Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, First Disney Cruise Trip Report

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alicemouse's picture
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Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, First Disney Cruise Trip Report

*****TRIP REPORT BEGINS ON PAGE 2, POST #6*****

This is way early, but I'm finished with the photo book for California now and it's been a long month or so at work and I need some Disney planning therapy. So, here we go!

I'm traveling November 6 - November 16 and there's quite a bit going on during this trip! I'll be traveling to WDW with my cousin Jenn and my friend Christine.

Jenn is a year younger than me and despite the fact that her family moved from our hometown of Hanover to the Poconos when she was 4-years-old, we've always been close. Jenn has made some unconventional decisions in her life that not all of our family understands, but she is awesome. She spent 4 weeks backpacking Europe; she's a pastry chef--currently in Martha's Vineyard; she loves art and food and music; she's shy and only talks when she thinks she can contribute to the conversation, but she's so much fun to hang out with!

Christine and I graduated from college at the same time and with the same major (Economics), but from different schools. We worked together at the Federal Reserve Board in DC for a few years and I introduced her to her soon-to-be-ex-husband (she still loves me even though it turns out that it wasn't maybe the great match it seemed to be at the time). When we first met, I was sorting a pack of M&M's (I separate my M&M's and eat them in pairs in order of wavelength of the color--you know, ROY G. BIV) and before I even said hello to her, I looked up and exclaimed "Roy G. Biv". She told me later that she new at that moment that we were going to be friends forever.

Jenn and Christine don't know each other yet, but all three of us like to eat and we like to try new food, so food & wine is great. Also, Christine's family lived in Thailand for her dad's job for most of her childhood and Jenn wants to take a trip to Thailand during her restaurant's off season this winter, so they'll have lots to talk about. All three of us are very independent and anti-drama, so I'm hopeful that we'll all have a good time together and that everyone will be cool with hanging with the group or doing their own thing as time and interests allow.

On Thursday night, Benn will be flying to Orlando to join us. When Jenn and Christine leave on Friday, Benn and I will continue on to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream! We've cruised on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Princess, but we've never been on a Disney Cruise, so we're very excited to compare and contrast. Unfortunately, since we are basically doing the same itinerary as we would do on the meet-up next year, we may skip the cruise portion of the meet-up to save vacation days for Benn and to save money as this has not been a lucrative year real estate-wise for me.

There is a CHANCE that Benn's mom and her fiance might join us for the cruise. We had invited mom along to Star Wars weekend last year and it wasn't a good time for her, but she just mentioned this past weekend that she would love to go to Disney with us the next time that we go! So of course we mentioned that we have this cruise coming up. I sent them a very detailed email about prices, options, etc. and they are currently reviewing the info and thinking about it. I really hope that they decide to go with us!!

SO the loose itinerary right now is as follows:

Friday, November 6
Benn will drop me off at BWI and I will book the best combo of earliest/cheapest flight available. I will meet up with Jenn and Christine at Saratoga (wait listed for Wilderness, but there's basically no chance that we're getting that) and we'll hopefully have time to get over to the race expo in the evening. If everyone gets in early enough, we'll probably go to TOWL for drinks.

Saturday, November 7
Sleep in, probably hit DTD for a little while, take a nap, and get ready to race! Christine and I are "running" the half marathon at 10:00pm and Jenn (the smart one--LOL) is attending the post-race party. We'll all meet up after the race and hopefully gorge ourselves on delicious festival food until 4am.

Sunday, November 8
Race/gluttony recovery day! We'll probably hit the pool for a while. We have lunch (probably more like breakfast) booked at Sanaa at 1:30 and I intend to take the girls to Jellyrolls for the evening.

Monday, November 9
We'll hit DHS and EPCOT today and we have an ADR for dinner at Flying Fish.

Tuesday, November 10
It's a non-park day, so we may do DTD again or hit the pool or maybe take a cab to see some other cool thing in Orlando (maybe the Gaylord Palms ice sculpture will be open by then!). Christine and I have tickets for MVMCP tonight. Jenn opted out for that one. I think she's planning to hit an offsite Orlando restaurant that night.

