Early Roll Call for 10-31-04 Happy Halloween Cruise aboard the Wonder !!

[acrucifer]

Greetings fellow cruisers! this is an early roll call for the 10-31-04 4 night wonder cruise. so far, my wife and I have taken the 7 day eastern, 7 day western and now we will see the Wonder in all her Glory. I realize that this is an early roll call, but I was hoping that as a group we might get to know one another before we sail. I have been a part of other roll call groups and some have worked out quite well. so if you are sailing on the wonder on 10-31-04, check in here and lets get this roll call thread up and running. get involved with this thread as little or as much as you desire, but do check in.

[Bauerbandt]

acrucifer,

We are currently deposited (thru DU) for the 10/31/04 Disney Wonder cruise. This will be our first cruise. Any suggestions or advice would be much welcomed. One child of ours will be having a birthday (5 yrs old) while on board. Look forward to hearing from you (and whomever may have experience with Halloween cruises that would like to add their opinions).

[acrucifer]

Hi, and welcome to the group. I am hoping to develop this group into a larger messae board where we can get to know other cruisers and send out quarterly newsletters and keep in touch with one another in months leading up to the cruise. perhaps even plan a meet onboard. Ah but I digress. my wife and I have been on both the eastern and western cruises and I feel like I have so much advice for you that I dont know where to start. your going to love the cruise, for sure. the food is outstanding. disney has clubs and activites for children staffed with youth counselors and the kids are there most of the day (if they want to be) although my wife and I dont have any children, we have heard other parents and children alike praise the kids clubs and activities. the ship is simply breathtaking and beautiful. there is a unofficial guide to disney cruiseline that can be accessed on the home page of the discussion forum. you can download it. I suggest you do so and read it. it has alot of useful information and will answer most of your questions. the personal service in the dining rooms and at your stateroom is also excellant. I suggest getting to the Port as early as you can. they will let you board at about 12:30pm. I would get there at about 11:30am. As soon as you board you should go directly to make reservations for palo. it is an adult only restaurant but it is the best restauant and the ship and serves the best cuisine. northern italian. when you arrive at port you will check in and show your ID and get your key to the world card which allows you to charge things you buy and let s you into your room. ask the cast member who waits on you where on board they are taking reservation for palo. they will know and will tell you. palo also has a brunch they you should not miss. although I have never been to nassau, castaway key is gorgeous and it will leave you feeling exuberant. on the ship they will be selling soda mugs. 20.00 and for that you get free refills for the entire cruise. if your little one drinks alot of soda, it is worth it. water, coffee and lemonade are free but not soda. they also sell beer mugs, if you or your wife is into that. ten dollars for the mug and refills are 3.25 for 22 oz of draft budweiser. there is plenty to do and lots more to talk about but I can see that the length of this post is seriously out of hand so, if u do have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[Bauerbandt]

One thing in particular that we would like to get some insight on is what can we expect with regards to Halloween festivities? Are passengers, both adults and kids, usually dressed in costume? If so, is this usually later in the day or evening? Will there be a trick-or treating type event? Is there a Halloween party or multiple parties?

If I look at the itinerary and calendar correctly, Halloween is the day we board.

Thanks again for all of your comments and feedback.

[marley]

checking in!!!

This will be our second time on the Wonder. At the time of sailing, our DS will have just turned 5 and our DD will have just turned 8. We are planning on putting them both in the 5-7 group in the Oceaneers club so maybe they can meet your 5 year old Bauerbandt.

We are also being joined by my parents, my DH's parents and my SIL who has a DD age 3. None of them have ever been on a cruise so it should be a lot of fun.

I know the Magic Halloween cruisers always put together their own TOT event for Halloween. I'm hoping there will be enough of us so that I can organize that as well for the Wonder DIS group. From what I've read, Disney doesn't give away much candy to the trick or treaters and my kids are so excited to trick or treat on the boat that I would hate for them to be disappointed!!

Marley

[acrucifer]

Welcome Marley,

As you can see, we are just getting this group off the ground. I am sure your DD and DS will not be disappointed with the haul of candy they take in from trick or treating aboard the ship. We can all make sure we have candy and of course if you have kids and most of us do, (although my wife and I do not) we will have candy by the ready for the trick or treaters. Disney is pretty good about celebrating halloween for the kids. they sponsor a "not so scary halloween party" that the smaller kids really enjoy. I have seen this done at the park and it goes off really well. I havent seen it on the boat yet, but this year we all get to experience it. well, thats that for now, or ttfn. Ralph. If you see someone saling with us, bring them over to our thread. thanks.

[marley]

thanks for the welcome, Ralph.

I have been "lurking" on the Magic's Halloween cruise thread to get ideas and I did find someone (palmtreegirl) who is actually sailing with us. I sent her a PM so hopefully she will join this thread as well. The more the merrier :)

Marley

[Bauerbandt]

Besides our DS who will be turning 5 during the cruise, our DD will be 7. Like you marley, we plan on putting both our children in the 5-7 group. We'll have to see if they match up together.

I recently met a woman who worked on both the Wonder and Magic up until Dec 2002. She still has some friends on the ships and is willing to get updates for me. If there is anything that either of you would like me to ask her, just let me know.

By the way marley, how is the RDU area these days?

[marley]

Bauerbandt,

That would be great if our kids hit it off. The more kids my son knows, the more comfortable he will feel. He had just turned 3 before our first (and only) cruise on the Wonder, and he did okay in the Kid's club but was always ready to leave. Our daughter just loved it so I'm hoping once he is 5, he will enjoy it more. I think they will all love the lab. It looks really cool.

As for RDU, it is getting big, big, big. Have you lived here before? I came here from MD in 1987 for college and have staid ever since. I can't believe the population explosion that has occured even just over the last 5 years. Just amazing in the Cary area. People here say Cary is an acronymn for "containment area of relocated Yankees!". It is very hard to find a true southerner here anymore!

As for your friend, I was wondering where or how I could write the cruise line and make certain requests for the Wonder that the Magic folks enjoy (i.e. lobster as a dinner choice one night, Goofy's sleepover party (not that my kids would sleep over but they would think this was really cool). I'm so excited they just added the Palo's brunch to the 4 day. I can't wait to sign up for that!!!

Marley

[Bauerbandt]

marley,

Can you tell me how the Magic folks make their request so that I have something to reference? My kids would love crab legs for a meal.

RDU: Been there three times. We have relatives in Goldsboro and Holly Springs and friends in North Raleigh. We also have family in Columbia, MD. What part of MD were you from?

[marley]

what I was referencing was the different "speciality" nights the Magic has. During the Captain's Gala night, guests can choose as an entree a lobster tail. On most cruises, you can get lobster but as far as I know, they don't offer that on the Wonder.

have you checked out www.***************** ?

It tells you about everything on the two different ships. I understand why they can't offer the character breakfast on the Wonder since there aren't enough days, but other "perks" I think they could add (like the lobster tail or maybe they could make our last night on the cruise a speciality night). I just wanted to write management and suggest they add a few of these "perks" to the Wonder.

I lived in Upper Marlboro, MD. We live on the Holly Spring's side of Cary so we are only 10 minutes from there. You would never know we are in the south right now, though, snow is pouring down out of the sky!!!

Marley

[KELLIE JONES]

Hi. My DH and I are going on the Halloween cruise also! I am 27 and my DH will be 31. We dont have any kids, but we would love to hand out candy for all of the kids on Halloween! Only there is a small problem...... My DH is a big scary looking guy, he has ALOT of tattoos ( ie from the top of his head to his feet, including his hands) so parents tend to freak out and grab thier children and run... :rolleyes: just kidding, they just have a total look of fear:( . would us buying candy just be a total waste of time and money?? also, we would love to do a dis meet if you have one!! look foward to meeting everyone from here!!

TTFN,
Kellie

[marley]

Kellie,

My kids would probably think the tattoos are really cool and part of his costume :) We look forward to you all joining us.

Marley

[acrucifer]

welcome Kelly,

Glad you found us. This is going to be a fun cruise. My wife and I also have no kids but like handing out candy to the little ones and checking out the halloween costumes. I am also a big scary looking guy so I either let my wife hand out the candy or at least have her standing next to me. she is much more pleasing to the eye and not so threatening. anyway, my wife and I are Disney fanatics and just love the place. this is our third disney cruise. If you have never been, you and your husband are in for quite a vacation. if you have any questions, I will be glad to help and if I dont know the answer, I will probably know where to find it. I think once we pick up a few more members here, we should plan a dis meet aboard the ship, say like a wine, cheese, and beer party on one of the decks aboard the Wonder. we can see if everyone likes the idea.

[KELLIE JONES]

Originally posted by marley

My kids would probably think the tattoos are really cool and part of his costume :)

Marley

LOL!! I never thought about it that way, I suspect your right, hehe. :p However, Its not the kids I am concerned about. Kids seem to think he is really neat! ( well he does have alot to look at:magnify: ) And he is very good with children. Once a small boy about 5 or 6 came up to him and did a WWF move on the family jewls and his mother got very embarresed and said that her son thought he was a wrestler that she was so sorry.... well my husband signed an autograph for him! :crazy: I am sure that made his whole year!!

Originally posted by acrucifer
wine, cheese, and beer

that sounds like a great idea!! Yes acricifer, this is our 1st cruise ever and we think it will be great! :goodvibes and if we like this one, there will be a 7 night cruise!! I cant think of any questions as of yet ( I researched everything I could possibly think of then made a list and checked it twice:jumping1:) Maybe I should be the one handing out candy, I could get a Disney Princess costume ( needed a excuse to buy one anyway;) ) and he could hide behind the door and :listen:

TTFN,
Kellie

[marley]

BUMP :wave:

anyone else joining us?

[Pammy jo]

I'm hoping to get booked this week. This will be our first cruise. We have 3 boys, 3, 5 and 7. The 5 and 7 year old are really looking forward to the kids club, not sure how the 3 yr old will be. He'll start preschool in Sept so maybe by Oct he'll be ready to be left by himself. I'm still in all the planning stages of this trip, but so excited! I'd appreciate any info from you experienced cruisers.

[marley]

Welcome Pamy Jo!

We were on the 3 day Wonder when my DS had just turned 3 and he did fine at the Kid's Club but staid there only a limited amount of time. Usually, during an organized event in the morning such as Captain Hook visiting for 1 1/2 hours and then as soon as he finished dinner (all of 10 minutes) one of us would take him to the club for the 7 p.m. organized activity and then pick him up before the big show of the evening. Check out the latest Navigators at www.***************** for the 4 day cruise and you should be able to plan well in advance for activities for everyone in your family.

All my kids have talked about the last two years is when are we going back? They both loved it. My DD was 6 at the time.

They loved the Mickey waffles, eating breakfast outside every morning at Topsiders, the Mickey slide, the shows, the Sailaway party, having a Mickey Ice Cream bar at all hours of the day. My DD just loved the snorkeling. We bought her her own set of gear before the trip at Target and she practiced during the summer in the pool to get used to the feel of it. Definitely buy a disposable underwater camera. Picture taking was the best part for her. If you walk down almost to the end of the family beach, it is much less crowded and we even got a hammock!

I hadn't expected to buy pictures at Shutters but they were so good, I just had to buy a few. I wish I hadn't waited until the last night to go by and look at them though. It was a mad house!!

I bought the over the shoe door holder like everyone suggests but found no need for it. I did, however, really need more outlets so I am glad I brought an extension chord and this next time I'm bringing a power strip. There is maybe two outlets in the whole room!! I also brought the Big safety pins to keep the blinds shut at night for our porthole room and they were essential. I had no problem keeping my closet door shut like some people report but brough velcro just in case. A sound machine is also a plus to block out noise but I'm a light sleeper :)

Hope that helps with some of your planning.

Marley

[bgomes]

Hi everyone. I just found this site (I was directed here from the Disney area on cruise critic). We'll be joining you aboard the Wonder for the Halloween cruise this year. We are an "older" couple who will be joining my sister and her family for this vacation. It started off as a family reunion, but has widdled down to just us now. We have no children, but my sister and her husband have 3, (boy: 10, girl: 8, boy:5).

We are also wondering about Halloween celebrations. Of course, we would love to hand out candy too. Let us know what we need to do (or where to be) or whatever....

This will be our 6th cruise, first with Disney. Looking forward till it's time to sail: goodvibes

[marley]

Welcome Bgomes!

I've only been on one other cruise before (the Royal Majesty) but just LOVE the Disney cruise boats. The rooms are awesome and the staff is incredible.

My DD will be 8 on the cruise and my DS will be 5 so we'll have to try and get them together with your niece and nephew :) They will have a blast!

Marley

[IHAVE2KIDS]

OMG! I am so excited to have found this thread!!

We are also cruising Halloween 2004. Dad-28, Mom-28, Girl-5(turning 6) and Boy 3.

