November 30, 2013 Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy

[Ashmer]

Where in Palmyra is your rental home located?

I teach in Palmyra; I started in 2002. My boys just started kindergarten at the new elementary school that Palmyra built off of Lingle. We like living here.

Our rental is located between Lingle Ave and the middle school. It's a cute house built in the 50's, it's been in my husband's family for three generations. We're lucky the immediate neighborhood hasn't had any sinkhole issues.

Palmyra is a great school district!

Oh I just noticed you are going to the BCVs in June! My family will be there the first week of June. Have you been there before? We haven't, but are so excited!

 

[annichan]

Oh I just noticed you are going to the BCVs in June! My family will be there the first week of June. Have you been there before? We haven't, but are so excited!

Oh, I love the Beach Club Villas too! We stayed there last year (on rental points as sadly we are not DVC members), and it was great.

Some photo impressions:

 

[Ashmer]

Great pictures! Is the last one of the view from your room? I ask because some people say the views aren't so great, but that last picture would be a great view from the balcony.

 

[disny_luvr]

Thanks for posting the pics, annichan! We can't wait to stay there. We've never stayed there before but have visited the BC many times and love the area. We, too, are staying on rented points as we aren't DVC members, yet. I'm slightly nervous about the busses as I hear they can be crowded and sometimes share with four other resorts. Oh well, at least we will be in Disney.

Annichan, where was your room located? Like Ashmer, I've heard the views aren't great. I was thinking of requesting higher floor, Epcot view in hopes of being able to watch Illuminations from our room on some nights, but I don't know. Any suggestions?

 

[annichan]

Great pictures! Is the last one of the view from your room? I ask because some people say the views aren't so great, but that last picture would be a great view from the balcony.

Annichan, where was your room located? Like Ashmer, I've heard the views aren't great. I was thinking of requesting higher floor, Epcot view in hopes of being able to watch Illuminations from our room on some nights, but I don't know. Any suggestions?

Yes, that last picture was the view from our balcony looking left. I admit I'm not totally sure which room no. we had (never wrote it down anywhere or take a picture of the door ), but after some research I think it may have been no. 550.

In any case, it was a studio, and just like disny_luvr, we had requested a high floor with an Epcot view, and that is exactly what we got. Mind you, the trees in that direction are so high that you don't see much of Epcot ...

... but if you look closely, you can see the top of Speaceship Earth to the very left! Further to the right, you can also see Canada.
And if you use a 12x zoom, it's almost close!

As for IllumiNations, you obviously can't see anything that takes place at ground level, but we could see the actual fireworks quite nicely from our balcony:

All that said, the room did have a drawback and that was the traffic noise. Where we live, it is really quiet so I am not used to traffic noise at all, therefore it did bother me quite a bit when we had the balcony door open or were sitting on the balcony (DH didn't think it was that bad, though, so maybe I was just being difficult ).

 

[Cthia]

Beautiful pictures.

I ordered my Disney Cruise line passporter last week and spent the weekend reading all about Disney cruise. Of course I am a bit confused on the dining situations. I don't understand what rotational dining is. It seems they are the only cruise line that does this.

My oldest DD is one step closer to being an adult. She got her license yesterday. Though she won't be happy with me I am waiting awhile before I add her onto our insurance, just don't want to pay an extra $3000 right now. She is only a junior and doesn't need a car right now.

 

[disny_luvr]

Beautiful pictures.

I ordered my Disney Cruise line passporter last week and spent the weekend reading all about Disney cruise. Of course I am a bit confused on the dining situations. I don't understand what rotational dining is. It seems they are the only cruise line that does this.

My oldest DD is one step closer to being an adult. She got her license yesterday. Though she won't be happy with me I am waiting awhile before I add her onto our insurance, just don't want to pay an extra $3000 right now. She is only a junior and doesn't need a car right now.

I may just have to get one of the DCL passporters. I've spent all weekend reading other people's cruise reports.

Cthia, I've never cruised before so everything is new to me. I don't have a clue either as to what rotational dining is. Thankfully, I have two years to learn all the "ins and outs" of Disney cruising.

Congrats to your daughter on getting her license. I'm sure she is very excited.

