December 13, 2008 Western Caribbean!! Let's get acquainted!

[Stinasmom]

Hey all!

If you want to participate in the Magnet Exchange- PM Andrea (Sillyandi) with your family name and Cabin #. A few weeks before we sail Andrea will send you the list of Names/Cabin #'s and sometime while you are on the cruise you are to deliver a magnet to each door. Your magnets should represent where you are from (ie a Grand Canyon magnet for AZ!) They don't have to be fancy, i fact you can make your own if you'd like!

If you want to participate in the Fish Extender Gift Exchange- PM Andrea (Sillyandi) with your cabin # & names/ages of people in cabin AND include if you have a preference of which day you want to deliver (ie Pirate Night, Grand Cayman Day, etc). A few weeks before we sail Andrea will send you the list of names/cabin #'s and your assigned day for delivery. You should plan to deliver 1 gift per person in each cabin, about $1 value per person. It doesn't have to be the same for everyone, doesn't have to be extravagant, just something fun!
Ideas for FE Gifts- Pirate tattoos, eye patches, candy (CHOCOLATE !), Disney stickers, pens or anything Disney. Oriental trading always has fun little stuff!

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE SPREADSHEET FOR FE EXCHANGE:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=phlM75-8Q1XzeVMmOWRwuPA&hl=en
OK, we are down to the wire so I will be closing both lists on FRI Nov 7th. If you want to be in either or both exchanges then you will have to tell me by Friday. This way we will all have enough time to make or buy our FE gifts & magnets.

So far everyone who has contacted me has said they want to do both the Magnets AND the Fish extender gifts so I have only made one list. If I am wrong, please let me know ASAP so that I can make separate lists.

So, here's who's with us::wave2:

As of Nov, 2008 we have the following:

Stinasmom (Marcy 41), DH42 (Vijay), DD12ish (2 weeks shy at cruise time!), DS 7

PenskeSth1 (Michele 42), David DH46, TiffanyDS10, DaveyDD19

SillyandI (Andrea 35), DH 36, DD10, DD8, DS7, DD4, (+ friends w/boys 8 & 5)

STLDisneyFreak (Michael & Sandra), DD6, DD4

dweitzel0 David and Fairyduster Hillary, MollyDD6 & KatieDD4

Dr. G 40, DW 39, DD 13, DD11, DS15, DS9, DS6

Katiesmommy (Lucinda), DH46 (Casey), Katie DD4, Carrie DD2.5

Mom2grlys (Elizabeth 36), DH 39, DD12, DD10, (+extended family)

Skallywag (Brenda) DH, + 2 grown DDs

IndyDisneyFan (Laura) DH, DD22, DS12

disnyrcks (Leslie & Joe) DD14,DS7,DD6,DD4,DS3

tmk0730 (Tracy & Bill) DS2

aleickwort (Audrey 32) DH33, DS7

momtocutestdogever & DH

cripps626 (Sommer), DH, DS22mo

grumpy-gramps (John & Barb)

WDWPirates Kerri & Jim

AuntKatKat Katherine, Jim DH, Kelly DD6, Daniel DS 5

friendw/boys Mandy, Brian DH, Zachary DS9, Benjamin DS5

Brad98 DebZ, Dmom(75), DS10

cmw02j Courtney & Lovell--Honeymooners!

1char Charliebeth, DH (Jim), DD Kathie, SIL Chad, GD9 Katelynn, GD4 almost5 Hailey

vabchmom456 and DS11

CKB3 Curtis & Kim Honeymooners also!!

fbtbdisney Teri & Frank

Amy01867 DGM, DGD, 2 DMs, 2 DDs, DS9, 2 DD6s, DS4

TanCharLeo Tania & Charlie

KC-Disney Karen, Troy, DS12 Jeremy, DS10 Justin

KerriL Kerri, Richard, DS19 Nicholas, DD 17 Jordan, DD 7 Lilly

lynnj DH, DS7, DD4


Join in if you are on this cruise!!:grouphug:

Marcy

[PenskeSth1]

We are there with ya! We also have been on two other DCL cruises. Our last cruise we booked nearly two years out. Dh is already excited about this cruise.
We are in Cat 5 room 7564.

Cruising will be DH (46) at time of cruise, Myself (42) DS (10) and maybe DD (19) not sure if she will be able to go as she will be at college. She's not happy that she may not be able to go. We have her on the cruise, but we may have to take her off.

IT IS NEVER TO EARLY TO GET EXCITED ABOUT A DCL Cruise.:love:

Michele

[Stinasmom]

Hi Michele!

When I found our thread buried back on page 3, I wondered if anyone else was as anxious as me!:cool1:

We will be me (41 at time of sailing), DH (42), DD(12) and DS(7). Sounds like we are almost the same age! (I have the BIG 4-0 B-day in about 5 weeks...:eek: )

I am jealous of you already for living in Florida! I tried to talk DH into it as he could likely get a job there, but with our family all here and the weather... Although the weather is one reason WHY I would love to live there. We are finally having temps above freezing this week, melting the snow.
Were you close to the tornado destruction of last week? That was really a tragedy. We have some family friends who live in the Villages, but they were spared.

So, we have months to chat! But, I am so glad to have gotten a response so quickly! We're the smart ones who got the lowest prices for this trip!

Oh, we are in 6610, Cat. 6. It is our first time with a verandah, had cat. 9s before. We are really looking forward to that!

Marcy

[Stinasmom]

Anyone else out there :wave2:
sailing with us?:boat:
It's never too early to be planning!:goodvibes

[PenskeSth1]

Hello Marcy

We are south of where the Tornado touched down. That was definitely a scarey deal. You never can tell with weather down here.

DH and I are from the North East area and sometimes we get to saying how much we miss winter and the snow. After living down here where it is warm "most" of the time, I don't think either one of us could deal with the frigid temps anymore.:scared:

I recentely made a reservation for a friend of ours to cruise with us. She is in a cat. 11 room right across from our room. This will be her first cruise, and she is extremely excited. She is going to be 46 at the time of sailing. It looks like we are all around the same age.

We are the smart ones booking early. I like the idea of getting to pick my own room #. We have had a verandah for all of our cruises as I am highly claustaphobic. I do spend alot of time relaxing on the verandah, that is my quiet place.:)

Looking forward to chatting more and meeting fellow cruisers.

Michele

[Stinasmom]

OK, it's been a month since I started this thread...
Anyone else out there sailing with us yet? C'mon! It will be the best!! You get DCL at Christmas time and can still be home with the extended family for the actual holiday! :santa:

Hey Michele-- We are one month closer to sailing!!:yay:

Marcy

[Stinasmom]

Time to bump up again!
Anyone else out there sailing with us?
It's never too early to plan! Besides, the anticipation is so much more fun when you share it with others!:thumbsup2

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

I didn't want to start my own thread and be lonely, so I waited patiently... and here you are!!

I'm Andrea (35 at time of cruise...OH OUCH!) and I'll be bringing along DH36, DD10, DD8, DS7 & DD4. Yes we've been busy(for some reason that's the first thing out of most people's mouths when they hear how many kids we have.)

We are also bringing along our dear friends and their 2 boys- 8 & 5 at sailing. We've been trying to convince our extended family to come along for a family reunion, but no one else is a planner like me, so I'll have to wait a year to get firm commitments.


We're from Sunny So Cal and I have to say I am totally Disney crazy, and my family is pretty darn close to as obsessed! After the last cruise DH said "yep" we're never cruisin another line again. Bought & Sold Disney forever!"

He's never been passionate about anything, so that is a true proclamation!

Anyway, nice to meet you all, looking forward to getting to know all of you, and obsess with you!

Andrea

[Stinasmom]

:yay: Yeah! Welcome Andrea! :wave:
I love to hear about other Disney crazed families. Around here it is mainly me... although the kids are regular Mouse lovers!
DH claims to get Disney'd out! Which made something he did recently all the more surprising...
We are going to Disneyland this May 26-30th!! He booked it all by himself! Shocker, really.:eek:

I am leaving the day after tomorrow for WDW! :cool1:
It will be a quick 4 day trip with a friend for a mini Jazzercise convention (I am an instructor). I am thrilled to be going to WDW and DL within the same two months!

So, welcome again, Andrea!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

Wow, maybe we can meet up at DL in May, we have passes and go just about once a week. If you need any tips, etc, let me know!
Have fun at WDW!

[SILLYANDI]

Marcy, I just read your signature and realized that we were on the SAME wonder cruise in December 06! How did we not meet through the last cruise meet? WEIRD!
We had such a good time we re-booked on board knowing we would switch to Dec 08 when rates came out. When the news of panama canal came out I was thrilled-but DH was worried about spending that many days on a ship with the kids (we live with them 365 days a year and he's worried about 2 weeks?!)
Anyway, we have had such good luck with WDW in early Dec that we picked this cruise-How funny that we were both thinking alike!
kinda Scary....

[Stinasmom]

Hi Andrea!

Back from WDW yesterday... Whew! I was exhausted!

It is likely that we didn't meet on our December '06 Wonder cruise because we actually arrived in Orlando on December 10th for a week at the parks, then sailed on the Dec. 17th departure. I don't know about you but I found that on a short cruise it was hard to find time to meet up with any others. Our cruise meets was practically a bust!

We actually tried to get on the eastbound repo for August '08, but DCL's system kicked out our reservation and by the time our TA realized it the cruise was sold out. She felt really bad and DCL managers were trying to figure out something for us... but we decided to put the agony to rest and just book this Western for 12/08 instead. Saved a TON of money too!

We also love to travel in December... My DH teaches at a college so he is done by the end of the first week. We have found the second week of December to have really low crowds but still have all the Christmas decorations and LOTS of CMs training for the big crowds.

I am meeting two other friends and kids at Disneyland who live in southern Calif. on May 29th as they have APs and can't go over the weekend. If you are going to go that day, I will definitely want to make the effort to meet you too! We are going to go on May 28th too, but realize it will be busy!!

Off to a meeting!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

Our cruise meet was pretty weak. We had great plans, but we just couldn't seem to get it together at the same time. We had planned on getting together at the sail away party, but one group got delayed at the terminal, my kids all needed naps before dinner, most of the group had early seating so they were rushing around. It really was too short.
We did do something kinda fun, we did a magnet exchange-we all brought magnets that represented the area where we are from and put them on the others' doors. It was fun to see all of the magnets appearing on our door. The kids had fun finding all the other rooms to leave our magnets.

I wrote "Disneyland" on our calendar for the 25th, hopefully we can get together. I am so busy right now with PTA, Girl Scouts & every thing else I volunteer for, everything is winding down and it gets crazy-I might just forget.
We are also doing the March of Dimes Walk this weekend-my son was a little tiny preemie and we do it every year, so I'm out of my mind trying to get everything done, I feel like I'm losing my mind! The baby asked me today if she could wear pants..I was so busy, I took off her pj's & sent her to the bathroom. She came out and didn't have pants on for about an hour before she finally asked me! Mother of the year I tell ya!:rotfl:

[PenskeSth1]

Hello everyone,
I haven't had much time to post lately, been pretty busy. DD just had her prom (at the Swan and Dolphin hotel) and we have been making plans for her graduation party May 22nd. She will be going off to college in the fall:eek: . I don't look forward to that at all, neither does her brother. I feel like there is always something to be done.

I was just on line looking for activities for DS Cub SCout pack meeting this Thursday and thought I would stop by for a second and say hello!

Hope you all have a good week.

Michele

[PenskeSth1]

Bumping back up to page !...;)

[STLDisney_Freak]

We are officially on the cruise. It will be our first Disney Cruise and first cruise ever. I'm super excited. It will be myself, husband, mother, and two daughters which will be 4 and 6 at the time they cruise. :banana:

[dweitzel0]

Hi all. We just returned from our first Disney Cruise (8/23/07 Wonder Cruise) and had such a good time that we rebooked for the 12/13 Western Caribbean. With me will be my wife (fairyduster) and two daughters 6 and 4 at the time of the cruise. We skipped the meet on our last cruise and regretted it. Hopefully we can meet some of you this time. We also live in Southern California (I saw someone else from here as well), Thousand Oaks to be exact. Now its just waiting 15 more months!

[Stinasmom]

Welcome dweitzel0 and STLDisney_Freak!
Looks like you have daughters the same age. That should help insure they all have fun at the kids clubs. You could let them email a bit or send pictures back and forth before cruising, they all be fast friends at embarkation!

I am hoping to find others my kids ages too. DD will be 12 (or 2 weeks shy of it), and DS will be 7 1/2.

This will be our 3rd cruise. Our most recent was also a 4 night Wonder. WAY too short. Our cruise meet really never happened but we wouldn't have had much time to do anything together anyway. We were going to at least meet for wine tasting on the sea day, but we got a surprise double dip to CC due to bad weather the 1st day.
My DD, on the other hand, had 2 great friends she met on this forum and we hardly ever saw her!

On our 1st cruise, 7-night West Coast, we had a big meet, exchanged trinkets from our state or region, kids got together, and I still keep in touch with 2 gals. I have seen them both since while traveling as one lives near Disneyland, and the other in Hawaii.
Sooo... you never know what can happen making friends on a Disney ship!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome to both of you!
I live in Sam Dimas-I have relatives in Thousand Oaks...Small world!

I'm glad to see some activity here! It's been dead for quite some time!

My kids will be DD4, DS7, DD8 & DD10 at sailing (I think??) so I have some that are in the same age group as both of you too!
Andrea

[Stinasmom]

Welcome to both of you!
I live in Sam Dimas-I have relatives in Thousand Oaks...Small world!

I'm glad to see some activity here! It's been dead for quite some time!
Andrea

Yea, took the summer off from the DIS... Well, almost. I am addicted to the PODcast!!:hippie:

Also, I got pretty burnt out and just plain burned :furious: last January when I thought I was going to get our family on the Eastbound REPO through the Panama Canal for next August. I was trying to keep up with that cruise meets thread that grew to like 100 pages popcorn:: even before the reservations opened up! I had 52 posts and then the fateful day came (January 31st) when we all tried to get the 2008 reservations we wanted...:sad2:

I had a TA from DU :wizard: working on transferring ressies I made onboard in December, which she though she did, however, Disney's system kicked us out and by the time she tried to remedy this (just hours later), that particular sailing was completely booked. She though Disney would give us priority on a waitlist due to their screw up, but at top tier pricing:headache:.... We were looking at 11K-12K for a Cat. 6....

This Western Caribbean was our second and more logical choice since we can enjoy WDW at Xmas time too... and for WAY less than 11K!

So... I am really looking forward to getting to know you all and chatting about our plans for THIS cruise! By extending the preplanning and planning out for months (just under 15 now?), I feel like I get more value for the $$!

Here's to keeping the thread alive now!::yes::

[PenskeSth1]

Hello everyone,
Welcome dweitzel0 and STLDisney_freak!

I hope you all had a great summer.

Well I sent out DS and DD passport apps the middle of Aug and just received their passports yesterday. Either they are speeding up the process or they just came quicker because they already had passports but they were expired. Either way I was glad they came so soon.

Making a quick trip to WDW this Thursday-Sunday, we are going to MNSSHP and staying at FW. It is just a quick Disney fix but it works.

Reading all the posts and looking at the pictures sure does make ya wish it was Dec 2008. At least we are getting closer, I know when we first made our ressie we were at 24 months.:rolleyes1

Michele

[dweitzel0]

This Western Caribbean was our second and more logical choice since we can enjoy WDW at Xmas time too... and for WAY less than 11K!

We looked at the repo cruises and even the Mexican Riviera which would have been really convenient since we live in CA, but the prices were CRAZY expensive.

I don't feel at all bad about going to Florida in December though. We have done Disneyland many times during Christmas but never Disney World. We are still not sure if we are going to spend any time at the parks. We tried a land and sea in August and it was exhausting. I plan on making airline reservations in December so I guess we still ahve a few months to make up our minds.

[PenskeSth1]

Bumping up to the front.

Hopefully if we keep it somewhat on the first couple pages it will help other cruisers sailing with us find us easier..(if you understand that):)

[SeaSickPsycho]

I am thinking of booking this cruise for my family. Has anyone done this trip before? What is the best way to get the best rate?

[Stinasmom]

I am thinking of booking this cruise for my family. Has anyone done this trip before? What is the best way to get the best rate?

Welcome SeaSick!

Not sure if you have ever cruised before, but as for booking and getting the best price.... Well, I think you will find that the price is pretty consistent between the DCL website and what most travel agents will quote you. The difference could be if a travel agent or agency is able to offer onboard credits or other incentives (like Costco's gift card).

Doesn't hurt to find out thought...
First check the DCL website for their price. You have to decide which category stateroom you want and if you want their insurance and transfers.
Then contact a TA, like Dreams Unlimited who sponsor this website, and ask for a quote.
One thing to know about booking cruises is that unlike booking airline reservations or hotel rooms, Travel agents get a commission from the cruise line... so they WANT your business! Besides, if you don't have tons of time to do all the travel planning they can be very helpful. I do suggest going with an agent who is a Disney specialist.

Also, by booking this cruise (December 13th) vs. the one following which gets into the Christmas holiday time you will save tons of $$!

I haven't cruised the actual Western Caribbean itinerary yet but have sailed on both the Magic and the Wonder. There are great trip reports and lots of information about the ports of call on these forums, however.

If you have any other questions, just ask!

Marcy

[PenskeSth1]

Welcome SeaSick!

We have done both the seven day Eastern and the Western. The Eastern gives you one more sea day but we prefer the Western.

Key West is alright but we enjoyed Grand Cayman and Cozumel the most. In GC we went to a beach not far from the port and rented wave runners.

In Cozumel we rented scooters and rode to Paradise Beach where we spent the day. We bought wrist bands so we could use all the amentities that the Beach had to offer. Water trampoline, floating iceberg, kayaks, we also got two lounge chairs and an umbrella. The food there was excellent. For a deposit the kids also rented snorkel gear and went and snorkeled around the pier.

We don't do any excursions, we just prefer to go off on our own. This next cruise we are hoping to make it to the turtle farm and to Hell!

Michele

[SeaSickPsycho]

Welcome SeaSick!

We have done both the seven day Eastern and the Western. The Eastern gives you one more sea day but we prefer the Western.

Key West is alright but we enjoyed Grand Cayman and Cozumel the most. In GC we went to a beach not far from the port and rented wave runners.

In Cozumel we rented scooters and rode to Paradise Beach where we spent the day. We bought wrist bands so we could use all the amentities that the Beach had to offer. Water trampoline, floating iceberg, kayaks, we also got two lounge chairs and an umbrella. The food there was excellent. For a deposit the kids also rented snorkel gear and went and snorkeled around the pier.