Wednesday, November 11
It'a AK & EPCOT day and we have an ADR for dinner at Via Napoli

Thursday, November 12
MK day and a dinner ADR at 'Ohana. Hopefully Benn will be able to get an early enough flight to join us for dinner.

Friday, November 13
Benn and I will transfer to Port Canaveral via Magical Express and Jenn and Christine will fly home.

Saturday, November 14
We'll be in port in Nassau and we're leaning toward taking the Graycliff Chocolatier tour. We've been to Nassau, but last time we just wandered around and did the free jewelry "scavenger hunt". We want to do a short excursion just so that we get some sort of touring aspect this time, but we want to spend a lot of time today doing activities on the boat.

Sunday, November 15
It's Castaway Cay day. I want to do the Castaway Cay 5K and I'm hoping that Benn will join me. For an excursion, I want to do the 4-in-1 that includes biking, snorkeling, petting a sting ray, and tube rental. Benn doesn't like to ride bikes and he's not excited about snorkeling, so we might just rent the tubes and play at the beach.

Monday, November 16
Return to port and fly home sad

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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Follow-up: There's a free restaurant tour at AKL, right?? Is it at Sanaa or Boma or Jiko? I know at least one of you guys has done that tour. Can you remind me about the details, please? Jenn would probably love that.

There's one at Boardwalk, too, right?

And I'm thinking for FP...

11/9 - DHS: FP TSM, ToT & Star Tours, Rope drop or single rider RnR;
EPCOT: eat our way through WS

11/11 - AK: Rope drop Kilimanjaro, single rider EE, FoLK, Primeval Whirl
EPCOT: FP Soarin', Spaceship Earth, & Character Spot?

11/12 - MK: Rope drop Adventureland, Frontierland, & Liberty Square; FP PPF, 7DMT, Space Mountain

Thoughts?

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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I think they all do.

Sounds like a great plan. Will be interested to hear about the cruise as we are still undecided about it!

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Sounds like a great trip. I LOVED the W&D Half muchlove I really want to do it again!

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Sounds like a fantastic trip, enjoy and looking forward to your trip report/impressions of the DCL. Just returned from a weekend Royal Caribbean cruise a few weeks ago, I enjoyed myself, but I missed the Disney spirit. Smile

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Sally-Ann wrote:
I think they all do.

Sounds like a great plan. Will be interested to hear about the cruise as we are still undecided about it!

Thanks for the tip, Sally-Ann! Looks like 4:00 daily for all AKL restaurant tours. Have you and G started your itinerary? Will we get to meet up anywhere?

Spook wrote:
Sounds like a great trip. I LOVED the W&D Half muchlove I really want to do it again!

I wish you were going with us!! That would be fun Smile I looked at the travel list and unfortunately, it doesn't look like anyone else from our group going this year. (Speaking of our runners in the forum, where's taratru been?)

Emilio wrote:
Sounds like a fantastic trip, enjoy and looking forward to your trip report/impressions of the DCL. Just returned from a weekend Royal Caribbean cruise a few weeks ago, I enjoyed myself, but I missed the Disney spirit. Smile

Thanks, Emilio! Of the three lines we've done, we would definitely rank Royal Caribbean as the best. Carnival (aka the Voyage of the damned) was awful. Princess had awesome entertainment and felt more...classy? than Carnival, but we had a few food issues that were really not cool.

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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You are going to love the Disney Dream. I've sailed a bunch of other cruise lines too, but Disney is by far my favorite. My DH and I loved the Dream so much, we did the same cruise twice. The second time, we stayed on board for the day in Nassau. Heck, I could do that cruise ever year if I could manage it. The adults only spaces on board are fantastic and Serenity Bay is AWESOME! Be sure to try the Konk Kooler (its their signature drink). Oh definitely give the AquaDuck a try. We had a blast. At first my husband was embarrassed that I was making him go on it but then he was the one who wanted to ride it again and again. So much fun!

