August 8, 2009 Western Caribbean on the Magic!

[BucksFamily]

OK, so what gives with this cruise? Just about every other 2009 Magic sailing has a meets thread except for this one. Come on, there have to be at least a few "lurkers" out there who are booked on this cruise!

Calling all lurkers to come out into the sunlight! I was a lurker too, but it's more fun if we can pass the next 11+ months together before the cruise. I can't believe that I'm the only person booked on the Magic for Aug 8, 2009!

We spent four fabulous days on the Disney Wonder earlier this month, and booked the Magic cruise while on board. I can't wait! Castaway Cay was just spectacular.

We are a family of four: me (50 year old Dad), DW, DD (14) and DS (9 and loves video games!). We live outside of Philadelphia.

Anyone out there joining us next year? All are welcome!!!!!

[WendyinMaryland]

We are! We are a family of 4....me (34), my husband (35), daughter (9) and son (5). We went once before in 2002., before our son was born. That time there was a hurricane, so our Western Caribbean itinerary became a 'surprise itinerary.' They told us we'd find out where we'd be going when they slipped the Navigator under our door in the morning! So, we went to Castaway Cay the first day, then San Juan the second. After that we went to St. Thomas and back to Castaway Cay for the last day. So, this time we are again booked for a Western Cruise, since that isn't what wound up happening last time. Can't complain though, we loved every minute of it and Castaway Cay twice is fine with me.

[Carlnne]

Though not yet official- Include us: Me(41), my daughter (21) and son(15). I have to double check dates when I return to work next week but i should be clear to book. Compared to some other threads- this may be a very empty ship!

[Carlnne]

We are now officially booked! Anyone else out there?

[mndisfam]

We are joining also. Me Kathleen, 47, Mark, 46, DD Claire 10 and DS 13.

[Carlnne]

Welcome aboard!

[LadyRob]

We'll be sailing with you!!! Me, DH and DD(4). :banana: It's only 5 months until we cruise, where is everybody?

[Pixiedustdawn]

Count us in!

[LadyRob]

Welcome pixiedustdawn!!! :)

[Pixiedustdawn]

Thanks!!

Very excited about this cruise!!!

[LadyRob]

Thanks!!

Very excited about this cruise!!!



Who's sailing with you?

[Pixiedustdawn]

Myself and my DD (12):yay: Who's sailing with you?

[Pixiedustdawn]

Where did everyone go?:eek:

[LadyRob]

Where did everyone go?:eek:


I'm around but I have to change my dates. DH has to attend a wedding on the 8th so we'll be sailing in the weeks before or the week after. With the new email promotion, you should have a few more joining you here soon. Happy Sailing!!

[Figment_Fan]

Thanks to the e-mail deal we recieved yesterday, we are booked:thumbsup2!

It will be me (47) DW (won't say, I know better, but years younger than me), DS(14-will be 15 on 8-1) and DD (8).

I really gotta be careful what I forward to my DW. I forwarded the e-mail to her at lunch from work. I didn't think much about it. Last night while I was reading to DD, DW came upstairs and handed me a list of dates with costs, she had already been on the phone for a 1/2 hour. I accompanied her back down stairs to the computer and we selected a date with a decent cost.

We cruised on the Magic in March of 08. Weren't planning on another one until 2010, but this will do. When we booked, there weren't many cabins left. Don't know if that was many cabins allowed for this deal or cabins on the whole ship. Look forward to meeting you all.

John:dance3:

[Figment_Fan]

Thought I'd add this to maybe give us to the next page. I'm also logging on because due to computer problems at home, I have not been able to log in and can just lurk. I will keep trying to rectify that this weekend, but just in case. There is only 126 days until embarkation.

Take care until I can log in again.

John

[Figment_Fan]

Yeah, it worked --- PAGE 2!:cheer2:

[Carlnne]

My plans are now up in the air- I did not receive a pin code so I am essentially paying $1500 more for the same cruise that others are now getting. Depending on the outcome- I may cancel and look into other lines just because of principle.

[Figment_Fan]

As I said in my first post, we were told there weren't many rooms left. I'm sure with the economy, this was just a method to fill the ships. When I worked in the hotel industry (long ago), we were always told to fill the rooms, especially as the day become closer. An empty room can for the night of X can never be sold again.

Maybe you could try seeing if you could get a better deal through an travel agent or something.
Anyway,
Good Luck.
John

[cathyce2]

We will be joining you thanks to the Kids Sail Free pin code email. We've cruised many times, but this will be our 3rd Disney. We are doing the 3nt on the Wonder on 4/30/09 and aren't telling the kids until the last minute. We can tell them about this one when that one ends to make leaving the ship a bit easier.

Me (old) , DH (almost as old), DD 10 and DD 5

[dismagic09]

just booked :) DH 37 me 33 dd 9 ds 7
this is our very first cruise , very excited. I'm hoping some more people show up on the meet thread. Where is everyone?

[jb2]

Count us in, myself, my husband, daughter (17), and son (14).

[Pixiedustdawn]

Thanks to the e-mail deal we recieved yesterday, we are booked:thumbsup2!

It will be me (47) DW (won't say, I know better, but years younger than me), DS(14-will be 15 on 8-1) and DD (8).

I really gotta be careful what I forward to my DW. I forwarded the e-mail to her at lunch from work. I didn't think much about it. Last night while I was reading to DD, DW came upstairs and handed me a list of dates with costs, she had already been on the phone for a 1/2 hour. I accompanied her back down stairs to the computer and we selected a date with a decent cost.

We cruised on the Magic in March of 08. Weren't planning on another one until 2010, but this will do. When we booked, there weren't many cabins left. Don't know if that was many cabins allowed for this deal or cabins on the whole ship. Look forward to meeting you all.

John:dance3:
Tell us about the deal. We didn't hear anything.

[segpm08060]

The "Kids Sail Free" was an offer that I could not refuse.
I was already booked at Animal Kingdom from Aug 2 to Aug 7.
I am going with my three grandchildren ages 21, 13 and 9

[dismagic09]

Will more people start showing up to this thread as we get closer?

[Figment_Fan]

PixieDustDawn

Basically, some others have already stated the deal, kids under 17 are free. (it may be 17 and under - my DW kept the paperwork from the e-mail, not I). Good enough to have us sail again. Okay, we were looking for an excuse anyway.

We have not yet confirmed with the kids that we actually are going. If all goes well, we are going to tell them it is there birthday present. Our oldest was born on August 1 and our youngest was born on September 5. So, this cruise in kinda' in the middle of both.

It is great to see some more people arriving on the board. My DW is still working on finishing a paper for her Master's degree, so it will be at least 3 -5 weeks before she gets involved. :surfweb: And I'm not pushing her to do so. Okay, I spend a lot of time just trying to stay out of the way. LOTS of pressure.:scared:

[Figment_Fan]

Will more people start showing up to this thread as we get closer?

I hope more people start showing up sooner than that.

Our last cruise (first Disney Cruise) was March of 2008. It was wonderful. This time, I'm taking more sea sick medication. I missed the Pirate Party because I wasn't feeling well. I really wanted to see it.

I was just corrected by DW, that her paper is due next week, so she may be getting involved sooner. I didn't push, I ran into her while she was pacing and thinking out loud. I politely inquired, got the answer, and moved on to get DD's bath ready.
Really, I want the cruise to be a celebration of her Master's degree. I just can't wait to see her unwind.

[Figment_Fan]

Okay, I see there are some of us logged in right now. It is time we begin to work on increasing the dismally low page number we have on this thread. :confused3

What is everybody looking forward to on this cruise?

I just want to not get sea sick. I would also really like to see Castaway Cay this time. Last cruise, the captain attempted 4 times to dock - didn't work. The sky was clear, the wind just kept pushing the boat back. Lot's of angry people. I didn't mind. I've learned with cruises and the big blue ocean, not everything goes right. Not even Disney has a handle on Mother Nature. I thought they handled it well, free drinks, characters out for the kids. I was still on vacation, so all was good. Some people didn't take it that way.
There was almost a physical fight at the concierge desk.:eek:

[Figment_Fan]

BTW, anybody have a heads up on what movie might be opening the week we sail? I'd love to be on the boat for a premier.:cool1:

[dismagic09]

I don't know about movie premieres but I did look to see what would come out during that time in regards to the movie... let me look again (its sad that i can't remember what I looked up last night)

Figment Fan - you saw where i changed my room status to gty - i did that b/c i didn't want to get sick being on the very front of the boat. I see you got sick but you are still going back? This is our first cruise so its promising that even if you get sick you still want to come back for more


back to the movies
I'm guessing that some of these will be playing
hanana montana
up
g-force (july 24, 2009)
earth
jonas brothers
and probably some of the older releases , maybe some in 3D if they have the capability

have you looked into the fish extenders exchange

[Figment_Fan]

Oh, if Hannah Montanna is still going on the movies in August, DD is going to have the time of her life. She spent a lot of time last time in the pool and at poolside dancing. The staff come out every hour or so and get the kids up on the deck and dance and play. The smile hardly ever left her face. She will still be 8 for the cruise, but will turn 9 on 9/5, so she's an older 8.

Yes, I'm going back. If you get to sick, I suggest the shot from the medical office. It works pretty fast. They also have a bin of sea sick pills, kind of a grab and go, with a good luck. I'm prone to motion sickness, so I thought I was careful last time. Nope, just a stubborn male "who don't need no doctor" till it's too late.

[dismagic09]

from the looks of this thread we'll all probably get upgraded since there are only about 5 people going on this cruise
Where is everybody?

[Figment_Fan]

from the looks of this thread we'll all probably get upgraded since there are only about 5 people going on this cruise
Where is everybody?

I'll meet you up there. Think if it's only the few of us they'll let us waterski behind the boat? It could make for some really cool advertising photos!

Better yet, with an almost empty boat, maybe they'll take the opportunity to do some Zach and Cody filming.

[Pixiedustdawn]

Is that special "kids sail free" for anyone, or just people who received the email on it? Why is it some threads are crowded and others aren't?

We are going to be doing Disney before this cruise for six days. Anyone else?

[dismagic09]

the kids for free could only be used if you received the email with the pin number. that is the only reason we booked, we had just looked at the cost of the cruise and decided to do something else for our summer break (we live on the North Carolina coast) I wish we could take the time to do both dw and dcl but with our jobs its not possible. i hope more people start to join the thread. i would like to do the fish extender exchange. anyone interested?

[Figment_Fan]

Just checking in. Yeah, I wish we could do a land/sea stay, but employment gets in the way for both DW and myself. Hard to take more than a week at a time. And, I wouldn't want to spend less than 7 days enjoying the cruise.

We are planning Disney World for June of '10. Using an AP then coming back in Spring Break '11 and letting the kids bring a friend each. Going to try for tree house villas at Saratoga Springs.

But for now, the cruise. Can't wait. I too hope more will join the discussions.

[Figment_Fan]

Thought I'd add another reply and see if I could help bump this thread to 4 pages. So, how is everybody doing on door magnets?
My DW finished her paper and turned it in today!:yay: Finally, some of the stress in the house will diminish.
We are headed to Sanibel Island in 3 weeks for some family time with my father and sister. Generally need a vacation after the vacation. I don't think we'll be telling the kids until after we are back. It will be a really big surprise because we never take two week long vacations in a year. It helps that the Sanibel time is at my father's timeshare, so the expense is minimal.
Anyway, back to work.

Hope to hear from more of you soon. If you're lurking, jump in the water is fine!:cool2:

[dismagic09]

Maybe this will make it to page 4.
I wonder if the captain will let us sit up with him since no one else will be on the ship. I call dibs on the Walt Disney suite - Who wants the Roy suite?

I haven't started my door magnet. I think I will start to get stuff together on it during the next month and then start to put it together in a month or so. I plan on using my cricut machine for alot of it.
figment - congrats to your wife on finishing :cheer2:




bumping to get on page 4

[dismagic09]

nope
maybe this one ...

