Thursday, June 27, 2013

Disney Mediterranean Cruise with Greece: Day 4 – Rome by Private Vehicle w/ Lift

Day 4 – Rome by Private Vehicle w/ LiftDate of Visit: June 18, 2013

Mik’s first port adventure for the cruise was from Civitavecchia. We decided not to do the first two ports because it required using the tender boat and it was unclear if it would require a transfer. Turned out Villefranche would have been no problem other than it is quite hilly to go around too much in the port town. The gangways up in La Spezia, though, were too narrow at the top and would have likely required carrying Mik and the chair on separately.

Mik did not much care about missing the stuff from La Spezia, but he would have liked to see Monaco. However, he really did love having his first two days basically as at sea days compared to all the people we overheard saying they wished the first at sea day came before the three days of port calls to give more time to adjust to the time and get settled on the ship.


Mik and Mom did only the 4-hour private vehicle w/ lift port adventure. All along we were warned it would only allow time for a panoramic tour, which was fine with Mik and Mom since 4 hours is about their limit on touring, as they are the ones that always prefer the at the hotel/cruise ship parts of vacation and not long days of seeing stuff like Dad and I. Also, it was flexible enough that they could have stayed out longer and just paid for the extra time if they ended up finding something they wanted to spend more time at or wanted to see more things.

The ride between Rome and the port is about an hour to 90 minutes, so that does take up a big chunk of the 4-hour private vehicle tour in Rome. However, they still saw more different parts of Rome than Dad and I saw in our 10.5 hour tour, although that was because we spent most of our time in the Vatican and the other time was just seeing the inside of the Coliseum. Mik and Mom still got to see the outside of both, which while the insides are at least partially accessible Mik probably would not have enjoyed inside much because of the crowds.

Day 4 – Rome by Private Vehicle w/ Lift

During their tour, they mostly viewed stuff from the vehicle, but the driver would stop and open the side door to give a better view. They did get out once, though. They parked about a block from the Trevi Fountain and the driver even pushed Mik to it. He then took a picture of Mom and Mik in front of the fountain. Mik was totally excited to hear when we got back that he went to something I have never been.

Day 4 – Rome by Private Vehicle w/ Lift

One of the coolest parts of the tour for them was that they got to drive around/close to the Capital Hill and Forum area that you normally have to walk through. Mik also liked that the way they tied down the chair made it feel very secure, which really has to be saying something with the way driving and traffic in Rome can be crazy.

Disney Mediterranean Cruise with Greece: Day 3 – Island Dinner @ Parrot Cay

Date of Visit: June 17, 2013

The Island Dinner is the theme for the Parrot Cay restaurant.

Day 3 – Island Dinner @ Parrot Cay


Appetizer – Mik had the Baked Crab Martinique for this appetizer. He liked the crab and the plaintain chip, but not so much the tortilla chips as they seemed like guacamole flavored.

Day 3 – Island Dinner @ Parrot Cay


Entrée – Mik choose the Mixed Grill, although he had extra shrimp and no sausage, since he is not really into sausage. He enjoyed it, although he ended up with more than he could eat, especially since they also gave him extra steak.

Day 3 – Island Dinner @ Parrot Cay


Dessert – Mik had a hard time deciding between the Chocolate S’More Vanilla Cake and the Ice Cream Sundae, but he really enjoyed the Ice Cream Sundae, especially the brownie in it.

Disney Mediterranean Cruise with Greece: Day 2 – Chocolate Croissant @ Goofy’s Galley

Day 2 – Chocolate Croissant @ Goofy’s GalleyDate of Visit: June 16, 2013

Mik was really excited on the first full day of the cruise to discover that they not only had chocolate croissants at Goofy’s Galley, but they still did them the good way. It seems they only do it with the chocolate inside and in a rectangle shape at Disney World and he has been missing the chocolate drizzled and inside actually croissant shaped ones since they at least temporarily seemed to disappear from Disneyland when they were remodeling the bakery on Main Street. They are his absolute favorite breakfast thing, although Mickey waffles are a close second. It was also fun for him to have it the first day since the port call was in France.

Disney Mediterranean Cruise with Greece: Day 1 – Let the Magic Begin Dinner


Day 1 – Let the Magic Begin Dinner
Date of Visit: June 15, 2013

The first night of the cruise we had dinner in Lumiere’s, although the dinner menu is the same Let the Magic Begin menu in all the restaurants that night.


Day 1 – Let the Magic Begin Dinner

Appetizer – Mik choose the Chicken “Basteka” and found it so-so. Not sure if it was the spices and/or the cinnamon/sugar sweetness that made it only okay.

Day 1 – Let the Magic Begin Dinner


Soup – Mik also had the Blue Crab and Seafood Chowder before his main course. He thought it tasted good, although he was expecting a thicker/creamier soup like clam chowder and this was thinner broth.
Day 1 – Let the Magic Begin Dinner

Entrée – Mik went with the Yachtsman Steak House Cut Grilled Sirloin Steak. He loved it and we loved that the waiter cut it up for him. He also really liked the cheese potato that came with it.

Day 1 – Let the Magic Begin Dinner


Dessert – Mik had the Apple Tart-Tartin as his dessert.

