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So you are ready to book your Disney cruise, but still want to know what hidden fees you are missing?  Here’s a breakdown of everything you may have to pay extra for on your cruise: Gratuities.  Gratuities are recommended at $12 per person per night.  This will automatically be charged to your on-board account at the end of your cruise unless you go to Guest Services to make any changes.  Tip envelopes will also be left in your stateroom the last night of your cruise.  Most people tend to tip their servers in addition to the $12 per person per day, because service is that good on a Disney Cruise – so you may want to plan ahead. Alcoholic or Specialty Drinks.  Unlike other cruise lines, Disney cruise does include unlimited sodas.  However, alcoholic and specialty non-alcoholic drinks, smoothies and coffees are not included and do cost extra.  Please also note that an 18% gratuity is automatically added to any specialty drink purchase. Excursions.  This should be a given, but any excursion at the ports are going to be extra.  Parasailing, swimming with the dolphins and snorkeling are just some of the types of excursions offered at ports.  Excursions can also be booked direct (outside of Disney Cruise Line) and can save you money. Parasailing at Castaway Cay! Martini, Champagne & Wine Tastings.  Disney offers certain beverage tastings on their ships for an extra fee.  The fee is reasonable, with some starting around $20. Concessions outside theaters.  There are concessions outside both theaters for daily movies and the evening entertainment.  Sodas, popcorn and candy are sold, although you are allowed to bring in your own snacks and drinks as well. Bingo!  One of our favorite activities on the Disney Cruise is Bingo.  This does cost extra, but is family friendly and tons of fun. Photos.  Disney has professional photographers set up throughout different places on the ship (character meet and greets, special backdrops on pirate night, formal night, etc.) and also on Castaway Cay.  The photographers are not allowed to take a photo with your phone, but sometimes at the character meet and greets there are cast members there also that will take a picture with your phone.  Different photo packages are offered, and you can save a little money if you pre-order at www.mycruisephotos.com. Internet.  Disney does offer some internet packages with their Connect@Sea, but they are pretty expensive.  You can get 50MB free your first day of the cruise by signing up through the app. Small Package (100MB) – $19.00 Medium Package (300MB – $39.00 Large Package (1000MB) – $89.00 Adult Only Dining.  Disney offers two adult only dining choices – Palo and Remy.  You can read all about the Palo Brunch here.  These are five-star restaurants and a really good price if you want a special date night or adult only time on your cruise.  Palo is current $30 per person, while Remy is $85 per person. Souvenirs.  What is a trip to any Disney destination without going home with some goodies?  There are several gift shops on board and also at Castaway Cay for you to find that perfect souvenir to take home. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique & Pirates League.  Disney offers this service to girls who want to be made up like their favorite princess, or kids who want a pirate makeover for Pirate Night!  This is very popular and reservations can be made at your online check-in date (75 days before sailing for first-time cruisers). Spa Services.  All Disney ships have a spa on-board with services such as massages, facials, pedicures & more!  There is also a Chill Spa available for teens.  The spa will run specials your first day on-board, but usually require a booking for the first night in order to get the discount.  If you are a Disney Visa cardholder, certain services will be eligible for a discount.  Read about the Rainforest Day Pass here.

These are items on my Disney Cruise Packing list that I must take with me! Sound Machine. I don’t know about you, but I have to have my white noise when I sleep.  It can get pretty quiet in your cabin, so this is a must have for me!  Yes, there are white noise apps on your phone, but I haven’t found one that I love, and this is very compact, so doesn’t take up too much travel space. Pirate Outfits!   Almost every Disney cruise has a Pirate Night!  They will leave some pirate bandanas in your stateroom, but this is a chance to get the entire family dressed up for the festivities!  I found these shirts on Amazon for a great price.  Check them out here! $1 Bills. We like to take advantage of room service on our Disney cruise, so we always like to tip the server who delivers our food. Lockable Beach Bag. This is a great thing to have for your cruise, not only on the ship, but at ports also.  There are times you want to get up to go grab a drink, the unlimited ice cream or get in line for the Aqua Duck and can’t take your bag with you.  It’s nice to have peace of mind knowing that your belongings are secure.  Just lock it to your chair and go.  Click here to find it on Amazon. Lockable Beach Bag Sea Bands / Dramamine. Luckily I don’t get motion sickness, but my husband tends to get queasy.  These both work great for him!  The last thing you want to do is be nauseous your entire vacation! Sunscreen.  Definitely don’t forget the sunscreen!  Here’s my favorite that smells great (like suntan lotion instead of sunscreen!) and it feels good on your skin. The BEST smelling sunscreen ever!! Binoculars.  This is something that we wish we had on our first cruise as we struggled to see some dolphins swimming at sea.  Fun especially if you are in a Verandah stateroom. Light Sweater. Even if you are on a cruise in the heat of the summer, the indoor spaces such as theaters and restaurants can get cool!  I’m cold-natured anyway, so taking a light sweater is a must for me so I can enjoy the entertainment comfortably. Lanyards.  When you check-in for your cruise, you are given your “Key to the World” card.  This unlocks your cabin doors, contains information with your dining rotation schedule and is used to make any purchases on the ship.  It’s nice to take a lanyard to hold these in so you don’t have to dig around in your bag or hope they don’t fall out of your shorts/pants pockets.  Once you have sailed with Disney once, each time you sail again, you are given a lanyard as a gift for being a Castaway Club member.  I’ve been on several Disney cruises, so I have plenty of Castaway Club lanyards, but this one is still my favorite!  Click on the pic to take you directly to Amazon. Poo-Pourri. This can be a life-saver!  First off, we know what we all do on a cruise right?  Eat!  All.The.Time.  The staterooms are not the largest, so we carry this on cruises with us and it works amazingly well!  Just click on the picture to find it on Amazon!