[Figment_Fan]

Maybe this one will do it. Maybe not, but at least we're trying.

Okay, you called the suite. We'll take the Roy Disney Suite. Sounds like plenty of room at the captains table.

Is there something we're missing about this cruise. Does somebody know something we don't. Dismagic09, maybe we better consult the weather charts, farmer's almanac or something!:scared1:

[Figment_Fan]

We are going to work on flights next. Then probably which excursions to take, if any.
Last time we put all the excursions on the wall with painters tape, and the whole family voted. Of course, anything that excluded the youngest was automaticaly out.
I don't think we put in a request for early or late dining. Anybody out there want to weigh in on that.

We had late dining last time. Wasn't as bad as we thought. The kids grabbed a snack, we hit the shows and then went to eat. The kids got used to it pretty quick. Weird eating that late in the evening.

[Figment_Fan]

Okay, let's try one more to bump to 4.

[Figment_Fan]

Got bored and looked up summer movie releases. Disney Pictures has a movie being released on August 7, 2009 called "When in Rome" The following is a short description from a generic web site:

During a short trip to Rome, Beth Martin steals a handful of coins from the Fountain Of Love and as a result, the seven people who tossed those coins in the Fountain all fall wildly, hopelessly, irritatingly in love with her.

Can't find anything scheduled during our sailing. Gonna keep an eye out though.

[dismagic09]

PAGE 4, MAYBE????

as far as late seating I think i would prefer it. We are night owls anyway but going on excursions and hanging out all day - i think it is the seating for us. i personally can't imagine getting ready and being at dinner around 6 after excursions and hanging out all day. My favorite time of the day is around 6-7pm so i know it will work out best for my family.

thanks for looking up the movie - is it a cartoon or real people?

figment - i'm not sure where you are located but does spiritair fly anywhere near you - they have crazy flight deals all the time. We flew from NC to Orlando last year for $200 (that was for 5 people round trip)

Oh, I guess i need to work on excursion before the magnets. Do you usually book through disney or plan your own?

[Figment_Fan]

Well, DW is definitely done with her studies. We now have our flights booked, along with assigned seats.

Dismagic09, we are going AirTran. Not as good as your deal, but not bad - $99 each way from Detroit straight through to Orlando and straight back.

We also have our tentative room # ::: Cabin #2512. It is toward the front of the ship. Last time we were in 2614 toward the middle/back of the ship. As long as I'm on the ship, I'm happy.

STILL have NOT told the kids. Hard to believe - I'm really bad at keeping secrets.:rolleyes1

[Figment_Fan]

Yes, we generally book through Disney. I vaguely remember that if it is booked through them, and something goes wrong, the ship won't leave without you. If you book on your own, the responsibility is yours. And ships do leave people behind.:eek:
I'll have to double check the fine print somewhere. As the Genie said, there are clauses, provisos, quid pro quos, addenda, etc. . . . :scared:

Hey, page 4. Finally!

[Figment_Fan]

Okay, page 4. Where is everybody. Dismagic09, any ideas on how to drum up support. The last cruise I was on, we were seeing who could get us to page 100 by now.

Alright, any themes for this cruise -- food: cheese cake challenge - who can try the most different kinds?

Drink challenge: who can try how many different types, alchoholic and non-alchoholic?

How many different steaks can you taste?

Exotic foods: who ate the most sushi, escargot, squid, crab, tartar?

After that, who didn't lose their cookies?

All right, it's a cruise, I'm fishin' here!!!

[Figment_Fan]

And for those who want to know, yes I drive my DW, children, co-workers and family nuts when I'm bored. Don't let me get bored!pirate:

[dismagic09]

DCL just called, they upgraded both your family and mine to the Walt & Roy Disney suite :rotfl2:

I still can't believe that we are the only ones on this thread now! no wonder they had to send out the promotion.

good point about the DCL excursions - i'm always one to pay more for the security.

as far as challenges...
i'll have to think about that one.

[Figment_Fan]

Glad to hear of the upgrade. We should get lot's of attention being some of the few people on the big boat.:rotfl:

I was on the Passporter thread for the 8/8 cruise. There are a couple of people on that thread. But it is still only on page one. So, noting that, we may be a whole 20 people on the boat. Hopefully that won't effect our upgrades.:lmao:

As to the excursions, I hear that booking them yourself is cheaper. Maybe that is true, maybe not. Like everything - including the kid's sale free PIN, everybody can find different offers and deals. Heck, you can probably get on the same tour on their web-site and get a coupon or special bargain.
Everything has become similar to a car sale, nobody pays the same price for the same item. But, I like the confidence I have in a Disney product.

[Figment_Fan]

Has anybody looked at the excursions yet. I only glanced at them. I guess I had better start looking more closely.

We are telling the kids next week after my DW walks and recieves her diploma, I'm going to ask her what she's going to do next. - with the obvious answer, without any subsidy from Disney. :sad2:We'll see what the kids reactions are.

[dismagic09]

Figment - who are talking to? its just me in here!
i've started to look at excursions but haven't made any decisions, how about yuo and your family? my DD is close in age to your DD. mine is 9 - i guess they will see each other in the kids club. they are going to be so shocked after your DW graduation - that is going to be a great suprise. we usually suprise our kids on everything so we decided to tell them about the cruise - it will help us keep them in line over the summer :) they can't stop talking about it so i'm glad we went ahead and told them.

um, do you think there is another thread for this cruise?

[Figment_Fan]

Dismagic09, not only talking with you, but anybody lurking out there who hasn't signed in. Some people are shy. Also, hopefully any of the others who have signed in.

I noticed you DD is 9. My DD will be turning 9 in Sept. I'm sure they will see each other at the club.

Haven't made any decisions on excursions yet. We will get DS and DD's input before deciding - so another week before any major decisions. We have found that half of the fun of the trip is planning for it. Generally, we get a Birnbaum guide and everybody in the house reads it and marks what will be there must do items, from rides to foods to try. For the cruise, we have bought the passporter's guide. It had some great tips.
I have also been reading the thread of everyone's favorite tips on this board.

There is another thread on the PassPorter site. But, like I stated earlier - that thread is only 1 page with maybe 2 other families on it. No other thread I can find on the disboards.

[Figment_Fan]

One more to bump to 5?

[Carlnne]

I am officially onboard again and paid in full! I wasnt sure if I was going to keep my reservation but I finally got a better price than the one I had- so I upgraded our cabin from cat 11 to cat 7 for the same price.

[dismagic09]

I am officially onboard again and paid in full! I wasnt sure if I was going to keep my reservation but I finally got a better price than the one I had- so I upgraded our cabin from cat 11 to cat 7 for the same price.

glad to hear it. i saw on a couple threads that you were thinking about cancelling. nice deal with the upgrade. Do you think you might be able to round some more people up over here for our cruise?



Figment - i was j/k around about who you were talking to - i hope we do have some lurkers. Where did you find your passporter guide? it hasn't make it to our bookstores yet - did you get it online?

[Carlnne]

glad to hear it. i saw on a couple threads that you were thinking about cancelling. nice deal with the upgrade. Do you think you might be able to round some more people up over here for our cruise?

Yep- glad to be here too! I was thinking of switching over to the four day but my heart was set on this one. Someone was looking out for us because out of nowhere my 21 year old DD got the PIN email! I canceled my original resie and made the new one- but she had to be the main cruiser so now I am her guest. It all worked out in the end. But unfortunately I dont know anyone else sailing to add to the list.

[WendyinMaryland]

I canceled my original reservation (from 14 months ago) on Friday and re-booked the AAA special for $900 less plus I went up one stateroom category.

[Figment_Fan]

WendyinMaryland and Carlnne, I am so glad you both re-booked with better prices. Maybe we can get this thread moving again. Dismagic09 and I have been trying to get a few pages added in.

As to the Passporter, DW gets it online. I snuck a couple of Navigators from our last cruise out yesterday and read them behind the newspaper. I can hardly wait until we tell the kids, I am not good at sneaking around. I even stayed off the boards this weekend so they wouldn't catch me on the computer.

We have the hotel room booked through the Radisson. That is where we stayed last time. We even got upgraded to a suite last time. I doubt we'll get that lucky again.

[dismagic09]

Welcome bank Wendy and Carlnee:)

I'm so glad that the two of you were able to get a better rate. That would not have set well with me if i had my vacation booked and a crazy special came out that i wasn't able to get.

We almost have a party for this thread

Anyone interested in doing the F/E?

I'm undecided about the room the night before - either going to the radisson or comfort inn. What is the best way to get a good rate for the radisson - going through them directly or an online service like expedia? When I checked the radisson quoted $130 and expedia had it closer to $100 but i was in a hurry and didn't really compare what it was for.

[Figment_Fan]

Do I note that there are 4 of us currently signed it at the same time. At least according to the little green lights by our signatures. Can it be. Is this thread alive>:yay:

[Carlnne]

Yep- just doing some checking. I took some time off the planning while things were up in the air so I feel behind. I have no idea what we are doing before or after the cruise yet but we have friends in the area we have to visit some time. We have stayed at the raddison before as well and it was the perfect pre-cruise but I doubt we will be there this time.

[Figment_Fan]

We are leaving for Sanibel in two weeks for a stay with my father and sister and her son. (Her daughter can't go this year as she is on a softball team that will not let her take time off).

I keep blowing it with my son and when I am saying something about the trip in two weeks, I keep refering to it as a cruise.
I am sooo not good at keeping secrets.

[dismagic09]

at least you can play it off with another vacation. i know its hard. we suprise our kids all the time and keep secrets so it sooo nice to talk freely about the cruise. last year we drove all the way to the airport before they knew we were going out of the state, we gave them clues all the way there but the final clue was when we were pulling up to the airport. sometimes i wish i could be "my kids".

[Figment_Fan]

BTW, I thought my wife had already done it, but she bought the newest cruise passporter today. She bought a hardcopy which is being sent via snail mail, and she downloaded it as well.

We talked about it, and it looks like some changes since our last cruise. The Magic has been in drydock and they made some changes and upgrades. Not only that, but the ages for the kids clubs have changed slightly, so we need to read the updates.

I'm glad DS is 14 as that is the new youngest age in the Stack. He got in last time at 13. Maybe he did something last time I should know about - interesting that they change the age after he was on.:rolleyes1

[Figment_Fan]

BTW, I thought my wife had already done it, but she bought the newest cruise passporter today. She bought a hardcopy which is being sent via snail mail, and she downloaded it as well.

We talked about it, and it looks like some changes since our last cruise. The Magic has been in drydock and they made some changes and upgrades. Not only that, but the ages for the kids clubs have changed slightly, so we need to read the updates.

I'm glad DS is 14 as that is the new youngest age in the Stack. He got in last time at 13. Maybe he did something last time I should know about - interesting that they change the age after he was on.:rolleyes1

[dismagic09]

just bumping to get this on page 1 of the meet thread so people can find us

[WendyinMaryland]

So what do you think, will this cruise be somewhat empty? My TA says that it is unheard of for a summer cruise to still have main dining available this late in the game.
Unfortunately, our DCL vacations seem to coincide with national disasters. The last (and only) time we went was in 2002, when the 9/11 effect on travel was driving prices down, and now we have this terrible economic crisis.

[kimgg]

We're going! We have two boys, 7 and 9. Can't wait! :yay: First cruise, never even been to wdw or dl, we are planning wdw Christmastime 2010.

When will we find out our cabins, June?

[disneycrazzzy]

We've had this cruise booked for six months or more, but I was able to re-book via my local AAA website (without signing up for a membership) and save $2000 (really $4000) on our cruise.

If you want more information, check out the Kids Cruise Free thread on the main cruise board. I know there was still some availability for some category 6 cabins.

We had a category 6 cabin and a category 11 cabin across the hall booked. We also had two category 12 cabins. We hadn't been able to decide which we wanted to pay for. The Category 6 was $5936, category 11 was $4086, and the category 12s were $3646 (all for 1A2C with no insurance and no transfers).

After reading the "Kids cruise free" thread I wandered over to the AAA website and found side-by-side category 6 cabins on deck 5 no less for $4006 each. So we saved $2000 and upgraded one cabin from an 11 to a 6. I still can't believe it. I've confirmed my new reservations with Disney directly. Wow!

Don't hesitate if this works for you.

[Carlnne]

That is a better price than I paid with the pin offer!!

[disneycrazzzy]

And to make this even crazier...I was able to upgrade to category 4 rooms for the same price. So essentially, we were able to upgrade from two category 12 rooms at $3646 each to two category 4 rooms for $4006 each.
That is a total of $688 to upgrade both cabins. It would have cost us $10,248 if we were to have upgraded based on the current prices on the DCL website today. Wow! :scared1::scared1::scared1:

I keep thinking I am going to wake up and this will be a dream.

[dismagic09]

When i go to AAA they quote me $4,875 for a family of 4 me dh ds (7) dd (9)
how many people are in your cabin that has the rate of $4,000

[disneycrazzzy]

When i go to AAA they quote me $4,875 for a family of 4 me dh ds (7) dd (9) how many people are in your cabin that has the rate of $4,000


We are just 3 (myself, DS15, DS12)...however you will get the same rate if you book a category 4, 5, 6, or 7.... This saves a ton on the current DCL price of $8K+ for a category 4 cabin even if you have to pay for 4 people.

[Figment_Fan]

Wendy, main dining still available, WOW! Last we heard we were on a list for early dining. We had late dining last time, which was fine. Thought we'd try early dining this time.

Kimgg, my DW called and found out that we are assigned cabin #2512. Looks good to me. I don't want to spend much time there anyway.

We have been joking about upgrades if the ship isn't full - maybe we weren't that far off.:confused3

As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier.

[Figment_Fan]

There seems to be a large grouping of 14-15 year olds and 8-9 year olds. Am I really noticing that correctly?

Me? I don't want to comment on my mental age (somewhere between the above). I proudly suffer a little of Peter Pan sydrome. My poor DW, I have 2 kids, she has 3 (one of which is chronologically older than her).

[dismagic09]

look how fast we went through page 5 - Figment it took us like 2 days to get through page 4:rotfl:

i'm glad to see people coming to this thread.

I don't know what to do about the cabin. We are currently booked in 8 with a gty. We can upgrade for another $1,000 to cat 4. Just not sure if i want to pay that much. i'm also afraid of the veranda with my ds (7) aka spider man. Was anyone else worried about kids this age with the veranda - mini are ds (7) and dd (9) - don't have to worry about her- she keeps us all in line. so i figure i'll take the cat 8 and be happy with the view and gamble on the upgrade. can't wait to hear about kids and the veranda.

oh, one last thing...
what is the difference between cat 6 and cat 4 & 5 - just the location?

[Figment_Fan]

We stayed in Cat 9 last time, and are scheduled to do the same this time. So, no information on the verandas.

I will say that I would trust my DD8 over my DS14 to be more careful. I had no concerns when DD was 7 and we went on the cruise. The decks are well set up so that it is unlikely for somebody to fall over. Of course, nothings foolproof. I'm sure the verandas are similar.

And, it looks like we are on page 1 of the meet board. This thread may be taking off!!!

BTW, I'm not into the fish extenders. Not good at that goody thing/type stuff. I have enough trouble just showing up to things in a semi together state. Maybe when DW starts weighing in, she might be interested.

[disneycrazzzy]

what is the difference between cat 6 and cat 4 & 5 - just the location?


Category 5 is the same as a 6 except on deck 7. CAtegory 6 cabins are on decks 5 and 6. Category 4 sleeps 5 and has an extra three feet or so in depth for an extra pull down twin bed next to the verandah doors.

[kimgg]

I guess fallling over is kind of a fear for me too, my boys like to climb and I would be afraid they might push it farther and farther trying to get a good view on a veranda. Hopefully on the decks other things will keep them occupied other than looking over. Also, are the lifeguards pretty watchful at the pools? We'll be w/ the kids of course but from the looks of the pools it could be easy to lose sight of them, which I try to do. I'm over protective but it is hard to relax watching them every minute. :sad2:

[Figment_Fan]

Kimgg, do your children know how to swim? There are a lot of eyes on the pool as well as the lifegaurds. Besides, as I remember, every so often, the crew comes out and get the kids into dancing or some other activity at poolside. The really nice thing is that the pools are fresh water. Most of the other cruise lines use salt water filtered from the ocean.

While DD liked the Oceaneer's Club, she would frequently beep us with the "I want to go to the pool with you!" I believe she is part mermaid.

[dismagic09]

Figment - i'm glad you brought that up -
the pages from the kids, do they say what the kids want or why they are beeping. I'm not planning on ignoring the pages but don't want to leave in the middle of something thinking the page is urgent. do the kids have the pagers with them or do they have to the cm to page us?

I really hope my kids like the labs. I am also overprotective so it would be nice to give myself a mental break.
if you see a boy shimming up the stack - that will be my ds - you would think we lived in the jungle (at least he uses nice manners when he is with others so maybe he will do the same on the cruise)

[Figment_Fan]

DW mostly kept the pager. But I vaguely recall one from the club that did say, she is staying with them for lunch. I also recall one message asking to come get her, she wanted to swim. I doubt that she typed that in at 7. She definitely had a lot of control of where she wanted to stay and not stay. Of course, we didn't argue too much when she insisted on staying at the club. Can anyone say martini tasting!:banana:

DS disappeared a lot into the Stack. After he demonstrated that he could be at designated meeting places at designated times, we gave him more leeway. There were a couple of mornings he stayed out until ~1 am. There was supervision for activities until then. We even "hid" from him in the dining rooms at lunch when he was with his friends as it was so uncool to be seen by him, or to even think that we would be spying on him!:cool2:

[dismagic09]

I see what I have to look forward to

Just checked AAA prices - I think they have corrected the cost of the trip - its way high now

[Figment_Fan]

I stopped looking at prices. I was reviewing the Passporter's guide and they give the typical prices for the differing times of the years, etc. I had to stop looking at it as I found myself thinking, did I get a good deal, or I wonder if I should shop around? Then I thought - ENOUGH - I don't want to spend my daydreaming time worried about how to save some $ here or there, we are booked. Got a good deal. I want to daydream about what I am going to do while I am there. Enough things make me miserable, I don't need to perseverate on thoughts I know will make me feel bad/stupid.

I just want to make sure I make it to the pirate party this time. Also, I hope we make it to Castaway Cay. Last time the captain made 4 attempts to dock and couldn't do it. Many :mad: people on board.

I was okay, they brought out free drinks for the adults, and the characters for the kids. Not bad.

[Carlnne]

My son is 15 but extremely shy. Im worried he wont even want to do the stack.

The verranda worried me a bit with him even at his age! But the price for the cat 7 was too good to pass up.

As far as f e's go- my kids would think it was too babyish for them at their age so Im not going to attempt it.

[Figment_Fan]

My son will just have turned 15 by the time of the cruise, I'm sure your son will be fine. It's amazing how unshy they become when more freedom is involved. Once we tell my DD and DS that they are going on a cruise, we'll see if we can get the 2 boys to talk on this meet.

We are telling them this weekend. I can't wait, I'm tired of holding it in.

[dismagic09]

Is anyone spending time at the parks before or after their cruise?

[Carlnne]

We are planning to spend a little time at Universal Studios before the cruise. Not that we are tired of Disney but we have gone just about every year and my son really prefered to do US this time. We have a few old tickets to use up anyway so it worked out.

[dismagic09]

We are planning to spend a little time at Universal Studios before the cruise. Not that we are tired of Disney but we have gone just about every year and my son really prefered to do US this time. We have a few old tickets to use up anyway so it worked out.


I loved US & IOA, we had a blast there last year

[segpm08060]

Is anyone spending time at the parks before or after their cruise?
We are staying 6 nights at the new Animal Kingdom Kadani Villa the week before the cruise. The trip was planned a year ago. I took advantage of the Kids Sail Free promotion and extended our vacation for another week. :banana:

[Figment_Fan]

We won't be doing the parks this time. Just the cruise. We have DVC points for next year. We are planning to do the parks in June of '10 and Spring Break of '11 - that way the annual pass covers both trips.

I am waiting for US until the Harry Potter area opens up. Big HP fan.

[Figment_Fan]

Wow seg, that is so great. I wish I could extend a vacaion. As it is, this cruise will be an extra vacation this year. Normally, I only take a week per year. I've only been at my job for 2 1/2 years, so I need to accumulate some vacation hours. Keep using some on little day here or there to watch the kids.

DW's schedule is much more flexible - and she gets flex time. During busy times of the year, she can really rack up some time for later use.

[Figment_Fan]

We're still on the first page of the meets board. Dismagic09 - looks like we made it to the big time.

Since I forgot earlier - Welcome Everybody. Now, how many days till we venture into the big floaty thing?

[Figment_Fan]

Okay, how do I add a countdown to my posts??? I was just surfing around trying to figure it out. Then I realized, it might just be easier to, ah, :rolleyes1 ask directions Shhh, don't tell anybody..

[dismagic09]

Okay, how do I add a countdown to my posts??? I was just surfing around trying to figure it out. Then I realized, it might just be easier to, ah, :rolleyes1 ask directions Shhh, don't tell anybody..

We will keep it between us, i won't tell

if you go to ******************** or mickeypath.com you can create it on their website and then after you are finished it will give you the BBCode - all you have to do is copy and paste that file name and then paste it below your signature where you created the family images and ages. Let me know if you need help.

Funny that you should ask, i was going to ask about the family and age thing when i saw your signature.

[Figment_Fan]

Thanks Dismagic 09, now let's see if it worked.

[Figment_Fan]

It even changes all of my previous signatures. I note that it is off by a day from most as we are leaving on Friday, just to give some leeway to make sure we are there.

I am already on page 74 of the Passporter's guide, 240 more to go. I'm slipping it in at work.:surfweb:

[dismagic09]

I sure wish we could have an extended vacation. Actually, my schedule would allow - i'm good to go whenever as long as my job gets covered (been here 13 years) its my dh's job that keeps it short - if he's not there, we're not making as much money. The green seems to rule not to mention trying to keep an eye on the business. He is already stressing about being away for 8 days and I'm trying to go to AK for one day on our way back. I don't think I'm going to win that battle.

[dismagic09]

It even changes all of my previous signatures. I note that it is off by a day from most as we are leaving on Friday, just to give some leeway to make sure we are there.

I am already on page 74 of the Passporter's guide, 240 more to go. I'm slipping it in at work.:surfweb:



look at that - it looks good. i'm going to order the passporter tonite. is it helpful?

[Figment_Fan]

Very helpful. We take it with us for reference. It is small enought to carry. It has pages for notes and things.

[Pixiedustdawn]

Hi Everyone,

I seem to have a problem posting on this website. I hope this one takes.

I am excited about this cruise. We are doing a week at Disney before the cruise vacation of a lifetime begins!

Dawn:tinker:

[disneycrazzzy]

For those interested...you can still get the AAA rates if you call your AAA agent (I'm not a member) and have them call DCL and ask for the "AMO" promotion.

I was able to book a guarantee verandah cabin for $3968 for 1A2C no insurance no transfers on the 8/15 cruise today. The only new twist is
you can't book online and you get a GTY verandah which translates to a GTY 7 for us since we are 3 (or that is what I assume). This $1760 less than it would be to book a GTY using the DCL website directly.

If anyone is willing to switch their reservation to a GTY they should be able to get this savings too. You will have to book the new cruise and cancel your existing one.

There is also hope for a $150 OBC too. Still waiting for confirmation about that.

Good Luck if you are still looking!

[Figment_Fan]

DW has been trying to get me to join AAA, this might do it. So, I'm going to post and try to bump this page before she sees it.

[disneycrazzzy]

DW has been trying to get me to join AAA, this might do it. So, I'm going to post and try to bump this page before she sees it.