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Ditto on the loving DCL, something magical about the Disney ships. clapping

Von Boyage

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Kris1971 wrote:
You are going to love the Disney Dream. I've sailed a bunch of other cruise lines too, but Disney is by far my favorite. My DH and I loved the Dream so much, we did the same cruise twice. The second time, we stayed on board for the day in Nassau. Heck, I could do that cruise ever year if I could manage it. The adults only spaces on board are fantastic and Serenity Bay is AWESOME! Be sure to try the Konk Kooler (its their signature drink). Oh definitely give the AquaDuck a try. We had a blast. At first my husband was embarrassed that I was making him go on it but then he was the one who wanted to ride it again and again. So much fun!

yay I hope we feel exactly the same way! Depending on how the real estate sales stack up for the remainder of the year, we're hoping to do the meet-up cruise next year and it's the same itinerary. That would be our third time in Nassau and we weren't super impressed with that port stop the first time! LOL. We typically choose our cruises based on the port stops as there is often little that appeals to us on the ships of the other lines. But from what we've read about the onboard experience on DCL, I'm super jazzed up!!

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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Alice M, just read on the Aug 2015 Travel & Leisure mag that DCL was #1 on the Mega-Ship Ocean cruise category, but I am sure you already knew that. Cool

mickey

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What do you do with the brown M&Ms? Since they don't fit ROYGBIV?

I also sort my M&Ms, but then I eat one of each color in order as long as I can and even when some colors are gone I keep alternating among colors until I'm down to just one color.

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crazycatperson wrote:
What do you do with the brown M&Ms? Since they don't fit ROYGBIV?

I also sort my M&Ms, but then I eat one of each color in order as long as I can and even when some colors are gone I keep alternating among colors until I'm down to just one color.

I eat the brown ones first so that I'm, left with just the colors that fit my scheme. biggrin Also it would help tremendously if the Mars company would add indigo and violet M&Ms to my pack. I like this one of each color method, too. What's important is that there is a system in place. laugh Have you ever noticed that most packs are heavy on the orange and yellow and they skimp on the green and blue?

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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Emilio wrote:
Alice M, just read on the Aug 2015 Travel & Leisure mag that DCL was #1 on the Mega-Ship Ocean cruise category, but I am sure you already knew that. Cool

mickey

Actually, I'm a little bit surprised by that just because the fleet is so small. I would have almost expected it to go to Royal Caribbean or Norwegian. With RC's Oasis of the Seas, I'm surprised that anyone is eclipsing them right now. Go Disney!! clapping

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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alicemouse wrote:
crazycatperson wrote:
What do you do with the brown M&Ms? Since they don't fit ROYGBIV?

I also sort my M&Ms, but then I eat one of each color in order as long as I can and even when some colors are gone I keep alternating among colors until I'm down to just one color.

I eat the brown ones first so that I'm, left with just the colors that fit my scheme. biggrin Also it would help tremendously if the Mars company would add indigo and violet M&Ms to my pack. I like this one of each color method, too. What's important is that there is a system in place. laugh Have you ever noticed that most packs are heavy on the orange and yellow and they skimp on the green and blue?

Wait, what??? What was this thread about???

This is opening a whole new can of worms (which I would also find a way to sort) I could go on for days talking about the right way to sort and eat thing but I digress...... (gotta be even numbers) laugh wink PS Skittles, only purple but it works....

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on Flying Fish. It's been on my radar, although kinda low on it....Sometimes I wish they didn't have so many options. I feel like I will never get to them all!

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Ok I'm beyond jealous and am super excited for this trip report! I enjoyed reading your last cruise report so I'm excited to see how it compares. We're hoping to do our first Disney Cruise next year (DH's first ever cruise).

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JMed wrote:
alicemouse wrote:
crazycatperson wrote:
What do you do with the brown M&Ms? Since they don't fit ROYGBIV?

I also sort my M&Ms, but then I eat one of each color in order as long as I can and even when some colors are gone I keep alternating among colors until I'm down to just one color.

I eat the brown ones first so that I'm left with just the colors that fit my scheme. biggrin Also it would help tremendously if the Mars company would add indigo and violet M&Ms to my pack. I like this one of each color method, too. What's important is that there is a system in place. laugh Have you ever noticed that most packs are heavy on the orange and yellow and they skimp on the green and blue?

