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These items are a must on my Disney World Packing List! Portable Power Bank. I learned this lesson when traveling to Disneyland for my Travel Agent Education Program and couldn’t get back to the room to charge my phone until late at night.  I was struggling to hang on to 10% power to be able to call my family AND trying to use the Disneyland App to check out wait times and get my next MaxPass.  Lesson learned – I ordered one as soon as I got home for my next Disney trip! This is the charger I have – fast charging, lightweight and a great price! Click here to check it out on Amazon:  ZMI 2-Way Fast-Charging Power Bank Mickey Crossbody. Seriously I don’t know what I’d do without this thing!  It’s small, but has so many compartments to hold everything I need to take to the parks.  My phone, my portable phone bank (above), my compact camera, lipstick (yes, I NEED my lipstick!), Disney gift cards, Photo ID, sunglasses, etc.  I love the size because it’s easy to store on rides (most of the time I just leave it on –that way I don’t have to worry about leaving it behind). Ponchos! I usually buy about 2 per person to take with us so that we can just throw away after use, so this multi-pack works out great.   If you are going during the summer, 3 or 4 per person may work best.   I also like to use one on Kali River Rapids (WDW – Animal Kingdom) and Grizzly River Run (Disneyland – Disney’s California Adventure) to prevent getting soaked because I don’t want to walk around the parks wet. Click here to purchase a 5 pack on Amazon:  5-Pack Colored Ponchos Minnie Ears / Hats.  What other opportunity do you get to be a kid?  When I’m at Disney I am all in!  I bought the interchangeable ears that Disney started selling, and I make my own bows to interchange. You can find these in parks or at www.shopdisney.com! Matching Family Disney Shirts!   I bought my own cricut machine  for the sole purpose to make Disney shirts.   My family (even the teenage boys) go along with it – they know that’s part of the deal, lol. Check out the Cricut Explore Air 2!  It saves me tons of money by making my own shirts! Good walking shoes – 2 pair. This is a MUST.  My favorites are Skechers Go Walks.  Whatever shoes you take – make sure they are broke in.  Do not buy a new pair to take to the parks – you will regret it!  Some people swear by their flip flops (nicer ones such as Teva or Sanuk), but I just can’t do it.  Too scared about getting toes stepped on / ran over by strollers or trying to run out of a rainstorm and losing a shoe, lol.  They come in several different colors also.  Click here to check them out:  Skechers Go Walk 3. Dramamine or Sea Bands. I personally don’t need this, but my husband gets motion sickness, so this is a must to be able to do rides such as Soarin’ or Avatar Flight of Passage.  Check them out here:  Sea Band Wrist-band. Advil!  Just in case….and if not for your head – for your sore feet!  Trust me, at some point during your trip, you will have sore feet. Lanyards/Disney Pins. My family is pin-obsessed.  I’m ashamed to tell you how much of our money is spent on Disney pins, lol.  The adults don’t trade, but the kids love it.  I bought a “lot” off eBay for trading purposes, because the ones you get trading aren’t the greatest – they are pretty basic.  We display our nice pins at home. Glow Sticks/Necklaces. Kids love these for late night parades.  Makes it easy to keep up with your kids too in case they get lost in the masses after the fireworks are over. Find a multipack here at Amazon:  Glow Stick Bracelets HONORABLE MENTION (and for those with smaller children:  Disney Autograph Book! What are your must-haves while you are at the parks?  I’d love to hear from you! This post contains affiliate links.  If you click on the links and purchase the items, I will receive a small commission.  Your support of my site is greatly appreciated!

