2/15/2013 - 8 Night Western Cruise, Galveston, TX

[Kimbo71]

My oldest DS did not like being surprised and was initially upset and nervous about cruising, but my other two DS were jumping up and down with excitement. Took my oldest DS a couple of days to get over his apprehension and worry about sea sickness while cruising, but by the end of the cruise he didn't want it to be over.

My oldest might be like this, too. She PANICS easily-so she'll have a month & a half after we tell her to get used to the idea, lol!

 

[I❤MICKEY]

First of all we officially booked the cruise today and made our deposit.

I'm not sure about the FE yet. I need to talk to my parents. I think I understand how it works but let me ask just to make sure I get the gist of it - We get a list of everyone else participating and get them each a little gift which we deliver at some point during the cruise. We all hang something on the fish to receive the gifts that the others leave for us. Or is it just a few of the other families and not everyone?

I am wondering the same thing. This is our first cruise so I started googling it. I've read some people saying they had over 210 people participate and they hadn't anticipate making/buying 210 goodies. Others have said they were broken into groups of 20-25 so you only had to make/buy for 20-25. On a 5 day cruise they rec'd 4-5 treats a day. Before I commit I want to completely understand what the expectation is. Thx.

 

[FloridaFun]

Kimbo- Your 11 year old DD will fall right between my 12 year old DS and 10 year old DS. My DH was career Air Force and retired August of 2011. He is now a contractor over at Pete. Ya never know, our spouses may already know each other. We also used airline miles to get my DH and 2 of my DS's to Houston. They may be on the same flight as you as they are also going on Thursday. My mom and DS who is 5 are driving in a few days before to visit friends along the way. Glad you are in for the FEE. It is a lot of fun. You are almost to the required number of posts to send PM’s, but you can email me at beth@sitesandsounds.com

Dismom73 - Got all your FEE information and am already working on your gifts.

Betsy2010 - If you PM'ed me, I did not get your FEE information. I am FloridaFun and you can also email me at beth@sitesandsounds.com. Glad to have you in the FEE and I can't wait to make your gifts too!

SnipsNSnails – We too are die hard U of M fans. I get back to 2 or 3 football games each year. Went to the season opener against my home town team, Air Force. Then, loved the smashing of IL last weekend, and will be back for Northwestern on the 10th of November. Congrats to your cousin on becoming a UM grad. It seems that you and I have a lot in common. My Mom (who will also be on the cruise) purchased the house behind mine a little over 2 years ago, so she is my backyard neighbor. Having family close is the best thing ever! You have the idea of the FEE correct. You give gifts to those who are participating. Most people deliver sometime in the first few days, but others drop things off throughout the cruise. It is really up to you how you give. Some people give a family gift to each cabin, some do a little something for each person, some do both. It does not have to be expensive and some of the coolest things are homemade. If you have not looked at my Pinterest Board, you can see ideas here of some gift ideas. Many people also give something unique to where they live or a little recipe book of their family favorite dishes. I also pinned a few Fish Extenders is you want to see what those can look like. They are all on the same board. http://pinterest.com/off2wdw/fe-disney-gifts/ Again, no rules on them either. They can be anything that has pockets and hold your gifts. I have seen super fancy ones and others that are canvas bags decorated with a Disney theme.

I heart Mickey – If the FEE group gets bigger than 25 cabins, I will split it into 2 groups as I also think anything more than that is too many. There is no expectation that you give more than once. People that drop off gifts more than that do so because they want to. Also, not everyone drops off at the same time, so gifts do come in throughout the cruise. The FEE is really about the fun of it and that is why there are no set rules for what to give. My recommendation is the no one should spend (time wise or money wise) more than they are comfortable with. Hope that helps answer your question.

 

[Kimbo71]

Kimbo- Your 11 year old DD will fall right between my 12 year old DS and 10 year old DS. My DH was career Air Force and retired August of 2011. He is now a contractor over at Pete. Ya never know, our spouses may already know each other. We also used airline miles to get my DH and 2 of my DS's to Houston. They may be on the same flight as you as they are also going on Thursday. My mom and DS who is 5 are driving in a few days before to visit friends along the way. Glad you are in for the FEE. It is a lot of fun. You are almost to the required number of posts to send PM’s, but you can email me at.....



Thanks!!

 

[Kimbo71]

My 11 YO DD loves to meet new friends & I want her to have a good time!

 

[Gina]

I have a Pinterest Board with FE exchange ideas and a few pictures of Fish Extenders. you can see the board at this link: http://pinterest.com/off2wdw/fe-disney-gifts/

I will continue to pin FE exchange ideas that I think are cool, so if you want to follow my board you will see anything new that I pin too.

Beth

WOW!! I can't believe it has suddenly gone from Katie and I twiddling out thumbs on this thread, to being where I can't even keep up! That's awesome!!

