Disney / Disney Cruise 2014

I love, love, love planning Disney trips.  I think it must be some sort of a Disney disorder.  Matt has already said that we will not go back to Disney until 2017.  That's a LONG time to plan. Ha!

The boys and I started planning our Disney cruise in January 2013.  We decided to work together to pay for our cruise.  We booked the cruise on February 2, 2013.  One year prior to sailing!  We used a travel agent who gave us $100 in onboard credit and the Disney credit card which gave $50 onboard credit.  We kicked off the fund by counting out all the change in the laundry jar, and we each donated some of our Christmas money.  From there on, the boys donated their allowances, each week from January to November.  All of our cash rewards from our credit card (which we pay off each month) went into the fund.  Pennies in the parking lot were immediately donated to the fund.  We also added a credit card with a sign on bonus, which went in the fund.  I sold some items on ebay, and we had two yard sales.  All to the fund.  The boys knew how much we had in the fund and how much we still needed.  It was fun to find little sources of money for the fund: ebates checks, rebate checks, gift cards converted to cash (used the gift card and took the  money from our budget), etc.  It was a large expense, but by taking the year to save up for it, we were able to pay for it without taking from our household budget.  I got this idea from the website couponingtodisney.com.  

So, we knew that our cruise would leave on Monday.  I got the bright idea to add on a weekend at Disney.  Disney was running a room discount, so we booked three nights at the Pop Century hotel.  We have tickets saved from prior visits that are non-expiring, so we didn't do the package with tickets and dining plan.

We arrived to Orlando around 4 on Friday afternoon.  After sitting in traffic, we made it to the resort and checked in.  It was misty and cool, so we just ate at the Pop food court and explored around the resort. We were at the far end of the resort in the 50s section.

Saturday morning, we grabbed breakfast at the food court. We then hopped on the Disney bus to Downtown Disney.  We walked around window shopping and ate lunch at Earl of Sandwich.  The kids had turkey sandwiches that they loved.  We let the kids play in the fountains, but we didn't have a change of clothes or towels.  They got to ride back in the bus cold and wet, but they thought it was worth it!

After naps, we walked around the loop that connects the Pop Century and the Art of Animation resorts.  We ate dinner at the Art of Animation food court.  Then, we went back to our side and let the kids swim.  They said the water was warm and enjoyed swimming.  After swimming, I did a load of laundry so we would have dry clothes for the cruise.

Sunday morning, we were up early and headed to the Magic Kingdom.  We made it for the opening show and rope drop.  It was so overcast that we could barely see the castle from Main Street.  Since we were resort guests, we tried out the Magicbands.  I connected our tickets to the bands, and the bands served to open our room door, access our fastpasses, charge for meals, and enter the parks.  It really was very convenient.  We only had one glitch when the bands weren't opening both of our room doors.  They were reset at guest services and good to go.  Since we knew about the bands before traveling, I was able to pick our colors and reserve three fast passes for the day at MK.

We started with a quick walk to Peter Pan, then Small World, Carousel, Winne the Pooh, Tea Cups, and Tomorrowland Speedway.  We then headed towards New Fantasyland and had snacks at Gaston's Tavern.  We ate delicious cinnamon rolls and chocolate crescent rolls.  By then, the wait for the Little Mermaid was up to 40 minutes, so I use the MDE app to change our fastpass to Little Mermaid.  We made a quick stop at the restrooms where Anna decided to run off.  Matt found her running the wrong way from us, as I dashed into the restroom looking for her.  I was quite embarrassed to realize that it was the men's restroom, much to the humor of the men using it!  After that adventure, we were able to walk right onto the Little Mermaid ride with our fastpass.  Next, we waited for about 30 minutes to ride the Barnstormer.  This was all before lunch!  Matt decided to leave the park with Anna, Thomas, and Luke while Joshua, Caleb and I stayed to enjoy the rest of the day.

Another secret I learned in my planning is that Be Our Guest restaurant is taking reservations for lunch.  I was able to book our lunch reservation and avoid the 1.5 hour wait!  We walked right in and had to wait for a computer to order our lunch.  We split the French Onion Soup, Braised Pork with mashed potatoes, and a chocolate cupcake with the "grey stuff".  It was delicious!  We ate in the West Wing, which was dark with lightning in the windows, torn curtains, and the drooping red rose.

After lunch, we used our fast pass for Space Mountain.  We hopped a quick ride on the people mover (I just can't miss it!).  We hurried over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our last fastpass.  We then decided that we wanted to park hop over to Animal Kingdom and ride Expedition Everest.  According to the MDE app, there was only a 30 minute wait.  So, off we went to AK.  We were able to ride EE, and it was awesome.  I had no idea that it went backwards, so that was quite a surprise for me!