Bauerbandt- DD will also have a birthday Nov. 5th when we are in DisneyWorld. She will be 6 and our son is 3.

marley- We are 1.5 hours from you in Atkinson, NC. We say we are from Wilmington as that is where we were born and lived there most of our lives. We ARE true southerners!!:smooth:

those without kids- Thank you so much for offering to give our kids a T-O-T opportunity! We love candy and MOM and DAD will be dressed up too!!!! This is going to be soooo fun! Thanks again!

those cruising for the first time- There is nothing like cruising and you will have the TIME OF YOUR LIFE! We are hooked and we have sailed twice but this is our first Disney and first with kids! WONDER how it will be??? Can't wait to see you all there!!!!

[marley]

welcome Ihave2kids!

Wow, this is great! Almost all of our kids are the same age so hopefully they will have lots of buddies in the Kid's Club!

What a great place to live, near the beach. We are headed to Wilmington next weekend and I'm hoping it is warm enough for the kids to at least play in the sand on the beach. I was there two weeks ago and although it was warm, it was too windy in Wrightsville!

You will love the Disney cruise ship! It is beautiful and the service can't be beat.

Marley

[IHAVE2KIDS]

MARLEY,

R U coming for the Azalea Festival which is next weekend, April 1-4? If you've never been, it is great....parade, circus, all the festivities!

The kids ARE all in the same age range. That will be great! My daugther keeps asking what she is going to dress up as. We have a $60.00 recital outfit which is a princess that I vote for....of course, she probably won't 2nd that vote! We used a outfit from last year's recital for last Halloween that was MINNIE MOUSE. What a great way to get some money's worth!

[marley]

yes and no. We are actually driving down to meet up with my Grandmother for dinner as she passes through town and then found out it was Azalea Festival weekend so we might try to head downtown for an hour or two and take the kids. They've never been and I haven't been since I think 1995!!!

My son is the king of dress up so I am trying to convince him to wear a costume he already has, but knowing him, I'll have to buy a new one! My daughter is easier. She has lots of costumes as well and likes to create her own look. As for me, I have a Millificent (not sure how to spell it, she is the bad guy in Sleeping Beauty) costume so I will probably wear that unless I attempt to be creative :teeth:

Marley

[lholman]

We will also be cruising on Halloween '04 on the Wonder. Actually, I am bgomes sister. My 3 children are looking forward to Trick-or-Treating on the ship if they have it. We'd be interested in handing out candy as well.:Pinkbounc

[marley]

welcome Iholman!

There is a TOT held by DCL on the ship but from what I've read, it is very crowded and the candy handed out is all the same piece of chocolate. Those that sail on the Magic every year have always had their own TOT organized as well so the kid's aren't disappointed with their haul :) They usually do it around 2 in the afternoon so I'm not sure how we are going to organize it since we actually sail that day and many people still won't be on board at. I'll have to figure that out the closer we get to the cruise but I'm sure we can come up with something.

There is also an adult costume contest and a family costume contest. There are usually Kid's club activities relating to Halloween but not sure how many of those will be offered for our kids since we are actually leaving on Halloween and the club doesn't start offering activities until the early evening.

Marley

[acrucifer]

I would like to welcome our new members to the group !! we now have 8 families who are posting to the group so we are growing. I will also be having a birthday on november 5th . and I see someone else is also. although my wife and I dont have children, I hope we all will give out candy so the little ones are not disappointed. I know we will be doing so. the halloween party should be lots of fun. Disney definintely knows how to do cruises in style and nearly all kids love the activities. I would like to do a monthly newsletter to exchange information about the disney cruising experience and get to know each other a little more. if you think it is a good idea, you can e mail me at acrucifer@AOL.COM and I will get this newsletter going. it might be interesting for example to see where we will all be coming from when we all meet in florida and what kind of excursions we find interesting at nassua. think about it.

[bgomes]

Marley: just an idea-- if you were able to get an idea of what time most people plan to be aboard, you could figure something out from there (I know it's still early)

acrucifer: good idea!. maybe some of the kids would be interested in starting an "e-mail pen pal" program among themselves (with Mom and Dad's help of course).

There seem to be a lot of birthdays during our cruise.

Happy sails

[lholman]

I think the monthly newsletter sounds like a great ideas as well!

[marley]

bgnomes: good idea. I know I plan to be on board right away so I can get my full moneys worth :) My kids would also love email pen pals!

acrucifer: the newsletter sounds great. I'm sending you my email address and thanks for doing this.

Marley

[acrucifer]

I also think we should plan to have a wine, cheese, beer party for a couple of hours aboard the wonder where we could meet and talk. I would be especially interested to meet the big scary tattooed guy from texas. who couldnt love Texas, the home of Hank Hill. anyway, I digress. perhaps we could all start thinking about where on the wonder would be a good place to have our soiree, if you will. deck 9 near the pool ? in the piano lounge ? the bar ? on deck 4 where the lounge chairs are located ? what do you think ? our first newsletter should have a theme, any ideas ? I know you are all creative thinkers so give it a try.

[bgomes]

We are flying in the day before we cruise, and also plan to be onboard as soon as we can also.

We're staying at Radisson at the Port Saturday night, and will be taking their shuttle in the morning. We'll be doing Disney World after the cruise.

[TROD]

We are going on our first ever cruise. We have a large group (11). Myself, DH, DS 12, DS 10. Both my parents. my DS, her dh, DS 8, DD 3, DS 2. So glad there is a group. My husband and I will be celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary Nov. 3rd! Love the idea of the newsletter too!

[marley]

acrucifer:

I'm not very creative but if you haven't seen it, here is the web site for the Magic's Halloween cruise. The person who put it together looks like they have some really good ideas that maybe you could incorporate into our newsletter.

http://www.primateprojections.com/103004/newsletter.html

Marley

[acrucifer]

thanks marley, this has given me some ideas and I like the competition. since we are on the wonder, perhaps we should do things bigger and better than on the magic. newsletter will come out within the next week. since I have not received any ideas on what to call the newsletter, I have decided to go with " Our not so scary halloween cruise 2004 " . personally, I could think of more interesting names, but this is a family message board, so we will go with a more appropriate image. within a week, we will have the newsletter out and will plan an excursion for all dis group members on castway cay, so stay tuned for that.

[marley]

acrucifer:

thanks for doing this! It sounds great.

Marley

[bgomes]

I agree, thanks for doing this. What a "wonder"ful name for the newsletter. Can't wait to see it

Welcome TROD and anyone else who will be joining us.

[acrucifer]

the first edition of our newsletter has been e mailed. although we have 9 or 10 members on this thread, I received only 4 email addresses . if anyone wants the newsletter, simply send me a email to acrucifer@aol.com and I will make sure you receive one. enjoy. we tried to include some information that would be helpful to all. talk ya soon. the next issue will be out in may.

[barkley]

sorry if this duplicates any info. you may already have but...we were on the Magic Halloween Cruise 2001 and with the help of several fellow diz families we did several things that made our trip extra special:

a trick or treat group was set up among the kids that was far better than the cruise offered ( before departure, once everyone had their cabin assignment, a map was made that went up deck by deck, the cabin doors were also premarked with signs made up by another family member-we met as a group for a group photo-then the trek began, we ended up sharing lunch at the buffet).

A block of tables were requested ahead of time for dinners-again cabin numbers were provided to one person ahead of time and a request was made to put us all on the same rotation.

One cruiser surprised us with I.D. badges on the type of neckband used in most workplaces-it listed our DIZ user name-so we were able to easily identify our on-line friends.

Those of us who were staying in Port Canaveral the night before departure compared notes on what motel we were staying at so we might meet ahead of time.

Last but not least-our kids (like most) had to miss some school for the trip and their teachers wanted them to do a project-we all agreed to bring postcards from our hometowns to share among the kids in our group, and then shared any information the kids wanted about where we were from.

If I can share anymore info., answer any questions-just let me know.

[acrucifer]

hey, thanks. those are pretty good suggestions. I will be sure to incorporate them into our next newsletter. I am very curious about what other members of this group think. anyone ?

[shannonbri]

Hi there. My family and I are registered on the Disney Cruise. We are getting very excited. This will be my husband's and my 3rd cruise, but it will be my children's 1st cruise. We would love to pass out candy to the T-O-Trs. How can we get into the loop? Thanx.

[marley]

Welcome Shannonbri!

I actually haven't started the T-O-T list yet, but I guess it is time. For those of you who have children who want to participate and those of you who want to pass out candy, please email me the following and I will start our list:

names of family members (mom, dad, etc. with children's names and ages) Let's make the age of the trick or treater to be no more than 13 years of age.

Main or late dining just in case we have to figure out a time around dinner to meet, but hopefully, we can do this in the early afternoon. If you have an idea of when you will be arriving on the boat, that would help too since it looks like we might have to start our trick or treating around 3:00 the day we leave port so we are done by the boat drill. I'll check with Disney as we get closer to our sail date to make sure ours doesn't coincide with their T-O-T.

If you have your assigned cabin number or as soon as you get it, let me know and I will make little signs for the doors to make it easier on the kids.

I think the idea of having a quick meet the night before the cruise is a good one. Personally, I am at Ron Jon's new resort the night before and if everyone also wants to let me know if you are in Cape Canaveral the night before, mini-meets could be planned with those who are at your same hotel. I think the pen pal thing is a great idea also and if you want your child to be matched with kids their own age to email back and forth, let me know if you want to participate and I can match people up based on the information you all send me for the T-O-T.

As for blocking seating for meals, I think that would be hard. Many of us are travelling with big groups and if anyone is like me, I have our cruise planned out already, our dining rotation, excursions etc. However, we could have a mini-meet on board for a beer/soda/wine or something. The postcard idea is also cute but the pen pal idea might work better. (?)

Have a good Easter/Passover week everyone!

Marley

[marley]

Oooppps, forgot to include my email address for all of the information to be sent to me :)

marley@nc.rr.com :tongue:

[acrucifer]

shananbri, welcome to our group. I have sent you our newsletter and hope you enjoy it. the next one is due out in May. If anyone in our group has not received it, please let me know and I will make sure you get it.

[marley]

Hope Everyone had a great Easter/holiday break. We just got back from 4 glorious days at Disney's HH resort. The weather felt like summer!!

I've gotten 3 families signed up for our T-O-T. Where are the rest of you?? Don't forget to email me the information listed in my previous post. I've gotten 5 kids interested in being email pen pals so keep 'em coming and also interest in a small get together :)

Marley

[Pammy jo]

Hey Marley, maybe we saw you at HH. We were actually staying next door at the Marriott, but rode our bikes through the Disney complex most days. Wasn't the weather great on Saturday?

[marley]

Pammyjo:

The weather was glorious!!! It felt like summer to me and it has been so hard to come back to the rainy cold :confused:

We might have passed you on our bikes as well. We did a lot of bike riding and even made it down to the beach twice to ride on the sand. Couldn't have asked for a nice weekend :smooth:

Marley

[marley]

BUMP,

Still looking for more families on this thread to sign up for the T-O-T. I am also going to pair up the email pen pal's for the kids soon, so if you haven't sent me your information, please do so. We are under 200 days!!!!

[acrucifer]

marley,

It may be a good idea if you send me a list of those families who are signing up for t-o-t so I can publish it in next months news letter. please include my wife and I in that list. thank you for your hard work on this.

[bgomes]

Thanks Ralph for the latest newsletter. I was just thinking today ---- that 6 months from this date we will be on our last day at sea.

[acrucifer]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O!!

[marley]

Okay, sorry I've been gone so long. Here is the information I have so far for the ToT. I'm missing information for some people and those of you who have sent me your stateroom numbers, I won't be posting those. I do need them from everyone once you get them so I can map out the ToT route. Also, I'll be hooking up the pen pals at the beginning of June once school has ended.

For those of you who do not have children, we will try and hit you first on the ToT route so you aren't "stuck" in your room. For those of you who have children and both adults want to follow us on our Halloween trek, you can always both go and then hop into your room when we get there and then hand out your candy. Not a problem at all :)

The information I am trying to collect are adult names, children's names and ages, where you are staying the night before the cruise in case we decide to have an informal meet, what seating you are at so we can plan the time of the ToT, whether your child wants a pen pal or not, and your stateroom.

Bob and Barbara - no children, Main seating

Ralph and ?

PammyJo and ? - children ages 3, 7, 5

John and Lise - children William (9), Kierstynn (7), Trevor (5), Yes to Pen Pals, Radisson

Nick and Tressa - Brandon (11), Jacob (10) - Pen Pal yes, Main seating

Marley and Andy - Hayley (7) Jason (4), pen pal yes, Main, Ron Jon's

Ray and Linda - no children, Main, Ron Jons

Suzanne and Fred - no children, Main, Ron Jons

Kelly and Ed - Josie (3), Main, Ron Jons

If you see your name and there is information missing, please email it to marley@nc.rr.com

If you don't see your name, please sign up :)

[fussellfamily]

Hi! My name is Kelli, my husband Tony and 3 children will be on this cruise.

