Currently wandering to....Alaska! Disney Wonder 5/21/18 7-day Cruise (COMPLETE)!!

[happy wanderer]

Hello! First time trip report here....I have been on the DIS boards since 2010 (our first trip to WDW as a family of three!) and have enjoyed so many amazing trip reports here that I finally decided to share a bit of our adventures! This trip includes leaving home (Pittsburgh, PA), traveling to and exploring Vancouver, our AMAZING 7-day cruise to Alaska on the Disney Wonder, and then an after cruise tour with Land Sea Adventures!

My name is Amanda, and I have been a Disney Person (yes, that deserves to be capitalized) since I can remember. I spent many a happy day at Disneyland with my grandparents (grew up on the west coast), and have visited WDW eight times (so far). We went on our first DCL cruise in November, 2017 (four night Very Merrytime cruise to the Bahamas) and look forward to seeing more of the world from the deck of a Disney ship!

My travel mates are my partner of nearly 20 years (Kevin) and our daughter (who prefers that I use just her first initial online... S). We enjoy traveling (have been to five countries and 24 US states together). We also are nuts for the US National Parks system and have a goal of seeing all of the parks (59!) in our lifetime.

I will begin this report with a heartfelt invitation (would love to have you follow along!), a warning (I can be a bit wordy!), and a few teasers (do we make our goal of getting all the NPS stamps that we planned on? do our non-Disney excursions go off without a hitch?).

Here we go!

 

[happy wanderer]

Day 0 (Saturday, May 19th, 2018): Preparing/Leaving Home

I woke up and could hardly believe the day was finally here! After years of planning, saving, hoping, and dreaming we were finally heading to Alaska! We spent the morning prepping the house for our absence, finalizing things for our beloved dogs (and turning things over to the pet nanny that would care for them during the trip), and packing up the car. Last minute checks for all necessary paperwork, final packed items, and we were on our way to an overnight stay at the Hyatt Pittsburgh Airport. On the way we stopped at a favorite burger place for dinner (Burgatory - Robinson) Our flight departed PGH very early the next morning, we decided to stay there and insure we would make our way to our flight with stress.



After walking around the shopping area in the terminal (we also took our brand new TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry cards for a spin) we decided to go to sleep early to prepare for an early wake-up and travel day.

 

[lovewdwfun]

Excited to hear more! We are going on this cruise May 20th next year!

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Following - we're on the May 20th sailing next year, too!

 

[JMommyof3]

So excited for this report. We go on our Alaskan Adventure in August and I'm so obsessed with reading all trip reports.

 

[happy wanderer]

Excited to hear more! We are going on this cruise May 20th next year!

It was a fantastic cruise. I wish I could do it all over again!

 

[happy wanderer]

Following - we're on the May 20th sailing next year, too!

Thanks for the comment! We loved the trip and hope to return to Alaska one day!

 

[happy wanderer]

So excited for this report. We go on our Alaskan Adventure in August and I'm so obsessed with reading all trip reports.

I understand! I read (and re-read) so many of the wonderful Alaska trip reports before we travelled!

 

[Mich123]

Following! Looking forward to your report! I'm also obsessed with the Alaska trip reports and currently worrying about the WEATHER as we leave in two and a half weeks...will it be cold? Just saw the Navigators for last week and it was 28 degrees in Skagway--eeks!

 

[princessmommyx3]

Following! Looking forward to your report! I'm also obsessed with the Alaska trip reports and currently worrying about the WEATHER as we leave in two and a half weeks...will it be cold? Just saw the Navigators for last week and it was 28 degrees in Skagway--eeks!

I was on the Alaska sailing last week and it was the Juneau day that the Navigator said high of 28, and thankfully it was wrong! It was in the 40's all 3 port days, with Skagway being sunny (and probably getting into the 50s), Juneau being drizzly and Ketchikan being very rainy. I hope you don't get as much rain as we did!

 

[Mich123]

Perhaps Disney was just managing expectations?! I’m hoping a few weeks will help!

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Excited to hear more! We are going on this cruise May 20th next year!

Following - we're on the May 20th sailing next year, too!

Us too! Can’t wait to follow along with the rest of your trip! We haven’t planned for a post cruise land portion yet so curious to hear how yours went!

 

[Shanti]

I was on the Alaska sailing last week and it was the Juneau day that the Navigator said high of 28, and thankfully it was wrong! It was in the 40's all 3 port days, with Skagway being sunny (and probably getting into the 50s), Juneau being drizzly and Ketchikan being very rainy. I hope you don't get as much rain as we did!

We're going next week and the forecast isn't encouraging.

 

[happy wanderer]

Following! Looking forward to your report! I'm also obsessed with the Alaska trip reports and currently worrying about the WEATHER as we leave in two and a half weeks...will it be cold? Just saw the Navigators for last week and it was 28 degrees in Skagway--eeks!

Thanks! The weather was very typical Alaska (from what we were told)...Skagway was windy but clear and chilly, Juneau was drizzly but warmer, and Ketchikan was crazy windy with a lot of rain (more about this later in my report...the weather was a huge factor in our day!). That said, we didn't need anything more than a cotton shirt, fleece, and raincoat (I normally had a scarf and beanie on as well...just cozier that way). I spent the trip in jeans, wool socks, and Merrell hikers.

