Lucky 17 friend-aversary Christmas Cruise and Disney! Dec 2017

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Christmas 2017 Epic 17th Friend-aversary Cruise and Disney Trip!!​

So I am starting this thread mainly so I don't drive my husband and bff nuts with my insanely overboard trip planning, and also to keep track of my plans for my own sanity! But if anyone would like to chime in with their ideas or advice that would be awesome too because I might be in over my head with this trip and also so I don't feel like I'm just talking to myself here lol.

To start I'll introduce the group for this trip. First there is me, Shayna, 30ish year old nurse from NC, lover of everything disney and harry potter, crafts, beaches, books, music, and thrift stores My husband, Tommy, is also 30ish, from NC, newly converted lover of disney (not so much harry potter...yet!), cars, music, and craft beer. We have been married 8 years, together forever before that...actually used to date back in 8th grade lol. We have 2 kids, Gabriel who just turned 15 and Chloe who will be 8 by the time of our trip. Gabriel loves music (playing/creating and listening), video games, and his very 1st girlfriend (awww??). Chloe loves music (musical family I guess!), princesses, 4wheeling with daddy, and swimming.

This is us on our Sept 2016 trip!

Also joining us is my best friend forever (seriously this is our 17th friendship anniversary trip...I'll explain...), Heather, who is also a nurse, lives here in NC and has the travel bug so bad...but not so much the disney bug. She will be bringing her 2 kids, Bayley who is 14 and Nala who is 8. So blessed to have her in my life and have our kids to grow up together

The whole gang on our June 2012 Trip for Gabriel's 10th Birthday!

So this trip originally started as a best friendship anniversary celebration. Heather has a thing with the number 17, and it is 2017, and our 17th friendship anniversary in November, so she decided we should do something big to celebrate and of course I agreed! Any excuse for vacation works for both of us lol, it doesn't take much. The only problem is we are both type A control freak super planners, so agreeing on a trip was a little tricky at first to say the least lol. Last big trip we did together was actually disney 5 years ago, and tho it was a good trip, we definitely werent always on the same page. Mainly because my disney obsession is like level 100 and hers is like level 3 haha.

Heather and I last Christmas

After some debate, we ended up deciding on a cruise. I have done one before and she has done 3, but it will be a new cruise line for both of us. We picked the MSC Divina leaving from Miami on Dec 16th and returning Dec 23. It will stop in Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, Nassau, and Cozumel. Luckily we got the last 2 inside cabins available, unluckily they are nowhere near each other on the ship :/ but we got an amazing price and an awesome itinerary! Picking excursions has proven a bit challenging as she has already been to 3 of 4 ports, and I have only been to nassau, and most of the stuff I want to do is stuff she has already done lol. But we are figuring it all out.

Chloe and Tommy dancing with a Dolphin on our 1st cruise in Feb 2013 for my birthday!

Of course it immediately crossed my mind that we would only be a few short hours from my favorite place on Earth, and somehow, someway I needed to make a pit stop at Disney a reality! After months of begging, pleading, and "nicely" insisting, I finally got Tommy to agree to brave the craziness that is Disney at Christmas with me! He really does love me I guess Ever since I was young I dreamed about waking up Christmas morning at Disney. So this is a huge bucket list thing for me! I know crowds will be insane and we won't get to do it all but just being there will be amazing. I cant get Heather on board (yet lol) but still working on it. So for now it's just us and our kids. We ended up booking Pop Century from Dec 23-26 with 2 day park hoppers and free dining upgraded to regular dining plan. It's not my usual 5-7 day marathon disney trip, but considering its following the cruise I'll take my 2 days happily! Our last trip was Sept 2016 and I really wasnt even expecting to get back down there til late 2018 or 2019. Oh, and the kids know about the cruise but Disney is going to be their big Christmas present surprise!

So that's my little intro...will post again with some basic plans I have so far and hopefully by next Monday I will have a definite plan for dining cause itll be my 180 mark!

