Dr. Jones and the Spitting Camel - Link to Alaska Cruise TR 9/18

[tinacaplan]

I've never noticed the "on this day in 2010" thing on FB before. Here's what mine says today (that I posted on this day one year ago)

Cool, Cynthia! And you're about to go on your cruise!

 

[eandesmom]

got my update written yesterday but ran out of time to post!

See you all in a week!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jedijill]

Have a great trip!

Jill in CO

 

[natebenma]

Thanks Dee! Outside of embarkation day I'm not sure it will be margarita weather but we will see. I can have a rum and coke for you if that will do.

Hoping to do one last update later today...the BFP comparison.

But hey...come over to the PTR! It will be a TR soon

A rum and coke is just fine!

Thanks for the invite. I'll stop over, but I won't expect much for a couple of weeks!

And I love your FB blast from the past! on the Margaritaville message and and Butterbeer banter!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Hi Cynthia! I have not been on the Dis in over 6 weeks! The beginning of the school year is just awful for me, and today was the first day I have come home and not worked any overtime. I crawled in my bed and spent a lot of time catching up on your TR. I'm glad that I was able to finish it before you updated your last post!

It looks like you are gone on your cruise. I will have to jump over to the cruise thread. Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your summary at the end and the comparisons of all the hotels that you stayed at. You mentioned details of each place that I had forgotten.

Have a wonderful trip!!

 

[eandesmom]

Have a great trip!

Jill in CO

thanks Jill, we did!

A rum and coke is just fine!

Thanks for the invite. I'll stop over, but I won't expect much for a couple of weeks!

And I love your FB blast from the past! on the Margaritaville message and and Butterbeer banter!

I'm officially rum and coke'd out. Would have loved a margarita last night but the drink of the day was something blue. BLEH.

Hi Cynthia! I have not been on the Dis in over 6 weeks! The beginning of the school year is just awful for me, and today was the first day I have come home and not worked any overtime. I crawled in my bed and spent a lot of time catching up on your TR. I'm glad that I was able to finish it before you updated your last post!

Hi Allison!

UGH, I can only imagine how swamped you've been. I'm wiped out from the trip and am SO glad (though I wasn't at the time) that the E's first day of school is not tomorrow as the original schedule had it, but on the 12th. A short weekend is what I need to recover from our vacation.

I do have 2 updates left, one written so should get it up tomorrow and maybe the other over the weekend while I upload my bazillion cruise pics (and sort through them lol).

It looks like you are gone on your cruise. I will have to jump over to the cruise thread. Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your summary at the end and the comparisons of all the hotels that you stayed at. You mentioned details of each place that I had forgotten.

Have a wonderful trip!!

Thanks! We did have a wonderful trip.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I hope you had a faaaaaaaaantastic time!!! I look forward to hearing about it!

 

[eandesmom]

I hope you had a faaaaaaaaantastic time!!! I look forward to hearing about it!

Thanks, we did! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO not into work today though. Good thing it's a short week!

 

[eandesmom]

Day 1 - 8/10 Red Eye for the 6 of us to Orlando

Yes! We got on the plane and survived the red eye

Day 2 - 8/11 Wilderness Lodge

AM Touring Plan - Check in, Magic Kingdom, Pool
7:25 am - Arrival. DME to resort
9:00 am - Check in. Ask about room requests, flag family and confirm ranger time for the 14th.
9:40 am - Breakfast at WCC OOP for all except use 1 child TS (Eric)
11am-1:30pm - Magic Kingdom (or hang at resort if wiped out)
Must Do's - Hit Main Street Barber. Lunch at CHH or Caseys CS (if needed)

We did pretty well here, had breakfast earlier than our ressie, went to MK, hit the main street barber and did a few rides. No splash though as it was raining. Room wasn’t ready till about 2, ended up at ppol later and had a light roaring forks lunch.

PM Touring Plan - Animal Kingdom
Up to room by 3, shower and change, target being on bus by 4
Must Do’s. EE, FOLK, Nemo Lost on Safari

Didn’t do so well here. Got to AK in time for one ride on Dinosaur, took off to get to Sanaa and then had to wait for a while for our table. Could have done EE after all but oh well.

8:55 pm dinner at Sanaa

LOVED Sanaa, definitely a new favorite for all!

