halloween cruise/ Magic: October 28th-nov..4th 2006

[kritter]

First time cruising would love to meet some other cruisers who want to chat.. I will have four and half year old twins at that time look forward to hearing from you all... :cool1:

New and Imroved First Page!!
Eastern Magic Halloween Cruise: October 28th-Nov. 4th 2006

Dis trick or treat web page

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good evening All,

OUr halloween Dis board trick and treat is scheduled to be held on Monday October 30th at 12:15. Please send along your information to Heather or Kristin no later than September 15.

Heather and I have been working oh soo hard on a web site for our cruise... A moderator recommend to us that having all of our information on a secure web site that can only be accessed by all of us. In turn, we will be able to include much more valuable information about the cruise and all of our activites. Below you will find the information that we will need from each of you to put in the web site.

This is only for the DISers who are posting to this thread. Please have an adult in your group send the following & I will add it to the site & send you the link once I have updated the link. I will add your email to the group list so that you will be notified when the site has been updated with more info.

DIS ID: If you don't include this info, we wont know who you are.
Family name:
Individual names of family members (please include the children' ages at the time of the cruise so that I can put them in the right grouping)
Birthdates: so that we can add them to our cruise list
Celebration:
Stateroom:
Dining:
Hometown:
Pre/Post Cruise Plans: (Date arriving in FL & where you will be staying Friday night & if you plan to stay at WDW after the cruise. This info allowed some of us to arrange meets prior to the cruise.)

A short note with where you work & what activities you like to do.

Please send a picture of your family to be included. This way we will be able to reconize all of you...

For those with children, please send an individual picture pf each child to be put on the DIS Kids page by age group so that the kids can get to know each other a little better. Let the kids tell the others their age, grade in school, favorite thing to eat on the ship, favorite Disney character, & their favorite activity on the ship...whatever they want to write about.

We will have also have a page to list Palo resie times & excursions to help make plans.

stolteheather@yahoo.com

kristinguillemette@sbcglobal.net


Here is the information and as I get it I will update it...with any other info...



Arrival October 22nd:

Kritter (Kristin) 32, DH (Bruce), DD4 TWINS , grandparents, Cat 4 (early seating)



Arriving October 27th:

Princessh, (Heather), and DH (Tim), DS Timmy 11 and DS (Jacob), 3 and Heather's dad and step mom too!!

sjcubedofct (Sherry) 39, DH (Scott) 35, DS(Steven )11 & MIL(Leah), (late seating)

October 28th Arrival:

Wndrmite, , Two, DD's (8 and 9), Dear Brother and his wife and their daughters 10, and 11

PMDR59, Family name: Gough, DH Patrick (35), Me Maureen (34), DS Devin (7)
DS Ryan (6),


Unknown Arrival:

Captain Crash, (Tom - 42); spouse Alicia (42) and daughters Julianna (now 4.5) and Kalea (now 1.75)

luvs2talk(Teri) age 40, DH, R60TIGGER (Rick) age 45 , (Main seating)

mommykeg, DD9, DS5

XLT800, ( Dave), DW (Fran)aka Tchrmom, and DS14 and DD11

Kab 407 I'm Scubarn's sister. Joining me will be our Mom, Ann
Big Jack2002 Our DS, DDIL, 2 grandchildren and us and our DIL's parents and sister. We are staying on deck 2, aft



Buckifan, DH, DS11 and DD7 -cruise is a secret to the kids

Princess Olivia (Jen), (Craig), DD8, DS7

Mamalle, DH, DD 6, DS 4,

AmyJofCA, DH, DD 8, DS 7

love*2*Shop Rachel , DH (Scott) DS6 (Kyle), DD 4 (Madison), Cat 3

RAD, and DW

Cntkg, (Nancy), DH (Chuck)

Hollydog, Me (of course),DH, DS9, DD7 (as of cruise, birthday is 2 days before cruise), DD9 months (as of cruise), DM, DMIL, And maybe DFIL if he can get the time off from work

Awoltoday, DW (Choc_Marg), DD7, & DS5

Fireplug, DW

Holle&Joesmommy, My DMIL & DFIL are BIGJACK from Akron. There will be 12 of us myself, DH, DD (will be 9) DS (will be 5) DM, DF, DSister (16) Dsisters friend(16) BigJack & wife (inlaws), and 2 friends of ours.

LaRue (Katie), DH (Bob), DD7 (Elizabeth), DD5 (Natalie)

Mcchelse (Sara), DH and DDs ages 11, 9 and 7

LUVTOGO (Maryann), DH, 2 DD's 13 and 11, my friends dd's 18, 13, and my sister and my neice who is 15, Cat, 9

Akghutton, DH, DS, (6 and 3), and her parents

Tluns2Talk, (Terri), and DH

Kchartsf, DH, DD 6

Ginger (DH) Bill my 9 year (DD) Ashley, Michelle, Dave, Alex 9 and Adam

[mommykeg]

Hi! We just went on our first Disney cruise on July 9th...and rebooked for October 28, 2006. We are not ABSOLUTELY sure we're going to keep the date...we MAY move our ressie to March 2007...but at this point we are on the October 28th cruise. I have a DD8 (who will be 9 when we cruise) and a DS4 (who will be 5 when we cruise). Are your twins girls or boys? Both of my kids loved the children's programming...one was in the 3-4 year old group in the Club...the other in the 8-9 year old group in the Lab. We're excited about going to Castaway Cay for the first time...and I think it would be cool to celebrate Halloween on the ship!

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

Oh that would be soo neat if you went when we are going...My twins will be four and a half when we sail and they are both girls...
Did you just love the cruise what can you tell me about it??What type of cabin did you have, etc..
They will be having such great things for halloween I called and talked to them and they told me cosutme contests, etc...
I hope you keep the reservation..
pLease tell me more about your cruise..
What did your kids love the most..

[mommykeg]

The best part of the cruise was that there was always something for everyone in the family...something they WANTED to do! No one was "compromising" for another family member because everyone had their own programming...and there was programming for the whole family together as well.

We had a category 6 verandah cabin, #6060, and we loved it! We tried to book the same cabin for this cruise, but someone else booked it already...so we got #6560...same cabin, opposite side. I'll keep checking to see if "our" cabin becomes available...the kids really want the same cabin! We loved the verandah...loved hearing the ocean and having the extra space...loved walking out in our jammies to watch the ship dock rather than having to get up early, get dressed, and go to deck 4, 9, or 10 to watch. Now I think we'll want a verandah every time. If we went on a 10 day maybe we'd downgrade to a category 8 to be able to afford it, but if we stick to the 7 day, I think we'll budget for the verandah.

The kids both loved their respective clubs the best. They loved the constant entertainment in there and being around other kids their own age. The programming is really geared toward each specific age group...and the kids love it!

Keep the questions coming...I'll be happy to answer!!

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

:cool1:
Thanks so much//I think that my kids will really love it and I am hoping that they will go and do the activities..
Someone told me I may have a hard time signing them up for the kids club since this is my first time cruising and I can not sign up for things till 75 prior..Do you think that is true??
My cabin room number 8050 I think I will have to look..I am hoping that these rooms are nice..HAve you haerd anything about these rooms??
Also what islands have you been too??
We are planning on staying in disney for 6 days prior to the cruise then do the cruise so we can relax.. Also the days at sea do you find the pools get really crowded??Someone told me that we would not even be able to get a chair to sit near the pool..
What else can you tell me about the cruise..
Also have you had a pillowcase signed by the characters?? I read on the boards that people have done this...
Thanks for the info...
Kristin
DVC memeber SSR 2003
Disney tooo many times to list..

[mommykeg]

I don't think you'll have any problems signing the kids up for the clubs...they are guaranteed a spot.

The pools were a little crowded on sea days...but we were always able to find chairs. It always seemed that someone was leaving as we were arriving and offered us a chair or two.

We didn't have pillowcases signed, but we did have t-shirts signed. I had family disney t-shirts made with our cruise dates, itinerary, etc. printed on them...I left the kids' shirts and fabric markers with guest services the first day. They were delivered to our stateroom on the last night with just about EVERY character's signature! The kids wore them off the ship the next day. They treasure them.

I haven't heard anything about stateroom 8050. We've only been on one DCL cruise...and it was to Mexico. But on another cruise line I've been to St. Thomas, San Juan, St. Croix, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Jamaica. Of course, those cruises were a LONG time ago and before kids...don't really remember much about them!

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

Kim,
Thanks for the info...I can not wait for the cruise too bad it is far away...

We are already planning our costumes for the cruise...How about you??

[XLT800]

Hello to Mommykeg and kritter.....we are also going on this cruise. This will be our 7th on Disney. We are going on number 6 in May.

It will be me ( Dave), DW (Fran) and DS 14 and DD 11 at cruise time.

We did the West Coast cruise this summer and had an excellent group of Dis'ers.

Looking forward to getting to know you over the next year.

Dave

[kritter]

oh how cool tell me anything and everything you can about the cruise.. I can not wait...
I have twins who will be 4 1/2 at the time...

[mommykeg]

Hi, Dave! I think I remember you from a West Coast cruise thread I was following. We went on the July 9th West Coast cruise. Isn't your wife a teacher? I teach first grade at a year round school...this is my 15th year.

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

hey Kim I was a teacher tooo first grade and now I stay home with my twins..

[XLT800]

Hi, Dave! I think I remember you from a West Coast cruise thread I was following. We went on the July 9th West Coast cruise. Isn't your wife a teacher? I teach first grade at a year round school...this is my 15th year.

Kim.....You got on the ship as we were getting off. You are right DW (tchrmom) teaches 1st grade.

Kristen.....we have done the eastern and western and the west coast. We like the eastern the best because of the sea days. Your kids will love everything about the ship. Our kids have never spent that much time in the clubs. They have always met a friend and hung out with them. We have always stayed in a cat 10 so I do not know much about the other rooms. We do not spend much time in the room so have a verandha or window does not really matter to us. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Dave

[kritter]

Dave,
Thanks so much for the info..Look forward to getting to know you over the next year and then meeting you on the cruise..Can not wait..It should be a blast..

[XLT800]

Do not want us to fall too far down on page 2 so here is a little bump to help us.

Dave

[kritter]

dave hope all is well with you and great idea..

I am already planning my costumes for halloween on the ship and you??

[scubarn]

Count us in too!
This will be our second cruise, our first was October 2004.
DD 5 and DS 7 (turning 8 on the cruise) are exicted about cruising again
Also joining us will be my in inlaws and Brother/Sister in law and DS 6

Karen

[XLT800]

Hey Karen......so glad taht you have joined us. Because it is so early, we are going to need the help to keep us on page one. I keep trying to get DW (tchrmom) to join but she has been busy with school.

Kristen....as for costumes, not sure yet. We have done 2 other October cruises but never on Halloween. I am pretty sure DS and DD will not dress up.....that would not be cool.

Hope everyone has a great weekend

Dave

[tchrmom]

I keep trying to get DW (tchrmom) to join but she has been busy with school.

:wave:

Good morning! I'm XLT's wife..............and yes, teaching is keeping me busy these days. I can't sit at my computer at work and pretend to be working on something, like other people I know! (tchrmom looks at XLT) :rolleyes: I guess I could connect at night, but "veg-ing" on the couch is so much more appealing right now! :rotfl2:

I'm with XLT, we probably won't do costumes. But, then again, we don't really dress up for formal or semi formal night. (Nice dress and suit.....and we eat at Palo that night)
A few people go all out with tuxes and beaded dresses, but they are in the minority. (don't you agree, mommykeg?)
Even for Pirate night.......we dressed "resort casual".

Any questions you have.......we can try and answer. :listen:

Fran
:teacher:

[mommykeg]

I definitely agree with tchrmom...we didn't see many tuxes and beaded gowns on our cruise. There was a range...from not dressed up at all to really dressed up...I don't think ANYONE was uncomfortable. My boys (DH and DS) wore dressy khakis, navy blazer, white dress shirt, and tie both nights (formal and semi-formal) and the girls (myself and DD) wore nice dresses, kinda semi-formal I would say.

As for costumes, we'll have to see. The kids dressed up as Mickey and Minnie last year (2004) and the costumes were a bit big...so maybe they would still fit them next year. I'm sure they'll want to dress up.

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

Karen, great to meet you and can not wait to get to know you over the next year...my twins will be four and a half on the cruise...


I know that my twins will want to dress up in their princess gowns on one of the formal nights.Is that ok and do kids do that???they are soo into the princess...I was thinking of jsut wearing a black dress you can not go wrong with that ever...

I was a teacher tchrmom what grade do you teach?? I bet you are busy at this time of year..How are you getting time off next year to go on a cruise?? If I was teaching still and not staying home with the twins then I would never be allowed time off my district is strict about that type of thing...If I were you too I would veg out on the couch when I got home too teaching is soo tiring...you are on your feet all day... I taught first grade..

Also what type of rooms did everyone get for this cruise??

[mommykeg]

We're in a category 6...cabin 6560. We just had 6060 on our West Coast Cruise and loved the location. It wasn't available, or we would have booked it again!

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

It seems like all of the rooms would be great..I was totally unsure what type of room to go with so I got suckered into getting the cat. 4 I think we will be really happy with that type of room but probally did not need to spend the extra money on it.. oh well too late now..

[tchrmom]

I was a teacher tchrmom what grade do you teach?? I bet you are busy at this time of year..How are you getting time off next year to go on a cruise?? If I was teaching still and not staying home with the twins then I would never be allowed time off my district is strict about that type of thing

I am a first grade teacher. Our school district gives teachers 6 personal days, besides the additional 10 sick days a year. They are used for when you are not sick, but need to take time off. The hard part is planning for a sub for 5 days!!!!! :guilty: THAT takes work!

I would say that it is perfectly alright for your girls to dress as a princess on formal night! They will fit right in. I did notice on our 7/2/05 cruise that the only ones who really did stand out were the beaded dresses/tux people. (one couple REALLY sticks out in my mind!) It seemed like most people just wore "nice" dresses/dark suits..........fancier than say church clothes. I even saw a princess Jasmine costume on formal night, and she looked cute!

We have a cat. 10 room. We are in our room so little, it is not really worth it for us to get much more. On our last cruise, we were not in before 2 every night, and were up by 6 or 7. (XLT and I like to watch the sun come up and drink coffee out on deck in the morning.....then nap during the afternoon by the adult pool)

Hope everyone has a good Monday!
Fran
:teacher:

[kritter]

Hi,
That is soo awesome that your district gives you that many days off...Mine used to do that but took them away when they gave a new contract...

I am glad that you think it is ok for the kids to wear the costumes they are at the age that they love this kind of stuff and the princess are their absoulute favorites..

My Dh and I will not be wearing a fancy ball room gown or tux.. I have a few simple but elegant balck dresses and dh will wear a tie and jacket..do most men wear suits???Dh has so many from work it will not be a problem.

Also how do you get from the airport to the boat do you use the disney transportation??We were thinking of taking a limo but do not know who to use do you have any suggestions??
thanks hope you had a nice monday..

[tchrmom]

Also how do you get from the airport to the boat do you use the disney transportation??We were thinking of taking a limo but do not know who to use do you have any suggestions??
:confused3
OK, Kritter......................this is one I can't answer for you. We live in Tampa. The port is about 2 1/2 hours away. However, the night before, we always drive over and spend the night. (Just to get the vacation started early.) What day are you coming in?????? Sat. I would assume. If I were you, I'd try and arrive Friday night, if possible. I would get a shuttle service from the airport to a hotel, like the Raddison, that has free shuttle service. I would ask around to others, who have flown in.....they are in a better position to give advice on this one. SORRY!!!!

Fran
:teacher:

[mommykeg]

kritter...

I was wondering the same things about transportation. I didn't book Disney air...we're planning on either 1) arriving Friday, getting transportation to a hotel near the port, and shuttling over early Saturday OR 2) arriving a few days early and spending some time at WDW at a Disney hotel, then getting private transportation to the port on Saturday morning. Now that I've been on DCL once before and since they have online reservations, I'm not as frantic about being the first on the boat, but I DO still want to start our cruise as early as possible and enjoy the empty pools with the kids! Money will probably be the deciding factor in the end...whether we want to tack on a few days at Disney or just do that as a separate vacation later. Since we've never been to WDW (we're annual passholders at Disneyland), a few days might not be enough.

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

well we are disney vacation club memebers so what we are doing is staying from the monday before till sat..morning at saratoga springs resort in wdw.. and then need to get transportation to the boat saturday morning and taking the cruise..this way it is a chance to stay in disney then we can go on the cruise so it will be like a fourteen day trip..

[mommykeg]

kritter...that sounds like an AWESOME trip! Keep me posted if you get any transportation tips...I'll do the same!

Kim :flower:

[kritter]

great I will do that I posted a thread on the transportaion section and have heard that tiffany and prestige along with florida tours is good..florida tours is very pricy though..

[tchrmom]

Just checking in tonight..................not much going on here. They are saying that we will have a tropical "storm" here this weekend............other than that, there really isn't too much going on.

I wish I could help you guys with the limo thing...............It will be nice to be able to do this cruise w/o planning all that stuff. We did the West coast cruise this summer, and all those little details drove me crazy!

Fran
:teacher:

[kritter]

Fran,
I really do not mind planning all of the little details but it is a way to keep me excited and into the trip...

Hope the storm is not too bad keep us posted...

[XLT800]

Back to page 1......we were getting pretty low onto page 2. Hopefully this thread will pick up soon!!

Dave

[kab407]

Good Morning all. I just finish booking this a few minutes ago so, add me to the list of folks on the Magical Halloween Cruise 2006.

I'm Scubarn's sister. Joining me will be our Mom, Ann.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you over the next few months. And yes, I will be wearing a costume on Halloween! :banana: It's the one chance out of the year, I do not have to have on my corporate game face.

To those of you in the Mississippi Delta region, good thoughts and prayers to you. Stay safe.

Kathy

[kritter]

thanks Dave,



WELCOME KATHY!!

We sooo look forward to meeting you...and getting to know you ... we also are wearing costumes and can not wait....

[kab407]

Kritter,

I see that you are also a DVC member.

