Less Stress Disney Planning
Eventually, one has to start planning a Disney experience for the kids. My advice is to jump in with both feet because I am here to tell you how to make it less stressful. Yes, less stressful because there is no way to take all the stress out of planning a Disney experience for the family. However, you can make it less stressful and enjoy the vacation as much as the kids will.
Like any vacation you should definitely start early. Disney has a lot of properties, restaurants, parks, and experiences and if you don’t start early you could miss out on some spectacular offerings. For example, most people start a year or 18 months in advance once they have figured out when they want to go. The best place to start is to pick which resort you would like to stay at. There are so many great resorts that will cover all of your family’s needs including: budget, pools, themed rooms such as the Princess themed rooms, or great restaurants right in the resort. Once you have narrowed down your choices of which resort to stay at, you are a quarter of the way done with the planning.
Next, people consider how many days they want to go to the parks. Most people stay 7 nights or 8 days so I always recommend a 7 day park pass. This way if your flight gets there early on day 1 you can hit the parks, especially the Magic Kingdom since it is open late, sometimes 1am. Even though you are staying on Disney property you don’t have to do just Disney. Universal Studios and Sea World are close by and on a rainy day the Crayola Experience is a great way to keep the kids occupied. However, you would need to rent a car, book a service, or call a taxi cab. Once you have considered which parks you want to do you are now another quarter of the way done!
Let’s talk about dining. In the good old days you used to be able to go into any Disney restaurant and get a table. Things have really changed when it comes to dining at Disney. You can start making reservations for your dining 180 days prior to your first day of arrival and for an additional 10 days of stay. Some restaurants are so popular that you if you don’t call at midnight on the 180 day you may not get a reservation. Getting tables for larger parties is even harder so picking where you want to eat and making those reservations close to the 180 days will surly get you a table. When it comes to dining you also have to consider whether or not you want to add a dining plan to your reservation, which can only be done if staying on property. The Disney dining plan is great if you plan to do a lot of nice sit down meals or character meet and eats, as these are costly. The dining plan also helps if you don’t want to constantly be pulling your credit card out of your pocket. It is already paid for, but make sure to understand how many meals are included with your plan. If you miss a meal you will not receive a refund. If you plan on doing a long weekend in Disney then I would not recommend using the dining plan. Once you have figured out where to eat and if you want to add the dining plan you done with another quarter of the planning. 75% of your Disney vacation is planned!
Great! You are pretty much done now. You only have to show up and enjoy your time at Disney. One thing to remember is that sometimes thing don’t go as planned but that is ok. There will always be something else to do. The kids will not be disappointed by their Disney experience at all and will be talking about all the great memories for weeks after the vacation.
On a side note. Our agency now offers day by day planning for those who do not want to or have the time to plan their entire Disney experience. We have put together itineraries to fit all families and we will even put together your my Disney experience. We do charge an extra fee for this service but this will elevate even more of your stress of planning an amazing Disney experience.
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e uses the internet to make it easier for their cruise clients to make their excursion reservations. They have them broken down by port, pricing, and activity level. Some cruise lines are better than others with how descriptive they are but overall you get the idea of what to expect on the excursion. If you are taking the time to read them online and find one you like then simply add it to your cart. You can also make a list and send it to your travel agent, but make sure to book early or it may not be available by the time you board the ship.
oing to visit and preparing for everything we are going to see. A History Buff is someone who likes to walk through old cities and take in their surroundings. They appreciate and enjoy the history of the places they are in. They typically like a city’s architecture, museums, shops, pubs, and/or attractions. In some ways the History Buff is an Active traveler as they want to see everything and may get up early and stay out late, but they know their limits. The History Buff has purchased travel books so that they know the general history, but they always look for guided tours so that can hear the local versions of the history. Listening to stories and exploring off-the-beaten-path locations is the best part of their vacation!