A Disney Cruise for a Large Family (3 or more children), can sometimes be tricky with accomodations.  With Disney Cruise Line (as well as most other cruise lines), the most a cabin will sleep is 5 people.  There are only certain room categories that will hold 5 people, and especially if your children are older, it can still be pretty tight. So what does a large family with four or more children do?  Our family of six gets two connecting staterooms.   Even when you are a family of five, sometimes it comes out cheaper to book two connecting rooms instead of one of the higher category rooms that sleep five, so make sure you check out that option – the extra space having two cabins is wonderful! With our family, we would leave the connecting doors propped open so basically it was just like a bedroom next door where we could always keep an eye on the kids. Open Door to the left is opening to the connecting room Most Disney Cruise staterooms offer the split bathroom plan, so you get a toilet and sink in one room, and a shower and sink in the other.  So if you have two connecting rooms for your large family, you get 2 toilets and 2 showers – which definitely helps out!  You are also getting double the storage space.  This is especially good if you are on a 7-night or longer cruise so each person can have some space and not be on top of each other.  Although Disney cruise staterooms are larger than other cruise lines, it can still be cramped after a while, so stretching out into two rooms is great (and necessary if you have more than 5 in your family!) Do you have a large family and want to know the best ways to afford a Disney cruise?  Be sure to check out my blog post “Ways to Save Money on a Disney Cruise”

My husband is our guest blogger today!  He recently went on the Outlaw Country Cruise on the Norwegian Pearl.  Here’s his trip report – enjoy! I’m an outlaw. Yes I am. I was baptized and immersed by Outlaw royalty like Steve Earl, Rodney Crowell, and Roger Alan Wade. “Snake farm, it just sounds nasty. Snake farm, it pretty much is. Snake farm, It’s a reptile house. Snake farm. Uuuggghhh”; If you know these words, then you’re an outlaw too. If not, come with me on this journey and you will soon know the legend named Ray Wiley Hubbard. Have you ever thought about vacationing in the Gulf of Mexico on a themed cruise? Me either, but in 2018 I did just that. Twelve months earlier my best friend Justin cruised on the 2nd Annual Outlaw Country Cruise, a music festival themed to represent the musicians onboard that frequent the airwaves of the Sirius XM Channel that bears the same name. Now mind you, I don’t frequently listen to Outlaw Country but Justin insisted that this would be a great cruise, with awesome music, and my loving wife and awesome travel agent, Tammy, viewed this as an opportunity to experience a ship in the Norwegian Cruise Lines fleet. They were both right! Me and Justin on Deck 12 for the Sail Away Concert by The Mavericks The 3rd Annual Outlaw Country Cruise was based on the Norwegian Pearl and is one of many themed cruises coordinated by Sixthman Productions who’s responsible for other themed cruises such as The Walking Dead, The Kiss Kruise, Keeping The Blues Alive, Pitbull After Dark Party, Kid Rock’s Chilln’ The Most Cruise, Brantley Gilbert’s Kick It in the Ship Cruise, and more. Apparently Sixthman contracts with Norwegian Cruise Lines to host these cruises for a month or two during the winter months. The Pearl was based out of New Orleans for this cruise; boasting capacity for 2,394 passengers, 15 bar/lounge options, and a casino…making it the perfect size ship for any themed cruise. When you think New Orleans, you think Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras, and one of the unexpected benefits of this Outlaw Country Cruise was the ability to arrive the day before setting sail and boarding one night early, essentially using the Pearl as a hotel. Once aboard, passengers were allowed to disembark and tour New Orleans Sunday evening or Monday morning to sightsee or eat at any one of the fabulous restaurants downtown. The only challenge is, the port is eight to ten blocks from downtown, making it a bit of an inconvenience to walk to when the weather forecast was calling for rain as it was during our stay. (Hint: The 4th Annual Outlaw Country Cruise will depart from Tampa, FL in 2019) The Mississippi River was foggy the morning of our departure Because this was a themed cruise, the pool deck was retrofitted with the main outdoor stage, but another pool and whirlpool was on the option end of the deck for anyone wanting to get wet during a concert. The musical genre was represented by 16+ musicians. In addition to the artists mentioned in the opening paragraph, some of my favorites included Jesse Dayton, Nikki Lane, Elizabeth Cook, Blackberry Smoke, and The Mavericks. A daily schedule allowed us to plan our musical travels from venue to venue Musical performances were staggered all day long in five different venues: Stardust Theatre, the Pool Deck, the Atrium (O’Sheenan’s overlooks the Atrium), Bar City, and Spinnaker Lounge. While at sea, music would begin at 11:30 am and usually conclude around 1:00 am on the Atrium or Spinnaker stage. Blackberry Smoke on stage in the Stardust Theatre Elizabeth Cook performing in the Atrium One of the craziest and most surreal locations on the ship was the Bliss Lounge. This is where me and Justin attended a guitar playing session by Ray Wylie Hubbard, who before the cruise I only knew as the guy who sang the crazy song “Snake Farm” but Ray is a great story teller and his songs are really cool. Bliss Lounge – complete with bowling lanes (not shown) and a four-post bed in the background– not sure what that’s supposed to be used for? Synonymous with cruising is eating! And the Outlaw Country Cruise is no different. The Pearl is outfitted with 16 dining options (of which 12-13 were available during the Outlaw cruise). We always ate our breakfast at the buffet in the Garden Café, our lunches and late night snacks in O’Sheenan’s, and our dinners in the Summer Palace. Believe me, I was skeptical about what the food quality might be on a themed cruise but we ate everything in sight and enjoyed every bite! For more detailed pictures and notes about the Norwegian Pearl’s restaurants, and food options, visit my review of the Norwegian Pearl here. Summer Place Dining Room – Available for dinner every evening Seafood Crab Cake in Summer Place – unbelievably delicious Justin said this pork chop was tender, juicy, and perfect What good is dinner without dessert – this Lava Cake dessert was a perfect finish Garden Café Buffet – Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner everyday And if you’re into the bar and casino scene, you have 15+ bar options and a casino equipped with plenty of slots, roulette wheel, blackjack, and poker tables The Outlaw Country branding was everywhere, including the blackjack table Bar City was the site of many intimate concerts; Magnums was conveniently located to keep our beverage topped off In all, this Outlaw Country Cruise was a fun, great experience, and one that Justin and I plan to repeat in 2019.  If you’re looking for more details on the Norwegian Pearl like the Mandara Spa or fitness activities, visit my review of the Norwegian Pearl here.

If you’re reading this review, then you know I received permission from my loving wife, Tammy, to experience a new adventure without her by my side. This vacation was a stray from my more frequent Disney vacations with Tammy and the family but I was up for the challenge. My best friend Justin had introduced me to the Outlaw Country themed cruise on the Norwegian Pearl that he had experienced himself one year earlier. For a few months leading up to the cruise I would spend time tuning into Outlaw Country to familiarize myself with the genre that would fill four of my days in January. I’ll admit, it was a struggle; some of the songs reminded me of story tellers long ago (think Merl Haggard, Johnny Cash, and George Jones), and others, well, there lyrics were just bizarre. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to hanging out with best bud and experiencing awesome music from cruise favorites like Blackberry Smoke, The Mavericks, Jesse Dayton, Nikki Lane, Steve Earl, Elizabeth Cook, and Ray Wylie Hubbard. For more highlights from the Outlaw Country Cruise, see my trip report here. Of course this is a repeat picture from my Outlaw Country Cruise Blog but Justin is the reason I was on The Pearl, and hey, it’s a good picture! Let’s get back to the Norwegian Pearl. A beautiful ship, built in 2006 and refurbished in 2017, with capacity for 2,394 passengers, this ship is the perfect size for a themed cruise. In comparison, the Pearl is similar to the Disney Wonder which entered service in 1999, re-imagineered in 2016, and has capacity for 2,400 passengers. The Norwegian Pearl is home to 16 dining options, 15 bars/lounges, a casino, and a quaint, relaxing spa. Because it was a themed cruise with several artists and bands on board, The Indigo main dining room, was reserved for the musicians, and beautifully designed Le Bistro Restaurant was reserved for use by the Sixthman Production team, but there were plenty of other food options available. Also, the La Cucina Italian Restaurant was not serving meals during this cruise but it was available for cruisers eating the Garden Café buffet and wanted a quiet environment to eat. La Cucina has a beautiful, rustic environment with a row of external window to the left (not shown in picture) that allow for wonderful views and plenty of natural light The Garden Café Buffet and The Great Outdoors dining areas were the main restaurants for most passengers (did I mention that I never felt crowded on this cruise?). Breakfast offered plentiful options for passengers wanting to eat healthy with oatmeal, bagels, yogurt, and fruit; or for passengers who threw caution to the wind and wanted to enjoy vacation with omelet stations, sausage, crisp bacon, waffles, and even biscuits and gravy! We would always grab our plates and head aft to the Great Outdoors tables to eat on the back deck. The fresh air and views were hard to beat. Garden Café – very bright, clean, and great food Garden Café Indoor seating area My usual breakfast from the Garden Café, with an occasional bowl of oatmeal There is an identical breakfast buffet in the Great Outdoors, just steps away from the Garden Café Lunch offered delicious ballpark options of hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries. There was always grilled fish, grilled chicken, daily soups, and even an Asian wok bar that provided a variety of options. Another great lunch location or late evening munchie option was O’Sheehan’s that felt like a neighborhood sports bar and had some of the best wings and nacho’s I’ve ever had. I tried one of the specialty hot dogs one day but was left disappointed. O’Shennan’s surrounds the Atrium area. Seating is available on both side of the Atrium with a bar in the middle, which is behind me in this picture Awesome Chicken Fajitas in O’Shennan’s The Asian Wok bar and grilled fish provided a healthy option for lunch in the Garden Café Our favorite dinner option every evening was the Summer Palace, themed to resemble a Russian Palace. There was a standard menu for dinner but every evening there were daily specials. The food was delicious every evening. We had fantastic options like crab cakes, grilled pork chop, seared tilapia, and the most delicious spaghetti bolognaise I’ve ever tasted! Hint, we received faster service the two evening we sat closer to the kitchen. Summer Place – a beautiful entrance before entering a Russian Palace Summer Place Dining Room – Available for dinner every evening Faberge and Decorated Eggs decorated the staircases and rails The Tilapia was light, fluffy, and flavorful I am not lying, this was the BEST spaghetti with meat sauce that I have ever tasted…and my mother’s side of the family is Italian…Shhhh Let’s just say that Justin and I ate dinner every night in Summer Place – Chocolate Lava Cake The Norwegian Pearl is also home to the Mandara Spa. We paid around $145 for a Thermal Suite Pass that allowed us access to the spa each day of the cruise. The Spa was well outfitted with several spa treatment rooms, and several amenities in the men’s locker room including a steam room, sauna, single whirlpool, and chilly plunge pool (for those of you who are into shocking your body). The Co-ed area had several lounger chairs that faced the front of the ship, a 4-person hot tub, warm mosaic tile lounges, and a large relaxation pool with several features. This is co-ed area of the spa. There were several jets that would activate the water in this jet/hot pool. The lounge chairs in the background faced forward, so you could relax and see exactly where the ship was headed Men’s Locker Room, complete with a sauna, steam room, individual hot tub, and an icy plunge pool, if you’re into that kind of thing Once you’ve had plenty of time to relax, there’s a casino and Bar City area that is great for staying active afterhours: Bar City Lounge. The Magnum Champagne Wine Bar is in the foreground The one area on the ship that provided the most surreal experience was the Bliss Lounge. Decorated in lush purple and maroon colors, heavy drapes, and plush furniture, including a four-post bed (yes, you read that correctly), and a couple of side VIP-style rooms. Notice the four-post bed in the background to the right – none of the cruisers knew what this was for) Bliss Lounge has four bowling lanes If you are into staying fit during your cruise, the fitness was well-equipped with plenty of cardio pieces of equipment, new nautilus-style machines, and free weights. Healthy food options on board included plenty of fresh fruit, grilled chicken, fish, vegetable, oatmeal, and protein packed omelets. If you have children traveling with you on the Norwegian Pearl, keeping them entertained will be a challenge. There is an Entourage Arcade, a small childcare area, and the smallest kid’s splash pad area I’ve ever seen on a ship, almost as if it was an afterthought or obligatory nod to the one or two families who may have decided to bring their small children onboard. Yep, this is the splash area for kids on the 12th deck if I remember correctly, so it’s not close to the large adult pool area on deck 11 Entourage Arcade – small but adequate We had one port of call during the cruise, Costa Maya, Mexico, which was promoted as a destination built specifically for tourists. If you’re familiar with the commercialization of Myrtle Beach, SC and the variety of Tanger Outlet Malls, imagine if they had a baby.  There were some authentic Mexican vendors but the NFL blazoned items that decorated their shops was puzzling. If you want to visit the Mayan Ruins, there’s an excursion for that. If you want to swim with the dolphins, there’s a small man-made lagoon for that, but it pales in comparison to the awesome and educational dolphin experience available at Discovery Cove in Orlando, FL.  You can read our trip report about Discovery Cove here. Costa Maya – View from the ship The pier looks long but it’s a nice, easy walk…a lot better than being tendered onto shore Costa Maya Plaza Area Commercialization to American tourist was front and center as soon as you walked into the shopping area There were several quaint restaurants and eating areas away from the crowded shopping district One of the coolest areas in Coast Maya was the open pool area. You could grab a lounge chair, relax, or swim and float in the pool. There was also a snorkeling area for those interested, but I didn’t see anyone taking advantage of that opportunity during our visit. Pool area in the middle of the shopping area. Notice the Norwegian Pearl in the distance Just another view of the pool area In all, the Norwegian Pearl was a very pleasant surprise. It was colorful, clean, and the food was excellent. The updated furnishing and airy common space areas were a visible indicator that the ship had recently come out of dry dock for refreshing. It’s hard to compare any cruise line to Disney’s Cruise Line for kid friendly options and activities, and with the Pearl’s tiny kid’s splash pad area, this ship is probably better suited for adult only cruises.

Have you heard of the #4Parks1Day Challenge?  It was on my bucket list of Disney things to do and I finally got to experience it for my birthday girls’ only trip! First off, if you haven’t been to Disney MANY times – don’t try this.  We have both been many times and knew what highlights we wanted to hit and knew how to quickly get around to everywhere we wanted to go. Before our trip, we went a little crazy making shirts.  I think we made 4 or 5 shirts total?  We didn’t even wear them all!  Oh well – there’s always the next trip!   But these were the shirts we made for our #4Parks1Day.  I just love the way they turned out, and we got tons of comments on them! #4Parks1Day Shirts! The back of the shirt For our birthdays, my friend and I decided to go on a 3-Night Disney Cruise!  We love everything Disney but even if you don’t – the cruises are amazing.  I will also be doing a trip report on the Adults Only Disney Cruise, so subscribe to my blog so you can be notified when it’s ready! We thought since we were going to be in Florida and so close to one of our favorite places, that we would fit in a day at the park as well.  Since we love all four parks, we decided to cram them all in one day and just hit some of the highlights! I was able to secure us fastpasses to Flight of Passage – which, if you know anything about Disney World – you know this is the hardest fastpass to get.  So I was super surprised to find it available at less than 30 days out.  Disney sometimes adds extra fastpasses on when park hours change. So our plan was:  First park – Animal Kingdom (Extra Magic Morning Hours), Hollywood Studios, Epcot and then end our day at Magic Kingdom.  I am a serious planner (I am a travel agent, so I guess that’s a given!) and I had planned out what we wanted to do and what time I thought we would be through with everything.  I’m very happy to say that my plan worked almost down to the minute!  Was it brilliance or just luck?  I choose the first, haha! My husband and I are passholders, and Animal Kingdom was having an early shopping event for passholders on the day we visited for their 20th Anniversary, which meant we got into Animal Kingdom even earlier than everyone else!  The passholder line opened at 7am.  We had to drop our bags with bell services that morning (and pack up) as we also did a split stay.  Our first night was at All Star Music, and our second night at Saratoga Springs Resort.  So not only were we going for a #4Parks1Day Challenge, we also had to have everything packed and out of our room before we got on the bus!  Yikes!  We kept telling ourselves that this exhausting day would be followed by a relaxing, wonderful cruise, so we could do it! After dropping our bags off, we hopped in line to get on the bus (I had packed granola bars and we bought a Coke the night before for our breakfast).  Our bus came pretty quickly and we were off to Animal Kingdom!  The passholders had a separate line entrance, so we walked in to a fairly empty park!  We headed straight for Island Mercantile where they were having the passholder sale and O.M.G. what a madhouse!  I went specifically for the special edition 20th Anniversary Pin that I had seen pictured on some other blogs (my husband and I are crazy over collecting Disney pins – he is worse than me though, lol).  It was so crowded in there we couldn’t get to everything we wanted.  I was also interested in the 20th anniversary Animal Kingdom Magic Band, but for one, I couldn’t get to them, and secondly they were $32.99.  That was a little more than I wanted to pay because I already own about 20 different magic bands!  The pins were up at the registers, so we hopped in the shortest line we saw and asked for the pin when we got to the register.  Well, they only had one available for purchase, and it was the passholder edition, which I actually wasn’t crazy about, but I bought it anyway. I wanted the top 2, but all they had was the Passholder pin on the bottom right After leaving the store, we got our pics made in front of the Tree of Life. Park #1 – Animal Kingdom Love the frame! Cute magic shot Then we headed to Kilimanjaro Safaris.  