While everyone was booking the October 2006 trip last Oct, I was buying my first 200 DVC pts. First trip home is in a few weeks, 2 Bdr at SSR! Food & Wine Fest! Nephew's first trip to WDW! Can't wait!

Kathy

[joksten2000]

Get enough People and the limo ride is 1/2 the price of the bus ride. I'd love to get together and take the limo if some of you are game. This will be our 7th Cruise, we love Disney. Didn't use points this time the price from Dreams Unlimited was too good to pass up. My wife is retiring from her School Nurse Job Oct 1st 2006 and this Cruise was perfect

[XLT800]

Welcome Kathy and joksten.....should be a lot of fun getting to know each other for the next year.

Lets try to keep us on page 1 so others can find us.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Dave

[kritter]

kathy, I love my DVc and you..

[kritter]

Get enough People and the limo ride is 1/2 the price of the bus ride. I'd love to get together and take the limo if some of you are game. This will be our 7th Cruise, we love Disney. Didn't use points this time the price from Dreams Unlimited was too good to pass up. My wife is retiring from her School Nurse Job Oct 1st 2006 and this Cruise was perfect


the price was soo right...

Welcome...what limo company do you recommend using??

[joksten2000]

Limo or Deluxe Van 10 passengers $270. - Cheap FL TOURS

[kab407]

kathy, I love my DVc and you..

My first trip home is in a few weeks. I bought SSR sight unseen last October. We got off the ship and had a few hours to kill before flying home so we headed over and took a tour. I knew I made the right decision. The DVC discount on an AP is a nice benefit also!

[joksten2000]

Central NJ, We're down in South Jersey- Paulsboro about 10 miles South of Camden

[big jack 2002]

Hi, We're going to be on this cruise, too. Oct 28, 2006 Eastern!! Our DS, DDIL, 2 grandchildren and us and our DIL's parents and sister. We are staying on deck 2, aft. We have the same rooms that we had for this Jan's cruise!! We like cat 9 and aft. ::MickeyMo

[kritter]

My first trip home is in a few weeks. I bought SSR sight unseen last October. We got off the ship and had a few hours to kill before flying home so we headed over and took a tour. I knew I made the right decision. The DVC discount on an AP is a nice benefit also!


we bought it unseen too before it was built and love it..

[kritter]

Hi, We're going to be on this cruise, too. Oct 28, 2006 Eastern!! Our DS, DDIL, 2 grandchildren and us and our DIL's parents and sister. We are staying on deck 2, aft. We have the same rooms that we had for this Jan's cruise!! We like cat 9 and aft. ::MickeyMo


welcome welcome big jack and can not wait to get to know you any advice you have about the cruise would help us all out...

Hey all what do you think it would be neat if we could arrange an hour one day when we are at see to all meet...

[XLT800]

We are slowly growing.....

Big Jack....I see you are from Akron? I grew up in Medina and still have a brother that lives in Stow. Have not been back in a while but I know that Medina has grown quite a bit.

Hey all what do you think it would be neat if we could arrange an hour one day when we are at see to all meet...

Are you wanting to arrange a dis meet while on the ship? I am sure as it get closer we will plan to meet at the port, during the sail away and hopefully for a party one day.

Dave

[tchrmom]

Hello, Big Jack, Kathy and joksten!
I'm XLT's wife. Glad that you found us! We've always had a big DIS meet at the port. It's a great way to start off the trip.

We're on the 5/27/06 double scoop cruise, and we're actually doing a "mini meet" this weekend in Disney World. It will be nice to actually meet the people that we have been "DIS-ing" with. :wave:

Fran
:teacher:

[kritter]

Welcome everyone so glad that we are all meeting one another... :cool1: :cool1:


Sounds great that we can all meet one another it would be really good..
I look sooo forward to meeting everyone and can not wait to see and talk to all of you about the cruise..

Fran,
Look forwad to hearing about the double scoop cruise,,,

[joksten2000]

421 DAYS TO GO. Just the wife & I on this Oct cruise. Just saw the points for Alaska trip were posted and since its cheaper than the double scoop on july 22 I've decided to take them to Alaska as God knows what will happen to airfare in the next couple of years and i have enough points to go without paying money

[kritter]

you and your wife will have a great time just the two of you...

[joksten2000]

418 Days Left, Closer Than You Think. Thinking Of Starting My List Of Things To Take.

Bathing Suit, Maybe Two

[XLT800]

No one will find us on Page 3!!

Everyone have a great weekend

dave

[captaincrash]

Hello!

We just returned from the 9-3-2005 Magic... and we've rebooked for the 10-28-06 Magic! We had originally rebooked for 9-30-06 but this seemed like more fun with a bit of a theme being Holloween an' all. PLus we have some family & friends considering this date as well.... but we have to wait an' see if they'll make it. :confused3

On the 9-3-05 sailing we had 105 DIS folks ... and about 75 at the DIS meet on embarkation day. We put together a couple of semi-private DIS events while aboard... for starters we ran a treasure hunt for the 12 and youngers... then I orchestrated a Competition for who could eat a Mickey Ice Cream Bar fastest challenge. We had two groups... kids then adults. The record was 1 minute and 5 seconds with the adults and I got award certificates for every participant signed by the ships' captain!

Our party consists of myself (Tom - 42); spouse Alicia (42) and daughters Julianna (now 4.5) and Kalea (now 1.75). We hail from Southern California.

We're looking forward to chatting with everyone who is embarking on this scary little Magic sailing!!!!

:thewave: :thewave: :thewave: :thewave:

[XLT800]

Hey Tom......Glad you found us. Hopefully the thread will take off soon, it is hard to find us on page 3. We also had about 100 Dis'ers on our July 4th cruise and it was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone.

Dave

[kritter]

two bathing suits I was thinking at least three...

[captaincrash]

Thanks for ....

.... your welcoming gesture Dave (XLT800)... I imagine we can't expect a lot of attention at OVER a year out... and I am uncertain about keeping us in the 1st couple of pages for the whole time over the next 13 months. We're talking A LOT of postings - HOWever... I'm up for trying! :goodvibes goodness sakes but we have done sillier things before on the DIS.

At one point we were trying to get our thread up to 1000 within a few hours (when we were at about 920) and we started a bunch of silly rounds of commentary. It was fun - but bordered on the psychotic... and I am JUST THE SORT to go along with FUN and marginally rational activities!

And yes - we made it to 1000 easily!!

So.... who else do we have that is activily following this AND sailing with us? Only the really dedicated DIS DCL enthusiasts book so far in advance! And a scary sailing no less!

Come out - come OUT - where-ever you are!!!!>??? :banana:

[kritter]

Kritter....

.... I would enjoy contributing some planning for "fun" DIS events for our little scary gang... however, I would temper the notion with acknowledging we are are NOT trying to upstage the cruise and all it delivers. Of course, that would be impossible, eh?

But, the two little events we pulled off were simple little activities - and many of us contributed via loot, or logistics or otherwise. One family made tie dyed t-shirts for all the kids - ($4 was requested per shirt) - and one family helped us out by picking up matching pirate costumes because our local store did not have the ones described - which we viewed as a ahuge courtesy - and we reimbursed the $5 per costume it cost. BUT, really... the things we did were relatively simple matters so long as we had a few folks who were sharing the load in various ways.

So... I gotta ask... how old are your twins? My daughters are now 1.75 and 4.5 years old. I'm hoping your girls are close in age to one of my daughters. It would make for some potential fun for them in emailing one another ocassionally.

And from what I can gather I would ask... is this your 1st time on DCL? I noted a number of WDW visits listed but only the DCL trip noted for OCT 2006. And if this is your 1st DCL trip - have you cruised other lines before?

OK.... I gotta lurk around a bit more - (move on) before it gets too late and I turn into a punkin (IE, get too sleepy).

So... we're pleased to make the aquaintance... (is that how the expression goes? I must be getting tired since I am losing focus - and dinner tonite was entirely too heavy - I should have skipped dessert and that last helping of pasta!)

OK, TTFN!


Hey,
I think it would be neat if we could all come up with a few things that we could do so we could meet and have some fun while on the cruise..Lets see if any others have any ideas tooo.With over a year away we have plenty of time and can come up with some great ideas toooo...
My twins will be four and a half when we sail and would love to chat with your kids..Hoping they will want to do the kids clubs while cruising...
this is our first cruise my husband had cruised before we were married but not me...so excited to go we just returned on tuesday from ten days at wdw and they well we all had a great time....the gilrs loved the princess and am hoping that they will have a chance to see them on the cruise..before the cruise we are planning on staying fice days in WDW...so it will be a long trip for us..
my girls are already planning out what they will dress up as on the cruise. hoping that the halloween stuff is not to scarey on the cruise the mickyes not so scarey halloween parade can be a scarey on so hoping the cruise is not too much my girls are whimps and get scared easily...
i think that if we work hard enough then we will be able to get this thread to stay active for a year....up for the challenge????
Hope all is well with you and will talk to you again sooonn,,will not be on the boards as survivor startts tonight... :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc

[captaincrash]

Well Kritter....

I'm always up for an extended round of lurking - except that I will have to break away ocassionally to eat and sleep, brush teeth and engage in similar daily chores!

But I must say - we're pleased to learn your twins are of similar age to our older daughter. And I'll get my little Julianna to draft (or rather - dictate) an email greeting to your girls by private message. And just to prepare you - she actually copies my touch typing while she speaks out loud what she wants to say - not really typing anything coherent - but I sort of take notes on what she is saying while she types... then I type in what she was saying as close to the way she said it afterwards. Plus I'll try to snap a photo of her while she's actually typing then I'll attach a photo link. Now... I don't expect any photos of your girls typing away - and I may or may not get to that point too (however over the next year I'm sure you'll get a few from us) - but I just want to have some fun - and if our girls get to know one another a little along the way then they'll have a LOT to look forward to in addition to the kids' club and everything else the Magic has to offer!!!

So... if you are sailing the Magic for your 1st sailing then I'm sorry to say this trip will probably spoil you against sailing most other cruise ships! We've sailed about 19x and the Magic is the ONLY ship we have sailed more then once - let alone 4x (the 4th being October '06!). So - without spoiling the sense of discovery for you - I would say you're in for a nice little "escape" come October. I dare say that I should NOT let you see the digital photo albums of our past sailing (I have several hundred photos) as it would give away way too much. Heck - half the fun is encountering things for the first time.

So - that's my way of saying I'll try to drop hints of things to do so you don't miss anything - while at the same time I will try very hard NOT to say anything that is better left ... discovered while aboard! :teeth:

That is - unless you'd rather have a "Mr. Know It All Type" of routine. Frankly - I have friends who know I prefer discovering things on my own usually - and (for example) they call me right after a great movie opens and they ask - so Tom.... have you seen this so and so a movie? and if I say "No" then they cut in and say something that reveals key element(s) in the movie's story (before I can hang up)... so I always have to be on the alert when a good movie has opened and my rascally friends call.... :rotfl:

Aside from that - we will be busy tomorrow nite and saturday morning so we'll PM your daughters on the weekend and reply to your next posting then.

So--- awaiting other Holoween enthusiasts to chime in....

:cool1:

[kritter]

Well Kritter....

I'm always up for an extended round of lurking - except that I will have to break away ocassionally to eat and sleep, brush teeth and engage in similar daily chores!

But I must say - we're pleased to learn your twins are of similar age to our older daughter. And I'll get my little Julianna to draft (or rather - dictate) an email greeting to your girls by private message. And just to prepare you - she actually copies my touch typing while she speaks out loud what she wants to say - not really typing anything coherent - but I sort of take notes on what she is saying while she types... then I type in what she was saying as close to the way she said it afterwards. Plus I'll try to snap a photo of her while she's actually typing then I'll attach a photo link. Now... I don't expect any photos of your girls typing away - and I may or may not get to that point too (however over the next year I'm sure you'll get a few from us) - but I just want to have some fun - and if our girls get to know one another a little along the way then they'll have a LOT to look forward to in addition to the kids' club and everything else the Magic has to offer!!!

So... if you are sailing the Magic for your 1st sailing then I'm sorry to say this trip will probably spoil you against sailing most other cruise ships! We've sailed about 19x and the Magic is the ONLY ship we have sailed more then once - let alone 4x (the 4th being October '06!). So - without spoiling the sense of discovery for you - I would say you're in for a nice little "escape" come October. I dare say that I should NOT let you see the digital photo albums of our past sailing (I have several hundred photos) as it would give away way too much. Heck - half the fun is encountering things for the first time.

So - that's my way of saying I'll try to drop hints of things to do so you don't miss anything - while at the same time I will try very hard NOT to say anything that is better left ... discovered while aboard! :teeth:

That is - unless you'd rather have a "Mr. Know It All Type" of routine. Frankly - I have friends who know I prefer discovering things on my own usually - and (for example) they call me right after a great movie opens and they ask - so Tom.... have you seen this so and so a movie? and if I say "No" then they cut in and say something that reveals key element(s) in the movie's story (before I can hang up)... so I always have to be on the alert when a good movie has opened and my rascally friends call.... :rotfl:

Aside from that - we will be busy tomorrow nite and saturday morning so we'll PM your daughters on the weekend and reply to your next posting then.

So--- awaiting other Holoween enthusiasts to chime in....

:cool1:


Hi,
So glad that I have found another disney nut like our family..
My daughters are sooo excited and will love typing to your daughter.. they love to type on the computer as well and then I can interpurt what they have written..They will make up fantastic stories..so beware....
I would love to see pictures from your other cruises...I just looked at your photos and they are great...I will enjoy seeing pictures of your trips..I will have to post some from our trip we just returned from ten days at WDW.. it was fabulous....
Let me know anything that you feel is important for the cruise I love to know things ahead of time...
kristin

[captaincrash]

Well...

.... for starters DCL uses a dining rotation through 3 venues: Lumeries', Parrot Cay and Animator's Palete. Plus there is a 1st and 2nd seating. Your dining staff moves through the rotation with you so you will have the same staff at each venue. However, is not as obvious is that there is a special character breakfast once per 7 day cruise - and yours' will come on the morning after your 1st dinner in Parrot Cay. This represents a change from how DCL scheduled it in past years. I won't say too much more about the dining venues so it remains a bit more of a pleasant surprise for you when you experience it.

Plus - on dining.... there is an optional dinner venue called Palo's. This is an italian restuarant on deck 10 aft by reservation only - no kids alowed - and there is a fee of $10 pp. This is fairly popular with most folks and the reservation schedule fills up rather quickly. And - if you want to try this then you should make your reservations as early as possible for Palo's. These can be made on-line 75 days prior to sailing. If you were a Castaway Club repeat patron then those folks can make reservations up to 90 days early.

So... a couple of weeks ago our older daughter did not have much interest in the kids' clubs. She had determined that there was much more to do around the ship OUTSIDE of the club - plus she likes the novelty of the bunk bed since we don't have one of those things at home. AND - our hangin' a tent-like veiled canopy did not help matters in that regard - but it did add a bit of fantasy to her bunk. So - with consideration for what your daughters will tolerate or prefer... I would add that another DIS family on the same sailing had 4 year olds who would NOT leave the kids' club. So - yeah.... you could encounter either angle of reaction from your girls.

As such, our older daughter attends preschool for 2/3rds the day 3-5 days a week. I work from home so I bring her in and pick her up with cosiderable lattitude. No set agenda or schedule . But she has great friends at school and enjoys it.... so we were mildly surprised at her lack of interest on the kids club. Last year she did not want to leave the club!

So we are planning on binging costumes for the cruise. How about you?

Gotta go... :cool1:

[kritter]

Well...

.... for starters DCL uses a dining rotation through 3 venues: Lumeries', Parrot Cay and Animator's Palete. Plus there is a 1st and 2nd seating. Your dining staff moves through the rotation with you so you will have the same staff at each venue. However, is not as obvious is that there is a special character breakfast once per 7 day cruise - and yours' will come on the morning after your 1st dinner in Parrot Cay. This represents a change from how DCL scheduled it in past years. I won't say too much more about the dining venues so it remains a bit more of a pleasant surprise for you when you experience it.

Plus - on dining.... there is an optional dinner venue called Palo's. This is an italian restuarant on deck 10 aft by reservation only - no kids alowed - and there is a fee of $10 pp. This is fairly popular with most folks and the reservation schedule fills up rather quickly. And - if you want to try this then you should make your reservations as early as possible for Palo's. These can be made on-line 75 days prior to sailing. If you were a Castaway Club repeat patron then those folks can make reservations up to 90 days early.

So... a couple of weeks ago our older daughter did not have much interest in the kids' clubs. She had determined that there was much more to do around the ship OUTSIDE of the club - plus she likes the novelty of the bunk bed since we don't have one of those things at home. AND - our hangin' a tent-like veiled canopy did not help matters in that regard - but it did add a bit of fantasy to her bunk. So - with consideration for what your daughters will tolerate or prefer... I would add that another DIS family on the same sailing had 4 year olds who would NOT leave the kids' club. So - yeah.... you could encounter either angle of reaction from your girls.

As such, our older daughter attends preschool for 2/3rds the day 3-5 days a week. I work from home so I bring her in and pick her up with cosiderable lattitude. No set agenda or schedule . But she has great friends at school and enjoys it.... so we were mildly surprised at her lack of interest on the kids club. Last year she did not want to leave the club!

So we are planning on binging costumes for the cruise. How about you?

Gotta go... :cool1:

Thanks so much for the info...I love learning anything and everything about the cruise///
I would love to see some pictures...
My Kids will go either way they really do not like to leave my side so it should be interesting to seee if they go but if they meet your girls then they might..Our friends might go as well and ther son will be seven when they go...
What cat. cabin do you get and which do you like best and why...????
We are planning on dressing up my girls already have selected their costumes out....and you????I think my husband and I will dress up as well....
go to run and get them to bed my dh works long hours so it is all me....

[captaincrash]

I have a few minutes before picking up one daughter form school.... the other is napping on my lap...

... so I have NOT had a chance to fully "edit" our personal photos from the 2005 cruise. We have a DIS album uploaded but I am waiting for the other folks to review the album before I post any public links. AND... my usual photo site changed their storage guidelines last year from unlimited to capacity for unlimited time to having both factors limited. This had the effect of erasing 10s of 1,000s of photos I had stored ... including the past 2 DCL cruises. Fortunately, I had hard copy back up of all my photos BEfore I uploaded anything... so I just lost the convenience of sharing old photos at a whim.