You do not need to be a member of AAA to get the AAA discount or the $150 OBC. I am not a member and got both.

[dismagic09]

bumping to get us back to page 1

it doesn't look like the trip will be cheaper for me using AAA but i'm so glad that it worked out for others

[WendyinMaryland]

We are doing two pre-nights at the Animal Kingdom lodge. The day we fly in (Thursday) we plan to just hang at the pool. On Friday we plan to go to Blizzard Beach. Last time we went in 2002, we flew in on the morning of embarkation. NEVER AGAIN will I do that! Too stressful, and we were exhausted when we got there (we had to leave our house at 2AM to get the flight).

Anyone else have the sneaking suspicion that we may not be going to Cozumel given the swine flu?

[kimgg]

I am wondering as well. At least we are far enough out we should have plenty of notice. If so I vote for Castaway Cay twice. First cruise but from the sound of it, it's the best!!:banana::thumbsup2

[Figment_Fan]

I hope the flu has run its course by then, but I agree with Kim, Castaway Cay twice would be nice. Since we missed it last time. But it's a cruise, who knows where we'll really wind up.

We told the kids on Saturday after my wife graduated. She did the line of what are you going to do next. My DD only heard we were going to the Western Carribean. It took her about 30 minutes before she got it. She kept asking questions, until finally we realized, she didn't get that it was a cruise. Her face lit up finally, she looked at us and said, you mean we are going back on the Magic for 7 DAYS!!! The smile was priceless.

My son spent most of Sunday with the Cruise PassPorter reading in his room. Ah the feeling of Disney in the air at home.:wizard:

[Carlnne]

I think the flu will be over by then but Im not going to book any excursions on my own now like I planned just in case.

[Figment_Fan]

Just got a little info on the current cabin we have been assigned. Not bad.

We need to start getting serious about booking excursions soon. I've glanced at them, but not seem to stick in my memory. I hope the kids get a little more on the ball than me.

It is the begining of allergy season. I'm not yet sneezing or having itchy eyes, but I am getting an "air head" effect. My wife is now commenting on it and my assistant at work noticed today. I told them I really don't want to start the benedryl yet because it makes me edgy. So far nothing else works for me but benedryl. Although I haven't tried Singulair yet.

Hey, Dismagic, my DD is ready to get on line. I may let her either tonight or tomorrow - with my supervision. At 9, her typing skills aren't that great.

[Figment_Fan]

DD(8) is leaving a message through me to any other DD(8-9) if you have cruised before, what did you like the most? If your first cruise, what do you want to try the most?

My favorite thing was making friends and playing at the club.

[Pixiedustdawn]

Hi Everyone,

We are excited about going on this cruise and we don't care if they take out Cozumel. We would just like to see this whole virus thing end quickly.

We have not yet thought about booking anything. I will wait until we hear further on what port changes there are, if any. I also like to wait until we get much closer to cruising.

Any 12 year old girls cruising this week?

[dismagic09]

I've been slack on getting on this thread for about a week - bumping to get to page 1

Figment - I promise to have my DD on the thread tonight. I hope your DD hasn't been asking everyday if mine has responded - if so - i am soooo sorry.

I purchased my passporter today and look forward to looking at something other than a computer. I like to highlight and make notes :)

I'm hoping that the H1N1 is going to go away but still wouldn't mind going to Nassau - would love a day pass at the atlantis. It does make me want to book my excursions through disney just in case. Any "must do" excursions?

[aznaphrodite]

Hi, DISers! I just got off the Magic on Saturday. I bought a copy of the Port & Shopping Club book onboard and was wondering if anyone wanted my copy. It is full of coupons and freebies for all the ports you are stopping at. (I used the coupons on the Eastern cruise so all the Western stops are untouched.) For example, Cozumel has coupons for a free magnet, free shot glass, and antique map. Key West has free tanzanite earrings, free gemstone, and free magnet.

The book expires at the end of this year and I'm not going to cruise again so I'd like to pass it along to someone who will! PM me if you're interested.

The book has been claimed!

[Carlnne]

Coming up to the 90 day mark!! Is anyone eligible and going to try for the midnight ressies?

[Buzzfan2Mom]

After many trips to WDW, this will be our first Disney Cruise. These boards are always the best- my DH has lost me to the DISboards again:) My DD(14) and DS(5) are so excited. Now I just have to figure out where to stay the night before the cruise... And start absorbing all this info...

[dismagic09]

Coming up to the 90 day mark!! Is anyone eligible and going to try for the midnight ressies?

I wish! This is my first cruise so I can't. But I will try for the midnight ressies at the 75 day mark (to pick up the leftovers):rotfl:


Buzzfan- Congrats on booking. This is also our first cruise. My family has also lost me to the disboards.

[dismagic09]

DD(8) is leaving a message through me to any other DD(8-9) if you have cruised before, what did you like the most? If your first cruise, what do you want to try the most?

My favorite thing was making friends and playing at the club.

FIGMENT DD(8)
This is my first cruise and very excited. I don't know what I'm looking forward to the most. It all looks like so much fun. What do you like? Do you spend alot of time in the camps - what do you do like doing during the sea days?
DISMAGIC DD(9)

[Figment_Fan]

Sorry, been off the boards the past couple of days. We are packing and preparing for a trip to Sanibel Island. I have been re-adjusting my sleep schedule so that tonight I can get up around 1 a.m., throw everybody into the car and start to drive. When they finally wake up, we are several hours into the trip. Yeah, it's still cheaper to drive and spend one night in a hotel for us than to fly. DW keeps trying to find air fare cheaper, but hasn't yet.

We will be taking a laptop with us and work on getting things set up on day 90. Stay up and get online at 12:01 a.m. We'll see.

Dismagic 09, I will pass your DD's message to my DD and have her post an answer when we can find a connection on the road. She will love it. Have fun reading the Passporter.

Welcome to the families that just booked and are getting lost back into the disboards.

[disneycrazzzy]

We were able to book all of our reservations tonight!
Hope others were able to do same.

90 days and counting!

[WendyinMaryland]

We made our activity reservations last night too! No problems, we got everything we wanted. We are doing the Pirate Encounter in Grand Cayman, the Beach Break in Cozumel, and we got Palo high tea and brunch.
There are a lot of cool looking excursions that involve taking a ferry to the mainland, but I think I would die of sea sicknesses. Plus I don't to spend tons of time in transit for a short excursion.
I have a nine year old daughter, too. She would love to have friends to go to the movies with onboard and hang with in the clubs.

[dismagic09]

SOOOO jealou but happy for you guys that you got what you wanted. I'm a first time cruiser so we will have to wait until later this month to pick on what is left. I do plan on staying up late that night and waiting for midnight to roll around.

wendy in maryland- have your dd get on this thread sometime. I think we have at least 3 or 4 already that are around the same age.

[Pixiedustdawn]

I can't wait to see the excursions and prices!

[dismagic09]

how does that work? if i book my excursion on the 75 day mark then when do i have to pay for them?

[Pixiedustdawn]

how does that work? if i book my excursion on the 75 day mark then when do i have to pay for them?

i don't know if I have the correct info but I think you pay on the cruise. It may be on the onboard account.

I am not sure about so if someone knows the correct answer, please post.

[Pixiedustdawn]

I was just looking at the excursions. I logged onto the website, and I am also able to check in and book everything now too.

I didn't book anything yet.

[Sorceress_Minnie]

Coming up to the 90 day mark!! Is anyone eligible and going to try for the midnight ressies?

Tried and could not book ressies at midnight or for the 30 minutes after that. I did book them the next AM!

BTW...I am Figment Fan's DW and no I am not stressed out all the time!

[dismagic09]

Tried and could not book ressies at midnight or for the 30 minutes after that. I did book them the next AM!

BTW...I am Figment Fan's DW and no I am not stressed out all the time!

Congratulations on your graduation! Your DH said you would get on the boards - glad you are here. Our DD are around the same age - I hope they get to meet on the cruise.

Were you able to get the ressies you wanted the next morning or were they all sold out? We are first time cruisers so we can booked anything until 75 days - just wondering if any of the good Palo dates are available or excursions.

[Sorceress_Minnie]

I was able to get all the rezzies we were interested in. We did not book Palo, but I did note that brunch at Palo was booked!

We would love to have our daughter meet your daughter. During the cruise I will be wearing a lime green Mickey head pin. I know it seems a little crazy to think that you will be able to find someone wearing a lime green Mickey head, but this is how we identified folks on our last cruise.

[Buzzfan2Mom]

We are having a family chat about where to stay the night before DD(14) wants to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge and DH thinks it may be better to stay at a hotel near the port. We get in at 9:30 am on the 7th- so we have a full day free. I'd love to stay at AKL for the one night- we'll have a rental car. If we did this, what time would you all leave AKL for the port?

I was thinking my husband could drop us all off at the port then catch the rental car shuttle back after dropping off the car... has anyone done this???

[Carlnne]

We are having a family chat about where to stay the night before DD(14) wants to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge and DH thinks it may be better to stay at a hotel near the port. We get in at 9:30 am on the 7th- so we have a full day free. I'd love to stay at AKL for the one night- we'll have a rental car. If we did this, what time would you all leave AKL for the port?

I was thinking my husband could drop us all off at the port then catch the rental car shuttle back after dropping off the car... has anyone done this???

Since you have the whole day and a car I would stay at AKL. We have done the drop off both ways. It helps for someone to drop off everyone then ride back- its easier to squeeze into a shuttle with one person and no luggage. We have also all ridden the shuttle together and we didnt have much of a wait. I am shooting for being there early but we are driving from the Universal area so who knows. Its just me and my kids so I cant do the drop off.

Did you get a car yet? Ive havent priced things lately but most of the codes werent good for august so I figured Id wait.

[Buzzfan2Mom]

We reserved our car from Budget, the company I work for had a discount so we have $44 for the 8/7-8/8 and then $79 for the 8/15 day to get back to the airport. I'm so glad to hear it is easy to drop of the family and catch the shuttle:goodvibes Thanks!

[Pixiedustdawn]

Did anyone notice, most excursions went up in price by $10.00 pp?
What's up with that??

[182tink]

1st time user here. My family will be joining you on the 8/8 Western cruise. It will be me the mom (38), DD (15), DD (12) and DS (10). We are taking the auto train down a few days early to enjoy Orlando and then off to the Radisson at the port. We have booked the following excursions:
KW-thrill boat (at my DS request)
GC-island tour w/butterfly farm
Coz-beach break
CC-kayak tour
I of course booked a few spa treatments for myself.

[segpm08060]

:banana:Made final payment on the trip and made ressie for excursions last night.
We will be swimming with the dolphin in Cozumel.
Six night stay at Kidani and 7 night western cruise.:goodvibes
Everyone is excited and can not wait.

[kimgg]

OK we made our final payment and we are 75 days out but I still can't complete my online checkin or reserve anything in the DCL website?? Is it b/c it's the weekend? Anyone else not able to?

[kimgg]

Never mind, after midnight I was able to get in and do my check in and reservations. Yay!:cheer2:

[Figment_Fan]

I can't believe how time is flying. It is less than 75 days untill the cruise. Sorry, haven't been on in a while. My DW is better at computers and she was in through the wireless connection while we were poolside at my dad's timeshare on Sanibel Island. I'm not tech savy enough to even figure out how to do it. Besides, I stayed away from computers while on vacation.

Glad to see the group is getting bigger. Hope to chat with you all soon.

John

[Buzzfan2Mom]

I was just able to upgrade from a Cat 10 to a Cat 9:banana: Hope everyone was/is able to get the reservations they want:goodvibes I keep looking at my passporter book- I think I've read the whole thing by now!

[Figment_Fan]

Congratulations on the upgrade.:banana:
I'm still back where I was on the Passporter before I left for a vacation in Florida 3 weeks ago. Still catching up on work. I will get back to it tomorrow afternoon. It is a great source.
I still can't believe we went to Florida and didn't stop by to see the Mouse. I was really tempted when I75 intersected with I4:sad2: We almost went to Disney for lunch on the way back home, but got time crunched. Oh well. The cruise is coming soon. First time in my life I have gone on two vacations within this short a period of time.

