The New and Improved Disney Magic?

So I've spent the last couple of days  listening to and reading reviews of the newly re-imagined Disney Magic cruise ship. This is by far the largest renovation that Disney Cruise Line has ever done to any of it's ships, and the stakes are pretty high.

With the overwhelming success of the new Disney ships, the Dream and the Fantasy, the classic ships have had to rely on special itineraries to put "heads in the beds" on the classic ships, the Magic and the Wonder. With the Magic returning from the Mediterranean, and starting to do more typical DCL itineraries (albeit from Miami instead of Port Canaveral), what would draw people to a 15 year old ship, compared to the newer larger ships? The answer was to bring some of draws from the newer ships to the first Disney cruise ship. We'll see if it turns out as a success, but that will take some time.

Before we get too far into this I want to make it very clear that I am writing this not having been on the newly re-imagined Magic. I have however spent two wonderful weeks aboard the Magic, and know it very well. Some of my best vacation memories are tied to this ship, and when I heard that they were going to be doing such a major renovation, I was both excited, and a little worried. It was obvious that Disney wanted to bring many of the experiences that cruisers can have on the Dream and the Fantasy to one of the classic ships, but would it change the overall feel of the ship?

After sailing on the Dream for the first time I came away conflicted. I really liked the ship, and loved many of the features it offered, but something didn't feel right. The Dream is huge in comparison to the Magic, and that gives it room for more experiences, like a water coaster, bigger kid's clubs, and more places to eat. It is also 13 years newer than the Magic, so there are loads of new technologies that can make the guest experience more fun, like enchanted artwork, virtual portholes, and HD interactive play floors. But I felt that the size of the ship, and all of the stuff to do on it took away from the intimate, relaxing vacations I had experienced on the Wonder and the Magic. Don't get me wrong, I will sail on the Dream again in a heartbeat, and I can't wait to get on the Fantasy, but it didn't capture my heart from the first sailing the way the Wonder did, and the way the Magic did a year later.      

My worry was that the new Magic, would just feel like a smaller Dream, and in hearing about some of the changes, I'm afraid that my fears maybe coming true. In listening to the DIS Unplugged's coverage of the re-imagining (which I will link to at the end of this post), they kept saying that the renovations made the Magic feel more elegant, which would seem like a good thing right? Maybe for most, but not really for me. One of the things that I loved most about the Magic- and the Wonder as well- is that it felt like a luxurious ship, but it didn't take itself too seriously. There was a big chandelier in the atrium, but it wasn't crystal, it was a blown glass piece of art by Dale Chihuly. It felt fancy, but not pretentious. To put it in Disney World terms, the Magic and the Wonder always felt like deluxe resorts, but they were more Boardwalk than they were Grand Floridian. I like that a lot. You get dressed up nice for dinner, but the rest of the day you don't feel bad about walking around in your bathing suit and flip flops. I never felt completely comfortable on the Dream in that sense. Well the Chihuly chandelier is gone, in its place there are now three bright white chandeliers. I'm sure it looks more elegant, but does the ship still have the whimsy?

I am very happy that they added the AquaDunk, waterslide, because I really did love the AquaDuck water coaster on the Dream. It was a lot of fun, and the AquaDunk looks to be a blast! They also updated the kids slide that used to stand at the Mickey pool, which has been replaced with a water play area. I don't have a problem with that, but I will miss looking down from the top deck and seeing the smiling Mickey Mouse shape of the old kids pool.  

They have also greatly upgraded the kid's clubs. They are now more in line with the amazing clubs on the newer ships. The Avengers Academy looks to be an awesome experience, and Any's room was a big hit with our kids on the Dream. They also allow the kids to float back and forth between the Oceaneer's Club and Lab, like on the newer ships, which makes it tougher to fetch your kids, but gives them more options. I hope that they didn't change the check in procedures to match the Dream though. Checking in your kids in that hallway was a mess! Flounder's Nursery has now been changed to the It's A Small World Nursery, and it looks great, but the best thing about the nursery was always the counselors working in it.

As far as the restaurants go, Lumiere's did not change. Animators Palate got some cosmetic upgrades, but the big change is the new dinner shows. They have added the same show that you see on the Fantasy, where you draw a picture on a placemat and see it become animated on the screens throughout the restaurant later on. They also updated the black and white to color show that has been a mainstay from day one. We did lose Parrot Cay, which makes me sad. It was always my favorite of the three rotational dining restaurants onboard, and I know that I am in the minority on that one. I just loved the theme, and I always enjoyed the menu there, even after they stopped serving the sticky wings. Palo got some cosmetic upgrades, and it looks great, but nothing major.

Topsider's buffet has also been updated to Cabana's. Gone is the long buffet line, in it's place are separate pods with various selections. This is a welcome upgrade for sure. I really liked Cabana's on the Dream, and I will not miss the long lines, particularly at breakfast! Many of the quick service places on the pool deck have gotten name changes, but the menus are still essentially the same.  

The staterooms now have a fresh new look to them. They have taken out the old beds and put in the new ones that are on the Dream and Fantasy, which is a good upgrade. Now they are one big bed, instead of two smaller ones pushed together. It doesn't effect our family, but you should know that because of this you can no longer split the queen into two single beds. To make up for this they have also upgraded the sleeper sofa so an adult can more comfortably sleep on that.

The adult bars and lounges have also been renamed and renovated. I never really spent that much time in them because they never really seemed that great. Hopefully that has changed, and I'll want to spend more time there.  

There are many more changes that have been made, and I'm sure I have left many out. I'm also sure that you'll have to discover many of them on your own once you get on the ship. Discovering them for yourself will be a lot of fun!

So overall I think that most of the changes to the Magic are good, but I'm afraid that my fears won't be put aside until I get on the ship and experience it for myself. I really do hope that I won't feel like I am aboard a new ship. I hope that I will still fell like I am on a ship that I really love, and it won't have lost the intimate, relaxed feel that it had. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out.  

Walt Disney World Mom's Panel... The Adventure Continues

About two weeks ago the recruitment period for the 2013 Walt Disney World Mom's Panel began, and just like last year, I decided to throw my mouse-ears into the ring. 

Also like last year the Mom's Panel was looking for specific areas of expertise (Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, RunDisney, and Disney Cruise Line), and once again I selected Disney Cruise Line. Unlike last year, there was no official start date announced for submission of applications ahead of time. Laura Spencer blogged about it  coming soon in July, but on the Mom's Panel website we were told to check there everyday in September. 

Well the Disney fan community, and Mom's Panel hopefuls especially are really good at sniffing out these kind of things, so eventually it got out that they would open for applications on September 10th, and close on September 14th, or whenever they received 14,000 applications. That was 6,000 less than in years past, so many Mom's rushed to get their applications in as quickly as possible. I took a couple of days to send my final submission, and even though they have not closed it out early in recent years, I was slightly concerned about the applications cap. 

The application process was a bit different this year. In stead of waiting for round 2 to test your knowledge in your specialty area, there was a second page of questions in round 1. The first page was general Disney knowledge, plus an essay (100 words) on helping to plan other people's Disney vacations. The second page had a few pretty tricky questions focused on your specialty area, plus another 100 word essay about planning vacations in that area.    