or a relaxing day at the beach. We stopped at Royal Caribbean’s Coco Cay. Unlike Nassau, we had to take a tender from the ship to the island. I have taken many tenders on my various cruises and I have to say they are not my favorite. Either you are one of the first people to get on the tender that you end up sitting there waiting for it to fill or you are the last people to get on and are stuck on the top deck with the sun beating down on you. We were the former. Coco Cay is only a mile long island that offered many activities from beach volleyball, scuba, snorkeling, kayaking, beach spa treatments, and a floating, bouncy area for the kids or brave adults. We opted to kayak and snorkel. I am so glad that we choose the kayaking tour. We had a great tou
r guide who was from South Africa. She was one of a handful of people who lived on the island for a contractual period of time and even though this sounds like a fun experience it apparently can feel like Gilligan’s island and buying personal products can be difficult, i.e. deodorant.
been cancelled due to lack of interest. We were also told to set up a transfer at the Customer Service desk and when we got down there around 6pm they told us that they were not handling transfers anymore and we would have to do it once we got off the ship. This was a bit confusing but the next day we opted for early departure from the ship and decided instead to rent a car. When you get off the ship there are several buses for transfers to the airport and you can pay them right there or you can go a little further down the way to pick up a shuttle for any of the major car rental companies. We rented a car from Enterprise and took our own tour of the Kennedy Space Center. I absolutely loved the Kennedy Space center. Their motorcoach tour was amazing or maybe it was the fact that our bus driver was amazing. He was a retired engineer from NASA and knew his way around the island. Our 10 minute tour turned into a private 40 minute motorcoach tour of areas I don’t think we were supposed to go to. We actually drove behind the launch pad where the shuttles took off and saw one of the ground plates.
From what I remember, it was very run down and the main focal point was the purple or maybe blue Merv Griffin hotel/casino. Today, you can walk down the street and buy anything from Fendi to Rolex. The buildings are very colorful, the streets were clean, and there was public transportation. Even though there were several excursions that were offered by the cruise ship, 
we decided we wanted to do our own thing. If you want to opt out of an excursion it is very easy to get around. The ship docks right by the main streets and there are plenty of taxi cabs, horse drawn carriages, and private services one can hire. It is a lot of chaos but after saying “No Thank You” a hundred times we made it to the main street.
shopping director suggested. I also wanted to get to the Straw Market. In the 90’s it was an open air market, which parts of it still are but most of it is inside a huge building. There are many vendors selling various types of straw products from straw bags to hats to personal organizers. You can watch the ladies making your hat or bag right in front of your eyes or you can purchase a pre-made item. You can also buy shirts, sun dresses, and these crazy walking turtles that some lady thought it may be funny to 
attack me. She thought my kids might find them amusing as I had bought two Disney Princess bags from her but that is also part of the process when shopping in the Straw Market. HAGGLING! You definitely don’t buy anything at full price so bargaining is encouraged and most of the time they initiate the bargaining process. If you are lucky they will attack you with walking turtles too!
calamari. Since our ship was docked until 11pm, we also decided to eat dinner at the local Bahamian Lukka Kairi restaurant. It was right on the water where the ships were docked so we got to see several ships leave. They had a big tank with lobsters that you could pick which one you wanted for dinner, not my cup of tea, but many people opted for it. We decided on some tapas and some local beer. Great atmosphere, great food, and amazing views!
Pirate museum. Now I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a cheesy version of Pirates of the Caribbean and when we first walked into the museum it seemed that way. However, we found it very educational about pirating that occurred in the Caribbean for centuries. We learned that people didn’t walk the plank, pirates didn’t want to kill people but it happened, woman pirates were very well respected, more loot was given to the injured, and that they did like to have parrots
as pets. The one thing I did find interesting is if you were actually caught and tried as a pirate you were immediately hung. Needless to say, this happened a lot!
