"Travel Tuesdays"... Disney World Fastpass Tips!

Today's "Travel Tuesdays" is focused on obtaining the Disney World Fastpasses that you want! This is of course based on the current Fastpass+ system. Disney allows you to reserve 3 Fastpasses per day. However, these have to be in the same park. You can't have 2 Fastpasses in one park and then hop over to another park for 1 more. This is something I'm hoping they change. You can get one additional Fastpass at a time after you've used the first 3, but that's a topic for another post. Anyway, here are the strategies I used to get all of the Fastpasses we wanted (including the much sought after...Meet Anna & Elsa).

5 Tips for Booking Disney World Fastpasses

 1) Stay on site & book Fastpasses 60 days before your trip. Disney allows on-site resort guests to book their Fastpasses 60 days before their trip. Not only that, but you get what they call 60 days plus 10. This means 60 days from the start date of your trip you can book your Fastpasses for the first 10 days of your vacation. If you're staying longer than 10 days you'll have to wait until the next day to book more.

2) Plan Ahead. I did a ton of research to decide which Fastpasses I wanted. I had a spreadsheet that showed what days I wanted which attractions and approximate times. You don't have to be as obsessive as I was, but I would definitely have a game plan.

3) Be online before midnight. I was online, and I logged out of my account at 11:50 pm. I then logged back in at approximately 11:55 pm. Right at midnight everything showed up for me. Keep refreshing your screen! I have heard that sometimes they don't show up until closer to 1 AM . Be patient, but keep refreshing!

4) Book the hardest Fastpasses first - for the last day of your vacation. For example, we have park tickets from Saturday to Friday. I booked the hardest Fastpasses (Meet Anna & Elsa and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train) for Friday. This gives you the best chance of getting them because fewer people have had that day available yet.

5) Be sure you have tickets already linked to your account!!!! This is one that we learned the hard way. My husband and I booked our vacation as a package so everything was included and on our account. We had no trouble on our 60-day mark. However, some of my family members live in Florida and wanted annual passes. They got a better deal on tickets by using a website that their employers offer them for travel discounts. They had planned on buying their annual passes closer to our trip. However, we realized they would need these in order to book their Fastpasses. They quickly scrambled to buy them and assumed all would be well and they would receive an e-mail with the needed information. Unfortunately, that's not how it played out. Because these tickets weren't purchased through Disney, they did not have their official "ticket id number" in time. The "ticket id number" was not e-mailed to them, and they were told they would have to wait until they received them in the mail. Please, please, please if you are booking through someone that isn't Disney, give yourself enough time to get the needed information before your 60-day mark. Also, be sure you go ahead and link your tickets to your account before it's time to choose your Fastpasses.

"Travel Tuesdays"...5 Tips for Cruising

If you've been around my husband or me for very long, you probably know about our love for cruises. It is definitely our favorite type of vacation! Why? There are way too many reasons to name them all, but I would probably narrow it down to: the food, the entertainment, and the relaxation. We love the combination of being able to relax, but at the same time, never being bored. One couple that we know told us recently that they are going on a cruise for their honeymoon in a few months, which inspired me to write today's "Travel Tuesdays." Today, I want to give you 5 tips that we've learned over the years for cruising. We have only been on Royal Caribbean ships, but I think these would apply to any cruise line. I have many more tips that I'll probably post eventually, but feel free to talk to me if you have a question. I'd love to tell you about our favorite excursions and trips!

 5 Tips for Cruising!!!

1) Pack a carry-on with anything you think you might need for the day you board. When you get to the port, they will take your bags for you and eventually bring them to your room. I say EVENTUALLY because you never know how long that may take. All of the bags go through security, so it takes a bit. I would suggest packing a carry-on that includes a swimsuit, sunscreen, a change of clothes for dinner that night, and anything else you might need to get ready.

2) Book excursions through the cruise line. Yes, I know that you can get them cheaper when you get off the ship. Yes, I know this goes against my frugality. However, you are probably going to be in a foreign country. You may not speak the language. There may be a communication error. If you book an excursion through the cruise line and you are delayed in getting back to the ship on time, they will wait for you! Guess what happens if you book an excursion some other way and you're late? Yep...you're going to be left behind and forced to pay out-of-pocket to travel to catch-up with the ship (I'm not sure if trip insurance would cover this or not). See why I'm willing to pay more for these excursions? Oh, and here's a bonus tip. If you go hiking in St. John (see the picture below), be sure to bring bug repellent. I'm pretty sure I've never had that many bug bites at once or maybe not even in my entire life combined. That said, it was still a great excursion!