My first Disney cruise (before I became a travel agent) I walked around wondering what all the cute organizers hanging from the hooks outside the cabin were?  Well, they are called Fish Extenders.  Every stateroom has some sort of fish hanging on the wall outside the door.  A Fish Extender is a type of pocket organizer hanging from the fish hook with compartments for each family member.  There are usually groups of 10 cabins in each Fish Extender Group.  The best way to find your cruise group is to type your cruise date and ship name in the Facebook search bar (ex. “Disney Wonder March 22, 2018.”  Once you find your cruise group, you will need to request to join the group and then you can sign up for Fish Extender.  This is a gift exchange with the other cabins in your group, giving a small gift for each person in the group – averaging around $15 spent per cabin, although some people do give a “cabin gift” that would serve everyone in the cabin. See the “fish” the organizer is hanging from? Hence the name… 🙂 I’m not going to lie – Fish Extenders are a lot of work – but a whole lot of fun.  It took me until my 4th cruise to decide to participate.  I’m glad I did because it was so much fun for the kids.  They loved coming back to the room to find little gifts left for them, and they also enjoyed delivering our gifts to other cabins.  It could get tricky if you are flying, because you likely will need a separate piece of luggage just to hold the gifts you give and bring back the ones you receive! You can make your own Fish Extender if you are somewhat crafty, or you can purchase pre-made from sites such as Etsy or eBay.   Although I am not the craftiest person around, I didn’t want to spend $50 on a Fish Extender, so I decided to make my own.  I bought this organizer from amazon.com for around $10: Clicking on the photo will take you straight to Amazon! Comes in Navy and Red. Can’t be beat for the price. Crafts from Michael’s….around $5 I was pretty happy with the end result.  I then added our names using vinyl from my cricut machine. LOVE my Cricut machine! It has saved me tons of money being able to make my own Disney shirts, fish extender gifts, etc.! Just click on the photo to take you to check it out on Amazon. We had one for the girls and one for the boys! Once all 10 cabins have been assigned to your group, you will be given a list of the name of each person, their cabin number and the children’s ages, along with helpful information such as each person’s favorite character, favorite Disney souvenir, if you are celebrating anything, etc.  This is usually done months in advance to give you time to decide what kind of gifts you want to give those in your group. I decided to give everyone the same gift (all the women received the same gift, same gift for men, etc).  I wanted to give them something useful but also something a little personal and of course something “Disney-fied.” These are the gifts I ended up giving: For the women, a small makeup organizer with a Disney cruise vinyl logo from my cricut machine, with a sample of Advil and a shout wipe: For the men: Star Wars socks and an anchor bottle opener.  For the socks, I bought a set of 3 from JCPenney  and broke them up.  The anchor bottle openers were purchased from eBay for only about $1.50 each. For the girls: I made Pirate mickey ears.  I  had bought these headbands from amazon: (insert pic/link) to give away at a travel booth I had at a vendor event, and had some left over.  So after googling how to make a bow without sewing, I decided to go with this.  I was happy with how they turned out, and even made some for the girls and I which we wore on Pirate Night. For the boys: I had a really hard time trying to decide what to get boys of all different ages that could be the same gift.  So I probably took the easy way out, but I think it’s something they all probably enjoyed – a candy movie kit for the theater on-board in a Star Wars Gift Bag: After I got everything made it was time to figure out how to package.  I bought clear cellophane bags from amazon.com for the headbands, Frozen Ziploc bags for the women’s gifts, Star Wars Ziploc bags for the mens gifts, and then the Star Wars gift bags for the boys movie kits.   Everything was pretty compact when I finished so I was able to pack it in a smaller suitcase: Each gift does need to be labeled with the name and cabin number and I also put which cabin the gift was from along with our last name.  If your gift is too big for the Fish Extender pocket, you can set it in front of the door.  It’s up to you when you want to deliver the gifts.  We spaced ours out each day and delivered to rooms at the Aft of the ship one day, Mid-ship one day and then Forward.  This helps not walking all over the ship.  Make sure you take a look at the layout so you’ll have a plan in place. The best advice I can give is to not stress out about it, it’s supposed to be fun!  Don’t feel like you have to break the bank to give a nice gift, we all know the cruise is already expensive.  Homemade gifts are appreciated or you can find some cute but useful items in the Target dollar spot, Etsy or at www.aliexpress.com (if you are ordering from Ali Express, you need to do it a few months in advance, as most items are shipping from China and can take a while to arrive – but they have some great prices. These are some of the gifts we received from our Fish Extender (not all!) I definitely recommend trying Fish Extender on your next cruise if you are able, this was one of our kids fondest memories from our last cruise! Have you ever participated in Fish Extenders?  Do you have any questions or comments?  Pictures to share?  I’d love to hear from you!