People rate airports so I have to give my two cents on the cruise terminal. The second cruise I was on was out of Miami back in 2006. At the time, I wasn’t impressed with their cruise terminal at all. I felt rushed, no direction, people wall to wall, and I felt it was tiny. When we took a cruise out of Barcelona, I was impressed. Spacious, open, very well light, people directing you, everything was clean, and bathrooms were around every corner, which is good if you have to wait to board. I have to say I was equally impressed by Port Canaveral’s newer cruise port terminal. Very much like Barcelona’s cruise terminal and there were personnel everywhere to answer questions and direct you. Total time from when we entered the doors of the terminal to the time we stepped foot on the ship was 15 minutes. Very quick!
atrium area. You see people sitting in chairs with their luggage that they didn’t give to the attendants, and the bar is already full. We decided to start walking around the ship to become more familiar with where things were located. Being a travel consultant I wanted to get some good pictures of the ship without too many people in them. For an almost 20 year old ship, I was surprised how nicely kept it was. I didn’t see too much wear and tear considering they do three night Bahama cruises back to back. The ship had plenty of lounges, bars, elevators, huge main dining room with upper level seating, two cafes for additional dinin
g options, a specialty restaurant, a very spacious casino, large theater, spa, fitness center, rock wall climb, trampoline jumps, and several pools and Jacuzzis including an adult only pool and children’s splash area. There was way more than enough to keep us occupied on a three night cruise.
m, we opted to do another activity, planning our shopping in Nassau. They had a shopping concierge on the ship who gave tips as to what to buy in Nassau and where to buy it. It was a very interesting lecture and we were able to set up our shopping game plan within that timeframe. I highly recommend reading the cruise planner daily. They have some interesting activities from basketball games, to charity events, Bingo, lectures, art auctions, wine and liquor tastings, dancing, and show times.
activities that they offered that we almost forget that we could finally get into our cabin. For a three night cruise I, personally, didn’t think that we needed a balcony. I also didn’t want to be at the bottom of the boat. There are a few select rooms on the upper decks called the Panoramic Ocean view. They cost slightly more than just an ocean view but you get a floor to ceiling window. I had seen these rooms on a ship inspection that I had done a few years ago and have wanted to stay in one since. I do have to say that I was disappointed with how
dirty the cabin was. There were crumbs all over the carpet, the bathroom shower was grimy, the sink clogged, the toilet was not clean but we won’t get descriptive about that, and the window had an oil film on the outside of it. The only thing that was clean was the bed. A phone call to housekeeping and most of the stuff was cleaned up very quickly.
trip and we decided to leave a night early. Our ship didn’t require us to embark until Friday so we thought it would be fun to go down Thursday night and maybe get dinner at Downtown Disney. Unfortunately for us, there were thunderstorms up and down the east coast which made for a very bumpy plane ride. It is also hard to walk around Downtown Disney when it is raining so we opted to eat near the hotel. I normally don’t say this when in Orlando but the rain actually ended up being a good thing because even though our hotel had shuttle
s to the Disney theme parks, it did not have one to take us to Downtown Disney. Yes, Downtown Disney is part of the Walt Disney World Resort and even though this hotel was a Disney partnered hotel, they just didn’t offer a shuttle there. We found a Giordano’s Chicago Pizzeria in the shopping plaza right next to the hotel. We ate at the original one in Chicago and we loved their pizza. Their pizza was also great in Orlando!
y’s go to motorcoach company. Our driver was on time and the car they chose for us was a Lincoln SUV. The car was clean, spacious, very high end amenities, comfortable, and didn’t smell. Our driver was great! He was from Venezuela and talked with us the whole way to the cruise port which was about an hour drive.
anchor on their ship’s stacks. No fourth ship and no blue anchor, time to panic! We had the right day, we were there five hours before the ship was supposed to leave dock, but where is it? Our driver took us to the Carnival cruise line terminal. He pops the trunk and gets ready to let us out figuring that the ship had to be close by. Well, when 3000 plus people are trying to get on one ship, you can image how hectic it is with everyone trying to get their luggage onto carts, and unpacking their cars. This is where I take after my mother, but I demanded that he ask where the Royal Caribbean ship was. He asked one of the luggage attendants about Royal Caribbean and the guy told him no this is Carnival. The driver asked again where the Royal Caribbean ship is located, the luggage guy said at the new port just down the road. Feeling relieved, the driver got back into the car and look confused. We started off to the new port and within a few minutes we could see a single ship off in the distance. Hope! Blue anchor on the stacks, Enchantment of the Seas on the bow, and people unloading their luggage. Whew, we made it!