Day 3 – 8/12 Wilderness Lodge

AM Touring Plan –Typhoon Lagoon
8:00 wake up
8:30 am Roaring Forks light OOP Breakfast ($10 pp), sleepyheads can miss breakfast or we bring something back to room. No showers. Suncreen!
9:30 am - on bus to Typhoon Lagoon! BRING OWN BEACH TOWELS!
10 am - 2pm Typhoon Lagoon. Typhoon Tilly’s or Lowtide Lou’s Lagoon CS for lunch CS#2
2 pm - Back to resort , shower, change
3:30 - get on bus to Downtown Disney
4 pm - Downtown Disney, Disney Quest, Goofys meet up with JULIE and her mom! Whoo hoo!
7:00 pm Raglan Road for dinner
8:30 pm - bus back back to WL
9:15-10:30 - Electric Boat Parade from WL Beach @9:25, Watch Nightastic from beach @10
Bed!

Uh yeah. Didn’t do so well on this one either, at least on the timing but did get the main things done. Got to TL by 11;30 I think and then ate right away. Worked out fine but it meant a bit of a rush to get to dinner on time. Ended up doing a little DTD and Disney Quest that night instead, which was a ton of fun. LOVED Raglan!! Still have yet to see the EBP which is semi pathetic given that I’ve stayed at locations twice now where it could be seen. Oh well. Good to have something never done on the list still, right?

Day 4– 8/13 Wilderness Lodge

AM Touring Plan - DHS & WL Pool
7am wakeup. Catch 7:30 bus, earlier if possible
8am - DHS@ 8-12 for EMH and then Rope Drop at 9/TSM dash. TSM goes down on the 16th so this is a priority! OMD as well.
Meet Julie and her mom?
Straight to TSM standby, get TSM fast pass for later. RRC, TOT, One Man's Dream. Check on AI!
9:00 AM OOP light Breakfast at Starring Rolls or Fairfax Fare or Writers Spot
10 am 2nd set of fast passes for TSM, Must see One Man's Dream
noon - back to WL, Lunch at Roaring Forks CS#3

Sort of did this. At least the E’s and I did! Hit TSM twice, finagled FP’s for our entire gang for later, had a lovely breakfast at the writers stop. It would have been good if T could have been with us as he loved this ride and it went down for refurb but…he wanted to sleep and K needed to work out. As a result the rest met us around 11 I think, we got some rides in, attempted LMA, got rained out and ended up eating at ABC Commissary which wasn’t remotely on my list of ideal spots. BUT it was dry during a monsoon, we were soaked and as a result, it was perfect. Even more perfect that we got to see the block party bash on the way out. We did get all of our must do’s done!

PM Touring Plan - Magic Kingdom and Grand Floridian
1pm - 4pm WL Pool , shower and change
5pm - Boat to Magic Kingdom
7:45 - Boat to GF
8:25 - 1900 Park Fare for dinner @8:25 (TS#3-6TS)
10:00-? back to Magic Kingdom for evening EMH (open till 2)
Boat back to WL

We were a couple of hours off on this but it worked out fine, other than being rained out of the pool (lighteninged out really). We skipped MK before dinner and went straight to PF. Fun fun character meal. A buffet so not my fav and I can’t stand the décor of the room but the characters were really outstanding and I’m glad we went. Evening in the MK was a ton of fun even though I was spit on by a camel and we got stuck on splash!

Day 5– 8/14 Move to the Yacht Club, Sandie and Paul join us

AM Touring Plan - Exploring Wilderness Lodge & Free Choice
7am - C scoot over to YC to check in, meet back by 9 for ranger tour. Try to have bags packed night before if possible (largely)
YC Check in notes. Connecting, adding Evan, Grand Gathering, room size!
Everyone else, up and shower and ready for photo session, pack up bags and give to bell services to move to YC
8:15 - OOP Breakfast at Roaring Forks unless have extra snack credits left. Sleepy heads can skip tour but need to be packed by 10:30!
9:00 am WL Roof Tour with ranger
10:45 am WL Photo Session
11 check out, give bags to bell services to move over. Keep anything needed for mid day, assume no bags before 3.
11:30-3 free choice for group & CS lunch (a park, waterpark, DTD, whatever lol!).