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Discounts and Dining

Today I am trying to figure out my dining plans, and stay awake since I am going on about 4 hours of sleep! I work Mon-Fri in an immunization clinic and then PRN at an assisted living facility. Since I am a sucker for punishment, and since I had to somehow rationalize spending the extra $$ on a Disney trip after already doing a cruise, I made a deal with myself I would work PRN to cover the entire cost of Disney. My PRN job is going through some really bad staffing issues right now so I can easily pick up a full time week there if I want every week. Normally I only do 4-8 hours a week out there and sometimes not even every week, but this week I agreed to do about 40 hours (on top of my 40 at my regular job), which will put me at 12 days of work straight by next friday, with many double shifts The things we do for Disney money lol...Also this leaves me not much time to figure out what ADR's I want to try for since my ADR date is Monday! But on the bright side just this one week will have my trip almost entirely paid off and I still have 6 months to go, plenty of time to save up even more. I also coupon and use swagbucks and whatever other things I come up with to save a little here and there. The cruise has been paid off for a few months, so all that will be left after Disney is paid is to book excursions and put aside some money for gratuities, shopping, parking during the cruise, gas, and possibly a cheap hotel room for the 1st night driving to Miami.

Shirt I made for our last trip, "I work to support my Disney addiction" lol definitely the truth! I made my husband a matching one that said "I work to support my wife's Disney addiction" and he actually wore it! Lol. My nurse ears were borrowed from Heather, she used them for her nursing graduation Disney trip!

Also, speaking of covering the cost of the trip...I was able to get some pretty sweet deals on both the cruise and Disney. For the cruise, my husband and I both got the chase freedom card. It gives you $150 back when you spend $500 in 3 months, also get 1-5% rewards back on purchases, $25 back to add an authorized user, and $100 if you refer someone and they get the card. So for the cruise he got his card first, then referred me, and I got my card. We both added each other as an authorized user. That alone gave us $450 back in rewards, on top of all the points we have earned on purchases. I put half the cost of the cruise on each card and it is interest free for 15 months. Paid it off quickly with my PRN money and now we just use the cards for paying bills then immediately paying the balance. The cruise was very reasonable priced in the first place, it came out to around $1600 for all 4 of us for an 8 day cruise so I think that is a pretty good price considering you get to cruise to 4 ports and includes everything except alcohol and excursions. MSC lets kids under 11 cruise free, and my son was half price since he is under 18.

For Disney, we both got the Disney visa card. With this one you get a lot of disney related perks (percent off merch, tours, food etc; character meet and greets; early package booking for special offers; disney rewards back on purchases; 6 month interest free financing on disney trips, etc). Tommy got his first using a referral from someone to get a $200 disney gift card back when you spend $500 in the 1st 3 months and no annual fee. He sent me a referral so that will give him another $50 rewards. And then I will get the $200 gift card as well. Once we both add each other as authorized users for $50 rewards each, we will end up with $550 in gift cards plus whatever points we earn for spending between now and the trip! Plan on using this card to pay bills and whatever else we purchase, then pay balance immediately off to get to the $500 limit. I am kind of new to the credit card rewards thing but so far it has worked out great for us! The Disney visa card was kind of a bucket list thing for me too lol. Can't wait to have that pretty card in my wallet Such a nerd! If anyone has a trip planned and has decent credit and won't just max the card out and accrue interest (which defeats the purpose lol) I would definitely recommend these 2 cards (and would be glad to send a referral if you need one haha).

Anyways, as far as dining goes I booked the free dining deal and upgraded to the regular dining plan. So we will have 3 quick service meals, 3 table service meals, and 2 snacks per person per day. The main ADR I know I want for sure is BOG, it was our favorite meal last trip when we ate lunch there. My plan is to try for Christmas Eve while we are in MK and I would prefer to try dinner there this time but will take lunch or breakfast if I cant find dinner. Or if I decide to use the TS credit somewhere else, since lunch/breakfast is a QS credit, which I think is so cool. You get a much better QS experience there for your credit IMO. I also am pretty sure I want to try for 1900 park fare dinner for our arrival night. That was a meal we wanted to do last trip and ended up cutting to do the breakfast there instead. I really want to see the christmas decor at GF so it'd work out perfect to have dinner there too. If that is unavailable my back up plan is Chef Mickey's for that night. The 3rd TS credit I *think* I want to use to try to get the Rapunzel breakfast at Boardwalk, either Christmas morning, or the morning of the 26th for our departure breakfast. Chloe LOVES Rapunzel so this would be really cool for her. Some other meals I have considered and may use as back up plans if I cant get my top 3 is Akershus breakfast on Christmas morning, Tusker House lunch with RoL package, Liberty Tree Tavern for Christmas Eve dinner, Hollywood & Vine for Christmas Day dinner (since it is seasonal theme, might be cool), or somewhere else in Epcot on Christmas? I really need to get some finalized plans by Monday so I know what to look for when I am up bright and early to book our ADRs!

