10 Night, 10th Anniversary Vacation Begins/Ends at Walt Disney World! PTR June 2017 - Updated 6/4

[AAshleySEG]

It has been quite a while since I had the chance to plan such a long Disney vacation. It has been over a year since our fun back to back cruises on the Disney Magic and since then we have had little to no Disney World park time at all. We went to Iceland for our anniversary back in 2015,

and then this year we had so much going on we were unable to go anywhere. We had a cruise planned for our anniversary and then a lot happened with one of our fur babies that it was postponed to a further date, so it is very exciting for me to get started planning this 10th Anniversary Vacation!!

First off, let me introduce ourselves if you have never read one of our trip reports or pre-trip reports before! We are Jeremy and Andrea, long time Disney fans, DVC Members, Disney Cruisers, Dog Lovers, World Travelers, Foodies, and pretty much all of our lives together have been complemented with different Disney experiences.

We were engaged at Walt Disney World resort in 2006,

honeymooned to Disneyland in 2007,

became DVC members in 2009, traveled to Disneyland Paris in 2010,

took our first Disney Cruise to Alaska in 2012 for our 5th Anniversary,
First time at Castaway Cay later in 2012, Back to Back 7 Night Cruises on the Disney Magic in 2015,

as well as maybe 4 trips per year to Walt Disney World in between everything else! If you can't tell, we love Disney.

I absolutely love writing trip reports. It is one of my favorite ways to relax while on vacation (journaling) and reliving all of our experiences when we get home, and also I get to meet new friends and learn new things about the place we love so much!

So with all of that in mind we have come to now! Next year in June is our 10th Wedding Anniversary. The last time we spent over a week at Walt Disney World was the trip on which we got engaged. We spent 9 nights at Pop Century resort back in 2005 and it is finally time for us to spend more than that there. So at the moment we are planning on spending 10 Nights at the Walt Disney World Resort in 2017. I can't wait to get started planning everything, budgeting, making reservations, counting down, all of the great things that make Disney trips extra special!

So if you want to join me on this planning adventure, and then once it is over continue on to the Trip Report portion, I would LOVE to have you! If you want to know more about my trip reporting style, feel free to pop over to some of my other PTR and TRs, there are quite a few and so next post we will begin the planning process!! I am so looking forward to it!! So let the Countdown Begin!


Table of Contents
Our Wishlist
Evolving Itinerary
Mini-TR Cruise Announcement!
Mini-PTR for my Birthday Cruise on the Disney Dream
Resort #1 Booked!
Resort #2 Booked!
Updated Itinerary as of 3/11/17
Beach Club Resort? Mini-Road Trip? Florida Keys?
Itinerary Days 1-5
Itinerary Days 6-11
Disney Springs Day Date!
Small Trip Update!
A Few New Quick Service Options to Consider!
20 Days To Go Update!
Added 2 More ADRs!!
Final Trip Budget Sheet!
Weather Permitting!​

 

[AAshleySEG]

We just decided we wanted to do this vacation like two days ago ya'll. So when we thought about it we each made a short list of a few restaurants we wanted to go to, or things we may want to do and so I made the very earliest stage preliminary itinerary. This WILL change probably over 100 times between now and then, especially when I can reserve a room, make dining reservations, fastpass selections and everything else. I do like to try and get a head start on planning so it doesn't creep up on me and we have nothing planned.

I am one of those people who like to have plans whether we do them or not. Jeremy and I are both very indecisive people, so if we don't have at least guidelines, it can take us hours trying to decide where we want to go or what we want to eat. The good thing about having a plan for us is that if there is something else we realize we want to do in the moment to be spontaneous we can totally do that instead of whatever else we have planned. We are very easy going when it comes to that sort of thing, we are always flexible when it comes to plans because at Disney World, nothing usually works out exactly as you expect it is going to. It could be pouring down rain on the day you plan to go to the Water Park, you could have waited over an hour in a line and the ride shuts down, it could be sunny outside, and the next minute you are in a downpour and can't find anywhere to stand out of the rain. So, for now this is what we have got so far with restaurants and stuff we want to do.​

​

Our resort choices are listed out from first choice to last choice, at the moment this is what we have decided on.

