We got everything we were hoping for with almost no drama or crashing from the DCL site and app (I was using both back & forth like I always do to ensure if one is having a minute, we can switch to the other). 
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Our online check-in was over the weekend so one step closer with not too shabby a boarding group. The lowest weāve been able to get without taking the DCL shuttle.
Fri night will be the Hunger Games: DCL Style for spots at the Royal Gathering. I ask all my kids every time if they still like meeting princesses and want to do it (I would do it all on my own without anyone so Iām going to be online trying for my spot), and so far all 4 kids are still a yes/go for princess meets. I donāt know what it is about meeting princesses, but I love it at the parks and on the ships so itās a not-to-be-missed thing for me.
Iām now also on the hunt for 2 spots to Royal Tea on the Wonder since we didnāt know how much DD5 would absolutely love it and so hadnāt planned to repeat it after doing it once on the Fantasy as a family for all the kids. If it doesnāt work out for the Wonder, Iāve told her that the next cruise that has a princess tea that we book it will go on our list of bookings to get first, so she gets a daddy/daughter date.
For the Treasure in June our booking window opened after realizing she loved it so much. So I was able to secure a spot for her, me and DS13 for their version which will be Adventure Tea (all the princesses will be in pants and Flynn may be there as well as Rapunzel). So DS13 is considering joining me and her, for the chance to see Flynn & Rapunzel (his fave Disney couple). The kids that donāt go to the tea will get some shopping money to decide how to use. DS7 & DD11 jumped up at that offer so are happy to forego the tea.
Now to spend a little bit of brain-power figuring out post-cruise plans for Aprilā¦ 
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UPCOMING
April
Parking reserved near port
Debarkation Day Fri Apr 11
Sea World 10am-8pm
Sat Apr 12
Legoland, open 10am-7pm (back-up Knottās if reservations are full for Legoland, open 10am-10pm)
I finally got some framework of plans laid out for April. Things have been busy for all of us since coming home from Feb, so, I was just this week able to sit down and talk with the family about preferences on what we do before/after.
DH (and probably some of the kids, but I never gave them the option) wanted Disneyland but upon showing him the price difference for 2 days at DL vs. the CityPass we could get that would give us SeaWorld/SD Zoo/Legoland/Knotts and possibly also Universal if we bought the LA CityPass, he quickly agreed DL wasnāt happening. (It was almost a $2k difference for a family of 6 
).
Also, in my mind originally since the cruise is book-ended by weekends, I had wanted to do the weekend before very heavily focused in SD. And the weekend after maybe doing one more thing in SD but moving our homebase (hotel) up closer to LA and possibly doing USH or LA stuff.
If this were our only trip this year, we would keep to my plan, but going over all the costs of these things, DH & I agreed we should keep to just one weekend on one end of the cruise and for life at home it will work better if thatās the weekend after. So, from this point I involved the kids & their input to figure out the plan. I knew hotels in the LA area would be crazy so when I presented options to the kids, I left out USH.
I did a short sentence or two explain of each thing that was not something they were familiar with and gave them the option to pick 2 out of the following:
- SD Zoo
- SD Zoo Safari Park
- SeaWorld
- Legoland SD
- Knottās Berry Farm
And hereās what the kids said:
- SeaWorld: DD11ās 1st pick, DS7ās 2nd pick
- Legoland: DS7ās 1st pick (immediately no deliberation once it was offered & no explanation needed), DS13ās 2nd pick, DD5ās final choice for 2nd pick
- Knottās Berry Farm: DS13ās 1st pick (immediate answer again no explanation needed), DD5 original #2 pick (but changed later)
- SD Zoo: DD5ās 1st pick
- Zoo Safari Park DD11ās 2nd pick
I then asked the kids, IF IF IF IF, USH is an option, where would that rank. For both DSās and DD5 it replaced their #1 pick.
I entertained the possibility of USH for about 3-4 hours. But after spending those hours (last night) trying to find a hotel I gave up. Everything in the area is either a dive in a questionable neighborhood with questionable parking and high fees for it or is $$$$.
I found some acceptable options in Glendale or Sherman Oaks but we would be coming from San Diego leaving there around 8/9pm after doing a day of either the Zoo, Zoo Park or SeaWorld and I didnāt want to go that far north and not be at the hotel until 10/11pm. So I gave up.
So back to the kidsā picks. SeaWorld and Legoland stuck out as ones that I could pick and give everyone one of their choices at least. Plus SeaWorld fit perfectly with the day getting off the ship being A) close to port and B) not open until 10am so we wouldnāt miss any park open hours in the time getting off the ship & driving over & parking.
