Tag Archives: DCL

Today’s the Day! Disney Plan-a-Palooza!

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Parkhopper PassWow!  It’s like the perfect storm of Disney vacation planning.  Today (a bit later than this post will run) we’ll be making some critical, major, life and death (okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration) decisions that will have a major impact on our Disney-ness for the next year!

Today’s the day our 60 day FastPass+ booking window opens – not gonna lie, it’s stressing me out a bit, but I’ll be okay.  My plan is to hit morning Extra Magic Hours each day they’re available (I know!  Some of you guys swear they’re not worth the trouble of getting up early, but we’re still doing it) then hop to a second park later in the day when the standby lines are too long at the original park, using our precious (measly) three FastPasses at the second park.  I will let you know tomorrow how this FastPass selection scheme works for me and if I score the exact FastPasses I’m after.

The real kicker is that TODAY is also the day we can book the Summer 2015 Disney cruise we Disney Cruise Line Siteintend to take.  Finally after years and years, we’ve reached the GOLD level of Castaway Club (Disney’s “frequent sailing” rewards program) so we can book a day ahead of the general public.  Since Disney Cruise Line just announced YESTERDAY their 2015 summer cruise itineraries, I’ve scrambled around, texting The Fam, combing the internet and trying to figure out exactly what we want.  I believe, unless the sale of a kidney will be involved to finance the trip, we’ve decided on one of the Norwegian Fjord cruises sailing from Copenhagen, Denmark in June.  The Baltic cruises were initially what we thought we wanted, but now we’re nervous about booking a vacation with Russia on the itinerary.  What do you think?

Last bit before I go get busy with the bookings – A cautionary tale for you if you’ve got an upcoming trip to Walt Disney World.  We thought we had it all under control with downloading the My Disney Experience app and linking The Fam – we had no problem whatsoever making our Exchange Certificate for Disney Annual PassADRs (Advance Dining Reservations) at the 180 day mark.  The problems started when we bought tickets.  Raymond ordered two annual passes (the two of us are going back to the World in October, AP’s were the most economical choice for us) and 6-day park-hopper passes for Megan and Joseph.  Easy-peasy, right?  Yeah….no.  Due to the daily purchase limit on a debit card, Raymond knew to order the tickets in two separate purchases on two different days.  No problems with that.  Mail comes Saturday and Raymond’s AP is there (in the form of a card called an “Exchange Certificate”).  We try to link it to Raymond’s Disney account and……nope.  Already linked to someone else (which is actually also Raymond, but he can’t access the ticket).  So, I spent an hour on Sunday morning with the Disney IT support line getting it all straightened out.  Or did I?

Monday in the mail – my “Exchange Certificate” and Megan’s park-hopper arrive…what?  IMG_2531Joseph’s ticket is no where to be found.  It required two more calls to the IT line and one call to the ticket line to resolve the situation.  That’s 4 calls in 3 days in case you lost count.  Especially weird was that on Sunday after I got off the phone with IT support, Raymond’s ticket was clearly attached to his account, but by Monday had disappeared again.  Now, every single person we spoke with was delightful and mostly quite helpful (except for Raymond’s vanishing ticket) – our confidence in the “system” is now a tad tarnished and I think understandably so.

Okay then, off I go!  FastPass selecting and cruise booking!  Keep your fingers crossed, please.  Tomorrow I’ll share the grand plan for May’s trip, so get your critique hat out and dusted off – I’ll be wanting your feedback!  I’ll let you know if the Fjords of Norway are in our future as well.  Wish me luck!

Cruising on the Disney Magic in the Mediterranean – Last Chapter

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The Disney Cruise Line's Magic in the MediterraneanThis is the last installment of the trip report for our August, 2013 Mediterranean cruise aboard the Disney Magic.  Links to all previous posts are at the very bottom of this page.

To wrap things up, I’m going to mash up all the observations and tips I can offer you in this last installment – if you’re reading this, maybe you’re considering a Mediterranean cruise in the future.  I hope I can help in some small way. 