So... befoer I send you links to any DCL cruises - are you sure you want to see them? These are pretty extensive with shots of just about everything from the menus, to the dishes, parties, passages, empty decks late nite, folks at the pool and beaches, cabins, ... you see what I mean? You can alost spend hours just looking at the photos (that's how many I have)... and I don't have anything set up yet that I would consider edited much. Just from this past cruise I noted today that I have just over 6GB of images which roughly translates into maybe 2000-2500 images. Over 8 days that's like having about 400 shots a day or 50 an hour... or about 1 shot every 1 minute and 16 seconds for 8 hours a day. OK... maybe lots of the sots are mutli-frame action sequences ... and at least 15% are MPEG movie clips (VGA at 30 FPS!). But even so... I have a LOT of pictures.

So... at some point in the next few days (or more likely weeks) I'll put together an album for sharing. I routinely do so - so that I have something to circulate to widely scatterred family and friends. When that is ready we'll send you a link. And the DIS album will get a couple of links posted publicly in a few more days pending and editing requests received.

:goodvibes

So we settled on booking a catagory 9 - located in what we consdier the "sweet spot" on the ship 2/3rds back and low to minimize any ships motion. My spouse is vulnerable to motion and sound. So I sort of messed up on the last cruise... and you would figure that shouldn't appen since we've sailed a number of times - but I got lazy and did not research it fully. So - this time we are under a supposedly quiet area that has the least possible ships motion (rocking, pitching or yawing). Actually have had a catagory 6, 9 and 12 in our last 3 cruises. That is a quad veranda, quad window and triple inside at the lowest cost. Frankly, we can get by with ANY of them.

Generally, on cabins we follow the mantra that you should book exactly what you will be minimally happy with... OR book what your budget and tolerance sez is OK. We are OK with a cat 9 window on deck 2 because deck 2 has the larger 36" diameter windows aas opposed to the deck 1 windows which are 2 smaller windows. Plus the space differneces are zero through the next several better catagories- excepting the additional acerage of the verandas. So... the final consideration is we will accept any upgrades that are offerred by DCL - and we will look into buying an upgrade at the port if the value is good and location tolerable. We consider any cabin so long as it is aft of the forward elevator clusters. Although the ships motion is calm 90% of the time - the 10% of the time it is challenging - then we have to contend with motion and a good cabin location makes it survivable for my spouse.

So... other thoughts on cabins... the cat 12 is actually in line for being among the avergae size for modern ships at 180'. The older ships get down to minimum cabin sizes of as little as 100'! So the difference can be somewhat stark. My spouse and I have had cabins as large as 400' on a cruise (a free upgrade from a larger veranda to their largest catagory - Carnival)... so we figure a catagory 9 is just about right at this time (as a minimum).

We actually have slight concerns about our kids since they can open most doors and the older one climbs like a little monkey. Not that we think she does not recognize the hazards of a balcony that overlooks open sea... but that it just is a passing thought that provides an excuse for NOT spending more moola on a veranda. Also, I think when both kids are older - then a nice veranda will be better appreciated and utilized - since we are likely to just get 2 cabins - an insde for them and averanda for us older folks (heh-hee-hee)... OH ... al-right... the kids can stay with us and enjoy the veranda cabin down the road... at least until the end of this decade! :goodvibes

[abitjaded]

Bump. Hoping to be on this cruise, but may be going the week prior. Love the tie-die.

Carla

[captaincrash]

On another note - the 2005 Magic Holloween cruise has about 55 DIS families posting - and about 2,595 postings and 30,195 visits with a month+ to go! So... I wonder whether we'll have a similar number of DIS folks sailing/posting? If so then we're likely to have a huge DIS meet in the works. My 9-3-2005 sailing had 104 people / 75 at the DIS meet and 1000 postings as of embarkation date! :goodvibes

[kritter]

love it I am hoping our cruise next year has this many...


loving all of the info I am finding out and looking forward to seeing photos...

[captaincrash]

Here are some photos from....

..... from the DIS meet, the DIS treasure hunt and the DIS Mickey Ice Cream Eating Challenge contest we ran on the Sept 3, 2005 Magic cruise we just returned from.

Try clicking on the EYE ICON labeled "watch show" to activate a pop up window with a slide show. If your POP UP blocking is set too high then this will not work - then you'll have to clink on a small thumbnail sized image to enlarge it - then advance manually one at a time. This can make your index finger get tender since ther are 250 or so images posted. So the slide show is the "convenient" way to go ... if it works for ya!

Here is the link:

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=nma4cnc&p=mnh4y8&AID=2812048&Pres=Y

:confused3 If the link does not work then try this one....

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=nma4cnc&p=mnh4y8&AID=2812048

Enjoy!

[XLT800]

We have 2 threads going for this week. I suggest we keep this one and let the other one die out.

Dave

[captaincrash]

I was sort of posting to both....

... as they each reach a different set of search criteria - but this one does have a lot more postings to it. I'm all for supporting one (this one). ;)

[kritter]

I saay great idea lets keep this one going but does anyone know how we can change the word october in our thread it is spelt wrong so if you know how could you do it then lets keep this one going..

Everyone up to the challenge to keep it going for a year?? I am....

[captaincrash]

That was one of my concerns...

as well as the potential need for other key words in the title to make searches effective in bringing this thread up for anyone looking for our sailing. I found the thread because I tried several combinations of search. Maybe the administrator could help us? Someone want to send an email to the forum adm? :rolleyes1

[kritter]

Captaincrash I would be willing but do not know how to do it any ideas??

[captaincrash]

I went ahead and sent a private message to a forum moderator for cruise meets to see what they think about editing our thread title to correct the October spelling and add "Magic" to our title. We'll wait and see what CarolAnn says. :dog2:

[captaincrash]

Here is revised photo link....

The others seem to not work all the time....

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=nm...E=Y&ILD=1248290

Hope this works. :flower:

[kritter]

thanks so much captain crash you are the best..

[captaincrash]

I actually have not succeeded at anything yet... compliments may be premature.... But... since you started thi thread I needed your agreement posted so I could refer a monitor to this... or I sort of figured you might have wanted to privilage of hunting a monitor down. As yet I do not have a reply. Even without one - we can refer folks if they post to a secondary forum, eh? :dog2:

[kritter]

yes yes inded we will refer folks to this one and since we are up to the challenge of keeping this thread going for such a loooooooooooong time...

hope we hear back soon...

[abitjaded]

I sent a private message to Kritter. Chances are she can edit it herself. Please note that your own postings have an additional icon next to the reply. Click the edit icon and you can change mistakes even after the message appears on the boards. But note, you cannot edit the posts of someone else.

I sure hope that Rita is the last of the worst. And that the 2006 season is a lot less fierce than this has been. Missed Grand Cayman in 2004. Would love to have a standard itinerary in 2006!

Carla

[captaincrash]

Well....

Sounds like there must be a way for you to edite the thread title Kritter...

check it out. :cool1:

[kritter]

I did do it hopefully it works correctly??

[joksten2000]

Decided to book a 4 day stay after the cruise at BCV we've never stayed there been booking in at WLV. We stopped in to look the place over an liked the pool and the boardwalk across the lake. Reading through the thread I'm sure we'll need the rest after the cruise.

I did pack an extra swim suit today and some sun tan lotion
:banana: Can't be toooooo prepared

[kritter]

when are you going??

[joksten2000]

NOV 4,5,6,7 can't book till Dec but i'm really looking forward to the great pool with the sandy bottom and the seafood buffet. I also understand that espn on the boardwalk has the greatest ribs :Pinkbounc

[kritter]

this year...

[kritter]

Hoping that we can keep this thread going for the next year..
Also hoping that we will be able to meet one another on the cruise and plan some activities that we can do...
Let hope we get some more people before we cruise or we will have the ship all to our selves....
:cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1:

[kab407]

Let's give this a little kick up to page 1.

To those of you in TX, LA, MS an AL, I hope you are safe and doing well.

[kritter]

sounds great tooo me...
hope everyone is safe as well..

[buckifan]

:) :) :) :) :)

[kritter]

I'm new to message boards....I was looking around to get info about our first cruise. My family and I will be on the 2006 Halloween cruise also. Forgive me, I'm not even familiar with the abbreviations you all use! I'll be cruising with my husband, my son (age 11 at time of cruise), and my daughter (nearly 7 at time of cruise). My husband and I have decided to keep it a secret from our kids. They think were planning a trip to Washington DC. Which I'm sure would be a lovely vacation, but nothing compared to this!

I was wondering what special things Disney does for Halloween on the ship....does anyone know?

We have been to WDW twice before, but as I said this is our first cruise EVER! We are so excited...don't know how I'll keep this giant secret for a year!


First off welcome welcome....I am new to the boards as well and am also learning the ropes..
I am excited to meet you..
I have read on other boards for the cruise that people who meet on these boards have done ice cream eating cotnests, etc.. with others on the boards while on the cruise..I am hoping as we get more people and it gets closer we can organize some type of activity for all of us...
this will be our first cruise as well
good to meet you and welcome.....

[buckifan]

This is probably a dumb question, but I was wondering in DCL supplies towels at the pools, or do you have to bring your own? We were planning on hitting the pool as soon as we board, so I need to know if I should plan on packing towels in our carry on as well. Thanks!

[mommykeg]

There's no such thing as a dumb question! :earboy2: DCL does supply towels at the pools...they are white, bath-sized towels and are stocked in large bins near each pool. If you like beach-sized towels, you'll need to bring your own.

[buckifan]

Thanks! I think I'll pack some beach towels in our luggage, but I'll keep our carry on as light as possible, and use the DCL towels when we first board.

[kritter]

sooo not a dumb question it was great to ask and now others will also know...

[XLT800]

Welcome to the DIS Buckifan.......Please ask all the questions you want, it gives us something to talk about and you never know what others might learn. This will be our 7th cruise and I know there are others here that have cruised DCL before also. It will be me, DW ( also known as tchrmom), DS (14) and DD (11)

Dave

[kritter]

Dave,
Hey I read on the boards that there is a DCL catolog to purchase merchandise is this true??

Also what else can you share with us about the cruise??

[XLT800]

Kritter.....I do not know of a DCL catalog, I think that the only place to purchase DCL stuff is actually on the ship. There is a place to buy DIS Board stuff though.

Tip for the day for those that are new to DCL: Get to the port early on Saturday. You will want to spend some time in the terminal and Saturday is day 1 of your cruise so make the most of it. Last 2 cruises we were the 2nd family in the terminal.

Dave

[kritter]

Dave,
thanks what time do you recommend to get there we are staying in WDW the week before and it would not be a problem to get there early but how early and what do you recommend to do first when you board...
also have you ever gotten an upgrade when you get there...
what type of cabin do you get too...

[captaincrash]

Hello folks... :wave2:

... we're back on .... an welcome aboard Buckifan! You're gonna have a great time on the Magic! If the upcoming Holloween thread for the 2005 sailing is any indication we'll have several thousand postings from 50-100 families. We recently returned from our 3rd Magic sailing on Sept 10 and we had 104 folks from the DIS aboard. We had a really nice time this sailing since we had so many other folks we sort of knew (compared to the prior 2 sailings where we only knew our table mates).

So - at the "get to know" DIS meeting on embatrkation day we had about 65 -70 of the 104 folks from the board show up. We orgainized semi-private "extra" activites... like the recently mentioned ice cream eating contest (organized by yours' truly) for the kids and adults; a treasure hunting gig and side meetings on "secret verandas". Throughout the cruise we found ourselves bumping into other folks we had been chatting with from the DIS and from the DIS meet. Many late evenings we sat down with DIS folks and just shared stories and opinions on all manner of things.

ONE thing I'll throw out now just for kicks.... is anyone intersted in joining us on an unusual foray at St Thomas/ St John? :confused3 We are planning (thinking about) catching a ferry from the port in St Thomas at 9AM (1st boat) for St John.... then renting either a 10 or 14 foot zodiac to run around the secluded beaches at St John. Turlock Beach (is that what it was called? this is an exceptionally exptic and unspoiled beach) is on our hit list. The 10 footer costs $75 for a half day and $140 for full day and handles about 6 people. The 14 footer has a center counsel driving station and will seat 8+ people.... cost unknown.

This was cited as an unusual and relatively cheap activity which ranks up there among the rare adventures which stand out as extraordinary. Renting a power boat is usually several hundred as opposed to under $100. Plus... compareed to shore excursions sold by DCL.... this ranks at probably 40-75% cheaper than a comparable DCL excursion. IE... the thumbnail estimate for cost is under $120 for four persons on a ferry + 1/2 day 10' Zodiac + taxi (depending on where we dock in St Thomas).... versus an assumption that a venture of this magnitude would run easily $50+ up to 120 per person if it were a DCL excursion. Of course - it would differ in being escorted while ours is in effect unescorted.

So, in support of this venture we were gonna pack picnic style lunches from room service (not officially encouraged y DCL but widely exercised by experienced castaway folks) and we'll try and hit 2 or 3 (or more) beaches in our exploration. Plus we'll have time to shop in town on St John before catching the return ferry. I had a link to a site with photos of the boats from the rental company. Later I'll dig it up and post it here. :rolleyes:

With this deal we expect that we will experience truly exotic and secluded vistas from a very unusual perspective... and we'll visit beaches which other folks would otherwise never visit if they were coming from the Magic. So, the company of another 1 - 2 or 3 families either sharing a 14 footer or following or leading in their own 10 or 14 boat is quite welcome. :groom:

Some might consider this a bit too adventurous.... but it has been posted on the DIS by others. Also, my spouse and I have chartered aircraft for touring, buses, SUVs and Taxis for touring... so this is not that much out of line.

On St Marteen 3-4 weeks ago we rented a large van (split it with another DIS family) and we drove a complete circuit of St Marteen ... stopping at 3 beaches and more or less exploring all over the island at OUR pace. The next time in 2006 we'll probably do more shopping there since my spouse had little opportunity to shop there - and instead she did all sorts of shopping on St Thomas. That's why we're thinking of flip flopping the agenda in 2006 and do the adventurous exploration of St John. We've stayed on St Thomas before - renting a car and wandering about at length.... So St John and it's secluded beaches are a hit point on our potential hit list.

OK... gotta go...

Warmest welcome again to the Buckifan famiily! :grouphug:

If you're interested... here's a couple hundred photos of the DIS activites we had on this past Sept 3-10 sailing. The DIS meet is 1st, followed by treasure hunt then the ice cream challenge at the end. I managed to get the Captain of the Magic to sign our "award certificates" which I sort of made up!

Here is the link: http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=nm...E=Y&ILD=1248290

:disrocks:

[buckifan]

Thanks for all of the "welcomes" everyone. What a nice group!

After all I've been reading, I'm starting to feel like I've got a good understanding of how things run on the ship. And it sounds like our daily navigator will help us to decide our daily activities.....but I'm still feeling VERY overwhelmed about what to do on excursion days. So many choices! I'm wondering what would be the most enjoyable, least stressful, cost effective excursions for first-timers? Laying on a beach is not a big priority....we do love to sight see & shop, but I don't want to miss a really great experience either. I guess I'm looking for the biggest bang for our buck! Thanks in advance for any help! :confused:

[kritter]

hey captain crash,
can you tell us all more about these picinic lunches,, you are talking about..

How far is the beach when you get off the boat in st.john..

your adventure in st.thomas sounds amazing and I know that my Dh would be soo into that except the fact that we have been on vacation twice to st. sthomas and we are planning on going and hanging out on the beach and the resort that we have stayed at when there before.. We still keep in touch with the director of the resort and she is welcoming us to come with the kids to spend the day on theri private beach...

[captaincrash]

Buckifan...

... the beauty of the Cruise in my humble opinion (otherwise abbreviated IMHO)... is that you travel from port to port in comfort - free of a certain number of variables making easy days ashore to explore or engage in ventures. Now - as for economizing without sacrificing an experience... that will vary with your personal tastes and tolerances. Some folks would like nothing more than a massage on th beach in a quiet cabanna... drinks, comfortable shade and nice book. On some days that would be me. While on other occasions - lets get out and see something few others from ship are likely to see or do. That's a little harder to pull off ... especially while economizing. Odd to think here we are trying to save a few dollars when we all parted with plenty of moola to fly out and sail on DCL, eh? But I am certainly no different on this issue - as a few hundred saved on the next 5 cruises adds up to another FREE trip on the 6th outing!

So - I prefer to say I am not ashamed to have a nice trip where we pay a little more for certian things while saving some moola on other things.

So - I'd say there are lots of ways to shave savings without sacrificing anything of significance. Generally - any DCL shore excursion can almost be duplicated more or less at a meaningful savings... so refer to the list of shore excursions and activities sold for an idea of things to do. I don't have older kids - ours are 1.75 and 4.5 currently so I cannot say what might appeal to them - can you suggest a few leanings or preferences - then I might propose some ideas?

One thing I will say that is held out the scare folks into paying more for the shore excursions - is that the DCL excursions GUARANTEE to get you back to ship before it departs otherwise DCL is responsible for taking care of you. So on this you have to say exercise common sense and generally stay sober if you're gonna do anything ashore. AND... I have seen folks going nuts as the ship pulls away from a port because some of their party did not return to the ship. It was somewhat comical since they were being told that DCL had people ashore (on the pier and inland) who were alerted to the missing passengers - and once the late returning folks hooked up with the DCL representatives they would be assisted with hotel and transportation to the next port stop to meet the ship.

Now - missing the ship is more of an issue if you also miss a few sea days - or a return to home port! But - DCL and any cruise line has contingency plans for missing passengers - and it's just a little extra money if it happens. Aside from that... the extra charge for DCL excursions is really only worth it for the sheer convenience offerred. Any fro some folks it is the best choice. I and my spouse are extremely comfortable on our own anywhere we have traveled to. So, we actually prefer the independence of being on our own... among other things like saving 50% all the time!

And KITTER....