This worked out slightly differently…as in everyone skipped breakfast to sleep while I got us checked in. I did the tour solo and only saw half of it. After the photo session we went to Epcot, walked through it, hit club cool and kept going to the YC. Changed and did lunch at HH! Late lunch and stayed at the pool all afternoon.

PM Touring Plan - Storm Along Bay & Epcot
Flexible based on Sandie and Paul arrival time. Assume some park, DTD, waterpark or WL pool until 3 to be safe.
Free choice (probably Epcot!) until 3
SAB 3-5 (unless S&P aren't there yet)
5-6 shower and change, walk over to WS
REALLY want to hear voices of Liberty, do on 18th if don't get to this night.
7:10 Tutto Italia for Dinner (TS#4-5TS, 1 OOP Evan)
9:00 Illuminations
Walk Back to YC
Chill out on balconies, by pool, on beach or whatever!

Ended up at Pool till dinner time and for some reason I thought our ressie was at 7:20 so we were late. Had a lovely lovely dinner at Tutto and sort of saw some of Illuminations. Sandie and Paul didn’t get in until almost 1am, we were all WIPED!

Day 6– 8/15 Yacht Club

AM Touring Plan - Animal Kingdom and Storm Along Bay

We scrapped this plan before bed. No way was a rope drop AK morning going to happen. Instead Jeff and I and the E’s hit Epcot and the rest headed over to the WS around lunch time. Epcot afternoon and then some SAB.

PM Touring Plan - Polynesian Resort and Magic Kingdom

We made a last minute change here as well. After our Ohana’ dinner, instead of a MK evening, since a 2nd F! had been added we shot over to DHS in hopes of one last ride on TSM before it closed for refurb. Desptie running, Tay and Evan just missed it and we all sweated our way through F! MK would have been a much better call but oh well.

Day 7– 8/16 Yacht Club

AM Touring Plan - DHS & Storm Along Bay

Well…sort of! 4 of us did DHS. 4 of us slept and then burned up dining credits on lunch at Captain’s Grille (even though they were supposed ot meet us for lunch). It was a fun, though frustrating at times, morning. The four of us who went to DHS had a lovely walk back and lunch at Boardwalk Bakery and got some surprise photopass pics that are some of my favorite ones of the trip with the Boardwalk in the background. Lightening struck and a pool delay resulted in cards, ice cream and gin and tonics on the BC porch.

PM Touring Plan - Animal Kingdom

The best laid plans, right? We made it in time for a Safari before dinner. We had to wait a good 20 minutes for our table at Tusker which really cut into our EMH time. With Paul’s gout and a delay in the bill I sent everyone else off to get their ride on, so they could at least get one ride in. One group was successful (EE), one was not (Dinsosaur).

Day 8– 8/17 Yacht Club

AM Touring Plan - Magic Kingdom and Storm Along Bay

This was the day that had a crowd level of 9 at the MK, a crazy day to go but with Sandie and Paul’s revised schedule, really the only day we could do it. And yet…they slept Jeff stayed behind to try and get them all out the door faster and the E’s and I had a magical morning on main street. We did a TON of never dones (or ones they didn’t remember since they were too little) including breakfast at the bakery, Astro Orbitor, TSI, Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room.

Our never done list continued with our late arrivals who met us for lunch at CHH (LOVED IT!), Hall of Presidents and Splash (for some) among other things. Great and busy morning but it ran really really late! Was saved by Auntie gravities on our way out.

PM touring Plan - Boardwalk, Fireworks Cruise and Epcot

The plan had been for dinner at Kouzzina but it was 3pm, we were hot and NEEDED to get in the pool. A 5;45 dinner, to make it to our cruise in time was not going to happen. With some creative thinking (motivated by a desire NOT to have dinner from the Beach Club Marketplace) we decided to get room service pizza on our boat. The cruise was a surprise to all and a HUGE hit. A magical magical evening all around, can’t say enough wonderful things about it! After the cruise Jeff and I ditched the gang for a late night stroll around the WS with a slushie and a visit to the American Pavillion. It was a wonderful day all around!

