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Re: We've booked the Fantasy April 2012

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:13 pm
by KeithS
Fantastic Anthony - I love making the final payment as it makes it feel that much more closer!

And 100 days is a quick countdown - that's all Della and I counted down for the Hong Kong trip.

You'll have to let us know a more detailed itinerary when it comes closer, so we can follow your travels vicariously.

-/

Re: We've booked the Fantasy April 2012

Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:13 pm
by ajp
Can you book shore excursions then too? Are you planning on doing any? Is your balcony cabin one of the family (ie sleeps five?) cabins?
We are silver members so I can start booking things including online checking at 90 days, which is the 15th. Gold can do it at 105 and first timers at 75. We're not planning on doing any this time. Aside from the Mayan ruins at Costa Maya nothing else interests us. But I may book a Palo brunch if I can find a decent time.

Our cabin is not the 5 person version, but on the last cruise we did on Magic we were upgraded to the 5 person cabin which was quite good.

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:22 am
by sandie
Hey NAthony did you catch my cheat for getting on Forbidden Journey with little to no wait?

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:58 am
by ajp
No I didn't. Can you give it again or link where it is and I'll read it.

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 2:26 pm
by sandie
Ok so you want to line up and go thru the whole castle at least once to see the queue - but when we went the wait was 2+ hours all day so we devised a plan.......

Before you can get in the line you have to line up for the lockers. remember this location. You exit the ride into a small shop. This shop can also be accessed from the outside. Go through the shop and into the locker room. People in the shop will think you are emptying your locker, exit the locker area into the ride queue area. People there will assume you just stuffed a locker. Directly across from heren is the single rider line. enter it - most people queue up to go thru the whole castle. Less than five minutes to boarding area.

we wentt on 4 or 5 times in a row - this was one time too many as motion sickness hit after that! :oops:

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:21 am
by ajp
I want to give my TA a big rap for the effort she is putting in for us so far. I wanted to use a TA from the states for this trip as I'd never done it before, so wanted to see if it added any value. I asked Sandie for a contact as I knew she had used a TA over there in the past, so I contacted her and got things organised (thanks Sandie).

Well so far I had thought that she had done things that we normally did and could do ourselves, so for a while I was questioning whether it was worthwhile in future. But we are now doing dining bookings, and whilst I did WDW on line (how fun is that! :D ), she has assisted me in such a way that I would never have expected or even asked for.

Jess (that's her name) has also booked the 3 broomsticks breakfast for us and has also recorded my already booked (fun) WDW bookings. But what she has done is taken on the managing of Emily's food allergies with the parks. I know that we can contact the restaurants in advance with the information, but she has done more. She has sourced some great information for us, and she will be contacting each of the venues and making sure the information is with them. I filled out the standard Disney form, and she has committed to ensuring that it is with the right people (her words, gave me confidence for sure). She has definitely gone out of her way to make sure that we can dine and know that Em's needs will also be catered for. There are some other little things she has done as well which has grown my confidence and even relaxed me a little.

I think it's these little things, that when we make arrangements from afar, can be a little harder to control and organise, so I'm starting to come around, and think that using a TA, and a Disney specialist TA at that, may be a good thing, and add value to the process. I have a little more to go, so I'll give an update when I'm finished, but if you're tossing up whether to do it yourself, or use a TA, give it serious thought. It doesn't cost anything extra, and it could give you peace of mind.

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:31 pm
by Mel
Thanks for posting your thoughts on this Anthony, I am thinking that we will use a US TA when we do our big trip. Did Jess do your cruise booking as well?

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:51 pm
by ajp
Yes she did. We even got a decent on board credit as well.

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:34 pm
by KeithS
Was it cheaper going through the TA (given the discounts they can arrange etc)? Or is it more of a peace of mind issue knowing that everything will be perfect with the TA booking - especially for specialty meal requirements etc (as opposed to an internet booking where peace of mind is something I never have - I always telephone hotels etc before I leave - just in case the order didn't get to them properly!)

I'm just interested given we are planning a similar trip to yours next year.

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 5:16 pm
by ajp
Interesting question Keith. Given the name of the company is called The Mouse or Less I expected it to be but it was exactly the same as booking direct with WDW. Ironically we got universal much cheaper than the website rate. I think the value add service like the meal bookings etc is the difference as I said. And the peace of mind as well.

Re: April 2012 Trip

Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:03 pm
by sandie
and not making any promises on Jess's behalf but we had quite a number of nice surprises that had been organised by her - it was way beyond what we expected.

tell her I said hi Anthony

Re: We've booked the Fantasy April 2012

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:54 am
by ajp
Well day 90 has come and gone. I logged in a little late, 2 mins past 4 (4pm is midnight wherever DCL is and that was when we could start to book). I was looking for Palo brunch or High tea - both booked out. Could not believe it and a little disappointed, but I am planning on there being many more opportunities 8) . I may book a massage, not sure yet. But I also logged in at 7pm, which is when the on line checkin opened, and I managed to score the 11am check in slot at the terminal, which is the first one. So we'll be getting to the port around 11 and getting on the ship as early as we can. That part I'm really happy with!

Re: We've booked the Fantasy April 2012

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:40 am
by KeithS
I was looking for Palo brunch or High tea - both booked out.
Wow - you have to be a mercenary to get those bookings! I wonder if there are other ways of getting in early - perhaps DVC or Club 33 members get priority or something like that? Colin will know whether DVC get preference. Or maybe if you've done over a certain number of trips with them, you get to book earlier.

Re: We've booked the Fantasy April 2012

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:10 am
by ajp
Keith, there is no preference as such on the cruises for "other" Disney memberships like DVC or Club 33 etc. The only way to get preference is to be a Gold or Platinum member of the Castaway Club (ie having cruised 5 or more times). We're classed as Silver (having cruised once before). The Gold and Platinum members are allowed to make their online bookings at 105 days out, and being a new ship the regulars will be out in force for the first few cruises, so I reckon this cruise is packed full of the higher members. Someone from this cruise has made a facebook page and someone on there said that they had heard from a Gold status member Palo was booked out by them, but also all of the Cabanas on Castaway Cay were booked out early as well. They are over $400 each for a bit of shelter on the beach! So if you want to do Palo or one of the more popular bookings, either do a low season cruise, or do many cruises. I like the second method :lol: .

Re: We've booked the Fantasy April 2012

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 12:21 pm
by sandie
We had no problem getting our Palo reservation but ended up needing to change it once on board otherwise we would have missed Animators Pallete - we had no trouble changing it - I think a heap of people cancelled once they got on board. It was almost empty the night we went