We don't do any excursions, we just prefer to go off on our own. This next cruise we are hoping to make it to the turtle farm and to Hell!

Michele
How do you get to the turtle farm and Hell? I have some ideas but I don't think that is what you were saying.

[PenskeSth1]

How do you get to Turtle farm and Hell?

We are either going to take a taxi or what we prefer to do is rent a jeep or vehicle of some type and drive ourselves with the help of a map.

We rented a jeep in St. Martin one year and drove all over the place, we had a great time sight seeing on our own. We just have to keep a close eye on the watch to make sure we get back to the ship before it leaves....;)

You don't have to go on your own though, there are plenty of excursions that go to alot of nice places.

HTH
Michele

[Stinasmom]

Hey, hey, hey! A month has gone by and we got lost in oblivion!

I have to tell you all... I was close to canceling or rebooking this cruise because my daughter is quite involved in ballet, and the studio here in town (a rather small town) is probably going to put on a full scale production of the Nutcracker next December.

She is a gifted dancer and I didn't want to take this performance opportunity away from her... BUT... we have been rethinking our priorities... AND...

She wants to cruise even if it means missing a weekend of performances!:banana:

We actually are planning to hit the parks the week or at least 5 days before the cruise too, and since we have been watching the Holiday specials on WDW on both Travel Channel and Food Network, we are convinced we need to cease this opportunity.

AND--- have you gotta load of the new pricing??? We could never get this same cruise for the price we are getting... We even priced (dare I admit it:scared1: ) Royal Caribbean! Since we booked on board and early after the itinerary was released, our price just can't be beat. I am not giving it up!
(I feel like a child holding tight to a toy a larger child is trying to pull out of my hands:p )

I thought I'd share something else with all of you on this thread...
On our first cruise (DCL west coast 6/2005) we met some great people on this cruise meets thread. Two others and I have kept in touch since and we have able to visit each... happily, since one lives in sunny Hawaii and the other lives in Orange County near Disneyland.
Well, this March all three of us and our families are converging on Disneyland for three days of overlapping vacations! :yay:
You just never know what comes of this thread and the friends you meet!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

We still talk often with a family we met on the board form our last cruise in 2006! I am usually here all the time (on the DIS) but recently I have taken on too many responsibilities and have had to sacrifice.

EXACTLY ONE YEAR TO GO! Can you believe it? Our kids started their countdown last night. They were talking about how many days until Christmas when the oldest realized that we would be getting on the Magic in a year and a day so they made a calendar and hung it on the wall. They forgot all about Christmas!

[Tinker_Bell16]

Hi there everybody. I can't believe how many people are already planning for this date next year. My mom is, she hasn't booked it yet. Least I don't think. :scared: unless she did it with no one noticing. But this is the date she has set for. I went on a disney cruise 07 summer and had a blast. It was on the Wonder.

But now I'll be going around Christmas which is way cooler. Because its really could around christmas in Maryland. It'll be me(17 now, I'll be 18 when we go so that means I can go party with my sister in the clubs :banana: ) My Older sister Danielle(19. She'll be 20 when we go.) My mom and dad. (They'll kill me if I post there age. :rolleyes1 ) and my youngest sister Kennedy (12, she'll be 13 when we go.)

My mom plans on signing my little sister Kennedy up for disboards so she can make some friends before we go, and meet up with them. (If anybody has any kids around my lil sis's age lemme know so that I can tell her and we'll introduce them to each other.) Danielle hasn't decided if she'll make an account or not. I think this site is cool because you get to meet new people.

We won't be going to Disney World before we get on this time. We did that last summer and were wiped out alot the first day of the cruise.

So thats my little intro. :dance3: Hope I get to know some of you all better, and even get to meet you on the ship. Happy Holidays.

-Cassie

[PenskeSth1]

Welcome Tinker_bell16!

We are finally under a year to go! We just got done making our final payment so we are ready to cruise.

We are headed to WDW for the next week. We must be crazy as It is a zoo there this time of the year.:rolleyes1 DH works out of state 9 months of the year and this seems to be the only time we can get away for a vacation.

DS has his playoffs in soccer today and tomorrow and then we are off to Disney world tomorrow night. What a hectic weekend.

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas.

Michele

[Stinasmom]

Here's welcoming you too, Tink!

My daughter will be almost 12 (like within 2 weeks) when we sail and gets along with older girls well... she is the youngest in her dance classes by 2 years. She and your (will be 13 year old) sis might want to correspond. The only draw back is that at 12 and 13 they are in different kids clubs! I don't know if they ever make exceptions allowing 12 year olds in the Stack.... and I am not sure I would want them to! But they could find lots of other things to do if they find enough in common.

Michele-- let me know what the parks are like when you are there. I am thinking we might stay on for a week after the cruise but am scared of the crazy crowds. Are there times of the day that are better? Certain parks on certain days better?
I was thinking of just doing the hard ticket events that week like MVVCP and the candlelight processional dinner package. And the rest of the time either bearing with long lines and crowds or just hanging at the resort!
I was also considering SeaWorld's Discovery Cove that week since the only let in 1000 people per day any day of the year. It is very $$ however.
Good luck and keep your sanity!

Marcy

[Tinker_Bell16]

Here's welcoming you too, Tink!

My daughter will be almost 12 (like within 2 weeks) when we sail and gets along with older girls well... she is the youngest in her dance classes by 2 years. She and your (will be 13 year old) sis might want to correspond. The only draw back is that at 12 and 13 they are in different kids clubs! I don't know if they ever make exceptions allowing 12 year olds in the Stack.... and I am not sure I would want them to! But they could find lots of other things to do if they find enough in common.

Michele-- let me know what the parks are like when you are there. I am thinking we might stay on for a week after the cruise but am scared of the crazy crowds. Are there times of the day that are better? Certain parks on certain days better?
I was thinking of just doing the hard ticket events that week like MVVCP and the candlelight processional dinner package. And the rest of the time either bearing with long lines and crowds or just hanging at the resort!
I was also considering SeaWorld's Discovery Cove that week since the only let in 1000 people per day any day of the year. It is very $$ however.
Good luck and keep your sanity!

Marcy


Thanks for the welcome. :santa:

Stinasmom: My little sister hasn't really shown an interest of wanting to go to the Stack, but my mom thinks if she makes a few friends that she'll decide to go. But if she doesn't mom's going to but her in the 10 or 11 to 14 club that just started up. But I'm sure they'd find some things in common with each other. My little sister gets along with just about everyone. But like I said before, mom said she'll probally sign my little sister up for Disboards so she can talk to more people. Plus she has a yahoo email account. They can talk through there to if your daughter has an email address.

[PenskeSth1]

Stinasmom,

I will let you know how crazy the parks are. I think we went a few years at this time and swore we would "NEVER" do it again. LOL DH and the kids DS 9 and DD 18 will go and bear the crowds better than me. I prefer to hang at the resort and just RELAX. I go into the parks for just a couple hours a day.

We use to do the MVMCP, but last year it was so crazy crowded we decided to pass this year. Now we just do MNSSHP at Halloween. I imagine it will be crowded as before. I look forward to the extra magic hours personally.:)

Michele

[Tinker_Bell16]

Welcome Tinker_bell16!

We are finally under a year to go! We just got done making our final payment so we are ready to cruise.

We are headed to WDW for the next week. We must be crazy as It is a zoo there this time of the year.:rolleyes1 DH works out of state 9 months of the year and this seems to be the only time we can get away for a vacation.

DS has his playoffs in soccer today and tomorrow and then we are off to Disney world tomorrow night. What a hectic weekend.

Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas.

Michele


Blah. Sorry about not replying to this before hand with my other comment. I was trying to do 3 things at once while trying not to flood the bathroom :rotfl:

Really. Good luck to that. Around Christmas time there is supposed to be a mad house.

I really can't wait till 12/13. My mom has to get leave from work and so does my dad and then they'll actually book. But this will defiently probaly be the best cruise so far when we go.

Hope your weekend goes well.

-Cassie

[theodorechipmunkluvr]

Hi eveyone I am Rachel I am 13 yr( will be 14 on Cruise) and going wth my parents and little bro( he will be 7 when we go)! i cant wait! This will be my 5th cruise( i know ALOT!) 3 of the 4 were ruined because of the Hurricaines!
I cant wait. i want to have friends and people to hang out with so if you have daughters (or sons:rolleyes1 ) private message me. i will be glad to email with them. Ok cant wait! :cool2:

[PenskeSth1]

I have to start by saying my Son's soccer team won their divisions championship on Sunday the (23rd). We had such a hectic weekend with his soccer playoffs Saturday and Sunday and then having to head to Disney that afternoon after his game. All I can say is that it is a good thing we live so close! (only 40 min. drive). LOL

Marcy,

We arrived and checked into our room Sunday about 7:00. We loved our room at OKW. It was a 2 bedroom villa. We didn't head out to any parks that night we just checked out the main building and pool.

We went to Animal Kingdom on Monday, just to get it over with. (This is our least favorite park). We figured it wouldn't be as crowded as the rest...HA HA boy were we wrong. We only did the jungle cruise and then went to Rafiki's planet watch (where they have the petting zoo)or something like that and then we left. I actually like the educational area down there. We got to pet a bald python and another snake and then they were talking about the different foods the animals eat. DS is homeschooled so we like to get in educational things when we can.

Tuesday we headed over to Magic Kingdom. It was NOT a surprise to see how busy this park was because it is ALWAYS the busiest of the parks. We did manage to ride a few rides although it was freezing cold.

We didn't go into the parks but for a couple hours each day if that. This is NOT the ideal time to go to Disney unless you don't mind long lines and crowds of people. While at MGM the rockin roller coaster had a 90 min wait at one time. That was how Epcot was too! DH and I got fast passes for Soarin at 1:00 in the afternoon and we couldn't use them until 8:00 that night. We never did use them, we went through the countries and then left.

I have to say, this was one of our more relaxed vacations. We just hung around the resort most of the time or went down to Downtown Disney.

We will NEVER go to Disney around Christmas again. We did have a nice time, but I was sooooo glad to get back home.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Michele

[Stinasmom]

Michele--
Thanks for the report about WDW during Christmas week! How tough and frustrating it would be if that was the only time you could go.
I think if we try to do anything after the cruise, it will be specific hard ticket things like Candlelight Processional Dinner package, and I am considering a day at SeaWorld's Discovery Cove. Also, we could hang at the resort. (ha... just noticed that I already said all this in my last post!) We will be at WDW for 4 days prior to the cruise when we can go commando through all 4 parks and hit the stuff that would be impossible to do when it's a madhouse.

Next step it to see if the inlaws even want to go to Orlando for Christmas week. I thought they might like to go to Gaylord Palms for Christmas day and dinner. Have you ever been there? I only know what I have heard Bob talk about on the podcast.

Hope you and everyone on our thread had a great Christmas this year! One more milestone down before our cruise together!

Marcy

[theodorechipmunkluvr]

dad posted under the wrong disname, so the message has been moved to the right member, see below.

[pogopossum]

howdy ya'll,

as you can see from my chipmonk loving dd, we'll be aboard this cruise, once i get on the horn with dvc and book it.

this will be our fifth dcl cruise, dd got one thing wrong, only two have had hurricane probs, don't think this one will have any trouble.

andrea, it looks like we will have sons the same age cruising, i'm sure that they will have a great time in the lab.

cassie, your little sis and my dd will be about a year apart and just tell her to pm rachel, once she gets on the disboards.

hey michelle, it will be great to meet you, after two nascar seasons of tracking your picks, missed you down the stretch this year. i hooked with andy(xabearx) and ginny(gdulaney) at mk last sept, they were getting ready to sail that weekend and i mentioned that we were planning to go on this cruise and they should go, they said that they might look into it since the usual cruise they went on in sept was not happening next year due to cal cruises. we met up with them on cruise in 05, and had a great time. we even listened to race on sat night on andy's xm radio, sitting on deck.

anyway we are looking so forward to the cruise, there will be six of us in our party, the four of us and my fil and smil. we'll be booking a cat 6 and an inside state room for them, hopefully across from us.

he wants us to try to get there early so that we can get park time in before we cruise. so i think we will take the kids out of school early to get there by wednesday or thursday, have to see what the teachers have planned for the last week of school. i hope it works out because based on our experience last year at wdw, we don't want to try our luck after. we left for home the sat before christmas and it was the right time to get out of dodge. the crowds were very manageable until that sat, once schools had let out.

well got to run for now, but we'll have plenty of time for getting to know each other between now and cruise time, and then all of a sudden it will be time to go.

hope everyone has a happy new year!

[SILLYANDI]

I am such a flake. Last cruise I was on the boards constantly. It just seems like I have sooo much going on right now.

I do have to tell all of you our great news... Our family was selected to host a Disney Cruise Line House Party. If you're not familiar with it, House Party is a viral marketing firm that uses parties at people's houses to promote products. Disney Cruise Line contracted with them to market their crusies (some people are suspect Disney is using this opportunity to announce their new iteneraries for the new ships-but who knows?). Anyway, all we have to do is invite our friends to our house for a party the weekend of Jan 26th and tell them about our cruises. In return, Disney sends us loads of freebies to hand out-swag bag type stuff.
Its a win win situation-we already talk non-stop about Disney Cruises and have already talked a few neighbors into joining us-now we actually get something in return for doing it! WHEW HOO!!
Anyone who is in the L.A. area is welcomed to join us, I'll PM you the details.
Heck, anyone who wants to fly out to the L.A. area is welcomed, the more the merrier!

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome Possum! My son is very shy, but it will be nice to have someone his age around, I'm sure. I have a feeling he will park himself in front of some video game and only move to go pee or eat. He isn't allowed to play video games at home (except an hour on Sat) so that is his cruise indulgence! Our neighbor who is also coming with us has 2 sons-they will be 5 and 8 at cruise time (I think?).

We have 2 cat 9 rooms booked. I don't trust DD3 with the verandah(She's a monster!) We hardly spent any time in our rooms on the last cruise, and it was nice having connecting rooms. kinda like having a 2 room suite for us. We piled the 4 kids in one room, and we had the other all to ourselves. We propped the doors open, but still had our privacy.

Possum-I see your daughter is going to marry Nick someday! :love: I have to tell you, I took my daughters to the Hannah Montana concert and I had never heard of the Jonas Brothers before that. I am a closet Jonas Fan! They really rocked, and they seem like a nice group of boys. Your daughter is in good hands!:thumbsup2

Anywho...enough of my blabbering!
Am I the only one already planning excursions, Palo and Spa Visits? DH and I did the exotic rasul and couples' massage last time and that is all he talks about. I'll say "Honey do you think we should stay at WDW or Cocoa Beach the night before?" and his response is "I don't care what we do as long as we do that spa thing again!;)

[theodorechipmunkluvr]

well dad did it again, got to figure out why i log her off and then when i post it goes back to her log in, at least i am boosting her post total.

[pogopossum]

andi, - after the taste of jonas i got during the parade, can't say that i'm a fan. maybe i have to breaak down and admit i'm just too old. i'll keep saving up my money for the led zep reunion tour. even if they all use walkers those guys rock. we got a wii for christmas and we have got to figure out how to get the boy on a schedule, just so we can watch the big hdtv, or we may have to move the wii to another tv. it may make me replace an old tv sooner.

we will stay at fil's house and go to the parks thurs and fri, have to get some wdw holiday spirit, then we will be headed down to cocoa friday eve, hope i can get over to ron jon in the middle of the night. last cruise we did the quality inn deal for free parking, worked out pretty well. except for the pint of chocolate milk i forgot was in the cooler for a week.

but compared to the frances cruise in 05, the last one was tremendous. as dd alluded to we have had a couple of interesting cruises, we'll swap stories over some boat drinks on deck. all i will say for now if you are booked during hurricane season and the unfortunate happens, cancel and take the deal to delay your cruise til the next year.

it seems so far away now, but i know that it will be here before we know it. we've got 11 and a half months to get ready, (time enough to get dw to get her buffett on got the radio margaritaville on now), but we'll still be scrambling om december 9 to get everything together, but it is all good.

ah, i am almost already there, bye for now.

[PenskeSth1]

pogopossum--It is good to see ya..After Rusty retired I kinda lost the passion for racing (I know this is like blasphemy) LOL at least I get to see him on ESPN and ABC when he is announcing. I still watch and cheer for Greg Biffle now, although it just isn't the same. We hold tickets for Homesteads last race but I let DH go with some friends this year. I may go next year as our friends want to go down early and seriously tailgate.

Marcy,
We werre going to go over to Gaylord Palms for the Ice sculptures but alas we never made it. It seems to be a big hit as DS use to get coupons during school in the winter. My moms DH sings in the candlelight procession. We've never been though. People were lining up for that around 3:00 the one day we were in Epcot so I figure it must be wonderful. I think we get to go to WDW so much that we are just getting Disney parked out if that is at all possible.;) NOTICE I DIDN'T SAY WE ARE TIRED OF THE RESORTS! I love Disneys resorts.

SillyandI- How lucky you are to be involved in a Disney cruise Line house party! Hey if I could get free gifts from Disney for something so fun, I'd jump on it...Enjoy all your freebies.


I hope everyone has a safe New year and look forward to chatting with everyone until it is our turn to step on to the ship.

Michele

[pogopossum]

well a week passes and things change, we may be jumping ship and cruising dec 20 instead. right now it is 50-50. it means that we give up the verandah for the big porthole, but there are a lot reasons that it may work out better for us. let ya'll know when we decide which one to take.

[SILLYANDI]

Possum- If you are planning on going into the parks then I don't blame you for changing your dates. I wouldn't want ot be in the parks the 20th or later! Good luck, but we sure hope that you get to go with us!

[PenskeSth1]

possum,
We just spent the week before Christmas at WDW and it was a total mad house. I agree with sillyandI that if you bail the 13th - 20th cruise so you can go to WDW before the week before Christmas GO FOR IT. We will NEVER go the week before ever again. Some of the rides had 120 min waits and more!:scared:

Michele

[SILLYANDI]

Where is everyone staying before the cruise?
DH has officially ruled out a week (or even a few days) at WDW prior, so I'm looking at port hotels. I think if we stay in port we will go with the Residence Inn. They have 2 bedroom suites with a jacuzzi on the verandah for less than my beloved Poly for the night.
Has anyone stayed in the Cocoa Beach hotels before? Just curious...

[Stinasmom]

Hey-- glad you asked!
I have been mulling that around in my head and even emailed my TA at DU to make a reservation...
Turns out the DU TA's can't make reservations at the Swan/Dolphin... you have to go through the link on the WDWinfo home page. I thought that was weird. What is also a bit weird is that they are not accepting reservations or giving out pricing info past August 31st. Sheesh! Don't they know who their base customer is??? Us compulsive planners who have had this cruise booked for almost a year now!?!

