Disney Cruise Line offers the top standard for family vacations and entertainment. This is an excellent vacation both for families traveling alone with friends or for a big group family or college/High school reunion. Adults can spend time alone relaxing in the adult only area and enjoying the spa while children play in the children's area learning to animate and participating in science experiments. Teens and tweens have their separate spaces on the ship to relax and mingle in supervised settings. Families can watch a Broadway show together and dine together or separately afterwards. There are night clubs for dancing and family lounges for Disney trivia and bingo. Watch a movie together in the family pool, take part in a shore excursion. this vacation has it all! Now you have more access than before with new ports of call around the country from New York City, Galveston, Texas, LA, Seattle and Florida. Contact me for quotes amandag@mei-travel.com. You can learn about the exciting new Cruise opportunities below.
New York Sailings
Beginning May 25, 2012, the Disney Magic® will sail a total of 20 cruises from New York.
8-night Bahamian cruises include a day at Disney’s Castaway Cay and a stop at Port Canaveral, gateway to the Walt Disney World® Resort. As part of this itinerary, your Client will receive a one-day Park Hopper® Ticket and roundtrip transportation between the ship and resort.
5-night Canadian/New England cruises will visit Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Saint John, New Brunswick.
2-night cruises are perfect for Clients looking for a quick getaway at sea over a weekend.
Seattle Sailings
Beginning May 28, 2012, the Disney Wonder® will sail a total of 14 cruises to Alaska from the Port of
Seattle, Wash.
7-night Alaskan cruises will call on Tracy Arm, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan plus Victoria, British Columbia.
Galveston Sailings
Beginning Sept. 22, 2012, the Disney Magic will sail 12 cruises from the Port of Galveston, Texas.
7-night Western Caribbean cruises will visit Costa Maya and Cozumel in Mexico, as well as Grand Cayman.
Los Angeles Sailings
In addition to 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises, the Disney Wonder will set sail on Disney’s first-ever voyage to Hawai‘i on April 29, 2012.
15-night Hawaiian cruise departs from the Port of Los Angeles and includes stops at Hilo; Kahului, Maui; Honolulu, Oahu; Nawiliwili, Kauai and Ensenada, Mexico.
7-night Pacific Coast cruises will call on San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico.
The Disney Dream™ will continue to sail 3-, 4- and 5-night Bahamian cruises. The new Disney Fantasy™ will offer Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries, beginning with the maiden voyage on March 31, 2012. Sail dates for both ships are now available through December 2012.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Magic on Main Street
In January, my whole family participated in Disney's Marathon weekend in Walt disney World. I am on Team All Ears a running team affiliated with the wonderful Disney informational website http://www.allearsnet.com/. We run with purpose raising money for the Avon Foundation for Breast Cancer and in two years we have raised $75,000.
My husband ran the 5k and tore his meniscus and was consequently on crutches cheering me on with the 4 kids. I ran the 1/2 marathon and was sore and tired after finishing on Saturday around 9:30am. We decided to head to the Magic Kingdom after the races and realized after getting off the monorail from the Polynesian that we were both dragging and sore. With 4 young excited kids, and no help, this can be cause for some concern in the Magic Kingdom on a beautiful and sunny day.
However, what I discovered that day was how much there is to do in the circle at beginning of Main Street USA. This is an area where most people enter the park and rush through to do the fast walking sprint down Main Street up to the castle and into one of the lands for the attractions. However, as we discovered that day, there are many different types of activities to keep a family busy before you even get a glimpse of the castle.
We started with lunch at Tony's Town Square restaurant located on the right hand side after you enter the park right next to the Town Square Exposition Hall. We were seated against the window and had a fantastic view of all of the guests coming into the parks. We also watched the characters meeting and greeting guests and we enjoyed a delicious and relaxing lunch. After lunch, we decided to go next door to the Chapeau' an adorable hat shop that connects with a sweets shop. The kids had gotten new Mickey Ears the day before from the Marathon Kid's Fest and we wanted to have their names embroidered on them They can have their names embroidered on ears here for a small fee. We dropped off the ears and browsed in the candy shop. They each selected an oversized colorful lollipop that they would never be allowed to eat at home. Hey, that is what Disney is all about though, the magic! A place where parents lose all sense of reason and let you eat lollipops bigger than your child's face!
With giant lollipops in hand, we decided to walk acrosss the circle to the fire station where a crowd was gathering. The firefighter had come out of his fire house and was chatting with guests and showing off his axe, his engine and answering all sorts of questions. He enteretained our kids and many others for about 30 minutes with tales and tours. We then noticed the Harmony Barbershop next door to the fire station. I popped my head in to ask how long the wait was for a haircut and they told us to come right in.