The nights were colder, for sure.

 

[happy wanderer]

I was on the Alaska sailing last week and it was the Juneau day that the Navigator said high of 28, and thankfully it was wrong! It was in the 40's all 3 port days, with Skagway being sunny (and probably getting into the 50s), Juneau being drizzly and Ketchikan being very rainy. I hope you don't get as much rain as we did!

Agreed. We felt the weather was manageable and just made the best of it!

 

[happy wanderer]

Us too! Can’t wait to follow along with the rest of your trip! We haven’t planned for a post cruise land portion yet so curious to hear how yours went!

Planning our excursions was the most exciting (and stressful!) parts of this trip. I will talk more about it...what we chose, what we would do again, etc. Thanks for posting!

 

[happy wanderer]

Day 1 (Sunday May 20th, 2018): Flights/Vancouver

I woke up at 2:30 am and could not go back to sleep. While my family slept I laid awake thinking one thing....the day was finally here!! Nearly two years of planning had finally come to an end, and now we were heading out! I turned off the alarm I had set for 4 am and quietly started to get ready. S stirred first, and shortly after Kevin was up, too. S had a muffin that we had brought from home for a snack, and Kev fueled up with a cup of coffee provided in the room. We gathered the few things we had unpacked the night before, double checked our paperwork, and we were rolling out on the people mover to the terminal by 4:45 am.

Side note: The Hyatt was a great idea for us. We do not like to leave much to chance so parking and sleeping just outside the main terminal was the best choice. The room was super clean, the staff friendly, and express checkout meant that we didn't have to wait and got us to the ticketing counter quickly and efficiently.


For the first time since 2005 we were checking luggage. We traditionally travel carry-on only, and this has worked for trips stateside and internationally (we are pretty low-key and never mind doing laundry mid-journey). But, I went a bit crazy with our Fish Extender and Candy Exchange gifts, which necessitated the checked bag. I picked up this bag on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M15NNJJ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and it worked like a charm. We filled it up for the journey to Vancouver, and simply folded it up and slid it into my suitcase for the journey home. We flew United to Vancouver (again, first time with them since 2005!) and their customer service was efficient if not overly friendly. Either way, we had checked our bag and made it through security by 5:25 am. We had about a 45 minute wait to board, and before we knew it we were on the plane and in the air.



We had a two hour layover in Chicago, which we passed with a quick (not very memorable) breakfast and reading (me and S). Kevin walked around and bought mints/candy/snacks (this is his MO during travel...I budget in extra funds each trip just for his wandering/shopping ways). Soon we were back in the air on our way to Vancouver!

 

[happy wanderer]

Day 1 (continued):

The Part Where I Fall In Love With Vancouver (but quickly realize I could never afford to live there!)

We landed in Vancouver just a bit behind schedule, but the flight was smooth and uneventful. Our only disappointment was the wi-fi was completely down during the flight (so we couldn't access the in-flight entertainment options) but we passed the time either napping (Kevin) or reading (me and S). Once on the ground we found our way to baggage claim while admiring YVR. We had an unexpected layover there in 2014 (our flight to Beijing was cancelled and we were diverted to Vancouver) and found it to be easy to navigate. After finding our checked bag we made our way to the SkyTrain station and used the vending unit to purchase three DayPasses. We found this to be the most cost effective way to see the city (it covered unlimited travel on city trains, busses, and even the SeaBus through all three city zones). Once we made our purchase we waited about two minutes for the train!

I cannot say enough about how efficient and user-friendly the Vancouver public transit system is. We were met with friendly drivers/fellow passengers, easy navigation (we primarily used Google Maps on my phone), and very few waits for either train or bus.

We made it to our stop in about a half an hour, and walked a bit to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express - Downtown). We were booked here for a complimentary night (thanks to the generosity of my parents, who had a free stay and passed it to us after I commented on the steep costs of hotels in Vancouver). We were a bit away from the Pan Pacific/Canada Place area, but nothing horrible. Once we settled in and freshened up we hit the road for some site-seeing and shopping.

Our first stop was KidsBooks, a lovely bookstore in the Kitsilano area. We had read about it online, and try to hit a local bookstore in every city we visit. We loved this store, and were only limited by the weight of all the books we wanted to take home! In the end S got some great ones, and we bought her lovely copies of Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon (where better to celebrate two of our favorites than in their native Canada!). The staff was amazing, the selection top notch, and the neighborhood lovely. We will happily visit this store when we visit Vancouver again!


We then made our way to Stanley Park for a bike ride. I had read good reviews of Spokes Bike Rental here on the DIS, so we rented three bikes/helmets there and soon were on the gorgeous pathway around the seawall. We biked the whole loop, which I think averaged out to about 5.6 miles. It was a bit crowded, but not horribly so for a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. We found the system (one way, separate lanes for bikes and pedestrians) to be user friendly. Stanley Park is gorgeous, and we enjoyed seeing the blooming rhododendrons and amazing scenery! I suggest that, if possibly, try to see this wonderful park during your stay in Vancouver. You will not be disappointed! (photos in next post)

 

[happy wanderer]

Stanley Park Photos:

 

[TestingH2O]

What a fun day in Vancouver!