Day 9– 8/18 Yacht Club

AM Touring Plan - Free Choice, Girls Tea, Epcot

For some of us, Free Choice meant an AK EMH morning. For others, sleep. For others, laundry. Jeff, the E’s and I hit AK, made a wrong turn and ended up at it’s tough to be a bug and then got stuck at Rafiki’s planet watch. Hot and more than a little disappointed with how little we’d done and seen (though I enjoyed catching Devine!) we decided to run the risk of being late and go on Kali. Nothing will improve your mood more than being thoroughly soaked! The boys then had a “boys” lunch at Rainforest while the girls grabbed a bite at WPE and then headed to the GF for our tea. The tea was lovely and a very special afternoon for the 3 of us. I think the boys had just as much fun helping Eric build his mini cooper at Ridemakerz. Pool was about all that happened before dinner, no Epcot.

PM Touring Plan Dinner - Teppan Edo Epcot Restaurant

Dinner was fun as usual but I think we are ready for a break from TE. Still, it was a great last night and fun to have our own table, the kids had a ton of fun receiving (and playing with) origami! Though we were almost locked out of the IG we had a lovely last night.

Day 10– 8/19 Move to the Hard Rock Hotel, at Universal

AM Touring Plan – Pack up, breakfast at Cape May.

Missions accomplished there and a lovely breakfast (even if it was early for some lol). We did run around like crazy people before getting into our town car, using up our last TS credits on a ton of boxed lunches from Boardwalk bakery).

PM Touring Plan. HRH pool, City Walk, Margaritaville!

We stuck to the plan with one small complication. A day for just pool time ended up in one kid who never got out of the water to drink anything and it caught up with him (and made 4 adults feel like horrible parents/grandparents). Eric and I had a quiet evening in the room as a result and thankfully, sleep restored him quickly.

Day 11– 8/20 HRH

Touring Plan - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Leave room at 6:45 am! Turnstiles open at 7 (approx) and entry may be granted before 8 (has been as early as 7;15) to WWOHP for resort guests. Ollivanders and FJ can have lines up to 2 hours so this is critical.
Ollivanders first
Try to be next to door to get out as Owl Post gets really crowded after show
Forbidden Journey 2nd
Then breakfast at 3 broomsticks if can get in without a reservation, worth asking!
Hit the rest of the rides/shops
1pm lunch reservation at Mythos
2-5 pool time, shower and change
5-park closing, back to WWOHP (lines die down after 5 supposedly)
Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe

We did REALLY well on this one! Basically stuck to the plan other than the breakfast note but ended up back at the resort much later so didn’t go back to the park before dinner. Decided to skip ollilvanders but other than that, really did everything we wanted to and many we hadn’t planned on and had a blast of a morning, and a nice lunch at Mythos. Dinner was fine but probably not my fav. Cool HR Café though and neat merchandise.

Day 12 8/21 HRH

Touring Plan - Sandie and Paul head home, hit Universal, Dinner at Jakes.

Basically stuck to the plan, it was pretty loose so that made it easy to do! Rain cut pool time all around and we ended up seeing a movie after dinner. Really loved Jakes and saw our new favorite show, The Beetlejuice Graveyard Review.

Day 13 - 8/22 Jeff and Kendall head home

Touring Plan – IOA/WWOHP again.

This ended up being just the E’s and I, everyone else being a bit parked out and wanting to pack, sleep, workout. Jeff ended up with some solo pool time! The boys and I had an absolutely magical morning including a surprise breakfast at the three broomsticks. We headed back, hit the pool with everyone one last time and had a late lunch at Margaritaville. After sending Jeff & K off, the boys and I went back to IOA and did an amazing amount of rides (oh the difference 2 days made in the crowds!) and then met up with Taylor for a late dinner at The Kitchen. Can’t wait to eat there again someday!

Day 14 - 8/23 Cynthia, Taylor, Evan and Eric head home

I had no plans for this day and it worked out well. We slept in, packed, had a lovely lunch at the beach club, pool hopped over to Portofino and did a little last minute Citywalk strolling. It was a nice relaxing and mellow day (other than the nightmare of trying to get us checked in and the political diatribe in the town car on the way to MCO.

I’ll post a separate highlights, lowlights and lessons learned but overall….I’d say we did a good job of sticking to the plan (and deviating when needed). Or at least “some” of us did.

