1 if by Land, 2 if by Sea - A Coop/ChukkerB PTR - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Great idea to stay away from F&W on the weekends if you can help it! Plans look great We really enjoyed our chocolate making class in Nassau but most of the other things there don't appeal to me much either!
I was looking for the chocolate tour and didn't find it in any of the Disney books. Did you book it separately? (Not through your cruise - I know you went on a different line)
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Originally Posted by HollyH
Good plans.
I did a mixology seminar on the Fantasy. I'm not sure if it will be offered on the shorter cruises, but if it is give it a try! You learn to make (and get to drink) 5 different cocktails. Lots of fun if you like that sort of thing. I think it cost like $10 or $15 per person.
THanks - I'd love to try the mixology!
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Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
Yay! Another trip for you guys! And another report! I love reading your tag team reports!
Bummer I will be leaving the day you arrive, but I won't be leaving until later, so maybe just maybe we might bump into each other!? Could happen!
Thanks! We try to make it fun. Sure - it could happen!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
It all sounds great. I love the mix of TS, no plans and grazing at F&WF. You can really make it to WDW in just 2 days? 14 hours of driving in one day seems like a lot, but I know you two find it relaxing and exciting to be on the road together. The cruise will be so relaxing and wonderful. Just sitting on your verandah watching the sea and sky.... aaahhhh!
Thanks Laurie. We really wanted to focus on the F&WF this time. Every other time we've been there when F&WF is going - we've had so many ADR's that we weren't very hungry to try anything. We like breaking it up with the majority of the driving done on the day before. That way we aren't too tired when we get there.
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We were in stateroom 6692 on the Dream before and really enjoyed the large verandah!
I'm looking forward to the aft room!
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Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Plans look great! Love that you are leaving open time for F&WF.
Thanks! Gotta try all the goodies!
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Originally Posted by manticorjenn
Great start!! I can't wait to read about your adventures, especially your cruise portion. I am pretty sure that my boyfriend and I are going to celebrate our 20th in 2016 on a cruise on the Dream.
Thanks! I'm so looking forward to our cruise portion but don't want it to overshadow the WDW part.
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Originally Posted by kingfamily1129
yay! So glad I found this before you and Chuck go! I love the Prepaid Visa idea for dining. As Aiden is getting bigger, he tends to not like to eat off of the kids menu and the DP makes him eat off of that. Plus, sometimes I'm just not in the mood for dessert or an app. I may do this for our trip in March. Can't wait to read more!
Thanks! It worked really well for us!
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Originally Posted by Cam22
All your plans and dining choices look great! We'll be grazing at Epcot for the F&WF on Monday the 27th, too.
Thanks Cam! Maybe we will run into you and Luke around the F&WF! Or we could plan a cocktail or something.
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Originally Posted by phiedragon
What an awesome trip this is going to be! Halloween, Food & Wine, Cruise, and Kidani - just wow I love the idea of TIW and the prepaid Visa. I look forward to hearing more of your plans
Thanks. We are really excited.
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Originally Posted by chezp
Great dining and touring plans!
Thanks Cheryl!
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Originally Posted by Dlandmom2
Signing in so I don't miss this! I can't wait to hear how you like AKL and the cruise. I would love to do the same thing someday!
Chuck!
Thanks! We know we like Jambo House so I'm sure we will love Kidani.
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Originally Posted by shazza
Looks good. First thing I noticed was the party and BOG on Halloween - Score!
I know, right?! How cool is that? I was originally trying for BOG on Sunday and nothing was open. Then I just switched some things around and BAM! It all fell into place!
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Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Great plans. Impressed that you were able to score not one but two very hard to get events on Halloween. Love BOG and MNSSHP. We are going in Sept and doing both but not on the same day.
Thanks! We weren't originally planning BOG on the same day as MNSSHP - but that was what was avail so I switched things around and voila!
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilsEagles08
Wow! What detailed plans!! Sounds like you have an awesome trip planned!
I didn't think I had even that much detail - kind of a laid back feel. But it is shaping up!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shari2137
Sounds like a great trip!!! Sorry we will miss you by a week. I agree with the TIW card. Good idea about the prepaid Visa. Was thinking you may want to check out purchasing Disney Gift Cards at Target. If you have either a debit or credit red card with Target you get a 5% discount on your gift card purchases and would avoid the Visa prepaid card surcharge. We do this & just charge everything to the room. Every couple days we stop at the desk & pay off the balance with the gift cards. I pay in full dollars amounts so I don't have partial balances on the gift cards. As long as your room charges are below $1,500 at deluxe resort they do not charge your card until midnight before checking out. Looking forward to reading more about your trip.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks - I already have the prepaid cards and they are reloadable and good until 2017. If I were getting gift cards - I'd check out Target though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKnott17
Great plans! You have a great mix of ADRs and time spent grazing at the F&WF. We've done MNSSHP on Halloween before, you are going to have a great time. There's something so magical about trick or treating and seeing the characters in their costumes at the MK on Halloween!
