[DrDolphin]

The months passed by, I saved my dollars, my quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies too – and waited for what felt like it would never arrive – departure day!

In December, Lesley and I attended Mousefest and had a ball (and yes I know I never finished that trip report)…. And after a week together for Mousefest – I know I felt like Lesley and I could room together on the cruise for two weeks (I hope she felt the same!!)

After the hubbub of Christmas and the New Year died down – we had to make our final payment right at the end of January and then we could book all of our spa appointments, Palo reservations and excursions online. I am a Castaway Club member – so 90-days out was February 10. We had read, looked, planned charted (although will never hold a candle to Karen’s BA Spreadsheet) and were all ready to go with our choices… However, the Disney website failed us miserably!! It appears that 90% of the people sailing on the West-bound relocation cruise must be Castaway Club members who all tried to book on the evening of 10 Feb after 12 midnight…

Neither one of us had any success – and I ended up on the phone with DCL being a very unhappy camper that this website was the only way to book anything – but they lacked the capability (after knowing for almost a YEAR that they had a HUGE number of Castaway Club members that would all try to access at the same time) to handle the load. I send an email to DCL later – but never heard a single peep back.

The following morning I managed to get on for a bit and get spa, excursions and one Palo dinner – but no luck on the tea or the brunch . We will have to plan to be there as soon as we board to get those two!!

Excursion list
Castaway Cay – Parasailing (on my life to do list and now I weigh low enough to do without fear)
And I am taking snorkeling gear so I will snorkel this time (third time is the charm!)
Lesley has an EcoTour by personal watercraft planned for Castaway Cay and she is also parasailing!

Aruba –
Kayaking – Terri

Aruba Island Tour – Lesley

Acapulco -
Walking Tour – Terri & Lesley

Puerto Vallarta –
Horseback riding for Terri
Walking Tour for Lesley

Cabo San Lucas – Canopy Excursion for Terri (Zipline!!! - Another life list item!!)

Spa treatments (only mine here – Lesley is still deciding)
-Cabana massage on castaway cay
-Massage and body wrap on one sea day
-Rainforest (of course!)

At some point (and I don’t have emails on this to tell me when) Lesley decided to extend her trip by 5 days – plus a friend of hers is joining her… so she will be at Beach Club before I arrive on Thursday. She also booked our stay at Boardwalk since I used my points for our Mousefest accommodations back in December (with her newly minted DVC membership!).

Next installment - the plans!