Wait, what??? What was this thread about???

This is opening a whole new can of worms (which I would also find a way to sort) I could go on for days talking about the right way to sort and eat thing but I digress...... (gotta be even numbers) laugh wink PS Skittles, only purple but it works....

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on Flying Fish. It's been on my radar, although kinda low on it....Sometimes I wish they didn't have so many options. I feel like I will never get to them all!

Haha!! Sorry, JMed! We got off on a bit of a tangent there! Flying Fish was a special request by my cousin, Jenn. She did some research and talked to some people in the industry whose opinions she values and they said that Flying Fish and Via Napoli were the best that WDW has to offer culinary-wise, so those were her requests. It's funny because they would have been low on my priority list for her to try.

__________________

Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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Allie wrote:
Ok I'm beyond jealous and am super excited for this trip report! I enjoyed reading your last cruise report so I'm excited to see how it compares. We're hoping to do our first Disney Cruise next year (DH's first ever cruise).

Thanks, Allie mickey I can't wait, but I'm a little nervous because Benn has not had a great sailing experience the last few times, so I'm really hoping that it's as awesome as I think it's going to be! Are you guys doing the meet-up cruise or a different one?

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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alicemouse wrote:
Allie wrote:
Ok I'm beyond jealous and am super excited for this trip report! I enjoyed reading your last cruise report so I'm excited to see how it compares. We're hoping to do our first Disney Cruise next year (DH's first ever cruise).

Thanks, Allie mickey I can't wait, but I'm a little nervous because Benn has not had a great sailing experience the last few times, so I'm really hoping that it's as awesome as I think it's going to be! Are you guys doing the meet-up cruise or a different one?

We're holding off on deciding. To be honest, we're probably going to start trying for baby #2 sometime next year which will make a big impact on when we can go since Disney cruise line doesn't let you sail after 24 weeks. So if it happens earlier in the year we will need to do an earlier cruise, if it happens later in the year then we are aiming for the meetup cruise yay

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Allie wrote:
alicemouse wrote:
Allie wrote:
Ok I'm beyond jealous and am super excited for this trip report! I enjoyed reading your last cruise report so I'm excited to see how it compares. We're hoping to do our first Disney Cruise next year (DH's first ever cruise).

Thanks, Allie mickey I can't wait, but I'm a little nervous because Benn has not had a great sailing experience the last few times, so I'm really hoping that it's as awesome as I think it's going to be! Are you guys doing the meet-up cruise or a different one?

We're holding off on deciding. To be honest, we're probably going to start trying for baby #2 sometime next year which will make a big impact on when we can go since Disney cruise line doesn't let you sail after 24 weeks. So if it happens earlier in the year we will need to do an earlier cruise, if it happens later in the year then we are aiming for the meetup cruise yay

Yah, new pregnancy blog, good luck hope it all works out for you x

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alicemouse wrote:
JMed wrote:
alicemouse wrote:
crazycatperson wrote:
What do you do with the brown M&Ms? Since they don't fit ROYGBIV?

I also sort my M&Ms, but then I eat one of each color in order as long as I can and even when some colors are gone I keep alternating among colors until I'm down to just one color.

I eat the brown ones first so that I'm left with just the colors that fit my scheme. biggrin Also it would help tremendously if the Mars company would add indigo and violet M&Ms to my pack. I like this one of each color method, too. What's important is that there is a system in place. laugh Have you ever noticed that most packs are heavy on the orange and yellow and they skimp on the green and blue?

Wait, what??? What was this thread about???

This is opening a whole new can of worms (which I would also find a way to sort) I could go on for days talking about the right way to sort and eat thing but I digress...... (gotta be even numbers) laugh wink PS Skittles, only purple but it works....

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on Flying Fish. It's been on my radar, although kinda low on it....Sometimes I wish they didn't have so many options. I feel like I will never get to them all!

Haha!! Sorry, JMed! We got off on a bit of a tangent there! Flying Fish was a special request by my cousin, Jenn. She did some research and talked to some people in the industry whose opinions she values and they said that Flying Fish and Via Napoli were the best that WDW has to offer culinary-wise, so those were her requests. It's funny because they would have been low on my priority list for her to try.

