1st time cruiser

[jojo3139]

Hi family of 5 and family of 3 cruising Dec. 1st/07, what excursions would you recommend , the ages of the kids are 15, 14,12,9,6. Also any suggestions for the cruise itself.:p

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi family of 5 and family of 3 cruising Dec. 1st/07, what excursions would you recommend , the ages of the kids are 15, 14,12,9,6. Also any suggestions for the cruise itself.:p

 

 

Which cruise are you taking? 3 or 4 or a 7 day. If it's a 7, which 7 day, Eastern ot Western?

Tell me that and i will be happy to make suggestions for excursions.

 

As for the ship, dont miss the pirate party!! it is a night party so the youngest kids may need a rest early in the afternoon.

 

everyone is invited to dress in pirate or tropical attire at dinner and through the party. On the 7 day it seesm a lot of people dress up as pirates, on the shorter crusies they tend more to wear pirate t-shirts and such. The party is concluded by fireworks and a buffet and the POC movie shown outdoors on the Jumbotron movie screen.

 

Since you are in December the ship will be decorated for Christmas.

The younger kids will really like the tree lighting ceremony the first night, I would say everyone but some teens may think it is boring.

we love it. you sing carols, characters appear and everyone lights the tree with Goofy santa. Be sure and stand in the atrium level, NOT the upper levels looking down because when the tree lights up the snow will fall on the lower level. Dont tell the kids, it will give them a fun surprise.

 

I would also recommend signing up the first day at guest services desk for the gingerbread house decorating event. It is ONE house per family. and you have a specific time to arrive to do it so it wont be too crowded and you get to keep your house to nibble on for the rest of the cruise.

If you dont want it, they will give it to the crew to eat. You CAN NOT take it off the ship to bring home, it is illegal.

 

Take your camera EVREYWHERE with you, even dinner. surprizes are everywhere on the ship. Characters seem to appear all over as well as scheduled meet times. So be prepared.

 

You can also take white prewashed pillowcases or a matte style picture frame to leave off at guest services. Put it in a ziplock baggie with some sharpie pens (washable) and a card with name and a room number. Then the FIRST day leave it at the guest services desk and ask for them to be autographed. Then the last evening they will be delivered to your room all signed. This is a free service. I used colored markers, some just use black. I have founf out if you use colored markers use darker colors, light colors dont show up as well.

You can leave off one set of pillowcases or one frame for each room booked. That is what they ask so they dont get over swamped with them.

 

Do each dining room at least once, just to experience the decor.

If you have alonger cruise , you will rotate through them twice. The first night you are assigned to Animators palate , that is the time they will do all the changes in the colors of the walls, so dont miss that evening.

 

Have the teens go to the club the first evening ( The Stack) because they do Ice breaker games for the kids to get aquainted. That really helps for teens especially.

 

Go to the roll call boards here and look for your cruise date. If you see it, post there to get aquainted with others on your cruise. If you dont see a thread for your cruise, then start one yourself and hopefully others will join you. Then ask if anyonehas kids the ages of your and get the kids posting or e-mailing each other to get aquainted before the cruise.

The teens will love doing that I'm sure.

 

 

Also, I'm not sure if they still do this but I think they do, the evening of the pirate party they usually have 2 times where you can have your picture taken with Captain Jack Sparrow. It is so much fun to be dressed as apirate and have your photo taken with him!! everyone expects to have a photo with Mickey but with Capt. jack is really a rare treat to have.

 

It does line up fast for this so arrive 15 to 20 minutes early. we even left dinner without dessert to get in line early, but we didnt miss anything because they had dessert at the buffet after the party!!

They do request one photo per family so the line moves quickly.

 

Check your Navigator paper for the where and when.

 

als when you get to CC there are times listed in your Navigator paper where character and Caotain Jack will be out along the way to the beach for pictures and autographs. This is a great time for photos because the lines are short and move fast because everyone wants to get to the beach.

 

The photo with Capt jack is awesome there because you stand in the sand with the flying dutchman ship in the background. This was my favorite photo!!!! But to get to captain jack do NOT ride the team because it wont stop there.

You have to walk to the beach. It says a 20 minute walk but it takes us 10 minutes. He is only out for about 30 minutes.

 

 

well let me know which cruise and I will try to tell you about some excursions too. we have done a lot of them.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[cruisingirl247]

hello

yes there are some amazing excursions depending on how long your cruise is just a word of advice be careful about the 15 and 14 year old they might not want to do something "boring" or what they see as boring in their eyes so ask them as well as to what they would maybe like to do. Be careful before booking it do ask the whole family. another thing if your going to cozumel at any chance and you want to do swimming with the sting rays do string ray city over castaway cay that's from all i read cozumel is far better.:) good luck:)

[jojo3139]

Hi, we are on the 7 day western cruise... arriving in Orlando on the Thursday, doing Magic Kingdom on the Friday... I also would like to know the best way to do the park as we are there for a very limited time, and I would like the kids to get the most out of it... It has been a long time since my husband or I were there. I would like to take advantage of beachy excursions as we are beach people, I like the wave runner excursion in Cayman, however I don't believe they will let the boys drive and my youngest girl is to young to drive with us. Thanks for any suggestions.:)

[jojo3139]

I thought string ray city was in Cayman ?? Am I wrong, I will check that.. Thanks for your suggestions, I really want everyone to love this trip,

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi, we are on the 7 day western cruise... arriving in Orlando on the Thursday, doing Magic Kingdom on the Friday... I also would like to know the best way to do the park as we are there for a very limited time, and I would like the kids to get the most out of it... It has been a long time since my husband or I were there. I would like to take advantage of beachy excursions as we are beach people, I like the wave runner excursion in Cayman, however I don't believe they will let the boys drive and my youngest girl is to young to drive with us. Thanks for any suggestions.:)

 

 

Did they have fast passes when you were there last time??