 

[annichan]

I ordered my Disney Cruise line passporter last week and spent the weekend reading all about Disney cruise. Of course I am a bit confused on the dining situations. I don't understand what rotational dining is. It seems they are the only cruise line that does this.

Cthia, I've never cruised before so everything is new to me. I don't have a clue either as to what rotational dining is. Thankfully, I have two years to learn all the "ins and outs" of Disney cruising.

We really like the rotational dining, although of course we have never cruised with any other line so we have no clue how it could be different .

Basically, there are three restaurants on the Magic - Lumières, Animator's Palate and Parrot Cay -, and DCL decides for you where you get to eat each night (this is called your dining rotation).

You find out your rotation when you check in at the terminal and are given your Key To The World card. On the card, you find an abbreviation like LAPLAPL or somesuch - and this tells you where you are going to be having dinner.
(In this example, it would be 1st night Lumières, 2nd night Animators, 3rd Parrot Cay, 4th Lumières, 5th Animators, 6th Parrot Cay, 7th Lumières.)

All special themed nights, such as Pirate Night or Formal Night, will be held simultaneously in all three restaurants so you will not miss out on them, regardless of where you eat.

Your assigned servers and your table mates will move with you from restaurant to restaurant, and you will have the same table number in each restaurant (the tables are placed at different spots within the different restaurants, though.)

Of course, when you do not feel like dining in your assigned restaurant, you can always order room service instead, or eat at the less formal Topsiders. And then there is always Palo, the fine dining restaurant where you have to reserve in advance and pay a surcharge (but it is so worth it!).

 

[Cthia]

Rotational dining explained that way makes a bit more sense. I'll assume they will let you know what all the abbreviations mean. I know pretty much of all the Disney abbreviations known but not the Cruise ones.

The other cruise lines I've been on there was only 1 main dining room you went to nightly. Of course you had other options to eat at, similar to Palo's and a buffet style, can't think of what they call them on the ships right now.

disny_luvr, if you decide to get the passporter let me know I can send you a message with a discount code you can use to save on the book. Or you can sign up for their newsletter and it is attached at the bottom of the newsletter. My DH laughs at me since I order the refills for my passporter each trip and for the cruise I had to get a whole new binder. I'll probably order the refill when they have more info on the Fantasy in it.

 

[disny_luvr]

Thanks for explaining the rotational dining. It sounds easy enough! Can we pick our rotation or is it assigned to us? Is one rotation better than another?

annichan, here is another question for you. DH and I are going on the two-night cruise to nowhere out of NY next summer. I read here on the DIS that you will eat in the same dining room each night. I'm not certain if we can put a request in for a specific restaurant, but if we can, which restaurant on the Magic would you suggest?

cthia, I'd love the discount code for the passporter. I need to read up on DCL cruises.

Thanks!

 

[annichan]

Rotational dining explained that way makes a bit more sense. I'll assume they will let you know what all the abbreviations mean. I know pretty much of all the Disney abbreviations known but not the Cruise ones.

The other cruise lines I've been on there was only 1 main dining room you went to nightly. Of course you had other options to eat at, similar to Palo's and a buffet style, can't think of what they call them on the ships right now.

I guess when you only have one main dining room it must be really huge and crowded, or am I mistaken? Because I think that is one of the reasons for rotational dining - DCL gets to control who eats where, and only about one sixth of the guests eats at a restaurant at the same time (as they are split between 3 restaurants and 2 dining seating times). And in reality it will be even less that one sixth, as many people will be eating room service or Palo or somewhere else.

By the way, I don't know if any of you is interested in pictures of food to be had on the Magic, but I have posted some pictures and reviews here.

 

[annichan]

Thanks for explaining the rotational dining. It sounds easy enough! Can we pick our rotation or is it assigned to us? Is one rotation better than another?

annichan, here is another question for you. DH and I are going on the two-night cruise to nowhere out of NY next summer. I read here on the DIS that you will eat in the same dining room each night. I'm not certain if we can put a request in for a specific restaurant, but if we can, which restaurant on the Magic would you suggest?

You get assigned your rotation, you do not pick it. What you get to choose is whether you want to dine at the early (main) or at the late seating, although the early seating is more popular and does tend to be fully booked the nearer the cruise draws.