Also, DH & I have always enjoyed SeaWorld the couple times weāve done it & itās long overdue that our family tries Legoland for the first time, but I am keeping Knottās slotted in as a back-up. Because, with the CityPass you need to make a reservation for Legoland specifically and weāre not getting the CityPass tickets until after the 15th. I donāt think the reservations running out should be an issue, but just in case, planning a back-up.
So thatās where weāre at planning! Now that Iāve made some good progress here, Iāll go back to knocking out the recap of February 
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Couple more items checked off my list. We decided to go onsite for June, 2 days post cruise. So true to my word, if thereās no June WDW thread now, off to go start that.
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I was going to PM you, but thought others might benefit from your answer. Iām pondering cruising on the Destiny next summer, but my oldest will be 11. How does this work with the āopen timeā at Oceaneer? Will he get to use this space outside of the open house? Iām pretty sure youāve successfully navigated this so Iām looking for any insight you have. Thanks 
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Great question! So at 11 he will be eligible for the tween club Edge and they have their own dedicated club space and will only be able to access Oceaneer Club during Open House hours OR if Edge does a ātakeoverā of a part of the Oceaneer Club (they would close that room to the kids checked in for secure programming and then Edge would get to come/in out of that room during that time).
When we did the Wish last year, on all 3 of our legs there was 1 30 min. Edge takeover of the just the Marvel room. It was short but DS went to it every leg of our combined cruises, to maximize his time doing the missions in the hero suit game. Because that is what he had been most excited to do on the whole ship.
We also made sure to prioritize Open House time on Oceaneers with him and one of the things we quickly learned is that during the morning hour or two, the Marvel room was often fully occupied by character meets (so no chance to do missions on the game) and any of the other interactive games at that time were very somewhat competitive to try out. For example, in the Star Wars room they only provided 2 tablets to try the creature game and they were always occupied and, there was often a line for the Imagineer experience (that is always only limited to 2 bays but a lot of adults and teens were excited to do this). If you rope drop this game, that might be the best strategy. And you can get a continental room service breakfast delivered at 7 or 7:30am to snack before the open house starts (usually it was 8am) or breakfast in Marceline is open until 10:45 most mornings so you could head there after the open house starts getting busy.
The time that we found to be the best experience in Oceaneerās for Open House was the extended 9am-3pm session during the time when the ship was docked at Castaway Cay (and I imagine Lookout Cay would be similar since most everyone gets off to enjoy the beach). We had the club to ourselves when we showed up in the morning and thatās when my oldest was able to do all the missions on the Avengers game and do a whole bunch of levels on the Imagineer experience. And then we went up to an empty lunch at the buffet and then me & my youngest still got off after that and went to the beach from 2-4pm (which was also nice because most everyone was already coming back so we had our pick of chairs and beach space).
Almost forgot, there is a very big chunk of Open House time in the afternoon on embarkation day both before and after the muster drill and the suit game does work then. That was another time we found DS13 could sneak in more time on the missions for the hero suit game and the Imagineer bay.
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Thank you for your very thoughtful and helpful answer. Just so Iām 100% clear - I found an itinerary example. My kid can go to Oceaneer (Star Wars/Marvel) at the circled times as long as he has a grown up?
I did book a cruise on the Destinyā¦TBD if Iāll keep it, it depends on how work goes as well as if I get a pay bump. 
Iāve been toying with the idea of using our Castaway morning to play in the pools or kids club, so that was also great to hear.
Thank you so much!!
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He can definitely go to the times circled (grown-up optional). Once they are of age to be out of Oceaneerās, DCL doesnāt necessarily care if they are accompanied. And I believe that even extends to ages where you could opt to give your kids their own freedom to check themselves in/out of the club (at age 8).
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San Diego Plans
Sea World
Legoland
Follow UT Perfect Day mixing up big & little kids
https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/building-perfect-day-legoland-california/
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Which one? I have a spreadsheet but no decisions
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Is this open at all the Open House times? I want to make sure DS gets to see it on the Wish.
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It was open all open houses. It was super competitive in the hour in the morning. Much easier to during the almost all day open house on the day the ship is at Castaway Cay.
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We had our online check-in a few nights ago that went smoother than smooth for both our rooms but it didnāt really matter because we opted for a DCL shuttle so were auto-assigned Boarding Group 3.
Tonight was the booking for Royal Gathering. So much Disney IT fun was had. I did get us a slot, and even on the day I was hoping for, which I am so grateful for.
It would be nice though if the first 3 times I had selected had stuck instead of saying āThe time you have selected is no longer availableā and bringing back a diminishing list of times available to choose from. I could have also done without delayed loading issues on every page on the way to the page to book, including one screen saying I had no reservations for anything Disney Cruise and did I need to link a reservation? (after I was logged in and gone into my reservation to pull up the activity page to book from). And speaking of logging in, of course the last 3 dozen times Iāve logged in itās not needed to send me a one time code, but when I was gearing up to make sure I was logged in 8 minutes ahead of the booking window opening, it needed to send me the code at that exact moment.
