Feb 23 2013 - MAGICal 6 Night Western Cruise, Galveston, TX

[eberry2001]

Myself, Wife, and 5 yr old daughter will be cruising on this date. Wifes Bday is on the 25th of Feb. This will be our 3rd cruise, but first with Disney and first time lil one is tagging along.

[eberry2001]

i sent a request to join the group on FB

[Snowwhite74]

I just sent a request to join the Facebook group. We just paid for the cruise in full this weekend. It will be my brother and sister in law's first Disney Cruise with the kids and our first family vacation. We have two little boys going with us as well as my Mom. We just got off the Disney Fantasy two weeks ago and just booked this one. So please include us for FE list. As soon as I have the room numbers for both cabins I will post those.

Can anyone tell me the best and easiest way to get to the port? I plan to fly down and my brother with kids will be driving. I am coming from Chicago and trying to find airfare to get there either Friday night or early Saturday. Which airport is best to fly into to get to port in time?
Thanks

[kelis]

Originally Posted by Snowwhite74

I just sent a request to join the Facebook group. We just paid for the cruise in full this weekend. It will be my brother and sister in law's first Disney Cruise with the kids and our first family vacation. We have two little boys going with us as well as my Mom. We just got off the Disney Fantasy two weeks ago and just booked this one. So please include us for FE list. As soon as I have the room numbers for both cabins I will post those.
Thanks

GREAT! Welcome to the group! I am the keeper of the FE info so just update either here or on FB when you have all the info.

[Kencad MOM]

Originally Posted by Snowwhite74

I just sent a request to join the Facebook group. We just paid for the cruise in full this weekend. It will be my brother and sister in law's first Disney Cruise with the kids and our first family vacation. We have two little boys going with us as well as my Mom. We just got off the Disney Fantasy two weeks ago and just booked this one. So please include us for FE list. As soon as I have the room numbers for both cabins I will post those.

Can anyone tell me the best and easiest way to get to the port? I plan to fly down and my brother with kids will be driving. I am coming from Chicago and trying to find airfare to get there either Friday night or early Saturday. Which airport is best to fly into to get to port in time?
Thanks

We are flying out of O'hare Friday night and arriving at IAH. We are taking a shuttle to the port Saturday morning. I have not found any discounts on shuttles though Still looking!! Let me know if you find anything for good rates on shuttle services.

[Kencad MOM]

Do we have a list for the FE gifts posted anywhere yet?
Trying to get a "ballpark" number of families joining in on the exchange. Starting to plan for the quanity of gifts I need to make/buy.
Thanks

[kelis]

Originally Posted by Kencad MOM

Do we have a list for the FE gifts posted anywhere yet?
Trying to get a "ballpark" number of families joining in on the exchange. Starting to plan for the quanity of gifts I need to make/buy.
Thanks

I have been keeping a spreadsheet as people opt in or out of the FE exchange. So far the group has 21 adults and 15 kids confirmed participating (your group is included in this list). This is 10 families. In the Facebook group, we have been talking about making the cut off time to join when we are about 6 weeks out and splitting the group up somehow. If it remains as is, we'd likely just split in half. If we grow, we'll have to determine the number of people based on a final head count. We have discussed splitting the group by kid's ages and/or genders OR splitting by stateroom location. If you have any input or ideas, we would love to hear those!

[Kencad MOM]

In past cruises if we had over 25 families participating we would split up the group. If we are only at 10 families I would be willing to have just one exchange with all the families But I'm also happy with whatever everyone else thinks!

The FE exchange is my kids favorite part of the cruise.....GO FIGURE!!!

[kelis]

Originally Posted by Kencad MOM

In past cruises if we had over 25 families participating we would split up the group. If we are only at 10 families I would be willing to have just one exchange with all the families But I'm also happy with whatever everyone else thinks!

The FE exchange is my kids favorite part of the cruise.....GO FIGURE!!!

I think many are looking at it more as 38 people as opposed to 10 families. I personally am giving a gift to each person. I know some will do one gift per family. I guess it depends on each person's 'giving style' as to what their financial obligation would be - 10 'family' gifts is much less than 38 individual gifts. Does that make sense? Just something that we need to decide collectively.

I can imagine that this is a fun thing for the kiddos. Once they figure out that each time they return to their room, they get a small gift, that is exciting!

[apatrol]

HI All,

Very excited to be joining this thread and even more excited to be cruising soon

We are a group of four with myself, wife, 18mo, and 17yr daughters.

[TookTheRedOne]

Originally Posted by Kencad MOM

We are flying out of O'hare Friday night and arriving at IAH. We are taking a shuttle to the port Saturday morning. I have not found any discounts on shuttles though Still looking!! Let me know if you find anything for good rates on shuttle services.

Best deal I could find was booking through Disney. They will pick up at the Airport or Airport Marriott which is on IAH property.

[TookTheRedOne]

Originally Posted by Kencad MOM

Do we have a list for the FE gifts posted anywhere yet?
Trying to get a "ballpark" number of families joining in on the exchange. Starting to plan for the quanity of gifts I need to make/buy.
Thanks

We're opting out this time around.

[JewelNRobsMom]

Hi, all!!! Been enjoying reading posts today. We are so excited for our first cruise!

Driving down from Kansas City area to Galveston for the cruise.

Husband, myself, 8 1/2Y DD, 7Y DS and my my mother-in-law.

Is it still possible to get in on the FE?

[JewelNRobsMom]

Hi! I just requested the FB page join. (Beckie S. T.)

[pannm]

We are extremely excited to be going on our FIRST EVER cruise! We are also sailing out on Feb. 23rd and cannot wait. I just requested to join your fb group.

It's my husband, myself, and two daughters who are both celebrating birthdays while we are on board. One will be turning 11 on Feb. 26th and the other will be turning 9 just the day before we depart (we're still celebrating it on board!).

I am really in the same boat with one or two of you. My girls will not be too 'thrilled' with being left in the kids club. My almost 9 year old has a difficult time being left in new places. We've rarely had a baby sitter other than my mom watching them a few times a year and I home school my almost 9 year old, because of health issues. My almost 11 year old will probably love the kids club the instant she steps in. I've decided, though, that I for sure will not be giving my girls roaming privlages around the ship...only because this is all new to us and my DH and I are a little on the over protective side.

I am *THINKING* about doing FE, but I am still new to it- so I need to think about it/learn more about it before I commit.

I need to figure out how to make a FE...I am crafty and like to sew. I've been looking at some other fun ideas and pictures on Disboards and it looks like a lot of fun!