Haden (8) Haden would also be interested in having a pen pal

Madison (3)

Wakeman (2)

The kids would like to participate in ToT and we'll hand out candy as well. I'll email rm # later.

Thanks for organizing this! We can't wait!

[Bauerbandt]

Marley, I just emailed you our information for the TOT list.

Thanks,

[marley]

thanks to everyone so far for updating my list. Looks like we have 16 kids for the ToT so far which is great!

We all seem to be pretty well spread out at different hotels/locations the night before our cruise, so it looks like at this point, our first meeting might be either the ToT (which I'm thinking will be 2:15 on October 31st) or the 3 p.m. Dis Meet immediately following. I'll keep you posted and hopefully we will add some more cruisers.

Marley

[marley]

thank you everyone for all of the emails the last few days. I have gone through the entire thread and figured out who matches their screen name and I think the only ones I'm missing details for are SharonBri and Kellie Jones.

Also, Trod, I saw your wrote that your parents are coming. Do they want to hand out candy? If so, send me their names and a cabin number when you get it so I can add them to the list. My parents, my husband's parents and my SIL have not joined our thread (guess they are shy), but I've included them on my list to hand out candy.

As of today, we have 18 children and 12 staterooms to hit up for candy!!!

Marley

[Bauerbandt]

I see that a few people are staying at Ron Jons (http://www.ronjonresort.com/default.shtml). While we are hoping to be at WDW prior to the cruise, we are considering staying in C.C. afterwards. I would appreciate any words of wisdom on Ron Jons and any info on rates & rooms would be much appreciated. Thanks,

[marley]

My 4 family members are all staying at Ron Jon's. I have a one bedroom for $108 plus tax and I believe my parent's studio was $79 plus tax. We used a code someone posted but I think you can get the same discount with either AAA or the new code posted in this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=565160

--Marley

[KELLIE JONES]

We have been super busy.

we are staying @ the HRH before our cruise so we wont be able to attend a "pre cruise" meet.

I was thinking, if everyone with kids would tell us what kind of candy thier kid(s) like that may help, that way each child gets what he/she likes? or I was thinking instead of candy, getting little disney treats , what do you guys think?

As far as the meeting is concerned, how about this... could we maybe meet after the kids hit our rooms ? (The wine and beer might be a better idea after TOT)

[acrucifer]

this idea sounds good, except we will have mandatory drill at 4pm. then will be close to sail away and then dinner. sail away is at 430 pm. so this may not work, but I am open to whatever people want.

[KELLIE JONES]

well ok, we are going to have a suite and i hear concierge guest are one of the first to board, so if you guys need me to start aranging things after i get my bags 2 my room... just let me know!!

[acrucifer]

Well, today I booked our airfare to Orlando for the cruise and stay at Disney following it. I know it is still early, but I got an unbelievable deal so I pulled the trigger and made the reservations. consequently, I am feeling like it is just around the next corner. pretty exciting, before you know it, we will be getting our cruise docs!!! enjoy your summer everyone. Ralph.

[Bauerbandt]

I was looking at staying at Ron Jons on Thursday and Friday after the cruise. Here is the email response I received from their reservations group on the codes. "Code 260 would be 10% and is a AAA code & requires a AAA number in order to receive that discount...code 102 is 25% off, but only for Thursday night. You can only do one or the other!" I haven't received a response on 1 bedrooms, but there are not any std two bedrooms available, just deluxes for that time. It must be from all the northerners heading south for the winter! I might have to consider doing WDW afterwards instead of before the cruise.

[marley]

hmmm... I used the 25% off code for both Fri and Sat. before the cruise. It must be all of those northerners heading south!

[Coach]

My DW and I will be on the October 31st. Halloween cruise to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We had celebrated our 25th anniversary with a land/sea package, staying at the Boardwalk conciarge and then cruising on the Wonder. We liked it so much that we bought into the Disney Vacation Club. We will be using our DVC points for this cruise.

We are looking forward to meeting all of you.

[marley]

Coach:

welcome aboard our thread! If you would like to hand out candy for our Trick or Treat, please email me your names and stateroom (if you have it). marley@nc.rr.com If you are not interested in the TOT, we also have at least one DIS meet set up at 3 p.m. on our sailaway day.

Marley

[acrucifer]

if it not too redundant, I would also like to welcome you to our group coach. I would be happy to e mail you our first two newsletters if you want them. simply send me your email address to acrucifer@aol.com In addition to the trick or treat for the kids, we have a couple of dis meets planned on the wonder.

My wife and I took our first disney cruise in 2002 and we were immediately addicted and bought into the dvc club right on the ship. we have been cruising on points ever since. I look forward to meeting you and your Bride! and ttfn! Ralph.

[Jo-Jo21]

Thanks to Marley I have found this thread! We(myself, DH and DS (7)) are sailing with all of you. This will be our first Disney Cruise. We have been on other cruise lines and just love cruising. Count us in for TOT and handing out candy. We will be driving down from NJ and staying at the Radisson the night before the cruise. We hope to board as early as possible. I will PM my cabin number and email address to you Acrucifer and Marley. I would love to be included in the newsletter and get togethers. :D

[marley]

welcome aboard Jo-Jo! Glad you joined us.

We are now up to 14 staterooms and 19 children for the TOT.

I am getting ready to head out for our BIG family vacation to CA and will not be online for a while. However, when I get back, I'll be setting up the pen pals to begin around mid June. We have a pretty even amount of kids now so everyone should have a pen pal or two :)

Marley

[Pammy jo]

Marley, is it too late to have my 2 DS be penpals with someone? They are 5 and 7. If you've already arranged them, please don't go out of your way to get them in. Thanks!
Pammyjo

[marley]

PammyJo,

No it is not too late. Just email me their information at marley@nc.rr.com and I'll be setting them up within the next two weeks.

Marley

[KELLIE JONES]

Is anyone going to WDW after our cruise? just wondering ;)

also, does anybody know how i can get ressies to the Party for the Senses at the Food and Wine Festival?

[marley]

We are hitting WDW after the cruise!! We will probably just hit MGM and Epcot this time or one of the waterparks if it is warm enough :smooth:

Marley

[marley]

I have sent out all of the pen pal information today. There were only 3 girls total so I set them all up as pen pals but for the boys, I paired them up with the boy closest to their age. If anyone wants two pen pals or more, let me know. Have a great summer! Marley

[lholman]

we are hitting WDW after the cruise as well. We will most likely do the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and hopefully the weather will cooperate so we can go to one of the water parks as well! It's our kids' first visit there. We can't wait! My kids are looking forward to learning about their pen pals!

[bgomes]

We'll be heading to WDW after the cruise as well. We'll probably just be going to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. It's been more years than I care to mention since we've been there--probably 20 or more. Can't wait to see how it's changed since then.

I've gone back to reread the posts on this thread. There has been a couple mentions of a dis meet. What is that all about?

Looking forward to meeting all of you and looking forward to the next newsletter. The time to board will be here before we know it.

Happy summer vacation.

[KELLIE JONES]

Originally posted by marley
[BI am getting ready to head out for our BIG family vacation to CA and will not be online for a while.
Marley [/B]

so how did the vacation go??:)

[marley]

Bgomes:

In the last newsletter, a DIS meet was scheduled for 3 pm in the Promenade lounge. This should coincide with the end of our TOT that is tentatively planned for 2:15 on our sail date, October 31st. Another DIS meet is tentatively set for our Day at Sea.

Kellie:

Thanks for asking about the vacation. It was a lot of fun. 11 days for our first trip out west and our longest vacation we've ever taken with or without the kids. We only did Northern CA so no trip to Disneyland this time. I've never been there so hopefully we will try and do Southern CA next year. My husband has been racking up free plane tickets through work so this gives us an excuse to use them :)

Marley

[bgomes]

I know there are a few families traveling together on this cruise. Who is related to who? and how are you related?

bgomes (me) and lholman are related. We are sisters. I am the oldest of the family and she is the youngest. This cruise started off as a sort of family reunion, but of 3 sisters and two brothers (and their famiies), only the two of us were able to make it. Too bad for them.

Coach: Here's wishing you and your bride a very happy 30th anniversary. We celebrated our 32nd this past May. (It's good to know there are some of us "older" folks aboard too.

[KELLIE JONES]

i didnt get the last newsletter :( would someone please email it 2 me?? unit13@selmanlog.com

[acrucifer]

good morning everyone,


my apologies for the tardiness of the june newsletter as my wife and I were on vacation and returned on the 11th. I sent it out this morning. I dont seem to have the email addresses of four people and two of them are our new members jo-jo-21 and coach. I will be happy to send the newsletter to anyone who does not receive it. simply email me at acrucifer@aol.com with your email address. enjoy the latest issue . Ralph.

[KELLIE JONES]

acrucifer, thank you sooooo much. that was an awsome newsletter!!

wasnt trying to rush you on that, i have been having puter probs and thought my copy had gotten lost in the mail:rolleyes: .

[acrucifer]

no problem kellie. it was pretty late. I was actually working on it when I saw your post.

[marley]

bgomes:

I am actually travelling with my parents, my DH's parents and my SIL's famiy but have not been able to convince them to introduce themselves on the boards yet! They must think I'm crazy :tongue:

Oh well, at least they have no choice in participating in our TOT, I'll make sure of that:teeth:

Marley

[marley]

Just checking in with those of you who were set up with the pen pals (also wanted to see what my countdown clock was at!).

If anyone is having any problems with the contact information I sent, let me know.

John and Lise: I've sent repeated emails trying to see if you've gotten everything set up with your daughter but haven't heard back so I thought I would try this as a way to get a hold of you as well.

Happy Upcoming 4th of July to everyone, Marley

[lholman]

marley:

I never received any e-mails regarding my daughter's pen-pal. My boys are really enjoying theirs and look forward to new e-mails. Hopefully I can get any problems straightened out so she can meet someone new.
Lise

[acrucifer]

subject is Latin for what the Hell happended to our countdown counters. does anyone know ? appreciate any replies from those who know. thanks. newsletter will be out soon. castaway cay will be the main topic.

[Shana Rayce]

Hi everyone! I am very new to this site...so bear with me! :confused: Myself, my husband, and our 8 year old son (he'll turn 9 on our full day at sea!) will be taking our first cruise on the Disney Wonder for Halloween! We are actually surprising our son...he doesn't know we are going! He knows that we are going to Orlando, but nothing about the Cruise! I can hardly wait! We will be going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom before we leave for our Cruise....but I hope they also do something special onboard the Wonder! Hopefully we can get some details before we leave on 10/31. I look forward to talking with my fellow Halloween Cruisers! Thanks!

Shana
:wave:

[marley]

acrucifer: Looks like the counters are supposed to be back and running today but I'm bummed too. I love to see my counter each time I post!! We are almost to double digits and I started my counter when I was 765 days out:earseek:

Shana: welcome to the group! We have a couple of boys in our group around the same age as your son. I'm sure the cruise will be a great suprise for me.

If you would like to join our TOT, please email me the names of your entire group and your stateroom number if you have it. We are meeting at 2:15 the day of the cruise and we have 14 cabins right now handing out candy or other treats. Disney has a small TOT of their own but the kids apparently get the same chocolate and it is very crowded. This one will be a little more personalized and parents can TOT with their kids and then step in their stateroom to hand out candy when it is their turn.

We also have a DIS meet planned directly after the TOT at the Promenade Lounge so we can all meet before the mandatory boat drill. To be added to the TOT email me the above info to marley@nc.rr.com and to be added to our newsletter email mailto:acrucifer@aol.com. Ralph will take care of you I'm sure.

Marley

[marley]

Looks like we now have 15 staterooms for our TOT but it should be a short candy/treat hike!!! This is just too funny, I had to share. After Shana sent me her state room number, I started adding in everyone elses room number that I have so far and we are all very close to one another!

Bob and Barbara are diagonal across the hall from Shana and Brent on deck 2.

Ralph and Stephanie are back to back with Joanne and Eric on deck 7.

Bill and Tracy are diagonal from Nick and Tressa and both sets of my in-laws are right down the hall from them next door to each other on deck 6.

AND I am on deck 5 across from my parents.

Kellie and Jay, looks like you are our loners on deck 8! Maybe we will find some more ship mates to join you :)

Pammy Jo/John, John/Lise, Kelli/Tony, and Melvin/Tracy don't forget to send me your stateroom numbers once you get them. We need to find someone to join Kellie and Jay on deck 8 pirate: pirate:

Also, we have 3 Kelly's joining us on the cruise with 3 different spellings so I'll make sure we have name tags to keep everyone straight!