3) Use credit card points to upgrade to a better room. I have to preface this one by saying that I am not condoning making poor choices with a credit card. This tip is for those of you that are able to manage your credit well. My husband and I have a credit card, but we pay it off every month. We then use the points that we earn to lower the cost of our vacations. I also have to say that a travel agent recently told me that cruises have the worst point conversion (meaning you get less if you use your points on a cruise instead of a different type of vacation), so if you have another trip coming up you may be better off using your points for that. However, we really wanted to try a balcony room on our most recent cruise. We didn't really feel the need to fork over the cash for it, but we had enough credit card points to make up the difference. Thus, we ended up with a lovely balcony room for the cost of an ocean view. I highly suggest ordering room service (it's free) for breakfast and sitting on the balcony to eat. Don't worry if you aren't getting a balcony room, we still loved those cruises just as much!

4) Eat lunch in the main dining room. I'm assuming this is still an option. It's been several years since we've been on a cruise (I know, it's sad). This one actually took us longer than it should have to learn, but I'm so glad we did! I'm not sure if we didn't know the main dining room was an option, or what our reason was, but we always ate lunch at the buffet. One day we decided to try the main dining room for lunch, and I'm pretty sure that's where we've eaten lunch ever since. The buffet is good, but the main dining room is much better. They had multiple entree options to choose from, plus a fabulous salad bar where they tossed the salad for you. It was delicious!

5) Ask for as much food as you want at dinner. No, really. They expect you to do this, and you've already paid for it. Let's say two of the dinner appetizers are a shrimp cocktail and lobster bisque. If you're like me, those both sound really good! Don't fret! Order them both! If you're like a certain someone I know and you can't choose between the lamb and the seafood...try them both! Our waiter even told us to! On lobster night, you can get as many lobster tails as you want! There's a reason one of our cruise directors told us that most people gain a pound a day on a cruise. Don't order a ton if you don't think you'll eat it though, that's just wasteful.

Happy cruising!!!

"Travel Tuesdays"

Hey, guys! I'm sorry, but I don't have a "Travel Tuesdays" for you this week. I have a lot on my plate right now, and I just couldn't get to it today. If you read this and you want to join in on the fun, leave a comment and tell me about one of your favorite trips that you've taken. Maybe that will even be what next week's post is about.                      

"Travel Tuesdays"... 5 Disney Planning Sites

Today on "Travel Tuesdays," I wanted to give you 5 of my favorite Disney planning websites. Note that there are many other sites that I use as well, but these were the first 5 I wanted to share with you. As I stated in this previous post, planning ahead for a Disney vacation is a necessity! These sites will help you so much with that! As always, keep checking back here for more tips as well.

5 Disney Vacation Planning Sites

1) Touring Plans - This site is AMAZING! They allow you to customize your daily plans, and they help you optimize them. You can get a lot of information on this site for free, but you can also pay $12.95 for a yearly subscription to obtain even more information!

2) WDW Prep School - This Facebook page is super helpful! Each Sunday night they have a Question and Answer section on their page. I have asked several questions, and I have always received a very helpful reply. Try it out. If you think of questions throughout the week, write them down, so you'll be ready on Sunday night!

3) Disney Questions - This is another great Facebook page. They post a lot of top 10 lists that I find to be very helpful.

4) Dad's Guide to Disney World - I think my favorite item on this site is the crowd calendar. They also feature full details on attractions, restaurants, and an interactive question section.

5) Easy WDW - This site is fantastic for crowd calendars, cheat sheets, and various other information. Look on the right side of the page for these. Every single day at every park is detailed in paragraph form.

Travel Tuesdays"...Hilton Head Island Restaurants

This week on "Travel Tuesdays," I'm going to tell you about the restaurants we visited in Hilton Head Island, SC this year. When we arrived on the island, we decided we would revisit a few of the restaurants from last year, but we knew we wanted to try new places as well. Here are our thoughts...

The Frosty Frog Cafe

The first restaurant we visited was The Frosty Frog Cafe. This happened to be the first restaurant we visited last year as well. If you're looking for fancy, this isn't your place. However, we love The Frosty Frog Cafe! The prices aren't unreasonable (which is the opposite of most other restaurants on the island). I had Rachael's Crab Cake Sandwich, which was delicious! The roasted red pepper sauce had some kick to it, but it was also quite good! Tanner and Eliana had RSA's Grouper Fingers. We had them last year, and I remembered them being tasty, but they really are great! The batter has a hint of sweetness.  Eliana ate this, and she isn't a big fan of fish. The Frosty Frog Cafe is known for their daiquiri bar. They have at least 25 different flavors! If you like daiquiris, I suggest you try this restaurant. Be careful...some of the varieties have a pretty high alcohol proof.