I gotta tell ya, 100 words is really not that much to show your passion for Disney! Both of my essays had to be almost cut in half after my first draft. There is so much that you want to share, but just not enough word space! 

Last year I progressed onto round 2, where they tested my knowledge of Disney Cruise Line, and I had to make a one minute video about my favorite Disney memory, but I didn't make it to the interview stage. It will be interesting to see what round 2 consists of this year, since they already made everyone answer questions and write essays about their specialty areas in the first round. I'm sure there will be another video submission, but what else does the Mom's Panel have up its pink sleeves? 

The wait begins... 

My Disney Wish List

As we get closer and closer to the holiday season (I'm sure in Target stores back in the USA it is already in full bloom), the 3 Dis Kids are already working on their "lists", so I thought that I would share some of my Disney Wishes. These are things that I have not experienced yet in the immense Disney Universe, but hope to soon! Some people might call this a "bucket list", but I find that term highly morbid, and prefer not to participate in such list making. Besides, I much prefer to name my list after a fireworks spectacular! Here they are in no particular order, well except for how they pop into my head as I write this!

Adventures by Disney Vacation

I can't think of a better way to vacation in some of the great places in this world. Getting to visit amazing locations in the "Disney bubble" is how I want to travel! Specifically the ABD tour I want to do first is the Hollywood Family Vacation. While the destination is not as exotic as some of their other tours (Galapagos Islands, Egypt, or

Greece), the things that you get to see are a Disney geek's dream! Backstage at Disneyland, and a tour of Imagineering are just a couple of things you get to experience on this tour. Plus I have heard/read several wonderful trip reports about it! I am really hoping to do this trip in the next couple of years, and I would also be able to check off another item on my list...

Visit Disneyland

I feel really inadequate as a Disney geek because of the fact I have never visited the original Disney Park. To make matters worse I have twice had the opportunity and not done it! The first time was with my parents when I was in 3rd grade, and we didn't go because of the weather, but the second time was completely my fault... Back when we only had one kid, and before we were a Dis family, we visited Southern California, and we had a red eye flight back to the East Coast. On our last day my wife asked if I wanted to go to Disneyland on our last day, and I said I would rather not. This could have changed my future! Would I have become a Disney geek even sooner? It all sounds very Back to the Future huh? Well with those regrets weighing heavily on me, I know that I need to get there. Similar people have described going to Disneyland as getting to walk where Walt walked, and saying that it just feels special. I'll find out soon enough.

Backstage Magic Tour

This is one of those things that the first time I heard about it, I knew I needed to do it. I am a person that loves to see how things happen behind the scenes, and this tour lets you do that at all four of the Disney World parks. It's expensive ($229 pp), and it is 7+ hours, so it will have to be done on one of those DisKidless trips, but I look forward to the day I get to experience going backstage, and exploring the Utilidors!

Concierge Level

What an indulgence this would be! I would just love to stay Concierge Level at one of the deluxe resorts! I've heard that there is no way to justify the extra money that it costs to do it, but let me find out! Concierge Level allows you access to a special lounge with complimentary drinks and snacks, and-depending on which resort you are at-spectacular views. At the top of this list would have to be one of the monorail resorts, probably the Contemporary. Maybe I could justify this better as research for a future post...

Alaska Cruise

Even before we started cruising I thought that an Alaska cruise would be a cool experience. When Disney announced that they would be doing Alaska sailings, my desire grew to enormous proportions! I am by no means a wildlife person, but Alaska has always intrigued me. After seeing pictures and trip reports from the inaugural season this year, it just looks amazing! As an added bonus you can purchase an Adventures by Disney add on to the Alaska sailings. This one will probably be a tough sell to the wife, who prefers her cruises with sandy beaches and sunny vistas, but she has shown some interest. So there is hope...

So that's it for now. I'm sure that I'll think of more as time goes on, and when I do I'll share them here. I'll also share how they were as I cross them off the list!

Walt Disney World Mom's Panel: My Adventure (So Far)...

For years I have toyed with the idea of applying for the Walt Disney World Mom's Panel, but never officially took the plunge until the "recruitment period" opened for the 2012 panel last month. I decided to apply this year because of my work situation, and the fact that they advertised that they would be looking for specialists in several Disney areas for the first time. These areas are Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney and RunDisney. For anybody who has spent much time on this site it should be pretty obvious which specialty I applied for... Disney Cruise Line! So lets start the voyage for a Dad of 3 Dis Kids trying to make it onto the Walt Disney World mom's Panel!

The first round of the application process opened up on September 12 for five days or 20,000 applications. Mom's Panel hopefuls logged on to the website and found an application that consisted of Disney knowledge questions, and a few essays about trip planning. The knowledge questions were by no means softballs... One asked who the designed the Partners statue at Disneyland, and the other one asked about Pirate's League at Disney World. The Pirate's League question was worded where if you didn't read carefully, you could easily answer incorrectly. I saw these as a "thinning of the herd", if you missed these I assume your application was shown the circular file. The essay questions were very straight forward, but all of the answers were required to be 100 words or less. This was a little tricky for me, but not as daunting a task as I thought it could have been. To be honest I don't remember what the questions were, and like a "dumbkopf" I forgot to save my answers for future reference. Oh well...

I spent a couple of hours on the essay questions, having my wife read and check for stupid errors I might not catch, and to see if she liked the wording. Since she has written more speeches than she can count over the years her eye and ears for flow and wording are well tuned. She has been an invaluable resource in this process, and is almost as excited about it as I am!

After I submitted my application on the first night, because I was a little fearful that they might reach capacity, I found a little "support group" of other Mom's Panel hopefuls over on the Disboards. A thread titled "Amazing Adventures of the 2012 Disney Mom's Panel" is a group of DISers that share and support each other through the entire process. Several of the posters have been through this process from the beginning, with this being their 5th year of applying! It should not be a surprise that at last count there were over 70 DISers that made it through to the 2nd round!

Well, I must have found the right balance of knowledge and fanboy because last week I found out that I had advanced to round 2 of the process! I had high hopes that I would get past the first round, but didn't get my hopes up. I knew that the numbers were stacked against me, and that there are so many people out there who are very passionate about Disney. I did think that it was to my advantage that I chose DCL as my specialty, because the pool for applicants would probably be smaller than some of the other categories. I got the email after everyone was asleep in the house, so I had to sit on my good news until morning! I also had 2 days of waiting before I was able to go on the website to see the questions. But again I had 5 days to complete the process after that.

Round 2 served up (using my tennis terms there) another batch of questions, but this time they were geared more towards the specialty you chose. Another knowledge question led off. This time they asked where the sports lounge "687" on the Disney Dream got its name. Luckily, my podcast habit helped me out here. I remembered Lou Mongello on the WDW Radio Podcast taking about this when he reviewed the Dream back in January. Not that I don't trust Lou's knowledge, but I also double checked a couple other sources online as well, just to be safe. In case you were wondering... 687 was the keel number that Meyer Werft shipbuilders assigned the Dream during construction. Fun Fact #2 the Disney Fantasy is #688. In addition there were three more 100 word essays about Disney Cruise planning.