As for the picnic thing... it's nothing more than this... bring some zip lock bags (a few large and small) and order room service the nite before. Stuff like the turkey or club sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pizza and such. Then zip lock it up and throw it all in your fridge for use as a picnic snack the next day. The ship really does not encourage this if you mention this idea o any of the staff but it is a popular thing among those in the know who also want to 1) save a few bucks, 2) eat safely prepared institutional grade food, and 3) want to save time not scavenging for a place that looks safe enough to dine fro on the island. As I recall things usually cost quite a bit for common foods on the islands... and the food aboard ship is equal or better then the best... excepting maybe the Breakfasts in room or the seafood dinner buffets we've had at the Ritz Carlton on St Thomas.

So - we typically just pack heavy snacks - and we generally arrive with a fair appetite for dinner - but we are not sufferring from malnourishment ashore! Of course, it makes perfect sense to sample a few things ashore too while picnicing the balance of lunch needs from the ship.

Oh... On towels... you will only need towels or beach mats on St Thomas or St Martin if you hit the sand there. Castaway Caye has towels right there as you step off the ship for your use. And - generally - the castaway caye stop is a really nice experience if not somewhat "packaged" in nature. Food concessions for a Beach BBQ are right there adjacent to the beach (all free of course - except liquor and souveneers).

And - now tht I'm considering it a little - BUCKIFAN - do you suppose your kids would like water craft like peddle boats or driving a zodiac powered by a modest outboard engine? The Zodiac thing was a thing we were considering for ST Thomas / St John. Driving from port to beach to beach is a 2-2.5 hour thing so it is not really involved... nor is it expected to be really dangerous. Everyone gets a life jacket, video training on safe boating practices and my spouse used to be a life guard about 25 years ago when she was in High school! Not that she wants to be official life guard - but she can jump in should it become an issue. I for one cannot swim.

At any rate - swig by a library and get a nice tour book for the carribean and dream up some ideas ... as I am extremely open minded on things to do which sound like fun or things that we have not done before.

Consider... I was the one who joked about making the DIS meet a toga party on our last Disney cruise. After that line of conversation I was officially branded a rebel rouser of sorts (and I enjoied the role!).

Gotta run.... wwe're traveling on business and I'm watching the reports of wild fires in Thousand Oaks/OakPark and SImi Valley... and we live in Wetlake Village which is between Oakpark and Thousand Oaks. They are evacuating some folks and we don't really know exactly whats going on down there other than the little bit they show on the news here.

I'm sure everyting is under control - and if not ... then that's what insurance is for.... but otherwise we prefer to be back home to salvage irreplacible things if fire becomes a legitimate threat!

TTFN (Ta Ta for now!)

:cool1:

[buckifan]

Thanks Captaincrash for all of that info. I know I have a lot to consider.

I don't mind spending a fair bit on an excursion that is worth it. And I can't consult my kids ahead of time on there choice of activities, since the trip is going to be a surprise. So, we may just have to "wing it" once on board.

As first-timers to the DCL and cruising in general, I don't think we are adventurous enough to choose an excursion outside of the DCL ones offered. I know, I'm a chicken. The thought of missing that boat scares the bajeebers out of me.....since that is truely OUR destination. I'm sure we'll feel different about it after we have a couple of cruises under our belts. ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

[XLT800]

Just my 2 cents.....We did DCL excursions on our 1st and 2nd cruise. Now we do everything on our own. We would definitly consider renting a boat. We have a jet ski and love spending time on the water.

Dave

[captaincrash]

Buckifan...

As XLT800 suggests... doing things on your own or tagging along with another family to split a private taxi van etc (for example ~ to drive privately around the island for the day) is an easy undertaking.... and money-saving while expanding and enhancing the experience.

I can recall in earlier days when we met folks on the ship who explained how easy it was to do things on your own when we had just returned from a pricey cruise ship excursion... and after several cruises we started trying a few things on our own... then as we advanced in courage we met folks on the ship with a quiet consideration for the potential of sharing a few activities (or for finding another couple who knew more about smart things to do for maximum fun with extreme value in port. So... before the advent of the internet we would have to chance it to meet folks or we would simple do things alone. As once on Jamiaca we chartered an entire bus with about 20 seats for a private island tour and we could have easily added one to perhaps 4 more families for the same (or slightly more) cost!

So... I know your kids are supposed to be surprised... so I was thinking to ask you under these secretive circumstances what do you think your kids might like. So... let me suggest a couple of basic considerations. Which of the following would you say sounds appealing...

1) staying on the ship to enjoy easy (constant) food and activities like the kids' clubs, internet, movies, pools, or simply loitering in the cabin and exploring the ship. I did exactly this in St Thomas with our 2 kids while my spouse went ashore to power shop without any restrictions on her own. :flower:

2) going to one of two types of beach for half a day or longer... type 1 being moderately commercialized with conveniences like cold drinks, hot food, bathrooms, plastic lounge chairs with umbrellas for a fee ($10 typically) and probably a few local folks wandering around selling things.... or type 2) under-developed, semi-private with minimal resources but more privacy, and much more of a spot locals would frequent. :cloud9:

3) Snorkling or scuba diving :earseek:

4) Aerial tours... either fixed wing or rotary. :banana:

5) Historical guided tours ... or quasi-introductory from a bus type exploration :moped:

6) water craft adventures - including sailing, or cruising, or renting a small craft like a boat, or even sport fishing as well :boat:

7) shopping around town. An easy and potentially inexpensive thing IF you don't buy much. On the other hand this sort of thing could bust your bank if you're bent on acquiring another pair of his and hers platinum Rolexes OR Patek Philippes ... with diamonds. ;)

8) site-seeing which is more a "lets see what we have not seen since we're here" sort of stuff... which is a sort of "happy-go-lucky" sort or approach. My spouse and I are often of this attitude since we are not put off if our exploration yeilds more or less discovery. :earboy2:

9) exotic site-seeing ... which might encompass the pricey stuff like private Dolphine encounters or renting a real 2 person submarine guided by a scuba diver chaufferring you from outside. And... I guess aircraft charters would have counted here but it has it's own line above since it is not all that expensive if you're good at bargain hunting. :rolleyes1

10) Resort hopping ashore. This is like stepping off the ship to lounge at a decent enclave of comfort, convenience and safety. :dog2:

So... beyond all this is a virtually limitless expanse of possible undertakings which are limited by your imagination and budget. But these 10 catagories probably cover a lot of the main ideas and concept catagories.

So... Buckifan.... what two or three things sound appealing to you and your family considering their tolerances and likely preferences? Am I putting you "on the spot" If so I apolagize (misspelled?) and please free to demure or deflect the direction of discussion. :grouphug: As I'm just being neighborly and a motor mouth with a keyboard! :confused3

OK... TTFN.... pirate:

:badpc: Tom & Alicia

[kab407]

Buckifan,

In addition to all the information you'll get here, I do recommend the, "PassPorter's Field Guide to DCL" by Dave and Jennifer Marx. It does a great job of laying out the ship, activities, and a good description of the tours in all the ports.

Personally, I'm looking at doing the 12m yacht sail in St Martin. I sail J24's during the summer. It should be fun to sail something in the America's Cup size. My other thought is a side trip to Anguilla on my own. Having been there before, the beaches are stunning. St. Thomas is still up in the air. My own choice is to head over to St. John and spend the day on Hawksnest.

CaptCrush- hope all is safe in CA. Rebel Rouser, huh??

[buckifan]

Thanks captaincrash & Kathy. I have read previously that the Passporter's Field guide to DCL is a big help in planning....I'm definitely going to look into that. So many of those options listed sound appealing to me. That's why I'm in such a quandary! But I really do appreciate all of the suggestions. You mentioned several things I don't think I would have thought of myself! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

[captaincrash]

Oh...

I suppose it was just that a few of my proposals and such with the last sailing that were a bit.... frothy. Maybe "rebel rouser" was a hasty remark that's best left behind as I wouldn't want to attract undue attention from the "authorities".

Frankly, we're just like anyone else... implying we're all seeking a little family fun with a sprinkling of rebel rousing pixie dust on a DCL sailing. I feel that these last few sailings have been more and more pleasant ... more so with the added dimension of the DIS community adding new elements to the overall experience. As such we are now enthusiastic DIS lurkers in the best sense.

That aside.... I must say that Anguilla sounds interesting. I'm not exactly certain but I don't think we've been there before. We'll have to look into that... IE ferry times and such.

Ok... so much for my wandering dribble this morning....

So... does anyone want to volunteer what their thoughts are for pre-cruise diversions (with kids 2.75 & 5.5)? Every time we arrive in Orlando (a day or two early) we are relatively low key. I think next time we're looking to do a litle more. We typically have not done any of the amusement parks before.

OK.... gotta go start my day. :earboy2:

[kritter]

Captain Crash,

You should try and do the parks before the cruise that is our plan for five dys we are going to park it and love it...

I love the idea that you are a rebel rouser so are we and would love the toga idea...

[captaincrash]

To quip a mildly fameous remark....

...." Houston, (I think) we might have a problem...."

They're gonna have to add an additional security contingency to our sailing now! :cool1:

[kritter]

Oh well at least we can say that we are having a godd time isn't that what life is all about....

We are up for the challenge you??

[abitjaded]

To a bunch of different posters:

Hey Captaincrash, love your St John idea. Wish I knew for sure if it is this week for us! School schedule for 2006 should come out in January. We'd be in. We first booked a DCL because it was cheaper to get to St John that way, than fly from Denver and stay at Concordia ( a dream of mine).

We have DCL excursioned and private excursioned. ( One Western and two Eastern under our belts with other trips in Mexico and Carrib.) We are snorkel addicts and I can discuss both Eastern and Western itinerary opportunities ad nauseum should anyone want to know. Private booking gives so much control. Cabbed before to Coki and Megan's. First St Thomas DCL we booked with shoretrips and had our own boat to order about for four DIS families. Great, and we were the first at most of the sites to snorkel! Did the van thing on St. Martin, too. We were the first at the beach, beat the venders! And had a most amazing private tour in Costa Maya from a man who had "owned" the Maya ruins, and still seemed to keep his soul there. Snorkeled in the same reef at Cozumel that excursions paid fifty and up pp. Our cost: $5 taxi and a few beers and sodas at a palapa. And we got the whole day.

Broke down and took the Leylon Sneed the next time to St T (took g'ma and the wheelchair) but still did not make it to St. John- ship delayed with customs-so we ended up going to Little St. James, a private island. Conch as thick as corn in a field and the biggest hermit crabs ever. Amazing blue sea fans at the off-island reef.

We have done the parks pre- and post-. But the best thing we did was a post-cruise stay at Cocoa Beach. January, so way too cold to swim in the ocean. But we did Merrit Island one day, amazing wildlife (saw cougar?, manatees, wild pigs, alligator, wonderful birds). Did NASA one day. And just beach combed, went to our condo's heated pool, and relaxed. We loved this. Cocoa ain't too fancy but is very relaxing.

I think I have a bunch of old trip reports that are no longer on the boards and I could repost if anyone wants to read about specific things. Just ask.

Carla

[kritter]

carla.
We would love to read your trip reports from past trips..Love to read and learn new things..
Soo hoping that you are on this trip/cruise...

[buckifan]

Does anyone know if they will still be doing a pirate theme night next year? I was thinking of looking for some pirate costumes right after Halloween when everything goes on clearance! And.........do you guys think the pirate night would be ON halloween, or a different night? ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

[kritter]

When I called DCL direct they told me that they will have an night to dress up for halloween and I do not know exactly when it is next year but I bet they would do the pirate night too..call tomorrow and ask them..

[buckifan]

Well, I called DCL this morning, and they couldn't offer too much help with this. She said the Pirate night that was just started this year is going over very well, but can't be sure that they will continue with the theme next year. She did say that if they continue with the theme, she doubts they would do it on the 31st, which will be dress up night. ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

[captaincrash]

I ....

... for one would be mildly disappointed if they canceled the pirate nite. AND... we are actually looking forward to the holloween nite affair. I hope lots of folks bring constumes to dress up and have a large partying group aboard!

Out here in LA (or rather West Holloywood) we get a lot of folks parading around in extremely imaginative costumes... plus we've been to a few crazy costume parties in our younger days through the years. So - a little Disney influenced holloween party on the ship would be quite welcome!

AND.... how convenient that we have the post 2005 Holloween sales to pick over for a bargain outfit for 2006.... eh? We have 2005 pirate costumes to recycle for the 2006 cruise... so maybe we'll find decent accessories on sale this season to kick up our outfits a notch or two. :earseek:

To,... ABITJADED.... I hope your January schedule enables your coming out next October. Our kids are younger and not in reular school yet so we are not under that restrictive consideration yet... and at the same time we are curious as to how we'll manage our travel events once the kids enter school. So if you can make it next October then we have renewed hope for travel flexability of a sort.

Furthermore... we appreciate your sharing stories of your travels. I must say, the notion of the guide showing "his" Mayan ruins was quite charming. Now... my spouse and I are not huge snorklers - but yesterday we just bought a snorkle set for my older 4.5 year old daughter (late summer mark down - it was irresistable). This last cruise she sort of borrowed another DIS child's set for a few minutes and seemed to like it. So - it looks as if we're planning on pursuing this snorkle thing further. Unfortunately, I do not swim so I will be watching our dry gear while the girls swim out to explore... but that's Ok. :earboy2:

AND... I've heard about the "little island" alternate beach... however, I never heard it described so glowingly. Now I am somewhat peaked with interest... and it ill probably take another TWO visits to hit everything on our "curious to see" list!

OK... gotta go....

TTFN!

from your Captain... pirate: ... Crash!

[kritter]

Surprised that Disney was not more help..
I think that on HAlloween we should have our Dis boards group have a cotume judging contest or soemthing of the sort or our won little trick or treating..what do you all think about that..

[captaincrash]

I imagine....

.... that if we follow the 2005 Holloween Magic sailing ~ and in particular the expected "Live from Magic" DIS board for this sailing.... we will have our best guide for what to expect next year.

When I last asked the DCL rep on the phone about what to expect they were somewhat reserved. I mentioned that I heard they make it snow on castaway caye for the christmas sailings - so I had asked if they do anything on the ship or at castaway caye for holloween - in particular do they redecorate extensively and what events were to be expected? They replied that it was not really elaborate ~ but they did have holloween specific decorating with events and activities. So... my interpretation on this was that they did not want to overstate anything since it's over a year out.

So... i have not checked lately but a couple weeks ago the board for the 05 Holloween Magic had a huge following and number of postings. So a "live from the Magic" thread is a near certainty.

OK... I just checked the 05 Magic Holloween thread... it has about 70 DIS denzions, near 3,459 postings and near 38,908 visits! Clompared to our thread with 11 DIS folks, 117 postings and 845 visits. :rolleyes: Plus... the other thread was started on October 2nd 2004... and today is the 4th. So again, by comparison... at about 390 days before sailing our thread has 100+ postings versus the 2005 thread that had only ONE at the same point.

OK... gotta run.... TTFN,

pirate:

[Princess Olivia]

Hi everyone! We just returned from the Magic Western trip Sept 24th- Oct1. Loved it! We re-booked on board for this cruise specificaly because it's Halloween and that is a close second to my children's favorite holiday after Christmas. We will do a X-mas cruise when they are a little older and Santa is not as real as he is today. They are almost there they already questioned me due to some naughty neighbors! I have a DD 8 (will be 9 in Jan) and DS7 (8 in April).

I am also thrilled that it's the Eastern trip. I LOVE the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. I wasn't impressed with the Western. Wouldn't head that way again. Also, about rotation dining I heard on the Wonder they are trying something new where you can go to any of the three restaurants you want. If it works better they may be incorporating this into the Magic.

[kritter]

Captain, I think our thread can and will become more and more popular and we will keep it going no matter at what costs.. HE HE..

Welcome Olivia, and we can not wait to get to know you and meet you and your family..
tell us something about the cruise and what type of room did you have, etc...

[Princess Olivia]

I felt our room was perfect. It was cabin 7584 cat.5. I actually booked cabin 7576 just to move us down a few doors. This puts us exactly in the middle. We often went to the atrium decks 3 and 4 or club/lab deck 5. These were accessed easily by the middle stairway. If we took a left out our door we were at the stairs leading to Topsiders buffet. We usually ate there for breakfast. We were on a fantastic rotation. We ate at Animators Palate day one then Parrot Cay and Lumiere's. That put us in Lumiere's for both formal and semi formal nights.

The best tip I got was to bring the over the door shoe hanger for the bathroom door. It saved so much space and kept everything so organized. This time last week I was at Palo's for dinner........tonight we had shake and bake!! Tough coming back to reality!

Also, I just read on the old Dis board I was on that the people that rebooked got a better price at Dreams Unlimited. I guess I can switch our res and keep the on board credits. I'm waiting to get a quote back. I'll let you all know.

[kritter]

Thanks so much for the info..I love it wish I was going this year..

Sounds like your room was great location wise and all..We are booked in a cat. 4 room 8050 I think that is the number..We went with what our neighbors did and they said they loved this deck..Our kids are little so we wil be in the room more than most...

Great dining rotation I am hoping we get a good one too...
Dreams is where I booked ours and we got a great deal I think..after shopping around no one else could beat it...
That is soo funny that you wrote about rebooking tonight on the ship..DH and I were just talking about rebookign and I told him that I had read that you get a better deal when you book while on board...Please let me know what you find out about that..That would be cool to get a better deal and how does that work if you change your ressie to dreams..???
It must be hard to be back and if you have a chance we would love to see pictures from your cruise..when you have time post them...
what things did you do in each port???

[Princess Olivia]

My goodness, I took over 200 pictures. I even had my Christmas cards done on board. LOVE them!! I bought about 25 of the professional portraits. One was a formal portrait with a white backround and the kids are with out shoes and sitting down. I chose that for the X-mas card. There is a picture of the ship and an ornament that the picture is in and it says Disney Magic and then all our names are at the end. Cool stuff! Unfortunately I am really bad with this computer. I don't know how to post pics. :confused3

Cat 4 is awesome. A bit bigger than 5. Deck 8 is great because you are one deck down from all the pools, the beverage (free soda) station, and the food areas. You will love it.