Marley

[disneyfreakk]

Hi, its me.... Kellie Jones. i goofed up:rolleyes: . when i didnt see any countdowns i thought i may have done something to my puter( been known to happed ) so i tried to reregister using this name...


well long story short, you can only use one name per e-mail address. so when i couldnt post i had to e-mail the board support person and explain what i did:o . i guess they liked this name better as i am now stuck with it:p . no biggie, i change my hair more offten than this.


TTFN,

Kellie

ps, marley... the kids are going to get a good workout huh?? LOL i guess they can work off all of that candy they are going to score ( not to mention the food on CRUISE!!!! yum yum )

[bgomes]

Shana Rayce: welcome to our little group. I see that you are from Michigan - where. I live in Howell. (If you don't know where that is - we are right in the middle between Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor and Detroit.)

What a nice surprise for your little guy. Will you be telling him about the cruise before you leave home or as you board the ship?

Barbara

[lholman]

Hi Shana---welcome! I'm in Michigan, too. We live in Webberville which is close to Lansing. I have a son that will turn 10 just after the cruise and a daughter that will turn 8 just after the cruise. Maybe they will be in some of the kids' activities together.:wave2:

[Shana Rayce]

Hello to both of you that replied to my post! I am from the lovely town of MIDLAND, Michigan! So I guess neither of you are that far away from me! Can't believe that there are 2 familes from Michigan going on the Halloween cruise! :Pinkbounc
This is our first cruise so I have a lot to learn. I have been reading everything that I can find, and it has all been very helpful...especially this DIS site! Glad to hear that one of you has 2 kids my DS's age! How about you Barbara? Do you have kids going on the cruise? Which dinner seating do both of you have? We are second. I am looking forward to getting the newsletter, and getting to know some of you before our wonderful cruise!

Shana
:wave:

[Betty Breed]

Hi,guys. Am looking forward to this cruise. As I said a lot of firsts for me. First time I ever posted on a forum. First time I ever will be cruising. Any advice & pointers for a novice cruiser would be greatly appreciated. Will be travelling with DH,DD1,DD2,& 4yr old grandson. Have booked 3land/4sea trip for my birthday. Am very much looking forward to being there. :wave:

Hope to see some of you there. Thanks Betty

[bgomes]

Shanna:

Midland is pretty close. We have first seating at dinner. No, I don't have any kids going on the cruise. Lise is my sister, I kind of "share" her 3 kids, the other one will turn 5 in January. Each of the kids will be spending one night with us in our cabin during the cruise. (it kept the cost down a little, so they didn't have to get a family stateroom) I see that we are diagonal across the hall from you, Lise and her family has a connecting room with us, so she will be right there near you too. I think that you will love cruising, we do. There is so much information to learn on these boards. Try www.cruisecritic.com and www.cruisemates.com too.

Betty: Welcome to you as well. I will tell you that you should also enjoy the cruise. Cruising has something for everyone. You can do as much or as little as you like. Many people say that the way to enjoy your cruise the most is to participate. That is true. Go ahead and make a fool out of yourself, you'll probably never see these people again. No really, you'll have a wonderful time.Can't wait to meet everyone, it will be here before you know it.

Both of you be sure to e-mail acrucifer and marley with your e-mail addresses, and any information if you want to be included in the trick or treating or want to get the great newsleter that Ralph sends out monthly.

Be sure to ask any and all questions that you both have, someone here is sure to answer them all.

Barbara

[disneyfreakk]

hi Shana, and welcome.

this will also be our first cruise, no i am not much help there.

but i thought i would share a funny. I was born and raised in MIDLAND, TEXAS. LOL I went to Midland HIGH school ... colors were gold and purple with a english bulldog for a mascott. did we go to the same high school also?? :p

[disneyfreakk]

hey look, my countdown is back up. i hope everyone elses is 2.

[Betty Breed]

Thanks for your e-mail, marley. Will let ya'll know as soon as I do.

I am thinking of taking the Discover Atlantis excursion when we are in Nassau. I understand it involves a lot of walking, but if my DGS gets tired do you think it would be worth taking our umbrella stroller. It's light and easy to carry and he's not too big for it. I don't think I could carry him.

Anybody else doing the 3/land4/sea trip? We'll be at the Polynesian sometime on Thurs. Anybody gonna do the MNSSHP?
How do we get tickets? Do we wait til we get to WDW?

Thanks in advance. Betty
:earsgirl: :earsboy: :earsgirl: :earsgirl: :earsboy:


:thewave: :thewave:

:fish: :fish: :fish:

[marley]

Betty:

just send me another email when you and your group decide what you would like to do about the TOT. No rush.

I would DEFINITELY take the stroller. My almost 8 year old sometimes begs to get in the stroller with my almost 5 year old after a lot of walking. If they both walk, I usually throw my bag in the stroller and push it around or I just park it. It's better to have it than not.

As for the MNSSSHP party, I've never been but I've read on the boards that the weekend of Halloween usually sells out ahead of time. If you are planning to go that Friday before the cruise, I would definitely consider buying your tickets ahead of time. They are also cheaper if you buy ahead of time. Here is a link to the party site on the DIS Boards. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=560506

I am debating myself whether to go or not. We are driving down on Friday and I'm wondering if that would be too much trying to squeeze it in :earseek:

Marley

[Shana Rayce]

Hi Betty...
We are getting into Orlando on Thursday...and may be staying at the Poly. Right now I have a ressie at the Contemporary...but am waiting to see if discount codes come out for Oct. and plan to switch to the Poly if they do! We are definitely going to MNSSHP on Friday night! We have been twice before and absolutely LOVE IT!! You can walk right on to the rides with no wait most of the time! It is alot of fun and well worth the $$. Do get your tickets ahead of time though...I'm getting mine this week.

Also...on our Nassau day, I have made a reservation at the Comfort Suites Paradise Island. If you have a room there, you have full privileges at the Atlantis Resort! The room is $175.00...but by the time you add up the Atlantis excursion fees for a family, we figured it is worth it to go for this option! I have always wanted to go to the Atlantis Resort, and now I can spend the day there and see if we would like to go back sometime and stay there! We plan to take a taxi to the Comfort Suites as soon as we get off the Wonder, check in there, and then head over the the Atlantis and spend the whole day at the resort! Not sure what time we'll head back to the Wonder...we'll probably stay as long as we can! I can hardly wait!!

[acrucifer]

hey gang,

how is everyone. we are up to 16 dis members now. The July newsletter has been dispatched to all e mail addresses I have. If you did not get the newsletter and want it, please email me your address at acrucifer@aol.com and I will send you a copy. this months newsletter topic is all about castway cay, complete with pictures and history. we will all be under 100 days soon and some of us already are. at 90 days most airlines will assign seat numbers so if you already have a airline reservation and no seat number, you may want to call your airline. I hope everyone enjoys their summer and will talk to you soon, TTFN, Ralph

[Pammy jo]

Ralph: Loved the newsletter. Are we popping the cork at 99 days?
Shana: Couldn't stand it, when I read your post I decided that we too had to go to Atlantis. I'll try making our reservations tonight.

[disneyfreakk]

ralph, the newsletter was great!:rotfl:

:bitelip: i just cant wait!!!!

[acrucifer]

although I seldom need a reason the celebrate something great, I think perhaps we should wait until we got onboard to pop the cork. I am glad you all enjoyed the newsletter and I suspect as we get to 60 days, when we can make excursion ressies through Disney, and cruise docs start going out, the excitement level will be even higher. but from here on out, the anticipation will gradually start to build. It will be a fun ride, enjoy it as it can be part of the whole experience. TTFN Ralph.

[acrucifer]

some of you didnt receive the newsletter due to my not having your addresses and I have rectified that by adding you to my address book. a few didnt recieve it although I sent it en mass to a group of members and I have asked those people to check their spam filters and I have resent the newsletter to those people. if anyone else wants the newsletter and did nt get it , simply e mail me. Ralph

[Bauerbandt]

Ralph:

Thanks for the newsletter. I believe I read in the newsletter that the second DIS Meet was going to be the day at sea, which would be Nov 3rd, correct? I think we are going to try and get a Palo's res for that night.

Thanks Marley for the MNSSSHP info. I think we are trying to go there Friday night. I am assuming that one needs a ticket for the day and another ticket for the MNSSSHP. Am I correct?

Thanks, - bauerbandt

[marley]

yes, you are correct. You need a ticket if you want to go to MK during the day and then another ticket for that evening's Halloween party. --Marley

[acrucifer]

lets start getting pumped up. we are in double digits now. it wont be long and we will all be together on the wonder. could we have a meet at disney world, I know a number of us are going there after the cruise. who is game for this ? Ralph.

[disneyfreakk]

that would be a great idea!! we are going to be there for a week after the cruise! i think the food and wine festival would be a fun meet! we did this last year and it was a hoot!

[acrucifer]

that is an excellant idea. I have also been there at epcot for the wine festival in years past and it was a great time. who among you here would be up for this. you can count me in.

[disneyfreakk]

how many kids do we have for the TOT so far??

[Shana Rayce]

Hi everybody! I am getting so excited...only 92 days until we arrive in Orlando! Wish it were next week....but I guess waiting and anticipating is part of the fun!! I know we have the TOT list started...but does that list kids/ages?? It would be neat if we had some kind of a list that would tell us who has kids, and what age they are. Just a thought....

Pammy Jo...did you make a ressie at Comfort Suites Paradise Island?? I am SO excited about spending the day at Atlantis!!!! That will be a big highlight of our cruise for me!! Trying to decide whether to eat dinner there, or head back to the ship...hate to miss one of the restaurants on board....but would love to spend every possible minute at Atlantis....:confused: Will give it more thought...plenty of time to decide! Anyone else doing this?

Pin Trading Question...my son would like to get started pin trading on our trip...we'll be in Disney for 3 days prior to the cruise...how many pins do you think would be good for us to purchase for him to start out? I know nothing about this...but when I mentioned it to him he seemed very interested! :bounce:
Any advice would be appreciated!

Well...better get back to work!

[Shana Rayce]

Hi everybody! I am getting so excited...only 92 days until we arrive in Orlando! Wish it were next week....but I guess waiting and anticipating is part of the fun!! I know we have the TOT list started...but does that list kids/ages?? It would be neat if we had some kind of a list that would tell us who has kids, and what age they are. Just a thought....

Pammy Jo...did you make a ressie at Comfort Suites Paradise Island?? I am SO excited about spending the day at Atlantis!!!! That will be a big highlight of our cruise for me!! Trying to decide whether to eat dinner there, or head back to the ship...hate to miss one of the restaurants on board....but would love to spend every possible minute at Atlantis....:confused: Will give it more thought...plenty of time to decide! Anyone else doing this?

Pin Trading Question...my son would like to get started pin trading on our trip...we'll be in Disney for 3 days prior to the cruise...how many pins do you think would be good for us to purchase for him to start out? I know nothing about this...but when I mentioned it to him he seemed very interested! :bounce:
Any advice would be appreciated!

Well...better get back to work!

[disneyfreakk]

hi shana,

i was thinking the same thing for the TOT. but for different reasons. DH and i were talking and he made a good point. what if kids just show up at our state room that arent in our group?? then we wouldnt have enough for the kids whose parents went to all the trouble to plan and be friendly on these boards. should we maybe do nametags and everyone have a list of " our group "?

on another note, although i dont collect pins i have some advice that you may or may not know about. www.disneystore.com is having a pin sale right now.. 50% off. also, http://stores.ebay.com/Disney-Deals-direct-from-Disney has great discounts on all kinds of stuff from disney!

[marley]

I can not believe I just spent 40 minutes putting together our TOT list in a post and the DIS Boards server dumped it!!!!!

I'll wait until the boards are more stable to try again so everyone will have the list.

I also keep forgetting to point out in case everyone hasn't noticed that we will have daylight savings time the night before we leave for the cruise adding an extra hour of torture before we can board the ship:eek:

Marley

[marley]

Here goes again:

Ralph: as for the DIS meet after the cruise, sounds like a great idea, but we will only have Friday at WDW and will be hitting the parks hard!!

Kellie: we have 20 kids so far for the TOT.

Shana: here is the list.

