Hopeful Pre-trip Report

[dolphingirl47]

Looks like your plans are really firming up! Love AKV! I just spent two nights before my cruise last weekend!

I've stayed at that Holiday Inn in Miami and I thought it was great. It is really close the port and lots of shopping and dining choices right across the street.

I wish I could see the special holiday touches for Jungle Cruise. Anxiously waiting for your report/pictures!

Jill in CO

Yes, things are falling into place. The only thing that refuses to do so is the cruise. I am now 40 days out from the trip and 50 days out for the cruise.

That is good to know that you stayed at the Holiday Inn before and liked it. Can you walk from there to the port?

Corinna

 

[jedijill]

Yes, things are falling into place. The only thing that refuses to do so is the cruise. I am now 40 days out from the trip and 50 days out for the cruise.

That is good to know that you stayed at the Holiday Inn before and liked it. Can you walk from there to the port?

Corinna

No, its definitely not walking distance but its just a short cab ride away. Fingers crossed about the cruise!

Jill in CO

 

[Pinkocto]

That's a lot of packing and moving but nice places to be

Still no cruise? When was the date you gave yourself to book? So strange get haven't dropped the prices. The November cruises dropped to pretty good prices, what are they waiting for?

 

[dolphingirl47]

That's a lot of packing and moving but nice places to be

Still no cruise? When was the date you gave yourself to book? So strange get haven't dropped the prices. The November cruises dropped to pretty good prices, what are they waiting for?

Actually, there won't be much packing involved. For the night at the airport hotel, we just put what we need for the next day in the outside pocket of the suitcase. For the night at Animal Kingdom Lodge, we leave our luggage at the other hotel (we got a special deal for staying more than 7 nights and therefore will have two hotels for one night) and just put what we need in a backpack. For the hotel in Miami we will go the outside pocket route again. So that means that really we only have to pack and re-pack twice. I may get Graham to do the laundry at Beach Club while I head over to Epcot.

Still no cruise and this is starting to drive me insane. I can understand why they were holding off publishing special rates. I don't know if you had heard, but the first cruise was cancelled as the ship was not ready. People booked on that sailing got a full refund and also a free cruise on the Magic for up to 5 nights that need to be taken by May. So I can understand that they wanted to give those displaced customers a chance to book their free cruise first. The Magic should leave on her first cruise post dry dock any second now. I have to say that every time I see a photo or a video, it gives me a little stab to my heart. We know two people who are on her today. As happy as I am for them and as curious what they make of her, this also makes being in limbo a lot more difficult. The deadline that I have set myself is November 14th, which is my birthday.

I think I saw your jewellery today. Kythryne posted photos of the most amazing set of jewellery and I think this may be yours. I am still waiting for her to get to working on the two necklaces that I have commissioned, but there is still plenty of time.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

I just came on here to give you the link to my treasures but it sounds like you've already seen them. I'm totally blown away and can't wait to see them in person She said to please give you her best regards are yours for December? Can't wait to see what beauties you're getting!

here's the link just in case

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kythryne/sets/72157636942824393/


Would you believe I was booked on that sailing but had to cancel because the time wasn't approved I hadn't heard about the Magic not being ready. Very sad for the people who were looking forward to it, but you can't beat a free cruise, wow.

I'm sorry you're still in limbo, I hope you're able to book soon.

Sounds like you have a firm grip on the packing and not unpacking.

 

[yroberts]

this is really neat that you do this.. I'm new to all of this.. your trips are amazing.. can't believe you come all the way from the UK.. I went there once in 1988.. It's wonderful that you can travel like that.. I work all the time.. and haven't been on a vacation in 10 years.. we went on the Wonder for 4 nights and WDW for 3 days.. prior to that we went on the Big Red Boat.. Thanks for sharing... your pictures are amazing..

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Yes, things are falling into place. The only thing that refuses to do so is the cruise. I am now 40 days out from the trip and 50 days out for the cruise.

That is good to know that you stayed at the Holiday Inn before and liked it. Can you walk from there to the port?