Disney Mediterranean Cruise with Greece: Barcelona Airport/Port Ground Transfers

Arrival - Barcelona Airport to Port Experience

Date of Visit: June 15, 2013

Upon arrival at the airport it was easy to find the Disney Cruise people by baggage claim. They odd thing was that they sent us already out to the bus before even asking if we wanted an alternative option. The buses do not have lifts, but they could make alternative arrangements (sounded like a private vehicle with lift). Since it would have taken half an hour and Dad was with us, Mik choose to have Dad carry him onto the bus and the chair easily fit in the luggage area underneath.

It would have been nicer if they had asked if we wanted an alternative before walking out of the airport like when we checked in Vancouver and had to wait for the bus with lift to arrive. We totally were prepared for an extra wait, but we thought they just happened to already have something there when we were walked out (involves escalator/elevator) with a group to a waiting bus. If we had also realized we would end up at the port before boarding began, but with a high enough number that we ended up just in the all aboard abandoning the group numbers five before ours situation waiting for the transfer at the airport would have been better than at the port. It all still worked out good, just would possibly do it differently in the future.

Departure - Port to Airport Experience

Date of Visit: June 27, 2013

Several days before returning to Barcelona we got a message in our stateroom telling us that a vehicle would be available to take us to the airport at 8:15 a.m. on disembarkment day.  We got off the ship right after breakfast around 7:45 a.m. and they first tried to direct us to the buses.  When we told them we were supposed to have a vehicle with lift they quickly got a taxi around (it is all paid for by Disney when you get buy the ground transfer).  It was just a mini van with lift in the back.  It barely would have been able to seat us four much less our luggage, so Dad and I had to take the bus with luggage and Mom and Mik went in the taxi.  It was kind of inconvenient to have to split up, but they do drop you at same spot when you get there and we were not that far behind leaving the port as they had the buses leaving every ten minutes or so full or not.  However, with the chaoticness of the Barcelona Airport and having to wait for someone to escort us just to go through security with the wheelchair I think we would have been cutting it close if we had left the port at 8:15 a.m.  Of course, that was nothing compared to the back and forth in circles that happened to us when we got to Miami.

Disney Mediterranean Cruise with Greece: Disney Magic Stateroom 7138

Date of Visit: June 15-27, 2013

We knew the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder had some differences, but we sure did not expect that stateroom 7138 would be any different on the Magic than when we were on the Wonder in Alaska.  For the most part it is exactly the same.  The size and layout is the same.  However, there is one huge difference.  There is no grab bar that comes down on the side of the toilet like Mik loved on the Magic since it was half like how his old bathroom had one on each side of the toilet.  Not only is there no grab bar to come down, but the only grab bar by the toilet is behind it.  How useful is that?  Hopefully, when the Magic goes in for its upgrades this September that is one of the things that will be changed.

Disney Magic Stateroom 7138

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Deluxe Studio at Disney's Saratoga Springs

Disney's Saratoga SpringsDate of Visit: March 4-9, 2013

Since we usually end up eating in the parks anyways and there were even more food things Mik wanted to try at the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival this trip, we thought we would try a studio for the first time instead of a one bedroom like we have done every other time at a DVC resort.  Plus, we used our points this year to get a concierge level one for the 2014 marathon and did not want to borrow much from 2014.

Disney's Saratoga Springs

Entering the rooms they have mats that are a nice thought, but rather annoying with the wheelchair.  Actually, not so fun for stepping on either with the spiky style.  I suppose you could move it aside, although I wonder if it would just be put right back in place every day.

Disney's Saratoga SpringsDisney's Saratoga Springs

The bathroom was good.  Mik actually surprised me in that he was able to use the toilet on his own when we left him in the room one day, which he often cannot do with the raised toilets.  The shower was good as a roll in and holding the shower head to use.  For standing under it, though, it was worn out and kept sliding down to spray pretty much back at the wall instead of out or straight down.

Disney's Saratoga Springs


The kitchenette area was pretty functional.  The microwave was perfect for Mik, since he tends to just crawl around when in the room.  He actually used it to make his first ever quesadilla made all by himself.

Disney's Saratoga Springs


The deluxe studio has one standard bed and one sofa bed.  The room gets extremely crowded when the sofa bed is out, although it was better to just leave it out than deal with the annoyance it was to take it out in the first place.

The oddest thing about the room, though, is that it has a closet next to the bed.  You can barely walk sidestep between the bed and the wall to get to it much less have it actually accessible to someone in a wheelchair.  At least there is an easy to access closet in the entry, though.

Our conclusion is next time we will stick to our usual of a one bedroom or even a standard hotel room at the All Star value resorts.  The microwave was nice, but even the All Star resort we had just stayed at had mini fridges and the actual bed is so much more preferable than the annoying sofa bed.  However, Mik and I did decide it would not be so bad if it was just the two of us, as we would not need to fold the sofa out and it would be roomier than a hotel room then.  However, the inability to override the thermostat at Saratoga Springs does not make me likely to choose it again, as kept being too cold during our stay (it was very cold for Florida standards this trip) and I imagine it is too hot other times of the year.

Destination Info:

Disney's Saratoga Springs
1960 Broadway
Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830