Tag Archives: Travel

Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Cruise Day 4

This trip report is from our Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean cruise onboard the Freedom of the Seas. If you’re just joining us, start from Day 1 by clicking here: Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Cruise Day 1.

 

On the fourth day of the cruise, we arrived in Falmouth, Jamaica. Falmouth was a new port being built which wasn’t finished yet when we were there.

After breakfast in the Windjammer, we left the ship and headed to the van for our excursion to climb Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios. It was a little crazy with the amount of vans and people around holding up signs and yelling for people in their tour groups. This is probably because most of the excursions are either in Ocho Rios (which is about an hour away) or Montego Bay (about 30 minutes away).

Our trip to the falls was a little over an hour, which our tour guide filled with little bits of history and facts about Jamaica, which made it go by pretty quickly.

Jamaican Money

Jamaican Money

Once we arrived, we were brought to get wristbands and then were introduced to our tour guide for the Falls.

Before the cruise, I had read on Cruise Critic about them making you hold hands with your group while climbing. Many people had said it was because that’s how you had to do it if you booked through the cruise ship. However, every single group I saw were holding hands in the beginning. The guides that work at the falls made you hold hands, at least in the beginning. At first, I was disappointed seeing this, but quickly realized that at times, it was very helpful to have someone in front of you helping you up. At the beginning of the falls, there was a build-up of people, but it quickly dissipated as we moved up.

Our group probably had about 30 people in it, holding hands in a long line. However, in front of me was an older couple that ended up getting off and walking to the side shortly after we started, so it was me in the front leading the way! We were all doomed at that point haha! It was fun trying to feel out where I could step and every once in a while the tour guide would run up and help me up when needed. I must say, those tour guides are freakishly fast. I wonder if Usain Bolt was our tour guide. He didn’t have any water shoes on (we all had to wear water shoes), but he was lightning fast. One minute he was down at the bottom of our line helping someone and the next minute, he was 20 feet in front of me telling me to come that way! I had to do a double take a few times. I guess when you go up several times a day, you become better and better and know exactly where to step.

Since we were at the top of the line, once we got to a certain point, we would either stop to hang out and wait for the rest of the group, or we would continue on without holding hands. So we weren’t holding hands the entire time…just in the beginning and when it was needed. Brett needed to help the girl behind him a lot. There were times when he would let go of me to help her, which oddly enough was kind of funny to me and I picked on him about it. Thanks babe, way to look out for your wife. I guess that means he trusts that I can handle myself. :-/

Along the way, there are some fun activities the guides have you do. I especially loved sliding down the smooth rocks into an open pool of water. They were always willing to take our camera so that both of us could be in the photo. I am so glad we brought our waterproof camera. The photos aren’t the best quality, but at least we were able to capture the fun time we had.

We did it!

After we made it to the top, we headed back to the ship.

This donkey dresses better than I do

After we left Jamaica, it was time for dinner. Tonight, as an appetizer, I had Caesar salad and Brett had a fruit salad.

Brett’s appetizer

For dinner, I had surf n turf and Brett had an herb roasted half chicken.

Brett’s Dinner

Lynn’s Dinner

Our waiter, Kumar, asked Brett if he would like him to debone the chicken for him…which Brett immediately said yes to because he HATES eating chicken off the bone. It totally grosses him out. I thought this was hilarious, so I took a picture of Brett having his food cut up for him…and Kumar played along and even fed Brett a piece of chicken. Now THAT’S customer service!

For dessert, I just had ice cream and Brett had coconut crème brûlée…and shots. ;)

Next up was the ice show, Freedom-Ice.com, which was fantastic. I was surprised that there was only a couple of wobbles/falls, seeing as they were skating while in the middle of the ocean. As soon as we arrived at the rink, Brett immediately regretted not bringing his camera (actually, I took more photos this trip than he did because we were in such a relax-mode that he hardly had his camera at all!)…so y’all are stuck with what I was able to take with el cheapo camera.