Corinna

I can't wait to hear that you booked!!! So excited to sail together!!! Once you have the cruise, when are you booking the dolphins? I wanna wait till black Friday in hopes they have the same deal I got last black Friday. U think that is to close to our sail date? I figure if no deal on that date, I would just book and get there normal 25% off. What do you think!!!!???

 

[dolphingirl47]

I just came on here to give you the link to my treasures but it sounds like you've already seen them. I'm totally blown away and can't wait to see them in person She said to please give you her best regards are yours for December? Can't wait to see what beauties you're getting!

here's the link just in case

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kythryne/sets/72157636942824393/


Would you believe I was booked on that sailing but had to cancel because the time wasn't approved I hadn't heard about the Magic not being ready. Very sad for the people who were looking forward to it, but you can't beat a free cruise, wow.

I'm sorry you're still in limbo, I hope you're able to book soon.

Sounds like you have a firm grip on the packing and not unpacking.

I have been following Kythryne's work for years and own a huge selection myself, but this is the most stunning set of jewellery that I have seen.

Yes, mine are for December and she will ship them to AKL. I commissioned a necklace to go with the Christmas gown and also a pirate necklace.

I really hope I can book soon, too.

this is really neat that you do this.. I'm new to all of this.. your trips are amazing.. can't believe you come all the way from the UK.. I went there once in 1988.. It's wonderful that you can travel like that.. I work all the time.. and haven't been on a vacation in 10 years.. we went on the Wonder for 4 nights and WDW for 3 days.. prior to that we went on the Big Red Boat.. Thanks for sharing... your pictures are amazing..

I get quite a lot of vacation time. I get 25 days ordinary vacation time and 9 days for public holidays. I work in the travel industry and love to travel. We have been to so many amazing places and seen do may great things while traveling. We also made some wonderful friends.

I can't wait to hear that you booked!!! So excited to sail together!!! Once you have the cruise, when are you booking the dolphins? I wanna wait till black Friday in hopes they have the same deal I got last black Friday. U think that is to close to our sail date? I figure if no deal on that date, I would just book and get there normal 25% off. What do you think!!!!???

You and me both. I have the same idea as you about booking the dolphins. I have never seen them being fully booked so Black Friday should be absolutely fine.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

I have to say, I was slightly suspicious of this to start of with. Shortly before our trip last year I read about this on another forum and downloaded the app to my iPhone and my iPad. I actually liked it well enough to check on wait times before heading to the parks and also periodically in the parks and saved myself a lot of walking in the process. I normally would have walked either to the ride itself or to one of the info boards. I also liked that I could see what characters would be out and this helped me to catch a few characters that I had never met before. So as a glorified times guide, I really liked it. However, it soon became apparent that this was destined to be so much more. The idea that this will be used to managed Fastpass+ did kind of scare me as the app is not all that user friendly and I gave up in complete frustration when I tried to add an existing ADR.

My opinion changed for the better when My Disney Experience was launched on the Internet for the UK market. Suddenly I no longer had to fight with the system to make online advanced dining reservations as those were available in My Disney Experience and I no longer had to fight with the system to allow me on the US site. I also rather like that all my ADRs have automatically gone into a planner so that I have all information literally at my finger tips. The same is true for my onsite room reservations. I could even add my annual pass and DVC membership so that it will automatically show me any applicable offers. That makes purchasing things like tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party a lot easier. My Disney Experience even provides a direct link to the pre-purchase option for the Photopass CD and Photopass+, which is a bit hidden on the Photopass website. If I understand this correctly, once I come back, I can view and edit my photos right on My Disney Experience. I am starting to wonder if the Photopass cards are soon a thing of the past and everything will be linked to the tickets or Magic Bands.

So on the whole, I am a fan. Of course, time will tell how this will work once My Magic Plus has been rolled out to the general public and you have to use it to manage your Fastpass+ reservations. I found one glitch already though. My Disney Experience kindly prompts me to renew my annual pass, but if I click on the button that says "renew" it brings me to a page that only offers the 7, 14 and 21 day tickets that are exclusive to the UK. Looks like that particular task will require a phone call.