Bob and Barbara (aka bgomes)

Ralph and Stephanie (aka acrucifer)

Pammy Jo and John (aka Pammy jo) Spencer 7, Parker 5, 3 Bradley

John and Lise (aka Iholman) William (9), Kierstynn (7), Trevor (5)

Nick and Tressa (aka nrod7) Brandon (11), Jacob (10)

Marley and Andy (aka Marley) Hayley (8), Jason (4)

Kelli and Tony (aka fussellfamily) Haden (8), Madison (3), Wakeman (2)

Bill and Tracy (aka bauerbandt) Anna (7), Ben (4)

Melvin and Traci (aka Ihave2kids) Fowler (5), Austin (3)

Kellie and Jay (aka Disneyfreak)

Joanne and Eric (aka Jo-Jo21) Eric age 7

Shana and Brent (aka Shan Rayce) Logan turning 9 on cruise

This list does not include: Shannonbri, Coach or Betty. I do not have definite confirmation that they want to participate in the TOT. If so, I need in an email to marley@nc.rr.com names of everyone in your party and including children's ages and cabin numbers if you have them.

This list also does not include my families names since they have not introduced themselves on the board yet but I guarantee they will hand out candy :)

Ray and Linda

Fred and Suzanne

Kelly and Ed - Josie age 3

Also, I also included in my post that never made it that I've read on previous threads that "stragglers" tend to join these TOTs. I know some of you are planning goodie bags (which is great) but it would be best to have a few pieces of candy set aside for those stragglers if they should appear.

Marley

[Shana Rayce]

THANKS Marley!! The list is great! Looks like quite a few kids Logan's age! As you can see I had some server problems too...my post got posted twice! Woops!

[Bauerbandt]

Regarding WDW, we are planning on hitting the parks 2 or 3 days prior to the trip. Shanna, do you know where you are staying yet prior to the cruise? I am hoping they extend the special for the Swan and Dolphin into October.

Just an update to Marley's list, Ben will be turning 5 on the Monday of the cruise. I'm trying to come up with something special to do in Nassau for his BD, but if everyone else is getting off the ship, we just may stay on the ship so that he can have better access to the activities on the ship. Does anyone have a sense of how many people (or what percent) stay on the ship during a port of call?

-Bauerbandt?

[marley]

Shana: Is the cruise still a suprise for Logan? I kept this past Christmas trip a suprise from the kids and thought I was going to explode when we finally broke down two days before and told them. We did a treasure hunt through the house and at the end, they turned on the TV to find a special we had taped of WDW at the holidays. They were ecstatic (well, my 4 year old cried at first because there was no actual physical present at the end of the treasure hunt but then he was ecstatic :hyper:

Bauerbandt: as for celebrating Ben's birthday, I would stay on the ship so he can have the Mickey pool to himself (although my kids will be there too) and all of the Mickey bars his belly can handle!!! We spent about 20 minutes in Nassau and then quickly retreated back to the boat. It wasn't empty, but it was very peaceful and the kids got to ride the Mickey slide over and over:earseek:

Marley

[Shana Rayce]

Hi Bauerband -
I have a ressie at the Contemporary...but I am waiting to see if there will be any room only discounts for Oct. They are currently out for Aug. & Sept. right now...so I am crossing my fingers that towards the end of Aug. the codes for Oct. will come out! I am going to switch to the Poly if they do!

So your son will be celebrating a birthday on board too! I am planning to order a Birthday basket for my son to be delivered to our stateroom when we arrive. I have the website that everyone talks about here on the board. Cool!

[Pammy jo]

Shana,
I think we're going to do the Comfort Suites/Atlantis thing, but I haven't booked it yet. I need to call and find out the deal for 5 people. If if costs more than 4, than no. Bradley isn't worth paying more for and I can't leave his on the ship in kids club all day by himself.

[Shana Rayce]

Pammy Jo-
I doubt you have to pay for kids....most places don't charge for kids under a certain age...Let me know when you call them.

[disneyfreakk]

Ralph,

Jay wants to know what your plans are going to be during the election. he and i have different political views and u2 are on the same side, lol.

[acrucifer]

funny you ask. during the 2000 elections I watched the returns at a poolside bar at disney all star music hotel near animal kingdom with some Brits, boy that was fun!! this year I am also going to find a nice bar and party down while I watch the returns. steph is not much for staying up late, but I likely hang out until they close every bar on route 66. my first choice will be the espn sky box sports bar (if its still a bar, on the magic, they turned the espn sky box into a kids club. second choice will likey be diversions as they have a number of big screens tvs in there. should be pretty interesting, it is going to be a very close election I think.

[acrucifer]

speaking of election day, there is a parody of president bush and john kerry within the context of the upcoming election that is simply hilarious. If you have a sense of humor, regardless of your political leanings, you should find this animated parody hysterically funny. some or most of you may have seen this already as it is going around the internet, but if you havent , do see it now before it is removed from the internet (neither political party is happy with it, but its damn funny) you can find it at www.jibjab.com simply click on it and it will up load, then play. oh and by the way, it is not laced with obscenties, but has a few inappropriate references and therefor is not appropriate for the children.

[marley]

Ralph: I heard this on the radio yesterday and wondered where it came from. Very funny :p

[disneyfreakk]

that IS FUNNY!!! my DH had heard it but i hadnt. thanks for sharing.:smooth:

[acrucifer]

bump

[acrucifer]

I am officially al little closer to our halloween sailing in that I called our airlines and got our seat assignments. apparently at 90 days prior to your flight, some airlines will assign your seats and confirm your itinerary. anyways we are below 90 days now and soon the summer will be a fond memory. our august newsletter will go out on august 15th. dont forget, at 60 days you can start making your ressies for port excusions in Nassau and castaway cay. some excursions have limited capacity and do fill up and close. this is particularly true of nassua where we might be one of 4 or 5 cruise ships there, so dont wait too long. well, TTFN take care all. Ralph

[bgomes]

Pammy Jo: Did you check on the 5 people price for Atlantis yet? Just wondering.

Marley: I've been thinking, do you have a route in the works for our TOT? In a previous post, you said that you would try to plan it so that those without kids would maybe be first. Since the kids have to start somewhere and we are on deck 2 (and we have no kids), I would be happy to start them all off with bags to collect their "loot". Let me know if you all want this.

Also, what about a way to help the kids find all the cabins they need to go to. Perhaps door decorations? Any other ideas?

Barb

[Pammy jo]

No I haven't checked out the Atlantis yet. I'm going to when I get back from vacation. We're leaving for TN on Tue. I also need to check on a WL ressie.

[marley]

Barb:

what a nice idea about the bags!! I think that would be great since we won't have a lot of room in our luggage to tote around plastic pumpkins and such. I'll put deck 2 down to start at first.

As for the doors, a while back I got a handful of orange Mickey Mouse "paint chips" from the Disney paint collection at Home Depot. I was going to put them on a sign for each of the doors but just have to figure out when I am going to have time to put them all up before the tot'ing. I've got to get in that Palo line :earseek: first!

Marley

[disneyfreakk]

hey guys! :D i will be more than happy to go around and put up the little paint chips on the doors. we have a cat. 3 which gets to board first right after the disABLEd (and we have concierge so we dont have to participate in the " great run " ). we should be at the port at about noon. i guess i could send you a picture of us ( hubby is kinda hard to miss!! LOL ) and we could pick a meeting place. i just dont think i am going to have anymore room in our suitcases:earseek:

[marley]

Kellie:

that would be great if you could put up the signs!! I can meet you while I'm in line at the port and give them, as well as tape, to you. They will be actual signs, probably out of card stock so they should be sturdy.

They usually start boarding at 12:15 so we can pick a spot to meet beforehand. Most of us have cabins near each other so it should probably take 15 to 20 minutes tops!!

I really appreciate it and we can coordinate meeting as the time gets closer. It's hard to believe how time is flying. My kids start school TOMORROW. I'm sending my youngest to Kindergarten so it will be a sad/happy day :confused:

Marley

[disneyfreakk]

sure, no problem! i hope the first day of school isnt too hard on you marley! i was also thinking maybe we could each make our own nametags with our disnames and our real names on them! might make it a little easier on everyone.

[dridgway]

Hi all - Just found you all! My fam and I are also going to be on 10-31 wonder! My name is Dan and my wife is Gina. We have two girls, ages 6 and 9. We hope to get to know you all before we sail! We live in Cleveland, Ohio - This will be our first cruise... I'll read through the threads to catch up!
Dan

[bgomes]

Welcome aboard Dan, Gina and girls! After you read all the entries here, you will probably still have questions, so go ahead and ask them all. Someone will definately answer them.

Let Marley know what you want to do about trick or treating with us.

Barb

[dridgway]

does anyone have a list of our members kids ages (and how many there are)?

[marley]

Dan:

Welcome aboard! If you haven't found the list yet, it is on page 8 of the thread. That is the most up to date list.

Marley

[disneyfreakk]

hi dan, gina and girls! :wave2:

[acrucifer]

the August newsletter is in progress and will be sent out in a few days. this months edition focuses on the history and culture of Nassau. I hope to do a credible job on it. oh and before I forget welcome to our newest member dridgway (dan, gina and kids), we are glad to have you all aboard. TTFN, Ralph.

[Bauerbandt]

Dan:

Welcome aboard. We were just in the Cleveland area visiting my parents in Canton for the Hall of Fame activities. The weather in north east Ohio was great!

This will be our first family cruise. My DD just turned 7 and my DS will turn 5 during the cruise. Marley has organized an email pen pal group for 3 of the girls, including my DD. You can find Marley's email address on this thread.

-bauerbandt

[dridgway]

Thanks - i"ll write Marley and get my girls a penpal - they'll love that! They are so pumped about going! The time between now and then can't go fast enough!
Dan

[lholman]

Hi Dan, Gina and girls! There will be a lot of kids close in age! They'll have fun together!!:wave2:

[bgomes]

Bauerbandt:
You said you were in Canton for the Hall of Fame festivities -- were you there for the induction ceremonies? If so, did you eat dinner at any of the banquets? Just wondering because I am a pastry chef and the company that I work for did a yummy dessert for one of the induction ceremony banquets.

Barb

[Bauerbandt]

Barb:

Unfortunately we did not make it to any of the induction ceremony banquets. Being a pastry chef sounds like a great job to me, but of course I have a huge sweet tooth. Maybe you can give us some dessert suggestions while on the cruise!

The excitement level is growing in our house. Just booked our flights today!

[Shana Rayce]

Hi all!
Just wanted to say hi and see how everyone is doing! I for one am getting more excited by the day! Our final payment for the cruise is due next week, and I guess that makes everything official! One quick question...trying to decide on the insurance...if you buy it, what does it cover? What are the reasons that you are allowed to cancel (heaven forbid!) I have to decide whether or not to purchase it when I make my final payment. I am waiting and watching airfare prices too...the low fares are out there...but not for the specific days of the week that we need to travel...am trying to be patient...but I'm ready to buy!! Also still waiting for the October discount codes for Disney Resorts (Poly here we come!!)...should be pretty soon. Booked 3 nights at Sheraton Vistana when we get back from our cruise...only $99.00 on All Ears...have wanted to try it and for that rate you can't beat it! Received my MNSSHP tickets in the mail last week....my son was excited about them, but he still doesn't know about the cruise! It is hard to keep it from him, I have almost slipped a couple of times! The Disney store has their Halloween costumes on-line now...can't believe it's time to decide on that already! pirate:
O.K. I've blabbed enough...hope everyone is well, and the excitement is growing!!

[marley]

Shana:

we are booked at the Sheraton as well after the cruise. Maybe we will see you there :)

Marley

[Bauerbandt]

Shana:

I found the cheapest airfare by doing one way tickets on two different carriers. We are flying SWA to MCO and AA back to STL.

Which night are you going to the MNSSHP? Since we are arriving in MCO on the Wednesday prior to the cruise, I have been considering MNSSHP tickets for Thursday. I was thinking that Thursday would be a lot less crowded than Friday.

I am still waiting for the lodging rates to come down at WDW. The current specials (Value @ $55, Moderate @ $85, Deluxe @ $119) end in September.

For people going to the parks prior to the cruise, how are you planning on getting from WDW to the Wonder?

[Shana Rayce]

Hi Bauerbandt...
We don't arrive into Orlando until Thursday...so we are going to MNSSHP on Friday. I know it will be busy...but we are used to going right on Halloween...so we are used to the crowd...we have still always been able to walk right on most rides, and only a 5 min. wait for the more popular ones. We are renting a car when we arrive in Orlando, and then driving to Port Canaveral and leaving it in the lot there. We are planning to go to NASA on the day we get back into Port.

Hi Marley...
Neat that you are staying at the Vistana too! I requested Cascades section...did you? I hear that is the nicest. Have you ever stayed there? I have read a lot of reviews...mostly good, but a few not so good with some of the older areas. We'll have to meet up at the pool!

Counters are down AGAIN!!! :mad:

[marley]

Shana:

thanks for the Cascade heads up! I've never been there before so I'll have to request it.

Also, very funny, WE are going to Kennedy Space Center the morning we get back to the port as well. Maybe we will see you all there too!!

Marley

[Bauerbandt]

It is Kennedy Space Center for us as well on Thursday! My son just loves to go there.