[kimgg]

OK this feels real now - I booked our flights today and got a better deal than I have seen so far and also booked the Hyatt at the airport for the night before. Now all I have to do is the car rental and that should be the easiest thing. My kids have never flown before and I think I am more excited for them than they are - I never took any "real" vacations as a child but they seem to take it for granted. I'm glad I can give them what I never had! :hug:

[justakid@heart]

Hi Out There!! THIS IS GREAT....to meet fellow cruisers before the cruise!!! I am a first time poster! My family and I are booked on this cruise. This will be our 2nd Disney cruise. It will be me (DM), D-Dad, DS and DN (niece). Thanks to the "kids sail free" we are able to bring her belong for the ride. We are from Maryland. I found the "cruise meet" forum by accident when searching for door decorating ideas. I also found out about the fish extenders (are they very popular??). Some have mentioned about upgrades; how do you inquire about that?

I look forward to chatting with you all.:thumbsup2

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Hi there, Justakid! :welcome:This will be our first Disney Cruise, very excited! I should mention that when I mentioned that I was able to upgrade from a Cat 10 to a Cat 9, it was an upgrade I paid for. I had been waiting and checking the DCL website for an ocean view to be available, it wasn't when we first booked.

Now we are just waiting for the kids passports, we mailed them in the first week of May. I'm sure I'll be on here more as it gets closer:sunny:

[justakid@heart]

Good Mornin'. Thanks for the reply. I called DCL on a whim yesterday just to see what the deal would be for upgrading. I received a few price quotes but we'll just stick to cat 11. That is where we stayed on our 1st cruise and we were happy with it. I've done the on-line registration and booked the Palo. Haven't made any reservations for excursions. I was thinking of renting bikes in Key West, beach time at Grand Cayman and Castaway but have NO clue what to do in Cozumel. Any suggestions? :confused3

[Carlnne]

If anyone is interested- dolphin discovery is running a sale online. Only $50 for the swim, $75 for the royal swim. They are only offering so many spots and a few hundred were snagged while I was watching and deciding today. I booked- its just so much cheaper than the disney price but you can not write cruise on the form- i just wrote private.

[justakid@heart]

Thanks Carlnne for the tip on Dolphin Discovery. I was able to grab a 1pm time slot. The kids are so excited! :yay: Hope others can take advantage as well. Thanks again!!! Are there any plans for our families to meet on the cruise? It would be nice to get together for an "adult night" out AND for the kids to meet up at the kids club.

[Carlnne]

Congrats on your reserv for the dolphin encounter- Im glad someone else on our cruise could get the deal. This meet group has been pretty quiet since the beginning so I don think there are any plans to meet as of now. My kids are too old for the clubs- my son will be in the stack- but I know there are other families here with younger kids.

[dismagic09]

thanks for letting us know about the dolphin excursion. I have already booked the cayman dolphin encounter. Some of the excursions don't allow the younger kids to participate on the dolphin swim so i just stuck with what we booked. would have been nice to save some money.

Time seems to be going by faster and i'm really looking forward to our first cruise. The kids love watching the TV shows that have been on the past couple weeks on DIY and travel network. I DVR them and they are always asking to watch them. I can't wait til they see the ship - i'm sure they have no idea of the true size.

[Figment_Fan]

Can't seem to get caught up with anything.

Congrats to those who chose the dolphin encounter. That was a nice deal. The cruise almost seems less real now than what it did a month ago. Between school ending, catching up at work (or at least attempting to) arranging for the children's summer activities. Okay, DW did the large majority of work on that. As well as yardwork and dealing with my seasonal allergies, I am looking forward to this becomming more real. And, it's only about 60 days until we leave.

I'm sure we will meet up somewhere on the cruise. I still have to get my DD to sit down and communicate with the other kids her age on this board. I'll try again tonight. Until then, have a good day all.

[justakid@heart]

I know what you mean! I'm getting ready for a family visit this weekend, having more family come in July (for a week's stay) and then a famiy picnic in July also. Once those activities are over I think the excitement will finally hit me. I want to make this SUPER special for the kids, as my DH thinks they will be too old to go on another one!! So, I'm working on getting a fish extender, door decorations and pirate costumes. I looking for a place to buy a pirate costume for cheap, should I find such a place I'll let you know.

Keep your Disney spirits high!!!

[justakid@heart]

Hi All,

Found what looks to be a simple homemade pirate costume from familyfun.com (disney company:goodvibes). Michaels craft store had some pirate hats, hooks and eye patches for just a few bucks each. My son and I decorated the hat with stickers and foam (turned out nice!).pirate:

[kimgg]

Our thread has got to be the dead-est one ever. Each time I check I think there will be some posts since the last time and almost never is. Has everyone given up on it?

I kind of want to talk about my plans. I think people who are not going on teh same vacation are bored hearing about what others are going to be doing.

I just agreed to let my husband and 9 yr old son parasail in Key West. Watching videos on it I got all worried though. I get nervous when they just go on the ferris wheel. But I didn't want to let them go at Castaway Key, b/c then I would be stressing out about it the whole trip. Thanks to this board I found out there is a company near the port in Key West that does parasailing for 1/2 the price of DCL. I wasn't that scared of heights as a child but as an adult for some reason it has gotten worse, and I worry even more for my kids when they go on high things. Weird, I'm not scared of roller coasters (knowing you can't just jump or fall out) but on a slow ride I'm more afraid. Now I'm going to be scared the cord that they are attached to the boat w/ will break. I know I should not deny my son the experience just b/c I'm a scaredy cat. :scared:

Anyone here ever parasailed?

[Carlnne]

I have never parasailed but Im positive they will be fine. But you are just a normal mom worrying. I wish my kids would have done more things like that while they were younger.

(And this thread has always been quiet- not sure why)

[justakid@heart]

My husband and I went parasailing in Aruba a few years ago and had a BLAST! It was so much fun. I am terrified of roller coasters and a little squimmish(sp?) with heights but for some odd reason I've always wanted to try parasailing. Once I was up in the air I was so busy admiring the beautiful view and enjoying the ride I actually felt comfort. I think your son and husband will have a great time. Being a mother too, I fully understand being concerned for them. I also think they will be OK!!:thumbsup2

[Figment_Fan]

I have always wanted to parasail. But from what I've seen of people doing it, it looks pretty safe. If the rope breaks they're still attached to a parashoot. Worse comes to worse, they'll just drift down to be picked up by the boat.

Okay, I keep reading about the new menus. Has anybody seen a copy? I found one from the Wonder about 2 months ago, but it was a poor scan. Keeping my eyes open.

I love trying new foods.

[Figment_Fan]

Okay, I just had to log onto the cruise website and check my reservation because I could not remember what excursions we picked.

Anybody else going on the pirate encounter off Grand Cayman?

[kimgg]

We were booked on the pirate encounter but I canceled it over this weekend. Now I plan on going through Capt Marvin for the stingray tour. I had one son who wanted the pirates (scared of stingrays) and one who wanted the stingray tour (b/c it's longer and he is pretty brave). Anyway I told them they can stay on the boat if they are afraid but hopefully they will get it w/ us holding on to them for security. I just really want to see the stingrays and snorkel. You'll have to fill us in on the pirate ship as I may regret canceling it.

So far we plan on the parasailing in Key West, Sting rays in Grand Cayman, and the Chankanuub park in Cozumel, all done directly. Trying to save money, DCL is kind of high! I'm just afraid to book the out of country ones in case we are unable to make it to the port. We may chance that they have available walk in spots and have a back-up plan. Still deciding . . .

Good thing is all the excursions are still available on DCL.

[justakid@heart]

The pirate encounter was on our wish list but decided against it when we heard about the discount with dolphin discovery (Cozumel), niece and son really want to "meet" a real dolphin. So, Grand Cayman will be a "day at the beach", bike tour in Key West and another beach day at Castaway.

Didn't know about the new menu! I would be interested in seeing what they will have to offer. I'll keep an eye open as well.

Is anyone hanging a fish extender on their door or decorating the door?

[justakid@heart]

I know we have a small group but if there are other interested in organizing a fish extender exchange I would be happy to help organize it. I've read other threads on this forum about them. I can't post pics yet (not enough posts) but if you search for fish extenders you can see pics of ones that are homemade, bought off e-bay and even decorated gift bags, there are a few variations to see. DIS members put small gadget gifts in the pockets such as pens, candy, stickers, temp. tattos, post cards, pirate stuff, bagged goodies (disney and non-disney items)...basically whatever you would like to give. Some give one gift per family and others one gift per person (totally up to you). Oriental trading (orientaltrading.com) was used by some to purchase small gifts at a reasonable price and I'm sure party and craft stores (Party City, Michaels, AC Moore) will have good ideas.

From what I've read this is a little extra way to add excitement to an "already AWESOME" vacation. If there is anyone else interested please let me know and we can discuss further.

Thanks

[Figment_Fan]

Sorry, just not into the fish extender thing. I have enough trouble figuring out what to bring, let alone trying to throw something extra on top of it. I hope all of you have fun with it.

I get jibed here at work because I tend not to by souvenirs either. I do love oriental trading things. They have some fun stuff. I've ordered the blow up palm trees for use at a Jimmy Buffet tail-gate party. My DD likes to order her birthday party stuff from there. She grabs the catalogue the second it comes in the mail.

My DisBoarding is somewhat curtailed as our home computer still has some issues. I am left to using the computer at work - thus a little constrained.

As to the pirate excursion, that was the one my kids picked. My DD can't wait to walk off the plank.

[Figment_Fan]

Hey Justakid@heart how many posts does it take to be able to attache pictures? I noticed I can't yet either. If you know great, otherwise I will search.
Take Care,
John

[justakid@heart]

Hey Justakid@heart how many posts does it take to be able to attache pictures? I noticed I can't yet either. If you know great, otherwise I will search.
Take Care,
John

When I tried to attach a link last week, I received a message stating I had to have 10 posts to attach anything. You have far more than that; not sure why you are unable to.

[kimgg]

I don't know about the fish extender since we have so few people on here - the fun I think is getting something delivered frequently and if we only have 4 or 5 people participating I'm not sure how it would work. From the trip reports it seems like each family only has to do one delivery and they still end up w/ a lot - w/ us so far (so few people), that would be pretty hard.

If several others appear and want to do it, I would be open, but if it is just a handfull of us, I don't know how successful it would be. I am also kind of overwhelmed w/ all we have to bring (first cruise for us) and if we tried to bring enough to make it worthwhile that might make it more stressful.

I'm open to whatever others suggest. Hopefully the lack of involvment here will mean emptier pools, more relaxing atmosphere and less crowds. I hope!!:hippie:

[Figment_Fan]

I've got approximately 14 people posting with about 44 individuals included. Yeah, it's strange, but I was curious for a while as this thread has been slow. I just wanted to figure out how many people were actually involved.

I'll have to check on my ability to post a picture. Okay, it says I can't post attachments, but it looks like I can set up a URL link to a picture. Me, the computer illiterate will have to figure that out sometime.

As to what to take, I'm only going to bring 1 suit for semi-formal night with a regular shirt and tie. Then bring a tux shirt to be a little more dressed for formal night. I'll just make sure to bring my black suit as it should cover both. As to the other suit, for pool use, I'll bring 3. Now, I learned to skip bringing several pair of shorts as I spend most of my time in a bathing suit. As for shirts, I'm not bringing the 8 I brought last time. That alone should open up some space in the suitcase.

[kimgg]

Ha! Well you are a guy, so that will be much easier to plan for yourself than us ladies! And as the Mom I get to plan my whole families' outfits - if I left it up to my husband I'd be too embarrassed to be seen w/ them - he has let them wear their pajamas thinking they were regular clothes! :rotfl:

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Hey everyone! Are we getting excited yet?????:cool1:
I can't believe it- less than two months:banana:
OK, just had to get that out:goodvibes

My kids passports came, one less thing to worry about. I'll know its getting closer when we get a cabin number:rolleyes1

Have a great night everyone!