 

[Pinkocto]

I was pretty skeptical of MDE as well. I'll be curious how well the FP+ works. I think it could be really great if it works like it should. I didn't know about adding DVC, I need to figure that out.

Can I ask how you booked the sea lion swim at Chankanaab? I'm thinking of doing this in March but am remembering you had to do something special to book?

 

[franandaj]

OK, I finally got all caught up from all my travels. I'm so glad to hear the MDE is working out for you. Maybe by my next trip they will have the details ironed out for the Premier passes and we can use them for our trip. I suppose I should start looking at hotels for our cruise in October 2014. The Holiday Inn sounds like a good possibility, but we also like Hilton chains since we get points for staying there and use them for free rooms.

Pam, your jewelry is beautiful!

All your hotel plans sound great and you have the packing down to a science. I wish it was that easy for us, but we pack like we are going on a month long safari!

I hope that you get your cruise booked soon!

 

[dolphingirl47]

I was pretty skeptical of MDE as well. I'll be curious how well the FP+ works. I think it could be really great if it works like it should. I didn't know about adding DVC, I need to figure that out.

Can I ask how you booked the sea lion swim at Chankanaab? I'm thinking of doing this in March but am remembering you had to do something special to book?

To add DVC, you need to contact Member Services for your Club ID and Activation Code. You will prompted for those when trying to add your DVC membership. I set up an account on DVC Members a few years ago, but it still let me do it.

I did the manatee interaction rather than the sea lion interaction, but the principle will be the same. Dolphin Discoveries have an exclusive deal with most cruise lines including DCL and if you enter that you are arriving by ship, it will tell you to book via your cruise line. DCL does offer some of the dolphin programs, but not the sea lion or manatee interaction. I had to enter that I was staying at a hotel. I just Googled hotels in Cozumel and entered a random one and it then let me complete the reservation.

OK, I finally got all caught up from all my travels. I'm so glad to hear the MDE is working out for you. Maybe by my next trip they will have the details ironed out for the Premier passes and we can use them for our trip. I suppose I should start looking at hotels for our cruise in October 2014. The Holiday Inn sounds like a good possibility, but we also like Hilton chains since we get points for staying there and use them for free rooms.

Pam, your jewelry is beautiful!

All your hotel plans sound great and you have the packing down to a science. I wish it was that easy for us, but we pack like we are going on a month long safari!

I hope that you get your cruise booked soon!

I will see how well My Disney Experience will cope with the will call number. I get paid tomorrow and will call Member Services to renew my annual pass either Wednesday or Thursday. With the will call number, I should then be able to do my remaining Fastpasses.

We are like this with the Intercontinental Hotel group. We have been collecting their reward points for years now.

Graham always teases me that I need to remember to order the cargo plane for my luggage.

I really hope that tomorrow may be the day I will be able to book the cruise.

Corinna

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

I too don't tell them I am taking a cruise line there. I pick a hotel and then book the excursion. I got a dolphin royal swim for 4 for only $280 in Feb!!! Awesome!!!!

 

[Pinkocto]

Ahhhh, I thought you had to actually book a hotel and was worried about the extra expense. I'm trying to decide on the sea lions or manatees, I know I would love either one.