1. Grand Floridian
2. Beach Club (Neither of us have ever stayed here)
3. Wilderness Lodge (Jeremy has never stayed here)
4. Kidani Village/Jambo House
5. Polynesian
6. Bay Lake
7. Saratoga Springs
8. Old Key West
9. Boardwalk

So hopefully we will be able to get at least one of the top 5. We have only been able to get a room twice at Grand Floridian, and they were only one night stays each time, we love this resort so much we would love to be able to stay there for longer than just the one day. Next would be Beach Club, neither of us have ever stayed here, and so we have heard great things about this resort from lots of people, especially about the pool area, so we think it would be great to get this option as well! I have stayed at Wilderness Lodge on a few different occasions, but Jeremy has never, so it would be really fun if he was able to stay there for the first time! Kidani is our number one go to resort, we absolutely love Animal Kingdom Lodge, we love the restaurants, the pool area, the feel of the resort, the only downside of it is how far away it is from a lot of the things we are wanting to do, so the bus and/or driving back and forth would take a lot of time out of our days. The Poly is a cool resort, we have stayed at the actual resort and the villas both and we really enjoy staying there especially with Kona Cafe and then Pina Colavas! Bay Lake is another cool resort, the reason it is so low on the list is because we stayed there for two nights back in April and we like to try different resorts out. Saratoga is the resort we usually end up in on most vacations because they tend to be last minute vacations, and Saratoga is the only resort with availability. It is also a great resort to stay in though especially with the redesigned walkway to Disney Springs! Our least favorite resorts to stay in are Old Key West and Boardwalk and so those are the lowest on the list, but if that is all that we can get we will still be happy!

As far as restaurants go, we made a list of table service that we wanted to make sure and hit, so basically we are going to spread these out over the 10 days, as well as add some favorites in from the past for the additional meals we may be missing. I also will eventually add in some quick service places for reference that we can go to. But for now, here is the list of restaurants to work into the schedule.

1. Jungle Navigation Co., Ltd. Skipper Canteen
2. Kona Cafe (for Breakfast)
3. Morimoto Asia
4. Narcoossee's (Brunch and Dinner)
5. Shula's
6. Jiko
7. Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show
8. Garden View Tea Room (Afternoon Tea)
9. Tiffins
10. Victoria & Albert's (Queen Victoria Room)

Hopefully we should be able to work all of these into the schedule. There are definitely others that we love but these are pretty much the must do list for this vacation. Also, we want to make sure to do V&A on our Anniversary night, most all of the others can be changed around to fit the schedule of parks and things like that. So, the next thing on the agenda is to pretty much work out all of the details as in which park we may want to try and go to on which day, or rest days, or any other activities we may want to do, but I think I will leave that for another post! So thanks for reading, and Have a Magical Day!

 

[Gondingl]

Congrats on the wedding anniversary! I'm so jealous of your Disney travels!! I'm going to throw a vote in for Beach Club - we are staying there this October! Being able to walk to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios makes it so easy to come back and enjoy the pool!

But then again, being able to stay at the Grand has always been a dream of mine... Can't wait to follow along in your planning!

 

[Teetah]

Welcome back! Hope the pup is ok! Congrats on your upcoming anniversary! Our 10 year anniversary is next May, but we are doing a couple of weeks in Europe late summer as a celebration. Your initial list is great and I always enjoy watching others' trips come together. Can't wait to follow along!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Congrats on the wedding anniversary! I'm so jealous of your Disney travels!! I'm going to throw a vote in for Beach Club - we are staying there this October! Being able to walk to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios makes it so easy to come back and enjoy the pool!

But then again, being able to stay at the Grand has always been a dream of mine... Can't wait to follow along in your planning!