I mean you don't get service like this at any other QS meal! Loved it!!

Anyone know of anywhere else I should consider for a great Christmas meal? Other than repeating BOG, I am trying not to repeat anywhere we have dined before since I want to try out as much new stuff as I can. Previous trips some of the meals we had were Garden Grill dinner, Mama Melrose fantasmic package, Tusker House breakfast, 1900 park fare breakfast, Via Napoli lunch, T-rex lunch, 50s prime time lunch, Sci Fi dinner, Rainforest cafe dinner, Planet Hollywood lunch...I feel like I may be forgetting 1 or 2...I have a few ideas for our other QS meals also but will get to that in another post. For now its back to work!

 

[Elizabeth Smith]

So for now it's just us and our kids. We ended up booking Pop Century from Dec 23-26 with 2 day park hoppers and free dining upgraded to regular dining plan. It's not my usual 5-7 day marathon disney trip, but considering its following the cruise I'll take my 2 days happily!

What park(s) are you planning to do for those 2 days?

Sound like a great trip to me, even if Heather doesn't join you for Disney. I would personally love to do a cruise soon. I haven't been to the beach in over 15 years. I have no idea how a cruise even works, TBH. . .

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

What park(s) are you planning to do for those 2 days?

Sound like a great trip to me, even if Heather doesn't join you for Disney. I would personally love to do a cruise soon. I haven't been to the beach in over 15 years. I have no idea how a cruise even works, TBH. . .

Yea it will still be great even if she doesn't join us for disney. I know for sure christmas eve we are doing MK all day. Christmas day I'm debating what park. I definitely want to see the new pandora stuff so I'll probably make fastpass in AK for that in the morning, might try to hop over to epcot for the evening. I'm tempted to be really crazy and try to do a small amount in each park lol but I probably won't be able to get tommy on board for that idea. A lot will depend on what ADR I can get that day too.
If you ever get the chance to do a cruise you should! The other one we did was carnival. I think they are very reasonably priced for what you get.

 

[Lauren Loves Mickey]

I cannot wait to see your plans laid out! It sounds like you will have an AWESOME trip - both the cruise and the Disney excursion, even if Heather doesn't get on board with Disney World. Also... as a side note: Hello from NC! I am from NC as well. [: We'll be taking our first trip to the most magical place on Earth in November of this year.

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

I cannot wait to see your plans laid out! It sounds like you will have an AWESOME trip - both the cruise and the Disney excursion, even if Heather doesn't get on board with Disney World. Also... as a side note: Hello from NC! I am from NC as well. [: We'll be taking our first trip to the most magical place on Earth in November of this year.

Thanks! It's a small world lol, what part of NC are you from? I am near Ft Bragg! Are you driving when you go on your trip? We have always driven, I don't think the drive to Disney is too horrible, about 8 hours from me. But I am not looking forward to the drive to Miami, that is about 12 hours. We most likely will drive halfway and stay in a hotel on the way there. Hope you have an amazing trip too The first trip is so exciting, well they all are lol but especially the first one! This will be my 4th trip and the rest of my family will be their 3rd trip.

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Update-added some pics and finished my 2nd post! And speaking of discounts and deals, I got this awesome deal today...not sure how long itll be available but I thought it was pretty great.