VN was low on your list??? But why?

__________________

"I do not like the cone of shame."

"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere. I want it more than I can tell."

"It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell."

Jennifer Huotari | Create Your Badge

The Huotari's Disney Adventures | Promote Your Page Too

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JMed wrote:
alicemouse wrote:
JMed wrote:
alicemouse wrote:
crazycatperson wrote:
What do you do with the brown M&Ms? Since they don't fit ROYGBIV?

I also sort my M&Ms, but then I eat one of each color in order as long as I can and even when some colors are gone I keep alternating among colors until I'm down to just one color.

I eat the brown ones first so that I'm left with just the colors that fit my scheme. biggrin Also it would help tremendously if the Mars company would add indigo and violet M&Ms to my pack. I like this one of each color method, too. What's important is that there is a system in place. laugh Have you ever noticed that most packs are heavy on the orange and yellow and they skimp on the green and blue?

Wait, what??? What was this thread about???

This is opening a whole new can of worms (which I would also find a way to sort) I could go on for days talking about the right way to sort and eat thing but I digress...... (gotta be even numbers) laugh wink PS Skittles, only purple but it works....

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on Flying Fish. It's been on my radar, although kinda low on it....Sometimes I wish they didn't have so many options. I feel like I will never get to them all!

Haha!! Sorry, JMed! We got off on a bit of a tangent there! Flying Fish was a special request by my cousin, Jenn. She did some research and talked to some people in the industry whose opinions she values and they said that Flying Fish and Via Napoli were the best that WDW has to offer culinary-wise, so those were her requests. It's funny because they would have been low on my priority list for her to try.

VN was low on your list??? But why?

I'm not big on Italian food. I'm more of a fan of seafood, Mexican, Japanese (and other Asian varieties), German, French, Steak... I do like some Italian foods. I love spaghetti & meatballs and chicken parmesan, but only if there's no garlic and I have to be in the mood for them. I also like gnocchi. I always find something to eat at an Italian restaurant and I usually enjoy it, but it's definitely not my go-to.

__________________

Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

Find me on Facebook

Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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Allie wrote:
We're holding off on deciding. To be honest, we're probably going to start trying for baby #2 sometime next year which will make a big impact on when we can go since Disney cruise line doesn't let you sail after 24 weeks. So if it happens earlier in the year we will need to do an earlier cruise, if it happens later in the year then we are aiming for the meetup cruise yay

Very exciting!! muchlove

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

alicemouse's picture
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Will this trip never get here?? Still 41 days to go!

Fast Passes are done and the mini meet-ups are starting to come together.

My friend Michelle that I met at a DISmeet in Harrisburg a few years ago is moving to Orlando a few weeks before we get there and our friends Howard & Leah will be there the same weekend, so we're all meeting up at Jellyrolls. I've been wanting to go there, but haven't made it yet, so I'm super excited!

I also recently found out that one of the ladies who coordinates the facebook page and fish extender exchange for our cruise will be going to the same MVMCP as we are, so we're going to meet up with her while we're waiting in line to meet Sandy Claws.

I haven't had any luck changing our 'Ohana reservation yet, so right now, I'm still hoping for extended park hours so I don't have to drop it altogether.

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

alicemouse's picture
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Our MagicBands arrived today!! 23 days to go! clapping banana yeah

I just saw that Christmas parade taping will be happening earlier than usual--Nov. 10-13--and our Magic Kingdom day is supposed to be 11/12. I think that this will push the issue of going to MK EMH on 11/9 because I want Jenn and Christine's first view of Main Street in 25 years to be unobstructed.

If extended park hours are going to happen, we should be hearing about them any day now! crossfingers

I've been so swamped at work lately, so I'm both really looking forward to a break and frantically scrambling to get everything wrapped up before we leave. I'm supposed to have three more real estate settlements in the next two weeks. I hope that everything wraps up on time and the trend from the first half of the month where we have delays upon delays upon delays is finally over!

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Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

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alicemouse wrote:

I haven't had any luck changing our 'Ohana reservation yet, so right now, I'm still hoping for extended park hours so I don't have to drop it altogether.

