June 1 – 7, 2008 - Mexican Riviera Cruise Can't Contain the Excitement Pre-trip Report **Updated 6/4** - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I know its early – a little more than a year away at this point – but I am positively bursting at the seems in anticipation of this cruise. And having found that devouring this year's DCL Passporter, lurking on the passporter boards, and the near daily checking and rechecking of my reservations online are not enough to relieve the pressure of this kind of intense excitement, I have decided to channel some of this energy into a pre-trip report for my own memories and those of you out there (like me) who can't think of anything better to do then spend the evening reading trip reports. If this describes you, I hope you'll like it.
Rewind: Summer 2002 – Dreaming and Scheming
I invite you to step back in time with me five years to the Summer of 2002. A sweltering hot 100+ degree Southern California day. Picture me:
8 months pregnant,
exhausted,
frazzled,
big as a whale,
cooped up in our small condo, collapsed on the couch with very crabby 2-year-old twins taking turns pulling my hair and battering me with toys, and a 4-year-old alternating between defending herself from the twins and trying to incite them to more mischief.
Time to put a movie on! In goes Disney's Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea into the DVD player. After a few movie pre-views a commercial begins for the Disney Cruise Line.
Oh my! I think. There is such a thing as a Disney Cruise? Look at that! The cute little girl has voluntarily ditched her parents for a super fun looking Disney Camp, and the parents are lounging about on deck sipping umbrella drinks! Could this ever be a reality for me?
The commercial ended and the kids watched the movie, but my mind was thousands of miles away. I want that! I need that! TODAY! Then the baby turned several in-utero somersaults and snapped my mind back to reality.
No, definitely not today. The twins are too little to want to ditch us for super fun looking Disney Camp, and a cruise ship would not be a good place to go into labor. Well someday I AM GOING TO HAVE THAT!!!
And I began to scheme...
Fast Forward: Summer 2006 – DH Saves the Day!
DD4 is now nearly 4 years old. DH is just as gung-ho as I am to begin planning a cruise for the next year. After a little research I determine that a Disney Cruise is, all things considered, a very good value, the only problems... , with four kids we'll need two cabins....and, YIKES! Round trip air fare from LA to Orlando is NOT a good value. The price would be too much for this year's budget. And after a short airplane trip in April '06 to Denver to visit DH's family, I am definitely not relishing the idea of a long flight with four little kids.
Now this is the part I'm ashamed to write. Cover your eyes if you're squeamish. I suggested to DH that for less than the price of a four day Disney Cruise and air fare to Florida, we could take a 7-day cruise out of L.A. on another cruise line that would be within our budget.
This is DH's shining moment: he said, No way! A Disney Cruise or nothing! So I somewhat begrudgingly agreed to bank this year's vacation budget and wait one more year until we could afford Disney.
Fast Forward: Christmas '06 - I Am Fully Converted
Several months back I had an inspiration and bought tickets for the whole family to see The Lion King Stage Show for the day after Christmas as the big Christmas present for the year. This was somewhat of a gamble because the girls were still pretty young, the show was late at night, and we were not entirely sure they would love it as much as I hoped they would. Well any of you who have seen the show in person know what happened next – IT WAS AWESOME . Even DH who was unsure whether he would like it was amazed. The girls used some of their Christmas money from their GPs to purchase the original cast recording, memorized all the songs, and for the next month, our house was all Lion King, all the time.
I thought to myself,
You know, Sue, this may be the only cruise our family will be able to afford to take while the girls are young. They will never be at a better age to enjoy a Disney cruise! And this is exactly what you want it to be like – making awesome memories! And no cruise will be able to do that like a DCL Cruise. If the Lion King show was that awesome, imagine what an awesome experience a Disney Cruise would be! Fun Disney activities for the kids during the day while you relax, and then amazing shows to watch together as a family at night...and more! That's worth waiting for!
I was 100% on board with DCL or nothing!