We usually stay at a timeshare resort (courtesy of the inlaws), but it is looking like we will only have 4 nights prior to cruising and I thought it would be worth the $$ to stay on Disney property so we can commando the parks.

Does anyone have any experience with Swan/Dolphin? Is Dolphin better? What about the Port Orleans resort? Is Riverside better than French Quarter?

Pogopossu--- are you able to even get on the Dec 20th sailing? It doesn't come up as available on the website. Guess that is were a TA comes in handy??

Hope you all had a great Holiday season! Looking forward to chatting through out this new year!

Marcy

[PenskeSth1]

I just made our reservations for the Residence Inn the other night. We stayed there in 06 and it is a wonderful hotel. I like that you can go to the breakfast Buffet, grab your food and head back to your room to enjoy a nice quiet breakfast with just the family. I liked the price I paid back in 06 better than the price we are paying for this year...geesh!

SillyandI- we stay at Port Orleans Riverside at least twice a year. It is DS's favorite resort...(well he loves their pool). The rooms aren't huge, at least the ones we've stayed in. We have always had plenty of room for the four of us though.

Michele

[SILLYANDI]

I made a reservation for Residence Inn and I was actually very happy with the price. I guess since we always end up spending over $300 a night for a room at the Poly it seemed like a deal!
I figure if I find a better deal or a discount code before then I can reserve another room and cancel this one.
So I've got the rental car, the hotel and now I just have to wait a month so I can start fare shopping.
Since we're not going to WDW I am going to be bored out of my mind after that! I really think planning everything is half the fun. I don't know what I will do with myself. There are only so many things you can "plan" on the cruise. I've pretty much laid out when we are going to do PALO but I haven't looked at excursions.
Wow, I'm a Disney Dork!:scratchin

[PenskeSth1]

Somehow I got a room at Residence Inn in 2006 for only 99.00, even the lady at the reception desk asked how I got that rate. That was for the king bedroom with kitchen. This year I didn't get so lucky, I paid 179.00 for the same room. I almost went with Best Western, but just liked the Residence room so much I figured We'd just splurge. I don't think we would ever pay anything more than that for a motel room (we are to cheep). LOL

I started working on door signs but haven't printed any yet. On our cruise in 2006 we did a magnet exchange with the folks from our cruise meet board. It was alot of fun coming back to your room and finding a new magnet. Alot of the folks placed a magnet that had something to do with the state they were from. thankfully none of ours ever got stolen. Maybe we could do something like that.

Michele

[SILLYANDI]

We did a magnet exchage too! We allchose something that represented our neck of the woods, it was really neat to see all of the different places/things people chose. We still have a few on the fridge and they are a great conversation piece.

I paid $209 for the 2 bedroom suite with the verandah jacuzzi. I have become something of a hotel snob after staying at the deluxe hotels at WDW. I am TOTALLY CHEAP when it comes to everything-but this is one thing I will splurge for (oh yeah and spa treatments on board!).

[pogopossum]

we stayed at the quality inn in cocoa last cruise, so that we would get free parking, same deal applies at the radisson, which looked like a nice resort, nice pool. quality inn was a nice hotel with a short walk to the beach, and the rate was good.

as to whether or not the cruise is available i haven't called member services yet, but i did call dcl and we could get a booking through them. i thought the same thing about it not being on the website, but it is a special western itinerary, so it is not listed with the regular cruises. two stops at castaway cay and costa maya and cozumel. so i assume that we can get it booked when i call ms.

[Dr. G]

Hi all:

Well, we're booked for the Dec 13th cruise. This board has been so helpful as we've tried to figure out what we're doing. We've never cruised before, so this will be a new experience for us. :) We are very excited. Being the planner that I am, I'll feel more relaxed about it once we have the flights, ground transport and port hotel figured out. ;)

There will be 8 of us. My mom is coming along, and we have 5 kids: 3 boys cruising ages of 15, 9 and 6. 2 girls cruising ages of 13 and 11. I'll be 40 this year and my wife 39. We've extended invitations to my siblings and their families to join us too, but I don't know if any will make it.

I've got the new Passporter coming in a month or so from Amazon and can't wait to read it. Now to just be patient for the next 11 months....

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome Dr G! We have kids about the same age(Oldest DD will be 1 month shy of 11 at cruise time & DS will have just turned 7). Glad to see another big family coming along!
I am a freaky planner too, I don't think I will sleep well until I get our flights booked. I've pretty much done everything else.
Whew Hew, our group is slowly but surely growing!:dance3:

[STLDisney_Freak]

:cheer2: Hello Folks! We are going to be on the same cruise as all of you. I gotta tell you we are definitely going to be ready for a cruise by the time December gets here. We have not had the best start to 2008. Unfortunately, my parents house burned down. :sad2: Trust me I was scared to death to hear about it. :scared1: Anyway, things are starting to look up and I am starting to plan more on our trip. I just booked our hotel for the Country Inn and Suites and our rental car. I'm going to be looking to get my plane tickets soon too. :woohoo: We are newbie travelers so this all so exciting to me. :yay:

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome Sandra! I am so excited to see new people joining us everyday! :cool1:

[PenskeSth1]

Welcome Dr G and STLDisney_freak!

DS will be 3 months shy of 11 at the time of our sailing.

We just had some friends call and ask when we are sailing. They want to come along too. Which will be great, they have 2 kids one who will be 7 at time of sailing and one who will just have turned 4. She said her TA quoted her a price of 3,000.00 for a cat 9. I don't think that was too bad. I know our cat has gone up 1,000.00 since we made our ressie back in Dec of 06.

Michele

[Dr. G]

Welcome Dr G and STLDisney_freak!

DS will be 3 months shy of 11 at the time of our sailing.

We just had some friends call and ask when we are sailing. They want to come along too. Which will be great, they have 2 kids one who will be 7 at time of sailing and one who will just have turned 4. She said her TA quoted her a price of 3,000.00 for a cat 9. I don't think that was too bad. I know our cat has gone up 1,000.00 since we made our ressie back in Dec of 06.

Michele

That sounds like a very good price to me. Doing a quick search on the Disney Cruise site shows a Cat 9 for 2 adults and children 7 and 4, and declining ground transport and declining insurance, comes to $3,896.60. So, the TA is almost $900 lower than booking with Disney directly.

If that's correct, I'd love to know who the TA is and maybe they can help me out. I had a couple TAs (DU and a local guy) price our cruise and neither of them could get anything lower than the Disney quoted price so we just booked directly to keep control :) We're in two Cat 11s so our price wouldn't line up with the Cat 9, but still....

[Stinasmom]

Welcome Dr. G!
My DD will be 2 weeks shy of her 12th birthday when we sail, so just right to meet up with your girls! Looks like we are going to have lots of TWEEN DDs!
I am so glad they have that Tween area now on the Magic (Deck 2..."ocean quest" I think it's called) so that the almost 11's thru the 13's can hang together and not be split up by the lab/stack age groups. Not sure I'd want my DD to be in the Stack at 13 anyway!

STDLDisney-- Welcome also!
So sorry to hear about your parents house! As long as everyone was ok... but I bet there were lots of memories lost---how sad.
Nothing cheers me up quite like reading trip reports on these boards and knowing I am going to take a similar trip this year, however!

Hey Silly-- Do you live anywhere near Disneyland? OR visit there with any frequency? Had a question for someone who does about comparing DL with the Magic Kingdom...

Hope everyone else is enjoying their winter! We are having snow most every night... burrrr! It was even foggy today... hard to keep up the spirits! Well, maybe with a few spirits! :drinking1

We are getting together a small crowd here! Exciting! Let me know if any of the DDs want to exchange email, my DD11 loves to make friends!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

Marcey- We go to Disneyland almost every week, we live about 10 mins away. Ask away!!!

[Stinasmom]

Marcey- We go to Disneyland almost every week, we live about 10 mins away. Ask away!!!

Great! Two things...
One-- We are considering the type of ticket to buy for WDW in December--- how many days and base vs. hopper option.
We visited DL last May and will be there again this March. Can you think of anything at Magic Kingdom that is so great or so much better than at DL that we should make sure NOT to miss a day there?
I am thinking that if we want to save some $$ (and put it toward a day at Discovery Cove-Sea World... Shhhh... don't tell my kids! It will be the surprise part of the trip!), that Magic Kingdom would be the park to skip. My kids will be 7 1/2 (boy) and almost 12 (girl).

Two-- We will be at DL/DCA from March 15th (evening) through March 19th (morning)... Wanna meet?
We are going to be with a DIS friend and her family from Hawaii. She and another DIS friend that lives near DL also who will likely tour DL with us on the 16th, were on the first DCL cruise we took in 2005.

Thanks for any input!!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

I would definetely like to meet! HOW FUN!
As far as the Magic Kingdom...HUM...I LOVE breakfast at Cinderella's, but I truely love DL more than MK. Everything at DL seems more true, I don't know how to explain it but for example It's a Small World is so much more vibrant and has more moving parts and is more of an experience than the one at MK which is a "ride". MK is much bigger & there are a few rides that are not at DL, but nothing that I could recommend.
If they've been to DL and are going back in March then I would say skip it. If your kids are not adreneline junkies then I would say skip MGM because the only thing worth your time there (in my opinion) is the thrill rides and maybe the stunt car show. We are all roller coaster fiends so we have to do it, but otherwise there is nothing there that we "have" to see/do.
If you are getting hoppers than I would recommend 1/2 day at each (or you can do Animal Kingdom in the morning and hit Mk at night because AK closes early). Tour Guide Mike is really good at working out iteneraries so you can split parks and see everything (with a nap in between) without feeling wiped out. I have used his info everytime we have gone and saw everything without a wait or crowd everytime!

[Stinasmom]

I would definetely like to meet! HOW FUN!
Great!! Depending on what kind of AP you have, Sunday, March 16th may be the best day... it is not a blackout date for all but the least expensive level.
I will PM you soon and we'll make arrangements!
MK is much bigger & there are a few rides that are not at DL, but nothing that I could recommend.
If they've been to DL and are going back in March then I would say skip it. If your kids are not adreneline junkies then I would say skip MGM because the only thing worth your time there (in my opinion) is the thrill rides and maybe the stunt car show. We are all roller coaster fiends so we have to do it, but otherwise there is nothing there that we "have" to see/do.
You and I think alike. This is exactly what I was considering but wanted to make sure I wasn't forgetting something at MK that would make it worth it!

You bring up a great point about Disney's Hollywood Studios (the new name we all have to get use to now :rolleyes: ). We do love the Rockin' Roller Coaster... well two of the four of us, but is that worth burning a full day's ticket?
This is interesting... I was trying to avoid getting the hopper tickets but maybe I'll price 3 day hopper tix vs. 4 day base. Likely the same...
Guess this is why many of us spend months planning these trips! There are so many considerations!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

We have Premium/Deluxe so we can go just about any days to DL. Went yesterday and it was beautiful. No crowd, the weather was perfect and we were all tuckered out by 2PM!
My oldest DD's favorite ride is Rockin Roller Coaster. She is afraid of EVERYTHING but loves roller coasters?! It's the strangest thing. She even hates the Haunted Mansion & Pirates but loves going upside down in the dark...

We have alway bought park hoppers at WDW because of Tour Guide Mike. We have been 3 times now and always followed his best parks at what time, etc. It was worth it to me to pay extra and be able to split parks to avoid crowds than sit with "them" (as TGM calls all of the people that follow each other around like cattle) at the most busy parks at the most busy times.
If you don't know TGM- it's a website of a former WDW tourguide that posts schedules, best times/days to visit each park, how to see everything in the parks & squeeze in naps and basically how to maximize your trip without burning everyone out. This guy has it doen to a science. It is the type A planners heaven!
DH is not a schedule kind of guy, but on our first trip after about 2 hours of following TGM's advice and getting on rides without any waits (I'm not kidding we spent 2 hours in the park going on the "big" rides without waiting more than 5-10 minutes on each ride) DH started asking "OK what does Mike say we do next!" Wow, maybe TGM should be giving me some kickbacks...

[pogopossum]

well, we did it, we're doing the cruise on the 20th, have a great trip and maybe we'll get together on another cruise in the future, looking forward to those new ships and itineraries. bon voyage, ya'll, and see you on the nascar picks trail, michele

[SILLYANDI]

Sorry to hear you are leaving us.:sad1: Have fun on your cruise, maybe we will see each other in passing on the 20th!

[SILLYANDI]

******edited******
I originally wanted to see if anyone was interested in booking as a group but I've since learned that our 10% re-booking deal is better than the group rate so....
Here's a scary story. I booked on board and transferred my ressie to my AAA agent (who doesn't specialize in Disney anything, but always gets us a great rate & OBC) anyway, I got a call saying that my agent has been promoted and our vacation has been transferred to a random agent and here's her name & info...
I decided to call her up yesterday and check on a few things-including what day we can book our excursions and Palo being CC members. She called back and left a message that she thinks its 60-30 days prior to cruise and wanted to know what Palo was. I called her and told her I thought it was 105 or 90 days and that we booked at 75 days for our first cruise so I'm pretty sure she's got it wrong. She told me that 30-60 days is "industry standard" and she thought I could wait until we board to make reservations for a restaurant. WHAT!!!! I don't think I am going to sleep until the cruise now. I can see it now, everything is going to be wrong or confused or something. I really need to get over my control freak issues but I'm thinking of buying Passporter's 2008 and sending it to her (since I have few options now that she owns my ressie...)

[KATIESMOMMY]

just stopping into to say hi, we will know Tuesday if we are cruising with you fine folk!!!

[SILLYANDI]

Yay! I hope you can, it will be so much fun to meet you & your family!

[PenskeSth1]

SILLYANDI ....You should send the new passporter to that TA. They definitely need to do some research on Disney's cruises.

I used DU for our last cruise and everything went great until we got upgraded. Somehow they cancelled our REAS package or didn't transfer it to the upgrade. I am still debating on wether to add the REAS pkg again or not for this cruise. We really don't do any of the excursions except CC. But getting first dibs on Palo's is nice. I don't know what I would do with two more robes. DH didn't use his last one so I gave it to DD.

Pogopossum, I plan on coming over to the CB and doing the nascar picks when I can. Hope you and your family have a good time on your Christmas cruise!


Michele

[SILLYANDI]

We went back and forth about the REAS on our first cruise for that exact reason. We ultimately didn't do it and were able to book everything we wanted on exact days/times that we wanted at the 75 day mark. We ended up spending that money on a couples massage and the exoctic rasul (IT WAS SOOOO WORTH IT!)

[PenskeSth1]

I think we will skip the REAS this time and use the extra money for something else. I know it is nice to be able to book early, but we just want one night at Palos and if we don't for some odd reason get the reservation we won't be heartbroke. I feel we will have no problems though.

We did get a phone call today from our friend who was interseted in going on the cruise with us. She got our Ressi # so that we can link our ressies together. We look forward to them coming with us, the more the merrier!:cool1:

[Stinasmom]

Hi everyone!
We're kinda keeping our thread alive!

Michele-- you should have no problem getting a Palo ressie for dinner on a 7 nighter... it's the 3&4 nighters that it is tricky and is an advantage to be able to book early.
Are you booking at 90 days as a CC member? Should be no prob. You just have to time the receipt of your final payment to occur before the actual 90 day mark so you can book all of your ressies.... (palo, excursions, spa, etc.)
You probably already knew all this, but if anyone else out there was in question....
Seems like forever before we will be 90 days out, let alone actually cruising!
At least we have a Disneyland/San Diego/Legoland trip in March to tide us over!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

We applied for all 6 of our passports at our local city offices on Jan 18th and received them yesterday! I was totally blindsided because we walked into the office and there was no line-it took a total of about 15mins to process all 6. Then we get them in the mail 2 weeks later? That's crazy! We did it early expecting to have a 3 month turnaround. I still can't believe it!

[SILLYANDI]

We had our DCL House Party Friday and it was a blast, can't say it was any thanks to Disney though. They really dropped the ball on this one. Anyway, We have 4 couples that are considering going with us. I think at least 2 of them are going for sure. I was thinking the same thing "The more the merrier!".

[Tinker_Bell16]

:eek: :sad1: Hey Everyone. Just wanted to let you all know. My mom changed the cruise to the 6th of December. So we're going a week early. :sad1: I'm happy, but also sad because It would have been fun to meet you all. Hope you all have a great time.

-Cassie

[SILLYANDI]

:eek: :sad1: Hey Everyone. Just wanted to let you all know. My mom changed the cruise to the 6th of December. So we're going a week early. :sad1: I'm happy, but also sad because It would have been fun to meet you all. Hope you all have a great time.

-Cassie

Have fun! Sorry you are leaving our group:sad1:

[Mom2grlys]

Hi everyone,

So great to find this wonderful dis board. I am new to this kind of thing and cruises, so please bear with me. We booked our cruise in November and can't wait until we finally get to board that boat!! I will be 36, DH 39, DD 12, and DD 10. We have our extended family going also, my DM and DD, his DM and DD, my BIL, SIL and their DD 12 and DS 3. Should be fun for all. I am learning all of the in's & out's and do's & dont's. After reading all of the suggestions on the different discussion boards, i am a bit overwhelmed that I will miss something or totally miss signing up for a dinner or excursion. Glad to meet everyone and I can't wait to learn more from you! Hope you don't mind me picking your brains a bit!

[Stinasmom]

You are going to LOVE your DCL experience and be spoiled for any other cruiseline! Just a warning!

We took our first ever cruise in 6/07 on DCL, I will never forget how it felt to see the ship and experience it all for the first time! I, too, found these boards and was hooked. Read every trip report I could find, read through all the hints and advise, took notes, asked questions, THIS IS THE PLACE!

I am also excited to see that you will have three girls between 10-12 traveling with you... are they close or would they be open to meeting my DD11? There are other DDs around that age other posters have mentioned too.

Well, again welcome to the DIS boards! Let us know if you have any questions!! Chatting here helps make the next several months go by faster!

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome! I am so happy to see our cruise family growing (for a while there it kept shrinking!) I also have a DD10 who will be on the ship and one that will be days shy of 9. Our last cruise she met and e-mailed a couple of girls before the cruise and loved that she wasn't "alone". If your DD (and Marcy yours too!) are interested, maybe we could set that up for all of them too!

[PenskeSth1]

Welcome to our group Mom2grlys! We went on our first Disney Cruise Nov. of 2003 and we were hooked. You can get your best advice and tips right here on the Dis...These folks are a wealth of information.