Thanks for the info about DVC, I'll have to do that when I have some extra time.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Since 2009, I have usually had an annual pass at any given time either for Walt Disney World or Disneyland. As we are staying offsite this time round and my itinerary is not as heavily Disney focused I figured that I would not renew my annual pass, but just buy the days I need. This may have worked when I had planned to visit three parks and spend one day in each. However, I could not quite imagine what I would do with a whole day at Hollywood Studios. With signs that Avatarland may actually go ahead at Animal Kingdom and work may start in the not too distant future, it also dawned on me that this will be my last chance to see the character trees at Camp Minnie-Mickey. So combining Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios seemed like a bit of a no brainer. Suddenly I was looking at needing a park hopper. My eyes nearly glazed over when I saw the price for a 3 day park hopper. I crunched some numbers and as I currently have an annual pass, it will cost me about the same to renew it as I get the DVC pricing plus the renewal discount. This then also gives me all kinds of discounts plus the flexibility to enter Magic Kingdom earlier on the day I will attend Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party if I choose to do so and to spend a few hours at Epcot on our last day. So that is really a win win situation.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I have to admit I was a slow starter when it came to Photopass. I kept hearing and reading how wonderful this was, but in reality it left me totally bemused. I tried to give it a go in 2009, but ended up with about 15 photos so I never did anything with them. I got into this during our Disneyland trip in 2011. At Disneyland, the annual passes are also Photopass cards so that focused my mind, especially as I needed to find a Photopass photographer that morning to take a photo for my annual pass. While we were there, we took a few photos for the Photopass as well with a magic shot thrown in for good measure and I was away. Suddenly I seem to find a Photopass photographer at every corner. I ended up with 250 photos before editing.

After this success, I decided to give this a go at Walt Disney World last year. After all, if I can make this work at Disneyland with two parks, then I most certainly should be able to make this work at Walt Disney World with four parks. Work it did. I had maybe half a dozen or so photos that were not wonderful, but I had over 300 photos that I absolutely loved. I also ended up with a great variety of photos ranging from photos with characters, photos in front of special points around the park like the castle, the Tree of Life or Spaceship Earth; photos in front of Christmas decorations, photos in some of the resorts and plenty of Magic shots. They made some fabulous memories.











In the meantime, Photopass + was launched. Photopass + does not only include the normal Photopass photos, but also ride photos and photo packages from various dinner experiences. I have to admit, this did not grab me either at the beginning and I could not imagine ever using this. Fast forward to our quick trip to Disneyland in May. Unlike Walt Disney World, Disneyland does not have a pre-purchase price for the Photopass CD. The price is the same if you pre-order it, buy it in the parks or order it after the event. It turned out though that there is a pre-purchase price for Photopass + and this was the same as the normal Photopass CD. So this seemed a bit of a no- brainer. Well, I loved it. We ended up doing two character meals and the physical photo packages I got are some of my favourite souvenirs from this trip. Apart from receiving the print package, they also added the photos to my Photopass. I also got ride photos and this encouraged me to consider doing rides that I would normally avoid. Those just get added to the Photopass card. I also noticed that when the Photopass photographers saw the Photopass + lanyard they took a few extra photos knowing that they would definitely not go to waste. I had a blast.

At Walt Disney World, there are pre-purchase options for both the standard Photopass CD and Photopass +, with Photopass + being $30 more expensive. I think this is worth it though. I have two ADRs that include photo packages so already I have made a saving. I also think that this is a good motivational tool to try some different rides. Of the line up of included attraction photos, only Test Track and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin are rides that I absolutely love and do at every opportunity. Dinosaur I can take or leave, but I have not done in a number of years. Rock'n'Rollercoaster is a ride that I always enjoyed, but have only ever done with Graham. As Graham only comes to the parks very rarely, I have not done this in years. This gives me the chance to be brave and do it by myself. Other rides just freak me out. Tower of Terror and Expedition Everest fall into those categories, but sometimes it is good to challenge your comfort zone. The last category are rides that I did once and had a bad experience with. Those rides are Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. Space Mountain I love at Disneyland Paris, where the ride is a lot more intense and also at Disneyland so I really need to give this another try. Splash Mountain is the ride I am the least sure about, but if I can do Tower of Terror and Expedition Everest, I am sure I can manage this. I shall have to share the photographic evidence when I get back.

 

[Pinkocto]

Is the photo pass now connected to the MB?

Is it the drop or the getting wet on Splash Mountain you're not crazy about?

I agree, the prices for the park hoppers for just a few days are astronomical!

 

[dolphingirl47]

Is the photo pass now connected to the MB?

Is it the drop or the getting wet on Splash Mountain you're not crazy about?

I agree, the prices for the park hoppers for just a few days are astronomical!

I am not sure if Photopass is connecting to the Magic Bands yet, but this is definitely the plan for the future. Photopass is however connected to My Disney Experience.