[TROD]

We are going to MNSSHP on Friday too. Looking forward to it! We just did a package deal with transportation. When we arrive at the airport to the Polynesian on Thursday, then to Port Canaveral on Sunday. I do worry that the Disney transportation will get us there later than we really want. We have a large group (11), so we felt like that was our cheapest way. Both my boys are LOVING the pen pal. Poor William in Michigan is getting bombarded with questions from my guys. They are so excited about meeting him. This just makes it better!

Marley,
I am not sure I got the last newsletter and sure don’t want to miss the next. If it is not too much trouble can I give you my work and home emails? Thanks for all your organization! rodriquz@pogoproducing.com nrod7@grandecom.net

[Shana Rayce]

Hi Marley & Bauerbandt!!
How funny!! All of us going to Kennedy Space Center!! We have never been...but I know my DS will love it too! Bauerbandt...don't remember how hold your kids are?? Marley...you have an 8 year old DD..right? Marley...did you do the Diamond Lane Check in for Vistana? That's where you can request what section you want to be in.

Hi TROD...have you ever been to MMSSHP?? We have been twice and LOVE it!! And I am waiting to book our 3 days prior to the cruise at the Poly! Do you have any kids around 8/9 in your group? Unfortunately my DS isn't participating in pen pals because the cruise portion of our trip is a surprise for him! :teeth:

We are certainly a talkative bunch today...aren't we!!

[TROD]

No Shana, this will be our first. We spent last year at Sea World and that was fun. My boys are 10 & 11; my nephews are 8 & 2, and niece 3. I don't know how you’re doing it. Keeping the cruise a secret! I just couldn't wait. This will be our first cruise as well. Do you think your son will participate in the oceaneers club? Both my boys are very excited about this. They think they are SO big – they are looking forward to ‘their’ vacation.

[Bauerbandt]

Shana, My DD is 7 and my DS will turn 5 when we hit Nassua.

Regarding Kennedy Space Center, if we have 15 people going Group Services will assist with reservations:

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/groupsCorporate/index.asp
http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/

Interested?

[Shana Rayce]

Bauderbandt...I guess if we could get 15 people...why not! There will be 3 of us...do you take the guided tour?

TROD....Yes, it is very hard keeping the secret...but I think it will be worth it to see his face when we first see the Wonder and then pull through the gates!! Yes, he will definitely be participating in the Oceaneer's Club...he is fine with meeting new kids, and loves doing activities! If we do end up at the Poly we should definitely get together while we're there! I am currently booked at the Contemporary...but hope to switch to the Poly...I'll keep you posted.

[Bauerbandt]

Shana:
Yes, we have taken the guided tour at KSC. But, having been there once, we are open and flexible. With your three, Marley's four and our four, we are at 11 already....only need four more.

By the way, what type of rate are you getting at the Contemporary? I still need to book the WDW lodging plus the Cape Canaveral lodging for Thursday after the cruise. I was trying to book at Ron Jons, but they haven't responded to my second request for a single bed room instead of a two bed room (way too expensive, even with the codes).

[Shana Rayce]

Bauerbandt...
Hopefully if others read our posts...they'll let us know if they are interested in joining us at KSC. I was told that taking the guided tour was worth the $$...but whatever everyone else wants to do is fine with me! We are heading back to Orlando after KSC for 3 nights...then home...But then the following Thursday I'm back in Orlando for SuperSoap Weekend at MGM Studios!!! I am a huge ABC soap fan...and I have gone every year for about 4 years! My oldest DD and I, and 2 friends are going this year...so double Florida for me!! :teeth:

The rate that I have at the Contemporary right now is $264.00. I made it about 3 months ago...and it is was the AAA discount rate. Disney room-only codes should be out in the next couple of weeks...right now at the Poly for Sept. the rate is $219 for gardenview...if it is that for Oct. I am going to switch over to the Poly...would rather stay there! When are you arriving in Orlando?

[Betty Breed]

Me and mine are going to MNSSHP on Friday, too. Saturday is my birthday and I'm not sure what's going on that day. Maybe my DH and family will surprise me with something fun.

I'm really looking forward to meeting with all of ya'll. I even have a countdown at work. :jumping1:

[marley]

We definitely would like to do the tour at KSC. I'm the only one that has ever been and it has been entirely too many years to even remember it. And yes, as Bauerbandt said, I have 4 in my family. I can check with my extended family and see if any would be interested in KSC and let you all know.

Trod: Ralph is actually the one in charge of creating the newsletter and sending it out so I'm sure if you emailed him at acrucifer@aol.com he would send you any missed copies.

Shana: Thanks for all of the information on the Sheraton and I feel really embarassed to say this, but we are not staying there after all!! I am such a ditz! We actually agreed to do this timeshare presentation at Christmas, then moved it to Easter, then finally moved it to after the cruise so it was a loooonnnng time ago that the reservation was made. We are actually doing the timeshare with the Sheraton Vistana but for some reason they are putting us up at the Caribe Royale for our free weekend (my husband reminding me of that today). Guess we won't see you guys at the pool after all :(

Before you know it, we will be getting our excursion information. Very exciting times ahead :bounce:

Marley

[lholman]

We are planning on visiting KSC also, but unfortunatley it will be the day before we sail. We will be arriving in Florida on Saturday morning and will drive to Cape Canaveral then. I went there once but it was a LONG time ago! I remember that it was very interesting for a 9 year old kid, so I'm really looking forward to it as an adult!
Every day that brings us closer to the cruise gets us more and more excited to go!

[disneyfreakk]

wow! LOL. yes you are a talkative bunch today!!

we would do the KSC but we are taking a towncar back to disney after the cruise.

hey shana, if you will give me your airport code, dates, prefered flight times and how many adults/kids you have, i will be more than happy to help you look! :D i do this all the time for my family. also, i cant believe you havent told your little secret either!! you go girl!!

[bgomes]

We plan on doing the KSC thing on Saturday before the cruise as well. Still don't have our plane tickets yet either. Hoping the fares go a little lower.

Bauerbandt: anything for dessert is fine, especially Creme Brulee or of course anything chocolate.

[disneyfreakk]

if you guys are Sams Club members then check out their website for flights.

[acrucifer]

it s a very beautiful thing to see all of you getting together on this board and planning activities, sharing information, interacting with each other etc. This was what I was hoping for when I started this thread. to see it taking off is very gratifying. august newsletter will be out this weekend, it is half finished. take care all. TTFN, Ralph

[acrucifer]

Thanks Marley for making it happen, you have been great!!!

[Bauerbandt]

Shana,

We are arriving in Orlando late Wednesday night. We're going to stay near the airport that night and pick up the rental car on Thursday morning. I got a good rate thru Thrifty.

Ralph (& Marley), thank you for all of your efforts. I hope this continues growing until our trip (and even afterwards).

(Watching the opening ceremonies in Greece while typing this. They did a great job!)

[marley]

thank you Ralph and Bauerbandt as well. I think this will be a great trip!

Hope no ones family was affected by the hurricane and that everyone is safe.

It seems to be heading our way and today is Hayley's birthday party so let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for power tonight!! Last night, we had a tornado touch down about 2 miles from here. That added some excitement to the evening!!

Marley

[Pammy jo]

We're going to spend 2 days at WL after the cruise. (That is, if I get good rates) Anyone else planning on staying there?
Pammyjo

Just paid off the rest of the cruise last week! Yippee!!!

[disneyfreakk]

pammy jo, what do you mean by there?? at WDW, or at WL?

also, is there anyone going to the HHN @ universal?? we decided to go to that halloween activity instead of MNNSHP.

[bgomes]

Disneyfreak,
You mentioned using Sam's Club to buy tickets. We were wondering if it would be feasible to pay for a membership to the club. Would the discount price offset the price for membership.


Can you choose your airline........... times..........etc., just like a regular retailer? Is there a set discount for tickets?





p.s. just put in a countdown clock, let's see how we did.

[disneyfreakk]

bgomes ,

you can choose your times and dates. they give you a whole list of diff options. if you would like i will extend the same offer i gave to shana.

EDITED:

i looked at airfare from detroit to mco and sams was about $50 more than southwest airlines. ( roundtrip for 2 adults ) it all depends on what airport you are flying out of and the days. more info would help!! LOL 2 adults flying out of somewhere in michigan sometime before and after our cruise iisnt very helpfull!!

[bgomes]

Disneyfreak (Kellie):

We're trying to fly out of DTW on Oct 30 preferably in the morning (7:00 - 9:00), leaving MCO on Nov 6 -anytime. I'd like to fly Spirit Airlines, if I can. But any airline will work if the price is right. If you see a flight cheap enough, I'll apply for a Sam's membership. My husband has been wanting one anyway.
We can also fly out of FNT or LAN. Thanks for your help.
Barb

[disneyfreakk]

BARB,

i checked 3 places and here is what i found

sams - $386.92 ( sorry )

spirit airlines - $393.42 ( leaving DTW @ 7:25am arriving MCO @ 9:55 / leaving MCO 2:50 arriving DTW @ 5:25 )

SWA - $285.80 ( leaving DTW @ 7:30am arriving MCO @ 11:45am / leaving MCO @ 10:05am arriving DTW @ 1:55pm --- one stop each leg but no plane change ---


i think swa is having a unadvertised special because i checked on our flights and it was $60 less than what i paid! so i called SWA and they gave me $60 credit for later use.

[bgomes]

Thanks for the info. I think I will wait until Tuesday morning to see if Spirit has new prices. Their current ones expire then, if I don't like what I see, I'll go with SWA.

[Shana Rayce]

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a good weekend! Well...this is the week...my final payment is due on Friday!! I don't think I have every been so excited about having to pay $1200.00 for something!! :teeth:

disneyfreakk - Sorry it took me so long to respond to your offer about airfare...I read it when you posted...then forgot to reply! Woops! I really appreciate your offer...looks like there's not too many good deals out there right now! I fly out of FNT, and we're leaving on 10/28 in the a.m. I am waiting for the rates/dates that are out there right now to extend into Nov. Right now they are only good for travel through 10/31. :mad:
I know they will extend into Nov....but it's waiting that's the hard part! I just need to be patient...it will happen! Right now, the rates through Oct. 31 are $113.00 round trip!! I can only hope they stay around there!! I used to be a travel agent...and I know how the rates change...they can change by the hour! You just have to stay on top of it and check daily!

BGOMES - keep checking Travelocity...I check it a couple of times a day...Lately, flights out of FNT are cheaper than DTW!! It never used to be like that!! We used to travel to DTW for the cheaper flights...not anymore!!

[acrucifer]

The august newsletter has hit the newsstands. this months edition is about Nassau. I hope you all enjoy. Ralph

[bgomes]

Thanks Shana. I've been checking Travelocity and have a fare watcher going there. I've also been checking with Spirit (my preference for this trip) a couple times a day. The fares were a "little" lower yesterday morning (last say of current sale) so I bit the dust and took the chance and bought the tickets. Had to check prices this morning and they were higher, so I'm happy. I do agree with you, FNT is a great airport to fly out of. It is a little closer for us and parking is a lot less expensive than DTW. LAN works also, but it is usually not as cheap.I' m usually flexible but for this one I wanted to fly Spirit from DTW. My sister and her family are flying out of there and with 3 kids there will be a fight as to who gets to sit by the window, so if I go on the same flight that might help if one sits with me. Loooking forward to meeting everyone and thanks to all for your help.
Nice newsletter Ralph.
Barb

[GoofyFD]

My family and I will be on the Halloween cruise too. We sailed at Halloween 3 years ago and there were fun things for the kids. We carved pumpkins at CC the day before Halloween. On Halloween there was a "scavenger hunt". You get a list of clues directing you to different places on the ship. Once you get there, they do give candy (and even paper bags for holding it). At the last place my DD received a medal as well. The candy was plenty but not a ton. There was no door-to-door trick-or-treating. The kid's staff were dressed up and ran this activity. We did it right before dinner (late seating) and instead of the show. Lots of adults were dressed up, but plenty weren't. We wore our costumes to dinner at Triton's. We also did the Mickey's Not So Scarey party at MK and that was really fun too.

Oops, I had only read the 1st page! Anyway my DH, Mark, our DD 3 and 6 and I, Emily, were excited to read what you've been talking about. We're staying at the Poly 3 nights before and going to MNSSHP on Thursday.

[Bauerbandt]

Welcome GoofyFD (Emily)! What grade will your 6 year old be in? As of now we are planning on going to MNSSHP on Thursday as well.

Ralph, thanks for the newsletter. Thought for next issue: What if we all sent you a picture of our group/family? This way people might be able to recognize others prior to the DIS Meet, especially those of us going to WDW prior to the cruise.