[Buzzfan2Mom]

I forgot to mention- I bought the cutest suit for my five year old at Burlington Coat Factory. He put it on and looked so stinking cute! Very reasonable prices $19.99-$60. Check it out if you have on near you.

[Figment_Fan]

Pajamas aren't clothes?? :confused3 They can't be worn in public?:confused:

Kimgg, you're right, I shouldn't pack the kids, or my DW. In fact, I generally wish they made geranimals for adults. I have no choice but to keep selections simple, if I attempt to get fancy, I mess it up. So, simple it is: shorts, shirts, bathing suits, a shaver and toothbrush. I'm set.

Oh, and suntan lotion, lots of suntan lotion. Spent and errant youth being a lifeguard for 10 years, couple a melenoma's. So, lots of suntan lotion. For those that want a quick and easy sunblock that is waterproof - Desitin. It is almost 100% zinc oxide, which is the stuff lifeguards used to put on their noses making them that distinctive white that stays on for a long time.

[Figment_Fan]

Congrats on the suit for your son Buzzfan, they do look good in a dress suit at that age. We are just hoping that the suit we bought our son a month ago for his confirmation will still fit him in August. We bought it a little big on purpose. We got it for a very reasonable price at Kohl's. Unfortunately, at his age, they don't make them for the price you got any more.

[justakid@heart]

DH tells me every time that he is NOT taking a suit on vacation. A couple pair of shorts, tshirts, socks, undies and tennis shoes and he is "golden". Oops...let's not forget the swimming trunks. Somehow the suit finds its way into the suitcase "every time" :rolleyes1 My son actually likes wearing a suit, occasionally! Just a matter of finding out if he can still wear the ones in the closet. We have so few occasions to "get all dressed up" that I enjoy the formal nights.

[Figment_Fan]

Unfortunately, I have to wear a suit and tie for work everyday. No casual anydays.

My son hates wearing a suit as well. I miss lifeguarding days when the "suit" I wore didn't need a tie. Of course, I would never wear a Speedo today, I have more of a social conscience than that. Then again, I also wish I could have the body back that could wear that Speedo. Now that my 44" chest and 32" waist have switched places, I'm not sure I can ever go back. Sigh...

[justakid@heart]

Well, we got about 7 weeks until we sail off and I'd like to know how many are with me in thinking "If I start now maybe I can drop a few pounds before the cruise". I do it for every vacation....most of the time it is nothing but an empty promise. I did join Weight Watchers right after our 1st Disney cruise. I lost the weight I wanted to lose and have maintained (for the most part) for the last year. With bathing suit season here I wouldn't mind losing a few more before the big VACA!!! So I'm on a mission to drop 5 lbs. before August 8th. Hopefully the cruise will help me stay motivated!!

Anyone else out there setting vacation goals for themselves?

[dismagic09]

I don't know why put i stopped getting the emails that people had posted :(

Glad to see this thread starting to move:cool1:

I would also like to drop a few (it might be too little too late but every lb will help)

Did anyone make palo reservations? if so, what night did you pick and why? We made reservations for Sunday night at 8:30 and wasn't sure what i would miss.

We are getting very excited!!!! Its seemed like it would never get here but now time in flying and don't want to rush the summer just so we can be on the cruise. The kids have so many summer camps and activities it will be here in no time.

Can we start to get the kids on the boards to chat before the cruise?

[WendyinMaryland]

Okay, I just had to log onto the cruise website and check my reservation because I could not remember what excursions we picked.

Anybody else going on the pirate encounter off Grand Cayman?

We are. We are doing the early one (9 AM I think).

[justakid@heart]

I don't know why put i stopped getting the emails that people had posted :(

Glad to see this thread starting to move:cool1:

I would also like to drop a few (it might be too little too late but every lb will help)

Did anyone make palo reservations? if so, what night did you pick and why? We made reservations for Sunday night at 8:30 and wasn't sure what i would miss.

We are getting very excited!!!! Its seemed like it would never get here but now time in flying and don't want to rush the summer just so we can be on the cruise. The kids have so many summer camps and activities it will be here in no time.

Can we start to get the kids on the boards to chat before the cruise?

We made Palo reservations for Monday night, I think the time is 8:00pm I'll have to double check. I wanted to pick a day that we are at sea so I could have plenty of time to "get pretty", that takes a while! :)

My son also has a few summer camps he's going to. This week he attended a Spaceflight camp at our local community college. Next week its Sports Jamboree (intro to different sports i.e. tennis, golf, baseball etc) and Forensics. The community college offers some really neat course for the kids, the program is called "Kids in College". The rest of the summer is spent at a summer camp at his school and visiting the g-parents in NC.

By the way that reminds me "Dismagic09" I see you are from Coastal NC. I grew up in Fayetteville NC and moved to MD about 13 years ago. Spent a few years in Wilmington NC at UNCW. It's always good to chat with someone from back home. Our plans are to retire in the Carolinas. I can't wait to get back!!

I'll have my son get on the board this evening. Happy Friday to Everyone :yay:

[Figment_Fan]

Dismagic, I hope to drop 10 pounds by the time of the cruise. Let's see that's 10 in 7 weeks, and one week on the cruise to gain it back. I can live with that.

Wendy, our pirate excursion starts at around 9 as well. You have a DD around 9 don't you? My DD(8) is the one most looking forward to jumping off the plank. Looks like an interesting boat. At least is sounds different than hanging at the beach all day. (Not that I'm not going to hang at the beach on some of the other days, it's just nice to try something unusual every once in a while)

YES, 7 short weeks until a little Disney Magic and pixie dust once again comes our way!!:woohoo:

[justakid@heart]

I am the DS of "justakid@heart". I am excited to go on the disney cruise again! The oceaneer lab has a lot of fun stuff like soap derby car race and making flubber. Also doing disney wide world of sports was fun. I am also bringing my cousin with me. I am excited about playing with the dolphins and going to castaway cays. I hope to make a lot of friends!

[WendyinMaryland]

Wendy, our pirate excursion starts at around 9 as well. You have a DD around 9 don't you?

Yes, my daughter is 9, almost 10 by the time we cruise. She is going into 5th grade.

Is anyone here taking the DCL bus from AKL on Saturday?

[Figment_Fan]

Okay,

I may be physically at work, but in my mind, I am sitting on deck 9, cold drink in hand and a chocolate covered strawberry from The Cove in my mouth. DD is in the water, DS is in the Stack, DW is into her book, and I am completely and blissfully mentally on hold.

What is everybody looking forward to the most?

[kimgg]

Hmmm, what am I looking forward to most?????

EVERYTHING!!! :lovestruc And I think Castaway Cay as it sounds wonderful, but not the fact that it will almost be all over at that point.

I can't wait to have a big drink in my hand and the ocean to look at. I have only seen the Texas "coast" other than one quick trip to California beach in LA, but that was a quickie trip for work.

And sounds like there will be plenty of 7-8 and 9-10 yr olds to play w/ each other, so I am sure they will have lots of new friends to have fun with.

[dismagic09]

I want to play...

I'm on deck 9 and have just witnessed a beautiful moment in my kids' life. they are glowing with excitement and are grinning from ear to ear as my husband walks them to the kids club. I can feel the wind in my hair and smell the salt in the air and a cm hands me something alcholic with banana in it:banana:

just a kid@heart - i'm an hour north of wilmington. also spent college time in wilmington.

[dismagic09]

i'm the dd on dismagic09.

i'm 9 and can't wait for my first disney cruise. i'm looking forward to making flubber and swimming with the dolphins. i have a brother (7) who will also be on the cruise - he probably can't wait for pirate night.

i'm also excited about seeing some of the shows and movies on the ship. my mom has me in all sorts of camps for the summer and probably won't let me go to some of the movies since they will be playing on the ship.

Who will be in the lab with me?

[Figment_Fan]

We are. We are doing the early one (9 AM I think).

Hey Wendy, there's a thread that contains a description and pictures of the pirate excursion. It really looks like a lot of fun - and they serve rum punch to the adults and make the kids scrub the decks!

[Figment_Fan]

The menus are up on the boards. They look good! Okay, gotta change the packing list a little - elasic waistbands, required.

[Buzzfan2Mom]

I'm looking forward to see my 5 yr old DS face when he sees the ship for the first time :goodvibes

I keep checking our reservation on-line, can't wait to see our cabin number- we are Cat 9 GTY right now. Still trying to finalize our excursions. We are thinking of being brave and doing a trip to Chankanaab park on our own in Cozumel.

[Figment_Fan]

Seeing their faces when they see Cinderella's Castle for the first time, and the look on their faces when they see the ship are priceless. I hope you get you cabin number soon. Then you can look up the ship decks and see where you are located. Not much time left. I can hardly wait. Only 37 days untill we leave, 38 days untill the cruise. Those will pass soooo fast.

Come to think of it, we better start packing!!!:woohoo:

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Our room number showed up on our reservation today. We are on deck one so each kid can look out their own porthole:hippie:

Yep, almost time to start packing.

[Figment_Fan]

I just keep checking in to see the counter move. Now I have been challenged by DW to lose 10 lbs before we leave. This could be great! If I lose 10 and only gain 6 or 7 on the cruise, I'll be ahead of the game by the time I get back.:rotfl:

Congrats on the room assignment BuzzFan.

Anybody look at the menus thread. I thought alot of it looked pretty good.

Lobster macaroni and cheese just sounds wonderful. My DD is bargaining for slushies every night at dinner. Trying to change her mind on that one and have her have them a couple of hours before. They fill her up and she will drink the slushie before she eats food. Like she really has a choice, I just like to let her think that it is her idea. Goes a lot better that way.:thumbsup2

[kimgg]

ONE MORE MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:dance3::

[dismagic09]

I can't wait - is it too soon to pack?????

[kimgg]

I have not started packing much, but as I buy stuff specifically for the cruise I am putting that stuff in my suitcases. My son today had to raid a suitcase though, he could not find anything to go swimming in! I hated to have him wear one of his new things but oh well! I also went ahead and put our passports in one of the suitcase pockets so I don't forget them. I am buying stuff for the cruise almost every day, my husband is not appreciating it!
:sad2:

I'm watching Great Cruies right now on the Travel channel, have not caught the Disney one yet.

[Bugs Life Lover]

I have just killed 2 hours on this board trying to figure it out! I am a first time DCL and a second time EVER cruising.

I hope this works.............So are we going to do the fish extenders on this cruise? Do I hear a YES? JaK@heart mentioned she was interested in organizing it. Can we pull this together?

I have some tips on sending a package/box of treats via postal UPS to your cabin in time for your trip. hit me up

[justakid@heart]

I have just killed 2 hours on this board trying to figure it out! I am a first time DCL and a second time EVER cruising.

I hope this works.............So are we going to do the fish extenders on this cruise? Do I hear a YES? JaK@heart mentioned she was interested in organizing it. Can we pull this together?

I have some tips on sending a package/box of treats via postal UPS to your cabin in time for your trip. hit me up

Welcome Aboard Bugs Life Lover! :flower3: It took me a while to figure all this stuff out as well, but I guarantee you and your family will have a BLAST on DCL! I was hoping to get the fish extender effort off the ground but didn't get any takers. I've put together a few things to give to my kids; hopefully I can surprise them:confused3!! But at this point it doesn't look like there's much interest in it. GREAT idea, though!

We have less than a month to go; it's almost HERE! Happy Friday to everyone!

[Figment_Fan]

Welcome BugLifeLover.

From what I have seen on other threads, it really only takes two to start something. You two should at least go for the fish extenders. See who else follows.

4 weeks from today, we head to the airport.:dance3:

I'm sure we will all have a great time on DCL.