The big change-up for round 2 was the video requirement! Applicants were to submit a 60 second video describing their favorite Disney Parks memory. Ruh Roh! Video!? This is for a position that requires answering 25 questions submitted online a week, not video conferencing! This was totally new to me. I knew what my memory would be, and I knew that I could get it out in under a minute, but to do it on camera would be a challenge. Luckily with some serious help from my wife, I was prepped and ready to shoot. It came out OK, but ultimately I would shoot another one hours before the deadline that ended up being the submission. I had some grand ideas for it, but I was hindered by a 50 MB file size limit, and the fact that Microsoft Live Movie Maker is not nearly the video editor that Apple's iMovie is. I have got to get a Mac...

So everything is done, and submitted for final approval by the Mouse. If I should advance to round 3 a phone interview is scheduled, and then who knows... I really feel blessed to have gotten this far, it was a real answer to prayers, but obviously I want to make it all the way. I'll continue to pray about it, and hopefully I have shown them what they would like to see for a Disney World Mom's (Disney Cruise Line) Panelist!

Stay tuned!

Disney Mediterranean Cruise: Palma de Mallorca

So we have come to our final port of call on our Mediterranean voyage. Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Honestly, I was a little more excited about this port of call than I think most people might have been. For as small as Mallorca is, the island has produced two men who were able to rise to number one in the world of tennis, Carlos Moya, and Raphael Nadal! I thought it would be pretty neat to see where they came from. Plus we had a beach excursion booked!

We knew we wanted to finish up our cruise with a relaxing day at the beach, and the Disney Beach Transfer was cheap, and it made our life easy. On all of our other 6 Disney Cruises our last port of call was at Castaway Cay, their private island, or actually island paradise. We knew that Mallorca could never compare with Castaway Cay, but it CC's absence it would work nicely!

We disembarked the ship and hopped on a big tour bus. Thirty minutes later we were dropped off in front of a little shop just a few steps from Palmanova Beach. This was definitely primarily a tourist beach, but not on a large scale. There was plenty to do for the half day, but we primarily just sat under our rented umbrellas and relaxed. there were ocean trikes available for rent, which a few fellow cruisers took advantage of, and there was a diving and sliding platform out in the water, which we had some fun on. My dad took a walk with our son to a playground that was on the beach. There were some touristy shops, and a couple of markets that we looked in, and after a few hours we were back on the bus heading back to the Magic.

One of the things that my wife wanted to do on this cruise was the Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. As soon as we boarded the ship she hustled over to Guest Services to get tickets for the girls, and it was something that she was really looking forward to doing with them. While I wasn't there, from the report I got back it was a disappointment. Alice wasn't even there, and it was just apple juice and cookies. But our 4 year old had a good time playing tea party, and it was good girls time, but I think in the future, they will choose to do their bonding in the spa!

That night we decided to take it easy. After 6 nights of great meals in the dining rooms, we thought it might be nice to have a casual meal by the pool. This was one of our best ideas! There was no one up on the deck. We pretty much had the place to ourselves! I think this is the only time I have ever seen an empty Mickey Pool while it was open! We feasted on chicken fingers, hamburgers, tacos, and french fries while we relived great moments from the week. We got a few more pictures of the ship and headed back to the rooms to start the unenviable task of repacking our bags.

One of the more popular activities on the last night of a Disney Cruise is the "Till We Meet Again" gathering in the atrium. You will not be reading about this in any of my writings, because I will never attend it. Honestly, the last night of a cruise is hard enough, I don't want to be reminded by the entire crew that it is time to say good-bye, especially when they play all that sappy farewell music! It would be far too depressing, and I refuse to participate! So you can read about that from someone else!

Not too much to report on from this day. Just a lot of relaxation and reflection. And all that we have left is dragging ourselves off of the ship on the last morning, and some final thoughts to wrap it all up!

3 Dis Kids: Mediterranean Magic

My plan was to finish typing my trip report before I finished the actual video, but I finished the video quicker than I thought I would! I must be getting better at editing! Plus it's not going to give anything away...

So without further ado... 3 Dis Kids: Mediterranean Magic!

Enjoy!

Disney Mediterranean Cruise: Civitavecchia & Rome

Today was the day that I felt excited and sick. We would be doing Rome on our own. No Disney guides, no private transportation, no Rick Steeves, at least not in person... Well I guess there are some things to be thankful for... This was the port of call where I had done the planning and the research. This was the stop that we had the highest expectations for. I mean it's Rome for goodness sake! How many times had my 12 year old watched the Lizzy McGuire Movie and sang along with Hey Now, Hey Now... How many times had my father probably seen Roman Holiday or some other black and white dinosaur of a movie on TCM? We are talking the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon... And we are trying to do it by ourselves, with two kids under the age of five... We were either courageous, or delusional!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my wife had done most of the research and planning for our day in Villefranche and Monaco, so this one was mine. I read dozens of trip reports on the DIS boards, studied up at AllEars, and visited countless other websites. But then like manna from Heaven a fellow DISer posted about her website/podcast Cruize Cast I went to the site and saw that they were sharing their experiences doing ports on your own, and low and behold a couple weeks later they did an entire podcast on doing Rome on your own just for me (at least that is how I felt)! They took you through the entire day step by step, and their information was spot on! They planned out a much fuller day than we would be able to do,, but they important stuff was there! I bet I listened to it five times before we left, and at least once on the flight to Barcelona.

We planned ahead and pre-ordered breakfast from room service. We knew it would be a very full day and we wanted to get off the ship early so we never felt worried about getting back to the ship on time.

***On a bit of a side note... I heard more announcements for certain parties to call or visit guest services around departure time on this cruise than all of our 6 previous ones combined!***

We ate and got off the ship pretty early. It was nice that we didn't have to tender, but we did need to catch a shuttle bus to the entrance of the port. That was no problem and before we knew it we were walking to the Civitavecchia train station. I can't remember what time we arrived, but there was a short wait for the next train into Rome. Soon our train had come in, and we boarded. The train ride was about an hour and twenty minutes in the main station in Rome, Termini. We were lucky that we had boarded pretty early, because many people on the train did not have seats for the entire journey into Rome. From Termini we took the metro (a bit of a hike, but very well marked, and my wife was able to grab an espresso) two stops to the stop for the Colosseum, aptly named Colosseum.

Now I am a seasoned metro traveler. I've ridden the rails in Washington, New York, London, Barcelona, and some other big cities, but I have never experienced anything like stepping out of the Colosseum metro station. When you step out into the daylight you look up and there it is, what you have seen on TV and in movies so many times... The Colosseum in all her ancient glory. And what is the first thing that pops into my head?

"Wow having a metro stop this close to the Colosseum must have made it really easy to come see the gladiators!" Please hold the applause until after the post...

We were smart and pre-paid for our entrance online... we paid a little extra for the convenience, but after seeing the line it was money well spent. We buzzed by the stand by line like Fast Pass holders and soon we were in the Colosseum looking for our sons shoes... Just like Audrey Hepburn right?