[acrucifer]

very Interesting idea and seems like it would be fun to put together. this probably works best though if most of us participate. sooooo, speaking for stephanie and I , we will be happy to participate in this. I can make a special "getting to know each other" page with photos, names and such TO BE SENT TO OUR DIS GROUP MEMBERS ONLY, OF COURSE. maybe a word or two on your favorite hobby or passion. anyone who would like to do this can email their photos and or comments at acrucifer@aol.com and if most of you decide against doing this, thats fine, too. I would like to know what others think of this so please talk it up. TTFN, Ralph

[marley]

I think having a page for each family is a great idea!

Marley

[Shana Rayce]

Hi all!
I think that this is a GREAT idea!! :bounce:
I may have to send two seperate pics though...not sure if I have a current one of all 3 of us!! Probably DS and I and DH and DS together. I was trying to think of a topic for the next newsletter...but Bauerbandt beat me to it!! And what a good idea she had!

I make my final payment on Friday...still trying to decide about the insurance though...did you all purchase the insurance??

Airfares went way up yesterday...:mad:
Guess that means a longer wait for me....still no Oct. room-only codes yet either...hopefully soon!

[marley]

Shana:

I just bought my insurance from Access America this week on line for $59 for all 4 of us. I've seen some good things about them on the Boards and I couldn't beat $59. I mainly just wanted it for peace of mind since my sister is due to have a baby soon after the cruise and my great grandparents are all getting up there in age. I was also worried about getting quarantined if we come down with a stomache virus so this would cover all of that.

marley

[Bauerbandt]

Marley, do you have a web site for Access America? I like the price you got. I have to make the final deposit by the end of the month.

Shana, actually, I'm a he and not a she. Although I set up one user name for the my wife and I to use, I do the majority of postings.

Thanks everyone so far for the support of the picture idea. I hope we get good participation. If people have other ideas, maybe Ralph could throw in another newsletter....we still have 2 months to go...........(no pressure there Ralph, LOL)

-Bill (of bauerbandt)

[marley]

Bill: it is www.accessamerica.com although their site seems to be down right now. You put your family members ages, the date you are leaving your house, the date you will return to your house and how much money per person that you will have spent per person that is non-refundable by the time you start your trip. Anything you can get your money back on do not add to your per person amount. Also, if you or your wife is younger, put her as the person applying. I'm not sure why, but when I put my age (my husband is only one year younger), the insurance came out to be $30 higher. With him as the primary policy holder, it was $59!! Go figure!!

Ralph:

I actually have sent my family a newsletter and then email tips you might want to incorporate in a newsletter. For those of us who have cruised on DCL before, we can list on our family page a "must do" or/and "best splurge" by each family member. I also have a packing list I've weeded down from all of the ones listed on the DIS boards to things you ACTUALLY use. My last email to my family was "what does it really cost?". I listed "tips" on tipping and what things cost and what is free on the cruise. I am happy to email you any of these things if you want more work to do :)

Marley

[Pammy jo]

I got my insurance through Travelex. It was only $84 for the 5 of us. I thought that was a pretty good deal too.
Pammyjo

[bgomes]

We like the picture idea too. How many people are interested in this? Let us know when you want the picture and what type of information you would like. It might be interesting to know what kind of jobs others have.
Bob & Barb

[Betty Breed]

We'd like to participate in the picture idea, too. But I don't know how to e-mail pictures.:confused3 Maybe DD1 can help me. Unfortunately DD2 will be unable to come with us. She is in grad school and her instructors won't let her make up the work.:sad: I promised to take lots of pics for her. That also means I will have 1 extra MNSSHP ticket (adult) for Oct 29. That is if they come in. I ordered them July 22nd and was told it would take 10-14 working days to get them. I'm still waiting:rolleyes1 Anybody else having this problem? I ordered them thru my TA and she has the confirmation # and was told they shipped on the 26th. Don't know what else to do.

[lholman]

We like the idea of the pictures, too. Just say when and what kind of information you would like us to include with the pictures.:thewave: :thewave:

[acrucifer]

marley,

that type of information will be very helpful people and I have no probelm putting that into the newsletter. I understand your layout suggestion and think it is a good one. I can envision this next newsletter being the best one yet, one that can bring everyone on this list together. in fact, putting it together will be fun for me. I am ready when you guys are.

[Bauerbandt]

Thanks Marley and Pammy Jo. I ended up going with Travelex since they covered our basic needs. They wanted $59 while Access America wanted $119.

If my count is correct, we are up to 7 groups/families willing to do the picture newsletter. Ralph, I'm glad to hear that you think this will be the best one yet, since I thought the previous newsletters were very good.

[Shana Rayce]

Hi...
I went to both of the websites too...but my quote for Travelex was $95.00! I wonder why it was higher than Bill's and Pammy Jo's?? We have 3 people...what about you two? Would it be the price of the cruise? :confused:

[Bauerbandt]

Shana:

I put in for 4 people at $425 a person (basically cruise only). Also, I didn't select the high end medical coveage, just the $50K.

Change of Subject: Hair Braiding.
For all of those with young daughters, my DW and I have been reading about the trip to the straw market in Nassua and the constant push for hair braiding. Our DD will most likely want this done if everyone else was having it done. We also see that the ship offers it as well. So we were thinking that if the majority of girls were going to have the hair braiding we would try to have it done early in the trip and avoid the constant nagging. Thoughts? Anyone with experience with this and/or where the better places are to have this done?
Thanks!

[Shana Rayce]

Bill...I just went in and refigured...there must be a rate change between $500 and $550...because it is about $30.00 cheaper at $500.00 than $550!! I think I'll just go with that...even though it doesn't quite cover the entire amount of the cruise....diff of about $400.00. Did you get the "Travel-Lite" option? Have you actually purchased it yet? I wonder how it compares to the insurance the cruise agent offers?
Thanks!

[Bauerbandt]

Shana, yes I did purchase the Travelite option, today. DCL/TA wanted $216 for trip insurance (cruise only). I was just looking for some medical and cancellation coverage. This at least includes $50K of medical coverage while on the whole trip (WDW, KSC, DCL) and not just DCL.

[Pammy jo]

We'll do the pic/family info page too. Just let us know what all you want included.
Pammyjo

[marley]

Bill:

Hayley had her hair braided at the end of the day at Castaway Cay (in a very nice shaded area) but did not choose to have the whole crown done. I've seen and heard about little girls crying by having their whole crown done for $40 so I was happy she only chose to have 4 braids for a total of $8 ($2 for each braid) and they were completely painless (much less pulling) but very cute!

She loved having it done on Castaway Cay but they also do it on the ship. Apparently, they have sign ups mid-ship from 2:30 to 3:30 on our sailaway day for the entire cruise and I've read these appts. go fast. This time falls right during our TOT so I was going to send my husband or parents up to make her appt. while she enjoys the TOT.

As for Nassau, they are really pushy and I found the straw market to be very dirty and a bit scary so I wouldn't take Anna there. The ship or Castaway Cay is a much more pleasant experience.

Marley

[acrucifer]

bump

[disneyfreakk]

hey guys!! i missed you::yes:: i have been working my tail off! i will send a picture as soon as i find where i put them. (but you have to promise not to freak out! LOL)

[Jo-Jo21]

We'll send a picture also - I think it's a great idea. What other info do you need with the picture?

BTW we are just back from 2 weeks at WDW - we survived Charley at AKL and had a great time! Now I can focus 100% on the cruise!
:earsgirl:

[acrucifer]

pics are startng to come in for the october newsletter. it might be helpful if everyone sends the same info. with their pics. first, what you do for a living, or career if its not too top secret and if it is, then make something up. second, your favorite or most recommended activity or must do excursion you recommend doing during the cruise, and perhaps your favorite hobby if you have one. if you would like to share info. about who you are cruising with, thats fine to. I will post a page for each member and if it works out right, we will feel like we already know each other a little bit when we meet aboard the wonder. TTFN, Ralph.

[GoofyFD]

Bauerbandt

My 6 year old DD will be starting first grade. What ages are your kids? (I can't keep everyone straight, sorry.) Where are you staying?

[Bauerbandt]

GoofyFD

My DD is 7 (going into 2nd) and my DS is 4 (turns 5 in the Bahamas). Still up the air on where to stay. I am hoping they will extend the September specials into October. I will say Animal Kingdom Lodge would be the first choice of my kids (if the price comes way down.) If I recall, you are at the Poly, correct?
I think a few groups may be staying there.

[disneyfreakk]

i have a couple of question for those of you that have done this before!

do you go through customs before or after you check in at the port??

is your luggage checked like when using a skycap at the airport??



i have looked and looked and couldnt find this info, thanks!

[marley]

Kellie:

I saw on another post that you collect snowglobes. My daughter Hayley collects them too! If you find that there is a DCL one, let me know. I know she would love to have one.

As for checking in, yes, it is basically the same as a skycap. Ahead of time with your docs, you'll receive Disney bag tags. On each tag you list 1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc. so they know how many to look for when they are putting them outside of your stateroom. Out in the parking lot, you hand over your bags and don't see them again until later in the day so anything you need for the afternoon, such as your TOT stash or a bathing suit, bring on board with you in your carry on bag.

You don't got through customs until you get off of the boat on Thursday. It was very quick and our bags were waiting for us. They take them the night before from outside of your room.

Once you leave your bags with the "skycap" (and don't forget to bring dollars to tip per bag), you walk in to the terminal, go through security like at the airport with your day bag, have your docs quickly scanned to make sure everything is filled out right and you have proper i.d./birth certificates/passport, you then get in line and they take a credit card imprint for your charges to your room, hand you your room key, go over room assignment and give you a Navigator for the day.

Next, you get in line. Both of you don't have to stand in line. Usually one person per party is acceptable and the other person can wander around, watch Disney cartoons, look at the ship, etc. There is a small cafe for snacks but save your appetite for lunch!!
Characters usually start coming out for photos at 11:15. They are all in the sailaway outfits although on our cruise, they could possibly be dressed up for Halloween!!

Sorry if I rambled on but this should give you a good idea of what to expect. I guess for Concierge you will have your own line. How nice :)

Marley

[disneyfreakk]

thank you soooo much marley!! i dont think you rambled on at all! that was very informative, just what i wanted to know!:)

yes we will have concierge, i sure wish we could take all of you and put you in our line! they let you bring the people you are traveling with the concierege area and board with you, but i am guessing that Disney would frown on the idea of our dis group walking up with us because you guys are traveling with us, lol. Jay actaully suggested that this morning but wouldnt call to ask if it was ok:rolleyes: ( i cant imagine why:p )

also, you can tell Hayley that they have the DCL snowglobes!! (YEA!!!) its base is a disney ship and Helmsman mickey inside, and the Helmsman had different Mickey's on each of the spokes of the helm (on the outside).

[acrucifer]

from experience I can tell you that disney sends you tags with your cruise docs that you put on your luggage. they meet you at the airport in florida and put you on a bus to port canaveral. they pick up your luggage and check it onto the ship where they deliver it to your stateroom at about 5 to 6pm. returning, you put your luggage in front of your stateroom door the night before arrival back at port canaveral and disney picks it up for you and brings it to the custom area the next morning where you pick it up and walk it through to the bus area . customs treats disney passengers like preferred customers so the process is quick and streamlined. of course your luggage passes through metals and bomb detectors while it goes through customs and may be inspected, but usually isnt. hope this helps.

[Bauerbandt]

After some difficulty, it looks like our lodging is set for the Coronado Springs. Apparently the lodging discount codes for October finally came out today.

[disneyfreakk]

i am sorry you didnt get the AKL like you wanted Bauerbandt .

:(



i keep reading conflicting post about cruise documents. do we need a marriage cert. with our birth certs or not??? lol

[TROD]

Cinderella
I am a horrible horrible aunt. As the family vacation planner - I missed the PS for breakfast with Cinderella in the castle. My niece is 3 and that is ALL she has talked about. Does anyone know if Cinderella is on the ship?

princess:

[disneyfreakk]

bad aunt, bad bad aunt!!

i dont know about her being on the ship, but she shows up at the MNSSHP! not only that, but her glass coach is set up right in front of Cindys castle. its AMAZING!!

[TROD]

What part of Texas are you in? And what company do you work for? I am a GeoScience Tech for Pogo.

[disneyfreakk]

i am from midland!! wow, small world! we work for XTO in new mexico.

[acrucifer]

firstly, cinderella will be on the disney wonder according to the cruiseline and as far as cruise docs are concered, a birth certificate is fine, but it must be the one issued by the municipality you were born in the the raised seal on it. hospital copies are not acceptable and you must have a picture I.D. like a drivers license. a passport, if you have one is the best way to go. I hope this is helpful. I spoke to the cruiseline yesterday and they also said that cruise odcs will be sent out 3 weeks before departure.