I guess you could call DCL or your travel agent in advance to find out what your assigned rotation will be, or to request a specific rotation. I haven't done that yet, though.
Some people argue that some rotations are better than others because of the restaurant you are in for a themed night (the more formal-seeming Lumiéres = good for formal night / the Caribbean- or Tiki Room-style Parrot Cay = good for Pirate Night).
According to this, we have never yet been in the "right" restaurant for a themed night, but it still always felt right to us. A lot of the theme, in my opinion, is carried by the servers who are dressed according to the theme, and you have that in whichever restaurant you happen to be in.


About your 2-night cruise: interesting, I hadn't known that you would be in the same restaurant every night. My personal ranking would be:
1. Parrot Cay
2. Lumiéres
3. Animators Palate

But I know that many disagree, I think Parrot Cay is less popular than the others ...

 

[Cthia]

I guess when you only have one main dining room it must be really huge and crowded, or am I mistaken? Because I think that is one of the reasons for rotational dining - DCL gets to control who eats where, and only about one sixth of the guests eats at a restaurant at the same time (as they are split between 3 restaurants and 2 dining seating times). And in reality it will be even less that one sixth, as many people will be eating room service or Palo or somewhere else.

By the way, I don't know if any of you is interested in pictures of food to be had on the Magic, but I have posted some pictures and reviews here.

The 3 cruises we've been on the dining rooms were either 2 levels or 3 levels depending on the size of the ship. (Our next cruise we could be sailing with close to 5000 people. ) Our last cruise they had anytime dining also so they got one or two levels for that and the other 1 or 2 levels were just for the regular seating. The dining rooms never felt crowded. You had the same table each night. Of course people had the options of eating in the Specialty restaurants and the buffet areas also.

For those unsure of what seating to pick I would for now pick early seating and closer to the sailing you change your mind it will be easier to get late dining. I've found closer to the sail dates early dining fills up.

I'll have to check out your pictures later on today. Have to do some work today.

 

[minnieandmickey]

Add us to the list just booked for our 25th anniversary. It's me Becky and DH Sean.

 

[Cthia]

Welcome minnieandmickey!! How exciting to be celebrating your 25th anniversary with Disney.

 

[annichan]

Add us to the list just booked for our 25th anniversary. It's me Becky and DH Sean.

Welcome to the two of you - I agree, what a wonderful way to celebrate your anniversary! We celebrated our 3rd onboard the Magic, I hope we will get to do the same for our 25th eventually! (Just, well, maybe a newer ship than the Magic, it might look slightly the worse for wear by 2033 )

I'm battling a terrible cold at the moment and not getting along well with the cold and grey German fall weather - I wish I was cruising the Caribbean right now instead of having to wait two years!

 

[minnieandmickey]

Welcome minnieandmickey!! How exciting to be celebrating your 25th anniversary with Disney.

Welcome to the two of you - I agree, what a wonderful way to celebrate your anniversary! We celebrated our 3rd onboard the Magic, I hope we will get to do the same for our 25th eventually! (Just, well, maybe a newer ship than the Magic, it might look slightly the worse for wear by 2033 )

I'm battling a terrible cold at the moment and not getting along well with the cold and grey German fall weather - I wish I was cruising the Caribbean right now instead of having to wait two years!

Thank you! Hubby and I are met in high school, were really good friends for a year then my senior year, his first year in college, we started dating, and were married the following year.
We actually were supposed to go to London (have a close friend that lives there that we met on the Magic), but my DS is getting married either in 2012 or 2013 (at Disneyland!) and we are paying for the honeymoon to WDW. Hubby brought up NY but the cost of the cruise would probably be hotel costs there. So... We got a great deal on this cruise with our rebooking discount so we decided back to Disney we go.

 

[disny_luvr]

minnieandmickey! I'm glad to see you and your DH will be joining us.

 

[annichan]

Today it is exactly two years to go until our cruise - so it is virtually just around the corner!

 

[disny_luvr]

Today it is exactly two years to go until our cruise - so it is virtually just around the corner!

Woohoo! "Only" two more years to go!