Per Cruize Cast's recommendation, we had downloaded Rick Steeves' audio guide for the Colosseum an we had enough iPods for everyone ages 12 and up, but it was tough to follow because he wasn't very clear where we should start. My Mom seemed to continually be saying, "oh that is what he was talking about" throughout the tour. I never even bothered to start mine. It was really neat to be there, but when it really hit me that we were in Rome was after we came out of the Colosseum and saw the rest of the ancient city. Before my research I couldn't have told you anything about the forum, but here we were standing at the base of the Colosseum, looking at it. Just like people had said, pictures just can't do Rome justice.

Our next stop was the Trevii Fountain. I had my map, and I was ready to lead the way! I had

read that there were some good places to stop for a quick lunch near the fountain, so we planned

on eating somewhere close to there. The walk was a little longer and not as direct as I had thought, and it was a pretty hot day, but we got there eventually (probably about a half hour later). We saw signs for a McDonalds, but never saw it, so we trudged on looking for the fountain. We walked down an alley and it suddenly appeared in front of us! It wasn't as out in the open as I had thought it would be, but it did not disappoint! The gellato and Coke Zero that we got there didn't either! We all took turns fighting through the crowds to toss our coins in the fountain, and I treated everyone in ear shot to my rendition of "Three Coins in a Fountain. " As we all tossed our coins in I wondered what they would think when they found our Romanian Bani in there!

At this point we were all hot and sweaty, so rather than walk to the nearest metro stop, we decided that we would hop a cab back to Termini station. After talking our cabbie into loading all 7 of us into his Peugeot, we were on our way. He was worried about the local police seeing his full car, so he dropped us off around the corner from the station, right next to a cafe. So we stayed and enjoyed a couple of Roman pizzas in the shadow of the train station.

After eating we started our voyage back to the ship. we were able to decipher the schedule to figure out when the next train to Civitaveccia was, but figuring out which platform was more of a challenge. We found the platform just as the train arrived, and we hopped on and grabbed our seats.

We got back to the ship around 6 o'clock. It's all a blur, but I think we grabbed a snack from Pluto's Dog House, took the kids to their respective clubs, showered up, and went to dinner.

There was a real sense of accomplishment after today. We did it... To Rome and back, with two little ones. We enjoyed the day, but I on't think that any of us would say it was our favorite day of the vacation. We were so happy that we did it, and found Rome to be awesome. But I don't know if it lived up to the (maybe unfairly high) expectations...

Next stop, Naples, Sorrento, Pompeii and the kidless excursion!

Disney Mediterranean Cruise: La Spezia

Our second stop on our Mediterranean voyage brought us to La Spezia, Italy, gateway to Florence and Pisa. This is one of those Mediterranean ports where cruisers get off the ship and scatter throughout the Italian countryside. We would be doing things a little differently however...

Early on in our planning we had decided to use one of our port days as a second day at sea. The decision was made for a couple different reasons. The first was that with so many ports to visit, and only one sea day, we knew that we all, and the kids in particular, would need a take it easy day. For us, we knew that after being in a very foreign country for 6 months, and not having been on a Disney ship in over a year, we would want to spend a day taking advantage of everything the ship has to offer. La Spezia was chosen as our second sea day because it made sense to have a good day of rest before we tackled Rome, which was sure to be a tiresome day for everyone. Another reason was because that Florence was at least a 2 hour trainride from the port, and since it was Monday the museum where the statue of David is located would not be open.

We started the day very leisurely, we slept as long as the younger kids would allow, grabbed some breakfast and checked out the navigator to see what was going on and when. Today would be a good day for the kids to hang out in the Oceaneer Club, and for the adults to hang out at the Quiet Cove pool! Nobody put up a fight with this plan, but we promised the kids they would get some pool time today as well! We wanted to make sure that our daughter got to see her favorite character Stitch, so after she got some pictures with him, we dropped them off at the club.

I was a little surprised how many people stayed on the ship. I thought that we would have the place pretty much to ourselves, but apparently, our idea was not as novel as I had thought! The Quiet Cove was active, but not busy, and we were able to get a couple loungers in the sun. We nabbed a couple of decent magazines from the Cove Cafe (although my wife enjoyed her Smithsonian magazine more than my Everyday with Rachel Ray), and some sweet treats, and just relaxed. It was pretty warm in the sun so we grabbed some lunch after about an hour and a half. We grabbed the kids so they could have some pool time, and I think that is when I decided that ice cream would be a good idea!

After some pool time, we thought our oldest daughter might like to do some family crafts. Theywere making buttons in the Promenade Lounge, so we grabbed some drinks from the drink station and headed down for craft time. The crew member who was running this activity was Matthew from Canada, and for the first 15 minutes or so, we were the only people there. We got a chance to really talk to him, and he really seemed to love what hewas doing. We always appreciate Disney Cast Members, but on the ships they just seem to be the best of the best! I think that there is so much guest interaction in a smaller (than a theme park at least) setting, you have to be really good with people, and the Disney Cruise Crew Members are just great at it!

My number one thing for this day was seeing Cars 2 as a family. You might remember that I wrote this post a couple months back about Cars 2, and how I was really looking forward to taking the kids to see it. Since Cars 2 has been out for awhile now, I won't bother with a full review, but the family enjoyed it. It was a little loud for my son, but he watched intently the whole time. Our youngest daughter fell asleep (I guess she was having lots of fun in the club)! Everyone above the age of 12 really liked it too. While I didn't like the story (or felt it was up to the high standards Pixar has set), I thought it was the best looking animated film I had ever seen (we saw it in 3D)! It was also really cool to see places we were going to see very soon!

After the movie it was time to get ready and head to dinner. I have to say that the food was very good on this cruise. Every night we really enjoyed our meals. This was also the first time that I taken part in the time honored cruise tradition of ordering 2 entrees. I usually split the second one with my Dad, but it was still fun to do it! I also ate more seafood than usual on this cruise. I guess my body decided that it missed fish living in Romania! I'm usually such a steak eater on the cruise... Sometimes I surprise myself!

for the rest of the evening we followed the theme of the day, and took it easy. I think after the kids were in bed we put the grandparents in charge, and checked out some of the evening adult activities. We weren't very impressed with the piano lounge singer in Sessions, so we just strolled up on deck before we turned in.

The next stop is the eternal city of Rome. Adventure awaits!

Disney Mediterranean Cruise: Villefranche & Monaco

Our first port on our cruise was Villefracnhe, France, gateway to Monaco, Nice and Cannes. This port represented a couple of things

to me. On one hand I was very much looking forward to seeing Monaco and Monte Carlo. On the other hand I was a bit nervous about this being the first port that we would be "doing on

our own."

Our plan was well researched (mostly by my wife), and we knew pretty much how we were going to execute our plan. Our plan was to get off the ship pretty early -- but not rush as it was our first morning on the ship-- and catch a tender to the port. From there we had well described directions to the train station, and we would catch the train to Monaco, about a 15 minute ride. Once in Monaco, we were going to take a ride on their tourist train, The Little Train, and then possibly if the little ones were in good spirits check out the Royal Palace. It should have been a pretty simple day, especially compared to what we had planned for our day in Rome.

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans... The first parts went off without a hitch. We got up leisurely, had a nice breakfast, and about that time the announcement came that they had just started open tendering, meaning we didn't need to wait at a meeting point until our turn came up. So we packed up our day bags and headed for shore.