I did the 7 mile beach break in Grand Cayman. Beautiful weather, great beach. We were going to do the Fury catamaran in Cozumel but I canceled because we wouldn't have made it home for the pirate night dinner. W went to a beach and got POURED on. Awful. The best was at Cast away cay. WE swam with the Stingrays. SO incredible. So fun!!

Got to go to work today. I am substituting for a 4th grade teacher today.
My name is Jennifer by the way. My kids are Olivia and Cameron. Craig is the other half!!

[buckifan]

I agree with you, Captaincrash, that we can probably expect much of the same as Halloween cruise 2005. I'll be watching those trip reports! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

[Princess Olivia]

Hi Jennifer! I have a son and a daughter as well. My DD will be 6 in Nov. and my DS is 10. I'm hoping there will be lots of kids in their age bracket on the ship, since we will be sailing while school is in session. My kids love Halloween also! In fact, we are planning a huge party with all of their friends for the Sat. the 29th.

I agree with you, Captaincrash, that we can probably expect much of the same as Halloween cruise 2005. I'll be watching those trip reports! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

That party sounds like fun!! I ordered the kids Halloween costumes last night. DD Olivia (8) got the pink outfit from Legally Blond with a long blond wig (her natural hair is light brown with a pretty loose curl to it). The costume is pretty funny. Cameron DS8 is going to be a Ninja. He started Karate this year and loves it so anything to do with the martial arts is cool to him right now.

I got my Disney dreams unlimited quote and it is a little over 200 dollars less, however I'm not sure that they can transfer the 200 dollar on board credit. I think I'll just leave well enough alone and start my search for cheap flights!! A boy in my class today was going to be getting off the bus and into a limo to whisk his family off to Disney World. I was so jealous!

[kritter]

Hi Jennifer nice to meet you..
I was a teacher too...before the twins that is..
Oh I would love to see some of your professional pictures, etc.. and christmas cards..

glad to hear your quote was lower..what will you do now??Do you think it is better to book on the cruiose or wait till you get home???

I am hoping that we will like the cat 4..
Got to run getting late will post more tomorrow,,

[Princess Olivia]

Hi Kritter! I would book on the cruise because you can transfer your res. I think I am going to keep my original booking with DCL. If they do take the onboard credit back it will be the same price. I'm going to iron out the details sometime today or tomorrow. I like the idea of keeping it with Disney because the last cruise was through Expedia and every question I had, I needed to call them and they would call Disney. This way I can get all facts and details right from the horses mouth.

Thw twins are adorable. How old? What are they going to be for Halloween this year. We live in MA so often our costumes get covered by big coats and the kids hate it. Although the last few years it's been unseasonably mild. Must get them off to school now! How many days until we go again??? :earsboy:

[buckifan]

:) :) :) :) :)

[kritter]

HI buck,
we too are planning our costumes...My twins will be princess of course and I will be snow white, and Dh is going to be prince charming...He really is not thrilled but will do it for us....
can not wait....

[kritter]

Hi Kritter! I would book on the cruise because you can transfer your res. I think I am going to keep my original booking with DCL. If they do take the onboard credit back it will be the same price. I'm going to iron out the details sometime today or tomorrow. I like the idea of keeping it with Disney because the last cruise was through Expedia and every question I had, I needed to call them and they would call Disney. This way I can get all facts and details right from the horses mouth.

Thw twins are adorable. How old? What are they going to be for Halloween this year. We live in MA so often our costumes get covered by big coats and the kids hate it. Although the last few years it's been unseasonably mild. Must get them off to school now! How many days until we go again??? :earsboy:

Hey we live in Ct where in mass do you live my Dh works for a mass company and is in springfiled and chicopee a ton....I like dreams since they seem to know all of the answers toi my questions...But would think we may rebook on the cruise next year with disney...
the twins are three and a half four in feb.. they of course will be princess it is between ariel and jasmine for hope and snow white and belle for hanna they each already have both costumes so whatever they decide is easy for me...We had to take a suitcase full of costumes with us to disney last month.We too have to wear coats over the cotumes..Look forward to talking to you further off to mall hopefully they will behaive themselves....
wish we were going this halloween...

[buckifan]

HI buck,
we too are planning our costumes...My twins will be princess of course and I will be snow white, and Dh is going to be prince charming...He really is not thrilled but will do it for us....
can not wait....

Very cute! I don't think I'd ever be able to convince my husband to dress as Prince Charming. I'm thinking of buying him a mullet wig, though. He could be, Idunno, Mullet man?!

[Princess Olivia]

I live on the South Shore of MA. Hanson. Far away from Springfield but close enough that maybe sometime before the cruise we could meet. My best friend is a former broadway performer and now has a performing arts studio where Olivia dances, and acts, and models. They had thier first competiton last year and won a gold medal!! Anyway, she is thinking of coming along with us and she has a beautiful daughter who'll be 4 this month. Talk about girly girls. I think I have NEVER seen that child with a hair out of place or the most adorable outfit ever made. The only time she gets to be messy is with me!! She would LOVE this cruise she adores all broadway shows and any movie that has music in it (even Chicago). I hope they will join us.

That is so cute that you'll be Snow White and Prince Charming. I could never pull that off. I was looking last night at couples costumes and saw a pretty cute Sonny and Cher costume. I would love to don that long black wig. My real hair is kinda long but blond.

Buck, I know what you mean about fierce soccer players. Olivia is a hard player and good. Can I tell you how much I love that he is going to be Napoleon Dynamite. Too cool. Next years costumes might be tough for me. Olivia will be 9 and Cam will be 8. Liv would probably look cute as tinkerbell. Cam likes really dumb scary stuff. The cruise line was so adament with me about NO scary costumes. Like I'm that dumb! We have over a year to worry about it.
I was actually trying price out a quick trip in December just to go to Micky's Very Merry X-mas party. It's the airfare that stinks.

[kritter]

Very cute! I don't think I'd ever be able to convince my husband to dress as Prince Charming. I'm thinking of buying him a mullet wig, though. He could be, Idunno, Mullet man?!

My DD is totally into the Disney Princesses also. She has Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Belle's Christmas gown costumes. She (Kylie) is as girly as they come, BUT.....get her out on a soccer field, and something just comes over her! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo


I am really going to make my Dh a prince charming costume..
How old is your dd again I forget again?? I was thinking of getting mine the belle christmas gown for christmas..

[kritter]

I live on the South Shore of MA. Hanson. Far away from Springfield but close enough that maybe sometime before the cruise we could meet. My best friend is a former broadway performer and now has a performing arts studio where Olivia dances, and acts, and models. They had thier first competiton last year and won a gold medal!! Anyway, she is thinking of coming along with us and she has a beautiful daughter who'll be 4 this month. Talk about girly girls. I think I have NEVER seen that child with a hair out of place or the most adorable outfit ever made. The only time she gets to be messy is with me!! She would LOVE this cruise she adores all broadway shows and any movie that has music in it (even Chicago). I hope they will join us.

That is so cute that you'll be Snow White and Prince Charming. I could never pull that off. I was looking last night at couples costumes and saw a pretty cute Sonny and Cher costume. I would love to don that long black wig. My real hair is kinda long but blond.

Buck, I know what you mean about fierce soccer players. Olivia is a hard player and good. Can I tell you how much I love that he is going to be Napoleon Dynamite. Too cool. Next years costumes might be tough for me. Olivia will be 9 and Cam will be 8. Liv would probably look cute as tinkerbell. Cam likes really dumb scary stuff. The cruise line was so adament with me about NO scary costumes. Like I'm that dumb! We have over a year to worry about it.
I was actually trying price out a quick trip in December just to go to Micky's Very Merry X-mas party. It's the airfare that stinks.


Their are some cute couples costumes..out there...
It would be cute and fun if your friend and her daughter went..She would love it..that is neat that she dances, models, etc...
I would love to make a quick trip for christmas the air is expensive...
My kids are girly the love taking dance class and dressing up...
Where is hanson, mass?? and how far from Ct is it?? would love to meet up...

[Princess Olivia]

Their are some cute couples costumes..out there...
It would be cute and fun if your friend and her daughter went..She would love it..that is neat that she dances, models, etc...
I would love to make a quick trip for christmas the air is expensive...
My kids are girly the love taking dance class and dressing up...
Where is hanson, mass?? and how far from Ct is it?? would love to meet up...

Way down near Duxbury, Hingham, Hanover. Closer to the ocean.

What grade did you teach before the girls? I'm not a certified teacher. I have a BA in English and I minored in communications (basically useless). I subtitute now for the elementary schools . Middle school is an awful place. We just built an amazing new high school it looks like a university. I can't work there. They (the kids) kill me. I kinda look like I could still go there and the kids take me on as a peer rather than as a teacher. I am also way lenient. Not a good disciplinarian with older kids. I relate too much with the same dumb shows (that I'm really too old to watch) and same clothes shopping etc...I'm pretty bad at H.S. teaching. The babies are good.

Do you belong to the Disney vacation club? What's that like?

[buckifan]

LOVE the Sonny and Cher idea!

Interesting that Disney told you no scary costumes.....that is a good thing since there will be so many little ones on board. When did they tell you this? Did you ask about Halloween activites? I'm curious to know what else they may have mentioned about what to expect.

We are going to be making a quick trip down to WDW in April over spring break. My cousin is getting married in West Palm Beach and we'll spend a few days there, then the rest of the week in WDW with my parents and brother. MK is my favorite! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

[Princess Olivia]

LOVE the Sonny and Cher idea!

Interesting that Disney told you no scary costumes.....that is a good thing since there will be so many little ones on board. When did they tell you this? Did you ask about Halloween activites? I'm curious to know what else they may have mentioned about what to expect.

We are going to be making a quick trip down to WDW in April over spring break. My cousin is getting married in West Palm Beach and we'll spend a few days there, then the rest of the week in WDW with my parents and brother. MK is my favorite! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo

They told me Tuesday on the phone no scary costumes. I remember the headless horseman at MNSSHP Cam loved him but Olivia was scared to death. They also said there would be a party and trick or treating. They will have candy on the ship. Not too many other details yet. We will have to check the trip reports to get the real good stuff.

Your trip sounds like fun and will break up your wait time to the cruise! We usually go away in March for a few days with out children to somewhere tropical. This year we went to Paradise Island in the Bahamas. It was AWESOME! I do love Mickey and Minnie however I can get overwhelmed in the crowds at the park. The ship is perfect because it can only hold so may people and I almost never felt crowded. I can't wait another whole year :hourglass

[kritter]

LOVE the Sonny and Cher idea!

Interesting that Disney told you no scary costumes.....that is a good thing since there will be so many little ones on board. When did they tell you this? Did you ask about Halloween activites? I'm curious to know what else they may have mentioned about what to expect.

We are going to be making a quick trip down to WDW in April over spring break. My cousin is getting married in West Palm Beach and we'll spend a few days there, then the rest of the week in WDW with my parents and brother. MK is my favorite! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo
Mk is our favorite too we love and soo do the kids...

[kritter]

Way down near Duxbury, Hingham, Hanover. Closer to the ocean.

What grade did you teach before the girls? I'm not a certified teacher. I have a BA in English and I minored in communications (basically useless). I subtitute now for the elementary schools . Middle school is an awful place. We just built an amazing new high school it looks like a university. I can't work there. They (the kids) kill me. I kinda look like I could still go there and the kids take me on as a peer rather than as a teacher. I am also way lenient. Not a good disciplinarian with older kids. I relate too much with the same dumb shows (that I'm really too old to watch) and same clothes shopping etc...I'm pretty bad at H.S. teaching. The babies are good.

Do you belong to the Disney vacation club? What's that like?


We belong to the vacation club and love it.. We joined two years ago and have thought it is soo worth it..If you know that you are going to go somewhere once a year or at least every other it is totally worth it... My Dh figured it out it pays for itself in seven years..We own at Saratoga and love it some people on these boards do not but we do..You can stay any where and there are over 400 other places around the world you can stay at...It is simply wonderful..We own it for 5o something years. so that is a huge plus...
Are you thinking about buying inot it??
I used to teach first before that 2nd, and 4th...Loved first they are great and some day hopefully will go back..My Dh works for a very large insurance company and travels and works very long hours so it wuld make it hard for me to work...

[Princess Olivia]

We belong to the vacation club and love it.. We joined two years ago and have thought it is soo worth it..If you know that you are going to go somewhere once a year or at least every other it is totally worth it... My Dh figured it out it pays for itself in seven years..We own at Saratoga and love it some people on these boards do not but we do..You can stay any where and there are over 400 other places around the world you can stay at...It is simply wonderful..We own it for 5o something years. so that is a huge plus...
Are you thinking about buying inot it??
I used to teach first before that 2nd, and 4th...Loved first they are great and some day hopefully will go back..My Dh works for a very large insurance company and travels and works very long hours so it wuld make it hard for me to work...

I LOVED staying home when my kids were babies. I loved the park and preschool and walks. I do miss that. I stay home a lot now too. The kids still need me and I think it's important all the way through high school for me to stay on top of who they are with, where they are going, and when they get home. Working has been a sensitive subject around here. We still haven't found the balance that meets all our needs.
I ordered the DVC video yesterday. I am interested. It sounds great. Can you go to the Caribbean? Hawaii? Those are the places I love. I also love Disney. A woman on the cruise said they will get 4 free cruises with the 160 pts they bought. :confused3 Not sure how it all works but it sounds good to me!
I am waiting for another cruise quote from ***********. I read that they're the cheapest yet found. I'll let you know.

[XLT800]

Wow...you guys have been busy. Just wanted to stop and say a belated welcome to Olivia. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Dave

[Princess Olivia]

Wow...you guys have been busy. Just wanted to stop and say a belated welcome to Olivia. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Dave

Thanks! You have a good one too.

[Princess Olivia]

I just checked my mail and the cruise confirmation was there. However, it confirmed the 11 day Wonder cruise Sept 17-Sept 28th. Weird. I called and they said they canceled that reservation and would send out the confirmation of this cruise that I am booked on. I never even inquired about the 11 day cruise :confused3 .

[kritter]

Wow...you guys have been busy. Just wanted to stop and say a belated welcome to Olivia. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Dave
we have ben need to keep the thread alive and kicking dave..

[kritter]

I LOVED staying home when my kids were babies. I loved the park and preschool and walks. I do miss that. I stay home a lot now too. The kids still need me and I think it's important all the way through high school for me to stay on top of who they are with, where they are going, and when they get home. Working has been a sensitive subject around here. We still haven't found the balance that meets all our needs.
I ordered the DVC video yesterday. I am interested. It sounds great. Can you go to the Caribbean? Hawaii? Those are the places I love. I also love Disney. A woman on the cruise said they will get 4 free cruises with the 160 pts they bought. :confused3 Not sure how it all works but it sounds good to me!
I am waiting for another cruise quote from ***********. I read that they're the cheapest yet found. I'll let you know.

I love staying home and even when the going gets rough I still have no boss, etc..my days are mine and like today stayed in my pjs till 11..I do hope tha tI never have to go back..I do not see how it can work with the hours that Dh keeps and who will be doing all of the running around after work with the kids me not him he will not be home in time..We live in ct and he drives out of state a few times a weeek,but I have a few years before we need to really decide or discuss it..I do not want to bring it up..
You can go to tons of places on the DVC point system.I do nto know what that women was talking about they do offer great promotions time to time..But that is a great one if that is what they are offering..We jsut returned from WDW a month ago and that was not the deal..It is based on points you purchase a set amount of points..I think the smallest amount you can get is 150 and then depending upon the time of year you want to go and where you want to go it costs so many points...If you do not use your points or all of them one year you can bank them and use them next year..If you want ot take a larger trip one year you can borrow points form the next year..You choose the accomdations that you need one bedroom, two or studios or a villa big enough for twelve..You choose and depending on that and time of year determines how many points you use...It is very cost effective and you get other discounts in WDW too for being a memeber..we love it and the only regret is that we did not do it sooner.. If you want to more about it call me send me a pm and I will give you my number and I can answer your questions if you want..
hey could you let me know what the other place midcon tells you my aunt is single and thinking of coming and I am looking into prices for her..what cabin/cat. should I try and get for a single person???
Thanks sorry for this being sooo long..All by myself tonight well the kids are asleep and Dh is at the Yankee game..

[mamalle]

we are going too! I hoping if the fla rates come out we can upgrade to a cat 4 like our last cruise. for now we are in 6614. we cant wait :cool1:
Our kiddos will be 6 and 4 at the time of travel

[Princess Olivia]

Hi mamalle. Your kids are adorable. I wonder what the difference in price will be for a cat 4 vs cat 5? I think I'll check.

Kritter- DVC sounds perfect. I'll wait until I get the video and then I'll call you with all my questions :earsboy: .
I am a liitle annoyed with ******. I still haven't heard anything. They're probably not around for the holiday weekend. I too am inquiring for my mother who is a single. I would think that for her a good choice would be cat. 8 or 9. I would want her to have a view. It depends on the room I guess. Do you have a copy of the PassPorter guide to DCL? It has all the information on what rooms are too noisy etc. I read it about 10 times! I will let you know as soon as a quote comes in. Cold in MA today!!

[captaincrash]

Hello everyone :banana: ....

and a harty welcome to Princess Olivia & Mamalle! :wave: (Hope I didn't miss welcoming anyone).... we have also been absent from our lurking duties here - we had family visiting from Hawaii and a host of other sundry diversions these past few days.

So - it's nice to see so much conversation activity while we were absent. :disrocks: I was musing earlier whether we would exceed the volume of activity found on the 2005 Holloween cruise thread. Last I looked they were up there in hits, posts and DIS entities posting. However, they started their thread later then our thread - so we sort of have a jump.

Of course, I was not thinking of competiting - just comparing casually. :grouphug: OUR thread is currently at 1055 hits and 147 postings .... versus 44,429 hits and 4,437 postings.

SO... on the stay at home or not thing- for now I am a stay at home Dad with my spouse running out to continue her occupation. However, as a stay at home Dad I sort of continue a business I've run for 14 years now - only I have slowed considerably with the two kids around - bottom line it still drags in a paycheck but less than if I were traveling half the year as usual. But that's OK for now. We figured in our families' case that I had the occupation that would survive a slowing if we were to try and have a parent stay close to the kids while they were young. As such - I travel a bit with my spouse on her mandatory travel while looking after the kids and managing my business interests from the road. This seems to enable the best mix in our usually crazy chaotic weeks. :badpc:

So - that might be more than called for in a public forum - but what the heck. We're over a year out from the cruise - and this seems as tolerable a subject as any, eh?