SILLYANDI---I am glad to hear your house party went well even with any screw ups.

Stinasmom-- I figure we won't have any problems booking our Palo night. I would really like to try brunch once. Can you book that at the same time? We have never done the brunch. The only excursions we book are all on CC. At the other ports we go off on our own. So I don't think we will have any problems their either. I guess if we want to do the stingray excursion we should try to book that ASAP. I don't know how busy that excursion gets.

We paid our cruise off the beginning of Dec.. :cool1: YEA US!!! It is soo nice to know we don't have to worry about that anymore.

Michele

[SILLYANDI]

Wow Michele that is so cool that you're paid off. I haven't even made any additional payments beyond the deposit. I found flights for $300 a person today so I think I'm going to book those. That's about the same we paid 2 years ago, so I think it's the best I will get.

[pogopossum]

hi all, i just wanted to pop in and give michelle, (and anybody else interested) the thread for the daytona nascar picks: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=22989841

good luck to anybody that wants to join in on the nascar fun. and have a good cruise.

[Stinasmom]

Stinasmom-- I figure we won't have any problems booking our Palo night. I would really like to try brunch once. Can you book that at the same time? We have never done the brunch. The only excursions we book are all on CC. At the other ports we go off on our own. So I don't think we will have any problems there either. I guess if we want to do the stingray excursion we should try to book that ASAP. I don't know how busy that excursion gets.

Michele
You can book it all online at the appropriate date depending on your status. (102? days out or something like that for those in Suites, 90 days for CC members, and 75 for newbies). And yes, you can book Palo dinner and brunch, but only one of each. Once on board you can request to be notified if you want another night at Palo. They will fill in open times with repeaters. You can book spa stuff and all excursions too. Also book you kids into the kids clubs. It saves some time at the port...less paperwork to get your pager.
This is all contingent upon being paid up... which we all have to be by 90 days, but it is a good idea to get it done a week or so before that 90 day mark so you know it all went through and DCL has you as PAID so you can book right at 90 days. If you have a TA, I believe they can book all of this for you... I am such a do-it-yourselfer

Great job already having the cruise paid off! Interest rates are low enough right now that that money wouldn't have earned much in 9 months. Besides, it probably feels so good to be paid up that it is worth it!
I just made the final payment for our Disneyland/San Diego trip (for March) today... I'll start paying down the DCL stuff after that trip!

We did get our timeshare booked... We'll be at the Horizons by Marriott from the 12/6- 12/13. We stayed there 12/06 too and really liked the "kid" friendly but still luxuriousness of the resort. It is near Sea World, Discovery Cove, and the new Aquatica.... Hmmm....

Marcy

[PenskeSth1]

My DH had a convention at the Holiday Inn on International Drive all last week and we went by the new water park at Sea World (Aquatica) it wasn't open yet but looks ready. It really is HUGE and looks like alot of fun.

The only way we could pay off our cruise was because DH received a hefty bonus from his boss... I know alot of people would rather incure the interest, but for us it was one less thing to worry about.

[SILLYANDI]

We need a name for our trip. All the other meets have funny names like ship of thieves and sailing with the caballeros. We need a name!

Any ideas?

So far I can't come up with anything clever.

[KATIESMOMMY]

Well I GUESS and HOPE we are cruising with you all! We were confirmed that we won the trip and she asked when we wanted to go, well now because it "so far off" they are in no hurry to book us and its killing me!! We are in the process of buying our very first home, we close March 17th so with all going on I am so stressed lol and wish she would just hurry up and book our trip!! She said it will be in the next couple of weeks and that there was plenty of availibility so not to worry....easy for her lol
Well, let me introduce myself, I am Lucinda (40) my DH Casey (46) DD Katie (almost 4) and DD Carrie ( will be 2 in July). We have been to WDW once in 2006 and have been addicted since! We actually already had a trip booked for WDW in December 2008 which now we are just waiting to adjust it to fit with the cruise, dont think we can afford it all, but may at least do WDW for a few days before! Is anyone else??
We are really excited and scared about the cruise at the same time lol. Will definately need some support from you all!! Hope we can get this thread moving a little bit more like everyone elses!

[Skallywag]

So glad I have found this thread - we have booked to sail and our two grown up daughters and their boyfriends are coming as well.

There will be six of us and we are so looking forward to it. My husband and I did the 11 night Med Cruise last year, are booked on the E/B Panama and did the 2005 cruise which should have been Wesbound but had to be diverted E/B because of hurricane Wilma. Our two daughters were with us then and we had a great time.

Brenda

[SILLYANDI]

I get so excited everytime our little group grows!

Lucinda- I am so glad to hear you have definitely picked our cruise-I'm sure there won't be any problems booking!

Skallywag- Wow, all the eay from Englad how exciting! Have you ever been to the US before? What a trip! I am bugging my Dh to take me on a whirlwind trip to Europe but I have a feeling it won't happen until the kids are grown up!

[SILLYANDI]

Marcy I just PM'd you about meeting up in March...

[Skallywag]

Hi Everyone,

We have been to your lovely country many times and always enjoy it inspite of the long flight. That is why we enjoyed th Med cruise only 2 hour flight maximum and no jet lag.

Looking forward t meeting everyone in december.

We are flying over on the 10th (daughters joining us on the 12th) and staying at OKW our home resort. When we finish the cruise (sad) will go straight to our Westgate Vacation Villa timeshare where the start date is the 20th which is so good and that is why we chose the 13th December cruise works out good for us.
Brenda

[Stinasmom]

Hey everyone! Time to check in...

Lucinda-(Katiesmommy), sure hope you get this cruise booked! I can't wait to meet someone so lucky as to WIN a Disney cruise!:wizard: Isn't it funny how others don't quite get the urgency that can be required to get one's family onto a particular Disney Cruise?

Which leads me to Welcoming Skallywag!
Great to hear you (Brenda) and your crew will be joining us on this cruise too! I remember you from the few weeks (last January, 2007) that I conversed on the EB Panama Canal cruise meets thread that grew to such enormous proportions even before any of us were actually booked! I, unfortunately, was a victim of DCL's computer glitches that faithful day and my EB Panama booking was kicked out of the system. My TA couldn't get us back in even pleading with DCL people... unless we wanted to wait out cancellations and pay at top tier. After some tears, I realized it wasn't meant to be and chose this cruise. I do hope you and all those crazy DISsers like DisneyVegas1, Sk8ingmom, and Justmestace have a great cruise, and yes, I will look forward to hearing all about it!!

SillyandI-- I PMed you back! :woohoo:

Everyone having a great Valentine's Day? Good here... well 'cept that I am on the computer and not in the arms of my Valentine! Guess that's what happens after 2 kids and 18 years of marriage!:lmao:

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Hello and welcome Skally!!
Well still havent booked us, but I am proceeding as we are already booked lol. My DD (will be 4 in april) Katie is soooo excited, her sister had to go in to the ped for vaccines yesterday and she had to tell the Dr all about her "Disney Cruise" she won lol. Dr said its unbelieveable, she is a Disney nut also and I am the only one she has ever heard to have actually won two trips to Disney lol. We are just really blessed.

Well can I start asking questions now?? lol My first, anyone have an opinion of Flounders or experience, has anyone ever went off the ship with a child in Flounders?? My kids have never seen a sitter outside of my Dad or sister, and thats only been like 3 times in their whole lives. Things is, this is a once in a lifetime oppurtunity and I really want to see the mayan ruins...but scared to leave my kids onboard...any opinions??

Also I agree we need to get a cute name for ourselves!! and maybe a running list of who all is going?? We need to breath some life in our thread!!

[SILLYANDI]

We used Flounder's with our youngest DD and she LOVED it! She would get really upset when we came to get her (and up to that point we had only had family babysit her too). She was just shy of her 2nd birthday.
We didn't leave her when we went off the ship, but that was only because we didn't do anything that wasn't kid friendly. I would have full faith in the staff, the only thing that would worry me is what if something happened to me in a foreign country and my kid is on a ship sailing off with Disney without me?
I'm sure there is some protocol for this situation, but that would be my only concern as a parent.

[KATIESMOMMY]

Andrea
ty for your response!! The reason I am asking is because Katie ( our almost 4 yr) is autistic and we really really want to take her to the dolphin encounter and according to the DCL site Carrie will be too young ( 2.5).So we were just going to skip the dolphins and do the ruins...
But I went to the website direct for info and saw that we could take Carrie, they only have to be a year! But, the drawback is the only booking time available it at 3:30 and the boat leaves at 6:30 so I dont know if we could do the encounter and get back to the boat on time....arghhhhhhh lol

[SILLYANDI]

If you book through Disney you should be able to get a better time AND I think they would wait for you if necessary. It may be a bit more expensive but that extra money would be like "insurance".

[Mom2grlys]

I have been trying to think of a clever name for our cruise too! I am starting to really get into planning for the cruise, I know, crazy that I am doing this so early. The more I read on this site, the more excited I get.....I CAN'T WAIT!! :cheer2: I want to make some cool stuff for our door and I need to think of a good name first.

Also, starting to think of those excursions. Anyone have any suggestions for this western cruise. I was looking at the semi-sub trip. Seems like fun and we have a diverse group from ages 3-60. Sounds like something everyone could enjoy, but a short trip though. I am just not sure what to do for the excursions. Any tips would be appreciated! :flower3:

[SILLYANDI]

OK, here's my disclaimer: Not very creative, but I thought if I throw out some ideas it would get everyone else's creative wheels turning....


Here are a few I thought up:
Konk'd Out at Sea (there's a Konk'd Krusiers group we could borrow that in some other form?)

Westward HO

Castaway Cruisers

DIS'aster in the making (kinda ominous though)

my DD8's contribution- the cookie cruisers
DD10's- The Konk'd Karibbean Kids

DH's contribution- Dorks on DIS (he really is charming)

[PenskeSth1]

SILLYANDI--I know I have NO creativity what so ever LOL..

Those are some pretty interesting names though. We love Bill Enval in our house and he uses Dork alot....LOL I often call my DH a Dork.

Konk'd Karibbean Kids is cute even if we may be older kids!;)

[KATIESMOMMY]

loved the names
Only ones I could come up with

Magical Dis'ers
Magical Mayhem
Kooky Kruisers
Magical Carribean Cruisers
Captain Jacks Magical Crew
Magical Wenches and Crew

[KATIESMOMMY]

Well I have decided to forgo the whole dolphin thing, Carrie is so young and tiny for her age, I just am to worried she would get hurt. I honestly think we will just wing it for the most part or maybe book a beach break somewhere...


Does anyone have a list of who is going and ages? Just trying to see if there are any kids around my kids ages

[SILLYANDI]

Marcy- Maybe if you're not too busy we can Pm you our info and you can edit the first post to include who is cruising and with whom. that way it will be easier to keep track of all of us (now that we actually have a group!). If not, I am willing to do it but my first post isn't until the bottom of the first page so it might be easy to miss.

[KATIESMOMMY]

Was bored so I went through the threads to see if I could compile a list, this is what I have found, hope I didn't missanyone ( you will find I am a huge list maker/planner lol)


PenskeSth1-Michele room 7564.
DH (46) at time of cruise, Myself (42) DS (10) and maybe DD (19)

Stinasmom-Marcy room 6610
(41 at time of sailing), DH (42), DD(12) and DS(7).


SILLYANDI- Andrea
35 at time of cruise DH36, DD10, DD8, DS7 & DD4+dear friends and their 2 boys- 8 & 5

Mom2grlys
36, DH 39, DD 12, and DD 10 +DM and DD, his DM and DD, my BIL, SIL and their DD 12 and DS 3

STLDisney_Freak -Sandra
Michael (Dad) Kassondra (Age 3) Autumn (Age 5)

Dr. G
3 boys cruising ages of 15, 9 and 6. 2 girls cruising ages of 13 and 11. I'll be 40 this year and my wife 39 +mom

Skallywag

KATIESMOMMY-Lucinda (40)

Dh Casey 47, DD Katie 4, DD Carrie 2.5 (ages at cruise time)

[Stinasmom]

Andrea and Lucinda---
Funny! I had already put together a list (just the other day)! We obviously think alike. :idea:
Guess I had some free time that day and as always, love to fill my free time with Disney trip planning!

I had also thought of editing the first page to include more info! Great minds....

At some point it would be fun to post pictures so we'll all recognize each other.

Marcy

[IndyDisneyFan]

Hi everyone! I just booked this week while onboard the Magic a couple of weeks ago. It will be myself, my DH, my DD 22 and DS 12. The kids don't know yet, so don't tell them! Once I have more time I will read through all of the posts to get to know everyone a bit better. This will be our 6th cruise (not including the kids), the 4th time on the Western. Planning is half the fun, so it will be fun planning and counting down together.

Laura

[Stinasmom]

Welcome Laura! (IndyDisneyFan)
It will be nice to have a veteran in the bunch! Just may have questions for you as we get closer!
I will add you to the first page!

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Well they say great minds think alike lol!!
HI and welcome fellow Hoosier Laura!! I used to live in Indy for a time also, am 3 hours north of you now in the South Bend area.This will be our very first cruise, so I love the fact we have all these veterans to help walk me through it! Its going to be so much fun planning!

Well guys I almost committed mutiny and switched cruises! When the sponsor called to book our cruise *finally* I was offerred the chance of going over Christmas which is normally blacked out!! I was excited and then unsure, even posted asking for opinions. Well I convinced myself we were switching and then when I talked to them totally changed my mind! I just could NOT be away over the holidays, am sure I did the right thing!
We also decided definately not to do the dolphin excursion, my youngest is such a tiny thing and a poster told me how rough the waves can be and that pretty much did it. Carrie is a lil ball of energy but LITTLE is the operative word!!

Here are my two "angels " ( trying to control the laughter at calling them that!!)
and me and DH
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Lucinda5743/girls12207-1.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Lucinda5743/kclu122007-1.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Lucinda5743/family1207-1.jpg

[Addler]

Hello Hello!!!

I am glad I am not the only person that likes to plan things far in advance, seems alot of you have me beat! I have been driving my DW insain with all the cruise talk since we decided to go on this cruise!:rotfl: I am glad I have found a nice home with other people who are just as excited about this as me! This will be our first cruise ever and we are so excited, I think I am more excited then my girls (the other day one of them said to stop counting down the days because it is only making it seem farther away).

Our crew includes myself (29, as of tommorow actually!), my DW (will be 32 at cruising but shhhh you did not hear that from me:rolleyes1) and our two DD's 10 at time of cruising and 12. I work overnights and have been reading the boards all night, told my daughters about this thread during breakfest and that perhaps they can start emailing thier hopfully new "friends" and get to know them so they have some people on board that they will already know.

We went overboard on this, it is our first big family vacation out of the country (we are in the great north eh! saw someone talking about snow, lol we have snow banks taller then myself! 6'2") We decided to come in a day early, right now we are staying at the airport hotel but this may change. After the cruise we are going to be at the French Quarter untill the 27th, will be a very magical Christmass for sure!

Saw some people talking about excursions, we know for sure we are going to be going for the Dolphin Trainer program at dolphinaris that is going to be a big highlight for my DW and DD's. Probably going to book it direct as it saves $320 in doing so, mind you the main site for dolphinaris has a different age restriction then the Disney excursion but are the same programs? Anyone have any insight on this? The main site says 12+ but disney says 10+ on the excursion page. The main site says 3.5 hours and the disney one says 5.5 hours anyone know what the differences are?

Ok I think thats enough for now I have so much on my mind about this trip I could go on forever lol - the magnetic sign making, the excursions the new friends and fun times ahead! Can't wait!

*edit* forgot to mention, we are on deck 6, #6006, saw someone else saying they are on deck 6 too, anyone else?

[IndyDisneyFan]

[QUOTE=KATIESMOMMY;23421042]Well they say great minds think alike lol!!
HI and welcome fellow Hoosier Laura!! I used to live in Indy for a time also, am 3 hours north of you now in the South Bend area.This will be our very first cruise, so I love the fact we have all these veterans to help walk me through it! Its going to be so much fun planning!

Hi KATIESMOMMY! I have actually been to Mishawaka. I worked there for two weeks while training for a new job about 16 years ago. It is really cold here, so I know that it is cold up there! It makes the cruise sound so much better doesn't it! I can't wait! Have fun planning!

Laura

[KATIESMOMMY]

:welcome: Addler!! Sounds like a bunch of us are plan-a-holics, we should all get along well :thumbsup2

Laura- it is cold here and we got dumped on with lake effect snow, to keep warm I spend the day planning for our cruise and looking at summer clothes for the girls!

Well we dont have a cabin number yet, but the JA emailed and said that she has booked the cruise, they upped us from a cat 11 to a cat 9 which was really nice. SO I guess we are on deck one or two unless we get some pixie dust and an upgrade, but I am just excited to have a window! They booked our flights, we will be at WDW by 11am on Weds before so all looks good!! I finally feel like this is really happenning!

[Mom2grlys]

I guess we are all plan-a-holics! I can't wait for our cruise and I am having a blast planning this thing.:thumbsup2

Addler, we have the same age girls and this will be our first big vacation too, we always go visit families on vacation. It will be fun to just go on vacation to have fun!!:yay:

We are torn between the Jeep excursion and the dolphins. I so want to do the dolphins in cozumel, but I think we are all doing the Jeep one instead. Is the one you are talking about in Cozumel or somewhere else? I wasn't familiar with that particular one you were talking about.

I agree, excursions, flights, hotels, door designs....we better get busy!!:lmao: I just can't wait!! :woohoo:

[KATIESMOMMY]

Theres a name for us,MAGICal Perpetual Planners :lmao:

Hope everyone is having a great week, we are getting bombed with snow and its soooo cold here today. We got our gas bill today and it was over $400...definately did not make my day!

[Mom2grlys]

Theres a name for us,MAGICal Perpetual Planners :lmao:

Hope everyone is having a great week, we are getting bombed with snow and its soooo cold here today. We got our gas bill today and it was over $400...definately did not make my day!


You too, huh!! We live in Southeast WI, right on the lake. We have had over 80 inches of snow this year!!! :sad1: I am so sick of snow and dream of the warm spring approaching. I am so glad we will have the cruise to break it up next year. At least we have 40's and rain this weekend, I am hoping it will melt the huge mound of snow we have everywhere! Sorry you have to deal with snow and not rain.:sad2:

[Addler]

We are torn between the Jeep excursion and the dolphins. I so want to do the dolphins in cozumel, but I think we are all doing the Jeep one instead. Is the one you are talking about in Cozumel or somewhere else? I wasn't familiar with that particular one you were talking about.




