Category Archives: Trip Report

Which kind of Disney Line Companions are you?

line Which kind of Disney Line Companions are you?

Have you ever been in line at Disney World and looked around at the different people in line with you? I have noticed you have several Disney Line Companion types in line with you. I know I could easily fit into a few of these categories..

These are just for fun and by no means complete as you can have several variations and hybrid group types.

  • Hardcore – These are the people with most times absolutely nothing on them, no camera, phone, park map, nothing…Most times this is older couples without kids or couples with teen age kids. They know the parks like the back of their hands and they don’t need to look around cause they have already seen everything.
  • Married with Children – These are the people with everything…Diaper bag, camera, cell phones, fanny pack, stroller, etc. They look like they are on a trek to the Himalayas. Usually they can open a bag and have a complete kitchen, hospital, and department store all hiding inside that one bag. You don’t really see the parents much you are to busy being entertained by their kids.
  • Love Birds – Most times these are younger couples. Usually holding hands and loving on each other. Oblivious to everything going on around them. Maybe there on a date or a honeymoon. This is what the Married with Children group used to look like before kids. These are the ones who get to ride on every ride, stay from when the park opens to when it closes, and looks the most relaxed.
  • Business Casual – This is the best looking group. They look like they just ditched their Conference or round of Golf to hit up the parks. Most times they are way over dressed for being in the heat. Usually accompanied by their lifelong companion their Blackberry. If you listen closely enough you can actually hear their entire conversation while in line.
  • Outlanders – One of the most entertaining groups as they are there to have 100% fun. Usually better dressed than I am and always a pleasure to talk to if they are from an English speaking country, or if they have actually taken the time to learn our language can make for some very funny conversations. Interesting to see and hear how other cultures act.
  • Fastpassers – These are the ones walking by you in line and the ones you wish you were.
  • Loners – Usually there by themselves or 1/2 of a Married with Children group. They are the most outgoing Line Companion Group as they desire to talk about everything and anything. Beware if a loner is listening to music and texting as they probably do not want to be bothered.
  • Grumpy Teens – You do not look at or talk to this Line Companion. Not that you can talk to them over the sound of their iPod. They would much rather be somewhere their parents are not. Best to keep your back to them as not to see what they are texting about you.
  • The Extremely Large Family Reunions – You will recognize this mob by the brightly colored identical shirts. Usually one person is in the lead (or so he thinks) followed by his family. The leader usually has no clue where he is going and it like watching a train wreck you just can’t look away.
  • Cougars – Usually medium to large group of women on their own vacation from their spouses. Very loud group internally but not very social to outside parties. Can be heard talking about other females butt sizes and what their spouses has messed up now.
  • Nerds – Hardcore Disney Nerds are very easy to pick out as they are covered from head to toe in Disney Wear. From their lanyards all the way to their Mickey Mouse Crocs. They are the best people to ask where something is in the park. Usually they are taking tons of pictures, checking wait times on their cell phones, or streaming live video to their blog.

This is just a few of the people you will run across and meet while at Disney. Again this is only a fun and not meant to put down anybody.

If you can think of some others let us know in the comment section below.

 Which kind of Disney Line Companions are you?

Disney Dream Cruise: Pirate Night

4301 Disney Dream Cruise: Pirate Night

Photo by Pixie Brenda

After a wonderful day spent on the beautiful beaches of Castaway Cay, we were all welcomed to attend a unique pirate celebration onboard the Dream. Upon returning to the stateroom, we found a note along with 4 pirate bandanas (one for each of us) inviting us to don the bandanas for dinner and to dress up in our pirate attire. Although dressing in character is optional, we are no party poopers; we dress for the party.

429 Disney Dream Cruise: Pirate Night

Photo by Pixie Brenda

Our pirate dinner was enjoyed at the Royal Palace. You can see great pics from this at my website, Ideally Disney. After dinner, the nighttime festivities really kicked off at Mickey’s Pirates In The Caribbean. This full-out pirate celebration included a chance to play, dance and acquire all the necessary pirate skills required to become an official member of Mickey’s pirate crew!