Thank you so much! We hear such great things about the Beach Club, but every time we try and book it there are no rooms available. I think the only other thing at play really is the fact that we live at the beach, so it would also maybe seem more at home, but it is still definitely one of our top choices we are going to try and get! I hope you have a great time in October!! That is coming up so soon!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Welcome back! Hope the pup is ok! Congrats on your upcoming anniversary! Our 10 year anniversary is next May, but we are doing a couple of weeks in Europe late summer as a celebration. Your initial list is great and I always enjoy watching others' trips come together. Can't wait to follow along!

Thank you! It is great to be back again! Saghani is doing alright at the moment, I will probably go into more detail in one of the posts but she had to have two major surgeries and at the moment just finished up 2 rounds of chemo. She is doing well though, we are trying to make her a happy as possible! A few weeks in Europe, awesome!! I know that will be great! Do you already have a plan together of where you are going? Hopefully our vacation will come together well, I love the planning aspect so much!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Evolving Itinerary
(Will change when Park Hours/EMH are released and/or reservations can be made
Park Hours should be released toward November, Dining Reservations sometime in December, Resort reservation sometime in November as well)
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• Day 1 - Resort Arrival, dinner at the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen at Magic Kingdom

• Day 2 - Breakfast at Kona Cafe, EPCOT, La Nouba, Dinner at Morimoto Asia

• Day 3 - Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios

• Day 4 - Magic Behind Steam Trains Tour, Brunch at Narcoossee's, Either Golf at Disney's Oak Trail or Miniature Golf Tournament at Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland, Dinner at Jiko

• Day 5 - Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon, Dinner at Shula's

• Day 6 - Open Day: Relax by the pool, go to Disney Springs, Bowling at Splitsville, Dinner at the Spirit of Aloha Show

• Day 7 - Animal Kingdom, Backstage Tales Tour, Dinner at Tiffins

• Day 8 - Floridian Express Tour, Magic Kingdom, Afternoon Tea at the Garden View Tea Room

• Day 9 - Dinner at Victoria & Albert's Queen Victoria Room

• Day 10 - Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon, Dinner at Narcoossee's

• Day 11 - Head for Home

We are going to have Platinum Premium Annual Passes which means we can go to all parks, water parks, golf, and included will be the Memory Maker which I love. That is going to be very helpful for getting photos of the two of us instead of just one or the other, or the always interesting stretched out arm holding camera to try and get a good double selfie. Also, we are going to be getting the Tables in Wonderland Card which will give us 20% off at most of the restaurants on our list.

My mom is coming in town for Labor Day Weekend starting today, so I won't have as much time to keep planning as I would like, but when she leaves I can get right back into it. There is also a Tropical Depression/Storm potential Hurricane thing headed in our direction, so we will more than likely be rained in. So hopefully everyone else has a great Labor Day and I will be back soon with some more plans!

 

[Teetah]

Thank you! It is great to be back again! Saghani is doing alright at the moment, I will probably go into more detail in one of the posts but she had to have two major surgeries and at the moment just finished up 2 rounds of chemo. She is doing well though, we are trying to make her a happy as possible! A few weeks in Europe, awesome!! I know that will be great! Do you already have a plan together of where you are going? Hopefully our vacation will come together well, I love the planning aspect so much!!

Oh...that precious baby! Poor thing! I am so sorry to hear that! Hopefully she is on the upswing. That is so hard to deal with.

We are currently planning on spending one week in Ireland (I have quite a bit of family history there) then the second week we are currently considering the UK and Scotland. Then next European trip can be focused on everything inland. Neither of us have been to Europe so this should be interesting, lol.

Your preliminary plans are already looking great! I love doing tours, so I am excited to hear about those! Plus I always enjoy hearing about your V&A experiences! That one is on my list for the next time Tim joins me.

Have you ever stayed at/considered YC? We LOVED it and had access to Stormalong Bay. And less little people around... I would LOVE to stay at GF or Poly next trip, tho!

Have a great holiday weekend with your parental!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Oh...that precious baby! Poor thing! I am so sorry to hear that! Hopefully she is on the upswing. That is so hard to deal with.