The Dolphin trainer for a day program in Cozumel. There are two different locations offering this experience. We have decided to go to the one at Dolphinaris. It's a brand new facility (thier old one was ruined by a hurricane) and it looks awsome. dolphinaris.com has more info and its listed as an excursion on the cozumel page. I am going to be contacting them directly in regards to the age thing, its alot cheaper to book through them directly, for our family it saves us $320 in total!

Does anyone know where we dock in Cozumel? is it on the island or the main land, and then we take a ferry to the island? This may be the reason in price difference as the cost to get to dolphinaris depends on the dock location.

Also does anyone want to exchange email addresses for our daughters? My daughter is interested in gettign to know a few of the other girls going, she's 12 years old, my younger daughter is not much into email but i'm sure once her sister gets doing it she'll join in too! PM me if you'd like her email address.

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome Addler and family & Happy Birthday to a fellow Pisces! (my Bday was last week- I choose to be 29 again this year!)
I have a DD10 and she is very much in to e-mailing. Maybe that will inspire your youngest!
We are staying at the Residence Inn in Cocoa Beach the night before- DH saw the suite with the jacuzzi on the lanai and he had to stay there. We aren't going to WDW this year, trying to save money:sad1: but maybe I can talk DH into it by that time

I ahve the hotel, the cruise & our airfare booked. Now I just need to figure out the excursions. We have to do Rasul for DH and parasailing at CC for DD10. otherwise, I think everyone will be content with anything I pick. I'd love to do the Dolphin thing, not so sure my kids will enjoy it though.
They are more adreneline junkies then animal lovers. I guess we will have to talk to them and let them decide. I would LOVE to surprise them with something like this-but it could fail miserably...

Lucinda-LOVE the name! Perpetual Planners of the DIS UNITE!

[KATIESMOMMY]

Welcome Addler and family & Happy Birthday to a fellow Pisces! (my Bday was last week- I choose to be 29 again this year!)
I have a DD10 and she is very much in to e-mailing. Maybe that will inspire your youngest!
We are staying at the Residence Inn in Cocoa Beach the night before- DH saw the suite with the jacuzzi on the lanai and he had to stay there. We aren't going to WDW this year, trying to save money:sad1: but maybe I can talk DH into it by that time

I have the hotel, the cruise & our airfare booked. Now I just need to figure out the excursions. We have to do Rasul for DH and parasailing at CC for DD10. otherwise, I think everyone will be content with anything I pick. I'd love to do the Dolphin thing, not so sure my kids will enjoy it though.
They are more adreneline junkies then animal lovers. I guess we will have to talk to them and let them decide. I would LOVE to surprise them with something like this-but it could fail miserably...

Lucinda-LOVE the name! Perpetual Planners of the DIS UNITE!

Happy belated birthday Andrea!!
We too now have everything but excursions booked. We cut our Disney trip down to just three days, our youngest was just 4 months old when we went the first time and Her Daddy wants to walk her down main street like he did his sister and see her reaction. I dont think its going to be what he hopes for, Katie is all about the princesses and the castle etc and Carrie is not into that kind of stuff, she is more adventurous and rough and tumble. Either way 3 days is better than none!!!
We got our cabin number,2620 cat 9 , I am worried about it, but, the sponsor says if we dont like it and its as loud as the reviews say, to ask on board to change which will be next to impossible I hear. I tried to get DCL to change it for me, but, they cant as the sponsor booked it....bad part is the the sponsor booked us transfer via Disney and its $4 more to do it from the resort, well they wont change it and DCL wont let me pay the damn $4, so it looks like either we take DME to MCO and then transfer or I keep my rental car...rental is winning out it looks like...
Your excursions sound wonderful! With my little ones I am just trying to choose one of the beach breaks...DH says we will just wing it when we get to port and I about died of horror! lol I know you fellow perputual planners will understand that lol
Andrea I see that your one daughter is the same age as my Katie, maybe they can pal around in the club. Katie is the sort who is friends with EVERYONE, she is really sweet though.
We need to liven this thread up a bit guys!! I know you all have lives, unfortuantely I dont:rotfl2: I am a sham so I am on here ALOT and check here at leat 5 times a day, I am obsessed!!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

[SILLYANDI]

Lucinda, my DD3 is quite the friend maker too! She is always the loudest, the bounciest, etc. I am sure they will get along great. I have been so busy looking out for hte older DD's I totally forgot about the little one making friends!

I read your other post about your room. We had a room that had bad reviews here and honestly we didn't have any problems. In fact we liked the location and everything so much we booked it again this time! I say don't worry about it...You're wasting precious time that you could be PLANNING with! :rotfl:
I've been busy selling girl scout cookies the past few weeks so I only get to check here once a day...pathetic!

[Addler]

SO far my weekends going well! hope yours and everyone elses is too!

I used to check the thread a few times a day, and then i just subscribed:rotfl:

So far for excursions we are pretty set on a few of ideas. we sat down as a family and looked over them. I'll share what we are thinking so far.

Key West - doing the white knuckle jet boat and the butterfly and aquarium trip

Cozumel - Dolphin Trainer for a day at Cozumel (I may try to do something up on the side for a bit if time permits more on that after)

Grand Caymen- Was thinking about doing the atlantis sub but am not 100% sure on that. I know we want to visit Strin Ray city, the turtle farm, and hel. Not sure if we are going to book something with DCL or just wing it when we get there... any suggestions?

Castaway Cay - leting the kids go to the kids club activities while myself and DW (Catherine) get some relaxe time on the adult area, possibly a nice massage session. Then taking the kids snorkeling and just having a laid back day. Was thinking about parasailing but we get that included with our resort stay so probably going to pass on that till the resort.


Now my question out to all the DH's out there, or whoever else may be interested. Anyone interested in looking into a sea fishing charter? I am not an avid fisherman been YEARS since i have been and am just getting back into it this year. It'd be my first time doing deep sea fishing, not sure what port would have the best action. But if anyone is interested perhaps a few of us can get together and book a private charter. It's not something my DW or DD's would be into much so was looking to see if anyone is interseted in doing this.

[KATIESMOMMY]

Addler, happy belated nbirthday to you too! I just realized you were a DH not a dw, I somehow missed that lol!! DH isnt much of a fisherman, but he might enjoy getting away from the all the estrogen in our family to go fishing, will have to check with him.
Andrea, yeah I have moved on from the cabin possibly not being perfect to something else, crusise clothes for the kdis. I have been pouring over the disboutiquers thread and planning on breaking out the sewing machine in a couple of weeks. Right now I am just stressing over the move, we have lived here sooooo long ( we ownour mobile home) and just bought a 4 bedroom 16oo sq ft home so all about packing and planning for that now lol
hope the other cruisers check in soon and that everyone is having a great Sunday!!

[KATIESMOMMY]

You too, huh!! We live in Southeast WI, right on the lake. We have had over 80 inches of snow this year!!! :sad1: I am so sick of snow and dream of the warm spring approaching. I am so glad we will have the cruise to break it up next year. At least we have 40's and rain this weekend, I am hoping it will melt the huge mound of snow we have everywhere! Sorry you have to deal with snow and not rain.:sad2:

Well we got the nicer weather this weekend, it did melt some and it was nice to hear the furnace actually not running all the time! :rotfl: We had just gotten the huge gas bill for the month before and DH commented on it!



So has anyone decided on their excursions yet? I was wondering about the stingray city, turtle farm one that Addler mentioned but not sure if it would work with the ages of my kids. I have looked at going to Nachi Cocom for beach break but DH isnt sold on any of them yet....

[Stinasmom]

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Sorry to hear about those of you who are still dealing with snow! We got our snow early in the season... mid November to Mid January. As of today...and JUST today, the last of it melted in the yard.
But it won't warm up for a while yet...

So, I have a question to all of you who have sailed before...
We never took the time to go to Studio Sea while onboard. Do they actually have DJ music and dancing for families in the evenings? or one particular evening? or theme parties? Or is it just for family game show activities and the like?

Reason I ask is that last night my DH took DD to a "Daddy-Daughter" dance. The theme was "red carpet" so they dressed to the nines and DH gave her a corsage. They played music like YMCA, Ice Ice Baby, Cha Cha slide... you know, the usual and everyone, especially my DD had a super fun time!

I was thinking that with the number of DH/DD groups we already have on this thread, if there is a family DJ/Dance night we could get them all together and make it a Daddy-Daughter thing. :hug:

Us moms could either get together with the boys, or let them play in the club and have a Girls night out!!:woohoo:

Anyone able to offer any insight?
I will post this question about Studio Sea on the main boards if no one knows....

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Sorry to hear about those of you who are still dealing with snow! We got our snow early in the season... mid November to Mid January. As of today...and JUST today, the last of it melted in the yard.
But it won't warm up for a while yet...

So, I have a question to all of you who have sailed before...
We never took the time to go to Studio Sea while onboard. Do they actually have DJ music and dancing for families in the evenings? or one particular evening? or theme parties? Or is it just for family game show activities and the like?

Reason I ask is that last night my DH took DD to a "Daddy-Daughter" dance. The theme was "red carpet" so they dressed to the nines and DH gave her a corsage. They played music like YMCA, Ice Ice Baby, Cha Cha slide... you know, the usual and everyone, especially my DD had a super fun time!

I was thinking that with the number of DH/DD groups we already have on this thread, if there is a family DJ/Dance night we could get them all together and make it a Daddy-Daughter thing. :hug:

Us moms could either get together with the boys, or let them play in the club and have a Girls night out!!:woohoo:

Anyone able to offer any insight?
I will post this question about Studio Sea on the main boards if no one knows....

Marcy

I am a cruise virgin so I have no idea, but the idea sounds wonderful!! Our community has one for the 6-7 yr olds every year, Dads wear tuxes, girls in their fancies, whole nine yards and DH can wait to do it, so this would be wonderful!!
It hit 47 here in Northern Indiana today and was lovely, but its going to get in the teens again all next week, where is Spring??? :confused3

[Addler]

That sounds like alot of fun! I am sure Catherine would be all up for a girls night out!

After looking over costs and what not - and the fact that DCL does not gurantee direct flights and the fact for me it'd be an extra $50/person (so $200) just to change my fly home date and then on top of all that i might even incur more charges for our flights we are getting our own airfair and transfers lol

That being said, is anyone else staying at the Radison at the Port the night before the cruise? I just booked our suite yesterday! Getting more and more excited :banana:

Stinasmom - got your PM - and wrote a reply but then i was told I can not reply due to a low post count - anyway I will pass that info onto Carli and your daughter can expect an email in a day or two :)

[SAHMof2]

Hello Everyone,
Well I finally made it on to this message board thing. I see my family has already started a thread so I will add our info. This will be my DH and my second cruise. First one was enough to keep us from trying this again but thanks to my SIL we are making this a family affair and we are excited about this one. There will be DH 37, Me 37, DD 12 DS 3. We are also preparing now as much as we can. We love all the information posted by others DC's and are so thankful for all the suggestions. Looking forward to meeting many of you.:goodvibes


DH-37:woohoo: Me - 37:cloud9: DD-12:cutie: DS-3popcorn::

[Addler]

Welcome SAHMof2!!!

Glad to see our numbers are growing!

[KATIESMOMMY]

Welcome Sahmof2! Our group seems to be a really nice group of people, please come again soon so we can all get to know each other!!! I am so excited to see new folk joining in!!

[Mom2grlys]

How are all of you??

I am obsessed with planning this cruise. Addler, we are staying at one of the Marriotts by the airport for the night. We bought our plane tickets through Midwest airlines just about a week ago....got them for $179 each round trip!:banana:

We are thinking about doing the Jeep excursion in Cozumel and I want to do one of the Sting Ray city tours in Grand Cayman. I am worried about the times for getting off the ship and back on the ship. Also, not sure whether we should book through DCL of another company.

Hey, looks like my SIL is online now!! Is that you SAHMof2?? :wave2:

I am on a break from school right now and start back next week. I know I won't be able to be on much when that starts again unless it involves school. So, i hope I will get a chance here and there to check in with you guys.

Happy planning!

[Stinasmom]

Welcome SAHMof2!

Yeah! another 12 year old girl! Having some online friends established will make a world of difference to the girls of this age!! PM me if you want to exchange email with my (will be 12)DD!

I am going to hit the main boards with my Studio Sea question. I really think that a Daddy-Daughter dance night would be a successful cruise meets event! I will keep you all posted on what I learn!

Marcy

P.S. I leave for Disneyland, San Diego, and Legoland in one week!!:woohoo:

[Addler]

Stinasmom, my 12dd is being anti social and rebelious with me LOL i figured there would be no problemw ith her sending an email off. but i was informed she wants to make her "own" friends and feels that i am trying to do this for her, myself and my wife explained to her why its a good idea to do it in advance, and I am sure she will come around! In the mean time when i was talking to her about it to let her know she could email her new friend her younger sister was like hey I want to email some new friends! so your daughter will be getting an email from Kristen she'll be 10 at time of sailing but is mature for the most part for her age from hanging with her older sister and her friends!


For Cozumel we are definatly doing the dolphine trainer for a day program at dolphinaris. I called there today and got routed to the one in cancun and had a language barrier. I used the online chat form to talk to someone but it was an independat tour booking company and they where not helpfull at all. For this one I'm going to book direct with DCL due to the fact that dolphinaris on thier booking form says 12+ but DCL says 10+, I do not want to run into any problems. Plus the DCL is 2 hours longer then the one booked direct maby its a better program (I hope so it costs $85/per person more!then booking direct)

Our family is also going to check out stingray city. Since it's a tendered port and I have heard some nightmarish stories of length of time to get off the ship although more good then bad! I do know that people that book with a DCL excursion are tendered to the island faster then thouse that are not. That being said we are going to do the tour that takes you to the turtle farm, hel, and stringray city.

Stinasmom hope your trip to disneyland is a great one!

Jealous over the airfair lol right now i've seen it at $442 plus taxes.
Originally i was staying at the hyatt but opted for the Radison as its closer to port, offers free shuttle service and I got a suite with jacuzi for less then what the hyatt was offering.

Why can't it be November already? :rotfl:

[SAHMof2]

Hey there SIL yep it's me.
Looks like we aren't communicating enough, I didn't know you were going back to school right now. Is it for your BSN? Hopefully we can catch up on this cruise eh! We are surely going on the Jeep excursion but have decided to not go through DCL because of the age of DS. DCL won't let anyone younger than five to go so we just took the other option.
Enjoy this week it goes by tooooo fast.

[SAHMof2]

I spoke with DD today and talked with her about meeting some other girls who are going on this cruise, she seemed excited:cool1: How do we get the communications going for the girls? Do they have to have there own login name? As you may notice I am not that computer literate.

So how many DC's has everyone been since now?
What enticed you about coming back to Disney instead of other cruise lines?
Has anyone done the land and sea package before?:upsidedow

Sorry :goodvibes I know these are a lot of questions, I have soooooo many that I'll wait for another time.

[IndyDisneyFan]

I spoke with DD today and talked with her about meeting some other girls who are going on this cruise, she seemed excited:cool1: How do we get the communications going for the girls? Do they have to have there own login name? As you may notice I am not that computer literate.

So how many DC's has everyone been since now?
What enticed you about coming back to Disney instead of other cruise lines?
Has anyone done the land and sea package before?:upsidedow

Sorry :goodvibes I know these are a lot of questions, I have soooooo many that I'll wait for another time.

We have done a total of 5, and we keep coming back because of the wonderful service and great cruise experience. I wouldn't do the land and sea package, as it is cheaper to book each part separately. In some cases a whole lot cheaper. We always go to WDW either before our cruises for a couple of days or afterwards depending on room rates. Sometimes, like last month, we did both before and after! Once they have you hooked you just can't seem to get enough of that Disney magic!!

Laura

[KATIESMOMMY]

This is our very first cruise sahm, we were blessed and actually won the trip! We are going to WDW for a few days before we go, booked seperately.

[winotracy]

Hey everyone! We are going to be cruising with you!! It will be DH Bill and I. We are so excited to see the ship and Castaway Cay decorated for Christmas!

[KATIESMOMMY]

Welcome winotracy!!!

[SAHMof2]

Katismommy
That is so wonderful. How exciting it must have been to won! We also are planning on hitting the parks before the curise. Friday I think. We have to be careful DD's not missing too much school so we decided just one day for the park and were torn between the MK or Epcot. That would be great to meet and greet before the curise.
Congratulations again to you all!

[SAHMof2]

Hey everyone! We are going to be cruising with you!! It will be DH Bill and I. We are so excited to see the ship and Castaway Cay decorated for Christmas!
Welcome aboard!

[Stinasmom]

Welcome Tracy!
You seem familiar... do you cruise a lot? I can see you post a lot. Are you on the Eastbound Repo this summer?

We are glad to have more and more DIS cruisers! It will be fun to have a couple organized get togethers onboard! Wine tasting anyone?;)

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Katismommy
That is so wonderful. How exciting it must have been to won! We also are planning on hitting the parks before the curise. Friday I think. We have to be careful DD's not missing too much school so we decided just one day for the park and were torn between the MK or Epcot. That would be great to meet and greet before the curise.
Congratulations again to you all!
We are set to come in early Weds morning and stay till we depart for the cruise on the 13th staying at Pop century ( with our code it was $49 a night, couldnt say no!) Katie is in preschool but gets special services as she was severely developmentally delayed but they say she has progressed sooo much this year that they are saying it will be just normal preschool with some speech therapy so being gone wont be too bad for her... we always do December vacations as thats when it is slow for DH. Hopefully we will meet up!!

Well I have talked to both "big" providers for the stingray city tour and neither really think it would work out for us...so....we are doing beach breaks I guess

[winotracy]

Welcome Tracy!
You seem familiar... do you cruise a lot? I can see you post a lot. Are you on the Eastbound Repo this summer?

We are glad to have more and more DIS cruisers! It will be fun to have a couple organized get togethers onboard! Wine tasting anyone?;)

Marcy

I do cruise a fair amount :) I am on the Eastbound Repo this summer and I did the last Eastbound PC cruise.

I hosted the DCL Virtual House Party in January.

Wine tasting, martini tasting, rum tasting.... I'm up for it all :thumbsup2

[SILLYANDI]

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Sorry to hear about those of you who are still dealing with snow! We got our snow early in the season... mid November to Mid January. As of today...and JUST today, the last of it melted in the yard.
But it won't warm up for a while yet...

So, I have a question to all of you who have sailed before...
We never took the time to go to Studio Sea while onboard. Do they actually have DJ music and dancing for families in the evenings? or one particular evening? or theme parties? Or is it just for family game show activities and the like?


We went one night- they did the walk the plank game show. It was really fun. We were in bed early most nights so we didn't do much night life!