So both of these were on sale at walmart.com, originally were like $100/each. On sale for about half off, then if you pick up in store you get an additional like $15/each off. So my total for both came to $88! And I went thru ebates where I will get 10% back, also used my credit card which gets 1% back, and signed up for shopsmarter which supposedly will give me $10 back but have never used it before so not sure how/if it works...You sign up for a 1 week trial and you get $10 back, but I immediately cancelled the renewal so I don't get charged after 1 week if I forget about it. Either way after ebates and my credit card I will pay $70some for both, and if the shopsmarter works, then $60some! I need good luggage and I always wanted some cute disney luggage, this will be perfect for our trip. Has great reviews too!

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Basic Itinerary and Trip Info
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So before I get much further into my rambling, I thought I should make a post with the basics-trip info and itinerary outline. Here is our plan so far...will probably change multiple times throughout the next 6 months, but its a start! If anyone has any suggestions or has done any of these ports before, please let me know! We are very open to ideas

Day 1 December 15th- Prior to adding Disney on, I was going to work half a day this day and then get an early start down to Miami. However, now that I am adding an additional day off to the end of the trip, I will probably work my normal hours until 330-430pm and then we will hit the road that evening. Which is ok, because we are likely going to get a hotel somewhere halfway there so we don't have to do the entire drive in 1 day. Google says it is a 10 hour drive, but with stopping and stuff I am sure it'll be more like 11-12 hours. It looks like Jacksonville area is about halfway, so if we stopped there we would probably get there before midnight and check out early the next morning to drive the 2nd half. Anyone know of any cheap, clean, basic hotels in that area? Also wouldn't mind driving a little further than that possibly maybe to Daytona Beach area so we have less of a drive in the AM. Initially we were all going to try to cram into Heather's 3rd row seating SUV but we decided that probably wasn't the best idea if we wanted to keep our sanity on the trip lol. Plus now that we are staying at Disney after, we really need separate vehicles. So we will just follow each other there!

Day 2 December 16th- Hoping to arrive to Miami around lunch time so we can get checked in on the ship and grab lunch there. We will board the MSC Divina and departure time is 7pm! It looks like a beautiful ship, I can't wait to see it in person. Once we board we will probably just explore the ship, eat, and relax. No big plans this day other than getting there! Here are some pics of the ship. I cant wait to check out the infinity pool <3 One thing I still need to figure out is parking situation, not sure if we will park at the port or look for somewhere cheaper.

Day 3 December 17th-Our 1st official cruise day! This is a day at sea with no ports, so we will probably spend it lounging, eating, and drinking by the pool. I have heard MSC has some pretty good entertainment and shows, which I am sure we will check out as well. Also heard they have the best pizza at sea and amazing gelato! I will report back once I verify One of my favorite things about a cruise is the food...there is...sooooo...much...food! Also they offer a Master Chef Jr kids cooking class that we are really looking forward to taking Chloe and Nala to, as they both love the show!

Day 4 December 18th- Today we arrive in Ocho Rios, Jamaica! We will be in port from 1030am-5pm. This is the one port Heather hasn't been to yet, so she is looking forward to it the most! I really wanted to do a Bob Marley tour (big fan of his music) but I read some reviews online that sound like it might not be the most appropriate tour to bring kids on lol so we will have to make an adults only trip back someday for that one. I am almost sure we will end up picking a Dunn River Falls excursion. It looks beautiful and sounds like a good way to explore the scenery without just sitting on a beach all day, not that I don't love that too! But I want to see more than just the beach. You get to climb a huge waterfall basically. Some other ideas we have come up with are the Blue Hole excursion (a big beautiful blue swimming hole) or Green Grotto caves tour. Also looking forward to trying some legit Jamaican Jerk chicken!

This is Dunn River Falls, isn't it beautiful?!

Another gorgeous option, Irie Blue Hole

Green Grotto Caves, I think this would be so cool

Day 5 December 19th- Today we will arrive George Town, Grand Cayman! We will be there from 9am-4pm and this port is one we might end up splitting up for the excursion. I am 100% sure I want to do Stingray City and Starfish Beach snorkeling because last time Heather was here she posted pics and it looked so amazing. But, since she has done it before she might do something else with her kids. Either way I am sure we will both have a great day! Tommy isn't sold on the stingray part, he has a little bit of a fear of being in open water with aquatic life lol. When we did the snorkel pool in Typhoon Lagoon we went together, I took my time swimming thru and looking at everything. When I looked up not even 1/4 way thru the pool, Tommy was paddling as fast as he could to the end haha. I was like uhhh you are suppose to take your time and look. He said it freaked him out too much. So....he said he will give stingray city a try but he may end up sitting on the boat a little more than the rest of us. If I had it entirely my way (and the kids were old enough) we would go scuba diving! That's been a lifelong dream of mine. Anyways, I think this will end up being one of my favorite ports, everything I have read about it sounds awesome!

