/Cruising on a Dream Full of Frights and Friends: 10/12/13-10/19/13 TR completed 4/21/2014 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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So I guess Dawn and I will sit in our lonely Starbucks with a frap and watch the web cam of you guys sailing away......waaahhhhhhh.
You better be waving with some crap on your heads so we can find you
So I guess Dawn and I will sit in our lonely Starbucks with a frap and watch the web cam of you guys sailing away......waaahhhhhhh.
You better be waving with some crap on your heads so we can find you
You know I totally have been thinking of making a sign.
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I am so happy to find your PTR! I was hoping you would be writing one when I read in Kelly's PTR that you guys would be on the same cruise. Can't wait for all the details!
Looking forward to hearing about your cruise. Hope gets cuter by the minute! You'll be fighting the boys off before you know it. Who knows maybe she and Dylan will hit it off on the cruise.
So I guess Dawn and I will sit in our lonely Starbucks with a frap and watch the web cam of you guys sailing away......waaahhhhhhh.
You better be waving with some crap on your heads so we can find you
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
You know I totally have been thinking of making a sign.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Linnynad
OOOOMMMMMGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! DO IT!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhToodles!
Well you & Dawn better watch the webcam and then you'll know.
I'm totally all about doing this! But, the real test to see if you were actually watching and waving back, is telling us what the sign said. Are you up for the challenge?
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwonathomas
Great Start! I hope you all have a great time. I love cruising.
Loving the new signature picture
Thanks for following along.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
I am so happy to find your PTR! I was hoping you would be writing one when I read in Kelly's PTR that you guys would be on the same cruise. Can't wait for all the details!
I waited until the last possible minute so I wouldn't end up dragging this thing out any longer than I had too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great start! I am so looking forward to reading all about this cruise!
Gorgeous pictures from the beach, BTW.
Thanks so much! And thanks for joining in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guerns17
Yay!! I can't wait to hear more about your trip. It's so exciting that you are surprising Hope!!
The surprise is more of me not telling her so she doesn't bug me every minute of the day about when we're leaving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheyenne
Great start! Can't wait to read more!
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust190
Looking forward to hearing about your cruise. Hope gets cuter by the minute! You'll be fighting the boys off before you know it. Who knows maybe she and Dylan will hit it off on the cruise.
This made me laugh so hard! It seems like Dawn and Linny are trying to hook their kids up, why not Kelly and I do the same thing?
I'm totally all about doing this! But, the real test to see if you were actually watching and waving back, is telling us what the sign said. Are you up for the challenge?
So I bought a posterboard last night....
Quote:
Originally Posted by honeybee723
This made me laugh so hard! It seems like Dawn and Linny are trying to hook their kids up, why not Kelly and I do the same thing?
With the cruise now booked, we needed to figure out what we were going to do afterwards. Since it was only a 4-nighter, we knew we wanted to visit WDW for a little bit, but because we didn’t want to spend the money on park hoppers, we decided to join Kelly and her family for our very first time at MNSSHP. This would allow us to visit one park, but not spend full price for it, plus, we would get to enjoy the Halloween festivities as well. When I first called to make the reservations, nothing was available except SSR, so I booked a studio with the check-out date for the very next day, then waitlisted us for AKL. A few weeks later, our waitlist came through, and I thought everything was fine and dandy.
Then the wheels in my head started spinning, and I suddenly realized how stupid I had been when figuring out this trip. I’m a pretty smart girl when it comes to traveling, especially when it comes to traveling to Disney World, but I definitely had a big “duh” moment when I booked this one. Why on earth would I schedule us to drive home on a Friday? A Friday????? My 30 minute commute (on a normal no-traffic day) is turned into a hellish 90 minute ordeal on Friday afternoons, and I was considering driving from Florida to Maryland on that horrible day? Heck no!
Now I had to try to extend our AKL stay for one more night, but there wasn’t any availability left…anywhere. I did the next best thing I could, and waitlisted us for another night, praying that a hotel miracle would be blessed upon us. It was really stressful not knowing if we would have a place to stay for that extra night, and Chad and I agreed that if our waitlist didn’t come through, we would just check out and hopefully be able to check into a value resort on a whim. Luckily we didn’t have to do that because another few weeks later, our waitlist came through for that extra night, and we were no longer a family without a place to stay.
