Travel Plans for December 2018

I am so excited for December 2018 to roll around!!!

I've always wanted to go to Disney World and go on a Disney Cruise around the holidays. My man is making that happen! The Fall sailing dates for Disney Cruises posted on May 18, 2017. Sean called in to fulfill our placeholder reservation that we reserved when we were on the Disney Magic.

HE SURPRISED ME BY BOOKING CONCIERGE! I was NOT expecting that at all! It was on my Disney Bucket List to fulfill and I can't believe we're going to do it next year.

So what do you get with sailing concierge on a Disney Cruise?

• Larger stateroom
• Refrigerator stocked with beverages
• Toiletries from the spa
• Robe and slippers
• Private welcome reception
• Smoother embarkation - you can arrive at your own leisure and be the first guests that board the ship. Your room is also ready by 12:30 pm.
• Ability to book on-board activities and excursions 120 days before the sale date. This includes the ability to book a Cabana at Castaway Cay (which are often at times difficult to get)!
• Concierge team to take care of practically everything - We are so used to booking everything on our own! This will feel weird, maybe even refreshing that someone else will take care of everything?
• Exclusive access to dedicated areas of the ship - Concierge Lounge and Sun Deck
• Smoother debarkation

We've always felt well taken care of and treated like royalty on our sailings, but from everything I've researched everyone comments that the service is taken to a whole different level. How is that even possible?! I guess we'll find out for sure in a year and a half!

I'm guessing that the experience will be like how I feel about Castaway Cay. I always had an amazing time at Castaway Cay and the thought of spending so much money on a cabana seemed absurd. Then we booked a cabana and our experience was on an entirely different level.

My happy mail!

We are sailing on the Disney Fantasy. The Disney Fantasy was actually the first ship we ever sailed on back in November 2013. We sailed newest to oldest (Fantasy --> Dream --> Wonder --> Magic). We didn't really know what we were doing the first time we sailed and now we feel like we are pros. We're really excited to sail on the ship that started our love for cruising!

We're doing a 7 Night Very Merrytime Western Caribbean Cruise and will depart from Port Canaveral. I'm pretty excited to see Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Falmouth since we've never been there before.

Here are some pictures of a concierge stateroom on the Disney Fantasy that are from the Disney Cruise website:

The color scheme is completely different from regular stateroom! I can't wait to see it in person.

Our current plan is to arrive a week before our cruise so we can go to all of the theme parks. The fun part of being a Disney Vacation Club member is choosing where to stay! So far we've stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge (at both Kidani Village and Jambo House), the BoardWalk, and Wilderness Lodge. I loved them all and I wouldn't mind staying at any of them again, but we're on a quest to try as many resorts as we can. We're going to aim for Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort! It's within walking distance to Magic Kingdom and I believe it's on the monorail route so we can easily get to Epcot from there. Our back ups are Grand Floridian or the Polynesian.

We've also decided to stay a few nights after our cruise. We're going to try to stay at Saratoga Springs. We thought it would be perfect since it's within walking distance to Disney Springs for last minute shopping.

I know December 2018 seems so far away, but I also know that time flies! Plus it gives us plenty of time to save up for it. :)