Thanks! We're looking forward to it. We don't really like Halloween all that much but it's so much different at Disney!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
I was so excited to see that you started your PTR Tracy!!! Your itinerary looks wonderful and I'm happy that you got into the AKL as I know how much you and Chuck enjoy that resort! Your restaurant picks are great and it will be the perfect blend of F&W with your dining plans. Looking forward to hearing about your Disney cruise experience as I've cruised before but never with the Disney line Happy Birthday shout out to Chuck!
Thanks! We really do love AKL! I think we are going to have a perfect combo of things this time.
When we got home from our last trip, we immediately had Christmas. That was just the timing of it. But we had already been "Christmas-ed out" because we had just spent 2 weeks immersed in it. But we had a low key thing here at home. The kids had decorated the tree while we were gone which was good - but we were ready to take it down on 12/26! By January, we knew we could book and decided to book at BLT since that was our home resort. We just had to decide on a time. We didn't want Christmas again (too far off) and we didn't want "Jersey week" or Thanksgiving. So Halloween was decided on! We booked for 7 days at BLT knowing that we could use the same amount of points for a longer stay at either AKL or OKW. (and if all else failed - we would still have a room for a week at BLT).
January was also hard because we lost another fur baby - our cat, April. She had diabetes and was starting to have mobility issues and incontinence as well and she was losing weight - at 15 years old, it was time. But it made it hard for us as we had lost 2 fur babies within 9 months!
February was snowy here in MI (as was the entire winter) and nothing much was happening. Work, work and more work. Chuck started Stage for "Kiss Me Kate" and was gone a lot but enjoying himself.
March is also weird weather wise here but there were some days with a "glimmer" of spring. Nothing happened with Disney - just dreaming and on the boards a lot. I did get sick and missed my ACLS recert so I had to reschedule that. I didn't think it was good to try to recert while I had a temp of 104! Chuck was knee deep in the theatre and was asked to help with stage at ANOTHER (different) local theater for their production of "Jesus Christ Superstar". He had originally wanted to try out for that one but the production overlapped and so stage was easier for him.
April was finally here and we could do ADR's! But as you can see we didn't do too many. We are planning on taking full advantage of F&WF! We were both working and Chuck was working hard on his extracurricular activities.
May came and we could finally switch resorts since it was our 7 month window. By this time, I had already paid off the cruise portion of the trip and now we were just saving $ for everything else. I did the "Disney Math" and we found that if we switched to AKL and added 3 days (10 days total)- we could use all the points from BLT and it would only cost us 3 additional points! If we left it at a week - we would have lost about 40 points. So that was a no brainer. Now we finalized time off with work and sure up our plans! Chuck had his final performances of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and was looking forward to a well deserved break from the theater.
June - My birthday month! Chuck gave me a Kindle "paperwhite". When I reminded him that we weren't doing gifts but saving for our trip he said that this WAS for our trip. So I could read on deck of the ship! We decided against opening the pool this year. In fact, we took it down. The upkeep was going to cost us more than what enjoyment we could get out of it. We also wanted to start thinking about what to do about our Jeep. The lease was going to be up in October and we didn't want to be rushing around trying to take care of that right before vacation. So we went to the Jeep/Chrysler dealer and test drove a Town and Country minivan. We also test drove a Flex and a Journey. I was most impressed with the mini van. Although we don't have kids (at home) and I'm definitely NOT a soccer mom, we got the mini van! It rides so nice - similar to our old Cadillac. We also figured that we could put a bunch of stuff in the back and take off for a weekend. Tent, bikes, dog would all fit nicely. So we ended up with the mini van and it cost about $100 LESS than what we were already paying for the Jeep! It was during June that I also had some back issues. Years ago, I was assaulted by a drunk at work and have since had back/sciatic pain. I saw my PCP and he took me off of work for a week and sent me to PT. I had been doing stretches and exercises as I should but went to PT anyway. Only to discover that it was costing $150 per visit! That's just ridiculous. I was doing all the right things before - so I quit PT and have been managing my back issues myself. It's insane that I, as a healthcare worker, can not afford the treatment that is needed so I can walk and perform activities of daily living so I can do my job and take care of those who abuse the system and have no intention of paying a bill! Sorry - I could write a whole page on this rant alone.
July - Another busy month. We went to "set schedules" at work and I wasn't allowed to keep the set schedule I've been on for the past 5 years. So now I'm back to working every other weekend. It's ok but it's odd. I've worked Sun, Mon, Tues for so long that it's weird when I'm home on a Sunday afternoon. This was also the month for Chuck's b'day and our Anniversary. I took off for our anniversary and we went out to dinner. Cheesecake Factory. We've never been and it was very good but the portion sizes Whoa! Disney sized! We had a "play date" and went to Menard's for some things and while we were in the area, we stopped for some Chik-Fil-A to take home. Then we headed over to Tony Packo's for our traditional anniversary hot dog. We did a phone "upgrade" as that was all Chuck wanted for his birthday. He got the Samsung Note 3 and is still trying to figure it out. LOL! I lucked out and got to upgrade too. So I got an iPhone 5s. We are pretty set for electronics. We're also pretty set for clothes I think. Chuck is going over some t-shirt ideas for "pirate night" on the cruise.