We are currently planning on spending one week in Ireland (I have quite a bit of family history there) then the second week we are currently considering the UK and Scotland. Then next European trip can be focused on everything inland. Neither of us have been to Europe so this should be interesting, lol.

Your preliminary plans are already looking great! I love doing tours, so I am excited to hear about those! Plus I always enjoy hearing about your V&A experiences! That one is on my list for the next time Tim joins me.

Have you ever stayed at/considered YC? We LOVED it and had access to Stormalong Bay. And less little people around... I would LOVE to stay at GF or Poly next trip, tho!

Have a great holiday weekend with your parental!

That sounds like a blast! I would be totally interested in hearing about it. The only places we have been in Europe have been Germany, France, and Iceland. We definitely want to get over to the islands though! I know you guys will have a great time!

I think you guys would really like V&A considering how much you like food like we do! We have not been in quite a while so we are excited to go again.

The only reason we have not stayed at the Yacht Club is because it is not a DVC resort, but I absolutely love the look of that resort and the quietness of it. It has tons of charm and hopefully one day we will get to stay there. Grand Floridian is an amazing resort, the Polynesian used to be my favorite until I stayed there, it is definitely one you should add to your list to stay at!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Happy Monday Everyone! If you live in the US, hope you are having a great Labor Day! So for the moment, the plans for this trip are playing the waiting game until we can either come up with more ideas or be able to Book a Resort, which won't be until November I think? So, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about a trip we are taking very soon! It is a pretty short one, but I still expect it to be fun and relaxing!

So back in May of this year, we had booked a 5-Night Disney Cruise out of Miami, The day before we were supposed to leave, our eldest dog Saghani got very sick, we took her to the vet and she ended up needing emergency surgery. So we stayed at the ER Vet all night long and by the time she was ready to be picked up the next day, we didn't have enough time to make the cruise, but most importantly we didn't want to leave her. As of today, all of her tumor/cancerous mass has been removed, but unfortunately it had already spread into her lymph system. As of now, she has also undergone two rounds of chemo and is doing ok. We are trying to keep her as happy as we can, she gets to go to the beach, and do her favorite thing, go on car rides! So with all of that in mind, we rescheduled the cruise until October for my birthday!

Next month, we are driving down to Disney's Vero Beach Resort, staying one night, then getting on the Disney Dream for a 3-night Halloween on the High Seas Cruise!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is one of my favorite things to do at Magic Kingdom. When we changed the date over to October around my birthday, the dates for these hadn't even been released. So as luck would have it we get to go on one! Jeremy's favorite holiday is Halloween so it is sort of a win-win situation all around. I thought maybe inside this PTR, you guys would get a little TR action! I can't wait to get back to Castaway Cay! It is so much fun, I love that island. I am also super stoked that this will be our 5th Disney Cruise which means after completing this one we will be Gold Castaway Club members!! If you have never been on a Disney cruise I would highly recommend them, we have never had a bad time, well really we have only ever had one bad Disney experience. So in just a little over a month, I will tell you all about our cruise!

Have you guys ever been on a Disney Cruise?? If you would like to read more about the other cruises we have been on, the link to my Disney Alaskan Cruise TR and the link for our Back to Back Western Caribbean Cruises is in my signature!!
Have a Magical Day!​

 

[Teetah]

I have never been on a Disney cruise, but we both really want to do that eventually! There is a lady that Tim works with that is a bit older than us - she and her husband only go on Disney cruises during off season. They are always highly recommending them. I had no idea they had Halloween ones - that is awesome! You should definitely do a mini TR for it!!!!! Maybe even a mini PTR!

Haha - I am in that mode right now where I am living thru everyone else while waiting!

Also awesome to become a Gold Castaway Club member! What sort of special perks come along with that?

I felt so bad for you guys and Saghani. It is so hard to watch them suffer. But, it sounds like you guys are doing everything you possibly can! And I am sure he is LOVING it!