I watched Great Cruises last night as well. The captain on that cruise was great. He was an entertainer as well as a captain.
The captain on the Magic is a good host, but not necessarily an entertainer. Then again, that's not his job - which he does exceedingly well.

[Figment_Fan]

Maybe this post will bump us to at least 14 pages!

[Bugs Life Lover]

Welcome Aboard Bugs Life Lover! :flower3: It took me a while to figure all this stuff out as well, but I guarantee you and your family will have a BLAST on DCL! I was hoping to get the fish extender effort off the ground but didn't get any takers. I've put together a few things to give to my kids; hopefully I can surprise them:confused3!! But at this point it doesn't look like there's much interest in it. GREAT idea, though!

We have less than a month to go; it's almost HERE! Happy Friday to everyone!
JaK@heart,
Maybe the more we talk-up the fish extenders the more others would like to join. You are right, at this point I am just going to start buying treats for our family first. But would love to do some "giving" too. I would love to get a manageable group together.

Maybe some people just dont know what a fish extender is. Lets talk it up!

[kimgg]

I think the problem is this thread has so few people so far it would not be worth it to do it, as there are just a handful (maybe 4-5) that mostly post here. I am stressing about what to bring just for our family (first cruise) so I am sorry I can't join you, but hopefully more people will join our "meets" and you can have more success at getting it started, but then again, time is running short!

Less than 3 weekends before our cruise!! :scared1:

[Carlnne]

3 weekends is hard to imagine!! This makes me realize I have so much left to do.

[justakid@heart]

JaK@heart,
Maybe the more we talk-up the fish extenders the more others would like to join. You are right, at this point I am just going to start buying treats for our family first. But would love to do some "giving" too. I would love to get a manageable group together.

Maybe some people just dont know what a fish extender is. Lets talk it up!

:laundy: Wow! what a busy weekend! We have family from out of town arriving today so the week will be busy also...but fun! Well, I picked up the gifts for the fish extender (FE) a few weeks ago. I tried to get it done in one "swoop" because if I had waited I know I wouldn't get it done! I picked up things from the dollar stores, party city, wal-mart, craft stores; nothing big, mostly $1 items. For pirate night I made "pirate coin bags" out of felt and yarn and ironed a pirate patch to them. I found the idea while searching for pirate costumes. They turned out really neat and quick and easy to make. I stuffed them with pirate tattos, gold coin candy, a pirate bracelet and sea shells. I'm going to "try" to make post cards to put in the FE also, just a little message each day from the Disney Gang! I'm still working on those so hopefully I'll have them finished in time! I think I'll start packing next week.

Hope everyone has a great day! Happy Monday! :surfweb:

[Figment_Fan]

Started to go and get the luggage out of the downstairs, and was told I would have to wait. DD is going to grandma's house next week for the whole week. She has stated that we are not allowed to pack until she returns.

Okay, so I need to start sneak packing in the back of my closet. DW asked about the new menus and, with our home computer having problems, no ability to them to her. Going to try to write some of them down during lunch today.

I hope you get enough to do the FE's. Unfortunately I agree with Kim, too few people, and I have enough trouble packing for me. The FE's are more of something my DW would like, but her work lately has not allowed for much time to plan. Usually she has our packing lists done by now. Yes, she writes out everything that is packed in each individual suitcase. Along with switching things between the cases just in case one or two don't make it, then everyone has something to where.

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Our cruise docs came today! I had to take a trip to Denver for work so I had to take a break from my "planning" mode. We are all getting so excited! I have to agree that I would love to do the fish extenders but don't know enough about it and will have very little time between now and the cruise to get organized. We have been a smaller group, but still great to have others to chat with:goodvibes

I hope everyone's planning is going well. I'm thinking about going to Target tomorrow to buy a couple snorkel sets... Didn't want to pack them but it seem so much cheaper, even if we only use them once. Anyone else bringing snorkel stuff from home?

[kimgg]

Yes we plan to bring our own snorkel stuff (kids have some but we'll have to buy some for mom and dad) since we may use them in 3 of the ports (all but Key West). Seems much cheaper and don't have to worry about "where they've been".

I wonder if my husband checked the mail today? I know DCL already sent our stuff too, as we just added transfers and they told us they had already sent out the docs. Can't wait! I think about this trip almost CONSTANTLY!!

Now, my kids and I have dr appt's tomorrow - PLEASE don't let there be anything wrong that would interfere w/ our health or our trip!!! Makes me so nervous but these are appt's that could not wait until we get back. :grouphug:

[dandandandan]

Hey im a 25 year old male going with my family. is there anyone over 21 gunna be there or around my age? girls?

[justakid@heart]

I've been on DCL before and I can tell you the night-life activities were fun. There were a couple of themed parties, dance clubs, NICE sports bar and adult only comedy shows; which will probably be the spots you will want to hit. Good Luck!

[Bugs Life Lover]

thanks everyone :worship: , I am getting lots of ideas for the boards. Now I have to just to it!
looking foward to getting pampered by DIS.
gonna try to hit a walmart for some more goodies.
We are gonna pack light and do laundry on board. I plan on living in bathing suit and board shorts.
I heard you can pay 29 dollars and DIS will do your laundry for you and return it folded. Now thats service for a price.
I will have some extra goodies for other kids with FE.

[justakid@heart]

thanks everyone :worship: , I am getting lots of ideas for the boards. Now I have to just to it!
looking foward to getting pampered by DIS.
gonna try to hit a walmart for some more goodies.
We are gonna pack light and do laundry on board. I plan on living in bathing suit and board shorts.
I heard you can pay 29 dollars and DIS will do your laundry for you and return it folded. Now thats service for a price.
I will have some extra goodies for other kids with FE.

If you have a Michael's and/or AC Moore near you, they had quite a few $1 items that kids would like to include Disney items! I've also picked up a few extra goodies just in case I saw another FE hanging around. I'm sure we'll be pretty easy to find :wizard:

Got our boarding passes on Monday so it feels more official now! Happy Wednesday to you all!:surfweb:

[dismagic09]

I'm getting excited !!!!

i can't wait to start packing. I think i will make a list like FF's DW. At least that will give me something to do to start the process.

How many people are doing the fish extenders?

I've decided that i'm going to pack the kids clothes in a ziploc gallon bag for each day that way they don't just grab something and then i'm left with mismatched outfits. I really hope i'm able to get organized before i leave. My work is so hectic right now i'm not able to spend the time i wanted to plan.

Anyone traveling w/o passports. My kids don't have them and i'm so nervous about it.

[Carlnne]

I'm getting excited !!!!


Anyone traveling w/o passports. My kids don't have them and i'm so nervous about it.

My 15 year old son will not have one-I was told his birth cert was fine by several people so dont worry.

[justakid@heart]

I'm getting excited !!!!

i can't wait to start packing. I think i will make a list like FF's DW. At least that will give me something to do to start the process.

How many people are doing the fish extenders?

I've decided that i'm going to pack the kids clothes in a ziploc gallon bag for each day that way they don't just grab something and then i'm left with mismatched outfits. I really hope i'm able to get organized before i leave. My work is so hectic right now i'm not able to spend the time i wanted to plan.

Anyone traveling w/o passports. My kids don't have them and i'm so nervous about it.

Looks like only 2 of us are doing fish extenders.

[Bugs Life Lover]

Dont forget me.......I'm IN on the fish extenders! So is my Sister-in-law!
I continue to make my weekly trip to Target :eek: and have pick up goodies for my group and have extras
Since our thread are not really organized, i will likely pick a day and randomly gift other fish extenders.
So you FE out there be ready for a surprise!:flower3:

Tonight I am actually pulling out the sewing machine and gonna sew a "Buzz Lightyear" FE (blue/lime green and silver). WE will have 3 pockets for our 3 kids ( 4yr, 6yr, 11yr). So if you guys see our FE around please drop me a note:disrocks: What do your FEs look like? I will make every effort to drop you a treat :thumbsup2

WE MADE page 15 !!! oh la la

[justakid@heart]

Dont forget me.......I'm IN on the fish extenders! So is my Sister-in-law!
I continue to make my weekly trip to Target :eek: and have pick up goodies for my group and have extras
Since our thread are not really organized, i will likely pick a day and randomly gift other fish extenders.
So you FE out there be ready for a surprise!:flower3:

Tonight I am actually pulling out the sewing machine and gonna sew a "Buzz Lightyear" FE (blue/lime green and silver). WE will have 3 pockets for our 3 kids ( 4yr, 6yr, 11yr). So if you guys see our FE around please drop me a note:disrocks: What do your FEs look like? I will make every effort to drop you a treat :thumbsup2

WE MADE page 15 !!! oh la la

Good Morning....

Can't wait to see your FE, sounds cool! I don't sew but a co-worker agreed to make it for me. We went to JoAnns and picked out the fabric, colors will be blue and red with Mickey ears on the pockets. We are going to have 4 pockets - 2 for the kids and 1 each for Mom and Dad. I added Mom and Dad just for the keepsake aspect.

I'm going to do the same thing, pick a day to the drop treats by. I'll definitely look for Buzz Lightyear! If you don't mind me asking what are the gender of your kids. I found pirate necklaces at Michaels and they have them for boys and girls. I was going to include them in the goody bags. I also bought post cards from our area MD/DC so we can say Hello to our fellow DIS cruisers throughout the vacation. Does the 3 kids you mentioned also include your sister-in-law's? Want to make sure I don't miss anyone....especially since we are such a small FE group (but there nothing wrong with that!):flower3:

Happy Wednesday to all!!!:surfweb:

[Bugs Life Lover]

Just AK@Heart,
I am guessing you have one boy and one girl based on your Smiles symbols.
We have a 4yr boy, 7yr girl and 11yr boy.
I also bought some craft sponge/sticker-like pirate necklaces from Michaels to give out. Our kids are going to make them and pass out to other FE's. I will look for the mickey ears!

Other Ideas to share:
My other idea was to bring a home-made treasure chest (done last night, painted wooden box from michaels 4.99$) to hide in lobby prior to dinner and fill with some small crafts for our kids to do while waiting for the meals. Craft can be made for themselves, given to the servers or other FE's. Hoping this will buy some quality talk time or quiet time.

I will be sending my goodies via US mail to the cruise line. My box is bursting at the seams - its a little larger than a standard paper-ream box and only costs 23$ to ship in 7 days. Gonna mail on Monday 7/23 to make sure it arrives on time.

I dont know if this is a good idea or not, but regarding the bottled water situation on board (expensive to buy) . I know that some people will bring their own bottled water cases and bring with them on board - too heavy to lug for me. So I bought a Brita or Pur Water filter pitcher to refill our water bottles. i dont want to drink sodas all week.\

Any other last minute ideas out there!

[Carlnne]

Looks like our cruise may be soldout- the other day there were only cat 4 & 6 rooms available- now nothing is showing up. So where are all of these people?

[justakid@heart]

Bugs Life Lover,

You're right, I have one boy and one girl. Thanks for the gender information. I'll be sure to find your Buzz Lightyear FE. Sounds like you have some neat ideas for the kids. Are they signed up for the Oceaneer Lab? They will have such a good time there! My son really enjoyed all the activities they offered.

Another idea I found useful from other threads was more on the lines of security. I know we are all there to have a FUN vacation but I did read were a few FEs went MIA!! So I found out that a few DIS cruiser secured their FE with tie wraps. I'll bring a few with me (just to be on the safe side).

OH and don't forget an autograph book if your kids are in to that. We took my son and niece to Disney World 4 years ago and they totally enjoyed getting the autographs and pics from the characters! On our last cruise Jack Sparrow, the Princesses (Cinderella, Bella, Snow White), Pinnochio (sp?), Peter Pan & Wendy, Stitch & Lilo were just a few outside the favorites (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the crew). But I'm sure character appears will change with each cruise. We even saw Jimminy Cricket, who most of our kids don't know! Does that tell my age or WHAT!!:scared1:

Happy Friday to All and Have a GREAT weekend!:thumbsup2

[4DisneyCruiseFans]

Just registered so I'm new to the boards - but WE CANT WAIT for cruise day............