The final entertainment event of the evening was the Love & Marriage Game Show. While we were waiting for the show to start, Brett and I were chosen for the Kiss-a-cam that they had showing on the large screen. We sure gave ‘em a show and Brett was red for the entire rest of the show. ;)

Obviously not us, but you get the idea

The Cruise Director, Graham Seymour, was the host, and this was the first time I realized how much I loved him. He seemed to thrive when he was able to be a little raunchy, which was awesome. The show was hilarious. The premise of the show is that they pick three couples from the audience, all at different points in their marriage: newlyweds, a couple that has been married about 15 years, and an elderly couple that has been married a long time. The guy from the young couple looked like he was 12, so Graham had plenty of comedic lines in regards to him missing his bed time. Some of the answers were set up, but still made for a great show nonetheless.

 

Next up: Day 5: Grand Cayman!

 

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Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Cruise Day 3

This trip report is from our Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean cruise onboard the Freedom of the Seas. If you’re just joining us, start from Day 1 by clicking here: Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Cruise Day 1.

 

On our 3rd day, we arrived at Labadee, Haiti, Royal Caribbean’s private peninsula on the Northern edge of Haiti.

We had our daily breakfast in the Windjammer and then disembarked from the ship.

Freedom of the Seas

We wandered around a little before our first excursion, the Discover Haiti Coastal Cruise. We boarded a two-level boat and sat upstairs in the front set of seats. We took a slow, relaxing cruise along the coast of Haiti to see the villages, different parts of the island, and the Citadel, a large fort on top of a hill in the distance.

The Citadel

After we returned from the excursion, we went back on the ship and had lunch in the Windjammer. They offered free lunch on land (hamburgers, hot dogs, wings, etc.), but picky Brett didn’t want any of it. It was a good decision though, as we enjoyed a large buffet lunch with a nice view of the island from 11 stories up with hardly anyone nearby.

Then we went back to our room where I took a little nap and then it was time for our next excursion, the Dragon’s Breath Zip Line! It’s a 2600 foot zip line over water that reaches speeds of 40-50 mph. Yeah baby, let’s do this.

We checked in and were weighed to make sure we didn’t exceed the weight limit. Whose cruel idea was it to weigh people after they’ve been stuffing their faces with food onboard a cruise ship for 3 days?!

We put on our harness gear and then went to the mini dragon, a practice zip line, to get the feel of the main event.

So sexy

HmmI hope this didn’t belong on anything important

Mini Dragon zip line

Mini Dragon zip line

Then we took a truck up to the main line.

Beautiful

I like how you can’t even see the rest of the zip line

There goes Brett!

Here I go!

Brett was first to take the trip down, with me right behind him. It was so much fun, but over so fast! I would definitely do it again!

Dragon’s Breath zip line

Dragon’s Breath zip line

Afterward, we walked around the area a little to take in the scenery.

Peek-a-boo!

Then it was back to the ship to get ready for departure at 4:30pm and dinner. But first, we played in the pool a little and tested out the waterproof camera.

Daily ice cream cone building competition.

Bye, bye Haiti!

All the people hanging their hands over the balcony

We left just in time!

Tonight for dinner, I had the pork loin and Brett had fish.

Brett’s dinner

Lynn’s Dinner

For dessert, I had a berry cream cake again and Brett had a lemon meringue mini pie.

Lynn’s Dessert

Brett’s dessert

Ummm…and shots.

Tonight’s main show was “Now You See It” which was a magic show by Drew Thomas, a past contestant on America’s Got Talent.

 

That’s it for today…Day 4 tomorrow: Jamaica!

 

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Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Cruise Day 2

This trip report is from our Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean cruise onboard the Freedom of the Seas. If you’re just joining us, start from Day 1 by clicking here: Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Cruise Day 1.