A special and one-of-a-kind element of the celebration was Buccaneer Blast Fireworks, an awesome fireworks display by the only cruise line able to offer fireworks at sea. After the fireworks, we were able to dance, dance, dance and party down with DJ Automatic at Club Pirate on deck.

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Photo by Pixie Brenda

An awesome time was had by all, full of lots of fun and special new memories. This was a delightful way to spend an evening with family in a fun, party atmosphere!

 Disney Dream Cruise: Pirate Night

Disney Dream Stateroom Review

dream cabin door for CC and TAM Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Dream Cabin 8088/Pixie Brenda

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about the cruise we took in December. I wasn’t worried about sailing, but I was a little concerned about how small I have always heard cruise staterooms are. For that reason, I reserved a Deluxe Family Stateroom with Veranda (class 4B). I border on being clostraphobic so I was hoping I would be able to deal with the small size of the quarters that would be our home for 4 nights and 5 days. I know that people often say, “the stateroom size doesn’t matter, you are never in the room anyway.” Truth be known, though, I am not one of those people that gets up and goes without showering, putting on makeup, doing my hair, etc. It doesn’t really help but goodness knows I try. Also, I like to have quiet time away from everything else for a short time each day.

To my most pleasant surprise, our stateroom on the Dream was nowhere close to what I had imagined; in fact, it was quite roomy. Additionally, I was very impressed when we returned to the room after dinner the first evening to find that our room steward had transformed it for bedtime into a well-design sleeping quarters large enough to accommodate a family of 5. I wanted to share with you all some information for, and photos of, our stateroom. I think you will find them very helpful, just in case you are thinking of planning a cruise but don’t know where to start when choosing your cabin.

We were in cabin 8088 on the Dream. This room was located midship on Deck 8 and is in a great location. The area was quiet, except for the occasional kids running down the hall. It was close to the elevators and stairs but not near enough to provide any extra noise, and was very convenient to Deck 11 where the pools, buffets, drink stations and much of the action was located.

During the day, the room had a sofa and 2 chairs in the living room area. The furniture was comfortable and was not cramped at all. There was more than sufficient room to move around.

dream cabin1 for CC Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Stateroom Bed/Pixie Brenda

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Stateroom Living Area/Pixie Brenda

The sofa converted to a comfortable bed at night. Above it, a pull-down berth pulled down to form a bunk bed. The “top bunk” holds guests weighing up to 220 lbs. It even offers a view of a starry sky while you lie on your back. Closer to the veranda, there was a Murphy bed which pulled down and it was also sufficient size to accommodate an adult. Altogether, this cabin can sleep five (adult-size) guests.

dream bunk beds for CC Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Conv Sofa & Berth/Pixie Brenda

There were dual bathrooms in this cabin: one with a toilet and a sink; and the other with the new rounded-style shower and a sink. That design makes it very convenient for a large family. The shower even had a rainhead shower head.

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Shower Bathroom/Pixie Brenda

dream shower2 for CC Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Shower/Pixie Brenda

dream bathroom for CC Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Bathroom/Pixie Brenda

This stateroom also had lots of storage. There was a closet (which also houses the safe) and there was ample room for hanging clothing. There were 8 drawers for folded clothes, as well as a chest which houses extra blankets and sheets but which can be used for extra storage, if necessary. The king bed sits up high so all of our suitcases slid right underneath which was very convenient and a big help in keeping the room neat.

The best part was sitting out on our balcony. Surrounded by a plexiglass wall for maximum viewing, it was a relaxing and peaceful extra, which added so much to our cruise.

pic of veranda for CC1 Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Veranda from Cabin/Pixie Brenda

Last but certainly not least, I have to mention our room steward, Nas. He was kind and made everything lovely for us! His towel animals were the best!

turndown service and towel animal1 for CC Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Towel Snail/Pixie Brenda

towel monkey for CC Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Pirate Night Monkey/Pixie Brenda

If you are thinking about a Disney cruise, I would be happy to tell you more about it; just email me at Brenda@PixieVacations.com. As an Authorized Disney Travel Planner I am more than happy to help you plan your magical cruise.  Best of all, my services are free!