Mom's only bar night sounds like fun to me!:rolleyes1

[SILLYANDI]

That being said, is anyone else staying at the Radison at the Port the night before the cruise? I just booked our suite yesterday! Getting more and more excited :banana:



We're staying at the residence inn.

[SILLYANDI]

I spoke with DD today and talked with her about meeting some other girls who are going on this cruise, she seemed excited:cool1: How do we get the communications going for the girls? Do they have to have there own login name? As you may notice I am not that computer literate.

So how many DC's has everyone been since now?
What enticed you about coming back to Disney instead of other cruise lines?
Has anyone done the land and sea package before?:upsidedow

Sorry :goodvibes I know these are a lot of questions, I have soooooo many that I'll wait for another time.

We've been on 5 cruises total, once with DCL and as DH said "I don't think we will ever cruise another line again." The overall quality is worth every penny. THe kids LOVED the programs, DH and I LOVED the alone time, spa treatments and food. We travel extensively with the kids and honestly that cruise was the best family vacation we have ever had.
We did the land sea (booked each portion seperately) and it was TOO much for us. We were Disney'ed out and tired by the time we got to the cruise. We aren't planning the WDW part this time to see if we get more out of the cruise.

As far as the girls communicating, DD10 (almost 11 at sailing) e-mailed girls from our last cruise for about 6 months prior. They exchanged e-mails through PM and it took off from there. They would write once a week or so and send pics, etc. When we got to WDW we walked into the Magic Kingdom and walked smack into one of the other families and it was really weird that we knew each other right off the bat.

[SILLYANDI]

Hello Everyone,
Well I finally made it on to this message board thing. I see my family has already started a thread so I will add our info. This will be my DH and my second cruise. First one was enough to keep us from trying this again but thanks to my SIL we are making this a family affair and we are excited about this one. There will be DH 37, Me 37, DD 12 DS 3. We are also preparing now as much as we can. We love all the information posted by others DC's and are so thankful for all the suggestions. Looking forward to meeting many of you.:goodvibes


DH-37:woohoo: Me - 37:cloud9: DD-12:cutie: DS-3popcorn::
Welcome! Also welcome to Laura, somehow I missed your first post? It is so great that we are growing!

[SILLYANDI]

Hey everyone! We are going to be cruising with you!! It will be DH Bill and I. We are so excited to see the ship and Castaway Cay decorated for Christmas!

Welcome Tracy. This is gonna sound weird but I am totally excited to meet you because I feel like I know you after that virtual DCL houseparty! I have never seen so many posts fly by in such a short time as that night!

[SILLYANDI]

We are set to come in early Weds morning and stay till we depart for the cruise on the 13th staying at Pop century ( with our code it was $49 a night, couldnt say no!) Katie is in preschool but gets special services as she was severely developmentally delayed but they say she has progressed sooo much this year that they are saying it will be just normal preschool with some speech therapy so being gone wont be too bad for her... we always do December vacations as thats when it is slow for DH. Hopefully we will meet up!!



Lucinda, my son was born 12 weeks early and had a rough start, we had high intensity OT & PT from birth and started speech at 13 months (he had moderate to severe delays across the board). He is now down to only speech once a week and is in a regular 1st grade class. Other than being a bit small and quiet you would never know how rough it was, but I feel your worry. Everytime we miss school, speech, etc I worry about the struggle to catch up. It is so exciting to move ahead, but such a bummer when you have a set back.
We do December because its cheap and we can use the Christmas vacation to make up all the homework that's due!

[SILLYANDI]

I just realized that I have almost filled up this entire page with my own rants...so I added one more for good measure.

I'm gonna stop now!;)

[IndyDisneyFan]

Welcome! Also welcome to Laura, somehow I missed your first post? It is so great that we are growing!

I joined a while back. I just don't have much time to post as I am working my way through college and working part time. Plus I have to hide this from my kids as they don't know that we are going yet! I try to catch up with the postings when I can.

Laura

[Addler]

Silyandi: got your PM today - been crazy busy with work and a web site I launched, Kristen is going to send off some emails today to your daughter adn to Stinasmom's daughter. She will be 10 at the time of cruising.

My 12 year old is still in "I want to make my own friends mode" i think she's wierded out by emailing people in advance but I know once her sister starts she'll jump in! I figured it would have been the oposite with her wanting to email and Kristen not being so interested oh how I was wrong :confused3 It's not like she goes online and talks with random people playing webkins and club penquin lol, now theres the new fad, bella sara cards not sure how they work hah

Silyandi - where is the residence inn? near the port? Perhaps a pre cruise meet might be in order if its near by!


Mmmmmm Martini tastings! hey I got a new one... alcohol tastings lol I have never been on a cruise as of yet and not sure if the staterooms would permit, but a neat idea would be a drink tasting type thing. Each family (parents lol) could bring things to make a certain drink, and then we'd have a drink tasting where everyone gets to try each others drinks, not sure how that'd work though. Maby the DH's could play bartender in thier staterooms and then the DW's could pair up. Since the DW's would be half the DH's, half the ppl involved would volenteer as "hosts". Each host would then have two DH's hanging out, and the DW's would go in rotation together from station to station, rule of thumb is bring a drink for the DH hosts with you so eventually everyone gets to try all the drinks - then maby after everyone coudl go to one of the bars for some adult time while the kids hang out together at a kids program... maby there is an easier way to do it not sure? Do they have meet up rooms that people could use?

No I'm not a lush :banana: just think it'd be something fun to do...

[Addler]

Silyandi and Stinasmom, the emails have been sent!

For anyone else that is interested my DD Kristen (9 now, 10 at time of sailing) is interested in emailing back and forth with other kids going on the cruise. I can not send PM"s as of yet but if you PM me she will email.

[SILLYANDI]

It's not like she goes online and talks with random people playing webkins and club penquin lol, now theres the new fad, bella sara cards not sure how they work hah

Silyandi - where is the residence inn? near the port? Perhaps a pre cruise meet might be in order if its near by!


Mmmmmm Martini tastings! hey I got a new one... alcohol tastings lol I have never been on a cruise as of yet and not sure if the staterooms would permit, but a neat idea would be a drink tasting type thing. Each family (parents lol) could bring things to make a certain drink, and then we'd have a drink tasting where everyone gets to try each others drinks, not sure how that'd work though. Maby the DH's could play bartender in thier staterooms and then the DW's could pair up. Since the DW's would be half the DH's, half the ppl involved would volenteer as "hosts". Each host would then have two DH's hanging out, and the DW's would go in rotation together from station to station, rule of thumb is bring a drink for the DH hosts with you so eventually everyone gets to try all the drinks - then maby after everyone coudl go to one of the bars for some adult time while the kids hang out together at a kids program... maby there is an easier way to do it not sure? Do they have meet up rooms that people could use?

No I'm not a lush :banana: just think it'd be something fun to do...

Our house is taken over by webkinz and penguins! Also Miss O & friends....

I honestly have no clue where the residence inn is other than somewhere in Cocoa Beach. They have free shuttles, free warm breakfast and jacuzzi rooms. Here's te link http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mlbri-residence-inn-cape-canaveral-cocoa-beach/

I couldn't find an e-mail from kristen, I think her spam filter was on you may have t send it again...

[Addler]

Andrea I'm going to resend the email for you, its comming from a @live.com email address. It did not get returned to Kristen so not sure what happened, Kristen already got a reply from Stinas DD.

I'll try to resend now, did you check the junk folder on that end?

[Addler]

Andrea checked out that link, looks interesting. Here is a link to the one I have booked but perhaps may change my mind and go to the Marriot or maby you'll like the Radisson lol be neat to stay at the same place.
http://www.radisson.com/capecanaveralfl

I like the look of the pool at the Radisson, I know thier shuttles to the port are free. From the looks of the marriot site they charge $6/person round trip for shuttle to the port, did you get that included with your room charge?

[SILLYANDI]

Andrea checked out that link, looks interesting. Here is a link to the one I have booked but perhaps may change my mind and go to the Marriot or maby you'll like the Radisson lol be neat to stay at the same place.
http://www.radisson.com/capecanaveralfl

I like the look of the pool at the Radisson, I know thier shuttles to the port are free. From the looks of the marriot site they charge $6/person round trip for shuttle to the port, did you get that included with your room charge?

I fixed the e-mail problem, I had the settings so she can't receive files. She sent an e-mail.
We got shuttles & breakfast included, I booked through a link I found here or at mousesavers.com. I'll find it and send it to you.
I think we looked at the Radisson and DH chose the marriot instead because of the breakfast & jacuzzi. Also, we can sleep 6 of us in 1 room instead of having to book 2 rooms. I hate to say it, but we won't be changing our minds. But it would be cool to meet before we get to the cruise!

[Stinasmom]

Hey all...

Addler... I believe we use to call your idea of drinks in each stateroom "drinking around the world" back in college... of course, it was rooms in Fraternities that we visited! AND it was before I had heard of the one drink per country at Epcot's World Showcase!!
On our first cruise (7 nighter west coast) we did do a tour of each other's staterooms (DIS friends, that is!) to see the different categories. We could make the "drinks available" an interesting part of it!

Also, my DD thought it was so cute that your younger DD wanted to email, especially someone older. She said "oh, she's like me!" meaning that she isn't shy about being around girls older than she.
My DD had experienced a cruise without making friends ahead of time when she was almost 9 and it didn't go well. So many of the kids were with siblings or friends, and you don't always find yourself in the club at the same time as others that you might get along with and have things in common with. She spent way too much time with us (NOT that we don't love her!!! Just hoping for more ADULT time!:rolleyes1 ) or alone in the stateroom watching movies!:bored:
On our second DCL cruise, she had two girls that she'd emailed for a few months. They arranged to be the same places at the same times, spent time together on Castaway Cay and had a great time! What a difference!:yay:

Any other DD's 10-12 or so, PM me for my DD's email. She'd loves to have friends!

Marcy

[Addler]

Kristen was excited to get emails from both your daughters :)

She's going to reply again tommorow!

And Carli has come around lol when Kristen was reading the emails her older sister came and was checking them out and i could tell she wanted to get involved so she'll probably jump in as well. Definatly I think it'd be fun to make arrangements so they can go to the clubs together and hang out. I know i'm looking forward to family activities but also looking forward to some nights out with just Catherine - and the kids will love a feeling of "independance" we are going to pick up a set of two way radios with 40km ranges on them so that the kids can keep one and we keep one so we can stay in touch with each other. Anyone know if they work or not on the ship?

Sounds like your intersted in the drinks around the wonder! lol
i'd love to see that come to play - be alot of fun

Andrea - talking to my wife about switching hotels too - as she pointed out worst case we can always meet up somewhere, we wont have wheels but if its somewhere the shuttle goes or a close cab ride or a walk from our hotel we can work something out to meet up prior if we dont switch out our hotel.
Totally understand not wanting to swap out from the Marriot specially if you'd need 2 rooms!

anyone else use that travel guide mike AVP in the past? not sure if it was this thread i read about it or another, i'm thinking about trying it out....

oh cant wait so much planning and so many fun times ahead! :woohoo:

[SILLYANDI]

We have used Tour Guide Mike, I LOVE IT. It takes some digging but there is fantastic information. The best parks guide and ride guides are totally on the money if you have specific things you want to see and do.

I love the drinks around the world idea.

Addler- Madison still didn't get an email from Kristen, I am going to have to look at her settings again (I thought I had fixed it)
We would love to meet up- our flight doesn't get in until 4PM so I'm guessing we will be to tha hotel about 530-6. Maybe we can all have dinner, we could definately venture to your neck of the woods because we will have a car.
I guess when it gets closer we can plan details. Maybe we can jsut come over and invade your pool!:rotfl:

[Addler]

Thats wierd that she did not get an email, Kristen sent it twice. Kristen did get one from Madison, Kristens downstairs in her play room with her sister right now I'll reply to Madisons email right now with the original email Kristen tried to send. I wont attach the pictures this time and see if that works.


Ok so thats three people so far for "drinks around the wonder" heh

As for comming and invaiding our pool sounds like a plan, we could have dinner if you like and hang out and go swimming!

Thanks for the info on MIkes, I am going to sub to it so I can use his tools. I am not sure where but i read typhoon lagoon is going to be closed fro maitenence I sooo hope that i read it wrong LOL

[Addler]

ok just did the reply to Madiesons email, let me know if it went through or not. :banana:

[SILLYANDI]

ok just did the reply to Madiesons email, let me know if it went through or not. :banana:

I'm at work but I checked her account from here and there si still nothing. I think aol is wacky right now. She has a verizon account too. I will PM you that address and see if it works. She doesn't like using it because it's not user friendly.

[SILLYANDI]

Addler- I asked Dh about deep sea fishing and he said he's game for anything, but he'll only do it if he gets to keep what he catches. How does that work? Would they ship it home?

[Addler]

Honestly I am not sure if we'd get to keep what we catch. Tonight while i'm working if its not busy (had some crazy snow storms works been insain, oh the life of a dispatcher) anyway I'll start researching it for sure!

[SILLYANDI]

Are you a Police Dispatcher?

[Addler]

No - I am an emergency road service dispatcher for a very large members only auto club in Canada :woohoo:

[Skallywag]

Hi everyone,

Just back from a week at our timeshare in the New Forest Hampshire and had a great time weather good also. Now we have very low pressure, gales and rain and it has been terrible glad we were not away this week.

Believe some parts of your country have had record snow falls - strange year this has been so far.
Brenda

[KATIESMOMMY]

No - I am an emergency road service dispatcher for a very large members only auto club in Canada :woohoo:Well I know exactly how busy you can be, I worked for a firm here in the states for a number of years as an emergency dispatcherfor road service here for semi trucks, entertainers buses,leased light automotive and rental moving vehicles. Am sure we could share some stories about how lovely vendors can be at time let alone some stupid driver mistakes stories!!
:thumbsup2

[disnyrcks]

hello
our family just booked this cruise.:thumbsup2 .we are so excited!!!!its our first cruise
it will be myself(Leslie), husband(Joe)...and 5 kids....dd(14),ds(7), dd(6), dd(4) and ds(3)
hope we get to meet you all soon and hopefully our 14 year old can meet up with some new friends
thanks guys

[Addler]

Welcome aboard!!!

Our group keeps growig and growing!!

My girls are a tad younger then yours (12 and 10) but if you like they have emailed a few of the other girls going on the cruise and are starting to write back and forth (this just started last week). If your interested PM me your daughters email addres and I'll get them to email her).

[STLDisney_Freak]

:thumbsup2 I've flipped threw some of the posts....I noticed someone compiled a list...My mom is going to be traveling with my husband, myself and our two daughters. I haven't even decided what we are going to do for excursions. I have some saved that I thought sounded interesting. For anyone that has already been on one of the cruises, Are there excursions you'd recommend for younger children?? I'm trying to watch which ones we book too because last year my mom had a hip replacement so she isn't quite into walking alot. I wanted to get my DISigns for my door printed out and laminated too. :thumbsup2

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome Leslie & family! I don't know if we have any older girls, it seems like they are all 10-12ish. I have a will be 4 year old girl and a son who will be 7 at cruising-so we have a few in common!


I'm happy to see another big family too!

[SILLYANDI]

Hi everyone,

Just back from a week at our timeshare in the New Forest Hampshire and had a great time weather good also. Now we have very low pressure, gales and rain and it has been terrible glad we were not away this week.

Believe some parts of your country have had record snow falls - strange year this has been so far.
Brenda

The weather has been WONDERFUL here in Cali. Low 80's, sunshine-I am sure that Marcy and her family are having a blast at Disneyland. I forgot to get a cell # before they left, we were supposed to meet up.

Marcy if your reading this...PM me I still want to get together with you while you're here!

[winotracy]

The weather has been WONDERFUL here in Cali. Low 80's, sunshine-I am sure that Marcy and her family are having a blast at Disneyland. I forgot to get a cell # before they left, we were supposed to meet up.

Marcy if your reading this...PM me I still want to get together with you while you're here!

We'll be at DL in August :woohoo:

[SILLYANDI]

We'll be at DL in August :woohoo:

Yeah! Maybe we can meet up! We let our passes expire, but I am hoping I will find a deal to be had sometime soon. I'm having withdrawls!!!!

[SILLYANDI]

Our Girl Scout Troop did the flag ceremony and introduction for the Anaheim Ducks game against the Montreal Canadiens (Addler are you a fan by chance?)


Here they are...they are the two blondes in the group....


http://ducks.nhl.tv/team/launch.htm?type=fvod&id=14069&catid=347

[Addler]

thats cool that they got to do that!

No not a fan - not a big hockey fan.... yes I know your probalby in shock, a canadian thats not into hockey! I'm more of a :surfweb: kinda guy
naw hockey just is not my thing!!

I'll have to show the girls the video

[winotracy]

I'm sorry to say that we are changing our dates. We're going on the Eastern instead on December 6. I know you'll have a great time!

[PenskeSth1]

We have been very busy lately but I just wanted to jump on real quick and wish everyone a wonderful Easter!

Michele

[SILLYANDI]

I'm sorry to say that we are changing our dates. We're going on the Eastern instead on December 6. I know you'll have a great time!

Oh, too bad. Have a great trip and take care of the magic for us!

[tmk0730]

Hello everyone! Can I please join your group!? :) We are going on our first Disney Cruise and could not be more excited! It will be myself (Tracy), DH (Bill), and our DS who will be 26 months. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you! :thumbsup2

[PenskeSth1]

Welcome to our group tmk0730! :yay:

[PenskeSth1]

Well I finally got up the gumshin to start working on door signs. I know it is early but time will seem to start flying by now.

We have friends going on this cruise with us who have NEVER been on a Disney cruise, so I am trying to do up a surprise door magnet for them and their children. I am NOT to creative but I figured I would give it a shot.

I broke down and added on the Romance pkg. I guess we will celebrate our 20th anniversary 2 months early...LOL

hope everyone has a great week.

[KATIESMOMMY]

Just dropping by, have been SOOO busy, we finally closed on our new home last Thursday and got everything moved in. Its all still a mess around here, but at least I have my computer back on!!
Michele that is a very pretty pete in your siggy, I take it you or you dh drive?

[PenskeSth1]

KatiesMommy---DH does drive but he drives an International Eagle with the pro sleeper. This is a picture of the Truck that played Optimus Prime in Transformers. This is what DH wants his truck to one day look similar too! LOL

Congrats on finally getting moved into your new house!

[Stinasmom]

Hey everyone!
It's great to be home, except for the snow flurries... WHAT IS THAT? It's almost April!

We had a great time in So. Cal. going to San Diego (Zoo), Legoland, and, of course, Disneyland! I even got to celebrate my birthday while in DL. No special "year of a million dreams" things happened to us, but we had a nice time nonetheless.