 

Today was our first full day at sea. We didn’t really have a specific plan, other than to just wander around and do whatever came to mind. The first thing we did was get tickets to the ice show later in the week and then we ate breakfast at the Windjammer.

The Endeavor shuttle launch occurred just before 9am and we almost forgot about it. We headed up to the top deck where several people were looking for it, and they said they were unable to see anything. It was a little hazy that morning and we were already pretty far away…too bad. :(

We then headed to the Flowrider, where there was currently a stand-up surfing session occurring. This is where the big wipeouts happen! We spent plenty of time watching the Flowrider throughout the week and it was a pretty popular spot, especially as the week went on. No, we didn’t go on it. Yes, we saw at least one top come off. No, we didn’t get a picture of it.

Flowrider

This guy was pretty good

Wipeout!

I wanted to do boogie boarding, but they had those sessions scheduled during inconvenient times and I didn’t want to stand in line if we had something else to get ready for. I know, I know…excuses, excuses. Believe me when I say, there is always something to do on this ship! It was interesting to see some of the people progress throughout the week on the flowrider. People who could barely stand in the beginning of the week were able to do tricks by the last day.

We then went ice skating….yes, I said ICE skating! Every time they claim to have ice skating around our town, it ends up being that fake plastic skating rink…not even close to the real thing. I was a little scared this was going to be the same issue, but to my amazement, it was real ice! We put on our skates and mandatory helmets and skated away. The skates were kind of uncomfortable and Brett stopped shortly before I did, but it was still fun and even more fun to say I ice skated while sailing in the Caribbean.

Next up was a round of miniature golf! There is a 9-hole course on one of the top decks, which can make the game quite interesting when the wind picks up. (psst…I won this game!)

We ate lunch in the main dining room this day. On sea days, they offer a really nice salad bar in the main dining room. You tell them what you want and they add it to a large bowl, and then chop it and mix it for you. Brett really likes salad, so this was perfect for him.

We then changed to go hang out by the pool for a little bit. We caught the end of the Sexiest Man Competition and then they had a poolside ice carving demonstration. This guy had to act FAST to carve out the dolphin before the ice melted.

Then it was time for me to do some rock climbing. Brett stood by to take pictures. I still had my bathing suit on, but oh well, our room was on the other side of the ship and I wasn’t about to walk all the way there and back. This was the first time I have rock climbed, so I was a little nervous and scared I wouldn’t make it to the top!

But I did! I had a minor goof-up and slammed into the wall on the way down and I scraped my arm (I still have a scar!), so needless to say, I didn’t rock-climb again and I now know why they make you wear helmets. But lets not remember the accident, lets remember that I made it to the top, mmmkay?

We watched part of the adult dodgeball tournament (and several balls go flying off the side of the ship and into the ocean) and then got ready for the formal dinner in the main dining room. We sure can clean up nice when we have to. ;)

On our balcony before the formal dinner

We took some formal pictures and found this guy…Puss in Boots!

I love him because he looks like our kitty.

For dinner, I had steak and mashed potatoes and Brett had chicken and mashed potatoes.

Brett’s Dinner

Lynn’s Dinner

For dessert, I had a cherry cream cake with vanilla ice cream and Brett had a strawberry sponge cake.

Brett’s dessert

Lynn’s Dessert

We then went to the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception in the Promenade. We enjoyed free champagne while listening to a band play and the Captain talk.

Next up was, Marquee, the main show of the night in the Arcadia Theater, which was a mash-up of different Broadway shows and tunes. This is not Brett’s idea of entertainment and he kept falling asleep in his chair. Since we arrived just on time, we were in the middle of a very long row and there was no getting out, so I just had to make sure that I kept nudging Brett awake every few minutes so he wouldn’t start snoring! #typicalman

Then we went to the Battle of the Sexes game and watched some crazy shenanigans before calling it a night.

Nightly towel animal

 

Next up is Day 3: Labadee, Haiti!