Palo is a fine-dining, adult only (18+) restaurant on all four Disney Cruise ships that serves brunch and dinner.  There is a nominal fee (currently $30 per person), for each meal.  Reservations can be made (and should be!) when you are able to check in for your cruise (75 days for first-time cruisers), and brunch is definitely the more popular option, therefore harder to get a reservation for. Palo brunch reservations are sometimes sold out the first day check-in opens for first-time cruisers! There is a dress code for Palo brunch and dinner.  Men are recommended to wear dress pants, slacks and collared shirts and women a dress, skirt or pants and blouse.  Jeans may be worn if in good condition (no holes).  Shorts or hats for men are absolutely not allowed. I have been to both Palo brunch and dinner on the Disney Dream, and my preference is brunch.  Not only did I enjoy the food better at brunch, I do not like to miss out on the fun rotational dining options in the main dining rooms.  We did enjoy the dinner as well though, and the atmosphere is perfect for a romantic date night. The Palo Brunch includes a complimentary glass of champagne or a mimosa, as well as a buffet and an a la carte menu, and as with all things on a cruise – it’s all you can eat. The buffet consist of a variety of pastries, seafood and cheeses: These were our plates: The Palo Brunch a la carte menu: We started first with some soups: Tomato and Basil Soup Celery Soup On to our entrees….. I tried the Chicken Parmesan (heavenly!) So delicious! Eddie ordered the lasagna: After all of that, there is still the delectable dessert bar!  I love the sizes of each dessert as it gives you the opportunity to try many things – which as you can see – we did! Our plates: Please note gratuity is not included in the $30 per person fee.  I also try to tip based on what the prices would be, as this is a five-star worthy restaurant, as opposed to basing it on the cost of $30 per person. Have you tried the Palo brunch?  Check out my post on my must-do’s for a Disney Cruise!

I’m sure you’ve all heard that Disney has a private island in the Bahamas, right?  Castaway Cay is a little slice of heaven on earth.  So many things to love – starting with walking right off the ship onto the island, no need for a tender over. Each stop at Disney’s private island offers a Castaway Cay 5k race.  Registration is free to all cruise guests 10 years or older.  To register, you must go to Guest Services on-board (I recommend going on your arrival day). Information on how to sign up in your daily navigator that you receive at check-in Information on where to meet for the Castaway Cay 5k will be in your Daily Navigator left in your room the night before porting at Castaway Cay.  Runners (and walkers!) usually meet at one of the lounges onboard around 8:00am to get instructions and their race bib.  You will then all exit the ship together and walk the nearly one mile trek (yes, before you even start the Castaway Cay 5k!) to the start line.  As mentioned above, participants must be at least 10 years old.  If you have children who can’t (or don’t want to) participate, you can drop them off at kids clubs on the island on your way to the start line.  You can also run/walk with a stroller if you have younger ones. Once you arrive at the start line, there is a large container where you can drop your belongings until you have completed the Castaway Cay 5k.  There are no chips for official times, but there is a clock so you can see your unofficial time (the start line is also the finish line).  Castaway’s course has a loop (that you will run through twice – it is the bike loop people use when renting bikes on the island) and a straight section called the “airstrip.”  The airstrip does get very hot, as there is no shade whatsoever, so this section can be brutal – thankfully it’s just a short section and the loop has some shade.  The course is paved and pretty flat (thank goodness!) and there is one water station on the loop that you will pass twice. The Start and Finish Line! I am not a runner.  I run the occasional 5K with my husband (usually for a cute medal, lol).  You do not have to be a runner to participate in the 5k!  There are plenty of people who walk or some (like me) who do a combination of running/walking.  Everyone gets a medal at the finish line and it’s a great way to see some of the island that you might not normally see.  A lot of people get off the ship and secure a chair at the first section of beach and miss out on a lot of other things.  Plus you can be guilt free while having all-you-can-eat at the buffet since you completed your daily exercise! Things to Remember: Register at Guest Services on your arrival day Wear a hat/sunglasses and cool clothing – it gets hot! There is no official timing, but everyone gets an awesome souvenir medal Have you ran the Castaway Cay 5K?  What are your thoughts?  The 5k is on my list of must-do’s for your first Disney cruise.  Check out my other must-do’s here!