Villefranche is a picturesque little marina town. Cafes and cutsie shops line the waterfront with flower boxes in the windows. There was a small public beach that we thought might be a nice activity after we returned from Monaco. This was one of those times when the pictures we ha seen perfectly matched what we were now viewing with our own eyes!

We found the train station with little trouble. We followed the signs up the stairs to the platform heading in the direction of Monaco. It was about 10:30 in the morning at this point, and we heard that the trains came about every 20-25 minutes. When we made it up to the ticket booth there was a sign in the window saying that the next train to Monaco wouldn't be until 1:30. After

speaking with the Frenchman in the window we were not filled with confidence when he said, "it should be here at 1:30, but it is Sunday so..." Well we knew that as pretty as Villefranche was, it was not going to hold the interest of our 3 and 4 year old for three hours, and the 1:30 train

apparently wasn't a done deal either... So we decided that we would catch a taxi in Monaco. It was less cost effective, but at least our day wouldn't be ruined, and in looking back it worked out well.

The 30 minute drive into Monaco was beautiful! Driving along the French Rivera with sweeping views of the Mediterranean, and our ship anchored at sea. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any photos of it, but you'll just have to take my word for it! The taxi driver took us exactly where we needed to go, and we got his card so we could call him for a pick up in a couple hours.

We bought our tickets for the Little Train, and we had a while until the next departure, so we ventured out to find a restroom. We had heard horror stories of disgusting public pay toilets in Europe, but we were in Monaco, the Beverly Hills of Europe, surely that wouldn't be the case here right? Wrong. Not far from the train was the restrooms. A woman sat out front with a plate full of Euro coins. I figured that the plate was for tips, and it wasn't actually a pay toilet, so I didn't add to the pile. She didn't hassle me, but apparently she hassled some other folks. I'm glad that I didn't pay because the place was dirty and almost stereo-typically, there was no seat on the toilet... You have got to be kidding me!

On the plus side there was a lovely little park across the street with even more lovely views of the water. I did get some pictures here. We had a snack and the little ones ran around for a few minutes before we headed back to the train.

The Little Train tour was everything that the Barcelona Bus Touristic was not. Interesting and only about 40 minutes. It took through Monte Carlo and by all of the major sites. Except for the cheesy background music, it reminded me a lot of the tourist train ride we took in Key West on our Western Caribbean Disney cruise a couple years earlier. After the train ride the little ones were ready to head back

to the ship for chicken and french fries from Pluto's Dog House, and some quality time in the kid's clubs, so we called our cabbie and headed back to Villefranche.

We were greeted at the tender dock with the welcome site of Disney crew members with orange and lemon flavored ice water! It was a nice touch, and you could see the envy in the eyes of other cruise ship passengers in adjacent lines!

The tender ride to and from the ship was nice. The marina in Villefranche had some really nice yachts and antique looking ships. But as always we would be boarding the most beautiful ship in the harbor!

We spent the rest of the day lounging around the pool deck while we waited to see Twice Charmed. I had missed this show on our first cruise on the Magic, so I was looking forward to finally seeing it. It did not disappoint. The show was great, probably my favorite of all the shows I have seen on Disney Cruises.

While Villefranche was not without its challenges, it was a good start to our cruise. Luckily, we would have better luck with train stations in Italy than we had in France. It wasn't as easy as a day as we had thought it would be, but it was a success. We made it where we wanted to go, and made it back! We got a taste of the "high life" in Monaco, but were more than happy to retire at the end of the day, back to our staterooms on the Magic!

Up next La Spezia...

Disney Mediterranean Cruise: Barcelona

Like most American basketball fans, I was gluedto my TV set watching the USA Dream Team dominate their opponents on their way to the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. I remember pictures of huge billboards featuring Michael Jordan, and majestic aerial shots of a church under construction that looked like a sandcastle. I was only 16 years old, and had never left my home country, but I knew that one day I wanted to visit that city...

Fast forward 15 years into the future. Now married with two children (back when it was just 2 Dis Kids), we are in the middle of experiencing what would be a life changing vacation, our first Disney Cruise! Our stateroom attendant has delivered a Disney Cruise schedule (for future booking purposes) and I learn that they don't just sail from Florida... In fact they will be sending their other ship, the Magic, to the Mediterranean for the summer of 2007, sailing out of Barcelona, Spain. That was it, I had found my dream cruise! At this point I hadn't turned into an all out cruise junkie. I didn't know that cruise lines often send ships to other parts of the world for special seasonal itineraries, I thought that Disney would always be there. I had my vision.

I began to soak up as much information about Disney Cruise Line as I could. I learned all about their sailings in the Caribbean, and that in fact their Mediterranean itinerary was only for the summer of 2007. I was disappointed that I had missed out, but hopeful that they would return because then president, Tom McAlpin had said that the season was so successful.

Luckily in May 2010 the Magic did as promised, return to the Med. And one lear later I was booked on a seven night sailing, leaving from Barcelona!

So thats a lot of lead up for the port of departure, but I wanted to give some background to why I was not just really looking forward to the cruise, but to Barcelona as well.

Luckily, our schedules worked out so we would be able to fly to Barcelona 3 days before the cruise departed, and I was really happy to be able to spend a couple of days exploring the city. I had read more trip reports, watched more vlogs, and listened to more podcasts than I could count about other people's Disney Med cruises from 2007 and 2010. My excitement grew with each one as we got closer and closer to our departure date. I had built up this vacation so much in my head, I hoped that I had not set myself up for disappointment. But as it turns out, Barcelona met and surpassed all of my expectations!

I had read and researched a lot about what to do in Barcelona, but had not really done the same for where to stay. My Mom actually found the hotel that we ended up staying at. We had originally booked a room at the Novotel Barcelona City, on the recommendation of fellow cruisers, but when my parents tried to book a room for their arrival (two days after us), there were none available. So in looking for a place close to the Novotel (it wasn't), she booked at Hotel Diagonal Zero. Not wanting to be split up at two different hotels we followed suit, and boy am I glad we did!

Diagonal Zero was a great fit for us. Modern and clean, at a reasonable price. It was very close to the subway, and there was a large shopping center across the street. It wasn't that close to the touristy parts of the city, and it wasn't as close to the port, but we figured we could make it work.

We were able to do more than make it work. We loved it. Since it was a little further from Las Ramblas and the rest of the city center it was more quiet. The hotel has a more business feel, but it was still warm and inviting fortourists. Thebeach was about a 10-15 minute walk, and the shopping center (Diagonal Mar) was very nice, and had a hypermarket where we could get stuff for in the room. And while it might net be a big selling point for most American visitors -- but it was huge for us who have been living in Bucharest, Romania for 6 months -- there was a Subway sandwich shop!

We spent our first full day in Barcelona just kind of taking it easy an stayed close to the hotel. We hit the beach, walked around, enjoyed lunch at Subway, and pretty much eased our way intovacation. Other than venturing out to visit the Magic Fountains(more later) that night we kept it pretty simple.