Fast Forward: January 2007 – A Serendipitous Conversation
I was casually talking to Terry, one of the other Mom's at DD1's Girl Scout meeting. It turns out that she is a Travel Agent that specializes in cruises. Who knew! I told her about our plans and lamented, “I just wish that the Disney Cruise would come back to L.A.!" Now this was over four months ago, back when I was really naïve and had not yet heard of passporter. If I had spent my time researching instead of daydreaming, then I would have already known that the Disney Magic was planning to come back to L.A. in May of '08. But fortunately Terry was there to clue me in.
Now May of '08 was a little longer than we wanted to wait, but when we considered the pros and cons:
7 day vs. 4 day cruise,
LA vs Florida,
no airplane vs. long flight,
three extra days cruising vs. two extra days traveling
...the decision was a no-brainer.
We told Terry that we didn't care which of the LA '08 cruises we got; just get us the best bang for our buck. And if we could save a bundle by having the kids skip school for a week , then, Hallelujah, we'll have them skip school for a week.
Since I have uber motion sickness issues , she suggested we go for two Cat. 10 rooms in the middle of Deck 2 on the June 1-7, 2008 cruise. DH and I discussed the merits of inside room vs. port hole or veranda, and we decided to go for the inside rooms and use the money saved for souvenirs, photos, and port exursions (I have my heart set on a jungle zip line , and DD's want a dolphin encounter if one is offered). $1,500 deposit later, on January 30, 2007, we became the proud owners of a DCL confirmation for room numbers 2107 & 2109, on the DCL Magic for the June 1, 2008, Mexican Riviera Cruise!
Fast Forward: Today
Do you know what? I'm glad the cruise is over a year away! Now we get to plan and dream about it for the next twelve months. And I'm having a blast!
Next up: Getting passports (I hope it goes smoothly), and One Year To Go Party. I'll keep you posted.
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Great! One of the best for West Coast 08' I've read! Oh, well yeah I've only read one but this is just great! We are on the cruise right before you on the same deck so we'll make sure the family before you keeps the room in tip-top shape! Can;t wait to read more! I think this will be the longest trip report ever! Yeahhhh!
Great! One of the best for West Coast 08' I've read! Oh, well yeah I've only read one but this is just great! We are on the cruise right before you on the same deck so we'll make sure the family before you keeps the room in tip-top shape! Can;t wait to read more! I think this will be the longest trip report ever! Yeahhhh!
LOL! I'll try to contain myself so it doesn't get scandalously long! That's awesome that you are going on the first cruise! I'll wave as we pass each other at the port. If you bring a big trunk you're willing to hide in, I can try to sneak you back on for another week. I'm not promising anything, but it's worth a shot!
LOL! I'll try to contain myself so it doesn't get scandalously long! That's awesome that you are going on the first cruise! I'll wave as we pass each other at the port. If you bring a big trunk you're willing to hide in, I can try to sneak you back on for another week. I'm not promising anything, but it's worth a shot!
Ahh! Another week! That is awesome but oh snap, too bad I can't do it . They should make human suitcases! Well have fun and keep us updated on your trying to contain yourself before the one year mark, ours is on Friday!!!
I share in your excitement...my Cruise is booked for June 29th!! When I heard the ship was coming to the West, I had to book! I also have twins, but mine will be 13 for the cruise. I am giving them the Cruise for their 13th Birthday which is June 9th...so I have to keep this secret for the next year!
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One Year to Cruise “Sail”abration
Friday (June 1) was the day marking exactly one year until our cruise. To commemorate the day...and OK mostly just to give us something fun to do ...we had a little family party. Also since one of our DDs needs a lot of time to get used to the idea of new things, the party was also a good way to introduce her to some of the out-of-the-ordinary things that will happen on the cruise.
I enjoy playing around in photoshop, so I made each person in the family a “Passport to Cruising”. I used the DCL logo and a picture of the Magic on front. Inside included a map of our cruise route, picture, name, date-of-birth.
