Hawaii Trip – Travel – Part 4
Planning 1 | Planning 2 | Planning 3 | Travel | Disneyland (Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4) | Arrival | Surfing | Aulani | Excursion | Hyatt
Summon The Force Show!
Castaway Cay Wave Goodbye
We just got back from a fantastic Star Wars at Sea cruise on the Disney Fantasy. It will take me a while to organize the content, but in the meantime, I’ll share this video. When you leave Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island), the Cast Members that stay on the island send the ship off by waving goodbye to all the guests. Here is a video of the farewell that we captured from our veranda.
Disney Vacation Account Payout
Deals on Gift Cards
One of our favorite ways to pay for our trips is through the use of Disney Gift Cards. We always try to buy these at a discount using various strategies. We used to heavily use the Target Gift Card Stacking Strategy until it died over the summer. Since that time, we’ve been reduced to getting just a 5% discount, either through cash back (with the Target Red Card) or with Chase Ultimate Reward Points that we can use for free airline flights or hotel rooms.
Disney Cruise Line Navigator
One of the Disney Cruise Line services that we really like is the DCL Navigator App (available for iOS and Android devices). The app doesn’t have a lot of functionality when you first install it while at home, although it will provide you a countdown timer that is visible when you open it as well as placeholders for ship information such as deck plans and activities. You will definitely want to download the app before you get on the ship. I don’t know if there is free public wifi at the Port Canaveral terminal, so get it at home before you leave to be safe.
Spring Break 2016 Cruise – Part 8 – Disembarkation/WDW Mini Trip
Our original plan for the last two days of our spring break vacation was to get off the ship, grab a rental car, and head down to the Florida Keys before returning to Miami that night and staying at the InterContinental Miami. That plan changed after we got Walt Disney World annual passes. We saw that the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival was going on during our Spring Break. We decided that if we could get off the ship early on Friday, we could head up to Orlando and spend two partial days in the parks before returning to Miami later Saturday night in time to catch our flight home.
Canceled Cruise
Spring Break 2016 Cruise – Part 7 – Castaway Cay
Day 5 of our cruise was Castaway Cay, which is one of our favorite stops. Imagine if Disney had taken an entire Caribbean Island and turned it into a water park. That’s basically how I describe Castaway Cay to people. We aren’t beach people, but we love this port stop more than any others. As usual, Nancy had signed up for the Castaway Cay 5K, so she got off the ship before the girls and I did. She had her cabana wrist band, so she could meet us there once she was done.