We were the some of the first in line so walked right on.  It was a beautiful (even a little chilly) morning.  We opted to put our sweaters on when we got on the ride.  The animals seemed to be out and about.  I just love this ride.  It’s a must do for me every time I visit Disney. This was the first time I’d seen giraffes in the wooded area After we left the safari ride, we headed over to Expedition Everest.  Our plan was to hop in the single rider line, but there was only a 5 minute wait so we got in the regular line.  We walked right onto that ride as well.  Early mornings are the BEST!!! Our EE Ride Photo By this time we headed over for our first (and only) fastpass I had scheduled – Flight of Passage!   Our fastpass time was for 8:55am – 9:55am and we were in line right at 8:55am.  We waited maybe 5 minutes, and were in!  After getting off the ride (seriously AMAZING ride), we took some pictures of Pandora before heading out to catch our bus to Hollywood Studios.  It is so pretty, they did a wonderful job. While we were on the bus to Hollywood Studios, I was able to score us a fastpass for one of our favorite rides – Rock ‘n Rollercoaster!!! We were on the bus around 10am and our fastpass was for 11:05am.  Also on the bus, a cast member was on there who noticed our birthday buttons (almost every cast member noticed our buttons and said happy birthday to us).  She got the whole bus to sing Happy Birthday to us.  Fun (although a little awkard?)  When we got to Hollywood Studios, we headed over to grab us a cupcake and found a table to enjoy it and wait for our fastpass time.  After finishing the cupcake (we split one), we walked over to see if we could catch a glimpse of the new Toy Story Land scheduled to open on June 30th.  This is what we saw: This is why I love Disney.  Even the construction zone looks adorable! It was time to head over to get in line for our fastpass, but first we stopped for our 2nd Park Picture in front of Tower of Terror, and also a couple in front of the entrance to the Rock ‘n Rollercoaster ride.  Our photopass photographer in front of Tower of Terror was great and had us do a couple of poses, and brought up the idea of holding up 2 fingers for our “2nd Park”  We wish we had thought of that while at Animal Kingdom, but we knew we would continue that for our last two parks. Park #2! Pointing at our birthday buttons Showing off our ears! We were in line for Rock n’ Rollercoaster right when our fastpass time opened.  We love this ride!! One of my favorite rides! After finishing the ride, we walked into some of the shops before heading out.  We didn’t buy anything and went out to catch the boat to Epcot!! The boat ride was a nice change from the bus and again, it was a BEAUTIFUL day.  Not humid at all, a little windy and sunny. At Epcot our goal was to walk around and look at all the topiaries since it was Flower & Garden Festival time and to have a sit down lunch at Via Napoli. We walked around just taking it all in – I absolutely LOVE just walking around Epcot World Showcase.  It’s perfect for an adults only trip. Another magic shot Check out the topiaries – aren’t they beautiful?! Snow White and the Dwarves Beauty and the Beast Captain Hook & Peter Pan Lady and the Tramp Bambi and Thumper Simba Anna and Elsa Entrance to the park We walked around one half of the World Showcase and then headed back to Italy for our 1:15pm reservation at Via Napoli.  We split an appetizer (arancini) and an individual pepperoni pizza.  They also brought us out a dessert for our birthdays!  It was the perfect meal and just enough to fill us up but not make us miserable. Arancini (fried risotto) Individual Sized Pepperoni Pizza Birthday dessert! After finishing up our walk around the World Showcase, we headed over to Test Track for the Single Rider line.  We only waited about 15 minutes – this is definitely the way to do this ride! After the ride, we headed over to the Disney Visa Character Spot (a perk of the Disney Visa), and which characters did we see?  Minnie AND Pluto!!  We were kind of hoping for Minnie & Mickey, but hey – we were happy with any, especially with no line!! Minnie and Pluto wanted to read my shirt….. Minnie and Pluto reading my shirt I love Minnie! After our character meet, we headed out to get our picture in front of the ball for our Number 3 Park!! Park 3!! We then hopped on the monorail (all modes of Disney transport checked off!) and were off to Magic Kingdom! We got to Magic Kingdom around 4:30pm.  We stopped in front of the castle for our Number 4 Park pics (wanted to get them before we looked like walking zombies!).  Although we both were surprised that we were not exhausted at this point.   I really think that the great weather with no humidity helped, because usually in a typical one park day, my feet are hurting by this point and I’m ready for a break. Park 4!! The lines for all of the rides were pretty long at this point in the day and no fastpasses to be had until later in the night (Magic Kingdom was open until 1am – we definitely weren’t staying that long).  So we went first to Hall of Presidents to see it after the recent refurbishment.  They changed it right much and we enjoyed it!  After leaving there we headed over to Mickey’s Philharmagic.  I just love this show and the smell of blueberry pie!  We then went to grab some dinner at Casey’s.  We both got the corn dog nuggets, plastic cheese dipping sauce and fries.  The line is always so crazy in there – that is probably the longest line we waited in all day!  We found a table over by Main Street Bakery and sat and enjoyed our view: After eating we headed over to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, always such a cute show.  By the time we got out, it was almost time to find a spot to watch the fireworks.  But first we had things we wanted to buy in the gift shop, so we stopped to do that.  We had about 5 minutes to spare after shopping and grabbed us a place on Main Street right in front of the castle.  This was the first time either one of us has seen the Happily Ever After fireworks and we really enjoyed it. I was thankful that it was an Extra Magic Hours night so everyone wasn’t rushing out at the same time.  As you can see, we look kind of tired by this point: We were on the bus around 9:30pm and were actually able to sit down!  When we arrived at Saratoga Springs, we still needed to check in!  Thankfully it was not busy and we were in our rooms by around 10:15pm.  Our original plan was to eat breakfast at Kona Café for some Tonga Toast, but we decided to cancel our reservation and just eat at the food court.  We wanted a little time to sleep in before heading off for our cruise on the Disney Wonder!! We had an amazing time and although I wouldn’t do #4Parks1Day every time I’m at Disney, it was perfect for a one day trip to hit some of our favorites!

Welcome to the start of my Disney Cruise Alaska Trip Report!  Today is all about our travel day to Vancouver.  A little background….we are a blended family with 4 kids.  As you will see, we only took one kid on this vacation.  Reason being we are starting a tradition of a high school trip of their choice (my son’s choice was a 7 night Disney cruise – Alaska was just icing on the cake).  This gives us some bonding time with that child, not to mention it gives us the opportunity to do things we wouldn’t be able to afford with all four kids in tow (Alaska excursions can get pricey).  In full disclosure, I did get a travel agent discount on this cruise. We had an early morning today, our flight was leaving at 7:23am.  We woke up around 4:30, showered and went downstairs for breakfast.  We were only a mile away from the airport parking area, and a shuttle was pulling up right after we got our luggage out of the car.  We ended up making the shuttle and were inside the airport by 5:30am.  The line to check bags with Delta was ridiculously long!  I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve traveled quite a bit.  It took us over an hour to get through that line!  We saw several people who were told they would miss their flight.  Delta didn’t charge us to check our bags so that saved us $75 – I assume since there was a problem with the bag belt which caused the delay is why we were not charged.  We then headed for security and while in line they had a dog sniffing everyone in the line.  Well, the dog stopped by me so they held me back.  Then the dog sniffed at Eddie too (he had walked on up further after I was held back).  After a minute the security guard told us to go ahead, but then when we got up to the security lines, we heard the guy say “this is the three.”  So they were talking about the three of us apparently – and we had to go through a separate security line.  We didn’t have to remove our shoes or anything, but they opened up and searched all of our bags.  I’m not sure what the dog smelled unless it was the snacks we had purchased the night before for our long plane ride!  After they had went through all of our bags, we rushed to our gate and made it in time for the last boarding call – whew!  Here we are, happy to be on the plane! We had a layover in LAX (Los Angeles) of about 2 hours, so we grabbed lunch while at the airport.  The guys went to go get lunch and I was saving some seats (LAX airport was horrendous).  I had heard on the speaker that anyone who did not have their boarding pass issued by WestJet, should come up to get a new boarding pass (ours had been issued by Delta – the flight was operated by Delta, but was a WestJet flight).  So when the guys got back, I took our passports up to the desk.  The attendant told me that we were not on this flight, had I made any changes?  I told her “no, I haven’t changed anything.”  So she called Delta to see what was going on.  For some reason (a reason they couldn’t explain), Delta had removed us from the flight.  THANKFULLY, we were able to get back on, but we lost our seats on aisle 10 and were now on the very last row of the plane – although seated together.  I told Eddie that I really hoped that things started going smoother, because this was beginning to get stressful! We made it to Vancouver around 2:30pm.  