The Barbershop is small and charming. They offer a package for a child's first haircut complete with a certificate and Mickey ears and also offer haircuts for children of all ages. My son decided to get a haircut and was delighted when at the end, he was asked to select a colored gel to spike his hair with and then had his blue hair sprinkled with pixie dust. Upon seeing this, my two oldest girls decided they must have this done as well. The girls had their hair put into a ponytail and we watched as their hair was turned pink with pixie dust! This was a surprising and delightful treat, as we had only had this done before at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We were lucky to walk in, but they do also take advance reservations.
With fancy hair and sticky hands we left the barbershop at about 2:30pm and found a perfect viewing spot for the 3pm parade in front of the Christmas Tree with a fantastic view of the Castle. Cast Members came over to the kids handing out Toy Story Memory games to take home and then got the children up to plan with chalk, bubbles and hula hoops before the parade started. The parade was entertaining and exciting as it always is and the kids were delighted as several characters gave them high fives as they were passing by.
After the parade, we picked up our embroidered ears and headed back to our hotel for a relaxing pool break and dinner and capped off the evening by watching Wishes from the Polynesian Beach.
We spent an incredible afternoon in the Magic Kingdom without ever walking down Main Street or riding any rides. There is an abundance of magical and unique things to do in the Magic Kingdom. So, if you are sore after a race and don't have the energy to walk far, you can be assured that you can still enjoy a magical afternoon in the Magic Kingdom. Next time you are tempted to make that initial sprint down Main Street, stop and look around at the magic you may be missing!
My husband ran the 5k and tore his meniscus and was consequently on crutches cheering me on with the 4 kids. I ran the 1/2 marathon and was sore and tired after finishing on Saturday around 9:30am. We decided to head to the Magic Kingdom after the races and realized after getting off the monorail from the Polynesian that we were both dragging and sore. With 4 young excited kids, and no help, this can be cause for some concern in the Magic Kingdom on a beautiful and sunny day.
However, what I discovered that day was how much there is to do in the circle at beginning of Main Street USA. This is an area where most people enter the park and rush through to do the fast walking sprint down Main Street up to the castle and into one of the lands for the attractions. However, as we discovered that day, there are many different types of activities to keep a family busy before you even get a glimpse of the castle.
We started with lunch at Tony's Town Square restaurant located on the right hand side after you enter the park right next to the Town Square Exposition Hall. We were seated against the window and had a fantastic view of all of the guests coming into the parks. We also watched the characters meeting and greeting guests and we enjoyed a delicious and relaxing lunch. After lunch, we decided to go next door to the Chapeau' an adorable hat shop that connects with a sweets shop. The kids had gotten new Mickey Ears the day before from the Marathon Kid's Fest and we wanted to have their names embroidered on them They can have their names embroidered on ears here for a small fee. We dropped off the ears and browsed in the candy shop. They each selected an oversized colorful lollipop that they would never be allowed to eat at home. Hey, that is what Disney is all about though, the magic! A place where parents lose all sense of reason and let you eat lollipops bigger than your child's face!
With giant lollipops in hand, we decided to walk acrosss the circle to the fire station where a crowd was gathering. The firefighter had come out of his fire house and was chatting with guests and showing off his axe, his engine and answering all sorts of questions. He enteretained our kids and many others for about 30 minutes with tales and tours. We then noticed the Harmony Barbershop next door to the fire station. I popped my head in to ask how long the wait was for a haircut and they told us to come right in.
The Barbershop is small and charming. They offer a package for a child's first haircut complete with a certificate and Mickey ears and also offer haircuts for children of all ages. My son decided to get a haircut and was delighted when at the end, he was asked to select a colored gel to spike his hair with and then had his blue hair sprinkled with pixie dust. Upon seeing this, my two oldest girls decided they must have this done as well. The girls had their hair put into a ponytail and we watched as their hair was turned pink with pixie dust! This was a surprising and delightful treat, as we had only had this done before at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We were lucky to walk in, but they do also take advance reservations.
With fancy hair and sticky hands we left the barbershop at about 2:30pm and found a perfect viewing spot for the 3pm parade in front of the Christmas Tree with a fantastic view of the Castle. Cast Members came over to the kids handing out Toy Story Memory games to take home and then got the children up to plan with chalk, bubbles and hula hoops before the parade started. The parade was entertaining and exciting as it always is and the kids were delighted as several characters gave them high fives as they were passing by.
After the parade, we picked up our embroidered ears and headed back to our hotel for a relaxing pool break and dinner and capped off the evening by watching Wishes from the Polynesian Beach.
We spent an incredible afternoon in the Magic Kingdom without ever walking down Main Street or riding any rides. There is an abundance of magical and unique things to do in the Magic Kingdom. So, if you are sore after a race and don't have the energy to walk far, you can be assured that you can still enjoy a magical afternoon in the Magic Kingdom. Next time you are tempted to make that initial sprint down Main Street, stop and look around at the magic you may be missing!
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