Beth, thanks so much for taking over the FEE stuff! Sounds like you have it well in hand. I keep forgetting to go look up your Pinterest board when I get home -- I need to do that!!

Please put me down as a "maybe" at this point... 20-25 would really be the outside limit of the number I could really handle. 15-20 would be even better. If we end up with smaller groups like that, definitely count me in!

I'm still happy to organize the DIS Meet onboard, if people would like, maybe more than one. Last time, we did the main meet the first day right after the safety drill, then did a smaller one the next day. I did the first one in the Promenade Lounge which seemed to work out well and was family-friendly, and the second one was late morning out on the secret deck on 7 where I just ordered a bunch of pastries from room service. Any other ideas more than welcome, or if anyone else has their heart set on taking care of Meets please say so!

Can't believe final payment is going to be upon us so soon... time has *flown* since I booked this cruise in January!! (Well, booked the 2/1 cruise, which then got changed to a 4-night and I switched to this cruise. ) Can't wait to meet you guys!! Now I just need some other single parent(s) to join in here so I have someone to hang out with on the cruise.


-gina-

 

[Kimbo71]

Anyone know how to find this info out? One of my kids its very sensitive to cold water.

 

[Gina]

Anyone know how to find this info out? One of my kids its very sensitive to cold water.

I can't seem to find a link to average water temps... But I can tell you from 7 February cruises that it is both hit & miss, and subjective. We have gone when the water only felt a bit chilly to me for a couple of minutes and then felt great, and we have gone when I thought I would turn to ice just from putting a toe in and my son's lips were blue (not that that stopped him from being out there!)

But being from Texas, I'm used to pretty warm water most of the year. I'm sure someone from Canada or Wisconsin or something would laugh at what I call "cold water."

 

[FloridaFun]

FEE – So far for the FEE I have 4 families confirmed to participate (6 cabins) and Gina as a maybe. I am not opposed to breaking it into smaller groups at 15 or 20 cabins (if we have that many) if that works better for everyone. Then, those that want to have more people could just choose to participate in more than one group. Let me know what you all think of that idea.

Gina – Thanks for organizing the DIS Meet Onboard. Looking forward already to meeting everyone in person.

Beth

 

[Kimbo71]

FEE – So far for the FEE I have 4 families confirmed to participate (6 cabins) and Gina as a maybe. I am not opposed to breaking it into smaller groups at 15 or 20 cabins (if we have that many) if that works better for everyone. Then, those that want to have more people could just choose to participate in more than one group. Let me know what you all think of that idea.

Gina – Thanks for organizing the DIS Meet Onboard. Looking forward already to meeting everyone in person.

Beth

Did you get our info? I tried to send a PM (my post count was finally high enough), but I'm still not sure it went through).

 

[Kimbo71]

I can't seem to find a link to average water temps... But I can tell you from 7 February cruises that it is both hit & miss, and subjective. We have gone when the water only felt a bit chilly to me for a couple of minutes and then felt great, and we have gone when I thought I would turn to ice just from putting a toe in and my son's lips were blue (not that that stopped him from being out there!)

But being from Texas, I'm used to pretty warm water most of the year. I'm sure someone from Canada or Wisconsin or something would laugh at what I call "cold water."

The two times we've been to CC were both in October, when the water was nice & warm, so I wasn't sure what to expect on this cruise.

 

[I❤MICKEY]

FEE – So far for the FEE I have 4 families confirmed to participate (6 cabins) and Gina as a maybe. I am not opposed to breaking it into smaller groups at 15 or 20 cabins (if we have that many) if that works better for everyone.

I will participate in the FEE and will PM you with my details. Personally, I like the idea of smaller groups.

Interesting -- It took 24 hours to be able to access my reservation on disneycruise.com. When I finally got in my room is listed at GTY. This is my first cruise so I have no idea what that meant. Found it on the FAQ's. Does anyone else have this as their room type for this cruise? Does anyone else have experience being assigned GTY? Did you get your room type or were you upgraded?

 

[FloridaFun]

FEE - It sounds like smaller groups works best for everyone, so I am planning to split the group if I get 20 cabins and will try and make sure there are not more than 15 in a group if it goes up from there. I would like everyone who wants to participate to do so and not feel overwhelmed. I will keep everyone up tp date on how many cabins are participating.

If anyone else has organized the FEE before, can you let me know how long you had people still joining in and when did you get the list to those that are participating. Thanks for any advice.



Beth

 

[samily]

I was able to book our excursions this morning - yay! It makes it feel more real!!