 

[AAshleySEG]

I have never been on a Disney cruise, but we both really want to do that eventually! There is a lady that Tim works with that is a bit older than us - she and her husband only go on Disney cruises during off season. They are always highly recommending them. I had no idea they had Halloween ones - that is awesome! You should definitely do a mini TR for it!!!!! Maybe even a mini PTR!

Haha - I am in that mode right now where I am living thru everyone else while waiting!

Also awesome to become a Gold Castaway Club member! What sort of special perks come along with that?

I felt so bad for you guys and Saghani. It is so hard to watch them suffer. But, it sounds like you guys are doing everything you possibly can! And I am sure he is LOVING it!

I think you guys would love Disney cruises! Everyone always asks us, why do you go on Disney cruises without kids. But we have such a blast on them, you get the fantastic Disney service and all of the perks with the characters, and amazing ships. The Castaway Cay...oh man, it is such a fantastic place! I think we have been on cruises in April, June, August, and October. So all over the calendar year and anytime is a great time to go! Oh and they have Very Merrytime Cruises too around the holiday season! I am very interested in the Halloween one, I think it is going to be a lot of fun!! So if you would like me to do a PTR/TR I definitely will!

Isn't it the best to read other Trip Reports! If it is possible to get us even more excited to go on our trip it is reading about someone else's trip and their plans! I have missed the DIS so much!

With Gold Castaway Club you get to book excursions and dinner and spa stuff 105 days out instead of 90 with the Silver, you get a Castaway Club reception with the crew, and special shopping opportunities! I have quite a while to wait but I can't wait to be Platinum! Then, you get to book stuff 120 days out, check in as concierge and get priority boarding, a complimentary dinner at Palo and all sorts of special perks! You get Platinum after you have completed 10 cruises!

Saghani is our little trooper, she is 10 years old and we got her while we were engaged, so she is a huge part of our lives. It is pretty hard having to see her go through this but hopefully we are doing everything we can to make her happy and comfortable!

 

[Teetah]

I think you guys would love Disney cruises! Everyone always asks us, why do you go on Disney cruises without kids. But we have such a blast on them, you get the fantastic Disney service and all of the perks with the characters, and amazing ships. The Castaway Cay...oh man, it is such a fantastic place! I think we have been on cruises in April, June, August, and October. So all over the calendar year and anytime is a great time to go! Oh and they have Very Merrytime Cruises too around the holiday season! I am very interested in the Halloween one, I think it is going to be a lot of fun!! So if you would like me to do a PTR/TR I definitely will!

Isn't it the best to read other Trip Reports! If it is possible to get us even more excited to go on our trip it is reading about someone else's trip and their plans! I have missed the DIS so much!

With Gold Castaway Club you get to book excursions and dinner and spa stuff 105 days out instead of 90 with the Silver, you get a Castaway Club reception with the crew, and special shopping opportunities! I have quite a while to wait but I can't wait to be Platinum! Then, you get to book stuff 120 days out, check in as concierge and get priority boarding, a complimentary dinner at Palo and all sorts of special perks! You get Platinum after you have completed 10 cruises!

Saghani is our little trooper, she is 10 years old and we got her while we were engaged, so she is a huge part of our lives. It is pretty hard having to see her go through this but hopefully we are doing everything we can to make her happy and comfortable!

That is all awesome info - thank you!!!!

Keep us updated on Saghani!

If you want to do a PTR/TR - I will definitely read and participate!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

It is always a happy day when you receive Mickey Mail! What form of Mickey Mail did I get recently you ask?? We got our Cruise Documents!

I was more excited than normal for two reasons, one it had a special Halloween on the High Seas Cover Jacket! Two, it had that we were Castaway Club Silver members on the front as well! This will be our 5th Disney Cruise, so the next one we go on, we will be Gold Castaway Club Members! So today I wanted to share with you some of the plans we have for our upcoming cruise for my birthday!

Andrea's Birthday Weekend Cruise Plans!