Anyway, for tonight, Disney IT 0, Lolabear family onboard bookings 1.
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Quick question for you: A friend of mine is travelling on the Treasure in August. She has heard that as a Silver Castaway Club member, she will have no chance at Enchante reservations. Did you look into those reservations at all?
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Oooh, I didnāt look for Enchante but I did notice that Palo was more limited in options when it was time to book. Someone who is Platinum? (I think?) in our FB group was posting what reservations were showing as open and from that I was able to see what day had the best availability for me to try for right at midnight. I know a lot of Silvers were agonizing about not getting Palo on our page.
Her best bet is if someone in the FB sailing group who doesnāt have reservations is willing to share that same intel for her. And also, keep stalking. People change their plans all the time. Itās totally possible to get it, especially the couple of weeks leading up to the cruise. And definitely if all else fails, visit the dining requests team as soon as youāre onboard to check with them for any possible openings.
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The other family she is travelling with has Gold status (can book sometime this week) so Iāll tell her to ask them to keep an eye on availability for her. Thanks!
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Hey, @lolabear_la Iām watching with excitement for your upcoming cruise on the Treasure! Iām about two months behind you, doing a Western Caribbean in August. Weāre also going to do a couple of days at the parks post cruise. I noticed from your notes here that it looks like you are using DCL transport to and from the port, plus a car rental. Wondered if you would break that down for me. We are going to have six in our group, and I canāt seem to wrap my head around the best way to arrange transportation.
If you donāt have time now, thatās fine. For some reason I donāt seem to be excited to make logistical arrangements for this cruise . . .
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Happy to break that down!
We are doing the DCL shuttle from the airport to the port just the one-way, not using them to get back. Itās $45/person one way, so $270 for our 6.
For after the cruise we hired a private company to pick us up at the port (Away we Go) and get us to the airport where we will pick up a rental car for the couple days after that weāre staying. The Away we Go bill in total was $307 but we also are getting a single stroller rental ($60) through them and also a case of water ($10) so really the ride in total is about $230. The rental from MCO for the couple of days is $264.
We donāt have to pay to park the rental anywhere because we will be onsite and only going to WDW so our total cost for transportation is $764.
I priced it out several different ways before settling on the above and thought I had done a good job tracking it, but turns out I just have my memory to rely on here because I was only tracking rental prices for the full time vs. just the end after the cruise.
To get a car the full time (and pay to park it) was about $100 more than the above at $855.
But I did love the ease of having the car ready to go at the end of the trip so this was a consideration.
I thought I had priced out not having a car at all and having to pay for all our rides everywhere but canāt find that on my comparison sheet. And because we prefer to use our car over a Disney bus even onsite, I was only going to do this if it was economical. And from what I remember, it wasnāt even in ballpark range to consider discussing with DH.
I also did check (but didnāt write it down to keep track) prices to rent a car at the port after the cruise (to then return at MCO when we flew out). But we werenāt fans of this the one time we tried it. The Port Canaveral rental was slow, long line and then tried to give DH an SUV instead the mini-van weād booked and he was willing to try it out so didnāt push back at the desk, but as soon as he got to it and realized we would not be fitting all 6 of us AND our luggage, he had to go right back up to the desk again and wait for them to pull a mini-van to be able to rent it out again. So I was at the pick-up curb with luggage and 4 kids in only partial shade for an hour. It was not ideal in anyway. We prefer to have a ride ready to go upon disembarking so we can just get to where weāre going next.
From memory though the cost of a rental van at the port was significantly higher, $400-$450. Compared to the cost of hiring a ride to MCO ($230) and then a rental from MCO ($265-$320) checked on the same days, it wasnāt too far off and some days it was cheaper to do it how we have it. And even if it had been an extra cost, it would be worth it to me to just be going, even if it means we still have to deal with a rental counter at MCO. At least there I can wait inside with the kids and more importantly where thereās access to bathrooms.
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Thanks so much to taking the time to walk me through your costs and process. It is so helpful! It helps give me a reality check too. Iāve priced out bits and pieces, and so far none of them have made much sense. Iām thinking we may either just rent a car for the whole time (including the parking at the port) if we want to maximize our convenience and want to pay more for that. Or perhaps the most economical way would be just ride-sharing it to the port and back. With 6 people plus luggage, Iād likley do two ubers each way. Even if I am paying $100 each (and I think it would be slightly less), thatās still only $400āmuch less than the DCL transport for 6 or a rental car.
Anyway, food for thought. Thanks again!
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Will you be sharing here after your Treasure cruise or do you have a TR going that Iāve missed? I canāt wait to hear all about it! 
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