From AK, we hopped on the bus and headed over Epcot.  Caleb wanted to ride the "golf ball".  Again checking the times, I knew we would be able to walk on Spaceship Earth (the golf ball).  We rode on it, then we headed to Test Track and rode it with very little wait.  Then, the boys talked me into riding Mission Space, the high intensity side.  I really wanted to ride Soarin', but the wait time was 1 hour and by now it was getting close to 7.  I wanted to be back to MK to see the fireworks at 8, so instead we took the Monorail back to the Magic Kingdom.  We got back in time to see the fireworks, then we got some dinner and watched the Electrical Parade.  Afterwards, we rode the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was now 10:00 and Extra Magic Hours were starting.  This is extra hours for Disney resort guests.  I would have kept going, but we were getting tired.

We took some time to walk over to the Cars section at the Art of Animation resort.  Lightning McQueen was out for restoration, so we didn't see him.  It was such a cute area, a Cars fan would be so excited to stay in this section.

Finally, it was time for the cruise!  We were all so excited to see the ship as we pulled into the port.  A year of planning and saving and reading blogs and keeping up with our Facebook group! We had dinner the first night at Animator's Palate.  In the hallway on the way to dinner, we met up with Cinderella.  It was sort of out of the blue, but she was so sweet.  I had given Anna an autograph book, and so Anna asked for it to get Cinderella's autograph. We were not overly impressed with the food on this cruise.  But, the atmosphere was wonderful (if you like Disney!).  I think Matt was a little "over-Disneyed" by the end of it all.  But, the rest of us loved it!

Sail Away Party

We participated in the Fish Extender gift exchange.  It is like a secret pal exchange that we signed up for on our Facebook group.  We put a organizer hanging from our fish outside our door.  Then, we found gifts in it each day.  We also took gifts to give the others in the group.  It was interesting trying to find our way around the ship to all the other rooms.

Anna loved meeting all the characters and getting autographs.  Thomas met everyone, except Captain Hook, he wouldn't go near him!  The kids loved the kid's clubs.  Joshua and Caleb had in/out priviledges, so they could check themselves in and out.  Each cabin had 2 phones for onboard ship use.  So, Matt, Joshua, Caleb, and I each had a phone.  It was easy to keep up with everyone and plan meet ups.

The princess greeting was probably the most popular.  You wait in one line and meet Tiana, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Belle.  They were also available for individual meets, but this was a way to see them all at once.  We didn't make it to this line.  We saw Belle by herself later, and Cinderella in the hall as I said earlier.

Our first port was Nassau.  We barely got off the ship.  Joshua and I took a little walk to the market in the afternoon.  I can't say we missed much, and we enjoyed our day on the ship.

Atlantis - Nassau

Anna telling Captain America who all her brothers are.

Each night our room hostess made up the couch into a bed.  She folded up the blankets in the morning and put them back out at night.  There was also a bunk that folded down from the ceiling.

Pirate Mickey

Pirate Stitch

One section of the kid's club...Andy's room

We absolutely loved our day at Castaway Cay.  Joshua and I went snorkeling.  Although the water was a little cold, I was determined to find the underwater Mickey and Minnie statues.  Minnie was pretty close to the shore, and we found it quickly.  Mickey was waaaay out, and it took a while to find it.  Joshua was ready to give up, but I finally found it!  Then, we went for lunch and checked the kids in at the kid's club.  We enjoyed a little quiet time, and it was time to head back to the ship.  The day went way too fast on the island.

Matt's favorite part of the whole cruise!

We had a day at sea that also went by quickly.  Luke spent almost the entire day at the kid's club.  The littles went to the club, and Matt and I went to see Monster's University with Joshua and Caleb.  After lunch, Matt took the littles back to the room for a nap while Caleb and I went to see Frozen.  The kids went back to the club after dinner, and Matt and I went to the see the last show, Dreams.  It was really good and had lots of characters.  I wish the kids had been with us for that. They would have really enjoyed it.

We had breakfast scheduled at 7 in the morning and debarked after that.  It just seems like it went by too fast.  It was especially time consuming trying to keep up with the kids, in and out of the clubs, to the pool, naps, eating, shows, character appearances, etc.  We didn't have nearly as much down time as I had imagined.  I guess that is life with 5 kids.  Overall, we had a great time.  I asked the kids if they would like to go back to Disney World or take a Disney cruise, and they all voted cruise.  I guess it's time to start saving our pennies for 2017!