Alaska July 23, 2012

[perezpirates]

Thanks so much -- as you know we dont have a stateroom number yet but here we are

Rick my husband
Isaiah my son 10
Stephanie me !

I am so excited thank you so much Purdue Mouse
BTW when do we get an estimate of the number of kids we are getting stuff for ???

counting the days ....
Stephie

 

[Purdue Mouse]

Thanks so much -- as you know we dont have a stateroom number yet but here we are

Rick my husband
Isaiah my son 10
Stephanie me !

I am so excited thank you so much Purdue Mouse
BTW when do we get an estimate of the number of kids we are getting stuff for ???

counting the days ....
Stephie

There is a viewable google spread sheet that I keep updating. The link can now be found in post #1

 

[perezpirates]

OMG I ordered my fish extender and i am excited to be participating in this !!!!! It cost way to o much cause of the last minute rush and shipping to be 2 days but hopefully its awesome !!!!

Anyone have any cool IDEAS of what they my want like in the FE? My son is gonna have a blast with this !!!!!

Story of our family -- My DH and I actually met while working at Disneyland in 1999. We worked there while going to school. I am a long time Disney fan and I am so excited for this cruise. We have so much Disney in our history. Its a place we go for everything. We have been pass holders for years. Recently we moved to Washington and I have been on a Mickey depression cause I am so far from Disneyland and last minute my DH said to look up Alaska cruises cause we are so close to the ports. Of course I looked at only DCL and we found an awesome deal on the cruise.... We haven't had a decent family vacation since my DH joined the military this is the first time we will be together in 5 years for his birthday. He is usually deployed or on a cruise. But this year we will be cruising with MICKEY and we are so excited to be sailing with all of you !!!!!!!!!!!

tell me a little about your families

Stephie

 

[perezpirates]

BTW are we all meeting up on the cruise ?

 

[Purdue Mouse]

BTW are we all meeting up on the cruise ?

It didn't work on our last cruise, but those who are interested in meeting your fellow DISers can meet after the sailaway party in the Atrium by the Ariel statue.

We have taken one other DCL cruise. My family affectionately refers to me as the "princess of overplanning." I research and organize all of our trips so I can maximize our experience and $$. That is what lead me to the DIS website. When I am not Purdue Mouse, I am a full time nurse and a Mom with 2 daughters. The older one- a young professional - is living and working in Chicago. My younger daughter has Crohn's disease and we are celebrating that she is doing great (I never travel without buying insurance that covers pre-existing). She plays club volleyball almost year round. DH is an Engineer and gets the luxury of just showing up for the trip while I do all the busy work
Like all of you, we have work and personal stress and look forward to a relaxing vacation and being pampered in a way that only Disney can. You might run into us in an elevator singing Disney jingles or just enjoying the magic. We are Deadliest catch fans and we are looking forward to the Crab Fisherman's tour on Ketchican day. The girls will be ziplining in Skagway.
DH and I get to wind down our cruise with a Palo brunch on Victoria day.

 

[mamahawk80]

Hi everyone,

So sorry to be joining so late. I recently had spinal fusion surgery. Now I am racing around to finish getting ready for this vacation. I can't believe we leave for Seattle in 13 days!!!

This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise!!!
July 2012- Alaska on Disney Wonder!
July 2011- Mediterranean on Disney Magic!
March 2010- Caribbean on Disney Magic!

This is an extended family trip for us. We have 22 family members in 8 staterooms!

Our immediate family is in staterooms #8070 & #8068

Me- Patricia
DH- Scott
DS- Chance (15)
DD- Abbie (turning 9 on July 30th)
DD- Maddie (6)

 

[perezpirates]

It didn't work on our last cruise, but those who are interested in meeting your fellow DISers can meet after the sailaway party in the Atrium by the Ariel statue.

We have taken one other DCL cruise. My family affectionately refers to me as the "princess of overplanning." I research and organize all of our trips so I can maximize our experience and $$. That is what lead me to the DIS website. When I am not Purdue Mouse, I am a full time nurse and a Mom with 2 daughters. The older one- a young professional - is living and working in Chicago. My younger daughter has Crohn's disease and we are celebrating that she is doing great (I never travel without buying insurance that covers pre-existing). She plays club volleyball almost year round. DH is an Engineer and gets the luxury of just showing up for the trip while I do all the busy work
Like all of you, we have work and personal stress and look forward to a relaxing vacation and being pampered in a way that only Disney can. You might run into us in an elevator singing Disney jingles or just enjoying the magic. We are Deadliest catch fans and we are looking forward to the Crab Fisherman's tour on Ketchican day. The girls will be ziplining in Skagway.
DH and I get to wind down our cruise with a Palo brunch on Victoria day.