Thursday - Day One

This morning we are planning on leaving at about 7:00-7:30, grab maybe some coffee at Port City Java and then make our way down I-95 headed toward Florida. If you have read any of my TRs before, you will know that we usually stop one of two places for lunch. Normally we would stop at Pickled Palate right outside of Charleston, but it wouldn't be open at the time we would arrive there. So we are going to be stopping at the second option Panera Bread right outside of Savannah in Pooler. We chose this specific one for a reason actually. One of my favorite little places to stop for dessert is Smallcakes. There are tons of them around, however, not very many on the way to Vero Beach. The two that are the easiest to stop by are in Georgia. We had the option of going to the one in St Simons Island to get my birthday cupcake, or the one in Savannah. So we are just going to kill two birds with one stone and eat lunch and get cupcakes in Savannah before continuing the drive. If you have never had Smallcakes, I highly recommend them, there aren't really any flavors that I haven't enjoyed. My favorites are the Birthday Cake Cupcake and the Lemon Poppy Cupcake!

Depending on what time it is when we make it to Vero will depend on whether we check in to the hotel first, or go to dinner. So for the night we are staying at Disney's Vero Beach Resort with our DVC points and are staying in an Ocean View Room in the Inn! We have never been to Vero Beach before, so we are looking forward to seeing this resort, even though there is a ton of renovation going on there at the moment, and the fact that we will only be there for such a short time.

If you know me, you know we love food, so I like to try and research good places to go eat when we are in new places. So I used Yelp to try and find something low key for dinner, I didn't want to dress up or go anywhere fancy, just a good place that had lots of options. So I found a place called Squid Lips in Sebastian, FL. It is only a few miles away from the resort and they have a huge menu, and the location looks great too, so hopefully that will work out and you will hear all about it!

After dinner, we may just walk on the beach, or enjoy the view from the room, or who knows. This trip is all about relaxation, I didn't want to have to get up too early any day, or have too many plans. It still may seem like I have a lot of plans, but believe me, this trip is low key compared to my other ones!

Friday - Day Two (Port Canaveral)

This morning we are planning on getting up, taking our time and then finally checking out of Vero Beach to start the drive up to Port Canaveral. On the way I found a place for breakfast in Cocoa Beach called Simply Delicious Cafe & Bakery. That link will take you to their Yelp page, and seriously if that stuffed French Toast doesn't look amazing, I can't wait to try it! I am still debating on which type of fillings I want for mine. Jeremy is already set on Nutella and Banana stuffed French Toast. So many options, but it looks great and seems like a perfect place to eat breakfast that morning. It is only about 9 miles to the port from there.

This will be the first time we use the Parking Garage at the port, it is such a short cruise that I didn't want to bother with anything else and went with convenience for once. So we are going to park our car, grab our bags and check in at the terminal. I picked a later check in time toward when the rooms would be ready. That way we could just go in drop our bags off in the room and then head up to get some food. At least I think we can get food, I hope that the buffet would not be closed by that time. I know that eventually they will before the Drill.

After the drill this is where the relaxation part is going to start to kick in. Every cruise we have been on we maximized the amount of things we could do on the ship, we went to all the shows, we went to every dinner, to the sail away party, to the farewell party. This time we are planning on not doing any of that. We want to relax by the pool, or in the spa, or by reading a book on the promenade deck while sitting on the teak loungers. We are even planning on doing the buffet for our meals. Also, even though we are not going to any of the rotational dining we are still going to be tipping all of the servers. These wonderful people rely on the tips of their guests for their livelihoods, it isn't their fault that we are going elsewhere for dinner, so we wanted to make sure they still get the money that they deserve.

Saturday - Day Three (Nassau)

I have been to Nassau before and that was way back when on a Carnival Cruise for my graduation. We have been to the port of Nassau on a Disney Cruise before, but we didn't get off the ship. Jeremy has never set actual foot on Nassau, so this time we decided to to a little tour just so he could say he has actually been there instead of theoretically. So we are planning on doing the Ardastra Gardens and City Tour.

Take a bus to the paradise of Ardasta Gardens, where you'll see many exotic species and take tour of Nassau.