Going through customs was extremely quick and efficient there, we were very impressed with the airport, and it was really pretty.  We waited for our luggage, then went to the cash exchange to get some CAD ($200 USD got us $237 CAD). Then we went to grab a taxi to our hotel in downtown Vancouver – Westin Bayshore.  The cab ride was about 20 to 25 minutes and cost $43 CAD. Once we arrived at the Westin Bayshore it was around 4:00 or 4:30pm.  I went to the desk to check in and was told that we could wait for an “upgrade” which she told me was a corner harbor view room that was larger than  a standard room, or we could take an obstructed harbor view room now.  We decided to go with the upgrade since we were only planning to drop our bags off in the room anyway and head to Gastown for dinner.  We left our bags with bell services and went outside.  We talked to the guy in charge of bike rentals there (Westin guests received 2 hours of bike rental free), and he gave us a map and told us it was a 15-20 minute walk to Gastown.  It was a nice day and we wanted to walk by Canada Place where we’d be boarding the next day, so we decided to walk.  Here’s some of our sights on the walk over: The virtual flight similar to Soarin’ at Disney World / Disneyland We ate at Steamworks, a pub/brewery in Gastown that I had read good reviews about. Steamworks Brewing Co We were not disappointed, we all enjoyed our meals.  We got a crab/artichoke dip for an appetizer (this was our least favorite, kind of bland and lukewarm, not served hot): I got a Steamworks burger and Eddie got wings and we split: Hunter got the fish & chips: They also had a store there where you could buy wine or beer if you wanted to take some on the cruise with you. After we finished up dinner we started the walk back to our hotel.  By this time it was around 6:30pm (9:30pm to our bodies) and we were started to get tired after our early wake-up.  We stopped by the Olympic Cauldron and the Orca for pics on the way back: Our plan was to grab some bikes and head to Stanley Park after we checked in.  It was about 7:30pm at this point and the bike rental representative was no longer there, but I had asked the front desk earlier and they said that the desk outside would be able to assist.  So we went in to collect our luggage from bell services and take it to our room (I had received a text on the walk back that our room was ready).  We walked up to our room and this is our room: I didn’t think it was a very large room, although the bathroom was nice and big and we did have a nice view.  The regular rooms must not be very big.  At this point I asked Eddie where my makeup bag was – I had kept it out of my luggage to use it that morning at our airport hotel, but then gave it back to him to pack up.  Well, he forgot to switch it to our checked bags because we were kind of in a rush to get to the airport….so here I am getting ready to leave for a 7-night cruise with no makeup, no toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.  We looked up the closest drug store and figured we could stop by there on our way back from Stanley Park.  Um, nope.  First off, we couldn’t get the desk outside to help (the guy was quite rude actually) – so no bike rentals.  I was pretty disappointed because I really wanted to spend some time in Stanley Park.  So, start stacking everything up that had happened that day on top of me being pretty tired at this point, and I was very irritable.  Eddie decided to stay at the hotel and Hunter and I walked to the nearest drug store, where I ended up spending $100 to replace the things in my makeup bag (and Hunter’s toiletry bag too – it was also left behind).  We walked back to the hotel about 9:30pm.  It was still light outside and I was determined to stay up until 10:00pm to try to get acclimated to the time change.  We watched some tv until around 10:00 and then called it a night. Up next – Disney Cruise to Alaska Boarding Day!  Early morning in Vancouver and boarding the Disney Wonder!  Read all about it here! #Alaska #DisneyCruise #TripReport

Today on the blog I will be doing Cruise Comparisons:  Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas vs. Disney Cruise Line 3-Night Cruise. #1: Ship and Staterooms Winner: Disney is the clear winner. Ship is much prettier, Staterooms nearly 100 Sq ft bigger (Oceanview room). Disney ship looks new after their renovations. RC still looks like a 24 year old ship. Disney Magic:  First sailed 1997..only 5 years newer than the RC Majesty but a world of difference as Disney consistently does upgrades on all their ships. Magic most recently received new carpet, decor, kids areas updated). Royal Caribbean  Majesty of the Seas:  First sailed 1992. Upgrades were done in May 2016 but it still looked like a 24 year old ship to us…other than outdoor movie screen with limited views…struggling to see what was upgraded. Disney Magic Oceanview Room:  214 square feet with split bathrooms (toilet and sink in one bathroom, shower and sink in the other, plus a separate living area/sleeping area separated by curtain). Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas Oceanview Room:  Only 120 square feet…two twins pushed together and no separate living area. Very small porthole window and tiny bathroom. Also in desperate need of updates. No way more than 2 people would fit in this room. #2: Castaway Cay (Disney) vs. Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean) Winner: Disney again. Both islands are beautiful. However Castaway has a larger beach area, chairs are not on top of each other (you can’t even step between 2 chairs at Coco Cay they are so close to each other). Disney had a separate adult only beach, a roped off snorkeling lagoon that is only for snorkelers, a floating water slide that is free of charge, and umbrellas free to use by the chairs. RC snorkeling lagoon has snorkelers or regular swimmers, no umbrellas unless you rent them ($50 pp), inflatable water slides ($22 pp – per hour!). Disney cruises start out more expensive initially but you really feel nickeled and dimed on RC. Disney’s lunch on the island was much more organized, RC had lines going every which way and was just a cluster. Food was better on Disney’s island too although RC wasn’t bad. Disney has towels on the island for pick up and drop off, RC you have to check out towels on ship and then bring them back on ship with you or be charged $25 per towel. Disney island is walk on from ship, with RC you have to be tendered over on a boat. Disney island with umbrellas and chairs spaced apart nicely. Coco cay with chairs about an inch apart. Disney’s free floating water slides.  No charge! Coco Cay inflatable water slides. $22 per person per hour. Ouch. Snorkeling in disney lagoon. Only snorkelers allowed. To rent snorkeling equipment charge is $31.18 ages 10+. $15.05 ages 3-9. Snorkeling in Coco Cay…also open to swimmers. Rentals $54 per adult, $44 per child. #3: Pre-cruise documentation / information and cruise check in process Winner – Disney. Disney mails you this great personalized spiral bound booklet containing important information you need to know before your cruise, along with sticker luggage tags. With Royal Caribbean you go online and print and staple or tape your luggage tags to your bags and print out your cruise documents. Check-in at the port is quick (15 minutes) and organized with Disney. With RC it took us an hour to get checked in. Disney also has a great app for you to download. Prior to your cruise there is a vacation countdown on the app. Once on cruise you can connect to wifi for free within the app and find ship layout, times for all activities offered, dinner menus and can text members in your party within the app. You also get a paper itinerary each day. Royal Caribbean only offers a paper itinerary. No app to find times or menus or texting so you either need to memorize schedule or carry paper around with you. Disney Cruise booklet Royal Caribbean vs Disney Cruise #4: Drink packages Winner: Royal Caribbean. Bet you all thought Royal wouldn’t win any of my comparisons. #5: DINING EXPERIENCE Winner: Disney. Disney has 3 main dining rooms, themed and beautifully decorated. On the Disney Dream the restaurants are Animators Palate, Enchanted Garden and The Royal Palace. Your servers follow you to each restaurant each night. They know you by name, remember what you like to eat, drink, etc. Service is top notch. With Royal Caribbean you go to the same (plain) dining room every night. You do have same servers and although service is good, they don’t personalize it like Disney does. They don’t know your name and don’t care to. Lol. Animators Palate on the Disney Magic. Drawings on the wall start out in black and white and you guess what is being drawn…at the end of the meal they come to life and in color. Very cool. Enchanted Garden – Disney Dream Royal Palace – Disney Dream and now the Royal Caribbean Dining Room: Moonlight dining room on Royal Caribbean. Are you as underwhelmed as I was? So as you can see, I highly favor a Disney Cruise.  My first cruise was actually a Disney Cruise.  I LOVED it.  I quickly booked a Royal Caribbean cruise next….after all, it was cheaper.  Well, I found out why.  As they always say, you get what you pay for.  The Disney brand delivers…exceptional customer service, extremely clean, always updating ships to keep them looking new and modern and plenty of activities to keep you busy – at no extra cost.  We felt like we had to pay for activities (spa, etc) to keep us entertained on the Royal Caribbean cruise.  This post, of course, is only comparing the 3-night cruises.  Royal Caribbeans 7-night cruises are on their nicer, newer ships and therefore should be more competitive. Have you sailed both Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean?  I would love to hear your thoughts! As an Independent Travel Agent with Mouse Counselors, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, I offer concierge travel planning for Walt Disney World® Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland® Resort, Adventures by Disney®, Aulani and all other non-Disney destinations (all cruise lines, All-Inclusive Resorts, European vacations & more) at no cost to you.  Message me today if I can help book a magical vacation for you.