Wow!  What a vacation!  August 17th dawned exactly like the previous days of our vacation in Europe – sunny and warm.  We’d read many sources that listed reasons to avoid Europe in August; one of them being the weather.  We live in Louisiana where the summers can be brutal!  The sunny weather with temperatures in high 80’s we experienced on this trip was a refreshing break from the heat and humidity at home.  The Mediterranean Sea was so calm, Grant The Shorline of Italy as seen from the Disney Magiccommented that he was actually a little bit disappointed.  Since it was his first cruise, he was looking forward to gaining his “sea legs”, but the water was so calm, he often forgot he was on a cruise.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  On the day we headed home, we were off the ship bright and early, toting our own luggage to catch Disney transportation straight to the airport.

Research paid off big-time!  We were certainly at an advantage with knowing how to dress appropriately for touring cathedrals, knowing how to avoid pickpockets and gypsy scams, and knowing how to speak at least basic phrases in Spanish, French, and Italian.  By researching our options (and not just limiting ourselves to Disney excursions), we were able to feel confident about our private tours – knowing that we were dealing with reputable companies and Florence, Italy on our 2013 Disney Cruisepaying fair prices.

Do NOT underestimate the effects of jet lag.  I researched tips for dealing with jet lag, but ignored them to my detriment!  I knew I was supposed to drink lots of water and get up and move around the plane as much as possible.  I sat like a lump watching movie after movie.  A couple (few?) of the complimentary glasses of wine did not help with hydration.  The result?  Tired, crabby, and puffy!  My swollen feet didn’t recouperate until after the vacation was over!  You want to avoid this at all costs so you can enjoy all the activities and adventures available on a Mediterranean cruise without the distraction of sore feet!

Remember to book onboard activities at the earliest possible time.  We gave spa treatmentsTouring in Italy on a Disney Cruise as gifts during the months leading up to the cruise.  Grant (and Megan) got a couple’s massage – we made up and printed up our own gift certificate for Grant’s birthday and did the same for Joseph and Jason’s graduation gifts – for individual massages.  In order for this to work, we needed to pre-book those spa treatments early to get the best times on “at sea” days.  Same thing with our Palo dining reservations.  By the time we were able to book, Palo dinner on our first at-sea day was completely unavailable, but we managed to get a dinner reservation that would still work.  We were lucky to score brunch for Megan’s birthday on the last day of the cruise (also a day at sea).  If we had been unable to get days/times that we liked, I would have gone straight to Touring Florence, Italy on our Disney Mediterranean Cruisethe Palo reservation line as soon as we boarded the ship – I’ve done that before (Alaskan cruise on the Wonder) and was able to get a last-minute reservation at a decent time.

Disney lets you bring your own beverages – take advantage of this special perk and save money!  We were able to bring wine and water on board in Barcelona, then purchased additional bottles of wine at each cruise port.  This allowed us to have Happy Hour in our cabin each afternoon before dinner and we didn’t have to pay the expensive prices on board.  Raymond and I polished off any leftover wine during late evenings on our veranda – enjoyed with the chocolates left by the cabin steward.  Gazing at the stars Disney's Mediterranean Cruise - Touring Romein the clear Mediterranean sky while listening to the sound of the ship gliding through the water… the perfect way to wrap up the day and just be in the moment.

This Disney cruise was the most expensive vacation we’d ever taken and being the epic, world class worrier that I am, I imagined a million things that could have gone wrong from illness to injury to missing flights or the ship!  I worried about pickpockets, bad tour guides and seasickness.  I worried about whether or not everyone would enjoy every activity.  Once we were underway, though, all those worries melted away.  We were all able to fully enjoy and appreciate the tremendous investment of time, money, and effort that went into getting the six of us on this particular cruise – This trip was absolutely, without a doubt worth every single bit of worry and preparation; worth every penny of expense.  Would we do it again?  In a heartbeat.

The Mediterranean Sunset - Viewed from our Balcony on the Disney MagicThank you so much for following along!  I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip report.  If you were looking for tips and helpful information, I hope you found what you needed.  If you have any questions, post them in a comment and I’ll do my best.  Tomorrow, Disney Cruise Line will announce their 2015 late spring and summer itineraries.  We took advantage of the rebooking offer while on board the Magic and booked a placeholder cruise – so tomorrow we’ll transfer that reservation to a new date and begin the whole process again.  Stay tuned to find out where we’ll be headed next!

