Snacks, Sips & Spooks in October 2012... and a Mexican Fantasy cruise in June 2013!

[disneybarbie]

Hi everyone!

Hope you're all well - been a bit quiet on here but starting to think about June 2013 plans now!

So... the original plan was to go to Los Angeles after our cruise. Of course I would love to go there, especially Disneyland, but the more we thought about it - it's a really long way from Orlando... and there's so much more we want to do on the West Coast that it makes sense to visit there another time as part of a WC vacation (San Francisco, San Diego, Yosemite etc!)

Instead... after the cruise... we're going to go to.... BOSTON!!


It's a city that we both really want to visit, and is only a 3 hour flight from MCO (and then only 6.5 hours back to London ).
I've booked the flights this evening and a hotel in Boston, the Back Bay Hotel, it used to be a police station and looks like it's in a great location.


Only things left to book now are:

WDW ADRs (next weekend!)
Cruise excursions and activities
Flight from MCO to BOS - I'm thinking of booking Jet Blue, but we've never flown with them before.... what are they like?

Would love to hear any tips people have for visiting Boston!




Emma x

 

[monica23535]

Hi Emma, Boston will be amazing!


I haven't been yet but my stepmother used to live there and she loved it.

Wow, ADR time already? Not sure where this year has gone

 

[klacey1]

Boston is great! JetBlue is a great airline-- free bags and a TV on every seat!

If you rent a car in Boston, you should go to the Wrentham outlets! They are the best outlets on the east coast and have AMAZING shopping!

The North End is good for Italian food, but the heart of Boston cuisine (IMHO) is in the pubs and seafood restaurants! There is no shortage of good pubs-- the Black Rose is fantastic, and right near Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, which are must dos. If you like aquariums, the New England Aquarium is good (small and expensive but good).

Plymouth is a great day trip, depending on how long you have there. Harvard Square (and the college itself) is fantastic to walk around. You can just feel the history there.

 

[khertz]

That is a great idea, to save DL for part of a bigger California trip. Originally in my head, that's what I had dreamed of doing ourselves, but the opportunity presented for a short DL-only trip, so I took it. However, I would love to do a couple of weeks visiting lots of different parts of California!

Boston is another place on the bucket list for me! How great that you will be able to add that onto your cruise vacation.

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi Emma, Boston will be amazing!


I haven't been yet but my stepmother used to live there and she loved it.

Wow, ADR time already? Not sure where this year has gone

Hi! Thank you - I'm really looking forward to out trip to Boston after the cruise - I think there's going to be a lot to do

Boston is great! JetBlue is a great airline-- free bags and a TV on every seat!

If you rent a car in Boston, you should go to the Wrentham outlets! They are the best outlets on the east coast and have AMAZING shopping!

The North End is good for Italian food, but the heart of Boston cuisine (IMHO) is in the pubs and seafood restaurants! There is no shortage of good pubs-- the Black Rose is fantastic, and right near Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, which are must dos. If you like aquariums, the New England Aquarium is good (small and expensive but good).

Plymouth is a great day trip, depending on how long you have there. Harvard Square (and the college itself) is fantastic to walk around. You can just feel the history there.

Thanks for all the advice on Boston! DH said he would be happy to drive in Boston so I think we will rent a car for a day or two
That's great to know about JetBlue too - from the website it looked a bit like 'Easyjet' which is a low-cost airline in the UK.. but no extra cost for luggage & tv per seat sounds good to me!

That is a great idea, to save DL for part of a bigger California trip. Originally in my head, that's what I had dreamed of doing ourselves, but the opportunity presented for a short DL-only trip, so I took it. However, I would love to do a couple of weeks visiting lots of different parts of California!

Boston is another place on the bucket list for me! How great that you will be able to add that onto your cruise vacation.

Hi! I think Boston will be a much better fit with our cruise than LA/Disneyland would have been... even though I'm still eager to get over to the West Coast, will just have to wait a little longer





Yesterday was the 180 day countdown until our vacation, which of course meant... ADR DAY!!


We arrive on Thursday 20th June, I've not made any reservations for that day in case we have any delays - but we'll probably head into Epcot and have a counter service meal at Japan or Mexico

On Friday 21st June we will be having dinner at...

The Be Our Guest restaurant in New Fantasyland!!

So pleased I got a reservation here, everything I've heard about it sounds wonderful... excited to eat there . That night is extra magic hours at the Magic Kingdom too so we might spend a few hours in the park after our meal too.


Then on Saturday 22nd June, we're having a pre-cruise breakfast at....

Boma!