 

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Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Cruise Day 1

This is the first of seven posts that I will be sharing over the next couple of weeks detailing our trip report from our Royal Caribbean Western Caribbean Cruise on the Freedom of the Seas. There will be loads of photos!

 

We started out with a day at Walt Disney World the day before the cruise and spent the night at the Caribbean Beach Resort (Read our review of the awesome Pirate Rooms!). This way we were only an hour from the cruise terminal and we got to enjoy our happy place. On this first day of the cruise, we woke up, prepared our stuff for the cruise and went to Downtown Disney to have breakfast at Earl of Sandwich.

We L-O-V-E their sandwiches for lunch or dinner (I always get the one with turkey and cranberry sauce…like Thanksgiving on a bun!), but their breakfast was just ok. Same ol’ breakfast sandwiches you can get elsewhere.

Then we made our way to the cruise terminal. As we got closer to the coast, our excitement increased along with the number of lovebugs hitting the car. There were so many lovebugs floating around, it seemed like it was raining…a rain full of bugs that eat car paint. Anyone that knows Brett will know he was not too pleased about this.

Lovebugs are extremely acidic, and when left on a car for an extended period of time, can literally wear the paint away. And since we were about to leave our car in a parking garage for the next 8 days, Brett was having a minor panic attack as each lovebug smashed into his less-than-one-year-old precious baby car.

Fun car ride to the coast

But we weren’t going to let a bunch of horny bugs ruin our excitement and we were still happy to finally see our ship…the biggest one at the terminal! That’s how we roll.

There’s big momma

The entire process at Port Canaveral was so much better than our last cruise from Tampa. There was one road in with plenty of signs that led you directly into the parking garage.

We parked, handed our large suitcases over to the porter and then began the check-in process. We were on the ship in less than 30 minutes! Perfect for someone as impatient as myself.

Since you aren’t allowed into your room until 1pm, we walked around the ship getting to know where certain things were. One of the first things we did was go up to one of the top decks to look to see if the Endeavor shuttle was out on the launchpad and able to be seen, as it was scheduled to take off the very next morning…and it was! It is well over 16 miles from the cruise terminal, but Brett was able to see it through his camera.

Endeavor Shuttle on the launchpad

NASA building

A small crowd gathered around Brett wanting to see his photos and look through the lens. This freaked me out as I was not thrilled about him handing over his expensive camera to some stranger with an unverifiable level of alcohol consumption…

But alas, the camera came out unscathed and Brett healed from the stabbing looks I was giving him the entire time.

Oh, and if we thought the lovebugs were bad while driving, they were even worse on the ship….absolutely everywhere! People who didn’t know what a lovebug was were freaking out and screaming and running away! It was quite hilarious. As long as you knew they weren’t going to hurt you and to not open your mouth, you were fine. So I had to laugh at them with my mouth closed.

LOVEBUGS!

More lovebugs!

The other ships in port were the Carnival Sensation and the Disney Dream.

Carnival Sensation

Disney Dream

The Disney Dream was all new and sparkly at that point. We would definitely be interested in taking a cruise on a Disney ship one day.

Us being Disney fans, we actually did not refer to our ship as a ship. We called it a “butt” like in Finding Nemo.

Here I am touching the butt.

Touching the “butt”

We then wandered around some more, looking at all the cool features we would be partaking in over the next week.

The Cupcake Cupboard

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

Fun fact: Each ship in the Freedom class of ships has a Ben & Jerry Suite (“Sweet”) right above the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop, full of cow themed decorations and each guest gets free ice cream each day. It might be to make up for the mooing cows outside the window. Haha.

Ice skating…yes, REAL ice!

Rock climbing wall

Miniature golf

Flowrider

Really big chair

Kiddie pool area = our favorite

Royal Promenade

Long way down!

Royal Promenade

We then ate lunch at the ship’s buffet, the Windjammer Café.

Windjammer Buffet

Then it was time to check out our room, which was fantastic!