If not I will explain them, they are alife saver for getting around MK.

 

Best way to do MK is for everyone to pick one attraction that they must do!! That way everyone will get their favorite done at least once so they will feel good about the day even if they didnt do it all.

 

we have found that with everyone having different likes and dislikes we soemtimes split with an adult with each group then meet up again because it will save time for everyone to get their favorite thing done, then go together for other things later in the day.

This seems to keep the kids happy and they dont get as impatient to get to do their thing.

 

Ok, a fast pass is a ticket you get at soem of the mosr epopular attractions by putting your entrance ticket into a machine set up there. Your park guide will tell you which rides have these. it will give you a one hour time,later in the day to come back to the ride, you go in a special line and get right on the ride without wating in the long line.

 

These are life savers. each person can get one at a time. if you look carefully at the bottom of the ticket it will also giv eyou a time(usually before your current ticket is for) that you can get a second fast pass for another ride.

We often get them for our entire group, then split to do other things until time to go on the ride and meet up again that way.

 

Ok, now that you know what a fast pass is, here is how we tackle MK when we have kids and grandkids with us. Hopefully it willhelp you to plan out your day.

arrive just before the park opens. This is a must for MK!!

All but one of us does splash mountain, so everyone accept me heads for splash mountain. The line is short and moves fast first thing in the morning.

so they do it once, sometimes twice if no lines yet, then they step right next door to Thunder mountain railroad to do it.

In the meantime I have walked across to Buzz Lightyear and Soacd mountain and got fast passes for everyone who wanted those rides.

By the time I get over to Thunder mt railroad to meet up with them they have finished the rides there.

 

i give everyone back their entrance cards and fast passes.

then we dahs around the corner to do Pirates ride and jungle boat before they get too lined up. We then check our time for fast passes. there isa one hour window to use them.

If we have time we zip over to Aladin or Country bears,then hopefully haunted mansion. But if the mansion is busy we head towards our fast pass attractions and on the way over we can now get a second fast pass, so we either get a Peter Pan for the kids or perhaps even for the haunted mansion. after using our fast passes we are exhausted and starving so it i time for a leisurely lunch.

 

Then continue on our way doing the same routine for the entire day so we can do even the busiest attractions with fast passes without waiting 90 minutes in line.

 

The worst ride to get on unless you do it first is the speedway ride. If anyone wants to do that, theyneed to go first thing or plan on at least an hour wait even with a short line. It is a SLOW loading and unloading ride.

 

anoth rtip, get up early enough to eat a good breakfast, NOT dougnuts and juice, you will need the energy. have snacks throughout the day, your body will be burning up the calories like crazy. Drink lots of water.

 

my son worked at WDW and the most common problem for illnesss there was lack of water and not eating good food, just junk all day then they pass out late in the day. That happens all the time, especially in the summer months.

 

save attractions like Tom sawyer Island or Swiss Family Robinsons tree house or the Tiki Birds to do while your waiting for time to do a fast pass. They are never lined up and easy to do on a busy day. The TT and A and carousel of Progess at Tomarrow land are good for this too.

 

If you try to cram everything into one day you will be tired, cranky and miserable. so be sure and take breaks now and then, eat a piece of fruit or something to boost your energy.

 

when you feel the need to sit for awhile, do it's a small world, it is 11 minutes of sitting. carousel of progress is 25 minutes of sitting, the TTand A you can stay on and go around as many times as you want, it takes about 10 minutes a loop. many stay on while young kids sleep in the seat in the afternoon.

 

 

MK has 2 and sometimes 3 parades a day. if you want to see them allow 30 minutes prior to the start to get a seat to view it. the most crowded place is main street. we go to Frontier land for the best view and least crowds. But if your not into parades, once it starts this si agreat time to go on the rides because 2/3 of the people are watching the parade.

 

hope this helps you some. you can go on line and see all the attractions at MK and where they are so you can plan out your strategy.

 

you can get fast passes for the following rides

 

Peter Pan

Splash Mountain

space mountain

thunder mountain railroad

haunted mansion

jungle boat

buzz light year

stitches great escape

Pooh

 

 

maybe a few more

 

hope this helps some with that part of your trip

 

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[jojo3139]

Thats awesome thanks so much for your imput, your a great help....(hope you got my email) feel free to email me back if you wish.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

hi, I just sent you an e-mail about one minute ago!! I'll be in touch,

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[Host Mick]

Hi, we are on the 7 day western cruise... arriving in Orlando on the Thursday, doing Magic Kingdom on the Friday... I also would like to know the best way to do the park as we are there for a very limited time, and I would like the kids to get the most out of it... It has been a long time since my husband or I were there. ...

 

I highly recommend that you get a copy of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and do one of the Touring Plans in the book or on the website touringplans.com. They have numerous touring plans that walk you through most of your day at each park maximizing the attractions that you see and minimizing your time in line. You can pick a plan suitable to your kids' ages and your tastes.

To some it seems a little over-organized but it works. My mother in law thought that it was ridiculous but by the afternoon she saw the length of the lines at attractions that we went on earlier that day and realized that the plan helped us avoid them. Remember, the key to seeing as much as possible is to get to the gate EARLY and keep moving, then take a break in the afternoon with the kids when it's very hot and very crowded.