[disneyfreakk]

thanks Ralph,

thats what i thought, i ordered our birth certificated from the vital statistics.

[Pammy jo]

I'm bummed, the discount codes came out today but all that was available for moderate and up was Coronado Springs. I really wanted to stay at WL. I finally made a ressie for Wilderness cabins using the AAA discount. Still trying to rent some points and maybe stay at VWL. I also have a confirmed ressie at Radisson. Oh, I hate making these final decisions when I'm not getting exactly as I want!

[marley]

Pammy Jo:

I am a DVC member who owns points at WLV. If you need help renting, I have extra points this year and can try and help you out. Let me know.

Marley

[Pammy jo]

Marley, I sent you a PM.
Thanks,
pammyjo

[acrucifer]

bump

[acrucifer]

delete

[acrucifer]

good afternoon everyone,

I would like to start work on our next and final? newsletter that will come out on October 1st. I would like to do music playing when a reader opens up the newsletter and looks at the different family pictures. (I was thinking or George thorogoods "bad to the Bone" but I know that would nt be appropriate for everyone, lol) anyway, since this is going to take some time to put together and edit, I will need to start it right after labor day. I am asking those of you who havent sent your pics, to send them now, complete with your names, your occupation and favorite hobby to acrucifer@aol.com I want people to feel free to participate, but not pressured to do so. to that end, I may post one more reminder here on the group, but I will refrain from sending any emails about this. I will delete or return all pics after they are put into the newsletter and the newsletter is sent out. please feel free to e mail me with any questions any of you have about this. thanks. Sincerely, Ralph

[disneyfreakk]

MARLEY,

would there be any way that you could cut and paste the TOT list so far and update it??:teeth: please, please with a cherry on top??

also, did everyone get their plane/hotel situation cleared up?? i hope everyone is still going!! my friends arent going with us now, but they werent real thrilled with the whole TOT thing anyway so :p .

wow, the days are just melting away!! although oct 1st will take forever to get here! ( just because i look foward to Ralphs newsletter:) )


well TTFN, and i hope everyone is doing just great!

Kellie

[Shana Rayce]

Hi all...

Kellie...glad you mentioned the TOT. I was hoping for a "kind of final" count too! I am trying to figure out what I am going to do for goodie bags. Has anyone decided already what they are doing? Not sure how far out to go on these...
What didn't your friends like about the TOT? Sorry they won't be joining your....but you'll still have a blast!

Ralph...I'll get my pics to you in the next few days...haven't forgotten....just busy!

Finally the discount codes came out and we are now booked at the Poly for the 3 nights before the cruise...and talk about one extreme to another...the last 3 nights after the cruise we're at Pop Century! Never stayed at a value resort or a deluxe...only moderate....can hardly wait for the Poly and the Cruise! :Pinkbounc

[Betty Breed]

Shana, You'll love the Poly. DH and I stayed there for our 25th anniversary 2 years ago. It was great::yes:: In fact that's where we're staying this time. Maybe we'll see ya there.

[marley]

Kellie and Shana:

The list has not changed since page 8 of this thread. No one new since Shana has emailed me to add them to the list so our list is still the same.

A reminder to those who are not included on page 8, if you want to join or TOT, you MUST email me your info (every member's name in your group who plans to participate in the TOT including adults, stateroom if you have it, and ages of the children who you named to participate in the TOT).

Betty: I only ever got part of your info so have not included your group yet.

My email is marley@nc.rr.com

Also, when planning your TOT treats, don't forget you'll have to carry these onboard in your carry on bag so that you will have them in time for our TOT at 2:15. You don't want them in your checked luggage (or kid's costumes for that matter)!!!

Ralph: I'm working on getting a family picture. Will definitely have one to you before Friday! We are going to San Diego for the weekend without kids:hyper: First time away from them for 4 days! Very exciting, and very scary

Happy Labor Day to everyone, Marley:earseek:

[Bauerbandt]

Ralph, I know I was the one to suggest the idea and haven't yet sent a picture, but I will. I haven't been able to find one with all four of us!

Kellie et al, our travel plans have shaped up quit a bit the past week after the discount lodging codes came out. (I swear, one could get lost for a week, at least, reading all of the diffferent discussion boards. (I have been visiting the budget board, the resorts board, and the cruise boards way too much recently.)) We are staying at the CSR from Tursday until Sunday (10/31). We will be going to the MNSSHP on Thursday night. (I hear they hand out TOT bags, thus we may not need one.) My DW is now having doubts about KSC following the cruise...may be too much for our little ones to handle.

BTW, I read on this board some where that you can now chose your room when making a reservation on the DCL web site. Out of curiosity (to see how crowded the cruise might be), I went out to see what was available: 8 rooms each under cat 9, 10, 11....I bet they limit the web site display to only 8 at a time. No cabins listed above cat 9. Kellie, did your friends return their cabin reservation back into inventory?

Any one planning on using The Perfect Gift? I have tried emailing and calling but haven't had any responses. Thanks,
-Bill

[disneyfreakk]

bill,

yes they turned in thier stateroom but they had a cat 4, so maybe there was a waiting list??

Shirley's website is www.theperfectgift.CC Give her a call at 1-800-950-4559.

i also wanted to mention that i read on the DCL website and it said

"Can coolers and/or food items be brought onboard?

Coolers are not permitted except for those needed for medications, baby food, or items related to dietary constraints. Items must be pre-packaged, un-opened, and do NOT require any food prep from the kitchen. Coolers filled with personal items (e.g. soda, chips, candy, etc.) may NOT be brought onboard. Homemade items or pre-cooked items purchased on the way to the ship will not be allowed to be brought aboard. Also, open bags or containers of snack items should not be brought aboard ship. All items will need to be stored in the stateroom. The ship's storage and/or refrigeration is not available to use."

so are they going to let us bring candy for the tot??

[Betty Breed]

Hi, marley. I e-mailed my info to you. Only took 2 e-mails to give you all the info I hope. :wave2: Sorry it took me so long:guilty: Typing is not my forte:badpc:Let me know if you need anything else:listen:I hope to be able to get the pics to Ralph soon.:scratchin I'm not very good with computers. But I'll give it the old college try:cheer2:

[Pammy jo]

I think the candy should be fine as long as it's not opened. Just curious, is everyone just bringing a few pieces for each child or doing up baggies. I don't think we need to overdo it. I may even do some kind of trinkets instead of candy. Gotta work on that one . . .I'm not even decided on costumes yet!
Pammyjo

[marley]

I'm sure they'll let us bring candy onboard. Especially in a carry on.

I know my parents are thinking of pretzel bags so the kids won't be "sugared up" and I'm thinking of fruit twisters. From what I understand, DCL's candy is mainly chocolate so I was trying to find something different. Non-candy items are also good. Oriental Trading is a good place to find those in bulk for not too much.

I'm sure anything will be appreciated by the kids though!

Marley

P.S. Betty, I haven't gotten your emails yet but I'll keep watching

[Betty Breed]

Marley, I just sent a pm to you. Let me know if you get it:badpc:

[marley]

Betty: Got your information!

Here is our updated list:

WE HAVE 21 KIDS SO FAR FOR TOT


Bob and Barbara (aka bgomes)

Ralph and Stephanie (aka acrucifer)

Pammy Jo and John (aka Pammy jo) Spencer 7, Parker 5, 3 Bradley

John and Lise (aka Iholman) William (9), Kierstynn (7), Trevor (5)

Nick and Tressa (aka nrod7) Brandon (11), Jacob (10)

Marley and Andy (aka Marley) Hayley (8), Jason (4)

Kelli and Tony (aka fussellfamily) Haden (8), Madison (3), Wakeman (2)

Bill and Tracy (aka bauerbandt) Anna (7), Ben (4)

Melvin and Traci (aka Ihave2kids) Fowler (5), Austin (3)

Kellie and Jay (aka Disneyfreak)

Joanne and Eric (aka Jo-Jo21) Eric age 7

Shana and Brent (aka Shan Rayce) Logan turning 9 on cruise

Bill, Betty, Nicole aka Betty Breed) and Taylor age 3

If anyone else wants to be added, send me an email.

Marley

[disneyfreakk]

thank you marley! :D

i cant believe thats it! lol . did some people just say hi and that was it?

pammy jo, we arent doing candy.. but we think the kids will like what we give them :)

are you guys all going to dress your kids up?? i sure hope so! i just love halloween! i was going to dress up but i cant for the life of me convince jay to dress up with me:rolleyes: ( he said he wears his halloween costume everyday :rolleyes: ) i wanted us to go as shrek and fiona even though its disney. oh well, i am not really going to have alot of extra space in my suitcase anyway.

[disneyfreakk]

bauerbandt,

i had some time on my hands today so i thought i would have a look see for the AKL for your dates! and guess what?? i found AKL for oct 28 - 31 for $151.00 a night! i found this at www.southwest.com , you can book hotel only. just put walt disney world as your point of interest. and dont select any hotel at the bottom of the first page.

i sure hope this helps you out!

kellie

[Bauerbandt]

I don't know if anyone has been following Hurricane Frances, but DCL is supposed to come out with an announcement today at 1PM EST on how they are going to handle the Magic (9/4) and the Wonder (9/5). I'm interested in seeing how they handle it with both Miami and FL closing their ports, as well.

Also, both Nassau and Castaway Cay are currently in the path. The latest advisory has the largest storm surge on the northern side of Grand Bahama and Eleuthera Islands. I'm hoping Abaco Island will "protect" Castaway Cay as best as possible from the storm surge.

[marley]

we have friends leaving on the Magic on Saturday. I feel so bad for them. They can't even figure out when to leave NC and head down to Fl. We learned with hurricane Fran, you can never be certain until the last minute where a hurricane is ACTUALLY going to hit.

Let's hope Castaway Cay is spared so that we can all enjoy it soon :)

Marley

[acrucifer]

bump. I need me counter!

[Bauerbandt]

Ralph, just emailed you our family photo. If you do not receive it, please let me know.

I have my fingers crossed that CC has survived Frances. CC is the main stop that I have had my heart set on for this cruise. From my calculations, Frances was with in 20 miles, if not a direct hit on CC.

[acrucifer]

I have been working on the October newsletter and it is taking shape. personally, I think it looks and sounds great, but its still a work in progress. I have received pics from 7 of us (not including stephie and I) and am putting together a nice presentation using microsoft power point. I have assumed nothing about the computer expertise of our group and have endeavored to make it as simple as possible. If we all participate in this, I should receive approx. 7 more pics and I would ask those who havent sent them to do so now. my second questioin is this. is there anyone who doesnt have microsoft power point ? even if you dont have the program, a free power point reader can be downloaded from the microsoft website that would open and play the newsletter and I would be happy to email anyone who needs it the microsoft download page for this power point reader. if you have the power point program on your computer, then you are all set. hope everyone had a great labor day weekend and lets pray for the victims of those hurricanes. lets also pray Ivan misses the U.S. and gives floridians a much needed break. I can be reached at acrucifer@aol.com Sincerely, Ralph.

[acrucifer]

bump

[marley]

Ralph,

thanks for all of your hard work! The newsletter sounds like it is going to be great!

Marley

[Bauerbandt]

Ralph, powerpoint is fine with us.
-bauerbandt

[acrucifer]

Thanks, Marley. its been fun to do thus far. its getting close now, soon we will be in the 40s. hell, I have spent longer in line at the dmv (dept of motor vehicles). see ya. Ralph.

[Jo-Jo21]

I mailed in our applications for absentee ballots today. Just thought I'd mention it in case someone didn't realize that we'd all be cruising on election day. :D

[marley]

I am soooo exctied:Pinkbounc

I just figured out how to make door signs for everyone and they are so cute!! They have this whole Disney Halloween theme to them.

The only wording I was going to have on them is:

Braun Family (or insert your family last name of course)
Cary, NC

or should I put everyone's first names? I'm hesitant to do that since everyone on board will see who is in that cabin and they could call our children by name which would make them think that person knows them. Am I being paranoid?

Let me know what you all think.

Kellie, are you still willing to hang all of these for me? It shouldn't take long. I'm going to have them laminated and then bring "glue buttons" to quickly attach them to the doors. We had an event today at school in which we used these glue buttons and they are awesome.

Marley

[TROD]

Marley - I LOVE the sign idea for the doors. I personally would like the last name only. I too get paranoid with that!

Ralph - have been trying to get the family together to get a photo - and it hasn't happend yet. If I don't make it in time for you - I will just post it.


Thanks to both of you for everything you are doing to make our trip great!

[disneyfreakk]

hey Marley!!

ofcourse i will still go hang those signs up! although, why cant we all use your last name??:confused: it sure would make things faster!!!!

Jo-Jo,

thanks for reminding us all about the absentee ballots. i havent forgotten because that is all Jay has been talking about!! its driving me bonkers!!:crazy: