Adventure In The Great Wide Somewhere

Disney Cruise Line Pronunciation /ˈdɪzni  kruːz  laɪn/ Noun 1.) A magical sea voyage, especially taken for the pleasure of enjoying a wonderful award winning vacation. 2.) A fantasy often appearing on a Disney fan's bucket list, right under "spend the night in the Cinderella Castle Suite." 3.) A dream come true.  A helping hand before you set sail on your first cruise! If you've decided to pull a fairy godmother and Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boo this fantasy into being, let's start you off with a few helpful hints: What I wished I knew before my first cruise: Top Ten Things to Know Before Your First Disney Cruise Top 10 More Things to Know Before Your 1st Disney Cruise Another 10 Things to Know Before Your 1st Disney Cruise Embarkation Day 101 Everything that happens between hopping a shuttle to the cruise terminal and dinner the first evening. Debarkation Three different ways to exit your cruise, from the speed demon to dragging your feet. Wh...

One of the biggest advantages of a Disney Cruise Line vacation is that you can meet the princesses, enjoy water slides and soak up the Disney magic almost without waiting in lines. Almost. What if you wanted to avoid almost every crowd or line on your fantasy vacation?  Wow! Can I get my other two wishes, too? That dream can come true too!  1.) Timing is Key This is a simple tip of being where everyone wants to be (on the Aquaduck, visiting Mickey Mouse and boarding the ship) when all the other people are doing something else. Embarkation For boarding day, you select a port arrival time somewhere between 10 AM and 3:30 PM. If you show up with the crowds before boarding the ship begins (between 11 AM and noon) there can be a bit of a back up at the check-in desks and at the very least crowds. Show up before your selected port arrival time? I wouldn't recommend it. While Galveston enjoys plentiful seating, the terminal itself is bare bones. At Port Canaveral...

Before taking to the high seas, fear of seasickness stood between me and enjoying anticipating the my first taste of Disney Cruise Line. Mal de Mer held the potential of ruining our first child free vacation in years. Not that either of us knew for certain if we would even experience seasickness. As a kid, I got carsick at every turn practically, but at least I grew out of that and thankfully never got airsick. IMAX movies and the planetarium usually involved large parts where I would close my eyes to make the moving stop. Once I did get pregnant, morning sickness and vertigo became my new best friends. The one bright and shining spot in my gastronomic fortitude? Amusement park rides and foods that make others lose their lunch.  I gleefully polished off a funnel cake and hopped right on Mission: Space or finished off a cotton candy and hopped into a teacup at the Mad Tea Party. Not the slightest problem. I hoped my stomach believed the Wonder qualified as a ride. I p...

Much like spending your nights at Walt Disney World sleeping at the Grand Floridian in a Club Level room with a theme park view at rack rate, the Disney Fantasy Royal Suite price make these vacations seem astronomically expensive. And, oddly enough, nearly the same prices for the Walt Disney World high end packages as the Disney Cruise Line suites. They don't have to be ridiculously expensive and in many cases can even be more affordable for the average American family than a trip to Walt Disney World.  Over the years I've used varying tips and tricks to minimize my vacation expenditure so that I can enjoy a few more excursions, pedicures and Cove Café drinks without the bills following me long after the pixie dust settles. All of the below tips are either things I or one of my friends have successfully utilized, but as always, your mileage may vary. My Top Ten Fourteen DCL Dollar Stretching Tips: 14.) Get Hired By Mickey Cast member discounts can really save y...

More than any other question, this tends to crop up in my everyday discussions with people who haven't been on either a cruise at all or a Disney Cruise Line cruise. Basically this question breaks down into two parts, is it worth it to "splurge" on Disney Cruise Line as opposed to another cruise line and is it affordable compared to a theme park stay at Walt Disney World. Is it worth it compared to other cruise lines If you are a Disney person, which, if you're reading my blog I'm assuming you may be, you love the quality, attention to detail and superb customer service that Disney offers on land. Comparing Disney Cruise Lines to Royal Caribbean is similar to comparing Walt Disney World to Six Flags; although the elements of each are the same, the overall experience is very different. That magical, pixie dust element remains uniquely Disney.  Just a little midafternoon story time. Apples to Apples, this is not.  On Disney Cruise Line, Belle reads ...

So you're going on a family cruise! Hurray! You've seen the promotional materials flaunting inside staterooms on the classic ships "up to twenty five percent larger than the cruise industry standard." This is Wonder-ful; until you realize that this makes a stateroom a smidgeon smaller than the average American dorm room. What's a family of four and their belongings for the week to do? Aside from just packing less, there are some tricks and tips that have helped me make my own "itty bitty living space" feel bigger on the inside. First off, prepare your packing and luggage for small spaces. Don’t worry, you can still bring your ball gowns and pirate night pantaloons. I'm talking organization today, not minimalist packing, although that certainly does help, too. If your party contains people who still need or like assistance finding all the parts to an outfit, or just people who can never match colors, this first tip is for you. I found that if I p...

Hi! I'm Lorelei; Lori to my friends. As my Passporter Bio so succinctly puts it, Lorelei is a Christian, wife, mother of two, vegan, Texan, bookworm, and terrible-though-enthusiastic photographer. She sunburns indoors on a cloudy day, but still looks forward to her next Disney Cruise in spring of 2013! I suppose that pretty well sums it up. What...I've got three hundred more words available? Okay, I might as well, then. It's late 1998 My mother and I huddle around the huge boxy monitor, waiting as the website slowly loads.  I run off to fetch sustenance as the modem complains. Loudly. We spend the afternoon ooh-ing and ah-ing over pictures of Animal Kingdom which we will see for the first time on our annual trek to Walt Disney World. As we click through the agonizingly slow loading times a notice on one page catches my mother's eye. So we price out a cruise on Disney's newest venture, the Disney Magic. After a little browsing, she decides she'd rather n...