Purdue -- Nice to know a bit about you and your girls and your DH. I am new to blogging or forums (I am a avid FBer but I was excited to find this when I was researching FE's.

I told you a bit about our personal history with Disney but here is more information out the Perez Pirates. We are so cal natives and I was born and raised in LA/OC so hence the love for the LAND and not the WORLD.

My husband joined the military after I had a life changing sickness. As a nurse to I caught a bug that did a number on me and my life. In the Navy my husband is a medic (he was an xray tech prior to service). As well, he rides a big HARLEY. He says his fav Disney characters are Captn Hook and sorcerer Mickey. Our first duty station was San Diego and we just recently moved up to Washington, less then 3 months ago. I love it here and it gave us the opportunity to go on this cruise without worrying about paying for flights

I am a NURSE too as I mentioned. I have worked in every gambit possible critical care, urgent care, telemetry, as a school nurse. Since the move I decided to stay home this summer and then focus on work once my kiddo is back in the swing of school. I needed time to settle the house and get to know my new community. As well go crazy shopping and planning for our big Disney Adventure My fave Disney characters are MICKEY AND MINNIE - and Dori and Belle

My son Isaiah -- is a sweet hearted, loud mouthed, NERD. I love him -- he is who he is and thats okay with him. He is ten and still waves at the characters in the parade but wont let me pick out his clothes anymore lol. In so many ways he is still a kid -- he loves to play with anyone any age and is such a great spirit. And then there are times we i feel he is so grown up by his wanting to decide how to comb his hair and insisting on wearing AXE spray cause he is a man now. He is a Lego, star wars, halo reach kind of kid. I think its so sweet that he says when he grows up he wants to be a dad most of all!!! He appreciates Disney cause mom does. His fav character is Aladdin and Simba. And he loves the fact that our lives kind of revolve around the mouse.

So I am totally up to meeting you all -- I would be nice to say hi to ppl and celebrate our love for our families and the mouse. I will be there at the Ariel statue. Is it weird that I want to give you my cell to text me ?

As far as the trip -- we have jam packed it with so much ... LOL my DH has not been home for a vacation since forever -- and we are celebrating his birthday on the cruise -- this is the first bday he has been home for in 5 years.

We are doing the deadlist catch tour as well, we are also doing the helicopter dog sledding thing in Juneau (if the weather lets us fly -- keep you fingers crossed for us), and we are doing the mickey salmon bake gold rush thing. On the ship my husband and I will be dinning in PALO for dinner.

BTW does anyone know the limit to acohol we can take per person ? Can we take a case of beer ? how many bottles of wine or liquor?
I am not and alcoholic just already spending the whole of country of Zimbabwe income on my vacation and I want to cut some cost.

Thanks for listening -- for not being a blogger this nurse can sure yap on and on.

<3 Stephie

 

[disneyfanaticc]

Purdue Mouse, there are also two adults (Mom and Dad) that you can just put under the same stateroom but just so people know

 

[mgmcpa]

Perez Pirate ... which day of the cruise is your husband's birthday? We want to be sure and leave something for him on the big day.

mgmcpa

 

[perezpirates]

Perez Pirate ... which day of the cruise is your husband's birthday? We want to be sure and leave something for him on the big day.

mgmcpa

The second day of the cruise on the 24th !!!!! Thanks soooooo much! I havent yet received my FE I ordered from etsy -- I cannot sew -- I am getting worried about it coming in time .....

Hey another question is everyone bring heavy coats? they take up so much luggage space !!!!!

 

[perezpirates]

Just got our stateroom we are 7619 -- we are thinking about upgrading on the pier so keep your fingers crossed right now we just have an average inside stateroom -- does anyone know how much it can possibly cost to upgrade at the pier ???

 

[tinkeringbells]

Many people seem to be asking for upgrades at the port. How does this work? Do you pay more for the fancier room, I'm guessing?