We ate here before our cruise on honeymoon last year and it was one of the best breakfasts we've ever had! That time we were staying at Kidani Village so it was easy to walk over, but next year we'll get a cab over to AKL and then get a bus back to Hollywood Studios or Epcot - spend a little time in one of the parks, but we will probably need to be back at the Boardwalk around 11.30am for our shuttle over to Port Canaveral



Emma x

 

[Leshaface]

Boston!! How awesome! We enjoyed our first trip there last July. It was really stinking hot and humid but so much fun.

Wow already 180 days!? Crazy! I've heard nothing but good things about Be Our Guest.

Can't wait for your cruise!

 

[disneybarbie]

Boston!! How awesome! We enjoyed our first trip there last July. It was really stinking hot and humid but so much fun.

Wow already 180 days!? Crazy! I've heard nothing but good things about Be Our Guest.

Can't wait for your cruise!

Hi Lesha,

I'll have to re-read your trip report on Boston.. was it part of your Mexican Riviera cruise TR?

I'm so excited it's 2013 which means our next cruise is this year!




Boston

Over the Christmas holidays, DH and I watched the movie 'Ted'.. obviously it's not as family-friendly as a Disney movie but it is filmed in Boston... which made me excited for our vacation this summer!


We are staying at the Back Bay Hotel, which used to be a police station..

From the reviews I've read it seems like a good hotel, great location & amenities


Cruise

I'm planning to pay off the balance of our cruise this week! Which has got me thinking about our excursions and other bookings... now we're in the Castaway Cay Club, we can book from 90 days out rather than 75... so in about 10 weeks time . I'd definitely like to book dinner at Remy, and this time we'd like to try brunch at Palo rather than dinner. We're going to book another Couples' Spa Villa because it was wonderful on the Dream... then it's just the excursions to decide on!

In Grand Cayman I think we'll do one of the island tours, see the main tourist attractions such as the turtle farm and visit the town of 'Hell'! But I'm not sure about the Mexican ports yet, Costa Maya and Cozumel, we'll definitely see some Mayan ruins at one of them.. but not sure which one?!

For Castaway Cay we won't book anything, more than happy to spend a day on Serenity Bay - sunbathing/swimming/cocktail sipping! The only thing that tempts me would be to book a cabana, although that would be quite expensive for just the two of us!



Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and happy 2013!



Emma x

 

[Leshaface]

Yes! I do believe my New England tour was on my MR TR

Oooh yay for Remy! I can't remember, did you do it in June of 2011? And such a stupendous choice in checking out the Palo Brunch! I loved it and I don't think i've ever read a bad review about Palo Brunch.

Ahh, I remember reading about your lovely day at the spa. Sounds glorious!

 

[disneybarbie]

Yes! I do believe my New England tour was on my MR TR

Oooh yay for Remy! I can't remember, did you do it in June of 2011? And such a stupendous choice in checking out the Palo Brunch! I loved it and I don't think i've ever read a bad review about Palo Brunch.

Ahh, I remember reading about your lovely day at the spa. Sounds glorious!

Hi Lesha,

Yes we went to Remy during our June 2011 cruise (on the last night), and it was one of the best meals of our lives!! Can't wait to try it again on the Fantasy
We enjoyed Palo but not too worried about missing a dinner there - but I've also heard nothing but great things about Brunch.. and we'll be able to try it on one of our two sea days, or for one of the ports we don't get there until 12pm!





Hope everyone is having a good week, few bits of good news to share!


1 - we paid off our cruise balance this weekend!! It's great to be paid in full, the whole trip is pretty much booked now too - just the internal flight from MCO to BOS to book, although Jet Blue is currently showing $210 each (one way), which seemed a little high? so I'm going to leave it a while.


2 - Today I found out my results from my final accounting exam and.... I PASSED!!! I just have to wait for my experience to be assessed by the exam board, but then I can officially say I'm a qualified chartered accountant ... it's taken me sooo long to get through these exams and there's been so many times I felt like giving up... but now it's all done!!





Emma x

 

[monica23535]

Well done for passing your exams Emma!

 

[Leshaface]

Congratulations on passing!

It seems like you've been working on your accounting qualifications for sometime now and i'm sure you're glad it's all over!

And another big YAY for paying off the balance on your cruise!

Sounds like smooth sailing for you right now

 

[Dream426]

YAY!!! Congrats on passing your exam!! You must feel so relieved.

 

[ronnmel]

Congratulations!

 

[cindianne320]

Congrats, Emma!

