Disney Cruise Lines 2019 Itineraries

The Disney cruise line has released their 2019 itineraries with the return to a few destinations that were favourites. There will be an expanding 2 month season from San Diego to Baja and Mexican Riviera. This is great news for those on the West Coast or for those wanting to explore California. There will also be options for Bahamas as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The cruises from San Diego will run from March to May 2019. There will be lots of great excursions available foe these cruises. Stunning Beaches, exciting water activities, cliff diving and zip lining through the jungle. These will be on the ship the Disney Wonder.
In January the Disney Wonder will have 3 sailings from San Juan, Puerto Rico for a Southern Caribbean Cruise. They will be six and seven night sailings. This is good news for San Juan that is still in the midst of recovering from the devastating effects of the Hurricane this past summer.
Three ships will be porting in Port Canaveral. The Disney Fantasy will be doing 7 night alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. The Dream and the Wonder will be doing 3 and 4 night cruises that include a stop at Castaway Cay.
The Disney Magic will start 2019 in Miami doing 4 and 5 night voyages to the Bahamas as well as 5 night Western Caribbean cruises.
These itineraries are now on sail for everyone. Disney releases their sales over a few days with different levels of Castaway Guests getting the first opportunity to purchase new sailings when they get released

Disney Cruise Ship

If you would like to book your Disney cruise vacation please contact me today. They also have their Star Wars Days sailings this winter still available to book.

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Disney Magic Kingdom - Main Street USA

When you walk into Magic Kingdom the first thing you are wanting to see is Cinderella's Castle. You have seen it on tv and everyone refers to it when they are talking about Disney. Believe you me the Castle does capture your attention but to get to it you have to walk down Main Street USA.
It is a very short stretch but they have managed to pack a punch in the small area. You walk in and you are in the town square with a city hall and fire hall.

 Character meet and Greet

In the middle you will find a nice area with a few benches and it a great spot for character meet and greets. This is where we found Pluto on our visit in 2011. From here you walk down main street right to the castle, Main Street is full of many shops including the most amazing candy shop, souvenir shops and many more. At the end on the left hand side you will find the Crystal Palace restaurant which is where you can dine with Winnie the Pooh and friends. At the end on the right hand side you will find Casey's Corners restaurant which has the best ice cream desserts. We have spent many times sitting in this area waiting for the end of a parade including the nighttime electric parade (which has been retired). You will also find the train station for the Disney Train that will take you around the outskirts of the park.
There are lots of impromptu shows with dancers and many old style vehicles.

Outside of one of the shops 

 Horse drawn carriage

 Dancers

 More dancers

A view of the Castle

In front the castle you will find another garden spoke and a statue of Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney. It is an awesome way to come into the park and a great way to leave as well. Do not overlook the Main Street you can experience so much, relax, take your time stroll and just take a break from the frantic pace of the park itself.

We caught the end of the afternoon parade and less crowded here than it was in other parts of the park.

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Children's Influence on Family Travel