Isn't that so cool!


Tommy is a lot cooler with the starfish idea haha

The excursion Heather booked on her trip, they got to ride jet skis to starfish beach/stingray city. That one is a little pricier but we might splurge and do it cause it looked so fun!

Day 6 December 20th- This day we will arrive in Cozumel, Mexico at 10am and stay until 6pm. Heather said this was her favorite port from her last cruise. I think it will be one of mine too! Her pics were gorgeous from her trip. I am super excited about food here, Mexican food is some of mine and Tommy's favorite food. So when Heather was there, they went to some beach day type place that she said was really cheap (I think its called Paradise Beach) and then just wandered around the area to the shops and stuff. She said she wouldn't mind doing that again, so we may go with that. Tommy wants to do an ATV or jeep tour, which sounds really cool too. I found one that includes ATV tour, snorkeling, and lunch. I think if it is in the budget we will probably go with an ATV tour! and Heather said she is fine with that too so we will likely stick together for this one either way.

Picture Heather took on her cruise in Paradise Beach

awww Nala looked like she enjoyed it

Atv tour option

Day 7 December 21st- This day we will be at sea all day! I am sure we will need the rest after all those ports back to back. I think this is the day they will do a formal dinner (as well as the 1st day at sea) so we will most likely go to that. I'm excited to get all dressed up!

Day 8 December 22nd- Today will be our Nassau, Bahamas stop from 12pm-6pm. This is the port we are all least excited. I have been once, we had fun because we did a swim with the dolphin excursion but otherwise wasn't super impressed with the port. Heather has been 2-3 times and isn't too interested in it either other than going to Atlantis but with the limited time and the huge expense, neither of us wants to do that on this trip. We may end up walking to Junkanoo Beach and just finding a spot to relax, or just walking around port area then heading back to the ship. Small chance we will go back to Blue Lagoon Island (we have both been before) and do their beach day pacakge, but probably will not do a big excursion here.

Heathers kids on one of the Bahamas stops

Picture from Blue Lagoon from our trip

Maybe I just wasn't as impressed with the port because the day we were there it happened to be very overcast and chilly Hoping for better weather this trip

Day 9 December 23rd- This day we will return to Miami and start to depart the ship at 7am! As soon as we get back to the car we will head to Disney. I haven't decided how to surprise the kids yet. Possibly will wrap up the magic bands, mickey ears, and a disney gift card for each to spend and have them open them when we wake up in the cruise room this morning. Also thought about leaving them in the car for them to find after we get off the ship. Tommy wants to tell them we are just getting a hotel at Disney to sleep in on the way home and have a nice dinner there, but we cant stay to go to the parks or anything. Then on Christmas Eve morning, tell them "santa" came and brought magic bands for them to stay 2 more days. But I don't think they will fall for the "we are at Disney, but not going to Disney" thing. So I have to figure this part out still. Either way, my plan once we get to Disney is to resort hop and check out all the Christmas decor at the deluxe resorts. Also have a nice sit down meal hopefully at 1900 Park Fare and then get rest for our 1st park day!

I want to see this!

and this!

Day 10 December 24th- This day will be spent entirely in MK. I still have to do a touring plan for the day, but basically we are going to fastpass the stuff we REALLY want (probably any of the "mountains" especially BTMRR since it was closed last trip, maybe the parade-do you need to FP this for a good spot on Christmas Eve?, maybe 7DMT) and then try to fit in whatever else we can do, and just relax and enjoy the scenery. Like I said in previous post I would really like to eat at BOG at some point on this day. The thing I am most looking forward to is seeing the castle with all the lights (lifelong dream come true!) and seeing the fireworks at night. Always my favorite part of MK.