Would you like to go to the spa but don’t want to spend the money on a massage or other treatment?  You can!  For around $16 per person, you can buy a day pass to the Rainforest Room.  With this pass, you have access to locker rooms/showers, sauna, sensory showers, heated stone loungers and hot tubs (hot tubs only on the Dream and Fantasy).  This is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy the spa without having to pay larger prices for the massage, pedicure, etc.  Plus with this, you have access all day long, not just during your treatment.  My husband and I have taken advantage of this several times, and I was lucky enough to get on-board super early and get some great pics of an empty spa.  I call this a Hidden Gem because it is not really advertised on the Disney Cruise Line website, so a lot of first-time cruisers may not know about this. First you will be guided to the locker rooms and given slippers (if needed) and a robe.  Lockers are free to use to store your personal items. Exfoliation Room: Sensory Showers: The showers have different experiences such as Tropical Storm, Siberian Night and Warm Summer Rain (with lights, scents and sounds to enhance your experience). Sauna: Heated Loungers:  My favorite – the heated loungers!  I have fell asleep every time. Hot Tubs (on the Dream and Fantasy Only):  Love the hot tubs with floor to ceiling views. There are only a limited number of passes sold, so I recommend reserving your pass as soon as you can!  To reserve a 1-Day Pass before your cruise, you must download the In-Room Gifts & Amenities form here (OrderForm-GiftsAmenities) and fax form or you can call to order (or of course your Travel Agent (me!) will do this for you as well).  Once on-board, you will be offered the exfoliating scrub for an additional $11, but this is completely optional. If you prefer a length of stay pass, you need to purchase these (obviously) the first day of your cruise. Rainforest Room Price List: 1-Day Pass:  $16 (must be pre-ordered!), $27 with exfoliating scrubs Singles Length of Stay: 3-Night Cruise Pass:  $42 or $69 with exfoliating scrubs 4-Night Cruise Pass:  $56 or $101 with exfoliating scrubs 7-Night Cruise Pass:  $144 with exfoliating scrubs *18% gratuity will be added to length of stay passes Couples Length of Stay: 3-Night Cruise Couples Pass:  $75 or $102 with exfoliating scrubs 4-Night Cruise Couples Pass:  $99 or $144 with exfoliating scrubs 7-Night Cruise Couples Pass:  $193 with exfoliating scrubs *18% gratuity will be added to length of stay passes Important to Note:  You must be 18 years or older.  You do not have to have an appointment.  When you check in with your stateroom key at the front desk, you will be given a bracelet that gives you access to the Rainforest Room.   They will hold your stateroom key at the front desk, so when you are finished you must go to the front desk (and repeat if you plan to return later in the day/evening).