Discovery Cove – Best Family Vacation Ever! Are you looking for an affordable yet memorable vacation?  Look no further – Discovery Cove should be at the top of your list! My family of six visited Discovery Cove and we all LOVED it.  Our kids range in age from 8 to 17 and this is the one vacation that was fun for everyone! First off, you can’t beat the price for all you get.  When you book a Discovery Cove vacation package, you get all day access to basically what feels like a private island.  Breakfast and lunch are included, as well as snacks and some alcoholic drinks.  Not only do you get the package at Discovery Cove, but you also get 14-day admission to Sea World and Aquatica (water park).   For an additional $25 per person, you can also add on Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and shuttle service will be provided.  There are hotels close by that offer a great rate when booking with a Sea World / Discovery Cove package, plus you get extra perks such as a free quick queue pass for rides at Sea World, 10% discount on the Discovery Cove picture package, 10% off souvenirs and also many of the hotels offer free breakfast.  For certain hotels, the 5th night is free.  When you have a large family of six like me, this definitely helps save some money!   There are hotels that sleep up to six people as well – which is sometimes hard to find. Our Trip Report We arrived by 7:15am hoping to be one of the first to check in to get an early dolphin swim.  I wanted good hair for my dolphin pics – but I must have forgot I was in Florida – I never have good hair here, lol.  But at least I didn’t have wet head, right?   At check-in each person has their photo taken and a lanyard made with your photo and a map on the back.  This lanyard will also serve as your admission to Sea World and Aquatica.  Our dolphin swim was scheduled for 9:30am, which gave us an hour to enjoy breakfast.  The breakfast was really yummy! Check-in area where they take your photo and give you a lanyard Food Court Area Yummy breakfast! Next we were off to grab a wetsuit (you can get a full suit or just a vest, it’s up to each individual person).  They provide special animal friendly sunscreen there for you to use as well.  We lathered up and headed to our meeting place for instructions for our dolphin swim. After receiving our instructions and completing paperwork, we followed our trainer to the dolphin lagoon.  I seriously can’t stress enough how amazing this was!  You will spend about 30 minutes with your dolphin and dolphin trainer.  There are no more than 10 people per dolphin, so you will be paired with another family.  After the introductions, each person has the opportunity for touching the dolphin, a quick kiss and individual pictures, as well as a picture of the whole family.  Each person also gets either a shallow water or deep water swim (your choice).  There will be about four to five groups of ten in the lagoon at once, and the trainers will get the dolphins together to put on a little show of jumping in and out of the water for you.  You are not allowed to take a camera into the water, but there will be a photographer there to capture photos of you and your family.  If you have other members of your group who do not participate in the dolphin swim, they can take pictures of you from the beach area.  After your time is up, you are led to a little area close by where you will view your photos on a screen.  You can go ahead and order the prints/packages you want, or you can wait until later in the day at the photography location at the gift shop.   We ended up ordering the photo cd.  It is pricey, but totally worth it for the memories.  Here are some of our pics: After we finished with the dolphin swim, we headed over to the snorkeling lagoon.  You are provided with snorkeling equipment to use.  There are TONS of fish in the lagoon!  I brought along our waterproof camera and the kids loved taking pictures.  There is also a glass wall in the lagoon that has another area with sharks and other fish.  It looks like they are there with you but thankfully separated by that strong glass wall! See the shark in the background?! After we spent time in the snorkeling lagoon we went up on the beach area and lounged around and ate some snacks. We then headed over to the Aviary.  I originally thought this sounded kind of boring, I’m not a big fan of the Aviary at our local zoo, but this was completely different and a big hit with all the kids!  You can get a little container of bird feed and all of these exotic looking birds will fly and land on your arm to eat.  There are lots of areas so if you see a crowd, keep walking – there are tons of more birds to be found.  My son was so popular he had one on his head and on his arm, lol. The birds liked him! LOL At this point it was time for some lunch, so we headed back over to the dining area.  We were really pleased with the variety and quality of the food here.  I completely forgot to take pics of the food – I must have been hungry.   Some of the choices were:  Chicken tenders, hot dogs, club sandwich, cobb salad, blackened fish, pulled pork, pasta or a burger.  We all really enjoyed what we got! After eating, we thought we’d head to the lazy river to relax a little.  This was another big hit with the kids (are you sensing a trend?)  We probably spent up to 2 hours in the lazy river.  See how beautiful it is there? Beautiful Lazy River After hanging out in the lazy river, we went for more drinks (they had some delicious fruit flavored slushies that the kids loved)!  We then went over by pool area that has some stationary lounge chairs built into the water.  I didn’t get a picture of these unfortunately. When we finished our drinks, we headed back over to the lazy river again.  After we went through a couple times we decided to dry off and call it a day (it was around 3:00pm at this point). I still needed to head to the area to pick up my photo CD that I wanted before we left.  So while I went to do that, everyone else hung around the gift shop. I will say it again, for the money, you cannot beat this vacation!!!  This was just the Discovery Cove day trip report….don’t forget we also went to Sea World and Aquatica water park – all included in the price!!  Click here to see our other trip reports! Are you ready to go?  If you book a Discovery Cove Package for the rest of 2018, I will include a $100 gift card of your choice for packages over $2,000 or a $50 gift card for packages less than $2,000.  Full payment is required at time of booking with Discovery Cove trips.

On our adults only Food & Wine Festival trip, we also decided to try out the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.  While this was the end of October, it was still pretty hot, so we didn’t want any heavy costumes.  So I put on my Minnie Mouse ears and Minnie witch shirt, and my husband was in his Haunted Mansion tee and fedora.  They were directing everyone who was coming in for the Halloween party over to the right as you entered the park: There are photopass photographers as you walk in with frames to take your pics: As you walk through, there are cast members handing out treat bags (with a small treat inside already!) Some of the decorations near the castle: We arrived at the park right at 4:00pm (your party ticket gets you in at 4:00pm even though the party doesn’t officially begin until 7:00pm) and used the fastpasses I had selected to hit a few rides first.  Our first ride – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!!  Mid-ride, it began to rain.  By the time we were getting off the ride, it was pouring!  This was not the way I wanted to spend my night, but when at Disney you have to go with the flow and be prepared for rain storms.  I did have my poncho (I had talked my husband out of taking his rain jacket – oops).  Luckily as with most Orlando storms, it was a quick, although heavy rain.  We were pretty soaked by the time it was over, but thankfully dried up pretty quick and headed over to Space Mountain for our next fastpass.   We (but mostly Eddie) are suckers for Disney shops.  Space Mountain dumps you out in their gift shop, where of course we had to browse.  We did find a Halloween Party pin. They also have this cool D-Tech Station where you can make and customize your own magic band or phone case. Eddie and I both haven’t jumped on the Apple wagon and still carry Samsung phones, so can’t always find a good Disney case for our phones.  The D-Tech station had lots of options for our phones, so we placed our order and were told to come back later in the evening to pick up our purchase. We headed over to Toontown to scope out where the characters would be in their Halloween party gear.  While there, we could see that the line had already formed to meet the Seven Dwarfs.  It didn’t look too bad so we decided to hop in line, as the parties are the only place you will get to meet all Seven Dwarfs.  They came out to begin meeting people around 6:20pm (we got in line at 5:30pm).  We got up to meet them around 7:00pm.  My husband is such a good sport….I know standing in line for characters is not high on his list to do, but he knew it meant a lot to me and he had some fun with Grumpy when we got there: The main things on our agenda for the Halloween party were a few character meet and greets, the Boo to You Parade, Hallowishes fireworks and some souvenir shopping (there are special items only available during the Halloween party). After we left the Seven Dwarfs we were starving so headed over to Casey’s Corner to grab a hot dog.  After all my many Disney trips, this was my first time at Casey’s!  We ordered our grub and went to find a table outside.  While we were eating, the Disney cast members were hard at work looking for guests who didn’t have a party band.  Sure enough, there were some there – and they were immediately escorted out. We finished our meal, took a bathroom break and then headed to find our spot for the Boo to You Parade.  We grabbed a sidewalk seat right in front of Main Street Bakery.  Eddie ran in to get us some Starbucks to enjoy while we waited (we got our seat about 45 minutes prior to parade time).  Disney cast members were coming around with cute props and would take your photo while you waited: We have heard so many good things about the parade, and it didn’t disappoint! My favorite was probably the Haunted Mansion ghosts: I also loved the Wreck it Ralph float: After the parade, we went to grab our spot for the fireworks.  This is probably the best fireworks show I have ever seen, I just loved the music and the changing colors of the castle: A lot of people tend to leave the park after the fireworks show, so we decided to go against the flow of traffic and head back to Toontown to get our bags full of candy (and let me tell you – one candy stop completely filled up our bags!!) and to meet some characters.  After the fireworks the lines decrease drastically so it’s a great time to go. We first saw Goofy – who was hilarious and trying to make Eddie jealous by not letting me go… Then next off to meet Minnie.  Minnie loved my shirt and kept flapping my cape, lol: After meeting Minnie we went through the candy line where our bag was filled up with awesome candy (they found out we liked peanut M&M’s so filled our bag up with them!) After getting our candy, we headed to a few gift shops and then back to Space Mountain to grab our new phone cases. On our way out, we had several photopass pics made: They also did this cool video with some ghosts dancing with us: Outside of Magic Kingdom, it was decorated for Halloween also and they had photopass photographers and did this awesome magic shot with the headless horseman: When we got back to the room (after midnight!) we dumped our candy stash on the bed: This was just from one candy trail. If we had a larger bag they would have filled it up too! Overall this was a great night and even though you can never do everything you want – I highly recommend! Click here to read my other Trip Reports! As an Independent Travel Agent with Mouse Counselors, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, I offer concierge travel planning for Walt Disney World® Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland® Resort, Adventures by Disney®, Aulani and all other destinations at no cost to you.  Message me today if I can help book a magical vacation for you.