Freedom of the Seas Balcony Room

The last time we cruised, we got a balcony and we barely used it. We didn’t think we needed a balcony for that reason, but the deal was too good to pass up, so we got a balcony this time and were so glad we did because we were out there so much throughout the week! We particularly liked not having another room to our one side, as it gave us a little extra room and a better view.

Our balcony room was the very first room at the front starboard (right) of the ship and was literally 5 feet away from the door to the navigation room (I forget the real name). We actually saw the Captian a few times and exchanged hellos…we were BFF by the end of the trip.

Balcony View

Balcony view

At 4pm, we had to do the mandatory muster drill. We were there for about 15 minutes and then it was time to sail away! At first, we stood at the top deck while watching the Disney Dream sail away ahead of us.

Disney Dream

Bye Bye Disney Dream

Disney Dream

Disney Dream

Disney Dream

“We’re right behind you!”

Then we went to our balcony while we were pulling out of the port behind the other two ships. There were lots of people standing by, waving and honking…even a sheriff using his siren.

Balcony view

Balcony View

We then got ready for dinner in the main dining room. We originally had the 8:30 pm dinner time, but we found out we were switched to the 6:00 time after arriving in our room. While we were wandering around earlier in the day, we checked out the two different tables we would have been assigned to in order to decide which time we wanted to keep. Our old table was on the second floor, in the back with no view, but our new table was on the first floor right next to the captain’s table! We definitely decided to keep the new time.

Freedom of the Seas Main Dining Room

I took pictures of our food every night using my camera, but I don’t necessarily remember what it all was and the photos are kind of dark. Our waiter was Kumar and it really amazes me how much they remember your likes and dislikes, all just to remember someone else’s week after week. He remembered how we like everything and even brought me ice cream with every dessert because he knew I would want it. Our tablemates were fantastic too. Brett is pretty shy, so he was worried about how that was going to turn out, but by the middle of the first night, he was chatting away!

On the first night, I had a steak dish with mashed potatoes and Brett had fish with lentils.

We both had caesar salad for the appetizer

Brett’s dinner

Lynn’s dinner

For dessert, Brett had a meringue/custard dish and I had a fruit tart with vanilla ice cream. They let you do whatever you want as far as food goes on a cruise. What happens in the cruise dining room, stays in the cruise dining room (and on your thighs, but you’re not supposed to think about that on a cruise vacation).

Brett’s dessert

Lynn’s Dessert

Dessert shots

Our bar waiter was Joseph from Jamaica and he was THE BEST! He had a few catchphrases that he said so often, we began to wonder if he knew how to say anything else. He would always say “Sooo nice” and “Sooo sweet” and whenever he first got to our table, he would say “It’s sippy, sippy time!” Each night, he would come around with after-dinner shooters in a different colored glass with a different type of shot that Brett and I got each night.

They were all so yummy and we got to keep the glasses. Most of them had Bailey’s in it, so we got a bottle of Bailey’s after returning home and the shot glasses are displayed in our IKEA kitchen shelf unit.

Dinner ran late and caused us to miss the Welcome Aboard show, so we hung out at the piano bar until it was time for the Dreamworks Move it! Move it! parade.

Piano Bar

While our ship was recently in dry dock, she received new carpet, new interactive screens throughout the ship…

Interactive screens throughout the ship

…new shops, and all the Dreamworks stuff, such as the characters, a 3D movie and the parade.

Dreamworks Move it! Move it! parade

This guy looked like Seth Rogan

Our cruise director was Graham Seymour, and he really made the cruise so much better in our opinion. And that’s defintiely not an overstatement. He is in charge of entertainment and hosts different activities throughout the week. He even does a daily morning show that you watch on the tv in your room. He was absolutely hilarious and I will totally look to see if he is the director of my next cruise.

We made our nightly stop at Sorrento’s for free pizza before calling it a night.