I so hear you about the medical issues. I work for a group of surgeons and see it every day. Like you, I will leave it at that as no one wants to hear ranting all the time.
Can't wait to see your lists! The anniversary trip for my parents is still over a year away, but I have already started and revised mine several times. I can't wait until next week when the prices come out and the real planning and booking can begin.
__________________
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
It really worked out perfectly with the transfer to AKL. Good planning! Chuck just can't say "no" to a theater production! Great plays, though. I'm a huge fan of "Kiss Me, Kate". Doesn't get much better than Cole Porter. "Brush Up Your Shakespeare!"
I so agree with you on the TIW card. We used the Dining Plan for a few years as we used to go during free dining. Once we moved our trips up the TIW worked out so much better for us. We would share when we wanted, sometimes we would share an app or a dessert, we could eat how we wanted and not what was "part of the meal". It really is a great fit for us and I love that it is good for 13 months as it always gives us two long summer trips on the same card.
Love your ADRs and plans and your dedicated eat around the World days. We were there last year for a few days for a conference. We ended up at Epcot on a Saturday and it was impossible to even enjoy ourselves with the crowds, we went back on a Monday, it was like a totally different park. We just wandered, there were low waits on the lines. Just perfect.
Glad Chuck has a break from the theater for a few weeks, definitely needed. We actually just came back from my dad's show this evening. He had two small parts in Gypsy but even when he has small parts he is there painting and building. He will now have a few weeks off as he is skipping their next production of Godspell as he will be on vacation but he has a big part in Damn Yankees so once Fall comes my mom will lose him once again to the theater
You've had a busy year! Sorry about your fur baby and I hope your back is feeling better.
Couple of comments:
-Kidani Village -we love it there and prefer it to Jambo. We have always requested "near the lobby" and had our request honored. If you haven't yet taken the FREE culinary tour(s) at Sanaa or Boma/Jiko, I would recommend you check it out. At Boma we got a sample of soup and a zebra dome plus got to sample the bread service/dips at Jiko. Did I mention this was free? They are daily at 4 pm I believe. Just show up at the Boma podium or the Sanaa podium, no reservations required.
-The Cheesecake Factory -YUM! One of my favorites but I don't have one too near me, one 45 minutes away, another 1 hour away. I have to pay to park in a garage for each, so I don't go too often but I'm going this week for half-price cheesecake day .
-I just upgraded to the iphone 5s too. I love this phone! Where has it been all my life? Why haven't I gotten one before this?
-Also just got a new car, although I've moved from a mini-van to a sedan. As you and Chuck like road trips, I'm sure you'll find the van to be a good fit.
Wow, we have a lot in common, don't we?
As for the shirts for pirate night, I made some Mickey pirate t-shirts for us from a site I found via Pinterest. If you're interested in the link, PM me.
Oh, and I want to add that Kidani Village has a cool collection of African art displayed around the resort (mostly by all the elevators on each floor) and there are African proverbs painted on the walls around the resort (again, mostly near elevators). I found this really cool -worth knowing about if you like this sort of thing.
You've had a busy first half of the year, but this trip is going to sneak right up on you before you know it!
We booked the tour directly through the chocolate factory and walked ourselves over. 10-15 mins from Port and mostly easy to find (we found the hotel, not the chocolate factory at first, but they are all right there) Graycliff Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas - Graycliff Coffee and Chocolate What's funny is we did end up touring with a Disney group, so it's weird that it's not coming up as an option for you, because it was a full class with them!
I the month by month summary. When I read you all ate at Cheesecake Factory I remembered our first visit there in Chicago. June and I ordered half salads because we wanted room for cheesecake. The salads came out in what I would describe as the large serving salad bowl. June asked if these were the half sizes and was told, Yes! She and I both commented that we should have shared. When it came time to order dessert, our waiter let us know the cheesecake was also large if we wanted to share. We both said no way.
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We really enjoyed our chocolate making class in Nassau but most of the other things there don't appeal to me much either!
Chuck!
Disney sized! We had a "play date" and went to Menard's for some things and while we were in the area, we stopped for some Chik-Fil-A to take home. Then we headed over to Tony Packo's for our traditional anniversary hot dog. We did a phone "upgrade" as that was all Chuck wanted for his birthday. He got the Samsung Note 3 and is still trying to figure it out. LOL! 
I lucked out and got to upgrade too. So I got an iPhone 5s. We are pretty set for electronics. We're also pretty set for clothes I think. Chuck is going over some t-shirt ideas for "pirate night" on the cruise. 
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
and I hope your back is feeling better.
the month by month summary. When I read you all ate at Cheesecake Factory I remembered our first visit there in Chicago. June and I ordered half salads because we wanted room for cheesecake. The salads came out in what I would describe as the large serving salad bowl. June asked if these were the half sizes and was told, Yes! She and I both commented that we should have shared. When it came time to order dessert, our waiter let us know the cheesecake was also large if we wanted to share. We both said no way. 
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