[Figment_Fan]

Wow, I love the Brita pitcher idea. I didn't have any problem drinking the water on the ship anyway, but I will definitely keep that idea in memory.

The cruise is full???? You're right. Where is everybody??:confused3

Oh well, we'll see each other in 2 weeks and less than one day.:woohoo:

It's almost time to see what the movies will be. I can't sit in the sun ALL day.

CAN HARDLY WAIT!!!:dance3:
:banana::banana::banana::banana:

[kimgg]

Jiminy Cricket!!! Will HE be there!! I love him. Whether my kids know who he is or not. Never thought about seeing him?

My kids are excited but I don't think HALF as much as I am. Two weeks from now we'll already be in Florida!!!!!:rotfl:

I can't wait to see Up! and G-Force on board. My kids want souvenirs from everywhere we go, I hate to tell them money does not grow on trees. :laughing: Unfortunately our kids seem to be more interested in what they will buy instead of what we will do. Hopefully they will break out of that mode once we are actually there. They have never been out of TX so hopefully they will appreciate the adventure.

TWO WEEKS!! :dance3:

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Our plans changed for this weekend and I have the whole weekend to get ready for the cruise. I'd love to get in on the fish extenders! I'm going to go shop later today. I went back through all the posts in this thread and tried to catch anyone that was doing FEs. Looks like 3 are- if anyone has a list made up please PM it to me:worship:, I'd be soooooo appreciative. If not, no problem, I counted up 6 adults, 3 boys and 2 girls. I hope I got that right:)

Two weeks from today-we will all be in port seeing the MAGIC!!:banana:

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Oop, looks like I missed two kids in my count. So now I have 6 adults, 7 kids. I'll bring extra stuff just in case:goodvibes

[WendyinMaryland]

Just2kid@heart, where in Maryland are you? We live in Columbia, and we are flying out on 8/6.

[Buzzfan2Mom]

One day of working on fish extender and picking up gifts and now the whole family is into it! Teenage daughter was originally- Oh, OK Mom.... but now she wants to help deliver gifts for the other kids :woohoo:

Our stateroom is on deck one- Will any others participating please let me know what deck you are located on so we can deliver gifts, don't want to miss anyone. Feel free to PM me if you'd prefer.

Less than 2 weeks!!!! We are staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge the night before and driving over with a rental car. Since the cruise seems so full, we may not rush to get there at 10:30. But then I'm so curious to see if there are possible upgrades and how much they will cost. Guess we will see how we feel that morning.

[danzma]

Have been lurking in the shadows for a while but am now on board!! We are leaving Aug 5th for three days at POFQ and then headed to the Magic on the 8th. We are SO excited...booked 16 months ago and now it's finally here...It seems impossible. Traveling with husband and 9-yr old. son from the suburbs of Chicago. Hope everyone is enjoying the planning as much as I am!

[danzma]

We are. We are doing the early one (9 AM I think).

We are too---9:15 am I think.

[justakid@heart]

Our plans changed for this weekend and I have the whole weekend to get ready for the cruise. I'd love to get in on the fish extenders! I'm going to go shop later today. I went back through all the posts in this thread and tried to catch anyone that was doing FEs. Looks like 3 are- if anyone has a list made up please PM it to me:worship:, I'd be soooooo appreciative. If not, no problem, I counted up 6 adults, 3 boys and 2 girls. I hope I got that right:)

Two weeks from today-we will all be in port seeing the MAGIC!!:banana:

GREAT that you could join us on the FE team!:cheer2: You are correct there are 3 families participating with a total of 7 kids (4 boys & 3 girls). Thanks for the deck info that will be very helpful finding you. We are on deck 6. There hasn't been a list published since we're such a small group. But if you would like to exchange further info through PM just let me know. I'm not sure how to PM (is that just an email to your personal email address or is it done through this cruise meet?)

Hey Bugs Life Lover, do you mind sending us your deck #?

I'm going to make a few more goody bags to have a few extras on hand.

We're counting down the days. I haven't started packing yet but will definitely start this weekend if not before.

Happy Monday!!:lovestruc

[justakid@heart]

Just2kid@heart, where in Maryland are you? We live in Columbia, and we are flying out on 8/6.

We live in Severna Park. I work just outside Columbia. We're taking the first flight from BWI to Orlando on 8/8, so it will be a Looooong day!

[justakid@heart]

Have been lurking in the shadows for a while but am now on board!! We are leaving Aug 5th for three days at POFQ and then headed to the Magic on the 8th. We are SO excited...booked 16 months ago and now it's finally here...It seems impossible. Traveling with husband and 9-yr old. son from the suburbs of Chicago. Hope everyone is enjoying the planning as much as I am!

:welcome: WELCOME danzma! Nice to have you aboard!

[4DisneyCruiseFans]

Trying to get my final plans done, anyone else planning on going fishing at Castaway Cay? My hubby and son (11) want to go, anyone hear anything about how it is?
:boat:

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Welcome 4DisneyCruiseFans and danzma!

Justakid- I've sent you a PM. If you look under the sign-in box here on the boards you'll see info on your private messages. If you want to PM someone just click on there name to the left in one of there posts, PM is an option that will come up.

So happy to be part of the FE team :cheer2:

[Figment_Fan]

My DW called over the weekend to check on some things. They noticed that our DS turns 15 on 8/1 and inquired if we would be celebrating his birthday while on the cruise. DW told them that we would be and as well, DD who turns 9 on 9/5 will also be celebrating as we have told them that this cruise is both of their birthday presents.

The wonderful person on the phone then put something on our reservation indicating that DS will be celebrating his birthday on the first day of the cruise and DD will be celebrating hers on the last day. Gotta love these CM's:cheer2: They know what to do to keep us happy.

While on the line, DW asked about upgrades. We are category 9 and they quoted an upgrade price on Cat. 4 that cost as much as we are paying for the cruise. DW declined. So, with the boat very full, (obviously there are a couple of upper cabins to upgrade to) let us party on.:dance3:

[danzma]

:welcome: WELCOME danzma! Nice to have you aboard! Thanks!

[justakid@heart]

Just registered so I'm new to the boards - but WE CANT WAIT for cruise day............

:welcome: 4DisneyCruiseFans!! Is this your first Disney cruise?

[justakid@heart]

Trying to get my final plans done, anyone else planning on going fishing at Castaway Cay? My hubby and son (11) want to go, anyone hear anything about how it is?
:boat:

:scratchin Ummm, I didn't realize you could go fishing at Castaway Cay. I'm assuming it's a chartered boat? On our last cruise, we did the scavenger hunt when we arrived at Castaway Cay. My son really enjoyed it but it did take up about an hour of our time. It is a beautiful place to just relax on the beach as well. I'm saying an extra prayer for nice weather that week!! :cloud9:

[justakid@heart]

Welcome 4DisneyCruiseFans and danzma!

Justakid- I've sent you a PM. If you look under the sign-in box here on the boards you'll see info on your private messages. If you want to PM someone just click on there name to the left in one of there posts, PM is an option that will come up.

So happy to be part of the FE team :cheer2:

Got it...:cool1: Thanks! I've sent a response to you.

Bugs Life Lover...please feel free to PM us with cabin info for the FE team!

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Got it! Thanks!

Just checking- will anyone else be doing the FE?? Hope everyone is having fun getting ready for our cruise!!! :banana:

[kimgg]

I'm excited that we are getting more action now that the trip is SOOOO close.

I am tempted to do the FE now that more people are involved, but I just edited to say I probably won't b/c I don't want to keep all you who are putting so much effort in to this guessing on how much stuff to bring, as I have had some things come up this week that are going to make it harder for me to get all my packing/last minute shopping done so I am 99% sure I won't have time to do the FE thing. But I am happy several of you are!

Figment if you end up upgrading at the port I would love to have your cat 9! (we are in a 10). :rotfl::rotfl:

Welcome new people!!:cheer2:

[4DisneyCruiseFans]

:welcome: 4DisneyCruiseFans!! Is this your first Disney cruise?

Thanks!
Yes, first cruise all around. Not sure what to expect, but after reading all of the posts we so very excited! From what I hear, we won't want to cruise with anyone else!

[4DisneyCruiseFans]

Welcome 4DisneyCruiseFans and danzma!

Justakid- I've sent you a PM. If you look under the sign-in box here on the boards you'll see info on your private messages. If you want to PM someone just click on there name to the left in one of there posts, PM is an option that will come up.

So happy to be part of the FE team :cheer2:


Thanks! So glad to be here!

[Figment_Fan]

Forgive me. Welcome to all who have just joined this discussion.
I never saw that you could fish on CC either. Is it an excursion?

We just cancelled our rental stuff. Decided we'd never use the bikes. We are taking snorkel gear and some blow up wrings, so there was no need. Just going to relax. All I need are a pair of goggles to play in the water. I want to check out the sunken things and take some pictures with the underwater statue(s?).

We had free rental from last cruise, (got it when one of our excursions cancelled halfway through - there was a workers strike on St. Martaan, we thought they were kidding until they actually turned the bus around and took us back to the dock), but we have been told it was only good for that past cruise. Oh well, que sera, sera. You never really know what is going to happen on a cruise. No matter what, it is definetly and adventure.

[4DisneyCruiseFans]

I did book it through DCL, seems like no one knows much about it... I posted on the DIS boards and didn't get a reply either.... hmmm.... makes me wonder.....
Thanks!:confused3

[danzma]

FYI - CVS and Walgreen's have all of their summer swim/pool stuff on sale, 25% at CVS and 50% at Walgreen's...grabbed a kid's snorkel set, blow-up floaty rings and chairs, goggles, sand toys, pool toys, etc. for next to nothing. Is it August 8th yet????

[Carlnne]

Thanx for the tip- I was thinking of going to stock up on sunscreen anyway. Last week I got a nice stash of bonine at CVS but didnt think to look at the fun stuff.

[Figment_Fan]

Just started my Bonine this week to get my body used to it. I was going to start next week, but I took some last week and it made me very tired, so starting a week early. Does this mean my vacation has started too???

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Taking the day off to take kids to dental cleanings. Hmmm... now I can stop and check out the deals danzma mentioned at Wallgreens :woohoo:

Figment- how is the bonine doing now, still tired? Hope your kids enjoy the birthday celebrations! We'll be celebrating our August 10th anniversary on board.

Are we there yet, are we there yet:yay:

[4DisneyCruiseFans]

Good news for those of you who were thinking about fishing at Castaway, I started a thread about it -
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=32924644&posted=1#post32924644 -
and sounds like it should be a good one for the fishing fans.....

[danzma]

Hey Buzzfan2Mom, we'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary on board, too. Sadly, I had no luck getting us into Palo but that's ok...I'm not letting ANYTHING damper this trip!!

[Buzzfan2Mom]

Sorry you couldn't get Palo. We aren't doing Palo either. I just re-read what I wrote, it will be our 18th wedding anniversary on August 10th. I think it will be a sea day, I'll have to go look up what night is formal night...

I have some Bob Marley music in as I'm cleaning right now, really makes me wish I was on deck 9 near palm trees!

[Figment_Fan]

Day 3 on the Bonine and, yes, I am less groggy. Now, hopefully, I also won't get seasick. Maybe I should sit in the back of the car and read a book while DW drives around for about a half hour - That would be a real test.

I found the fishing in the PassPorter. Should have known it was there. As it wasn't something I was signing up for, never really "noticed" it.

[Pixiedustdawn]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been on here in a while. I am getting ready for the cruises since we are leaving on Monday and staying at P.O.F.Q.

Anyone else staying at P.O.?

Since I haven't been on in a while, where is everyone meeting and on what day?

We are leaving for Disney on the 3rd and won't be back until September. We are going to be onboard for a month.

Hope to meet everyone!

Dawn

[danzma]

Holy moly...a month? You lucky girl. We are arriving on the 5th at POFQ. One week...I can't wait!!