Disney Dream floats out!!!

The Disney dream has floated out and is now undergoing sea trials. Can't wait till next year!
http://www.wdwnews.com/ViewVideo.aspx?videoid=115827&siteid=1

Downtown Disney Is Expanding

The Downtown Disney in Orlando will have dramatic changes to it over the next few years....including an expanded Lego Store (My two boys will love this) Read about it here

http://www.wdwnews.com/viewpressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=115933&siteid=1

Another First for Disney - Sailing to Alaska in 2011

Disney Just announced that they will be sailing to Alaska in 2011. If you have been on 5 Disney Cruises you can book as early as Sept. 21, 2009 with everyone else being able to book a week later. There is more to come on this.

Also, the Wonder is moving it's home to Los Angeles and when not sailing to Alaska it will sail to the Mexican Riviera.

The Magic will return once again to Europe the summer of 2011 with the remainder of the time sailing from Port Canaveral to the Caribbean.

Another Disney First for those on Late Dining

Disney tries to please everyone and here is another reason to prove it:

New Option: Dine and Play
Here's a great new offering for families assigned to second dining! The Dine and Play program allows children to get their meals quicker and adults to check-in a child for Youth Activities without leaving the dining room.
Knowing about this new option may help you overcome objections or save a sale when main dining is no longer available.
Dine and Play
Available on both the Disney Magic® and Disney Wonder® Cruise Ship.
Offered during second dining in any of the main dining rooms - Animator’s Palate, Lumieres, Tritons and Parrot Cay.
Open to children ages 3-12.
Here's how it works: Your Client arrives in the dining room and informs the server that their child would like to participate in Dine and Play. The dining room team brings the child's meal first while serving the adults at a more leisurely pace.
About 45 minutes after seating begins, Youth Activities Counselors arrive in the dining room and sign in the child to their respective groups in Disney's Oceaneer Club or Disney's Oceaneer Lab, eliminating the need for your Client to escort the child to Deck 5.
Adults are then able to enjoy the full dining experience with the knowledge that their child is having a great time in a safe, fun and comfortable environment.
Remember to tell your Clients about this new option when discussing all of the great dining opportunities onboard a Disney Cruise!

Helpful tips that apply to all Disney Cruises

My boys are now 8 and 10 and love to go up and grab pizza, soda or ice cream at anytime. After 7 Disney Cruises my 10 year old knows the ship very well and can tell me how to get somewhere from any place on the ship.  He is also at the age that Disney gives the parents the option to let their kid check themselves out of the club if they are ready to go. But only allow this if the parents let the cast member in the club know. They will send you a page, on the pager you are given upon registration, to let you know that the child has signed themselves out and where the are going.

  My 8 year old loves to go out and get pizza and ice cream but he does not remember if he went left or right and has a tendency to get turned around. Therefore on our last trip we taught the boys how to use the house phones that are located in most elevator hallways. This came in handy a few times with my 8 year old, but was great because it was easy for us to ask him what floor he was at and find him very quick.

  This can also be a little game. They will sometimes just go down the hall for the fun of calling us in the room. We allowed this a time or two and then told them to only do it if they were lost. We did not want them to get in trouble.

  Funny story.  I took my husband on a 3 night in December for his 40th birthday, his choice!!

The boys had been calling the room and so when the phone rang, my husband, thinking it was the boys, answered the phone " This is the Captain".  The person on the other side was not my boys, but room service checking to see if our food was good. We all had a great laugh!

Recommended Gratuities on Disney Cruise

Here is the recommended gratuities for the Disney Cruise.  Keep in mind that Disney (And pretty much every other cruise line) only provides the crew room and board only. So what they get as gratuities is their only income.  They work 12-16 hour days with several different jobs at times so you may see Peter Pan waiting tables (But don't call them out since they will deny it especially in front of the kids)  They work 6 months on the ship at a time with very little down time and send their money back to the family in countries all over the world.  Keep this in mind while tipping.

It is customary to give gratuities in recognition of service, which you will most likely be treated to in abundance aboard the ship. As a guideline, may we suggest the following:

Per Guest per cruise	3-Night	4-Night	7-Night
Dining Room Server	$12.00	$16.00	$28.00
Dining Room Asst. Server	$9.00	$12.00	$21.00
Dining Room Head Server	$3.00	$4.00	$7.00
Stateroom Host/Hostess	$12.00	$16.00	$28.00
Dining Manager	Your Discretion
Room Service	Your Discretion
Palo	Gratuity included
Vista Spa & Salon	Your Discretion
Babysitting	Gratuity not expected
Shore Excursions	Optional; not included in shore excursion price.

For your convenience, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine and deck service tabs. All gratuities can be charged to your room charge.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise

We went to the Eastern Carib. sailing last Feb. We got off the ship and took the 5 minute water taxi to the main area. When we went to St. Marteen we walked and used the beach at the port near the ship and rented sea doo's right there. All the shopping was within walking distance as well.

When we were at St. Thomas we rented a car and per local advise went to Coki Beach.  Here the locals rent you a chair for $5.00 and gave us little dog biscuits to take out in the ocean and hold. The fish just come all around and makes for great snorkeling. Renting the car with insurance was pricey to me around $80.00. But this allowed us to ride around this beautiful island and stop whenever we saw something we liked.  The kids were hungry after the beach and we even stopped at a grocery store for cheese doodles and across the street was a local bakery that my mother in law got a pastry and a coke cheap. At the end of the day we had the car to take the the great shopping area to end the day.

Here is a site that tells about the beaches at St. Thomas http://www.vinow.com/stthomas/beaches_stt/index.php

     Palo is worth every penny!!! We just stayed and ate too much, with my brother and sister in law because it is such a nice time without the kids at the table.

Let me know if I can help any more and I will try to see if I can find out anything else. We just got back from the Grand Caymen and Cozumel itinerary and before I left I just did a google search and read ton's of reviews to decide what to do.

     We have never done a organized excursion for two reason's. 1- the prices are high and 2- we like to explore and typically we find out what out the excursion is and then do it on our own to save the high price tag.

Here is a sample Navigator from the Eastern Sailing