Thanks for coming to read our Disney World Adult Only Trip Report!  If you’ve read any of my other blogs, you know that my husband and I love to go on trips – with and without the kiddos.  I recently had signed up for Travel Agent Resort Tours at Disney, so we decided to make a weekend of it and put our annual passes to good use! Here we are excited to be headed to one of our favorite places! Our first night was spent at All Star Movies.  Our flight got in late (around 9pm) so we wanted to save a little money and stay at a value resort since we would just be sleeping at the resort the first night.  Although let me clarify – we have no problem staying and have stayed our entire trip at value resorts before!  This trip we planned to spend some time enjoying the resort though, not just sleeping there, so we splurged for Animal Kingdom Lodge for the rest of our trip. We arrived at MCO and headed for the Magical Express area and were greeted by this sign: Check-in was quick as always (make sure you take your magic bands) and it wasn’t but a few minutes until we were boarding a bus.  Surprisingly, this late at night – our bus was FULL!  We also, of course, were the last stop, lol. We checked in and then headed to our room for the night.  Since this was our first time at All Star Movies, we stopped to get pics….. We got to our room, and I was reminded why Pop Century is my favorite value resort – Queen Beds!  Double beds are the standard at all of the values except for Pop and in the Art of Animation Family Suites (Little Mermaid rooms have double beds).  We have a king bed at home, and this double feels soooo small to us!   We each took one bed for the night, lol.  I guess we like plenty of space. The next morning we were up early.  My resort tours started at 12:00pm, but we wanted to hit a park first thing.  So bright and early we were up, packed up our luggage and took it to bell services for the transfer over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. On the way to the food court to get breakfast we stopped for more pics: After breakfast we hopped in line for a bus to Hollywood Studios! We were some of the first to arrive and were close to the front for opening. They start letting people in, but then still have the main streets blocked off.  Once we were through, we headed straight for Toy Story Mania.  I had booked fastpasses for Rock ‘n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror.  We got on Toy Story Mania pretty quickly (even with one of their lanes shut down for construction of Toy Story Land).  We always have fun on this ride.  I was winning at first, but hubby ended up beating me. 🙁  We did have the same score in accuracy though. He beat me – this time! We left Toy Story Mania and still had about 20 minutes before our Rock ‘n Rollercoaster fastpass.  So we stopped for some pics in front of Tower of Terror. Then stopped at the next photographer as well…. We got in line right at our FP time and were through there pretty quick as well!  LOVE this ride!!! Our fastpass for Tower of Terror was still over an hour away (since you can not make more than one fastpass in an hour).  I looked on the My Disney Experience app and saw that the wait was only 20 minutes, so we decided to go get in line.  IF we were in line 20 minutes, it went fast.  I honestly don’t know which of these rides I love best! So there you have it….by 10:00am we had hit our 3 favorite rides in Hollywood Studios (if not all the parks).  I always recommend to my clients getting at each park every day at park opening.  Yes, it is early wake ups – but it is so worth it!!  We still had some time to kill, so we went to Starbucks to grab a drink and try the Carrot Cake Cookie we’ve heard so much about.  But first, we stopped by our first photographer and asked him if he did the Mickey magic shot – and he did!  He also surprised me with a Minnie shot as well! So we were off to get our cookie….this thing is HUGE…and SWEET!!!  Lots of cream cheese icing in the middle.  We basically just wanted a taste since we were going to be eating an early lunch before my resort tours.  The carrot cake part was delicious, and the icing too….just maybe not so much icing.  Check out how big this cookie is! Yum! We took a few bites and then threw it in the trash before we were picked up by the bus to Disney Springs.  Normally I love the transportation at Disney and in my many visits over the years have very little to complain about.  But we waited 45 minutes for this bus!  Thankfully we had some time to spare.  The buses actually weren’t going straight to Disney Springs until 4pm that afternoon, but I knew that Saratoga Springs had a walking path to Disney Springs, so that’s the bus we were waiting on.  It FINALLY came and we were off.  Saratoga is a huge resort, so we did have to ask the bus driver which stop we needed to get off at to take the walking path to Disney Springs.  I believe it was the 3rd stop, but I honestly can’t remember for sure.  Thankfully it wasn’t raining – yet.  This week in Florida had been terrible weather due to a tropical system that had dumped tons of rain.  The temperature was quite nice, so we didn’t mind the clouds.  We got to Disney Springs and headed straight for our favorite quick service in all of Disney – Blaze Pizza!!  We just love this place.  I realize it is a chain and they have several restaurants, but we don’t have one close to us at home, so we always eat here at least once a trip – sometimes more!  Our pizzas: I love this man! I was texting with a couple others from my agency who were also at Disney, one who was also going on the resort tours, so we were deciding where to meet up.  The other agent who wasn’t joining the resort tours had just done the Star Wars Virtual Reality experience at Disney Springs and told us how amazing it was.  I was glad to hear that because I had signed hubby up to give him something to do while I was on the resort tours and it wasn’t quite time to check in at Animal Kingdom Lodge yet. So he headed off to do that: I was off to my resort tours: Hubby absolutely loved the Star Wars Virtual Experience!  He can’t wait to take the boys next time we go. I toured the following resorts:  Port Orleans French Quarter, Pop Century, Art of Animation and Yacht Club.  I was hoping for some resorts that I haven’t already stayed at (I’ve stayed at all of these), but I did get to visit the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation and a Finding Nemo Family Suite.   I was in a Cars Suite when I stayed there.  You can see my pics from that stay here.  I will be doing some new blog posts on all the resorts that I visited, so keep checking my blog under Disney Resorts! The tours were supposed to last until 5:00pm, but we finished up early around 4:00pm.  I took the bus from Yacht Club to Animal Kingdom, then got on a bus there to Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Eddie had texted me and told me he had just checked in, so I couldn’t wait to check out our room.  Although I have several resorts that I love, Animal Kingdom Lodge is my favorite so far.  One thing I don’t love is how dark it is in the lobby areas…..a little depressing (lots of dark wood).  But everything else makes up for that.  The rooms are gorgeous, the pools are great and they have great restaurants.  We planned to spend a lot of time at the resort relaxing by the pool – although the weather forecast was making those plans challenging. Here’s just a couple pics from Animal Kingdom Lodge, I’ll s ave most of the pics for my Animal Kingdom Lodge post.  My favorite part – our savanna view from our balcony! After we got settled into the room, we got changed for dinner.  We had reservations at Sanaa.  We absolutely loved Sanaa, I will be writing a separate post on our experience there.  Perfect place for date night!  Sanaa is in the Kidani Village part of Animal Kingdom Lodge, and there are internal buses that will take you there, but it was a nice nice and a short walk, so we just walked there and back (less than 10 minutes).  Read our review of Sanaa here. After dinner we came back to the room and watched some TV before shutting out the lights.  This vacation was starting off right!  Day 1 was a success! Click here to read my other Trip Reports! As an Independent Travel Agent with Mouse Counselors, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, I offer concierge travel planning for Walt Disney World® Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland® Resort, Adventures by Disney®, Aulani and all other destinations at no cost to you.  Message me today if I can help book a magical vacation for you.