ON the best travel agent and value thing. I would encourage folks to try the somewhat impartial "cruise compete" web site. It's a reverse auction wher you specify ship, sailing, cabin and passenger compositon - and several travel agents bid secretly for your business. We usually get some pretty good deals this way. Plus there's no harm in calling around too (try Costco, AAA, expedia, the site sponsor here, etc.,). In fact, the agent we usually end up going with for the past 2 and for this current cruise - has been an agent we found on cruise compete. She knocks off all the other cruise compete TAs bidding for our business (usually) and she is quite knowledgable. If anyone is interested than just PM me for her contact info - otherwise just put a request for quotes entry on cruise compete and see what you get - :wave2:

However, to be fair - folks benefiting from this thread should always allow the site sponsor a chance to win your business as they contribute funds which enable us to have this place to meet and chat.

:goodvibes So - on another note - Mamalle .... we have 2 daughters who will be 5.5 and 2.8 years of age when we sail. Maybe our older kids can swap emails ocassionally... as from the last DCL sailing we did this and our kids had a fair time getting to know one another before the cruise. It made for a little constructive anticipation for most of our kids.

So, eventually we'll need volunteers to organize contact lists, composition of kids and ages, and possibly other info if our community agrees we need anything else. On the last cruise we had a spreadsheet managed by one of the DIS participants. We had first names, city and or state or residance, kids genders and ages, and ages of the adults. At times we could have almost used cabin numbers OR last names to facilitate contacting folks - but we did not have this. Potentially we could specify that cabin numbers and last names (or any info) was strictly voluntary. :confused3 But this info helped in keeping track of things for the activities we set up. We had name tags for the DIS meet with screen names + real first names + city/state, and we had custom t-shirts made up for the kids, plus a few other things I'll leave for a later posting. But I will say - while embarked - a roster with useful reference to cabin numbers - or last names so we could ask for the ship to connect folks by phone to leave messages would have been hgelpful. I think in practice - the active DIS posting folks would have been the ones to provide full contact info if we had anticiapted the need - but it sort of broke down a little.

Anyways - I better leave a little vertical scroll space for other folks otherwise I'll be branded permanently as a "tread hog" - that is - if my reputation has not already preceeded this posting! :rolleyes1

Warmest regards from the "Captain" pirate:

And... BTW.... who responded to our poll as booking a catagory 1? As, I assume you might be thinking about hosting the DIS meet in YOUR cabin! (yah... ahh, right!)I saw a posting with photos from another DISer who did just that and they had 80 folks in their cabin + some decent appetizers set up! :rolleyes:

[kritter]

we are going too! I hoping if the fla rates come out we can upgrade to a cat 4 like our last cruise. for now we are in 6614. we cant wait :cool1:
Our kiddos will be 6 and 4 at the time of travel

WElcome welcome mamalle and glad that you joined us..My twins will be four at the time of sailing and hopefully our kids could meet and have some fun with all of the other Dis cruisers as well./.Glad that you have joined us and can not wait to get to know you...your kdis are adorable and what a wonderful picture...

[kritter]

Hi mamalle. Your kids are adorable. I wonder what the difference in price will be for a cat 4 vs cat 5? I think I'll check.

Kritter- DVC sounds perfect. I'll wait until I get the video and then I'll call you with all my questions :earsboy: .
I am a liitle annoyed with ******. I still haven't heard anything. They're probably not around for the holiday weekend. I too am inquiring for my mother who is a single. I would think that for her a good choice would be cat. 8 or 9. I would want her to have a view. It depends on the room I guess. Do you have a copy of the PassPorter guide to DCL? It has all the information on what rooms are too noisy etc. I read it about 10 times! I will let you know as soon as a quote comes in. Cold in MA today!!


We are in a cat. 4 now and I am hoping that I will be able to upgrade I keep checking the prices....
Midcon I tried to look up on the computer could not find them let me know what you find out so I could check it out for my aunt..I would love it if I could find her the right price for her..I tried dreams and their price was outragous which I was suprised at .. They told me all of their cabins were already sold out at the lower price and that is who we booked with...What is the passporter guide and how do I get one tell do tell...cold here tooo and rainy..

[kritter]

Captain,
Glad to hear that you are back we have been missing you..Hope you had a nice visit with your company...WE will def. "beat" out the thread started for this years cruise since we seems to be pretty active and hopefully can stay this way..It will be fun...

I am soo impressed that you are a stay at hoem dad kind of..No you have a new appreciation for ow hard it is..Nice that you get to travel with your wife...We do that with my husband and it is nice to see other new places on someone elses dime..We went to WDW last year for his company trip and my kdis loved it they closed down Animal Kingdom for us and it was wonderful no wait for rides free food, alcohol, etc..wonderful and all of the characters were everywhere...this year when we went back they wanted popcorn, ice cream and we said wait we have to pay for it all this year..It was cute..And we got to see Mickey in my Dh hospitality suite and maybe ten other kids were there it was great.
Seems like many of us will have kids around the same ages..So we will be able to plan some age appropriate activities...
I would love to set up some kind of way to keep track of everyone let us know captain when you think we should get a jump on all of this..When the time is right and we are getting closer we can most certainly plan out things for us to do and where to meet, name tags etc..Maybe you could come up with a list of things that will need to get done since you have been on the cruise with other Dis members before..then we can figure out who should do what..It would be neat if we could set up some kind of trick and treating for us and a little costume contest, etc.. all around halloween or leave the kids with little halloween treats in their rooms....
we love that you are soo informative and I look forward to your emails all of you..this is great and I am glad that we are all meeting..
Wonder who did put cat. 1 lets see if we can get them to come"clean".. come on who is it??
Talk to you all later need to feed the troops...
The weather here is bad and rainy going tob e like this for the next few days we will be stir crazy by the end of the week...UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!what to do what to do.....

[kritter]

captain,
sent you a pm about the travle agency you were talking about...not sure if it went said system problemm. so could you let us know thanks.. we have had a ton of views to our page/thread..

[captaincrash]

Well Kitter....

... it's not entirely as if we can travel on someone else's dime... officially we are always to maintain a very low profile and travel is mostly covering my spouse. However, it is a good deal as the room and gas are free = and the per diem for meals is usually enough to sprinkle a little onto our plates from my spouses' fare. AND... at offficial company gatherings family is strictly forbidden. It wasn't like that in the recent past - and I must say it was good since she was nursing I was able to go along "officially" (maintaining a descrete profile) and that amounted to real travel. Now - as for myself - I still have to travel a little and since I work for myself ... my "rules" say I will bring my family to tag along. Easy to say since our kids are not in school yet!

Aside from that ~ let me say that when we achieve a larger following somewhere from 9-6 months out then we'll circulate the proposal for the DIS meet. At that time we can call for a roll call to who ever volunteers to handle name tags and - and we'll probably get a list managing volunteer. As for myself ... I do not quite know how to manage excell or any list managing programs... so I may not be the best candidate for this duty. But I can serve as a sort of "co-rebel rouser" to help any fellow DIS rebel rousers among us in raising a mild ruckus aboard. :grouphug:

And... as for trick or treat .... I do believe there will be a trick or treat evening hosted by the ship. I do not know if we should host a private treat exchange or not as I (for one) may not want to compete against the ships' scheduled function. Follow my drift? Of course, if we were somehow to out-shine the ships' treat activities then I think we might have over done it. :teacher:

I think there should be other activities that we can dream up that will be unique enough to set our experience (as a group) aside. And of course, IMHO we should be careful to preserve this cruise as a mostly non-working type of vacation. IE, too many ambitious side adventures can snowball into a burdon more than a pleasure for some of us crazy party-going zealots.

On that note - I think the DIS meet is great as we can meet and match faces and smiles to screen names. Folks can stay or wander off as their feelings dictate. Of course, all the active DIS folks from the last cruise were quite gregarious and somewhat encouraging when it came to doing things - like wandering off the ship in twos and threes - or doing a shore excursions in penny clusters of families. :moped: And when it came to activites for the kids it more or less took on a life of it's own. There certainly was no lack of enthusiasm - but I think our general capacity for activites is limited to a handful or less as we only have 7 days on the ship together. Any more than a handful is not really necessary since the ship provides so much to do for kids and adults alike.

Off hand - I enjoy doing the ice cream challenge :mickeybar since it's breezy and easy to set up (I order sufficient mickey bars from guest services and print up award certificates for the captain and possibly characters to sign) - and it piggy backs on another activity (IE - on the last cruise we did the treasure hunt AND right after that we did the ice cream thing. Aside from that we just had a DIS meet. On the basis of these two activities we more or less had a loosely knit group that kept byumping into one another on the ship. I found it quite pleasant without being intrusive to the point of any of us feeling we were being stalked by paparazzi. Obviously, on the strength of these limited "whole DIS activities" we spun off penny clusters of folks doing this and that - which generally included shore excursions and dinner table sharing clusters.

Some folks may feel they should dine alone if the kids are difficult. Heck - I hardly ever see kids that are perfect little adults at the table - excepting of course the slightly older kids. So - I can understand folks having concerns. Plus - we have some families who might have nursing infants - and that's a good reason to choose private dining arrangements. My youngster nurses and on the last sailing we elected to have a private table as opposed to our usual big table deal. Many occasions - our dining table is among the last to clear since we're always chatting more than eating. We are not exactly quick eating types - and there's always plenty to chat about and enjoy. :smooth:

So - may I close this note with a suggestion - one of the things we did on the last cruise (again, one of my wacky proposals) was to share an unlimited use internet account. Normally, it costs $89.99 for unlimited use per person. But nearly every family will share one account with everyone in their cabin or among their family sailing. This makes it reasonable. But for those of us seeking limited access to emails, news and ebay (or the DIS for "live from the Magic" threads).... it seems mildly steep. So - we split one account among 3 or 4 cabins so the cost worked out to $30 oe $22.50 per family. Each account could only be used by one family at a time - and that is why we limited the splits among 3s and 4s. Some heavy users split 3 way - and the lighter users went 4 way.

This may seem like a small thing - but for 4 families sharing an account the savings amounts to $270. That's almost enough to pay for a 14' zodiac rental :boat: + ferry expenses for 2 small families on St Thomas/St John. Put another way - it saves enough to cut the core expenses to St John with ferry and zodiac by about 40%. Put another way - each family almost saves enough to cover normal gratuitites for one member of your party. Or - the saving's enough to buy about 180 postage stamps to sand oversized postcards to 180 friends and family from castaway caye!

Of course, the best deal would be for us to have all 90 DIS families at our DIS meet chip in $1 and split it 90 ways. The collective savings would have been $8,000+ among the group! That's probably enough to cover air, curise and general expenses for one family of 4. The one rub... lets not talk about usage conflicts since only ONE family could access the account at a time. LOL! :rolleyes1

Needless to say - we're not likely to try a 90 way split - or anything more than a 5 way split.

Anyone interested - should PM me and I'll keep track of interested parties privately. :cool1:

TTFN!
:wave2:

[kritter]

wow captain you have some great ideas..I whole heartly agree that two activities and a dis meet would be great and I love the ice cream idea that would be great and good as well...
I agree we would not want to make it tooo busy or compete with the ship in any way shape or form..
Wow the internet does cost money a ton...I would be inclinded to say not interested by Dh has a blackbery for work and looking forward to the fact that it will not work on the ship he constantly is checking email and it would be nice to have no acess to the real world..I will psot a report about the cruise when I get home the less contact with the "real" world the better. I thinkif I had internet connection then I would spend to much time talking and chatting than relaxing. Then it would be temptation for my Dh to check his email and then he would be working like he does when we are in line for rides or on the plane to WDW...I do not want him to work or be contacted by them if you know what I mean....
Oh see your wifes trips are a bit different on Dh they enocurage families to go and it is a huge trip every summer and we get breakfast etc...with the other families that go..It is fun to travel with him and we have gotten to see so many nice people and have started to get to know them ovetr the years..
when I was sick this winter and in the hospital soo many agents and people form Dh work sent gifts and called it was really nice many of them are like extended family to us....I would be sad if he ever stopped working there..Great company aside from the fact that a vacation is never really a vacation since they always will need him to check in at some point...
Hope the weather is better at your end we have rain porjected for the entire week.the twins will be stir crazy by then..At least we have dance class to make us get some energy out of our systems..
HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY to all.....

[buckifan]

:) :) :) :) :)

[kritter]

Welcome to Mamalle! My dd will be nearly 7 at time of cruise. It sounds like there will be plenty of kids close to her age group. I hope ds (will be 11) has some kids in his age group as well!

I too am a stay at home mom. dd is in kindergarten this year....she is in the am class, home at 11:15am. my ds is in 5th grade..home at 3pm. I always thought I'd go back to work when Kylie started 1st grade, but I'm feeling different about that now. I love being able to help out at school, attend field trips, and greet them as they get off the school bus in the afternoon. Not to mention, I love spending the summer with them.

Kritter....Kylie takes dance also, jazz actually. She also takes figure skating lessons. She loves performing....isn't there a kareoke night in the family club on the ship? I definitely want to sign my ds up for the animation class, as he is an incredible artist. He wants to be an animator for Disney when he grows up! ::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo


Kylie must love jazz..Hope and Hanna take ballet and tap this is a combo class for three year olds..They really liek it but they give the teacher a run for her money...I thin their is a karoake night..I will look further into it and let you know...

I love being at home with the kdis and know that teaching would allow me to be hoem with them..But then I miss out on being able to help out in their classrooms etc. Like you said.. I would like to be able to stay hoem till theya re in teh older grades and need me less but then who would be hoem to take them to all of their after school activities..Staying hoem is tough and many times I feel like I am annette on desperate housewives...But I have to think that it must be better to be home than having to go to work everyday...I can stay in my pjs and have movie days on rainy days with the kids..So glad that in this day and age that I was given the opporutinty to stay home with them...So many parents have to work and it makes me glad that I can be home with them..
I think that as the time gets closer we will have more kdis in her age group and more and more people will join us...I think after this ahlloween cruise passes this year we will have many more to welcome..

I think after halloween we should all post pictures of our dear little ones dressed up..

[buckifan]

Kritter, how do you post pix?

[abitjaded]

Boy you guys have been busy. My problem is I have two sons, 12 and 9, so never get a chance at the computer.

I reposted our trip report for a several years ago Eastern.

Check on the trip report boards.

Edited to add: Well, maybe not, the boards keep telling me I am posting duplicate posts from the last five minutes, so will try again later. Or maybe it is us here, 8 inches of lousy wet snow, large booms heralding THOUSANDS in tree trimming bills looming.....

Carla

[kritter]

Kritter, how do you post pix?


You need to first upload it to somewhere like photobucket.com that is the rec..website here on the boards..then go to your user cp and go to edit sig.if you want it to be there always..then take the url at the bottom of your picture on photobucket and insert that into the box on dis boards and it should appear let me know if this does not work for you..it took mea while the first few times...

[kritter]

Boy you guys have been busy. My problem is I have two sons, 12 and 9, so never get a chance at the computer.

I reposted our trip report for a several years ago Eastern.

Check on the trip report boards.

Edited to add: Well, maybe not, the boards keep telling me I am posting duplicate posts from the last five minutes, so will try again later. Or maybe it is us here, 8 inches of lousy wet snow, large booms heralding THOUSANDS in tree trimming bills looming.....

Carla


Carla,
gret to hear from you again,,we have been busy..See if you could post your trip report here..I could not find it..thanks so much..

[kritter]

FYI this years Dis boards group is hosting its own halloween trick or treating for the kids just pm a person who is on this years cruise..they have it set up for 40 something kids so might be something we could think about...

[buckifan]

:) :) :) :) :)

[buckifan]

:) :) :) :) :)

[kritter]

bump up us!!!

[mamalle]

thanks you all for a warm welcome. I will do my best to keep up and volunteer to help out for the 2006 Halloween Cruise! :cool1:


My name is Lisa, wife to Gary and mama to Taylor and Gary, III. We took our 1st disney cruise this past Feb for Tae's 5th birthday on the 4 day wonder and we all enjoyed ourselves. We originally planned a 7 day western cruise for May 2006 but changed our plans to a later date in the fall. dh is worried about the seas being to rough but Im trying to reassure him it will be only like before when we went thru the fla. straights. He said he is going to watch the weather closely this October. He got quite seasick on our first night- which was superbowl sunday no less.. :rolleyes: anyhow- looking forward to meeting you all and Im excited there will be some kids on the cruise that ours can meet. That was kinda a issue this past one with our kids not knowing anyone and not taking to the club like we had hoped. Oh well Im sure a year will make a difference. Have a nice night.

[kritter]

Well, the pix is not showing up on my computer, any suggestions anyone? :badpc:


Hey ok let me get a bit ore specific and see if it helps you out..It took me a few time sto do it too.,,,

Ok go to user cp and click on edit signature..then from photobucket or where ever you have your picture cut the http:thenwhatever it is after that and paste it between the two Imgs that I have listed below and it should work


Let me know ..I think i forgot to tell you that you needed the img things to make it work..good luck...let me know if it works for you..

[kritter]

thanks you all for a warm welcome. I will do my best to keep up and volunteer to help out for the 2006 Halloween Cruise! :cool1:


My name is Lisa, wife to Gary and mama to Taylor and Gary, III. We took our 1st disney cruise this past Feb for Tae's 5th birthday on the 4 day wonder and we all enjoyed ourselves. We originally planned a 7 day western cruise for May 2006 but changed our plans to a later date in the fall. dh is worried about the seas being to rough but Im trying to reassure him it will be only like before when we went thru the fla. straights. He said he is going to watch the weather closely this October. He got quite seasick on our first night- which was superbowl sunday no less.. :rolleyes: anyhow- looking forward to meeting you all and Im excited there will be some kids on the cruise that ours can meet. That was kinda a issue this past one with our kids not knowing anyone and not taking to the club like we had hoped. Oh well Im sure a year will make a difference. Have a nice night.