 

[tinkeringbells]

oh my gosh, i wanted to send a pm to beanie, to see if they were in or not because i wanted to know numbers as i am preparing the FE goodies! but i dont have enough posts . can some one pm beanie for me?! thanks!!!!

Beanie is in! She is my sister and I signed her up. Johnson family on the spreadsheet!

 

[tinkeringbells]

Bought FE on Etsy and it will be here in time for the cruise. No charge for rush order, hooray! SO EXCITED, squeee!

 

[tinkeringbells]

This is our first DCL cruise and FE experience, so I have newbie questions.

We deliver gifts to everyone on the list, right?

Is there a particular time/date that we are "assigned" to deliver, or can we do it whenever?

Does each family deliver gifts once, or multiple times?

Thanks for explaining how this is going to work. I've got a lot of crafting to do!!

Looking forward to seeing you all by the Ariel statue. It will be me, DH, DD (10), and DS (8). DS has cerebral palsy and may be getting around with his walker, depending on how his recovery from foot reconstruction is going. He should be out of his 8 weeks of casting just in time for the cruise, and he is so excited to swim! DD especially loves fairies, DS cars, DH tigger, Tink for me, and Mickey for all of us. See you all soon!

 

[danfromca]

Just got our stateroom we are 7619 -- we are thinking about upgrading on the pier so keep your fingers crossed right now we just have an average inside stateroom -- does anyone know how much it can possibly cost to upgrade at the pier ???

Many people seem to be asking for upgrades at the port. How does this work? Do you pay more for the fancier room, I'm guessing?

Our cruise has been showing as sold out or one category availability for a couple of weeks now. So I think it's a very safe bet that the ship will be full and there won't be much of a chance for upgrades. Sorry...

 

[danfromca]

The second day of the cruise on the 24th !!!!! Thanks soooooo much! I havent yet received my FE I ordered from etsy -- I cannot sew -- I am getting worried about it coming in time .....

Hey another question is everyone bring heavy coats? they take up so much luggage space !!!!!

From my reading of the boards (past Alaska cruises), the two common themes are:
- The weather is completely unpredictable. Hot/cold/dry/rain
- Think layers

Instead of a heavy coat, I picked up a rain jacket and a couple of sets of thermal underwear. Between that, some long sleeve shirts and sweaters/sweatshirts, hopefully I'll be ok.

 

[Purdue Mouse]

This is our first DCL cruise and FE experience, so I have newbie questions.

We deliver gifts to everyone on the list, right?

Is there a particular time/date that we are "assigned" to deliver, or can we do it whenever?

Does each family deliver gifts once, or multiple times?

Thanks for explaining how this is going to work. I've got a lot of crafting to do!!

Looking forward to seeing you all by the Ariel statue. It will be me, DH, DD (10), and DS (8). DS has cerebral palsy and may be getting around with his walker, depending on how his recovery from foot reconstruction is going. He should be out of his 8 weeks of casting just in time for the cruise, and he is so excited to swim! DD especially loves fairies, DS cars, DH tigger, Tink for me, and Mickey for all of us. See you all soon!

Regarding FE gifts:

I have not heard from 2 families - Ziggyca and wdwluvin so I think we can assume they are not doing the FE. They are welcome to join us by the Ariel statue and meet some fellow cruisers

FE gifts can be something for the stateroom or individualized. Don't spend alot of $. We can go down the list and assign a different day for each of us. I'll put days for each person on the spread sheet, but if you want to deliver on a different day, that's fine too. It's just fun to extend the magic during the cruise.

If you are leaving a bag, I would bring zip ties and secure it to the FE so it doesn't get swipped. Which means we will need some clippers or scissors to cut it off.

We are in the final week! I won't be getting to bed before midnight all week because there is a ton of stuff to do before I head to the airport

 

[mgmcpa]

Yes, it's too late for anyone else to join on ... my gifts are ready!

I will be delivering a few times during the cruise to match FE's with our journey. Most of my deliveries are small enough to tuck down in your pockets and go unnoticed ... so make sure to look down in it once in awhile.

Can't wait!

 

[mgmcpa]

Do we have a room number for dreamkas yet?

And, in the unlikely event anyone's room assignment changes ... feel free to write your old and new number on the dry erase board on my room ... we're in #2584 and have no intention of trying to upgrade.