So here I am writing this blog post at ten o'clock at night. My son and his bestie are fast asleep in my basement. My youngest daughter is sleeping over at her friends place. My oldest is in her room reading and my second oldest is due home any minute. I love knowing that I can book people's travel and make their dreams come true and write my blog and my kids are happy. I am no longer commuting 3 plus hours a day. Super is on the table at a reasonable hour and the kids enjoy extracurricular activities.
So if my children played such an active role in my decision to change my career and find one that would allow me to be home with them and be flexible to allow me to volunteer at school, go on field trips, run them to scouts and swimming and rainbow than I would have to believe they play a major role in how we vacation.
My mom stayed at home with us until my brother and I were in high school. She ran a daycare in the house for about a dozen years and then finally worked away from home. So for many years we survived as a one income family. It was much easier to back then, then it is now. However it also meant that we did not go on exotic vacations. We did many day trips to zoos and such and we did do a few years in Quebec City (driving) and Niagara Falls but that was it.
Our children are growing up with technology that has the world at their finger tips. My son is doing a summer reading and math program (it is not school, lol) and they are talking about the wildfires in BC. Kids know about Tornado Alley in the states. They have read about Tsunami's. Watching Youtube videos on everything from somebody playing your favourite video game, unwrapping kinder egg toys or checking out where you are going on vacation is super easy to do.
So do kids of today have bucket lists? At what age do you start asking them about travel? Do you think your kids play a role in where you go?
When we made the decision to go to Disney it was as much about me as it was the kids. Yes I have a bit of an obsession with all things Disney. I had never been to Disney as a child all my visits have been as an adult. I wanted to see the magic and excitement through their eyes and I did and because my son was so young hoping to get this again with our next visit.
When we decided on our next big family vacation that would also allow me to research for my travel business cruising was my choice. So with kids in mind I then had to narrow down to kid friendly cruise lines as well as itineraries and timing. So for Christmas 2016 we gave our children an envelope telling them we would be cruising December 2018 on the NCL Getaway and the ports would be Roatan, Harvest Caye, Costa Maya and Cozumel. They spent days watching videos on the ship and researching the destinations. Yes the vacation is far away but they are still very excited about it and talk about it all the time.  This year for Christmas we are giving them another envelope this one will tell them that we will also be spending a week in Orlando in 2018 and doing Disney World and Universal.
So yes kids are very influential when it comes to family travel. Older kids may want to travel to destinations where they can provide a helping hand in some way. These opportunities exist or they may want to visit the places they are studying. My best friends son has a bucket list. One of his top destinations to visit is Japan. He is obsessed with Japan. He has done many school projects on the subject. Now as you can guess my friend is similarly Disney obsessed so she is hoping with the expansion of the Disney cruise line they will add Asia to their itineraries and that is how they will visit Japan and the Asian Disney parks.
So while I am busy planning our awesome vacation for 2018 I am also thinking ahead to the future and where I want to take my kids next in the pursuit of more on the job training. I am thinking a European Adventure may just be in the works to explore our Family History.
Drop me a comment and tell me how your children influence your travel!!!

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Here is a video of the Getaway courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Lines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UVP8fo2NsQ

Magic Bands and FastPass +

Magic Bands and FastPass + work together for on site resort guests. The Magic Bands are a waterproof bracelets. The bracelet is used for the following: to access your hotel room, enter the theme park and the water parks (as long as you have tickets linked),  allows you into the FastPass + line for rides when you have booked them, adds your photopass pictures to your account and allows you to charge food and merchandise to your room (Credit Card). They also can unlock special surprises during your stay. Examples of these would be a discount at a shop, a free item, being a special guest for a parade or extra fastpass+ etc...
The bands can be customized to one of the following colours: pink, green, red, purple, orange, blue or gray. As well you can have your name or a nickname put on it. These can be ordered through your My Disney Experience account once you have a hotel reservation. Guest from the United States get them mailed to them before their visit. Because of the RFID technology they can not be shipped to Canada. However they will be customized as to your requests and waiting for you on arrival.
There are also limited edition bands released for special occasions. You can also order bands from the Disney Store online with villains, star wars, park characters, so many to chose from.

Photo is courtesy of disneyparks.disneygo.com

So in the next part of this post I will discuss the FastPass+ system. The last time I went to Disney the bands were just beginning to be tested I was not a lucky guest chosen to do so, so I have yet to experience them. The fast pass where still the paper system. You put the card in the terminal and it spit out a paper ticket with a time to come back to ride the ride. So you are probably thinking "OK" back up what does all of this mean. Rides at Disney have two lines. One line is called a stand by line. This line will have a sign telling you how long it is to wait to get on the ride. From as little as ten minutes to as along as 400 plus minutes (when Frozen opened and now Pandora). The second line is for Fastpass + guests. This is where you have reserved a time period to ride the line. Usually a time period of an hour. The guests in this line get on the ride first and get on very quickly.

So with your My Disney Experience account you can pre book Three FastPass+  per day for each day you have tickets. They are divided by Tiers for each park so you can usually only have one really popular ride. The FastPass+ are not just for rides they also include shows, parades and character interactions (something for everyone). You can link your whole party together also so you are all riding at the same time. Guest of Walt Disney can book their FastPass+ 60 days before their arrival. Guests not staying on site can only book 30 days out.