The beach was great! After a short walk we got there around 10:30. People (mostly locals) were just starting to stream in. It had not gotten crowded yet, so we found a good spot pretty close to the water. The water was a little cold, but refreshing. The beach was great! there were a couple of bar/tapas places right on the beach, places to shower off, and free public restrooms that were not spotless, but by American public beach restrooms standards exquisite! I did post on my Facebook status that I was concerned about the poverty in Barcelona. Apparently the women there can't afford to buy a matching top to go with their bikini bottoms... Some of what we saw was not pretty... I had been warned of this, but thought that it would only be on more rural beaches, not a public beach in the city!

That evening we had decided to head into the city center to see the Magic Fountains. I had read mixed reviews about it (DISers raved, Rick Steeves didn't), but this was one of the things I really wanted to see. The subway in Barcelona is very easy to navigate so we used it to get us there. It took us about a half hour, and when we exited the station it was a sea of people. This was the only time on the entire trip that I was worried about being pick-pocketed. We trudged our way to the fountain (which was much larger than I expected), and found a pretty good place to sit and watch. To our surprise the entire "show" was set to Disney music (in the video below it is kind of hard to hear over the crowd, but it is Circle of Life), albeit in Spanish. It was a great warm up for our cruise in two days! If you are in Barcelona over the weekend this is definitely worth seeing! Gorgeous!

The next day was going to be our big tourist day. We had pre-purchased our tickets for the Barcelona Bus Touristic, and I had high hopes. My parents were coming in to meet us that morning, and they were going to join us on the bus! There was a bus stop right by the shopping center, so after they got to the hotel and showered up, headed back to Subway and then to the bus.

This was the one disappointment in Barcelona. We have toured around on "Hop On Hop Off" buses in a couple different cites, and have always found them to be a great way to see a lot of the city. The Barcelona Bus Touristic was reviewed well, but it just didn't work for us. The bus has three routes, and there aren't enough places to switch. We went on the Blue route to see La Sagrada Familia (AWESOME!), but then we were stuck on that route for more than an hour. Then we would have had to switch to red and then to green to get back to our hotel. We abandoned ship er... bus and took the subway back. That night we walked over to the shopping center and had some "very fresh" seafood at one of the restaurants.

The next morning we boarded the Disney Magic! Originally we had planned to take the subway to the Christopher Columbus monument and catch a port bus to the ship, but since that would have required lugging our bags, and 2 train changes, we decided to take a couple taxis to the ship (25-30 euros each). We were very excited and wanted to get there as quick as possible! We'll pick up there on the next post.

I despise using the phrase "in conclusion", but, in conclusion, we loved Barcelona! from the moment we got to the hotel we felt like we were on vacation. Coming from Bucharest it really almost felt like being back in the US. The people were so nice, there was so much to experience. There is so much more of the city that we have to explore. We can't wait to go back! Maybe for a long weekend, or maybe a couple years!

Disney Mediterranean Cruise: Back to Reality...

Greetings from home! We have been back from our Mediterranean cruise for about a week and a half, and adjusting to everyday life off of a cruise ship has been as fun as ever!

I'm sorry that it has taken me awhile to get my first post cruise post up, but with the start of middle school, schedule changes, and internet outages I am just now getting some real time to reflect and write on a truly magical (but not without some challenges) vacation!

Since Disney won't be back in Europe until at least 2013, these reports might not be very beneficial in planning your next Disney Cruise, but hopefully it will help give you a vision for the future, when DCL returns (hopefully sooner rather than later) to the Med!

I'm going to start with an overview of sorts. Some differences we found while cruising with Disney in the Mediterranean compared to the Caribbean. Some of these things we had prepared for (no stop at Castaway Cay), others not so much (debarkation hassles). One thing for sure there were some surprises -- for better or worse -- along the way! I'll be more in depth when we come to those parts of the trip.

We had read and heard that cruising the Med is a whole different monster compared to the Caribbean, so we embarked with a different set of expectations. we had prepared ourselves for early mornings, longer days, and public transportation. We knew that this would be a port intensive cruise, with 5 ports in 7 nights, we we ready to be busy, but we were also realistic. we know our children well, and how they prefer to spend their Disney Cruises. We looked at our itinerary and found a day that we would treat as a second day at sea. Going commando throughout Western Europe was not the most effective use of our time. We chose carefully what we would try to do when we got off the ship. We prepared ourselves that since members of our family ranged from ages 3-69, there would be things we would miss. We were prepared for all of this, but I don't think I fully appreciated how different this Disney Cruise would be from our previous six.

I think that the biggest difference in cruising the Caribbean compared to the Mediterranean is the ports themselves. For the most part in the Caribbean the ports are your destination. Sure if you are in Nassau you might have an excursion or hop a taxi to Atlantis, but you are there. Even if you just walk off the ship you can hit the Straw Market, or find one of 900 women who will braid your daughter's hair. In the Med the port is just the start. Monaco is (in theory) a 15 minute train ride from Villefranche, Rome is almost an hour and a half from Citvitavecchia! A lot of our time was spent on European public transportation going to and from the ship.

The attitude and culture of the region is also a big difference. Many of the places we visited were large metropolitan areas. "No worries mon!" was not something I heard when trying to circumnavigate Rome in search of the Trevii Fountain! Again, this was not unexpected, but as I look back on it, it did have a real effect on the vacation. There were also a lot more European cruisers on the ship. This should not have been a surprise to me, but it was. I guess I underestimated the international appeal of the Disney Cruise Line!

Another thing that a Disney Cruise vacation has when leaving from Florida compared to Barcelona is Walt Disney World! Something that we learned after our first two cruises was that is was too much to go straight of the ship to the drive home. With cruise #3 we began tacking on a day at Disney World, and soon it became a couple days pre-cruise followed by a couple days post-cruise! A few of our fellow Dis Board cruisers coming from the States visited Disneyland Paris during their vacation, but with school and work schedules we just couldn't afford the time. Unfortunately it would be back to Bucharest (and reality) the evening of the cruise. It is always a nicer transition when you can ween yourself off being pampered on the ship with a couple nights at Disney!

So eleven days off the ship those are my first thoughts. Coming up in the next several posts will be our port and ship experiences!

Another Disney Cruise Video

A couple of days ago I posted a video that I made of our first two Disney Cruises. Today I thought I would share the follow up video, Caribbean Castaways.

This is from a 4 Night Bahamian Cruise that we took in November of 2007.

Enjoy!

And for those of you counting...

20 Days until we board the Disney Magic!

17 Days until we leave for Barcelona!

Why Disney Cruises?

In my last post I told you that we had booked our summer vacation, a 7 night Disney Cruise (big surprise) in the Mediterranean. And while there was an unofficial countdown before it was official, the countdown is down to...

24 days until we board the Disney Magic

and...

21 days until we leave for three days in Barcelona pre-cruise

I'll share some of our Barcelona plans at a later time, and there will be more to come about the rest of the cruise as well, but I wanted to post a video for everyone.

Since this will be our 7th Disney Cruise, we get a lot of the question, "What makes a Disney Cruise so great that you would do it so often?" My answer is usually something along the lines of...

"It's a great family vacation."

or

"There's something for everyone."

or

"The kids love it."

or

"It is the one place I can completely relax."