 

[dreamerchic33]

all caught up!
your dining reviews were wonderful!
thanks for sharing!
CONGRATS on passing your test!!!!
Looking forward to hearing about Oct!
xo

 

[disneybarbie]

Well done for passing your exams Emma!

Congratulations on passing!

It seems like you've been working on your accounting qualifications for sometime now and i'm sure you're glad it's all over!

And another big YAY for paying off the balance on your cruise!

Sounds like smooth sailing for you right now

YAY!!! Congrats on passing your exam!! You must feel so relieved.

Congratulations!

Congrats, Emma!

all caught up!
your dining reviews were wonderful!
thanks for sharing!
CONGRATS on passing your test!!!!
Looking forward to hearing about Oct!
xo

Thanks everyone! I had my work experience signed off this week too, which means I'm an 'offical' chartered accountant lol - it's not really sunk in, no more studying ever!
I've treated myself to a new ipod nano (pink, of course!) to celebrate being qualified today


Also today, I've bought Red Sox tickets for our trip to Boston!! We've never been to a baseball game before, so really looking forward to it




Hope everyone is having a great weekend!


Emma x

 

[missx0xdelaney]

Congratulations on passing everything! I'm pretty jealous about your Boston plans too! Boston is my favorite city (apart from my own, Chicago). There are so many things to do there and a lot of them are free or cheap. If you have time make sure to walk the Freedom Trail. It's a bunch of landmarks around the city that were important to the independence cause. There is also a Holocaust memorial across the street from where part of the trail runs. It is really powerful and chilling. The Red Sox should make for an awesome baseball game too! My second favorite after my White Sox you're going to have so much fun!

 

[Leshaface]

Even though I'm a San Francisco Giants fan, you're going to love it! There's nothing better than being surrounded by thousands of people cheering for the home team, while drinking a beer and eating a hot dog. It's quite an experience and love doing it every year!

 

[disneybarbie]

Congratulations on passing everything! I'm pretty jealous about your Boston plans too! Boston is my favorite city (apart from my own, Chicago). There are so many things to do there and a lot of them are free or cheap. If you have time make sure to walk the Freedom Trail. It's a bunch of landmarks around the city that were important to the independence cause. There is also a Holocaust memorial across the street from where part of the trail runs. It is really powerful and chilling. The Red Sox should make for an awesome baseball game too! My second favorite after my White Sox you're going to have so much fun!

Hi! Thank you so much for the sight-seeing ideas in Boston, we're so excited to be visiting a new US state and city as part of this vacation

Even though I'm a San Francisco Giants fan, you're going to love it! There's nothing better than being surrounded by thousands of people cheering for the home team, while drinking a beer and eating a hot dog. It's quite an experience and love doing it every year!

Hi Lesha - I'm really looking forward to the baseball game! I've been to a lot of football (soccer) matches with DH, but never baseball.. I'll have to learn the rules of the game before we go, there's a game here called 'rounders' which is similar, I think!





Hi everyone!
Just realised how long it's been since I posted on this PTR... I guess it's been quite a quiet time for trip planning - however, yesterday we reached the 90 day mark before we sail away on the Fantasy, which meant ... time to book cruise activities

As it's our second Disney cruise, we're now in the Castaway Cay Club, silver level, which lets us book activities at 90 days rather than 75 Unfortunately for us, due to the time difference, the booking window opened at 4am (12am EST)... so which crazy Disney/planning fan got up very early Sunday morning to make our bookings hehe

I managed to book everything we wanted though!

The plans so far are...

Day 1 - set sail

Day 2 - at sea - 3pm 'Couples Choice' spa villa at the Senses Spa

Day 3 - Grand Cayman - Island Tour (we visit the turtle farm and 'Hell'!)

Day 4 - Costa Maya - Chacchoben Mayan Ruins (adults only tour)

Day 5 - Cozumel - ... something very cultural.... 'Tacos and Tequila experience' - it sounds like fun, although I don't really like Tequila.. maybe this will be a good way to try it?!

Day 6 - at sea - Palo Brunch

Day 7 - Castaway Cay - dinner at Remy


I also did our online check-in yesterday, nice to know all the paperwork is out the way already!

I'm going to make a start on cruise/vacation clothes shopping soon - the weather has been so cold here (we had snow on Saturday!) that I really can't wait for our summer holiday



Emma x

 

[monica23535]

Your plans sound wonderful!


I'm so jealous, would love to do another Disney cruise this year but DH wants to go somewhere different blah, blah, blah....

The 'Tacos and Tequila' tour sounds very interesting lol

The snow here in Nottingham is ridiculous, I'm really fed up of it now!