On this adventure you will...
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• Take a 15-minute narrated drive in an air-conditioned bus to Ardastra Gardens, located just outside Nassau's city centre. Along the way, see the House of Parliament, Supreme Court and other historical buildings. Continue on towards Government House and the Graycliff Restaurant and Hotel. The hotel is rich in history, having housed such guests as the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor, various lords and ladies and Sir Winston Churchill.

• Spend approximately 105 minutes exploring the 4.5 acres of lush tropical gardens with over 200 birds, reptiles and mammals. The Ardastra Gardens is home to a collection of endangered land animals and features the Bahamas' national bird, the beautiful and exotic Caribbean Flamingo. Here you will participate in the Flamingo Experience, a unique show that combines a display of these graceful animals and a narration of their history in the Bahamas.
• You will also hand-feed colorful and playful South Pacific Lory Parrots and have numerous photographic opportunities with Toby the Cockatoo, Jackie the Snake and Freddy the Peacock. While walking the Gardens, staff will answer questions while two-legged feathered friends will freely entertain.
• Enjoy an approximate 45-minute narrated tour around the city of Nassau. Along your tour, pass such places as Arawak Cay, where Guests will have a perfect opportunity to take photographs of the natural beauty of the Bahamas, the Pompey Museum, Nassau's Straw Market and Rawson Square.
• After completing your tour, it is just a short 10-minute walk back to the ship.

We really enjoy little city tours and I like any type of animals and gardens, so we thought this would be the perfect little excursion for us. Normally I would plan something on my own instead of an excursion, but like I said, I wanted someone else to take care of all of that stuff this time and just enjoy the trip. After the tour we need to buy a magnet for our collection and then we will head back to the ship for the night to see what awaits us!

Sunday - Day Four (Castaway Cay)

There are only a few rules for us when we do Castaway Cay, and pretty much they are the same every time.
1. Get off the ship as soon as we are allowed.
2. Take the shuttle to Serenity Bay
3. Swim, Relax, Swim, Relax, Swim, Relax, Swim, Relax

In between all of those of course I need to reapply sunscreen constantly to prevent burning. Also, somewhere in there we are going to eat lunch. We absolutely love Castaway Cay, and the first cruise we went on was a Double Dip, so we were able to experience everything that the island had to offer on that trip, we even had a cabana on one of the days, we have done the snorkeling, the bike riding, the shopping, the eating, the Pelican Plunge too. Our favorite thing to do though, is just relax and spend a full day at Serenity Bay! So this part, we are really looking forward to.

Final Thoughts

So of course we will be checking out some of the Halloween festivities happening on the ship and as always, all or none of this stuff we have planned could change. We have taken enough trips to know that not everything always works out exactly as you plan it, but it is almost always better to have a plan with anything Disney related. If we don't we would end up wasting a lot of our time debating on where we should go eat, a few weeks ago actually Jeremy and I sat here trying to figure out something to eat for dinner for 3 hours. Seriously, we are really bad at making quick decisions.

Monday - Drive Home

This one is self-explanatory and always a sad day. Although I love my doggies and am always looking forward to getting home to see them! So a little under a month and this little trip will get started, then once we get back, more planning for the main event, our 10th Anniversary Vacation next year!


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[Teetah]

Your mini-PTR sounds amazing!!!

We do not have Smallcakes up here the north. At least, not that I have seen. I will have to keep it on my radar!

I love that you are always on the hunt for new places to eat. We do the same thing. Unless we are in a hurry, we really enjoy checking out new restaurants!

Out of all the cruises we have done, we have never been to Nassau. Kind of crazy! I like your tour choice!

Castaway Cay sounds so great! We do a music cruise every other year now, so I don't know if we will get a Disney one in any time soon. Maybe when we do our Alaska cruise one year, we will book a Disney one!

YES FOR RELAXATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AAshleySEG]

Your mini-PTR sounds amazing!!!

We do not have Smallcakes up here the north. At least, not that I have seen. I will have to keep it on my radar!