Love this view

 

Click here for Day 2: Our Day at Sea!

 

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How We Plan Our Disney World Trips

Being as somewhat close to Disney World as we are (about 3.5 hours), most people think that we just pick up and go whenever we want and don’t think twice about it. While we have definitely done that a few times in the past, most of our trips are planned in advance and take considerable thought and organization so that we can maximize our enjoyment…although it’s pretty difficult to have a bad time in Disney World in our opinion.

When we are thinking about taking a longer trip to WDW, there are certain things we do to plan. Brett is usually just there for opinions or to help me make decisions when necessary (“Yes, dear”, “Whatever you think we should do, dear”), as I am the one that looks up all the details, makes most of the decisions based on the information I know and find, and keeps all of our details organized. Maybe you can use these points to help you plan too!

First and foremost, let me start with a big fat disclaimer that I am an accountant, which means Excel is near and dear to my heart. Brett picks on me, but I put in all of the details from our trip into an Excel sheet to keep us organized. I love having all of the park times, parade times, fireworks and dining reservations for the entire trip all on one handy dandy sheet. This helps if we ever want to change our minds with our plans, we can just look and see to make sure nothing conflicts with our new plans and away we go! I do hope to make one standardized worksheet to use every time and to possibly share it with others, but for now I just make it up as I go each time.

Ok, on with the fun!

 

Things we consider when planning our WDW trips

We think about our timing restrictions
We ask: When would be a good time for us to go according to other things going on in our lives? Here are several examples:
1. When we had just had a baby, we knew we wouldn’t want to go until he was at least several months old.
2. I am a CPA, so I can’t take extended vacations during my company’s fiscal year-end or during the first 10 business days of certain months.
3. We consider any weddings and photo shoots Brett may have. Some months are busier for weddings and such, so we look at his schedule first. Gotta make the money before we can spend the money (you didn’t know this was a personal finance blog too, did you?).

We consider Disney timing and crowds
From us being WDW fanatics for several years, we already know the most crowded times of the year and we try to avoid those times as much as possible (the week between Christmas and New Year’s, Spring Break, Mid-Summer). This is why we get the Seasonal Annual Pass, since we wouldn’t go during the pass blackout times anyway. When we have dates in mind, one of the first things we do is look at the crowd calendar on TouringPlans.com to see the crowd level rating (1=slowest, 10=busiest) and recommendations on which park(s) are the best to visit or avoid for each day. This, to us, is well worth the $11.95 fee to gain access to the entire calendar. This helps us plan which specific days are best to go. We try to avoid days at 8 or above if we can. Sometimes we ignore the calendar if we get the itch to take a random spontaneous trip, but for the planned out trips, the calendar is the way to go, bro.

Are there special events we want to attend?
If there is a particular event we’d like to go to, we will plan accordingly. I LOVE the Epcot Food & Wine Festival and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party in the Fall. We’ve never been to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, so that might be something we’ll consider in the future. It’s also a goal of mine to run a Disney race, so I will definitely plan a trip around that at least once. :) We also love taking photos at the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival. You can view special events at Walt Disney World by going to this link: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/

Are there any deals for particular days available?
There are several places we check for available discounts. First, we check our emails. In the past, we have been emailed the standard discounts, as well as exclusive pin code dicsounts. You can be added to Disney’s mailing list by registering for their website here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/login/

Then, we’ll check the Disney website for any Florida Residents and Annual Passholder discounts (read the details on how to do that HERE).

Then, I look at other unofficial sites to see if there are any other discounts or if they expect discounts to be available soon (mousesavers.com is one).

Where do we want to stay?
Once we have a rough estimate of our days figured out, we will decide where we want to stay. If there is a discount, sometimes that will determine where we stay either due to good prices or if the dicsount only applies to certain resorts. We usually stay at Pop Century because we don’t feel like we need to spend alot of money on a room when we are hardly in there. Sometimes we will stay at a moderate resort, but we are saving our stays at Deluxe resorts for when we have older kids that can appreciate them too (we can’t wait to stay in a Savannah Room at Animal Kingdom Lodge). We’ll look to see if our desired resort is available when we want to go and plan accordingly. We want to stay at the Art of Animation resort the next time we go, so that will be the main driver in deciding our dates.