It is definitely the drop. I love Kali River Rapids And Grizzly River Run and you get a lot wetter on those.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

I had been crossing my fingers that I would benefit from this and fortunately my wish came true. I am still not quite sure what I make of the concept. On the one hand I am a compulsive planner and very organised. I usually have a fair idea where I am going to be at any given day during a trip. On the other hand, I am not sure that I want to plan down to every little detail ahead of time. I have to admit although I absolutely see the necessity of ADRs, I would prefer to go and eat when I am good and ready and decide on the day what and where I want to eat. So for an extended onsite stay I may well decide that this is more trouble than it is worth. If I am honest, I never quite made the regular Fastpass system work. Quite often I got a Fastpass as this sounded like a good idea at the time, but when my window opened I was at the opposite side of the park or busy with something else. As we also tend to go during quieter periods this may not be for me in the long run.

For this trip, being able to rebook my Fastpasses will make all the difference. As I only have limited time at the parks and will stay offsite, this will make life a lot easier. With me having Photopass + as well, I want to do some of the popular rides that I normally would not do. As I managed to do so few rides last year because it was so crazy busy, doing all my favourite rides is a priority, but this still should give me the time to enjoy the Christmas decorations, meet some characters, play The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and get some photos.

I am actually very impressed how easy this is. You first select your park and up to three attractions. It then gives you 4 different combinations and you pick the one that fits best. This takes into consideration how close together your chosen attractions are. Once this is done, you can tweak them. For instance on my first Magic Kingdom day, the slots for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain were perfect on one of the options, but Space Mountain was 3 hours before the next one and before I was planning to be in the park. It was however easy to tweak this and now the timings are perfect for me. Here is my haul:

6th December 2013
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Toy Story Midway Mania! – 3:40 PM to 4:40 PM
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ – 5:30 PM to 6:30 PMRock 'n' Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith – 6:40 PM to 7:40 PM

7th December 2013
Epcot
Soarin'® – 9:10 AM to 10:10 AM
Test Track® Presented by Chevrolet® – 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot – 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM

10th December 2013
Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain® – 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad® – 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Splash Mountain® – 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM

11th December 2013
Magic Kingdom
Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid – 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Enchanted Tales with Belle – 12:10 PM to 1:10 PM
Meet Rapunzel and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Hall – 1:20 PM to 2:20 PM

19th December 2013
Epcot
Mission: SPACE® – 11:05 AM to 12:05 PM
Test Track® Presented by Chevrolet® – 12:10 PM to 1:10 PM
Soarin'® – 1:10 PM to 2:10 PM

 

[dolphingirl47]

This has turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. Patience is not exactly my strength at the best of time and therefore having dresses custom-made halfway around the world does not seem like an obvious choice. However, the fact that the dresses fit perfectly, are exactly what I want and without fail have been beautiful are a suitable trade off. With this dress, I have started to wonder if it really is though. When I first saw this dress, it instantly caught my eye. I was pondering colour choices for a while and on 31st August, I decided to order this. In the description, it stated that it will take two to three weeks to make. So this should have been ready to ship by the end of the third week of September. I was just getting ready to chase this up when I got a message that it had been shipped on 4th October. What worried me a bit was that nothing came up against the tracking number. So 10 days later I sent a message to try to find out was happening. I got the answer that it had not been shipped yet, but that they had marked this as shipped to avoid getting in trouble with Ebay. I was further advised that the dress was finished, had gone to quality control and would be shipped that week using a faster method of shipment. I assumed that they would let me have the correct tracking number once that had happened. Eleven days later, I got a little impatient again and checked on the status. I was advised that the tracking number I have is the correct one and that this had been shipped on the 23rd.

This turned into a saga of epic proportions. I suppose all is well that ends well. The dress finally arrived at work on Friday when I had my day off. So I finally got to see it Saturday and it is absolutely stunning. I am glad that I went with the teal and black. I can't wait until I get to wear this. Here are a couple of photos:






The photos do not really do this dress justice. It looks like I have found my perfect Pirate dress.

Corinna