Links to all the other parts of the trip report:

 

 

 

 

 

Cruising Disney’s Magic in the Mediterranean – At Sea

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The Coast of Italy as Seen from the Disney MagicThis is part 9 of a series.  Links to the rest of the trip report may be found at the very bottom of this post.

The last day of our cruise (Friday, August 16th) was a very special day…Megan’s 23rd birthday!  It was particularly great that this was an at-sea day – we could take it easy and help Megan celebrate; quite a change from the previous four super-busy days.  We had the opportunity to sleep in a little later before getting ready for our Palo Brunch.

I’d brought along a Disney princess birthday banner to decorate with and a sparkly tiara for Megan to wear on her special day.  Raymond and I had also stopped by one of the gift shops and picked up a Belle scepter and some pins for our princess.  The gift shop Celebrating a Birthday on a Disney CruiseCast Member put everything in a nice gift bag for us, which we dropped off at Palo mid-morning (so our server could bring it to our table later as a surprise).   At 11:00, we all met for brunch.  I carefully put Megan’s tiara on her head and wished her a happy birthday – her reaction was everything I’d hoped for.  She did not take off her tiara all day!

Once again, Sylvester was our server (as requested) and, in honor of her birthday, Sly helped Megan select a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate – Megan decided on the Banfi Rosa Regale – a sparkling rose with hints of strawberry and raspberry – which was so delicious, we had Birthday Celebration on the Disney Magicto find it again once we got home!  Sylvester also presented Megan with a plate containing a birthday message written in chocolate!  Brunch at Palo is nothing like dinner.  There are several buffet stations and also a full menu of made-to-order dishes.  The atmosphere is lighter and the diners seem much more focused on the food (and the experience of tasting and enjoying many different things) at brunch than at dinner.  And oh, what food!  Caviar, seafood, salads, cold vegetables, breads, cheeses, Danish, sweet rolls, and all manner of desserts make up the buffet.  The menu offers delicious flatbreads (a Palo specialty) and several entrees, many featuring eggs/breakfast-like items.  As we ate, the ship was passing between Sardinia and Corsica, which made for stunning views from Palo’s plentiful windows.  This time, our meal did not, thankfully, last three hours.  We were finished a little before one and Raymond and I went our way and Megan, Grant, Joseph, and Jason went theirs.Relaxing at Sea on the Disney Magic

Knowing the Magic was about to go into dry dock for some major changes, Raymond and I had wanted to take a tour to see the ship one last time in her original form.  Checking our Navigator for the day, we found a tour was scheduled at 4:15 – we could tell the original Magic good-bye and take some pictures to remember her by.

Between brunch and the ship tour, we spent a leisurely afternoon, sadly beginning to pack our suitcases.  We would find out later that the birthday girl and her entourage made the most of their time with shopping, character meetings, and enjoying the special attention that accompanies onboard celebrations.

Original Chandelier on the Disney MagicAt the appointed time, we met for our Art of the Theme Show Tour with a very small group – one group member left our guide scrambling for a minute to find a Spanish-speaking Cast Member to go along with us and translate.  Mission accomplished and we were off.  We knew some of the facts and figures about the magic simply from having sailed on her before, but the guide was interesting and told us quite a few new things about the history of the Magic and her sister ship, the Wonder.

The highlight of the tour for me was seeing the seam where the Magic, constructed in two halves, had finally been assembled into one vessel.  I had no idea that, in order for the Magic and Wonder to be twins, the Wonder has a tattoo of sorts – a pretend seam painted on her in the exact same place as on the Magic.  The Wonder had not been made in two separate pieces and was missing that small detail.  This The Disney Magic's Seam - two halves joinedone small thing, that honestly NO one would notice or care about, is a perfect example of what makes Disney Cruise Line the absolute best cruise experience for guests of all ages.

Dinner that evening was pretty sad.  We were in Lumiere’s – parting company with our servers and trying not to think about the long plane trip ahead of us.  That night’s show was Disney Dreams – one of our favorites!  Due to the time of our flight (very early), we would not be leaving our luggage outside our rooms, but would carry it off with us in the morning to save time in the port terminal.  This made our last evening a lot less frantic without the usual mad packing to get our luggage out in the hall while keeping everything we would need to get ready the next morning.  While Raymond and I were drifting off to sleep, Megan, Grant, Joseph and Jason were squeezing every last drop of fun out of our trip that they possibly could by attending the “Til We Meet Again” 'Til We Meet Again on the Disney Magicfarewell party in the Lobby Atrium and having a wonderful time!