The Crazy Crab @ Jarvis Creek

Next, we tried The Crazy Crab @ Jarvis Creek for the first time. There are 2 Crazy Crab locations, andI haven't been to the one at Harbour Town, so I can't review it. I assume it would be just as good, though. We had heard good things about  this restaurant last year, but we never managed to make it there. I'm so glad we did this year! We loved it! We expected a long line because they don't take reservations, but we actually walked right in. Apparently we got there just in time, because it did start to fill up quickly. We shared the Broiled Seafood Platter. It came with shrimp, scallops, a crab cake, fresh fish fillet, and stuffed flounder. It was all delicious! We will definitely go back here! Not to mention Eliana sweet-talked us into buying this seahorse. Look how proud she is of herself.

Skull Creek Boathouse

Another favorite from last year was Skull Creek Boathouse (SCB). This restaurant was recommended to us because of the great food and the toys outside to keep children occupied while you wait for a table (note the Lego table in the above picture). This year wasn't quite as great as our experience last year. My main recommendation is not to go to SCB if there is a chance of rain. This is a restaurant that normally has a long wait. However, many of their tables are outside. When it rains, all of those tables are unavailable. When we arrived, there was a chance of rain in the area, so they shut down all of the outside seating. This made the wait extremely long. I believe we ended up waiting about 1.5 - 2 hours. Also, because they were trying to fit more people inside the restaurant, it was very, very loud. The food was still great, though! We split the Low Country Boil again because we liked it so much last year. 

The Old Oyster Factory

This was a new restaurant for us, and I'm so glad we went! Tanner and I both agreed that this was our favorite meal of the trip. The Old Oyster Factory sits on Broad Creek, and it features steak, seafood, and more. They open at 4:45 pm each day, but you can also make reservations through Open Table (look on the restaurant's website under "Reservations"). We decided to go early just in case, but we also made a reservation. We got right in, and we were even able to request a table by the window. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of what Tanner and I both ate because it was a special for the evening. It was some kind of steak and shrimp skewers, and they were delicious! The sauce that was on them is one that I would love to try to recreate at home. If you go here, it may not hurt to ask if they offer this entree. You won't be disappointed.

Hilton Head Brewing Company

This was also a new restaurant for us. The food was good, and the prices were quite reasonable, but I don't have a lot of good things to say for the service. We got a table right away, but we waited close to 30 minutes for the waitress to take our order. Part of this was our own fault. We had seen online that it was Kid's Night, and Eliana was supposed to be able to eat for free. We asked for a children's menu, and the waitress told us they had to print more. We asked if it was in fact Kid's Night, and she said she wasn't sure (she was new), but she would find out. She came back and told us that Eliana could get any kids' meal under $5.00 for free. Meanwhile, we were still waiting for them to print the Kids' Menu. Eventually she brought it to us, and then disappeared again. Needless to say, slow service with an antsy 2-year-old, isn't a lot of fun. However, our food was tasty. I had the grouper wrap, and Tanner had a burger. All in all the Hilton Head Brewing Company had good food at reasonable prices, but don't go there if you're in a hurry. 

Marley's Island Grille

My favorite thing about Marley's Island Grille is that it truly makes me feel like I'm back in the Caribbean. We went here last year, and we decided we would go again. One of the great things about this restaurant is that they have an Early Bird Dinner Menu. For $14.49 you get to pick an entree and it includes soup or salad. You can also make reservations here with Open Table. I had the Broiled Seafood Platter (are you sensing a trend?), and Tanner had the Baked Flounder Imperial. Both were very good.

Skillets Cafe

Last, but not least was Skillets Cafe. This was a new one for us, but we wanted to try it last year. Skillets also offers an Early Bird Menu. The online menu says that it is $18.99 and it includes dessert, but when we got there it did not include dessert, and it was $16.99 (I think). It included a drink, soup or salad, and an entree. I had fried shrimp, and Tanner had shrimp and grits. My fried shrimp was good, but it's also hard to mess that up. Tanner liked his, but he said it wasn't the best shrimp and grits he's had. We would definitely go back here, though. They have an interesting breakfast menu that we hope to try some day.