Do we have any other goals in mind? = “Which parks will we go to during the trip?”
For our May 2012 trip, our main goal was to take maternity photos at Magic Kingdom and Epcot….so that’s where we went. For our next trip, we want to do what will be best for Trent, so we’ll probably be spending most of our time at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. For our short trips in the past, sometimes we will even consider which parks we didn’t visit during our last trip and go to those parks this time. I know this is a very general tip, but still is something we think about.

What parks are we going to on each day?
Now that we know which parks we’re going to during the entire trip, we determine which park will be visited on each day and if we’ll go to more than one on a given day for a particular reason, which happens frequently. I will look at the official Disney calendars to see the operating hours for each park, the Extra Magic Hours and the event schedules for parades and fireworks. We also use the calendar from TouringPlans.com to consider which park we should go to and which ones to avoid. If there are Extra Magic Hours at a particular park, we might choose to utilize that as well (which actually goes AGAINST the crowd calendar recommendations, but that is a debate for another day).

Where do we want to eat?
Restaurant Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) go fast, some as far as 180 days in advance! We think about some of the restaurants we typically like going to on every trip, as well as any new places we’d like to try after looking at menus (on Allears.net). If there is somewhere we really want to eat at and there is only one spot available, we will book it if the time is feasible and then plan our park choice around that. If an ADR isn’t available and we REALLY want to go, we check the Disney reservation site every day for one to become available, which they almost always do! Sometimes, it’s the other way around, we will choose a park first and then look up the available restaurants at that park and choose one. Looking up menus is extremely important for us, since we have a picky eater on our hands (cough, Brett, cough).

Do we need to go anywhere else outside of Disney?
We hardley EVER leave the World, but sometimes we like going to IKEA, the outlet malls or Universal Studios. I’m sure one day we’ll eventually go to Sea World too. One time, we left to go on a cruise. That was the only time I was happy to leave WDW. ;)

 

Things we don’t really consider when planning our WDW trips

What’s the temperature like?
Since we already live in Florida, we just wear what we usually wear during that time of year. Honestly, shorts can be worn 10 months out the year anyway, so there really is never a need to change our Disney wardrobes. We’ve typically stayed away from January knowing in the back of our minds that it can be pretty cold, but it’s not off-limits in the future (I would even like to take a birthday trip one year).

Perhaps the only time I’ve ever worn pants at Disney - February 2011

What kind of tickets to get
If we’re going to the parks, then we always buy the Florida Resident Seasonal Pass. There’s never a question to get a different one, except when we were asked to go with some relatives a few years ago in June and had to upgrade to the regular Annual Pass since the trip was during the blackout dates on the Seasonal Pass. We always get some sort of annual pass. The discounts and savings over the year make it well worth the cost, especially since we do the monthly payment plan. You can learn more about the different pass options here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passes/

Whether we stay on or off property
If available, we always stay on Disney property. We’ve stayed at a Downtown Disney hotel during a spontaneous next-day trip and once at a condo near Universal because family booked the room, but other than that, all of our trips are on Disney property. The atmosphere just makes the trip so much better and the customer service can’t be beat. I’ll pay a few extra dollars a night for that, for sure.

So there you have it. It sounds more complicated than it really is, but it comes so naturally to us now that we can go through all of those points in less than 2 minutes. Perhaps the biggest thing that holds us back is that we are terrible at making decisions, especially about dates…we always want to book a trip for longer than we should! Don’t we all?

We are currently considering a trip in the Spring before our passes expire (even though we will renew them, just not immediately) and another trip in the Fall. Stay tuned!

 

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