Welcome back!  If you missed my introduction post (Travel Day), you can go back and read that here. Eddie was the first to wake up (which is the norm).  He showered and walked around to take some pics (he’s my designated photographer – I bought us a Nikon DSLR that he’s been having fun with).  Here’s a few of the pics he took of our hotel: He strolled back up around 5:30am, so I got up and threw on some clothes so that we could go grab some bikes and head over to Stanley Park.  Our mission was to catch the Disney Wonder coming back to port.  We went down right at 6:00am and the guy at the desk this time was extremely helpful, but it did take a few minutes to sign the bikes out, get them unlocked, give us helmets, etc.  I had pulled up the cruise tracker app on my phone and knew we were cutting it close to seeing the Wonder come in. The Westin is very close to Stanley Park, so once we got the bikes, we took off quickly.  We speed-biked over to the sea wall and made it just in time!  I was huffing & puffing by the time we got there, lol!  We didn’t get to see it coming in under Lions Gate Bridge which is what I was really hoping for, but this was close enough: Stanley Park is absolutely beautiful and we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! We rode up a little further and then decided to head back.  We stopped by the totem poles for pictures on the way out: We got back to the hotel and decided the hotel restaurant was our best option for breakfast.  They had a buffet but a $34 per person price tag was more than we wanted to pay, especially knowing we’d be getting all we could eat for the next 7 nights.  Eddie got the oatmeal and Hunter and I both got the basic breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast.  It was really good but pricey. We then went upstairs and showered, packed up and waited until 10:15am to catch a cab over to the port.  We could have walked, but our luggage was pretty big (weighing close to 45 pounds each) and we didn’t want to roll it over.  The cab was only $8 CAD so definitely worth it.  We were dropped off where porters accepted our luggage to be delivered to our stateroom later, and we headed towards the check-in area.  We were some of the first to arrive and I asked if there were any upgrades available, but apparently the ship was sold out, so we would be keeping our Deluxe Inside Room for this cruise.  Next we went the seating area to wait for our boarding group to be called!  We were in Boarding Group 5 and I believe it was around 11:45am when we boarded. We stopped for our first cruise picture (I pre-purchased the photo package for a discount so wanted to make sure we took advantage of all the photo opportunities): Then first thing we did was head to Guest Services so I could load my Disney Gift cards onto my onboard account (read my blog – Ways to Save Money on a Disney Cruise).  I also checked to see if I could get any Mixology tickets (it was sold out online), but unfortunately there were no spaces available.  Bummer!  Next we headed to the Promenade Lounge to see if we could change our dining assignment from Second dining (8:15pm) to Main Dining (5:45pm).  I booked our cruise in April – which is late for a cruise, and Main Dining was not available at that time, so I asked to be put on the wait list for Main Dining.  I’ve always been able to get my clients switched to Main Dining before the cruise, so I was worried when our dining had not been switched. We were already on a 3 hour time change, so 8:15pm would be like 11:15pm for us – yikes!  We were some of the first guests there at the lounge and I was seated with a head server right away, who changed us over to Main Dining without a problem!  We kept our same rotation and he recorded my name and cabin number, and told me to go to Triton’s that night and tell them we had been switched.  While there, I also wanted to see if we could get a Palo brunch reservation – they were sold out on sea days when I did online check-in.  I was able to get a reservation our first sea day at 12:00 noon which was perfect!  They have several lunch items on their brunch a la carte menu (see blog post on Palo) so I like eating my Palo brunch around lunchtime.  I was excited that I was able to get 2 of the 3 things I wanted and the ones I got were definitely priority over the Mixology class.  I’ve done Mixology before and it was a lot of fun, but we were also signed up for the Martini and Champagne tastings, so we weren’t really missing out. We then headed up to Cabana’s to eat lunch.  I was very surprised that it wasn’t terribly crazy in there.  I usually avoid Cabana’s on embarkation day for that reason, but we found a table and got through the line without a problem. After we ate lunch, we went outside to get some pictures and walked around for the boys to acquaint themselves with the ship.  I was just on the Disney Wonder a few months ago for a girls birthday trip on a 3-Night Bahamian cruise so I knew my way around.  Some of the pics we took: The sails on Canada Place (Cruise Terminal) Vancouver Skyline Eddie’s favorite picture – float plane in the harbor Vancouver Convention Center West After exploring the ship, we headed to take a look at our room on Deck 2.  We were in a Deluxe Inside Room which still had the split bathrooms (Standard Inside Rooms do not have split bathrooms) so we were happy about that.  Here are some pics of our room: Deluxe Inside Stateroom on the Disney Wonder. Approx 214 square feet At 3:00pm we headed over to Senses Spa for the raffle they do the first day of every cruise.  This has become a tradition with my husband and I.  On almost every Disney cruise we make a visit to the spa, so if we can win some spa credit then we are happy!  Unfortunately we didn’t win anything on this cruise, but we did make an appointment at the desk for a massage on Skagway Port day.  We knew we’d be back on the ship by 5:00pm, so we made our appointment for 6:30pm.  We were skipping the Frozen menu in the Main Dining room that night as it just didn’t appeal to us. After the spa raffle it was time to head to our Muster location which was in the Walt Disney Theater.  I’ve been in here before for a muster drill and again felt like this was a little bit of a cluster.  They have 2 groups in there and 2 crew members speaking in a megaphone at the same time, so it’s hard to concentrate on who you need to be listening to; however, I was thankful to be indoors and not packed like sardines on Deck 4. After the muster it was time for the Sail Away party.  I know some people love this but it’s not a must do for me.  We went back to our room to unpack and put our magnets on the door. We then went to Deck 4 to get some pics of the jogging / walking track: Eddie demonstrating what to do, lol! Then we headed up to Deck 10 to get some pictures of beautiful Vancouver as we left port: Lions Gate Bridge Next it was almost time for dinner, but first we hopped in line for my favorite guy – Captain Mickey! Our dinner was in Triton’s, and we told them we had been moved to Main Dining and were assigned our Table number.  We were excited to see that our private table request was honored!  I was definitely willing to give that up for the earlier dining, but Disney is great about trying to accommodate requests.  Things were definitely looking up after our rocky start on our travel day, lol.   Our dinner that night: Jumbo Shrimp appetizer (Eddie & Hunter) Verdict: Good Fried Perogies appetizer (Tammy) Verdict: Great Roasted Filet Steak (Eddie & Tammy) Verdict: Very Good Conchiglie Pasta (Lobster) (For the table) Verdict: Okay, wouldn’t order again Roasted Rack of Lamb (Hunter) Verdict: Very Good – one of his favorites Strawberry Shortcake Sundae (Eddie) Verdict: Great Grand Mainier Souffle (Tammy) Verdict: Very Good After dinner we met with Sailor Goofy: Then we headed to get a seat for the opening night show:  Heath Hyche.  Heath is a comedian and it was a pretty good show. After the show we went out on Deck 4 and snapped this pic.  It was around 9:40pm: Then we hopped in line to meet with Chip & Dale: Next we headed to the adult only after hours activity in Azure.  I was disappointed that Jo was no longer the club host on the Wonder, but Rod was a good replacement.  We enjoyed his humor and attended most of the adult games and activities on the cruise. After this we were ready to call it a night!  The clock said 11:00pm, but our bodies said 2:00am AND we were losing an hour of sleep tonight!  Coming up next – our first Day at Sea! Go to my Trip Reports page to read about all of our other adventures! As an Independent Travel Agent with Mouse Counselors, an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, I offer concierge travel planning for Walt Disney World® Resort, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland® Resort, Adventures by Disney®, Aulani and other destinations at no cost to you.  Message me today if I can help book a magical vacation for you. #DisneyCruise #TripReport