Hi again Lisa,
Terrible thing that your husband got soo sick..Did your children get sick or did you give them meds before you left???I was curious to see what would happen to my kids not that I want them to get sick or anything..I think the kdis will ahve a blasdt with one another and we all will too...If you have pictures form your last cruise and would like to share I would enjoy seeing them..Thanks and hope you ahd a great night..

[kritter]

If you are thinking of taking a Disney cruise in 2005 or 2006 but haven't booked it yet, be sure to subscribe to the FREE MouseSavers Newsletter by October 14! There will be a special promotion in the October 15 newsletter that may save you money on your cruise. Part of the offer will be available ONLY on October 15, so if you already subscribe at a work address, you may want to change your subscription to an address you can access on Saturday!

check out mousesavers.com they are going to be having some deal on cruises/

[joksten2000]

Hey ok let me get a bit ore specific and see if it helps you out..It took me a few time sto do it too.,,,

Ok go to user cp and click on edit signature..then from photobucket or where ever you have your picture cut the http:thenwhatever it is after that and paste it between the two Imgs that I have listed below and it should work


Let me know ..I think i forgot to tell you that you needed the img things to make it work..good luck...let me know if it works for you..

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b257/joksten2000/47b5d636b3127cce98548af312a00000009.jpg[/url]

[kritter]

ok now just add it to your signature box...

[mamalle]

kritter- only dh got seasick which is kinda weird since he never has before. dd and I went over and did some shopping at the gift store and picked him up so dramaine( sp?) it was rocky but dd and I ordered room service while the boys slept through the superbowl.. this year I will definitely pack something.


here are some photos from our cruise. I dont think you need a password.looking at them again makes me want to be on the boat!!

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=271677175

[kritter]

kritter- only dh got seasick which is kinda weird since he never has before. dd and I went over and did some shopping at the gift store and picked him up so dramaine( sp?) it was rocky but dd and I ordered room service while the boys slept through the superbowl.. this year I will definitely pack something.


here are some photos from our cruise. I dont think you need a password.looking at them again makes me want to be on the boat!!

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=271677175

mamalle,

good to know..I think I will pack something too..Are you going on the cruise this year too???

I tried to get to see yor pictures could not I registerd and all...

[Princess Olivia]

thanks you all for a warm welcome. I will do my best to keep up and volunteer to help out for the 2006 Halloween Cruise! :cool1:


My name is Lisa, wife to Gary and mama to Taylor and Gary, III. We took our 1st disney cruise this past Feb for Tae's 5th birthday on the 4 day wonder and we all enjoyed ourselves. We originally planned a 7 day western cruise for May 2006 but changed our plans to a later date in the fall. dh is worried about the seas being to rough but Im trying to reassure him it will be only like before when we went thru the fla. straights. He said he is going to watch the weather closely this October. He got quite seasick on our first night- which was superbowl sunday no less.. :rolleyes: anyhow- looking forward to meeting you all and Im excited there will be some kids on the cruise that ours can meet. That was kinda a issue this past one with our kids not knowing anyone and not taking to the club like we had hoped. Oh well Im sure a year will make a difference. Have a nice night.

Hi! I was told in September (Magic Sept28-Oct1) that the seas are at thier calmest in September. Honestly, I have been on a number of cruises and this last one was the smoothest yet. I was married on October 28th 1995 ( we're not married anymore, but are back together :rolleyes: LONG STORY) and we took our first cruise to the Bahamma islands and it was pretty rocky.The ship was older and we were in a suite so we were up high maybe we felt it more? The Dis cruise was perfect. I did see many people wearing a patch behind thier ears. I'll be interested to hear how this years trip goes.

Kritter- I liked your idea of a goody type bag for the kids. I saw a lot of people who had ordered stuff through oriental trading, good trinkets cheap. I know Disney does everything great but it would be cool to have our own Halloween treat bag for them. Another idea is to make Trick or Treat bags out of pillow cases and then you can leave the pillow case at guest services and all the characters will sign it. I still haven't heard back from ******. Iwill let you know.

I feel the same way about pajama days with the kids and movies and fires in the fireplace and making cookies. Love that stuff. Today is the perfect day for all of that. Burrr cold Outside!

[DisneyDmbNut]

The following message is brought to you by XLT800's DSIL:

BAH!!!! We are going in 17 days!!!!

[Tenorsinging]

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO


Let's go Betsy, Let's GO!!!!

I'm almost packed, YOU????


We're cruisin, we're cruisin :boat: :boat: :boat:

Will be at the Swan on 27th.....Magic on 29th!!!!!!



YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

[DisneyDmbNut]

Sorry to subject you all to this...but Dave taunted me, so now I must taunt him


WOO HOO! LET'S GO!!! This time 2 weeks from now, I will only have one day left before vacation!

[captaincrash]

I'm trying out the photo attaching thing to my signture....

lets see if it works....

[kritter]

Hi! I was told in September (Magic Sept28-Oct1) that the seas are at thier calmest in September. Honestly, I have been on a number of cruises and this last one was the smoothest yet. I was married on October 28th 1995 ( we're not married anymore, but are back together :rolleyes: LONG STORY) and we took our first cruise to the Bahamma islands and it was pretty rocky.The ship was older and we were in a suite so we were up high maybe we felt it more? The Dis cruise was perfect. I did see many people wearing a patch behind thier ears. I'll be interested to hear how this years trip goes.

Kritter- I liked your idea of a goody type bag for the kids. I saw a lot of people who had ordered stuff through oriental trading, good trinkets cheap. I know Disney does everything great but it would be cool to have our own Halloween treat bag for them. Another idea is to make Trick or Treat bags out of pillow cases and then you can leave the pillow case at guest services and all the characters will sign it. I still haven't heard back from ******. Iwill let you know.

I feel the same way about pajama days with the kids and movies and fires in the fireplace and making cookies. Love that stuff. Today is the perfect day for all of that. Burrr cold Outside!


I wil be interested to hear how the trip goes this year and then I can make my dec..
I love the idea of goody bags and love the ide of the pillow cases..I think after this years halloween cruise passes then we can start planning on what to do the trick or treat thing sounds so neat and we do not have to do just candy oriental trading is great..I jsut called midcon and have not heard let me know if you hear first...
It is perfect for that today...Love to just snuggle up with the kids...

[kritter]

Sorry to subject you all to this...but Dave taunted me, so now I must taunt him


WOO HOO! LET'S GO!!! This time 2 weeks from now, I will only have one day left before vacation!


ok we wil get dave for this one..all of you ahve a great tripa nd let us know how it goes and rebooke to come with all of us...HE HE

[kritter]

I'm trying out the photo attaching thing to my signture....

lets see if it works....


it worked great photo..

[captaincrash]

Yahooooo!!!

Thanks Kritter for your tip on using the IMG in brackets. I tried this earlier and had no results other than the url line being pposted. Now... with the img notations it works.

And Mamalle, my spouse is often sensitive to ships motion nausia... so we've found the best defense is in using the electric sea band. They obviously do not involve any oral medication so - you are not subject to side effects that medications may trigger - plus there is no delay for onset of effectiveness - and - unlike most medications you can use the electric seabands AFTER onset of symptoms.... IE, once you're seasick the medications are generally le effective (especially considering medications sometimes require 12-18 or more hours to develope effectiveness to boot!).

ONE WARNING however.... if you are wearing the electric seaband .... you should be very cautious about operating some electronc equipment. Such as a digital camera. I was shooting photos as I usually do with my relief band cranked up to level 3 or 4 when I felt a normal jolt from the band sort of travel to my finger tips in contact with the camera - and ZAP! :earseek: - my memory card failed. Admitteedly, it was a sort of special memory card being a IBM microdrive (miniature hard drive the size of a quarter). However, the experience was pretty dissapointing as 100s of photos on the card were lost AND I was out a $200 microdrive. :badpc:

And - if you're going to buy one then try google searching for the lowest price - OR - ebay. I think they will run as low as maybe $50 + shipping and usually no tax involved for a NEW one. Futhermore... be certain to get the one where you can change the BATTERY... as ter is a disposable model which runs a rew dollars less but only operates 30 or 40 hours. If yo're under age 60 then you will be able to use the bugger for decades for all sorts of occasions provided you don't short it out with water or lose it!

Also, if you're uncertain of your potential need (what if we have calm seas?) or whether it will work for your husband then I would uy one from Sharper Image locally..... as they will take a return no questions asked within a certain time frame. OR you can excange if the time limits for money back are exceeded. We own 2 bands and use them a few times a year plus we have a couple of the unpowered accupressure bands to supplement the electric bands on the other wrist. I believe you cannot use more than one electric band at a time - so an unpowered one for the other wrist is overkill in combination with a powered band dialed "high" for those really rough sea days.

I would say the cost for these are negligible (or insignificant) considering what they accomplish in saving you from losing a precious day or more of a vacation. Plus - ocassionally on long drives my spouse puts one on if shes managing the kids and can't look up enough with undulating roads. Just this past weekend we went to Catalina island for a Jazz festival (JazzTrax) and the seas were quite rough... my spouse and older daughter used the seabands and made it without tossing cookies and being wiped out for the afternoon. YES... they were "taxed" by the sea conditions BUT they could handle it without sufferring the normal cookie tossing and losing a day to syptomns. (hmmm... was that misspelled? :earboy2: )

And Kritter....

I guess my initial reluctance on the trick or treating was premature. I think that as long as our DIS community is up for doing what-ever... then who am I to say what should and should not be done. Frankly, I need to glance at this years' Holloween sailing to get a jist of what they're doing. This will give us an idea of what can be done for added fun and laughs. I guess I was sort of thinking that on our last cruise the size of the DIS group limited us to just a couple things. With more folks helping enthusiasticly we could pull off more things on a varying scale. FRANKLY, I heard that there was a huge DIS group on the transcanal sailing that preceeded my last sailing and they had some of their activities published in the NAVIGATOR (the ships daily news sheet for everyone). Needless to say - they had probably 150-200 or more DIS folks aboard. My sailing had 103 or so but only 60-75 involved in DIS activities.

If that's any indication (the size of the 2005 DIS Holloween sailing + % of those posting being involved) then our sailing in 2006 will certainly be .... HUGE. This may well be a rather interesting cruise IMHO. :rolleyes:

[kritter]

captain, no no nothing is preamture..you should read the things that they are doing this year..It jsut sounds cool the trick and treating thingg. can not wait till our cruise...
glad that you were able to post a pic..
I FEEL proud that I was able to help you out DH says that I am not computer savy enough to do thsi stuff.SO I FEEL HONORED....
Having a rough day today with the rain and all I have a ton of pain in my chest..I had a collapased lung this winter and was in the hops. in and out for three months..Three surgeries later and 20% of my lung removed I am ok but the cold and the rian really bother me..I need the sun to come out soon or I am going to eat the bottle of motrin..he he just kidding do not want anyone to get the wrong idea.....
So enough about me thanks for the tip on the sea sickenss..how about your kids do they get sick??

go to run and make dinner..want it to be an early ngiht for the kids and me..

[Princess Olivia]

captain, no no nothing is preamture..you should read the things that they are doing this year..It jsut sounds cool the trick and treating thingg. can not wait till our cruise...
glad that you were able to post a pic..
I FEEL proud that I was able to help you out DH says that I am not computer savy enough to do thsi stuff.SO I FEEL HONORED....
Having a rough day today with the rain and all I have a ton of pain in my chest..I had a collapased lung this winter and was in the hops. in and out for three months..Three surgeries later and 20% of my lung removed I am ok but the cold and the rian really bother me..I need the sun to come out soon or I am going to eat the bottle of motrin..he he just kidding do not want anyone to get the wrong idea.....
So enough about me thanks for the tip on the sea sickenss..how about your kids do they get sick??

go to run and make dinner..want it to be an early ngiht for the kids and me..

My goodness. How did your lung collapse? Did you have pneumonia? This weather has been horrible. So dark and gloomy. I just made Halloween cookies with the kids....and I ate half the frosting myself :earboy2:

Go to your bookstore or online to Borders/Amazon and get PassPorter's Field Guide to the Disney Cruise Line and it's ports of call third edition (just put out this summer). Another edition might come out in January I heard, but I'll just buy another one. I have the second edition and third!! It's fun to read and gets you really excited. It will show you where your room is. The ship layout. Menu samples and the different excursions offered. You'll love it.

[DisneyDmbNut]

ok we wil get dave for this one..all of you ahve a great tripa nd let us know how it goes and rebooke to come with all of us...HE HE
lol...trust me..you only want one part of our family on the ship at a time..this year me, next year them :rotfl2:

[mamalle]

sorry Im new at this stuff

I think this link may work.

http://community.webshots.com/user/mamalle68

[kritter]

My goodness. How did your lung collapse? Did you have pneumonia? This weather has been horrible. So dark and gloomy. I just made Halloween cookies with the kids....and I ate half the frosting myself :earboy2:

Go to your bookstore or online to Borders/Amazon and get PassPorter's Field Guide to the Disney Cruise Line and it's ports of call third edition (just put out this summer). Another edition might come out in January I heard, but I'll just buy another one. I have the second edition and third!! It's fun to read and gets you really excited. It will show you where your room is. The ship layout. Menu samples and the different excursions offered. You'll love it.
It was a totally spontanous thing..woke up one sat..with severe chest pain and went to the walk in and they told me that I needed surgery immediatley.then it did not work and needed emergency surgery while I was wide awake and then a third..Will not bore you with it but that is the jist..of ti..
Great I will get the book thanks so much..

[buckifan]

Mamalle....thanks for sharing your photos. You have a beautiful family.

Kritter....I hope you are back to 100% soon! That must have been so hard to go thru with young children, and your husband working long hours. Do you have family near by that helped you thru your recovery?

[kritter]

Mamalle....thanks for sharing your photos. You have a beautiful family.

Kritter....I hope you are back to 100% soon! That must have been so hard to go thru with young children, and your husband working long hours. Do you have family near by that helped you thru your recovery?


Mamalle, you photos are awesome loved lloking at them they got me sooo excited..

I do not htink that I will ever be 100% but I am alive that is what counts and here for my kids and DH..My family was wonderful my mother came everyday and watched the kids for 12 plus hours so DH could work...She was wonderful without her we would have , well I do not know what we would have done....

Yesterday my kids got into blue paint and painted themselves spent five hours last night cleaning the playroom I will psot pictures it is funny but not really..they have green hair now blue paint plus blonde hair equalls green hair...

[buckifan]

:) :) :) :) :)

[XLT800]

Welcome Mamalle......

Great pictures everyone, I have yet to try to post a picture just links.

My 2 cents on the sea sickness....we take a bonine everynight before bed and have no side effects. I have no idea if we would get sick but it is not worth taking the chance.

Dave

[kritter]

I finally figured out how to post a pix!!!! :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

Here's my little mummy and gypsy!!!
beautiful kids...

[kritter]

Just thought you would all like a good laugh at how much the kids painted themselves...they were such a mess!!!Their hair is still blue and green blonde hair plus blue paint equalls green hair....

[Princess Olivia]

Just thought you would all like a good laugh at how much the kids painted themselves...they were such a mess!!!Their hair is still blue and green blonde hair plus blue paint equalls green hair....

Those pictures are priceless. I can't tell you how often I would find mine painted, penned, stamped and one time (and one time only) with new haircuts. I laughed when I saw your photos. The looks on the girls faces is classic.

mamalle, I loved looking at your pictures. Was it your anniversary? I can't remember if that's what you said. Ooh la la loved the rose petals. Which company did you order the baskets from? What was in the Mickey head? They looked awesome. The kids are adorable. I used the white backround picture of my kids for my Christmas card. I love that they do the cards on the ship.

Buckifan, loved the costumes. Did you say this year your son is going to be Napoleon D. I can't wait to see that picture!

[buckifan]

Kritter....Those pix are a scream! I'm wondering what your floor/walls looked like after the "creative process"! This isn't nearly as much fun, but my daughter loves to take a paint brush and a bowl of water outside to "paint" the deck, patio, whatever (weather permitting).....she would do that for hours.

[kritter]

oh yes they are priceless for sure....I wanted to scream when I saw this....

Mamalle,
great pictures again.,,.

[mamalle]

Princess Olivia- the rose petals and mickey basket was part of the REAS package. If I remember there was champagne, a photo album and chocolates. dd keeps it on her dresser now with all her hair accessories! we had a romantic turn down that included the rose petals and breakfast in bed the next day ( with the kids of course) they thought it was pretty neat.. as far as the baskets- I made them myself. :confused3 we already had alot of our summer stuff out at target and I filled it with bubbles, sand toys, beach balls, goggles, autograph books, treats, crayons and coloring books. I just kept them in a duffle bag and put them out when the kids went up with dh for a drink. they were none the wiser.. we drove up so it wasnt a big deal for me to transport the baskets.


thanks for the compliments- we sure had a great time.. I cant wait till we board the magic- 4 days just didnt seem enough time!

buckifan- your kids are so cute!

kritter- how scary for you to have a spontaneous pneumo. glad to hear you are doing better!

[kritter]

Princess Olivia- the rose petals and mickey basket was part of the REAS package. If I remember there was champagne, a photo album and chocolates. dd keeps it on her dresser now with all her hair accessories! we had a romantic turn down that included the rose petals and breakfast in bed the next day ( with the kids of course) they thought it was pretty neat.. as far as the baskets- I made them myself. :confused3 we already had alot of our summer stuff out at target and I filled it with bubbles, sand toys, beach balls, goggles, autograph books, treats, crayons and coloring books. I just kept them in a duffle bag and put them out when the kids went up with dh for a drink. they were none the wiser.. we drove up so it wasnt a big deal for me to transport the baskets.


thanks for the compliments- we sure had a great time.. I cant wait till we board the magic- 4 days just didnt seem enough time!

buckifan- your kids are so cute!

kritter- how scary for you to have a spontaneous pneumo. glad to hear you are doing better!


Thanks mamalle it was wicked scarey lucky to be alive..
llok at what my kdis did to themselves with their paints...

[kritter]

ut oh I guess i had to much to psot got told to take the picture out of it tooo much with my signature..