Once you use you three passes for the day you can then book another using either the app on your mobile device or a kiosk in the park. Once you use that one you can book another based on availability and so forth. Now I had clients at Disney at the beginning of June and they were a party of eleven. While getting the initial three passes a day was not a problem, trying to get an extra pass for that many people at once for the same time was not so easy. A smaller group will have loss problem securing  extra passes. 

So both the magic bands and the fast pass+ are not overly complicated but if you have any questions please feel free to ask away.

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Bucket Lists

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines bucket list as follows:  a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying. According to them the first know use was 2006. 

Origin and Etymology of bucket list from the phrase kick the bucket (to die).

The Movie called "The Bucket List" was released in 2007 featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Two men who are terminally ill and decided to leave the hospital and do the things on their bucket list before they die. 

When I think of a bucket list I automatically think of travel but not everyone thinks that way. Some people think of things they would like to do or milestones they would like to accomplish. Some of the things would be sky diving, bungee jumping, ride in a hot air balloon, learn to ski, get married etc...

So as you can guess being a travel agent I have a travel bucket list. But being a travel agent I have three different lists. List one is for travel with my family. List two is for travel with either my husband or friends and list three is travel for research. I will be honest it would take most of my life to complete my lists and a lot of money.

My family list includes the following: Disneyland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New York City, British Columbia, San Diego, San Francisco, Beaches Resort, Nickelodeon Punta Cana  and Adventure by Disney Ireland trip (this one is important as we of Irish heritage) and last but not least a Disney cruise (my son would be even happier if it was Marvel Days at Sea or Star Wars Day at Sea one)

                                          These photos are courtesy of disneyparks.disneygo.com

My couple/Friend list includes the following: Las Vegas, New Orleans, African Safari, European tour, Australia, Hong Kong, Alaska, Seattle, Boston, Nashville, Middle East, Vietnam, Signapore, Taiwan, Russia and Japan.

 Photo courtesy of history.com

Photo courtesy of tripadvisor.com

Last but not least is my solo list which is really my research list for selling travel. It includes the following: Sandals Resorts (all of them lol), Karisma Resorts (all of them), Hard Rock Resorts Riveria Maya, Unico, Royal Caribbean Cruise, Pride of America (NCL Hawaii cruise), Princess Cruise, Celebrity cruise preferably Galapagos, 

Photo courtesy of celebritycruises.com

So what is on your travel bucket list? Do you have separate lists based on who you are travelling with like I do. Take a minute and leave me a comment.

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Islands of Adventures -Seuss Landing

Universal was for the longest time a single park and then they did an expansion to include Islands of Adventure, City Walk now Volcano Bay and 5 on site hotels. Not too mention they have Harry Potters's Wizrding World that spans both parks. Islands of Adventure is broken up into several lands. I will be honest I have not been since 2001 so have not experiences Harry Potter for myself but this will be rectified as part of our December 2018 vacation.
So my favourite part of the Islands is Seuss Landing. I am a very big Dr, Seuss fan. Who doesn't love Horton, The Cat in the Hat, Mr. Brown and Sam I am. I grew up with these books and my children have grown up with these books.
Seuss Landing has three rides The Cat in the Hat. On this ride you hope on to a sofa and get to ride through the story book of what happens on a rainy day and your mom is not home. You can only imagine how your sofa will spin about to catch all the crazy action of the Cat along with Thing One and Thing Two. The second ride is the Caro-Seuss-el as you can guess all those crazy animals that Seuss have created in his books come to life as the animals on the Carousel. You will not find any horses here. I will be honest my mother and I both rode the Carousel (remember this visit was pre-kids) The last ride is One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. This ride you are in fish cars that go up and down and you can fire water at the other cars as well as hope to miss some of the spray, The day we went was rather cool so we did not brave this one. Although as you can imagine they are all relatively tame kid friendly rides.
There is a spot where you can see the egg and nest that Horton sat on and yes you can sit on it too. There is a show with the Grinch, the nameless character from Green Eggs and Ham and the Cat and the Hat (not too forget Thing One and Thing two). It is quite Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoopendous (they have character breakfasts here seasonally). Needless to say this section of the Islands is much tamer than the rest and will be a nice place to start or finish up especially for families will small children or with those  who are young at heart.

Of course these pictures are from the non digital camera so they had to be scanned for you to enjoy!!

As always any questions or comments are always welcome and if you have a chance you can check me out at the following places!!
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Disney Dining Plan Explained

So dining at Disney can be expensive. Buffets can run you $39 USD per adult and up.Sit down dinners can be equally as expensive and quick service meals are a lot also.
Many years ago Disney came up with a dining plan solution where you can pick one of three main plans and prepay for your meals. So when you are at Disney the only thing you need to worry about is gratuities and souvenirs.
The first plan is the quick service plan: This includes 2 quick service meals, 2 snacks and 1 refillable resort mug per person per night stayed.
The second plan which is the most popular is the dining plan: 1 quick service meal, 1 table service meal, 2 snacks and 1 refillable resort mug per person per night stayed.
The third plan is the deluxe plan: 3 meals (either counter service or table service your choice) 2 snacks and 1 refillable resort mug per person per night stayed.
So you are now probably thinking what is a quick service meal and what is a table service meal. Quick service or counter service is cafeteria style restaurants. You go to a counter order and then find somewhere to sit. The value resorts have these and you will find many in the parks as well. My favourite at Magic Kingdom is Columbia House. I love their clam chowder they used to serve it in a bread bowl but stopped that practice. At Epcot my favourite is the Electric Umbrella. They serve awesome hamburgers. At Hollywood Studios I often go to the ABC Commissary and love the salad options. Funny enough I do not have a counter service favourite at Animal Kingdom I guess that will be my mission for my next vacation.
Table Service meals are sit down meals you either order from a menu or it is a buffet. This is also where you will find your character meals. Now picking my favourites with these one's is a lot harder to do. At Magic Kingdom I enjoy Crystal Palace which features Pooh and friends and is a buffet service. At Epcot I love Akershus (Norway Pavilion) which features the Princess's and is also a buffet that features Norwegian and American food. At Animal Kingdom I like Tusker's House which features Donald Duck and friends and once again is a buffet (ok I have a trend I think). This has some nice African dishes available as well. At Hollywood Studios we did breakfast at the Hollywood & Vine which features Disney junior pals and is also a buffet.
Now I have only included restaurants that I have eaten at. I have a huge list of must tries as with a bigger party reservations where very hard to get last time. So on my list is Be Our Guest (it was not yet open), Chef Mickey's ,and O'Hana.

 Crystal Palace. Me with my favourite Eeyore

 Garden Grill (Epcot)

 Garden Grill (Epcot)

 Hollywood & Vine

 Liberty Tavern (Magic Kingdom) - Mickey Plate

 Askershus (Epcot)

T Rex Restaurant - Disney Springs

So now onto Snacks. Many things qualify as snacks and so for those on the two meals a  day plan will often use a snack credit for breakfast. This works for people who are light breakfast eater and are happy with a bagel or a donut (yes donuts seem to be a big breakfast item at Disney).At the parks the kids like getting popcorn or churros as snack or for something sold ice cream Mickey bars. We amazingly had snack credits leftover and used those on nuts, candy, cookies etc that could be brought home with us.
I do not drink pop but the refillable mug did come in handy for water and my morning coffee. My oldest drinks hot chocolate all the time so she enjoyed being able to do that as well.
Now Disney also has signature dinning which requires 2 table service credits. I will be honest I have not tried any of them. If you were planning on doing a lot of these then the deluxe dinning plan would be for you. Also if you want 3 solid meals a day I would also suggest the deluxe. One of the most popular signature dinning experiences is Cinderella's Table.
Gratuities are extra on table service dinning. Disney expects that you will pay at least 18% and if your party is eight or more they will automatically charge it on your bill.

Please feel to ask any questions you may have and I will try and answer them.

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