Great to see a few new comers to our group. :welcome: to disnyrcks and tmk0730! (aka, Leslie and Tracy!)
Leslie--- my DS7 would do well if I introduced him to a friend to play with in the clubs... he isn't into email yet, but we should talk about possibly meeting the first night. He seems to think he had a bad experience in the club last time we cruised... I don't remember it, but to have a friend or two going in may help!

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

KatiesMommy---DH does drive but he drives an International Eagle with the pro sleeper. This is a picture of the Truck that played Optimus Prime in Transformers. This is what DH wants his truck to one day look similar too! LOL

Congrats on finally getting moved into your new house!


Ahhh, transformers, yes my DH has told me about this truck lol I am sure its every drivers dream! Mine drives an old Freight ( he is a flatbedder) and would love that Pete! Me, I am partial to my W900l's but I doubt I will ever drive again now that we have kids:woohoo:

Thanks on the house, its been such a long drawn out stressful thing, am just glad its done and I can concentrate on the cruise and wdw trip!!!


welcome back stinasmom, yes it snow again, I am so ready for spring!!

hi and welcome tracy!!

[PenskeSth1]

Stinasmom- Glad to hear you had a good trip. Wish we could see just a couple flurries here in sunny Fl. I don't think we had much of a cool winter this year. LOL It was probably a cool 80 something today. ;)

When we went to WDW the week before Christmas we didn't have any special year of a million dreams happenings either. That is just our luck though.

Katiesmommy- That Pete in Transformers is "SWEET". I haven't drove in over 19 years myself (the kids happened). Once in awhile DS and I go with DH just for the weekend. I am a severe KW junkie, but will admit his International Eagle is really nice inside and it rides smooth for a twin screw.

[KATIESMOMMY]

Stinasmom- Glad to hear you had a good trip. Wish we could see just a couple flurries here in sunny Fl. I don't think we had much of a cool winter this year. LOL It was probably a cool 80 something today. ;)
When we went to WDW the week before Christmas we didn't have any special year of a million dreams happenings either. That is just our luck though.

Katiesmommy- That Pete in Transformers is "SWEET". I haven't drove in over 19 years myself (the kids happened). Once in awhile DS and I go with DH just for the weekend. I am a severe KW junkie, but will admit his International Eagle is really nice inside and it rides smooth for a twin screw.


that is just not right to be that warm lol But I remember Lakeland in the summer, so there is tradeoffs lol
Those Eagles are really nice, never driven one but heard a lot of good things from other drivers. I was an O/O with my ex for alot of years. My DH runs a company truck and is out maybe 2 nights a week so it makes it nice for the kids. I get the itch for the road still, but not like it was. The girls keep me busy...DH is excited there is another trucker going to be on the cruise, you know how they like to talk:lmao:

Today was no fun, we had to get my 19 month old fitted for her glasses, poor baby...I am still in shock at the $277 price tag for those lil bitty things!:scared1:

[PenskeSth1]

Well I know that my DH can out talk any women!:rotfl: It amazes me how men can find more stuff then women to run their gators about.

I feel so bad for those little ones when they have to get glasses so young. DS who just turned 10 has been wearing glasses since 2nd grade and he still hates them. I am constantly asking him where they are.

Our kids are on spring break this week. We are going to try and squeeze in a day at sea world. We haven't been in a few years and they say the Shamu show is wonderful.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

[SILLYANDI]

Hello everyone! Can I please join your group!? :) We are going on our first Disney Cruise and could not be more excited! It will be myself (Tracy), DH (Bill), and our DS who will be 26 months. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you! :thumbsup2

Welcome Tracy!

[SILLYANDI]

Marcy- Sorry we missed you at DL, I missed your post that you were leaving and never got a cell # or anything to contact you to get together...

Dh gave in and let me renew our passes yesterday!!! Although, we had to get the SO Cal ones, but that's better than nothing!

We have been to DL 3-4 times a month since the year of a millions dreams started and NEVER been dreamed. We did get dreamed at WDW with lanyards while riding the Star Tours ride, it was REALLY COOL! We lined up to go on and after me and my kids got on they stopped the line behind us so it was just the 4 of us with another family of 4. Then CM's came in from both sides of the ride and sang a song to us then gave us all lanyards. Then we got to ride the ride all by ourselves-just 8 people! It was really neat. Here we are exiting to tell DH what he missed out on!
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/rivercru/waltdisneyworld2006008-1.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/rivercru/waltdisneyworld2006009.jpg

[tmk0730]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! We're headed to WDW Tues and I'm so excited. Between that and now that we are planning the cruise I can hardly sleep these days!!! :rotfl:

[PenskeSth1]

Friends of ours got the Disney dreams lanyards in Dec while they were there. We happened to be on a ride when they got theirs. (they were waiting outside). One of our friends gave me the pins off of his because he didn't really care about it. I thought that was pretty nice. I just added them to DS's Pin collector book.

Tracy- have fun on your trip to WDW...Just a warning, our kids are on spring break all this week so it will probably be busy. (busier)sp?

[Stinasmom]

Oooohhh, jealous! Tracy (tmk0730)---have a great time at WDW! I am not sure if I am more envious of the warm weather you'll get or that you'll be at WDW!

While we were at DL I was approached one time by the "DreamTeam" and asked about how I like the tour I did (Walking in Walt's Footsteps) as I was still wearing the tag that indicates you are part of a tour group... I answered but NO Dream prizes. And once my DD11 was approached and asked what our family name was, but NO prizes. It seemed everytime we turned around we saw families all with Dream FastPass lanyards. Not even on my birthday, and I did make sure to get a birthday button. Oh, well. Guess if we all got something, it wouldn't be a special???

We did get a special trip on the Mark Twain Riverboat, though. After getting on and proceeding to the top deck, the "captain" came down from his little room on the very top to ask if we wanted to come up. We got to see it all from that little space up there where the wheel is, got to ring the bell and pull the cord for the horn. Pretty cool.

Spending the time at DL/DCA really gave me some time to rethink how to exactly tackle our WDW time before the cruise. I definitely want to get the park hopper option now, where as before I thought we could live without it.

Hope you all had a good Easter, had or are having a great Spring Break, and for those of us still seeing white stuff falling from the sky, stay warm!

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Have a great time at WDW Tracey, I am jealous too!!!

Marcy- maybe we both will be getting dream somethings when we go. I had debated on the hoppers too because we want to do the Christmas party Thursday night and I just have a feeling we wont be hopping. We had hoppers before and we never used them...

I decided to check our plane ressies (obessesing again lol) and found out they had changed our flights on the outbound giving us a 4 hour layover in ATL, thankfully I got them changed again, guess I will be checking once a week from here on out. They did it to us last time too, so not surprised.

I did get lucky and when I called DCL to change to our new address ( have I said how much I love my new house:love: ) they put everything in my name now, so all our documents will be coming to me instead of the judging agency who was handling the trip. Now if I could just get them to transfer the bus transfers so we can be picked up at WDW instead of having to get to the airport for it....

[KATIESMOMMY]

Marcy- Sorry we missed you at DL, I missed your post that you were leaving and never got a cell # or anything to contact you to get together...

Dh gave in and let me renew our passes yesterday!!! Although, we had to get the SO Cal ones, but that's better than nothing!

We have been to DL 3-4 times a month since the year of a millions dreams started and NEVER been dreamed. We did get dreamed at WDW with lanyards while riding the Star Tours ride, it was REALLY COOL! We lined up to go on and after me and my kids got on they stopped the line behind us so it was just the 4 of us with another family of 4. Then CM's came in from both sides of the ride and sang a song to us then gave us all lanyards. Then we got to ride the ride all by ourselves-just 8 people! It was really neat. Here we are exiting to tell DH what he missed out on!
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/rivercru/waltdisneyworld2006008-1.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/rivercru/waltdisneyworld2006009.jpg


love the pics!!!

[Stinasmom]

Here are two pics from our DL trip:

Me, DD11, DS7
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e369/stinasmom/DLbabyshowerandcats035.jpg

and DS7 as captain of the Mark Twain Riverboat
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e369/stinasmom/DCP_2999.jpg
He got to pull the cord for the bell and the whistle too.

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Oh what a handsome young man marcy!! You have a nice looking family..yall are all so much younger than me!!:eek: :sad2:

[KATIESMOMMY]

Wow, I ran you all off, I am the official thread killer lol
I did get my cruise passporter today to tide me over though!!

[PenskeSth1]

I bought the passporter In 2002 for our first cruise. It is a wealth of Information. Once in a while I pop over to their community page. I haven't bought one since though.

We have been on spring break here all week so we have been busy. Wednesday we went to Sea World and last night we went to the drive in with my sons cub scout buddies (there were about 30 of us). You can't beat 2 movies for $4.00 and kids under 10 are free!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

[Stinasmom]

Thread killer? Nah! we just took a breather...
Now, one time I responded to a thread and they had to lock it down!!!

I just spent over 2 hours with a good friend of mine who is planning her first WDW trip for this June. She had done some research, but, boy! was I able to give her direction! Armed with DIS dining reviews, podcast and website info, she and her family are on their way!

Yesterday I had a friend over and gave similar direction about booking and going to Disneyland! Yep, they all think I should become a TA. I know, however, that I am just a well informed DISser and Disney fan, maybe a stand out in my community but nothing unusual in this online community!

At least my friend this evening brought over a bottle of wine to share while we talked and planned WDW!!! :goodvibes

Marcy

[PenskeSth1]

Marcy,
There first trip to WDW, How exciting for them! At least you got your friend pointed in the right direction. I am sure they will have a fabulous time.

DH and I always seem to go by the seat of our pants. We just aren't intense planners.;) Seems to have worked for us so far.

[KATIESMOMMY]

They had to lock the thread? Oh my Marcy lol

Katie is on spring break this week. We had gorgeous weather ( for us) and had a big bbq out on the deck for about 14 ppl in his family yesterday. It was lots of fun and the girls are really enjoying our new huge yard. Unfortunately by evening both me and my youngest were sick and throwing up, took her to the peds afterhours and its a stomach bug. Katie woke up with it this morning then too....

Well I read my passporter completely in one day and have read it at least once more now. I wish I would have gotten the deluxe version, I had thought it would be like my WDW one with the pockets and the ring binding but its not....
Big news on the Katie front though that I just have to share. They thought she was ppd-nos ( autism) with possible developmental delays, well her IEP and testing results came back last week and WOW is all I can say! They said she has now achieved all her milestones and some that she wasnt set to hit for a few years, testing at 1st grade level with her vocabulary and math skills!! At this point there are just a few emtional areas she needs to work on and of course her speech. They cant get over the progress in the last year and I was so proud!! Her birthday (4) is next Monday, am trying to plan a nice party yet for her.
Carrie has adjusted to her glasses and now gets upset to take them off. Its funny all the comments we get from ppl because she is so petite and tiny and has glasses.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Lucinda5743/100_4446.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Lucinda5743/100_4440.jpg

So is anyone doing door signs?? I havent a clue how to do them but would love to learn!

[SILLYANDI]

We are on spring break this week, we're leaving to beach camp tomorrow. I can't wait. Ive got my new passporter stashed in the motorhome. I didn't want to cheat and read it before I'm sitting on the beach with my mai tai!
\Marcy-all my friends joke that I should be a TA too. I have friends of friends calling me now for planning advice.

Lucinda- Great news for Katie! My son was a micro preemie (12 weeks early)and we went through all the OT, PT, Speech, sensory integration, etc with him from the day he came home from the NICU. He's 6 now and attends regular 1st grade with speech being his only therapy. I know all too well the feeling you have walking into those IEP's- and how wonderful it is to hear your child is doing something well!The programs they have today are incredible.

I haven't had much to add lately, and haven't had much time to post. But I check in every few days!
Do you all think they will keep the weird dining rotations by the time we are cruising. It's really messing with my Palo plans & everything!

[SILLYANDI]

Lucinda, I am doing door signs. I did them last time too.
Here are our doors from the last trip...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/rivercru/waltdisneyworld2006372.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/rivercru/waltdisneyworld2006371.jpg

[PenskeSth1]

Andrea, I love your door! The Mickey wreath is cute! You could hardly see our door on our 2006 cruise. I have started on designs for this cruise but don't know if I will go crazy this time. I had Kristine do a couple for DH and the kids(She is so talented and I am so NOT talented) and Tom did the name tags for us. I am hoping to surprise our friends with some for their door too!

[KATIESMOMMY]

Andrea I just LOVE the door and the wreath!!! I am so not talented with that stuff, am hoping to win a laptop sometime soon so I can sit on the deck outside with the kids and work on learning how to do graphics and such, with this desktop not alot of time to do that stuff.

I also agree about the schools and the programs, they are just wonderful. I remember last year I was soooo depressed when Katies testing results came in, they were so very hard to digest because she was right there at the edge of the autism dxs, and for her to have done such a 180 is just a miracle...am praying for the same type of miracle for Carrie now...

Anyway........


Funny story, kinda. My wallpaper for my desktop is a pic of the Magic that I borrowed from somewhere. Anyway,16 yo neice looked over at my desktop when she was here the other night for dinner and ask, matter of factly, "Is that the Titanic??":scared1: :scared1: :eek:
My DH Casey dropped his fork and said NOOOO thats the ship we WERE going to go on,but thank you for scaring me off of it :rotfl:

[KATIESMOMMY]

we were like 4 pages back so I bumped us up!!
hope everyone is doing well!!

[Stinasmom]

Doing well here!:thumbsup2
Still waiting for the weather to warm up, but at least the snow is gone and over. That is not the case about 40 miles from here.... and for a good portion of the upper midwest according to the news! Brrrr!

Kids are busy with baseball and play practice. Of course that means mommy-taxi service is in full swing. DH is out of town but coming back today. Sure is easier when he's home!

I teach Jazzercise classes here and taught 7 classes in 5 days last week! Covered for someone on vacation. Teaching 4 this week.... that's more normal. Luckily we live in town... in a small town, so getting from home to all the places everyone needs to be---(often at the same time!) is possible.

Anyone else addicted to Disney podcasts? It's how I keep Disney and vacation planning in the forefront of my mind. I listen to about 10 different ones each week as well as a couple others unrelated to Disney. Of course my favorite is the DIS Unplugged! They are so funny and informative, very honest and well prepared.

Did anyone else catch the Samantha Brown special last Friday on Travel Channel? It was really great! Except she let out some secrets about being prepared, leaving the parks in the afternoon, and about fast passes that I'd just assume the whole public didn't know! Now these tips might not be as effective! Well, maybe EVERYONE doesn't watch travel channel just like when we have to remind ourselves that not EVERYONE is on the DIS!

OK, there... I contributed some "chit chat." How is everyone else? What's up? We should talk excursions sometime....


Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Wow Marcy you have been busy!!!

I am sooo up in the air about excursions, with having the little one so much we cannot do... looks like just beach breaks for us:confused3

[SILLYANDI]

Wow, we must be a busy group! I just checked back to see what everyone was up to and it's a bit lonely here!
It seems like I've been run ragged with life, I assume the same for everyone else.


Anyone else concerned about the new dining rotations? I'm not sure if I should plan around this rotation or the old one (or maybe both?!) What do you all think?

[Stinasmom]

Anyone else concerned about the new dining rotations? I'm not sure if I should plan around this rotation or the old one (or maybe both?!) What do you all think?
Yep, busy... I try to keep up with WDW and DCL on podcasts and forums every other day or so...

What dining rotations... Do you mean the 15 minute interval ones for both main and late dining?
We like late dining. If the kids are up to joining us, great, or they can eat earlier and go to their club. We love not feeling rushed to get back to the ship from a port, we like the shows either earlier or at a matinee time, and really love the later breakfast on the last day.
Now, that said, I am afraid of having the 8:30pm for late... if they are still staggering everyone by 15 minutes... that is late...

Other than that... is anyone else catching the shows on Travel Channel about Disney? It is great to see new stuff... although it all seems familiar, having been there a few times and all... I love getting to reimmerse myself in the Disney magic and spirit.. even if just for an hour in my living room!::MickeyMo

Marcy

[SILLYANDI]

What dining rotations... Do you mean the 15 minute interval ones for both main and late dining?
Marcy

They switched the dining rotations from APLAPLA to something weird like APPLALP. So you repeat the 2nd restuarant for night 3 and have formal and semi formal dining in the same restaurant (which would really stink if you are in Parrot Cay in my opinion).

I think late dining would work for us being west coasters, but I like having the shows after dinner and the dining room is the highlight of family time for us so we went with early dining. It does stink having to come back in from port early to get ready, but I think we would have to come back early anyway to get ready for the shows (we missed most of them on our last cruise and I really want to catch them all this time).

[KATIESMOMMY]

Hey everyone!!! Just saying hi, not alot going on here. Carrie starting speech therapy today and DH celebrated his 47th birthday last thursday.


We are on the early dining I guess,maybe some of us will be having dinner at the same time!!

[PenskeSth1]

Hey everyone! We have been busy here too. DS and I are on the road with DH.
We have late dinner also, but we are late eaters so that works for us. Our friends picked early seating, so I don't know how that is going to work. I told her if they wanted to eat with us they would have to change to late seating. She got our ressie # so that our reservations could be linked. It kind of defeats the purpose though if they pick one dinner time and we picked another.:confused3
It would really stink if Formal night is in PC. We really like AP and Lumiers. PC just doesn't seem like a formal kind of restaurant. (at least to us)

I am working on one of those Fish extender things, although I don't know how it's going to work. I'm not the most crafty person.

[Stinasmom]

Hello~~
Still here too.
This week has been weird... on the DIS that is. I am a huge DIS podcast fan, have listened every week for well over a year. On Monday one of the 6 people who make up the "roundtable" died unexpectedly. You can read all about it on the podcast forum. I haven't posted since... I have no idea what to say. I feel like I lost a close friend... albiet, one I'd never actually met.:sad1:
Well, anyway, I sure hope the rest of the podcast team is OK. They all seem like VERY close friends, not just colleagues.

About the dining rotation... only 1/3 of the ship will be at PC for formal night... since it is the same night for everyone. So you have a 2/3's chance that you will NOT be in PC that night.
There is also Palo. It is a good idea to make ressies ahead of time based on your plans like excursions at certain ports, special day celebrations, etc. But when you check in and get your KTTW (key card) it will have your dining rotation on it (at the bottom... LAAPLAP or something). When you get on the ship there will still be ressies available and you can change to a night when you have already been to say "A" twice, or if we know formal night is typically Cozumel (just a guess), and you are in PC for that night, then go with Palo. Although this doesn't include kids. In which case, I would dress them up for pictures with the captain and characters but feed them otherwise and hit Palo later.
Just 2 cents worth...;)
Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

popping us back up, its been a while! and say hiya to all!!