 

[eandesmom]

Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!!!

I need to unpack.

 

[englishrose47]

Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!!!

I need to unpack.

Same to you Cynthia!!

 

[eandesmom]

You know you're not on top of things when you go to update your signature (Eric turned 11 on Monday) and you realize that 3 of the kids ages have changed since you last edited that part of it!

 

[Flossbolna]

You know you're not on top of things when you go to update your signature (Eric turned 11 on Monday) and you realize that 3 of the kids ages have changed since you last edited that part of it!

To be honest - I do admire those neat picture-links you design for your TRs much more than I pay attention to your kids' ages....

 

[natebenma]

BFP review-

What a great way to do a "Trip review in a Post" summary! It was fun to read and think back "Oh, yeah, that was cool!" or I remember that!

Total adherence to plan or not- What a fantastic trip! Thanks for sharing it with us. I learned a lot and I will definitely add some of the fun things you did to our future trips.

BTW- That Margaritaville place looked really good! Gonna have to try it sometime!

 

[eandesmom]

To be honest - I do admire those neat picture-links you design for your TRs much more than I pay attention to your kids' ages....

LOL! Clearly I update those more often than paying attention to the kids as well.

BFP review-

What a great way to do a "Trip review in a Post" summary! It was fun to read and think back "Oh, yeah, that was cool!" or I remember that!

Total adherence to plan or not- What a fantastic trip! Thanks for sharing it with us. I learned a lot and I will definitely add some of the fun things you did to our future trips.

it really was a great trip!

BTW- That Margaritaville place looked really good! Gonna have to try it sometime!

I have a feeling that's a WHEN not an IF in your case.

 

[MEK]

Honestly - I know you have been writing this TR for a year, but I seriously did not realize you were there that long and that you had done sooooooo much! What a fabulous trip. I hope I can do one like that some day. So cool. In fact, it gives me an idea for my June trip....like hmmmmmmmm - maybe I just need one night at a hotel over at Universal which would give me two full park days there. something to thing about!

 

[eandesmom]

Honestly - I know you have been writing this TR for a year, but I seriously did not realize you were there that long and that you had done sooooooo much! What a fabulous trip. I hope I can do one like that some day. So cool. In fact, it gives me an idea for my June trip....like hmmmmmmmm - maybe I just need one night at a hotel over at Universal which would give me two full park days there. something to thing about!

You definitely NEED one night, that way you'd get 2 days of front of the line access, worth it's weight in gold!

 

[englishrose47]

You definitely NEED one night, that way you'd get 2 days of front of the line access, worth it's weight in gold!

How does 4 nights sound

 

[Moira222]

Cynthia, I finally made it back here and just finished up. Hope the cruise was great! I loved your recap on the hotels, restaurants, every thing. I agree with you on lots of the WLR parts. and you have piqued my interested even more in the Yacht Club. I am really wanting to do SAB in a huge way.

Did you rent DVC points for YC? I am debating that one for next year....tossing around economy of AKL, and luxury & Epcot proximity for YC....

Seems like for your big group you did amazingly well for following your plans. Gotta have SOME flexibility on a vacation, right?

thanks for sharing!!

 

[eandesmom]

How does 4 nights sound

Even better!

Cynthia, I finally made it back here and just finished up. Hope the cruise was great! I loved your recap on the hotels, restaurants, every thing. I agree with you on lots of the WLR parts. and you have piqued my interested even more in the Yacht Club. I am really wanting to do SAB in a huge way.

Did you rent DVC points for YC? I am debating that one for next year....tossing around economy of AKL, and luxury & Epcot proximity for YC....

Seems like for your big group you did amazingly well for following your plans. Gotta have SOME flexibility on a vacation, right?

thanks for sharing!!

YC isn't DVC, only the BCV. So no, we didn't rent points. I actually had a killer PIN code that I used for both the WL and YC ressies or we wouldn't have been able to stay there.

Of course I've never gotten another WDW PIN code since that trip

I think it depends on time of year, crowds, what you want to do and touring style. The proximity was AMAZING but...if I was paying rack rate it's a lot harder to justify. I hope to stay at AKL one of these days but I'm not sure I could do it in August with that heat, too many long bus rides.