[kritter]

sorry

[buckifan]

Glad I got to see those pix before you had to take them off.....they cracked me up!

[DisneyDmbNut]

Sorry to butt in again. Go ahead and blame Dave..

DCL has halloween baskets. They just put them up on the website..I am sure they have it every year. My DH ordered the witch basket for DD since he isn't going to be on the cruise. Very cute and you don't have to worry about packing anything!

[Tenorsinging]

.............escorting Betsy back to her own thread................


Now Betsy, come on hunny!!!!! It's time for your medication....you need to get back to your room now..........



Sorry folks for the disturbance........we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...... :teeth:

[DisneyDmbNut]

yeah...cause they're sooo busy here!!

LOL!

[kritter]

uh!! CONFUSED HERE..

[Tenorsinging]

.......calls for personnel with the syringe..........


Come Betsy....come on girl............there's Bingo at 3:00....you don't wanna be late..........

[DisneyDmbNut]

Kitter..again...we have hijacked your thread...we are less than 2 weeks from our cruise and out of control

Please forgive us and once again...blame Dave!

[buckifan]

We will forgive you both if you PROMISE to give us a fully detailed trip report....and remember to include everything Disney does that is Halloween specific!

[Princess Olivia]

We will forgive you both if you PROMISE to give us a fully detailed trip report....and remember to include everything Disney does that is Halloween specific!

I agree Disney DmbNut, please just some details and we will be eternally grateful. Have a Great time. I'll be thinking of you guys and be happy knowing a year from then it will be our turn! I am going to look at the Halloween basket right now!

[kritter]

bump to keep us on the first page and all...

[captaincrash]

You guys are...

.... sooo funny. And is Betsy for real (name)? I guess it's gonna eventually get sort of crazy - the other 2005 sailing is up to a lot of hits and poostings. With that much activity I imagine it;s hard for folks to keep track of whos say what to who. But that's how it is.

gotta go - I have not been on as much lately cuz of my two daughters sequentially getting sick and my dear spouse commented about the lengthy postings I was drafting - and she sort of asked what I was up to with over a year to go before our 2006 cruise. Heh-hee-heh ... so I gotta lay off a bit - plus we're travelin' come thursday til tuesday - so no posting then or the day leadingin into it an' after. Plus holloween weekend we are hosting a holloween dinner/costume party so that will occupy us fri-sat-sun. So I'm gonna fade until after holloweeen. I may post a bit but not much til Nov. :rolleyes:

[kritter]

captain,
we like your long posts and I least find them interesting to read and you have been keeping us on the first page and we need to stay active and can not fade off into the distance..Tell your wife that we are a small but active group and need to stay a float..so we do not get drowned out by this years cruise...We will miss you try and post.Feeling like we are going to fade away into the sunset..

What is everyones kids dressing up for halloween??After halloween post pictures if you can,,,

[kritter]

Glad I got to see those pix before you had to take them off.....they cracked me up!

Speaking of baskets.....I was thinking of making some for my kids as well. We are flying, so I was thinking of getting some sort of "collapsible" Halloween treat baskets that can fit into our luggage. I can just assemble them when we get there (and my kids are out of the room). Any ideas on what to put inside? I read on one thread that it is a good idea to take some snacks for the kids to the movies and shows....so that was one thought. Maybe Disney cups to refill at drink station.....


Let me know if you find any collapasable halloween baskets I would be interested in doing the same since we are flying as well..

[buckifan]

I did see some felt treat bags at Jo Anne ETC that would pack nicely. And once filled, they would make a nice gift basket. I think I'll hit the after Halloween sale and pick up some things to go inside as well!

[kritter]

oh thanks so much, we had a joanns coupon in our paper today...I will have to go they always have great sales though..I will elt you know when I get mine...
Hey we are up some people we have now four who are booked in a cat. 9 welcome welcome.....
we are growing...

[buckifan]

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. We are having great weather here in Ohio, and it is supossed to continue thru the week. High 60's/low 70's and SUNNY! Perfect crisp fall weather. And our trees are just starting to change color. I love it!

Oh, and YEAH, the Buckeyes beat Michigan State on Saturday! GO BUCKS!

:cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

[kritter]

Yeah it finally stopped raining here eight days straight I thought the kids would gooooo crazy........
Nice but windy as all heck here today.....
Seems like we are getting quite here I am worried that we will fade away....
Here is a question for everyone here what is your favorite fall thing to do as a family and do you have any great fall recipes that you make for yur family always looking for new stuff...

[XLT800]

Here is a question for everyone here what is your favorite fall thing to do as a family

It will not feel like fall for another 4 or 5 weeks here. We are still swimming and going to the beach, and of course yard work. :sunny: This is the time of year when we go to Disney a lot. It does start cooling down in the evening and the crowds are not too bad. We made our ressie for our weekend Christmas trip to WDW. With DD gymnastics schedule we do not get to go as much as we used to. Because we are passholders we got a free pass to go to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon which we will use in the next few weeks. :banana:

Dave

[XLT800]

Hey we are up some people we have now four who are booked in a cat. 9 welcome welcome.....
we are growing...

I just noticed on the poll that if you click the number where it shows how many people are in a catagory that you can see who is in what catagory. Many of the people that took the poll are not on this cruise.

Dave

[DisneyDmbNut]

I just noticed on the poll that if you click the number where it shows how many people are in a catagory that you can see who is in what catagory. Many of the people that took the poll are not on this cruise.

Dave
Stop talking about me!! I can hear you!

:rotfl2:

[kritter]

Hey Dave,
Sounds like you have have a ton going on and some fun stuff as well...

I clicked on the cat. and noticed that a few days ago and wonder if some people are just taking the poll for the heck of it...and playing with us and our little group..he he........I wonder why they would take it and not be on our cruise weird??

[DisneyDmbNut]

Kitter - Dave's wonderful SIL here..I answered the poll this morning when I noticed that it said " which type of cabin/category do you get?? " I thought someone was trying to decide what Cat to book...didn't mean to mess up your poll...just thought I was helping someone decide what was the most popular.

Stop laughing at me David!

[buckifan]

Kritter, You were asking about recipes, and one of my family's favorite fall meals is my potato chowder. Actually it's my sister's recipe, but since I make it for my family, I call it mine! I triple the recipe and make a huge pot of it and we literally eat it for days....it's that good. We don't get sick of it, and we're sad when it's gone. Now I know some of the ingredients sound strange, but believe me, it's worth trying if you guys like potato soup.

8 slices of bacon, cooked & chopped -OR- 1 cup cubed ham*
3 cups potatoes, peeled & cubed (about 1 1/4 lbs.)
1 can (13 1/2 oz.) chicken broth
1 10 oz. package frozen corn thawed & drained (I usually use 1/2 can, drained)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced celery (Dh doesn't like celery pieces in soup, so I sub 1 can cream of celery soup....add it to milk mixture)
2 tbs. flour
1/2 cup miracle whip salad dressing
2 cups milk
1 tbs. worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups colby jack cheese

In large pot combine potatoes, broth, corn, onion & celery. Bring to boil. Cover and reduce to simmer until potatoes are tender. Mix flour and miracle whip together, then stir in milk, wocestershire sauce, garlic salt & pepper. Add milk mixture to potatoes, stir well. Continue to simmer (covered) 10 min. or until thickened. Just before serving, add bacon and cheese, stir.

*If using ham, you can add it when you add the potatoes, corn and broth

We like to garnish the individual bowls with croutons, cheese, and additional bacon bits. It's better than any restaurant soup!

[kritter]

oh my gosh that sounds wonderful and we all love corn I am going grocery shopping on wed.. the list of itmes are already on the list...Love it and will let you know how it comes out..I have a great one that I made today in the crock pot and I will get the recipe and give it to you....
Sounds sooo good ...Have you ever frozen it and then reheated it just wondering,..
Got any other recipes always feeliong like I make the same things over and over thanks..

[kritter]

Kitter - Dave's wonderful SIL here..I answered the poll this morning when I noticed that it said " which type of cabin/category do you get?? " I thought someone was trying to decide what Cat to book...didn't mean to mess up your poll...just thought I was helping someone decide what was the most popular.

Stop laughing at me David!


that is tooo funny Did not know that you too were related and if I did not rememvering..that is okk...

[kritter]

Bump!!

[captaincrash]

Well...

.... about the poll - I would not be surprised to find a number of sneaky respondants regardless of how it is worded. And I'm not especially surprised to find a rascal SIL chiming in and feigning innocence since my SIL recently intorduced my kids to the idea of eating directly from sugar packs in a restuarant - and now they clamor for sugar packs at the table. Yeah - warmest thanks to rascal SILs everywhere! And - as for favorite fall things to do even though it might be a bit early - I would say that's a tough one since we're in SOuthern Calfornia and we really don't get big seasonal changes - so I will just have to say we rake up more leaves and go jumping through them a bit.

Aside from that it's pretty simple fare here.

TTFN :flower:

[kritter]

well well you are back..How was your weekend and your kids feeling??
We have missed you...

I bet others are responding to our poll but oh well what can you do..

Things have cooled off here and fall is in the air....Leaves falling pumpkins out etc....It is def. the feeling that summer is a thing of the past and winter is headed our way..The rain finally stopped so that is a huge plus...

Had the kids outside today and I was cold...Long pants, jackets etc,, it was only in the high 50;s BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was soo not meant o to liv ein New England I hate the change of the seasons......Always telling Dh that I want to move somewhere warmer and same story can not get work else where...BOOO WHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

[DisneyDmbNut]

SIL's UNITE!

LOL!! You think I am funny, wait till you meet Dave!

Really...he is my very favorite BIL...

[captaincrash]

Kids are.....

.... fully recovered .... the weekend we went to DIsneyland for a half day (we have annual passes) and we did some light shopping. The weather has just turned wet out here with thunder and lightening to boot. Plus today was the 1st day I turned up the heater. It had that pungent smell from a heater that has not seen use for several months.

And I wuz sort of kiddin' 'round in suggesting we'd get rascals voting on the poll improperly. In every survey you have to allow for errors and such. Off hand I would allow for about 2-5% of our respondants being ... "in error" to our intent.

Gotta run - my spouse wants the computer and we only have one hooked up to the cable modem at a time.

TTFN :3dglasses

[captaincrash]

Yeah....

.... you're just a bit silly ... but I'm really silly so don't feel out of place....

Now I gotta go before my dear spouse reaches for her baseball bat ..

TTFN ... again! :wave2:

[kritter]

sounds like you had a great weekend..
Now if you have not gotten beat up with the baseball bat..we want to hear from you so we can keep this thread going......

[kritter]

SIL's UNITE!

LOL!! You think I am funny, wait till you meet Dave!

Really...he is my very favorite BIL...


ut oh shoud we be afraid to meet Dave???WE need you to fill us in on him and his little "secrets."

[DisneyDmbNut]

oh no..that would take away the fun of "Discovering Dave"...just don't get him near the Village People skit...I hear it is a fab performance!

[kritter]

whhhhhhhhhhhhhhat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you must tell me more so we can start to tease him on this end as well...pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[DisneyDmbNut]

I am sure if you do a search, you can find photo's on these boards...but you didn't hear it from me, cause I ain't one to gossip!

[Tenorsinging]

but you didn't hear it from me, cause I ain't one to gossip!


....alrighty then, you In Living Color escapee....there's no place like home, there's no place like home!!!!!!...........

[kritter]

I am sure if you do a search, you can find photo's on these boards...but you didn't hear it from me, cause I ain't one to gossip!


pictures of who?? Dave??

[DisneyDmbNut]

pictures of who?? Dave??
;)
:rolleyes1

[kritter]

come on please help me to find some??

[DisneyDmbNut]

come on please help me to find some??
you know..I said he was my favorite BIL...if he gets mad at me, then I have no more nice BIL to talk to....

besides..I tried to look for them and he has removed the evidence from webshots!

[kritter]

oh seems like he is no fun any more...he he!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kritter]

seems like the buzz on the boards is that prices for 2007 will be much higher than 2006....wonder why???

[kritter]

bump!!

[buckifan]

seems like the buzz on the boards is that prices for 2007 will be much higher than 2006....wonder why???


Wonder if rising fuel prices has anything to do with it?

[kritter]

I wonder as well...Seems like prices have been going up on everything.Milk here is outragous you would think it is gas...

[kritter]

Guess what I jsut got in the mail tickets for my mom and me to go and see The live with Regis and Kelly show...I know it is dinsey unrelated but I had to tell ...well techinaclly they work for ABC which is owned by disney...but any way we will be on the show Nov. 1st soooooo please watch....should be fun..can not wait.to go...wrote them a letter a while back telling them how my mom took care of me, DH and the twins while I was sick with my lung this winter and tehy sent us tickets how cool is that......

[AmyJ of Ca]

May we join you??? We had booked this cruise on our July West Coast cruise and we were planning on switching it to 2007....Needless to say, we are keeping this date as it would cost about 40% more to switch it to a week that wasn't even during Spring break!! :scared1: I even looked into switching it to the next week (1st week of Nov) because my kids have 2 days off school that week and it was still $1200 to do that. Anyway, now that we have settled on this week, let me introduce my family. There are 7 of us in 2 connecting cabins ..Myself (Amy), My DH (Brice), MIL (Pat), and our 4 kids which will be (9,7,2,3 at the time of sailing). My SIL will have another cabin nearby with her 2 kids and her BF. We are from Southern California and have been DL passholders for many years. We met Fran and Dave :wave2: on our last cruise although we only saw them as we were running past chasing our kids. Maybe this cruise our kids will enjoy the kids clubs more and the babies will be a bit older. By the end of our last cruise, if we even walked down the hallway by Flounders, my youngest one dug her nails into me and started screaming!! I guess they are a little attached!! Hope to get to know you all!! :Pinkbounc Talk to you all later. Amy :flower:

[kritter]

WELCOME WELCOME AMY!!!


So very excited that you are joining us..We are soo excited that you have kids around the ages of some of us...Hopefully we can have all the kids meet....Sounds like you guys know all about disney living in Cali and all...Great to meet you..I have twins who will be four when we cruise...

Wonder why the price was sooo very high,....I have heard that prices are going way up for cruises in 2007 maybe gas???

Great to meet you and look forward to getting to know you over the next year...

Do you have any pictures from yor last cruise that you could share with us...What tips do you have about the cruise that you could share also??
Kristin

[kritter]

Bump!!

[XLT800]

Need to bump us back to page 1.

Amy......how are you doing? Glad you are with us again. Maybe kids will cooporate more this time.

Dave

[captaincrash]

Arr.. Arrrdy....Arrr ta ya Amy! an welcome aboard again!!!

That was the pirate in me (being a captain an' all!).... pirate: .... an' I imagine your kids will be completely different by next October compared to your last time aboard. If there's one thing I've learned is that you CANNOT predict what to expect a year out (let alone a day - sometimes). On our last DCL sailing this past September our 4 year old daughter wanted to stay OUT of the kids club (which was fine with us but unexpected). Last year in 2004 (Sept) she couldn't have been pulled OUT of the kids club! :rolleyes1 And I recall that one of the families fromm the DIS group on our 2005 sailing had the REVERSE experience with their 4 year old - as we had sort of hoped our kids might have hung out a bit together.

So... it just goes to show that it might very well be that the unexpected happens. Ya kno... sometimes a diaper will just... leak!... and I can only assume that this would be an unexpected occasion. :rolleyes: Ok... Maybe you've never had a leaky diaper... so how about this... sometimes .... a child will simply "miss the potty" while potty training... oh yeah! :confused3 Like these things never happen. LOL!

Aside from that - on pricing - I am mildly (not) surprised to hear of the stiff pricing. Especially for 2007 sailings (are they out already?). :grouphug: You know, I recall looking into the west coast sailings as soon as I heard about them and the pricing was pretty sharp and stiff. I followed the pricing regularly and it never dipped. Hence we returned to sail from Florida even though we're Southern Californians like you (Amy). We would have liked driving to the port for a change. But - Hey, we figured the jet ride was tolerable since the kids travel well and we'd get a change of scenery for our trouble. Only down side was we were flying INTO a hurricane region :umbrella: during hurricane season no less. Which we felt was reason enough to move our usual September sailing into October since that seemed sligtly LESS active for hurricanes in the news (to us who are less familiar with hurricanes - being from California). Frankly, our biggest threat almost never occurs - earthquakes - and otherwise we get the big fires (we're in Westlake Village - adjacent to Thousand Oaks - the HQ of the big fire fighting defense in the recent round of wildfires out here). And by comparison these hurricanes seem more troublesome (for now - until the "big one" rears its' ugly head on the west coast!).

So... we were hoping for less hurricane activity next October compared to these past few Septembers here we saw a little too much hurricane activity. AND - the pricing was attractive so we went with the Holloween thing - with it's potential for festive haunting "promise". AND... it pushed us out away from our daughters' 1st week in k school. We wanted to give our tike a chance to start school WITH her class so she would feel more "in step" with her crowd - sort of give her an equal start at meeting and making frineds and classmates.

So - last words on the pricing - they say it is capacity controlled for the given lead time - IE - 12 months out they expect to have perhaps 50% of the ship sold. If sales exceed this then they ratchet the price up - if it trails then they noth the prices lower. And so on - for each month up to departure. Now... shuuu! ... we actually saw a few sailings on DCL go on a last minute "fire sale" recently - and we would have jumped on it even though we already had a DCL sailing booked and approaching - except that we already had other travel scheduled (drat! and double DRAT!!). :sad2: So we just stuck with our regular sailing and had just DCL trip this year. I tell you the pricing was last minute and bargain basement! Pretty much unexpected. HOWEVER, I don't recall even pricing the air component - so I can't say it would have been a bargain from a total vacation cost perspective.

So - keep your eyes peeled if shifting the sailng is truly desired. Not to say we don't want another fellow Californian family or two sailing with "our sailing" - let alone the notion of shifting for a price improvement AND obtaining connecting cabins again. :rolleyes:

OK - I gotta run now. I've got a hankerin' for long winded chatter (sometimes)... so pardon my hoggin' up so much screen acerage. An' welcome aboard!!!! :wizard: Our ship wil have tons of pixie dust to go around!