You get the point, but those answers can be said of many different vacations, and they are really just words. There is a famous saying that someone that wasn't Walt Disney said, "A picture is worth a thousand words." And while I find that to be true, I have a follow up question...

How many words is a video montage of photos from our first two Disney Cruises worth?

Enjoy!

Disney Fantasy: New Information Released

Just a quick note today about the recent release of information about Disney's upcoming Fantasy cruise ship...

While it will share a lot of the same things as its sister ship the Dream, it will have some differences, much like the "classic" Disney ships, the Magic and the wonder. I am very happy to see that the Fantasy is not just going to be a carbon copy of the Dream, not that I thought it would be.

The Official Disney Parks Blog released information yesterday that told of some surprises at Animator's Palate, and the European theme for the adult entertainment district. It also shared that there will be a Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique on board, that will also double as a Pirate's League for pirate night festivities.

It is really nice to see some information on the new ship starting to trickle out. I was somewhat worried that the Fantasy might not get the attention it deserves since it is coming on line so close to the Dream. Disney cruisers had to wait 12 years for a new ship, now they barely have 12 months in between two new ones!

I'm looking forward to the Fantasy coming online. For some reason I have always looked forward to it a little more than the Dream... And if anybody in Disney Public Relations is reading this... I would be more than happy to help cover the maiden voyages! For the readers of course...

Here are some other articles related to the Fantasy...

WDWinfo Disney Cruise Line News

Travel on a Dream's Blog

Disney Character Dining: Where food takes a backseat to fun!

In today's Disney Parks Official Blog they gave tips on character dining at Walt Disney World. This inspired me to write about our family's favorite places to grab some food, and also some photos with some famous friends... Keep in mind that when I say "grab some food" it actually means that the adults end up eating cold food because they are taking pictures through out the entire meal, and the kids eat nothing because they are too excited to even sit in their chairs...

We have had the opportunity to enjoy several wonderful character meals with Disney. Some better than others, and one that we will never do again. But I will say that we have found these meals to be some of our best time spent at Disney World, and at sea. As always I'm not decisive enough to actually pick just one favorite, and it's my blog so I make the rules!

Chef Mickey's

Contemporary Resort

This is the character meal you want to reserve (as far out as possible) if

you want to see the big hitters. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto

are the characters that will be visiting your table. This is a buffet restaurant, so if you really try you might be able to get your moneys worth. we have done breakfast here three times, and it has never disappointed. There's just something to be said about eating a Mickey Waffle with Mickey at the table, and the Monorail zooming by overhead. Celebrating birthdays are fun here because the characters get the entire restaurant to swing their napkins like lassos while a special song plays over the sound system. One trip we were lucky enough to get a morning of reservation on the last day of our trip. It was a nice way to make an otherwise depressing morning great.

Cape May Cafe

Beach Club Resort

We love this character meal for a couple of reasons. The first being that it is at our favorite resort, Beach Club. Another reason is that it is a pretty easy reservation to get. On our last trip we arrived at the resort very early (around 7:00 am), and our room wasn't ready, so we walked over to Cape May to see if they had room for us and they did. We have always been able to get a reservation when we wanted one, even a couple weeks before our trip. The characters here are great, Minnie, Goofy and Donald, and it isn't as crazy as at Chef Mickey's. The characters tend to spend more time with your table here. This is also a buffet breakfast, and the food is pretty much the same as anywhere else at Disney for breakfast.

'Ohana

Polynesian Resort

This is our number one character meal at Walt Disney World. First of all it has our youngest daughter's favorite (and mine too) Stitch. In addition to the little blue guy, his pal Lilo is here, and Mickey as well! We have found the breakfast here to be a bit better than the buffets. Here your meal is served family style, so you get a huge platter of food to split between the entire group. They will bring you more of anything, or everything if you would like. They also have a special fruit juice that they serve here that is great! This meal is tougher to get, but if you are willing to eat a late lunch you might be in luck. I would still recommend getting your reservation pretty early though, this is a popular restaurant. The theme at the Polynesian is also a fun plus, and they hand out Hawaiian Leis to everyone, and you get your picture taken at a Tiki alter.

Special Character Breakfast Menu

Disney Cruise Line

This is our all time favorite character meal! On cruises of 7 nights or longer you will get to have a special character breakfast in the Parrot Cay restaurant (on the Magic and Wonder, specifics for the Fantasy have not been announced yet). This was our first character meal experience, and it spoiled us. Not only are you on a Disney Cruise ship, but you get so many characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale), and such great service! You order your breakfast off the menu, so it isn't a buffet, but they will bring you as much food as you want, and it's a cruise so go crazy! Another great thing about this experience is the service. On a Disney Cruise you have one wait staff that takes care of you in all the restaurants. By the time your character meal comes around they know you pretty well, and they know what you like. even at the best character meals at Walt Disney World I sometimes feel like they are rushing us out so they can turnover the table. On the ship I have never felt rushed by the staff at all. I can not recommend this highly enough! Just another reason to take a Disney Cruise.

There has only been one time when we tried a character meal that was not a breakfast, and it was the bad experience. We decided at the last minute to try and get a reservation for a character meal one morning. The only thing we could get was the Playhouse Disney character lunch at Hollywood and Vine at Hollywood Studios. It was just a bad experience. We had to ask our server to get one of the characters to come to our table, and the server just seemed like she couldn't be bothered at all. We expressed our disappointment with the manager on the way out, and he basically blew us off. Luckily this is the only bad experience we have had with any meal at Disney.

There are still several character meals that we are yet to experience. I have heard great things about Donald's safari Breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, and 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. Of course the one that eveyone wants is Cinderella's Royal Table inside the castle at the Magic Kingdom. We haven't been able to score a reservation for that yet. We never plan our trips 180 days out, so we have been closed out numerous times. Hopefully it will be in our future, and you can bet that you'll hear about it when it is!

Disney Cruise Line Announces New Ports and Itineraries

Last week was a big week for Disney Cruise fans. The long awaited itineraries for the second half of 2012 were announced for the Magic, Wonder, dream and Fantasy (entering service March 2012). There was a lot of discussion, argument, prediction prior to these announcements. Disney cruisers eagerly awaited in particular the news of where Disney's two classic ships, the Magic and Wonder would be docked next year. A lot of people were hoping for a lot a different places. Newspapers started leaking information, and there was very little surprise when the official announcement came out on Thursday April 7th. Here are the official itineraries, and my thoughts on what was announced. For exact dates and prices visit Disney Cruise Lines Official Website.

The Dream and The Fantasy stay in Port Canaveral:

This was the least surprising of all the announcements. The Dream will continue to do 3, 4 and 5 night Bahamian cruises, and the Fantasy - whose maiden voyage is set for March 31, 2012 - will do alternating 7 night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises. Nothing special here. The Dream continues to be very popular, and I would expect the same from the Fantasy when it goes into service next year. These are the newest ships in the Disney fleet, with the newest technology, and bookings are great among first time Disney cruisers and Castaway Club members alike.

The Wonder stays West:

This is where it starts to get interesting. The Wonder, who has been doing Mexican Riviera cruises out of Los Angeles, and will make its first trips to Alaska from Vancouver this summer, will stay put on the West Coast with a couple changes.