 Disney Dream Stateroom Review

Disney World Planning Tips for when the Parks are PACKED!

December2010 425 500x373 Disney World Planning Tips for when the Parks are PACKED!

Just heard from a bunch of people in the Disney Addict Group and Chip and Co Facebook Page that the parks are getting PACKED!

Remember by late morning, wait times for the Tower of Terror and other main attractions are around 100 minutes.  Attractions like Soarin’ and Toy Story Midway Mania are out of fast passes by late morning.

  • Get to the parks early. Take advantage of extra magic hours if you’re an on-site guest. If possible, leave the morning EMH park after regular hours begin to avoid crowds.  Late night extra magic hours will thin out at around the beginning of the third hour.
  • Consider park hoppers, which will allow you to move to less crowded parks.  Remember that you can add these at any time during your stay, so don’t feel obligated to do so until you know you’ll need it.
  • Don’t expect to do everything you might normally do when you visit. If you’re visiting for the first time, pick out your top must-sees and go for them first. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
  • Enjoy the festive atmosphere of the parks. It’s an amazing time just to sit back and enjoy the holiday cheer.
  • Visit attractions your would normally miss like the Dapper Dans and the Streetmosphere characters.   These underrated attractions add so much to your visit, but it’s easy to miss them when you’re rushing from one ride to the next.   During busier times, consider making this type of experience a priority.
  • Of all the parks, Epcot handles crowds the best. It’s laid out very well and the walkways are huge. If you’ll be visiting on Christmas day, consider this park.
  • Remember that parks often close to capacity on Christmas day.  If you are certain you want to be in a particular park that day, make sure you get there very early.
  • Most of all, enjoy!

It’s a truly magical time of year to visit Disney World. When you come back, make sure you come by the Chip and Co Facebook page and tell us all about it. We always appreciate hearing about your experiences.

Chris writes here and at Everything Walt Disney World. She’s also a member of the Mouse Chat Podcast.

 Disney World Planning Tips for when the Parks are PACKED!

Disney World Quick Tips – Mousekeeping

Slide11 Disney World Quick Tips   Mousekeeping

Here’s a Disney World Quick Tip!

Tipping is an important part of my Walt Disney World budget planning. I budget for Mousekeeping, bell service, and food servers at all my favorite table service restaurants. Each day, I leave a special Mousekeeping envelope with a few dollars inside when we leave  for the day, and I have been blessed with awesome mousekeeping staff when I have traveled.

Now, making towel animals is not a prerequisite for landing a job with the Disney mousekeeping department, but I wanted to share the treasures that Susan and I found waiting for us after long days in the parks. Our special room attendant, Gilma, at the Port Orleans Riverside left us these special mood boosters each day of our stay.

On Thursday, we received a rose.

IMG 3244 Disney World Quick Tips   Mousekeeping

On Friday, it was sweet swans.

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And Saturday was a couple of little ghosts!

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Aside from the artistic gifts, when they have the special talent, Mousekeeping is there to help make your stay better. Here are some tips on ways they can help you. If you need bed boards, bed rails, extra pillows and blankets, baby cribs, safety outlet coers, extra hangers, or to request that your room be cleaned at a specific time, touch HOUSEKEEPING on your in-room phone. If you have forgotten anything at home, or if there is any way they can help to make your stay more enjoyable, I have found often that they are happy to help.

When we were leaving on Sunday, we got to meet Gilma and thank her personally for all our treasures and for taking good care of us. Thank you, Gilma, for giving us that extra special something to come home to each day! We really appreciated it!

If you have any Mousekeepting Quick Tips let us know in the comment box below.

 Disney World Quick Tips   Mousekeeping