After the weight of finding a room was lifted off of my shoulders, I began to tackle the issue of how we were going to get down to Florida. Normally this part of the vacation is a no-brainer, we fly of course, but since this trip was never supposed to exist this year, spending the $900 on airfare wasn’t in the budget. After doing a lot research, and a lot of talking, we decided we were going to try our hand at driving to Disney. From Maryland it’s about a 14 hour trip, and even though we used to do this all the time when I was little, the big difference was I was always sleeping while my parents were driving, not the other way around. We thought it would be best to drive straight through the night, that way Hope would sleep the entire way, and we would take turns sleeping and driving until we got to the port. But then I started to worry. I worried about making it through the night without having to pull over because one of us was too tired to make it. I worried about one of us saying they were okay to drive, and then falling asleep at the wheel. And I worried that even if we were able to drive through the night without any problems, that we would be too tired to enjoy the first day of our cruise.
I explained all of my worries to Chad, and he agreed that they were extremely valid, but what would it take to ease my mind? My answer…drive all day on Saturday and spend the night at a hotel near the port. More research was done, and after looking at every single hotel in the Port Canaveral/Cocoa Beach area, I booked the Park-n-Cruise package at the Country Inn and Suites. Most of the reviews were positive, with a few negatives thrown in to make me nervous, but I think I made a good decision, plus it comes with a free continental breakfast the next day, and it’s also the closest hotel to the port, so we can sleep in a bit before we have to grab the shuttle over to the ship.
There was only one more issue that we were dealing with when it came to the drive down, and that was our vehicle. Chad drives a Buick Regal, which is a really nice car, but to me, it’s not roomy enough for a 14 hours journey. I, on the other hand, drive a Buick Rendezvous, which is perfect for a car trip, BUT it’s also 10 years old, and beginning to show it’s age very well. Both of us just didn’t feel comfortable driving my car all the way down to Florida and back, given the fact that there were too many things that could cause problems for us and possibly prevent us from getting to the port on time. So we decided to take Chad’s car…until an incredibly great deal was placed right in front of me that I just couldn’t pass up. Chad’s uncle owns the car dealership where he’s employed, and after asking what I was looking for, he kept his eyes open for anything that might be of interest to me. A 2010 GMC Terrain with only 23,000 miles came through the auction all because of some minor front end damage, damage that could easily be repaired by their award winning body shop. It had everything…blue tooth, iPhone hook-up, backup camera, sun roof, heated seats, OnStar, Satellite radio, remote start, etc, etc, etc, and his uncle was willing to sell it to me for only $19,500.00. I was sold, and so was the car.
__________________
Melissa
Last edited by honeybee723; 11-01-2013 at 02:13 PM..
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
This made me laugh so hard! It seems like Dawn and Linny are trying to hook their kids up, why not Kelly and I do the same thing? 
This would allow us to visit one park, but not spend full price for it, plus, we would get to enjoy the Halloween festivities as well. When I first called to make the reservations, nothing was available except SSR, 
so I booked a studio with the check-out date for the very next day, then waitlisted us for AKL. A few weeks later, our waitlist came through, and I thought everything was fine and dandy. 
I’m a pretty smart girl when it comes to traveling, especially when it comes to traveling to Disney World, 
My 30 minute commute (on a normal no-traffic day) is turned into a hellish 90 minute ordeal on Friday afternoons, 
and I was considering driving from Florida to Maryland on that horrible day? Heck no! 
I did the next best thing I could, and waitlisted us for another night, praying that a hotel miracle would be blessed upon us. 
It was really stressful not knowing if we would have a place to stay for that extra night, and Chad and I agreed that if our waitlist didn’t come through, we would just check out and hopefully be able to check into a value resort on a whim. Luckily we didn’t have to do that because another few weeks later, our waitlist came through for that extra night, and we were no longer a family without a place to stay. 
I began to tackle the issue of how we were going to get down to Florida. Normally this part of the vacation is a no-brainer, we fly of course, but since this trip was never supposed to exist this year, spending the $900 on airfare wasn’t in the budget. After doing a lot research, and a lot of talking, we decided we were going to try our hand at driving to Disney. 
From Maryland it’s about a 14 hour trip, and even though we used to do this all the time when I was little, the big difference was I was always sleeping while my parents were driving, 
not the other way around. We thought it would be best to drive straight through the night, that way Hope would sleep the entire way, and we would take turns sleeping and driving until we got to the port. But then I started to worry. 
I worried about making it through the night without having to pull over because one of us was too tired to make it. I worried about one of us saying they were okay to drive, and then falling asleep at the wheel. And I worried that even if we were able to drive through the night without any problems, that we would be too tired to enjoy the first day of our cruise. 
Most of the reviews were positive, with a few negatives thrown in to make me nervous, 
given the fact that there were too many things that could cause problems for us and possibly prevent us from getting to the port on time. So we decided to take Chad’s car…until an incredibly great deal was placed right in front of me that I just couldn’t pass up. 
I was sold, and so was the car. 
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