In the Summer of 2012 the Wonder will return to Alaska, but the cruises will depart from Seattle, Washington..

in September the Wonder will return to LA with 4 special West Coast itineraries that will include stops in San Fransisco, San Diego, and Ensenada, Mexico. Afterwards it will resume Mexican Riviera cruises.

The big news for the Wonder was the announcement of a special April 29th, 15 night Hawaii cruise! This was the dream itinerary for many Disney cruisers. A lot of people were reading the tea leaves for a couple years after the announcement of the Wonder moving to Los Angeles, and the construction of the Disney Vacation Club property in Hawaii, Aulani. This seems to be booking very well despite the high cost, and major time commitment. The prices start at $1800 per person, so just for fun I requested a quote for our family. For the five of us in a Category 4C stateroom (the lowest category that will fit all of us), the cost was over $14,000!

I have to say that I am somewhat interested in the West Coast cruises, and would love to do the Hawaii cruise, but the late April sail date just can't work for us. Hopefully this is a test run for DCL, and they may make it a more common itinerary in the future!

The Magic Leaves Europe:

The biggest news, and most anticipation came from the announcements of the new Magic itineraries for post April 2012. This was also my biggest disappointment (more on that later), but it is great news for some.

In May the Magic will begin sailing 8 night Bahama cruises and 5 night Canada cruises out of New York. In addition they will have 3 special 2 night "cruises to nowhere" or introductory, weekend cruises. The 8 night Bahamian cruises will include a stop at Port Canaveral to allow passengers a day at Walt Disney World. A 1 day Park Hopper ticket and transportation between the port and the park (about a one hour drive) will be included in your cruise fare. In addition the ship will stop in Nassau, The Bahamas, and there will also be a stop at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island (paradise) in the Bahamas.

The 5 night Canadian cruise will start in June of 2012, and will hit Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John, New Brunswick.

After the Magic finishes its time in the north east it will reposition to Galveston, Texas. Starting on September 22 the Magic will be making 7 night sailings to the Western Caribbean, making stops in Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Mexico and Cozumel, Mexico.

As I mentioned before the Magic announcement was a disappointment for me. I had thought (and heard) that Disney was planning on having an annual presence in Europe, and hearing that Disney would not be offering cruises in Europe in 2012 was surprising. My hope was that they would switch from Western Mediterranean cruises in 2010 and 2011, to Eastern Mediterranean in 2012. Since I will be living in Eastern Europe for the next two years, I was hoping to get to visit places like Venice, Turkey and Croatia my favorite way, on a Disney Cruise ship!

Besides my personal disappointment, I'm not sure that moving the Magic to New York and Texas makes the most sense. Sure, it extends your product to a new area, possibly opening it up to new people who would not travel to Florida to cruise, but I'm not exactly sure who that is. People from the New York and New Jersey area come down to Walt Disney World in droves. Many of them pair their Disney World vacation with a cruise. While not in as big of numbers, I'm sure the same can be said for Texans. Maybe Disney is trying to appeal to cruise fans, not just Disney fans who want to try a Disney Cruise... I think Lou Mongello on his WDW Radio podcast had the best opinion on it. He is of the opinion that these moves to new home ports are to re-invigorate interest in the older classic Disney ships.

The itineraries out of New York and Galveston are even more confusing to me. I have spent a lot of time on Disney message boards reading Disney cruiser wishes and opinions. there never seemed to be too much interest in Canadian cruises. I understand north easterners wanting their favorite cruise line to leave from their home, but Canada just doesn't stick with me. I actually like the 8 night Bahamas cruise itinerary, even though I have no interest in leaving out of New York for it. If I do another Bahamas cruise it will be on the Dream, to see the new ship. I would have liked to see a cruise to Bermuda from New York. That would have been something new. I do like the 2 night cruises. But that just isn't enough time to get a feel for a Disney Cruise.

The Galveston itineraries are especially hard to understand. Disney already has the Western Caribbean covered with the new Fantasy, and has been sailing there for years. Why have a second ship hitting the same ports from Galveston? Add to that the fact that they will not be visiting Castaway Cay, and I am stumped.

I think the big winner in these announcements is the Wonder. Overall I like the new itineraries on the west coast much better than anywhere else. I have always wanted to cruise to Alaska, and when I saw Disney was going there my interest became even higher. Leaving out of Seattle gives me a chance to visit some friends, and airfare is cheaper to Seattle compared to Vancouver. The special west coast cruises to San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada sounds really cool to me. The Hawaii itinerary sounds like 15 nights of heaven on Earth! I could take or leave a Mexican Riviera itinerary, but with family out west, we are thinking of doing this cruise at some point.

What are your thoughts on the new itineraries? Are you excited or disappointed? are you planning on trying any of the new cruises?

Exploring New Disney Frontiers

Sorry for the delay in a new post, but as some of you may know, we have recently made a little bit of a move... About a month and a half ago my wife and I packed up our 3 Dis Kids, all of our stuff, and moved to Bucharest, Romania! We will be here for the next two years while my wife works at the American Embassy.

With any move there are new things to learn and explore... Things like driving in a major foreign city, ordering unknown food in a foreign language, and feeling like your last minute on earth might be in this taxi! These are all fine and good, but this is a Disney blog! The real question is, how will this move affect my Disney vacation habit? Well there is good news, Disney is a world wide company, and there are opportunities to vacation with them all over Gad's Green Earth!

Since I am currently located in Europe, and this is MY blog, I'm going to write about what our family is doing to quench that constant thirst for "The Happiest Place on Earth." At this point in time we have several different Disney vacations in the works. Some are more concrete than others, but they have all been discussed, and are at different planning stages.

1) 7-Night Mediterranean Cruise aboard the Disney Magic: Summer 2010

Ever since we started sailing on Disney Cruise ships this has been my dream itinerary. We were very close to booking one last summer, but the dates just didn't work out. I'm not letting it slip through my fingers this year. My parents coming to Europe for the first time is the perfect excuse, and since inner Europe airfare is so cheap, a big part of the expense is lightened for us!

2) Disneyland Paris: Dates TBD

Last year we were Annual Pass holders at Walt Disney World for the first time. I fully plan on doing the same at Disneyland Paris sometime this year. DLP AP's are a great deal in comparison to WDW AP's, plus there are some really great benefits that go with them. Hotel discounts year round, extra magic hours, dining discounts, and discount tickets for guests are just some of the advantages! As I said before inner Europe airfare is pretty cheap, so we should be able to sneak away to the "City of Lights" for a few long weekends in the next 24 months. Heck, I might even let the kids see the Eiffel Tower!

3) Hong Kong Disneyland: ???

One of the best parts about being in the US Foreign Service is that you get to know and make friends with other people in the Foreign Service. In other words, you have friends all over the World! We are planning on visiting one of these friends in Hong Kong at some point in the next 2 years, and you can bet that we will have at least one day at Disney's most recently opened theme park!

So that's what we have planned Disney wise in the near (and not as near) future. Do any of you have plans to visit a Disney Park outside of the United States or your home country? If you could visit any Disney Theme Park in the world, which one would it be?