[PenskeSth1]

We slipped back to page 3 again, so I thought I would give us a little bump.

Were staying busy here and trying not to think about the cruise to much so time goes by faster. Hope everyone is doing well.

[Stinasmom]

Hey everyone!

So, I am looking into taking a cruise this October too... yes, that would make me spoiled. However, it will be on Carnival. Not exactly the same.

But, it would be with "the girls" from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera, an itinerary I have done before on Disney. The Carnival Pride is at least one of their newer ships only slightly smaller than the Magic.
I will have to be very diligent not to do too much comparing, lest I just come home disappointed!

The one thing I am reminding myself is that it is about 2 1/2 times cheaper on Carnival! Take it for what it is!

Have any of you ever cruised Carnival?

I checked the cruise meets "roll call" thread over at cruise critic dot com and only two people have posted--both looking for kids the same ages. Hopefully I will be traveling with enough people to not need a cruise meets group.

Has summer or at least spring finally hit for those of you in Northern states? We are finally getting warm weather. Sure took a while.

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Congrats on the Oct cruise Marcy, Hope you have a great time!!

Katies last day of school was yesterday, she had it in her head that meant it was time for WDW and for the cruise, made for a lot of tears trying to explain it to her!!

Our weather is still pretty cool, we had an 80 degree day about 2 weeks ago, and since then back in the 50s and 60s. Supposedly its going to be in the 80s this weekend so we are looking forward to that, I need to get my veggie garden in already!!

[PenskeSth1]

Marcy,
We haven't cruised with anyone else other than Disney so if you do go with Carnival let us know how it goes. Dh would like to do an Alaskan cruise sometime. I only worry about finding a line that doesn't nickle and dime ya to death and has a kids program as good as Disneys. I know we would find it hard NOT to compare.;) Even though it is alot cheaper.

[tmk0730]

Just popping in to say hello to everyone. I'm getting so excited for this cruise! I actually have to keep myself from thinking about it too much so I get other things done! We have early seating because there is no way our DS (2 at the time of sailing) would make it to the late seating. Katiesmommy I know what you mean about excursions. We're having a hard time deciding what to pick since we have a little one with us. I personally would love to spend the day on the beach but Dh finds that kind of dull. Well we figure something out! I hope you are all doing well!!!

[KATIESMOMMY]

Woohoo, there is still life in our thread:rotfl: Sorry,SAHM, too much time on my hands so I am on here everyday lol.



Tracy- my DH isnt into beaches either, he will think they are boring too, I have no idea what if any excursions we will be doing. Maybe stick the kids in daycare and go party :banana: :rotfl2: Glad to see you back!! Maybe we will be in the same dining rotation, our two yr olds would have a blast lol

Right now am trying to figure our ADRs for our WDW trip, my 180 day window is coming up

hope all are well and you have a great holdiday weekend

[Skallywag]

Hi everyone from very wet south of England - sorry have not posted for a long while but still planning on the eastbound panama in August and it is coming round quicker now it seems.

All paid off for December and have daughters planning on excursions ready to book at the 90 day point.
Bren

[Stinasmom]

Hey everyone!
Still here too.
My October "girls" cruise planning just got put on the back burner as one of the gal's mom is hospitalized and not looking good. Funny thing about Carnival, though, sometimes if you wait, the cruise becomes cheaper!

Brenda-- as a CC member, don't you get to book excursions/palo/spa at 105 days or something like that? I was counting on that...

As far as excursions-- my DH really loves to snorkel, so we are going to do that at Grand Cayman. I think just exploring Key West on foot is enough and playing Cozumel by ear... Good weather and we want to beach it, otherwise, explore the town then play on the ship while it's empty.
I really love sea days. The Disney ships are such great destinations unto themselves.

Lucinda-- are you going to try to book MVMCP at WDW too? I am thinking about it. We will have a condo with a kitchen and DH likes to cook, so dinners will likely be there... limited need for ADR's, but I think I'll splurge and book the Christmas party.
STILL WAITING FOR THAT "KICKER" CHECK to get WDW tix!;)

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

Good to see ya Bren!!The Panama sounds like a dream cruise, I bet you are so excited!!


Marcy- Sorry to hear about your friends Mom, hope it all works out ok for her. We arrive at WDW on the 10th and plan to hit Studios that afternoon for Osborne lights and for Fantasia ( we missed it last time), planning on making a CP adr for that Thursday so we get into MK early and then I am just not sure when to do the MVMCP. I am afraid the kids will be whipped after a day at MK but I dont want to wear them ( and my old rear lol)out since the cruise is Saturday. Am wishing now I would have flown us in Monday instead of Weds... Maybe we will see each other at the party!! When are yall arriving in Orlando??
Our kicker check is GONE LOL , with the new house there was so much we needed done and his koi pond sucked a huge chunk of it up, amazing how quick $1800 can go lol

[SILLYANDI]

Hey everyone. I'm still here too! Just so much going on with the end of the school year and all the volunteer stuff I do.
I try to check in everyday, but I don't have much to say.
We have been dealing with our 8 year old's anxiety and it sure has taken alot out of me! She was recently diagnosed with "Panic Disorder" but she has been suffering since she was very young with panic attacks & general anxiety. It had become so out of control that she was getting sent home from school and nearly suspended for hitting a teacher. She gets like a crazed animal when she gets scared. The Dr explained that her "Fight or Flight" response is broken so she tries to fight or flee in very inappropriate moments. Something as simple as too many people in a room or a change in schedule was enough to send her into a rage. We really thought she was just very stubborn and defiant. The truth was she was scared to death, literally, and thought she was fighting for her life. She had even got to the point where she would cry and say "I don't want to be like this anymore. I want to die so I don't have to be scared anymore". That is a scary thing to hear an 8 year old say.
A few months ago (after 2 years of counseling and attempts with behavioral modifiication) I finally relented and decided to let her try meds.
I don't know if it was the stigma of "mental illness" or the worry of it being a lifetime sentance but I was really reluctant to put her on medication.
So after about 9 weeks of meds she is a totally different kid. Outgoing, fun loving and social again. I feel guilty now that I was so against it. The doctor said something that really made sense to me though. If she had a broken pancreas then we would want her to take insulin, why wouldn't we want to help if her brain was broken?
The plan is to have her take the meds through summer while she works on her calming techniques then slowly wean her from the meds after school starts next year. So it's not a life sentance (hopefully) after all.
So here's hoping that we are doing the right thing for her and that she won't have to suffer her whole life with this. It's so painful to watch your baby suffer like this.
Meanwhile, DS had his IEP and they are denying OT evals and services so we will have to play hardball with the school. I hate having to be mean to get what he needs. We will have to spend hundreds of $$ for an advocate and write strongly worded letters. I hate being that person but this is something I think will truly benefit him.
Being a parent is hard work!:confused:

[Skallywag]

Hi everyone,

Andrea I am sorry about your little girl and the panic attacks they really are very frighteneing as I know myself. I started to get them one day walking my little baby daughter in her push chair and I have never felt so ill. I could not leave the house for some time and you tend to bottle things up and not talk to anyone which is now I realise completely wrong. It is surprising how many people have these attacks and mostly women and talking is the best way out. I dont know about medication and really think the best way is to give support and if she has any little friends to talk to so they understand.

Just my thoughts on this and know it is difficult.

Bren

[KATIESMOMMY]

Andrea, huge hugs honey. Panic disorders are really hard to accept and understand I am so happy the meds are working for your DD. Its hard to accept when our kids aren't exactly the 'neurotypical" that society expects, but in reality there are more ppl with "issues" than "NT". I have sufferred from them on and off since I was 5 and they extended into my sleep even with night terrors. Mine abated the older I got only to reappear with pregnancy, but the older she gets more she will learn to soothe herself and to cope with them. When I was in nursing school I did a whole paper on Panic disorders and was amazed to see just how common they really are. Dont feel guilty, you were just being a good Mommy not wanting her to have the meds at first, we all want to protect our kids. Huge hugs and prayers that she adjusts to the meds, pm me if there is anything I can do or if you need any med articles about the treatment or you just need to talk....
Sorry to hear that you are also having to fight to get the services your son needs, that is so BS. So far I have been lucky with Katie and her IEP and services, we just started Carrie into speech therapy, they decided to give her a developmental therapist instead of an OT/ST as she has a few other issues besides speech. Good luck with getting what your son needs!!!

[PenskeSth1]

Hello everyone! We have been very busy in our house too. Andrea I am sorry to hear about your daughters panic attacks, I have suffered from those every since I was a child also (mine just isn't quite as bad as your DD's though) Mine only usually happens around tight places and when there is just way to much noise or to many people. It's always painful to watch your child suffer and not understand or know what is causing it. At least now you know and hopefully it will be able to be helped with the meds.

On a brighter side I just wanted to share DD (19) good fortune. Short history...She is going to college for Culinary Arts and wants to become a chef and work at one of WDW's restaurants. She went in to WDW for a interview on Wednesday and she is now one of the newest Cast members at Magic Kingdom. They didn't have anything available right now at any restaurants so they put her at a walk up counter service so that it would be easier for her to transfer when any openings became available. She has dreamed of working at WDW every since she was little. She use to kid and say she would sweep the floors for Mickey.:rotfl:

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

[SILLYANDI]

It really is surprising how many people have panic attacks & anxiety. You don't really know until it hits you then it seems like everyone around you has been touched by it personally in some way.


Michele, that is so exciting! DD8 (the anxious one) has always dreamed of being Cinderella at Disneyland, I can imagine how exciting it is to see your child's dream realized!

[KATIESMOMMY]

Michele- how absolutely wonderful for your daughter!! THat is so awesome that her dreams are coming true!!!

Well I did something today that made me feel good, but, I dunno lol I went to a locks of love event and donated 19 inches of hair and got it colored also( I have NEVER done anything like that before) I havent had anything but trims or 3-4 inches taken off in 20 years, definately alot lighter and DH and everyone says it makes me look younger ( they are being nice lol) so here it is after a day outdoors all windbown and rough ....

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Lucinda5743/100_4761.jpg

[SILLYANDI]

WOW Lucinda! That is a very flattering cut/color! :thumbsup2
It looks great. 19 inches?Your hair must have been really long because it still looks fairly long now!
I donated 11 inches about 6 months ago and it seems like my hair is just growing back. I had no intention of donating when I walked into the salon but the girl said "if you go just a bit shorter you will have enough for locks of love" so I went for it. I was SHOCKED:eek: at how short my hair was! It is an absolute worthwhile cause so I sucked it up but honestly I couldn't wait for my hair to get back to shoulder length!

[KATIESMOMMY]

Andrea- ty, the pic really doesnt do the cut justice, I am so happy with it, the color, eh not so much lol in the back my hair was just about waist level, the front was shorter though. Sad part is there is no pictures of the back of it but I could take it by the ends and hold my arms straight out. I do admit though, the weight is nice to have gone and it takes just a few minutes to brush it now instead of almost 10 lol
this is the only recent pic of before taken in early Dec, I look like a huge whale in it cause of the huge hoodie, but you can see how long it was at least in the front
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Lucinda5743/xmas2007-1.jpg

[PenskeSth1]

Andrea...DD may just be a princess at DL one day...You "NEVER" can tell!

Lucinda..I think your new hair cut looks fabulous! I like the color. It had to take alot for you to do something so drastic and cut all your long hair off. I think it is nice that you donated it to locks for love. (my neice does that every couple years). It is definitely for a wonderful cause.

I recently started Jenny Craig and hoping to loose a few pounds before our cruise. Hopefully I can add a haircut to my new look to. DH wants me to let my hair grow, But it is like horses hair and is extremely thick.

[SILLYANDI]

My neighbor and I have been weighing ourselves together every Friday for about 6 weeks now and I have lost about 10 lbs. She is going on the cruise too, so our goal is to be bikini ready by Dec! (I haven't worn a bikini in years by the way!)

I haven't changed my eating habits much but I do go to the gym at least 3 times a week. I find when I skip it I can't sleep and feel gross so I think I might be addicted!

[Stinasmom]

Ok, I am trying to keep up here...

Lucinda, I love your haircut! You do look younger and fresher ("up to date"?)... trying to make that sound complimentary! I have a haircut tomorrow, I only go about every 6 months because I really don't have much hair; I keep it long-ish, and tend to have to pony it up a lot. Not enough for "locks for love." I hope to at least come out looking "fresher" too!:cutie:

Good luck on all the pre-cruise working out/dieting (or non-dieting-dieting!) I am also trying to drop a couple mostly because I don't want to buy new summer clothes! Saving $$ is always a good motivation.:thumbsup2

Andrea-- If you burn out on the gym or want to spice it up a bit, try Jazzercise! I have been an instructor for 2 years now. It is a ton of fun. It is a program that could be best described as dance-aerobics, but you don't need a dance background. We get new music and routines every 10 weeks so we have lots of fun music and moves to chose from. :banana: Check jazzercise.com to see if there is a location near you.
Sorry guys if I just sounded like a commercial!:rolleyes1

Can you all believe it is June already!:cool1:

Marcy

[KATIESMOMMY]

omg you guys, I am going on a diet tomorrow, I need to lose 70 lbs, dont think I can do it by cruise but am going to try to lose at least half by then.
Marcy, the jazzercise, are there dvds you can buy or anything? I really cant afford a gym membership or Jenny craig or anything. As to the hair, the stylist said the said thing as you, but she said welcome to 2008 and goodbye to the 80s lol

Andrea- a bikini?? OMG you go girl and I envy you, I have never ever wore one in my life lol

[Stinasmom]

Yeah, despite my regular workouts, my bikini days are long over too. Sacrificed my midsection to the babies. ;)

Lucinda--there are Jazzercise DVDs available at Jazzercise.com... click on "shop the store" and "DVDs" in the list on the left. They are pretty good and are priced around $25. If you get tired of the same routines...
I did look up and found classes available in your area:
JAZZERCISE AT SOUTH BEND RACQUET CLUB - #3389
4122 HICKORY ROAD
MISHAWAKA, INDIANA 46545 UNITED STATES
tel: (574)277-0111
PRICES

$39 Joining Fee - For New Customers or those with expired tickets for 3 months or longer. Joining fee good for both South Bend area locations.

Class Passes

* $35 monthly unlimited pass paid electronically (EFT). Credit cards accepted too. This is the best deal.
* $40 monthly pass.
* Walk-in $8.00
* $120 for 8 Personal Touch sessions. Call for session times.

They are cheaper than we are! If you go to the website and click "find a class" you'll find all this too as well as a schedule of classes. Looks like they offer 23 classes per week and classes in Elkhart and South Bend.

Don't mean to pressure in anyway! Just offering information. I get the same way whenever any of my friends ask me a simple question about Disneyland or WDW, Hawaii, Las Vegas... Before they know it they have several pages of travel info and price quotes!:faint:

[PenskeSth1]

I have NEVER worn a bikini...Even before my kids. I have always been to insecure. I went on Jenny Craig with a friend who recently just started back on it. I have already lost a bit of weight and I walk about 2 miles twice a day now. I really am trying to loose the weight to feel better and healthy. It just would be nice to be a little thinner by cruise time so I can wear some cute clothes instead of my (regular hide my fluffiness clothes). LOL

[SILLYANDI]

Ok, I am trying to keep up here...

Andrea-- If you burn out on the gym or want to spice it up a bit, try Jazzercise! I have been an instructor for 2 years now. It is a ton of fun. It is a program that could be best described as dance-aerobics, but you don't need a dance background. We get new music and routines every 10 weeks so we have lots of fun music and moves to chose from. :banana: Check jazzercise.com to see if there is a location near you.
Sorry guys if I just sounded like a commercial!:rolleyes1

Can you all believe it is June already!:cool1:

Marcy

OK so it sounded like a commercial, but it worked! I found a class in the town right next door. I take a cycling class & yoga at the gym right now but I'm always up for something new. Not so sure about the "no dance background necessary" I have two left feet and they are usually tangled!

[SILLYANDI]

Living in Cali I have extra motivation. Everyone out here is "plastical fantastical" (DH's term) and 60 year olds wear bikinis-not that they should be but it's California! I would settle for not packing "hide the fluffiness" clothes on the cruise too!

[PenskeSth1]

Living in Cali I have extra motivation. Everyone out here is "plastical fantastical" (DH's term) and 60 year olds wear bikinis-not that they should be but it's California! I would settle for not packing "hide the fluffiness" clothes on the cruise too!

That is to funny! We have the older folks in Bikini's and Speedo's here in Florida too! :rolleyes1

Lucinda I would like to loose about 60lbs and I know that is a long shot before our cruise. I am going to try and be optomistic and DH is really supporting which helps alot! My biggest challenge is staying away from soda and chips.

[KATIESMOMMY]

ty for the info Marcy!!!

Michele- I hear ya hun, unfortunately my DH is a skinny minnie who can eat and eat and eat and LOVES to eat. He likes his gals on the "pooh" size and sees nothing wrong with me being this heavy.:( ..so no help there. I dont do chips but the sweet tea is what kills me..... I am motivated so we shall see!! But, at least I know I am not the only one who WONT be in a bikini lol :worship: *hugs*

[KATIESMOMMY]

Bumping us back up and saying howdy!!!

I am so excited, I make adrs tomorrow for our WDW trip before the cruise!! And I called DCL, the bad report on our stateroom just kept bugging me, so we moved to 2614 which has a good report..

[IndyDisneyFan]

Hi everyone! Now that summer is officially here I have a bit more time to catch up on things, like these boards! Our youngest who is 12 still does not know about the cruise, but my older ones do and are extremely excited. I have been working on making magnets for our stateroom doors, which is a lot of fun. Can someone tell me if the kids have their own get to know you page on here? I know that a couple of the other cruises that we have been on have had the kids get to know each other before the cruise, then meet on board so they already have made friends. If there is I know that my DS would enjoy chatting before we leave. We are heading down late afternoon on Dec. 12 and are staying a few days at WDW after the cruise is over, that way we won't be so sad. :( I would love to do the MVMCP on the 12th but we won't be arriving until close to 7:00, and I wouldn't want to miss any of it! I keep hoping they will add the 20th or 21st so that we could go. Hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the warm weather!

Laura

[SILLYANDI]

A couple of the younger girls were exchanging e-mails earlier, but I think that kinda fizzled. My DD10 loves to e-mail but she's been busy with the end of school and all that so I think she hasn't had as much time.
Maybe we could get sometihng going here, where they can all chime in that would be great-I just worry about my 10 year old being able to be contacted by ANYONE on the internet...How did they do it with the other groups?