July 16, 2016 Disney Fantasy, Eastern Caribbean

[Dizney73]

Booked our flights the day they came out from Southwest. Under $1000 for our family of 4!
Spending 5 nights at Boardwalk before the cruise

 

[DisneyKitties]

Has anyone stayed at the Hyatt at mco? I'm flying in the day before and I'm debating on staying at the Hyatt at mco or staying in a Disney hotel. Can't wait!

 

[Madzac]

We did hyatt mco last time and LOVED it!! It's so easy to hop off the plane and go right upstairs! We did disney transfers in the am so they got our luggage and we just had to walk down to the bus. We loved catching the first bus and arriving nice and early!!!! I'd do it again in a heart beat. This time we decided to come in 2 nights early and do a day at MK. If we were flying in day before it would be hyatt for sure!

We also have our plane tickets! Wow under 1000 is great. I think ours were just over 300 each but for the first time flying from our local airport instead of making the 4 hr drive to Chicago. I'm so excited!

Haven't started FE gifts here either but have an idea!

 

[budamacdvcr]

208 to go / only 21 more 10 day buckets til we sail! Sorry I missed on the exact 210 / 10 day bucket as I have been doing but spent most of the past 2+ days seeing Star Wars with DS.

 

[Jennifer Crunelle]

Hello Madzac, this is Jennifer Crunelle. I saw on some other posts that we should let you know allergies to post on the FE exchange. Both my kiddos have peanut and egg allergies, and my daughter also has tomato. Thanks so much! Can't wait until July!!!! Anyone know when you can book excursions?

 

[Madzac]

Updated the allergies!

I believe booking excursions is dependent on how many cruises you've taken. Platinum 120 days before, Gold 105?, Silver is 90 and new cruisers 75 days before.

Hope everyone is having wonderful holidays!

 

[Flipflopgirl27]

Happy Holidays everyone!

My name is Samantha and I am so excited to be going on my second Disney Cruise. My boyfriend surprised me with this trip for our anniversary. I am eagerly counting down the days. While I don't think we will participate in FE, I have enjoyed following along.

 

[NerosFamily]

Not sure if anyone has heard of this before, but there are times when there is a sea lice (jellyfish larvae) bloom in the water around Castaway Cay and other Caribbean beach waters as well. On our last trip in July 2014, it was really bad at Castaway Cay. All of us in my family had stings from swimming, and there were LOTS of crying kids. They are microscopic, so you can't just swim around them. I brought vinegar to pour on the stings, but that didn't help 100%. The only people who were unaffected were the ones who bought the Safe Sea lotion / sunscreen. After experiencing this in person, I regretted not buying it for our last trip. It has to be applied on every inch of your skin because they will sting you even under your bathing suit. I just bought some on Amazon, and I thought I'd post this info. The discomfort and itching lasted for weeks after we got home. It's well worth the $14.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...tive lotion&qid=1451347921&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Have a Happy New Year!

 

[Madzac]

Welcome Samantha! What an awesome surprise! We are happy to have you join us here...I can't believe in a few days we can finally say we are going this year!!!

Nerosfamily thanks for the heads up! We did our first cruise in June and my oldest DD had issues over by the slides. I wondered if it was worse in july.

Happy New years all!

 

[IndyMouseFan]

Hi everyone! What a crazy few weeks with the holidays and on top of that, we moved to central Florida!! We'll be able to drive to Port Canaveral in just over an hour -- I still can't believe we're here! We're almost completely unpacked -- so now I can get back to our cruise countdown and to thinking about FE gifts!!
Welcome Samantha! What an AWESOME surprise!!

DisneyKitties -- the Hyatt is really wonderful if you're flying in the day before. FYI, if you're a Costco member and you haven't made your reservation yet, you can usually get a good price by booking through the Costco website.

Finally, NerosFamily, thank you for the info on SafeSea lotion -- I'm ordering that for sure. Sea Lice -- yikes!!
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year -- hope it's your most Magical one yet!!!

 

[Madzac]

Indy mouse fan wow!!!! What a move!!! I'm jealous you are "there"! I had no idea you were moving! Hope you get all settled soon!!!

 

[budamacdvcr]

19.7 10 day buckets to go! YES, we are under the 200 day mark - sorry I missed the exact 200 day mark. Booked flights a couple of days ago so only things left to left to do are pay off before 125 day mark, book excursions & Palo, request dining rotation, book Hyatt MCO, schedule car service and make sure two reservations are linked and I figure out how to book everything with the linked reservations.

Have stayed at the MCO Hyatt before for the night before the cruise and it works out great. We use a car service as it is less per person than the Disney Service when 4 or more.

Hope all had a great Christmas and wishing all a Happy and Safe New Years!

 

[Dizney73]

Which car service have you used? We used one in the past and I can't remember who we used. I do enjoy making a stop before boarding.

 

[IndyMouseFan]

Indy mouse fan wow!!!! What a move!!! I'm jealous you are "there"! I had no idea you were
Thank you! -- What a difference -- it is 29 degrees in Indiana and 76 in Orlando right now. We haven't been to Disney yet -- too busy unpacking and the traffic down near the parks has been REALLY bad. I'll wait until all the tourists go home!!

 

[budamacdvcr]

Which car service have you used? We used one in the past and I can't remember who we used. I do enjoy making a stop before boarding.

We have been using Happy Limo for years for both WDW and cruises never had a problem and yes they provide a 15 minute stop and we like that as well. Remember though with the new rules only beer and wine - 2 bottles of wine for a person and one 6 pack of beer for a person so between mom & dad that's 6 beers and two bottles of wine max per cabin.

 

[Dizney73]

We have been using Happy Limo for years for both WDW and cruises never had a problem and yes they provide a 15 minute stop and we like that as well. Remember though with the new rules only beer and wine - 2 bottles of wine for a person and one 6 pack of beer for a person so between mom & dad that's 6 beers and two bottles of wine max per cabin.

Thanks! I do believe that is who we used too! They had very good service.
That's enough wine for me. I usually like to stop for extra suntan lotion! Sounds silly... But a family of 4... One with a skin cancer past... Goes through a lot of sun screen!

 

[DisneyKitties]

Anybody here into pin trading?! My fiancé and I are big into it and we think we'll be bringing our pins. I heard there's a trading night

 

[budamacdvcr]

DS is into collecting pins but always forgets to bring along what he is willing to trade. You can trade with the the staff that works the gift shops and they do have an officer's trading event.

 

[RoE_Earth_Globe]

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately we have determined that we will not be able to take the cruise with you in July. I am in a sales role and this past year has been really rough with the upcoming year looking just as bad. We had really been looking forward to this cruise and hopefully we'll be able to take a cruise another year.

Madzac, this has been especially hard on RooandTigger, as she was looking forward to spending time with your DD. They've become good friends on social media and I hope they can continue to be even without sailing together this summer. She was also really excited about the Fish Extender gifts and even tested this past weekend a gift she was creating for the group.

You may see us lurking here in thread and we wish you all an amazing trip this summer.

Best wishes,

Brian

 

[Madzac]

Brian, my DD just came to me in tears and told me the news. I am so so sorry. I think one of the hardest things as a parent is when we have to make decisions that hurt our children. I'm sorry things are rough and I am praying it starts looking up or another door opens soon. Tell your DD not to worry, my DD loves chatting with her and that will not stop. I'm hoping sometime they will get to meet up at a dance competition or something!

All, I will sadly take them off the FE and reopen group 1.