Right before the party I went to the local dollar store and got four Micky balloons. When I got home DH and I presented each daughter with a balloon and her “passport” We had the kids help us decorate with party decorations (about $5 worth) that I got from the party store a few days before. We then had the kids pose with their balloons in front of the decorations for a “welcome aboard” photo op.
Next was the life boat drill...
... And sail away party....
Then I made everyone umbrella drinks (supplies purchased from dollar store)
While we were enjoying our drinks we watched the DCL show from the Travel Channel that I recorded a few weeks ago.
After that we had Enchiladas for dinner. For dessert we enjoyed Mickey ice cream sundaes. I made these with one scoop of vanilla ice cream, covered with fudge hard shell topping, and two oreos for ears.
The twins put on a good rendition of “Let's Get Together”, but then got camera shy.
DD4 whispered out a darling version of “Under the Sea"
Fortunately, I was the photographer, so I was not immortalized on film croaking out “Part of Your World.”
DH and DD2 channeled Gabriella and Troy for “Breaking Free”
Meanwhile DD1 channeled Sharpay and stole the show...
and I do mean “stole” the show, from the rest of us. When it was my turn she invited herself to duet with me. When the kids as a group were singing “Monkey's Uncle”, she held the mike close to herself with an iron fist. DD4 tried to get a little closer to the mike, and in one swift arm motion, was promtly swept as side by DD1. Time for a few lessons in manners!
I had planned to play Disney Trivial Pursuit after the Karaoke but we ran out of time. All-in-all it was a pretty fun way to spend a Saturday evening with four young kids.
Passport Update
I've been bad, y'all! I can't find DD1's birth certificate! I guess I'm overdue for Spring cleaning anyway! Better get to it.
About This Page: 
And having found that devouring this year's DCL Passporter, lurking on the passporter boards, and the near daily checking and rechecking of my reservations online are not enough to relieve the pressure of this kind of intense excitement, 
I have decided to channel some of this energy into a pre-trip report for my own memories and those of you out there (like me) who can't think of anything better to do then spend the evening reading trip reports. 
If this describes you, I hope you'll like it. 
and a 4-year-old alternating between defending herself from the twins and trying to incite them to more mischief. 
Time to put a movie on! In goes Disney's Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea into the DVD player. After a few movie pre-views a commercial begins for the Disney Cruise Line. 
The cute little girl has voluntarily ditched her parents for a super fun looking Disney Camp, and the parents are lounging about on deck sipping umbrella drinks! 
Could this ever be a reality for me?
Then the baby turned several in-utero somersaults and snapped my mind back to reality. 
and a cruise ship would not be a good place to go into labor. 
Well someday I AM GOING TO HAVE THAT!!! 
After a little research I determine that a Disney Cruise is, all things considered, a very good value, the only problems...
, with four kids we'll need two cabins....and, YIKES! Round trip air fare from LA to Orlando is NOT a good value.
The price would be too much for this year's budget. And after a short airplane trip in April '06 to Denver to visit DH's family, I am definitely not relishing the idea of a long flight with four little kids. 
Cover your eyes if you're squeamish. I suggested to DH that for less than the price of a four day Disney Cruise and air fare to Florida, we could take a 7-day cruise out of L.A. on another cruise line that would be within our budget. 
No way! A Disney Cruise or nothing! So I somewhat begrudgingly agreed to bank this year's vacation budget and wait one more year until we could afford Disney. 
Now this was over four months ago, back when I was really naïve and had not yet heard of passporter. If I had spent my time researching instead of daydreaming, then I would have already known that the Disney Magic was planning to come back to L.A. in May of '08. 
But fortunately Terry was there to clue me in. 
, then, Hallelujah, we'll have them skip school for a week. 
(I hope it goes smoothly), and One Year To Go Party. I'll keep you posted.
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so I made each person in the family a “Passport to Cruising”. I used the DCL logo and a picture of the Magic on front. Inside included a map of our cruise route, picture, name, date-of-birth.
Time for a few lessons in manners!
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