For those looking for this info...the busses are starting at 7:15 for all parks except Epcot, which starts at 6:30. For Magic Kingdom they are leaving every half hour, to the other parks it is every hour , all ending at 9:15am. (Epcot has a 6:30, then a 7:15, and then every hour to 9:15am. Epcot also has a 4:45pm listed). You can reserve your time under port adventures. I didn't see any info on the return busses.

There are 6 cabanas left on the family beach and 2 on SB.

Palo brunch is offered on the sea days, every half hour, 10:00 - 12:30.
Palo dinner is offered each evening, every half hour, 6:00 - 8:30.
No high tea offered anymore.

Pirate night is listed as night 6.

Hope this info is useful!

 

[jzandmeplus3]

I love this day when you can start booking activities!

Family Cabana, check
Ride to Magic Kingdom, check
Dinner at Palo, check

What to do in Key West? Not sure, we're not there for very long, and my youngest is 5. May just go it on our own? Suggestions?

Then there is the spa, I really like getting pampered, but I hate when they start their sales pitch.

 

[Gina]

FEE - It sounds like smaller groups works best for everyone, so I am planning to split the group if I get 20 cabins and will try and make sure there are not more than 15 in a group if it goes up from there. I would like everyone who wants to participate to do so and not feel overwhelmed. I will keep everyone up tp date on how many cabins are participating.

If anyone else has organized the FEE before, can you let me know how long you had people still joining in and when did you get the list to those that are participating. Thanks for any advice.
Beth

You are awesome, Beth, thank you!! I will PM you my details.
I'm trying to remember when our cut-off day was for the 2/1 cruise before that got all screwed up... I know it was pretty soon, like next month. I know that I personally need as much time as possible to pull this off, lol. The sooner we have firm numbers the better. The person organizing ours had a spreadsheet in Google docs that anyone could update themselves, and it made it so easy for her and the participants to keep track of everything. Just a thought, in case you hadn't already done something like that!

I was able to book our excursions this morning - yay! It makes it feel more real!!

Awesome! I can't remember, who gets to book that stuff at 120 days? Gold? I'm still silver until this cruise... is that at 90 days?

For those looking for this info...the busses are starting at 7:15 for all parks except Epcot, which starts at 6:30. For Magic Kingdom they are leaving every half hour, to the other parks it is every hour , all ending at 9:15am. (Epcot has a 6:30, then a 7:15, and then every hour to 9:15am. Epcot also has a 4:45pm listed). You can reserve your time under port adventures. I didn't see any info on the return busses.

You just made my day!!! A 6:30 bus means we can get to Epcot for EE, then hop to MK later in the day. Perfect!! Now I just hope there will still be spots on the early bus once I can book it!


-gina-

 

[wdrl]

I was able to book our excursions this morning - yay! It makes it feel more real!! . . . [snip] . . . Hope this info is useful!

Yes, its quite useful! Thanks for posting. However, since this is our first DCL, we can't book until 12/02/2012.

For the port stop at Port Canaveral, we've planning on starting our day at Animal Kingdom and then switching to Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios after lunch. We made an ADR for Tusker House at 11:30 AM for lunch. I doubt we'll have dinner at WDW -- in fact, we'll probably be on one of the early buses going back to the ship.

 

[wdrl]

What to do in Key West? Not sure, we're not there for very long, and my youngest is 5. May just go it on our own? Suggestions?

We've never been to Key West, but a friend who has been there several times recommends we do the Conch Train Tour. Its a 90 minute tour of Key West on a trolley shaped like a train (or what passes for a train to a 5 year old). You'll see the sights and then have time to explore more of the port on your own. Google "Conch Tour Key West" and you'll get several web pages that will give you more info.

 

[Kimbo71]

Just wondering-I'm assuming that w/ a park hopper pass, we will be able to ride the monorail & busses between the parks as we want to the day w/ are at the parks.

Also, we have to reserve spots on the busses from PC to WDW? Our date to book exursions etc. will be Nov 17th, since we have only cruised 2 times before.

 

[duck_widow]

Hi!!

I'm subbing in to join the fun. We knew we'd do a Disney cruise someday and couldn't pass up the KSF sale while our kids are on winter break, also got fairly cheap air from SF so couldn't resist. Any other west-coasters among us??

This will be our 7th cruise for DH and I, and the 4th one for the kids and our first DCL cruise and first trip to WDW. We love cruising and I'm sure will be wanting all DCL after this. We love Disney and are also DVC members.

I am so excited, but trying to keep it a secret until Christmas and need ideas for a clever way to tell the kids. Any ideas?

I just learned about decorating doors and FEE, so I will definately be doing those and keeping that stuff a secret. I think those will really make the cruise extra-special. I will PM my FEE info shortly. Thank you Beth for organizing!!! I also do the Mickey tie-dye shirts for our DL trips and will make more for the cruise. Any other tie-dye folks here??

I am soooo excited!!!