1 – Dress up for Pirate Night and go to the party/fireworks. How often do you get to see fireworks at sea?  It’s a fun night and on a Disney cruise you can lose all your inhibitions and be a kid again.  We love to dress up and meet up with Pirate Mickey and Jack Sparrow. Our pirate night gear! 2.  Go see all of the shows! They are wonderful.  Seriously, you will think you are in New York City at a Broadway show.  They are that good. 3. Book a Palo Brunch. It is an extra fee, but only $30 per person for 5-star cuisine.  You can read all about our brunch here.  Reservations get booked up quickly, so you need to book as soon as your online check-in opens up (as your travel agent, I provide this service for you by booking first thing on your check-in date). My dessert plate 4.  Get a Day Pass to the Rainforest Room. For only $16 per person, you can enjoy the spa (sensory showers, heated loungers, sauna).  The definition of relaxation.  You can read all about the Rainforest Room here. The heated stone loungers – heaven! 5.  Order the Pasta Pursettes at Animator’s Palate! You can thank me later – they are delicious!! Pasta Pursettes at Animator’s Palate 6.  Order Room Service. Most people typically don’t order room service on vacation, right?  It’s a small yet pricey luxury that is passed on in lieu of other activities.  Well, on the Disney Cruise it is absolutely free!  Our kids loved ordering warm cookies and milk right before bed. (There are some “secret” menu items not listed as well which I provide on my tips sheet sent to clients!) 7.  Play Bingo. Our family loves playing Bingo on the Disney cruise.  Even if we don’t win anything, it’s so much fun.  “Shake it up Betty” and “B11” (Beyonce) are some of our best memories…..AND we won the JACKPOT once!!! We were a little excited! 8.  Run or Walk the 5k at Castaway Cay. It’s a free 5k, and you get a really cute souvenir medal to take home.  You can read more about the 5k here. 9.  Decorate your stateroom door! Not only is it fun for the kids, but it helps you locate your room faster.  You can order personalized magnets from places like etsy.com, or you can make your own like I did. Want to know what those organizers hanging there are?  You can read all about Fish Extenders here. 10. Last, and most important – Book your next cruise while onboard. This is pretty much the only way to get a discount on a Disney cruise.  When you book onboard, you don’t have to pick a date.  You can pay $250 for a placeholder, and you just have to cruise within the next two years.  This will give you 10% off your next cruise, as well as an onboard credit from Disney ($100 for cruises up to 6 nights, $200 for 7 nights or more).  You will also get my on-board credit as well!  The placeholder fee is completely refundable if you are unable to take the cruise in the next 2 years. 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.

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.

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.

This blog will be dedicated to trip reports and useful information for your vacation, but I am also hoping this blog will show you the benefits of using a travel agent!   So my first question – why wouldn’t you?  We are FREE!  Suppliers build in a commission so you are paying the same price whether you book through an agent or not.  You don’t want to give up control?  You don’t have to!  The only thing that is required is making the payments through the agent.  Everything else you can still do (but why would you want to?)  Here are some top reasons for booking with an agent: FREE service (did I mention that already?!) We alleviate some (if not all) of the stress of planning a vacation We LOVE to talk about trips!  You have a built in friend that gets as excited as you do about your trip who you can bounce ideas and questions off anytime! We travel – a lot – and therefore know all the latest and greatest info/tips that we love to share We will be your voice in dealing with any travel related issues (Hello – do you remember Hurricane Irma?) We have access to a world of knowledge – if we haven’t been there – we have a colleague who has! We save you TIME & MONEY.   Why spend hours doing research when you can spend that time with your family and I provide you all the information in one place?   Why get up at 6:00am to make dining reservations for Disney 180 days in advance (that’s right – 6 months!) when you can tell me what you want and I will do it for you!  If a discount comes out after you’ve booked and applies to your reservation – I will automatically apply it!  Who wouldn’t love waking up to an email hearing that they’ve just saved $$$? Booking incentives such as on-board credits for cruises. Check out my post on how to save money on your Disney Cruise! Travel Agents spend a lot of time in trainings and educations so we can help you have the best vacation ever! Bottom line, even if you love planning and have hours to spend doing research….why not support small business instead of giving money to large corporations?  I’m sure we all have family and friends who own a business – wouldn’t you recommend supporting them? Have I convinced you yet?  Great – let’s get to planning!  🙂  Fill out my quote request form here.