And I REALLY want to see this. I will bawl. Makes me teary eyed just looking at it haha


It is just so magical looking <3

Day 11 December 25th- This is the most unplanned of our days so far. I really don't know what park we will end up in. A lot will be decided by what ADRs I can get. Tommy is kind of digging the idea of trying to do the other 3 parks in this 1 day with me. We could get to Hollywood Studios at RD, ride ToT (all of our favorite ride!), maybe 1 or 2 other things...then have brunch somewhere...make early afternoon FP for AK pandora area and 1-2 other things...then head to Epcot for evening to watch Illuminations and maybe get on Soarin'? I dont know yet but I am liking this plan so far the most.


Day 12 December 26th- This will be the saddest day because our crazy amazing Christmas vacation will be over We will get up and eat and then hit the road for the long drive back to NC and back to reality ::sigh::

Well...now that I have typed all that out I feel like there is still a lot to plan haha. And it is going to be a really long AMAZING trip!! I can not wait! 176 more days and counting

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

ADR Day Success!
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I made it thru my crazy long weekend of work, somehow, and managed to wake up at 530 Monday morning so I could get ready for work and have time to book my ADRs at 6am. I ended up working 16 hours on Sunday also, so I didn't get off until 11pm and I was exhausted. Today is Tuesday and I still am trying to catch up on sleep. But on the bright side I pretty much got our trip paid off in 1 weekend so I guess it was worth it. Anyways, I was really nervous I wasn't going to get any ADRs I wanted since it is the holiday and all, but I ended up getting everything I wanted except Be Our Guest dinner. I was able to get a breakfast and lunch there though, so if I don't wind up with a dinner thats ok. I signed up for alerts for reservation finder, maybe I will get lucky sometime between now and the trip. I also booked a few back up ADRs in case plans get changed around a little, I try not to hoard ADRs cause I hate when other people do that but it was only a couple and I will cancel what I end up not using soon so someone else can get them.

Here's what I got!

December 23- 1900 Park Fare dinner. Yayyy! Definitely keeping this one. Can't wait to see GF all decked out for Christmas and do some resort hopping

December 24-Be Our Guest breakfast and lunch (probably should cancel one or the other, it'd be kinda silly to eat there twice in 1 day right?), Liberty Tree Tavern dinner (may also cancel cause I think I will use my TS credits up at other places). If I somehow get a BoG dinner it would be for this day.

December 25-Akershus Breakfast (I wanted dinner or lunch but was all booked), or Hollywood & Vine dinner. I can only do 1 or the other unless I want to pay OOP for one. Torn what to do on this day. Originally I was thinking rope drop Hollywood Studios, hang out until around lunch, hop to Animal Kingdom where I will have fastpasses booked, eat lunch there, hang out until around dinner, hop to Epcot and have dinner there, watch Illuminations. But these ADRs are the exact opposite of that. So now I have a few alternate plans..Plan #1 Rope drop Epcot, ride Soarin and whatever else we can do there, eat at Akershus breakfast, hop over to Hollywood studios around lunch and at least ride ToT and whatever else we can fit, then hop to Animal Kingdom around dinner, use fastpass for Pandora/EE and watch RoL show. Plan #2 Same as plan 1 except to AK around lunch (with fastpass still), then hop to HS for evening and watch fantasmic. Plan #3 Rope drop AK and do Pandora, hop over to Epcot around lunch and do Soarin/whatever else, hop over to Hollywood Studios for H&V dinner and fantasmic (use FP there). Plan #4 just do 2 parks and either do AK for 1st half day/Hollywood Studios for 2nd half or do Epcot for 1st half day/AK for 2nd half. Or some other combination of something else. This day is gonna give me a hard time I can see! Any suggestions? Akershus sounds cool cause princesses, but we did CRT last trip and I know its kinda similar to that. H&V also sounds fun since they do the seasonal dinner and all the characters would be christmas-y but I haven't read great things about the food. Is fantasmic show any different on Christmas day than the normal? What would you do for your Christmas day meal, Akershus breakfast or H&V dinner?

December 26- Trattoria Al Forno breakfast (Rapunzel meal yay) before we leave! Definitely keeping this one.

So overall I am very happy with what I got!