We are in the final count down! The bags are packed. We’ve been watching the weather forecast and looking forward to warmer temperatures. Facebook friends have been reporting soft openings of the New Fantasyland. All we need to do is get through one more day of work and then we are off to Disney World and the Disney Fantasy!!
We have been planning this trip for the last two years. Two years ago we decided we wanted to do a group cruise around Halloween, going to the Eastern Caribbean, on Disney of course! As soon as the dates were available to book, our date was set and the planning began. Now it is just three full days away, it almost seems unreal! People have been telling me that they wish they were going on the cruise. Others wonder what we are doing. We will be posting some updates and hopefully a blog or two from the cruise, but wanted to give you an idea of what we will be doing.
Friday night, we will be having an informal gathering outside at the Boardwalk. We’re hoping to see Illuminations without having to need tickets. Then it’s off to bed to get ready for our bus ride to the port in the morning! Yes, we have a bus coming to take many of us to Port Canaveral. The excitement on the bus will be monumental when we see the Disney Fantasy for the first time as I am the only one who has been on the Fantasy.
Once onboard, we will have various meets in Europa, for trivia, at the pool, you name it! We also have planned a ship tour, scavenger hunt, private beverage tastings, cabin tours, Twilight Fan meet, gift bags, mini golf tournament, a special 5k for Running for Rescues, and the ever popular AskTracy meet! We could have done so many other things but we want to focus on what Disney has to offer its guests.
In St Maarten, we have a large group going on a private tour with Bernard’s Tours. I’m sure there will be some great stories there! We will be going on the 12 Metre Regatta. This will be a first for us! In St. Thomas, we have a private sail and snorkel excursion.
As part of this cruise, we wanted to do some fundraising to help an organization. We chose Running for Rescues (RfR), a non-profit animal rescue organization. This started because RfR asked me to do a 5k on their behalf. I decided I would do the 5k on Castaway Cay. I started fundraising and convinced a few others to join me on the 5k. We had a t-shirt design made and formed a team with a common goal. To date we have 28 people walking or running with us! This didn’t seem good enough to me though. I proposed that Travel On A Dream secure the private dining rooms at both Palo and Remy adult restaurants. ToaD would pay for the dinners and our guests would bid to be in the room. To date all contributions as a result of this fundraising effort (including the amounts raised by our individual 5k participants) is nearly $3,000!! For you to contribute to our fundraiser, CLICK HERE.
Most of our cruisers haven’t been on a cruise longer than 4 nights so this will be very special for them all. We feel that Disney does a fantastic job entertaining guests of all ages. We want to be sure to showcase what they do best and leave our events to just taking advantage of Disney and experiencing all that we can.
For those that are not on this cruise with us, there is always another group! We have a sailing next April on the Oasis of the Seas and next September on the Disney Magic. Won’t you join us?
I will be on the April cruise most certainly, as I am one of the bitter ones staying shoreside.