So I had booked an 'Ohana reservation at the 180 day mark and still couldn't get the time I wanted. I checked every day up to the trip and nothing....but then pixie dust.....Once we arrived in WDW, I got up early one morning and checked the site....low and behold there was the reservation with the time I wanted. I called Disney Dining right away and they switched the time for me and even waived the cancelation fee because I was within my 24 hour notice window. The CM I spoke to said the best time to check is early in the AM the week you are there because people start making changes after they arrive in the world. Don't give up hope yet!

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Kris1971 wrote:
alicemouse wrote:

I haven't had any luck changing our 'Ohana reservation yet, so right now, I'm still hoping for extended park hours so I don't have to drop it altogether.

So I had booked an 'Ohana reservation at the 180 day mark and still couldn't get the time I wanted. I checked every day up to the trip and nothing....but then pixie dust.....Once we arrived in WDW, I got up early one morning and checked the site....low and behold there was the reservation with the time I wanted. I called Disney Dining right away and they switched the time for me and even waived the cancelation fee because I was within my 24 hour notice window. The CM I spoke to said the best time to check is early in the AM the week you are there because people start making changes after they arrive in the world. Don't give up hope yet!

Thanks for the pep talk, Kris!! muchlove Someone on Facebook said that extended hours were out for November. If that's true, a reservation change is the best I can hope for because DHS is still listed to close at 8:00 that night.

__________________

Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

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Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

alicemouse's picture
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Still searching for 'Ohana. Someone was dropping a late reservation the other day for the night after the one that I'm looking for. Of course I would have gladly switched nights, but we'll be on the boat by then.

In other news, single digit day tomorrow!! I'm in the midst of that odd combination of "can't get here soon enough" and "how will I ever be ready?"

October has been atrocious. On October 1, I sliced open the side of my index finger with a mandolin slicer (turns out that those things don't know the difference between skin and zucchinis. Also zucchini? Not that good for you) and ended up at the emergency room and it kind of set the tone for the whole month. I've been psycho-busy this month--between our gymnastics team booking a Disney trip (I've booked 44 rooms in the past three weeks and fielded the barrage of questions that goes along with those bookings--awesome, but very time consuming) and supposedly 4 real estate transactions that were supposed to settle this month, I've been averaging about 12 working hours per day. So far 2 transactions have settled (woohoo!), one is probably going to end up being delayed until I'm on vacation, and the other is circling the drain and I'm making a last ditch effort to resuscitate it tomorrow.

So needless to say, I'm looking even more forward than usual to a Disney trip--especially the part where I'm on a boat floating in the middle of the ocean and no one can reach me for 4 glorious days.

__________________

Be good at something. It makes you valuable. Have something to bring to the table because that will make you more welcome. --Randy Pausch

Find me on Facebook

Trip Reports:
December 2013: 10th Anniversary, 1st DVC Stay | April 2014: Birthday on the Boardwalk | May 2014: Star Wars Weekend, Navigating WDW with a wheelchair | August 2014: Villains Unleashed | September/October 2014: MNSSHP, F&W, Tower of Terror 10-miler | March/April 2015: Disneyland and California Coastal Cruise | November 2015: Wine & Dine Half, Food & Wine, 1st Disney Cruise | February 2016: Presidential Classic Gymnastics Meet | March 2016: "Work" Trip, Tours, F&G Festival | April 2016: Conference at Disneyland | Fall 2016: Festive Fall Fun | January 2017: Festival of the Arts | May 2017: AbD Backstage Magic | July 2017: AbD San Francisco | Sorry I had to give up doing trip reports. Too many time commitments right now.

Allie's picture
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YAY for single digit day! Have an awesome vacation, Holly! Sounds like you deserve it!

Kris1971's picture
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You're so close! Hang in there! You will be living "the Dream" in a matter of days. Have fun!

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It will be here before you know. Looking forward to hearing about.

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alicemouse wrote:
... I'm on a boat floating in the middle of the ocean and no one can reach me for 4 glorious days.

Sounds glorious! Have fun on your trip! Can't wait to hear all about it!

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