I love that you are always on the hunt for new places to eat. We do the same thing. Unless we are in a hurry, we really enjoy checking out new restaurants!

Out of all the cruises we have done, we have never been to Nassau. Kind of crazy! I like your tour choice!

Castaway Cay sounds so great! We do a music cruise every other year now, so I don't know if we will get a Disney one in any time soon. Maybe when we do our Alaska cruise one year, we will book a Disney one!

YES FOR RELAXATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next time you are at Disney, there are a few Smallcakes not too far from there, one in Winter Park and another one pretty close too! Those cupcakes are so awesome!

OMG, our Disney cruise to Alaska was the very first one we did. It was so fantastic, I think that was the very first TR I ever wrote as well! It was so much fun for it to be our first trip to Alaska and our first Disney cruise all wrapped up into one! I think you guys would have a blast on it!

Yeah normally Disney and Relaxation don't really fit into the same sentence we us, we are so go go go all the time while we are down there! But Castaway Cay and a Disney Cruise are the perfect combo for relaxing, and oh my goodness if you get a day pass to the spa on board, it is so awesome! Heated Tile Loungers, Saunas and Different Rain Shower experiences...totally worth that too!!

 

[Teetah]

Next time you are at Disney, there are a few Smallcakes not too far from there, one in Winter Park and another one pretty close too! Those cupcakes are so awesome!

OMG, our Disney cruise to Alaska was the very first one we did. It was so fantastic, I think that was the very first TR I ever wrote as well! It was so much fun for it to be our first trip to Alaska and our first Disney cruise all wrapped up into one! I think you guys would have a blast on it!

Yeah normally Disney and Relaxation don't really fit into the same sentence we us, we are so go go go all the time while we are down there! But Castaway Cay and a Disney Cruise are the perfect combo for relaxing, and oh my goodness if you get a day pass to the spa on board, it is so awesome! Heated Tile Loungers, Saunas and Different Rain Shower experiences...totally worth that too!!

Good to know on Smallcakes! We will be out and about the Sunday we are there, so I may work that in! I FINALLY got our PTR started!

I really think that I might have to put Alaska on the agenda for 2018. It would be between that idea and 2 weeks driving the entire West Coast!

OMG...that spa day sounds so delightful....

 

[AAshleySEG]

Resort #1 Update!

Hey everybody, wanted to update you all on our first resort. We decided to stay 5 nights at two different resorts instead of all 10 at one. So our day finally came where I could book the first half with DVC and for the first portion of our vacation we are going to be staying at the Polynesian Villas!

We have stayed at the Poly before for an anniversary, and that was before they opened the villas. Then, we have stayed one night in the villas at the Poly before our cruises back in 2015. So this time we are going to get to stay in the resort for 5 nights which is great, we will have some more time to explore and potentially use the pool and eat at the restaurants and everything like that! So we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to get the Grand Floridian for the last 5 nights, which will include our anniversary night. So I will check back in with you guys when I book the next part!! Then, the countdown to dining reservations begins!​

 

[ArielSRL]

Joining in! I need to go back and read but my family will be at Disney 6/3-6/11 at Boulder Ridge Villas at WL and we will be celebrating our 7th Anniversary (a little early....6/26). Going back to read now!

 

[ArielSRL]

All caught up now. I live in GA...metro Atlanta...but I have never heard of smallcakes. Something to check out one day.

Where do you guys live? Sounds like you are seasoned vets! I have gone to Disney 15 times in 43 years, so not as many as some but definitely more than others. I have always wanted to own DVC but it just never panned out. My littles are still young (5 & 2) so we may still buy in, but for now, I have learned the trick of renting points! My last two trips were with my parents and we stayed at SSR. This trip will be my hubby's first in about 35 years!

Congrats on getting the Poly and good luck with GF. Your trip will overlap with ours a few days. As far as planning, you sound a lot like me. Personally, I think the planning is half the fun! So it serves the purpose of both organizing my thoughts and passing the time! Love your ADR wish list and hope it all works out!

Looking forward to more!