I’ll do one final post in this report to sum it all up, consolidate links, and give some tips you may find helpful.  If you have any questions, please ask away!

 

 

Links to all the other parts of the trip report:Princesses on Disney Cruise Line

 

Disney Cruise Line Character Interactions Meeting Princesses on a Disney Cruise

Collecting Disney Character Autographs

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Aladdin and Jasmine at Walt Disney WorldFor Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney Cruise Line guests, one of the best, most fun things about meeting Disney characters is getting their autographs!  A great, inexpensive souvenir to treasure forever – what could be better than obtaining the actual signature of your favorite Disney superstar?  Whether you wait in line to meet your favorite character or run into them on the spur of the moment, having that special, face-to-face meeting is one of the most magical experiences of a Disney vacation.

What you need to bring:  Large, easy to hold markers or pens (several colors) and a stable  Disney Character Autographs - Mickeysurface for characters to sign.

A basic, easy to carry and use means of autograph collecting is the autograph book.  Advantages:  Autographs are all in one place, great for showing friends and family the different characters’ signatures, children can easily carry these small books and present a blank page for signing, characters can easily sign (or in some cases, stamp) their names.  Downside is that the signatures are inside a book – viewers have to take the time to see them.

Disney Character Autographs - Aladdin and JasmineAnother alternative, is having characters sign a tee shirt or pillowcase.  This takes a little bit more effort than a book because the fabric must be positioned strategically for each signature and something solid must be placed under the area to be signed to make it as easy as possible for those superstars to make their marks (an empty DVD case works well and is light and easy to carry along).  The pros of obtaining autographs on a tee or pillowcase – you (or your pillow) can wear the final product!  A great way to show off all those unique signatures at one time. Cons are, your autograph collection wears out over time (or is outgrown).

Photo mats are another great place to collect autographs.  Photos of character meet-and-greets can be showcased alongside those characters’ signatures!  I particularly love this option.  Pros:  a fantastic option for all ages, lasts Disney Character Autographs on Photo Matsmany years, displays your pictures and the autographs!  Cons:  Harder to carry around, may be more difficult for certain characters to sign/fit their names within a somewhat narrow area.

Finally, another great idea I recently read about (and one we will be using on our next WDW vacation) is to bring along some Christmas ornaments (I recommend shatterproof!) for characters to autograph.  Now, this probably won’t work with characters who stamp instead of sign their names (like Kermit and Miss Piggy, if I recall correctly), but prince and princess autographs would be beautiful on ornaments.  The ornaments I’ve chosen, are medium-sized, clear plastic and they come in two pieces – trinkets/souvenirs can actually be placed inside before the ornaments are assembled.  This Clear Ornament for Disney Character Autographsallows for some fantastic, creative options.  (These ornaments were less than $2 each at my favorite craft store.)

A couple of examples: if I manage to get Ariel’s autograph, I could put sand and shells inside the ornament.  A Belle ornament could hold little books, a rose, some yellow lace, etc.  Any of the Fab Five’s ornaments could contain actual character figures, Elsa’s could have snowflakes, Winnie the Pooh’s could hold toy honey bees – the possibilities are endless!   I’m planning to carry two each day, tucked securely in a small backpack – I’ll let you know how it goes.  I’m also considering more fancy pen options (rather than our usual colored Sharpie fine-point markers) – like metallic paint pens?  If you’ve tried this or have thoughts to share, please comment away!

You should know:  On a Disney cruise, items needing autographs may be left at guest services – the Characters will sign the shirt, pillowcase, or photo matte, etc. and the final collection of Pillowcase for Disney Character Autographs autographs will be conveniently left in your stateroom when finished.  If you’re planning a Disney cruise, take advantage of this wonderful service!

Other tips for character interactions can be found here.

What are your favorite character autograph gathering methods?  Do you have any tips I haven’t mentioned?