Angel's Make a Wish DREAM Cruise/extended days at wdw 4/13-25 PTR :)

[angel's momma]

Sigh. The wish coordinator told me Thurs. that she'd email me later that day with all of our flight & cruise info, so I could book an excursion (hopefully it's not full yet), but she still hasn't. I did get our wdw reservation re-booked (again, due to the time constraints for getting pre-existing coverage on the insurance), and the trip insurance purchased, so that was good. Now I need to cancel the 2nd wdw reservation.

I can't believe Feb. is already over.

 

[DisNorth]

We have dates Cruise is 4/14-18, and we added on wdw 4/18-25.

So excited you got your dates! Hope you get all your info soon so you can plan!

 

[angel's momma]

So excited you got your dates! Hope you get all your info soon so you can plan!

Thank you


Having a sad night.
We received a letter from the wish coordinator today, with the cruise reservation number. Not sure why she mailed it instead of emailing me like had she had said, or why she couldn't also email it to me so I could get everything done. We didn't get home until early evening, and we were very anxious to book the excursion, etc. Having lots of problems with the site though, it lets me start, but then errors out. The short time I was in though, it looks like the excursion is available, but doesn't have room for all 3 of us, so we're not sure what we're going to do (can't try other options because I can't get back on the site.) The part that really makes us sad is the room assignment - 8502. Not only is it not a verandah, it has the tinier porthole, and worst of all, it's at the front of the ship & overlooks the deck, not even the ocean (though it's called oceanview).

 

[Kktraylor]

Thank you

Having a sad night.
We received a letter from the wish coordinator today, with the cruise reservation number. Not sure why she mailed it instead of emailing me like had she had said, or why she couldn't also email it to me so I could get everything done. We didn't get home until early evening, and we were very anxious to book the excursion, etc. Having lots of problems with the site though, it lets me start, but then errors out. The short time I was in though, it looks like the excursion is available, but doesn't have room for all 3 of us, so we're not sure what we're going to do (can't try other options because I can't get back on the site.) The part that really makes us sad is the room assignment - 8502. Not only is it not a verandah, it has the tinier porthole, and worst of all, it's at the front of the ship & overlooks the deck, not even the ocean (though it's called oceanview).

So sorry for y'all. Maybe this will be one of those trips that so many things go wrong, it just ends up being amazing. It's definitely already memorable. ;-)
Kristy

 

[angel's momma]

Thanks Kristy

Angel's just so disappointed. We were having so much fun making plans yesterday & today, and since she found out about the room tonight, she doesn't even want to talk about the trip. We stayed up really late last night, and had a very busy day out of town today, so I'm hoping she's just really tired, and that she'll feel better tomorrow.

 

[Lilfoot93]

So sorry. (((HUGS))) I hope you are able to get the excursions you want. Can you call directly to book excursions and explain you are on a MAW trip and possibly see about changing rooms? I have never been on a cruise before so I don't know how it works. I hope it all works out for you guys. I can't believe everything you guys have gone through to get to this point!

Jackie

 

[angel's momma]

Thank you Jackie

The DCL site started working again. I was able to book the sea lion excursion for her , but for her only. Tom & I are able to observe, but she was looking forward to all 3 of us doing it together.

I just now got done with what I needed to do on the DCL site. First was the error pages, then it went down for maintenance. All that time, we had another weird problem going on - the site worked on the laptop, but not the desktop (it said the page didn't exist - which made no sense, since it was working fine on the laptop ). I finally got it all done on the laptop, and realized that I needed to print a page, and can only do that on the desktop. After much frustration - I just kept hitting refresh, and it suddenly started working.

We are very happy that we'll be able to fly out of the airport that's just an hour away, instead of having to drive to Chicago , and that we get to go down the day before. We won't be arriving until that night though. A few weeks ago, we received an amazingly generous offer from a DISer - to stay at their studio room at the Boardwalk Villas the night before the cruise! Due to our late arrival, we won't be able to accept their kindness. We were also hoping to meet an Orlando family that day, whose daughter is the same age as Angel, and also has Aplastic Anemia, but we won't have enough time.

I did email the wish coordinator to see if there's any way to get a room that at least faces the side. Even if it's got the same tinier porthole that she can't sit in, at least she could look out at the water.

 

[VBAndrea]

I'm so happy you got your dates! I would definitely call about the excursion and see if they will kindly add you and your dh or if they have a wait list you can get put on. And I would do the same with the room, but I wouldn't be as worried about the room because I don't think you'll be spending a lot of time in it.

So how's that passport coming along?

 

[taimie]

so glad you all got your dates
I hope if you call they are able to change your room. IT is amazing how different all our stories are.

 

[taimie]

so glad you all got your dates
I hope if you call they are able to change your room. IT is amazing how different all our stories are.

I meant different stories about with our wish grantors/coordinators.
The cruise will be awesome. We were nervous to do a cruise with Alexa.

 

[angel's momma]

Thank you Andrea & Taimie We know it's going to be a wonderful trip. We're handling it better today - I figured part of it was how tired we were at the time. It's just been such an emotional rollercoaster - every time we allow ourselves to start feeling excited, something seems to happen to squash it. DH told me the same thing today about the excursion - at least call & see what they say. And we realized that we probably won't be in the room much either.

So how's that passport coming along?

Hopefully it's coming along very well, but I only applied for it on Wed.

 

[angel's momma]

Tom & Angel were able to start making the FE today, and got the back piece finished. They probably won't be able to start the pockets until next weekend. I drew the little cruise ship design, and found some mickey head pics online and altered them on Paint, and I'm having Snapfish print them as photos that we can use to decorate the FE. I just realized that I should have taken pics of them working on the FE - I'll have to remember to do that next time.

 

[DisNorth]

Sorry there was some disappointment. Did you call about the excursion to see if there is a wait-list? You never know.

I wouldn't worry too much about the room - you won't spend much time there. I've only ever been on one cruise and we got upgraded to a room with a balcony, had chairs and everything. but we never used it! We went out on the balcony to take photos maybe 3 times on the 7 day cruise. Most of your time will be spent elsewhere!

You will have a fabulous time!

 

[angel's momma]

Thank you Tracy.

I just called, and they don't do a wait list, but they said to keep checking online to see if an opening becomes available. Yay for the upgrade you received.

We know that we will have a great trip.

 

[p00h4me]

Hi Christi, Just pm'd you some information.

I hope there will be some openings on the excursion so that you and Tom can join Angel. Wished things could have worked out better on the DCL.

 

[angel's momma]

Thank you Gail

 

[angel's momma]

One of the many things I've learned about on the DIS is Crocs. At first, I was one that couldn't believe that anyone would actually wear them. I kept reading the posts that said how wonderful they were, and finally tried them. That was Sept. 2005, and I've barely worn anything else since. Even DH wears them. Angel & I have the mammoths too, and people think we're crazy wearing them all winter, in the snow. We have lots of jibbitz for them too, and it was time to switch the Valentine ones for Easter ones, so Angel got her regular crocs ready for the trip & decorated them with ones for the cruise. She's happiest when every hole is full, and if not, it drives her crazy if they don't have the same number in each shoe. She couldn't decide which Disney ones to include, so I told her she could take the Disney ones, and switch them out with the cruise ones after the cruise, which made her happy.

Here's hers, with the extra Disney jibbitz

And mine too

I forgot to say that the sea lion excursion that she chose is the one at Blue Lagoon.

I've been waffling back and forth on deciding our park days. Usually we do AM EMH, and it usually works well for us. With our dates, it doesn't work to do that for MK. I've been thinking about doing the recommended days from easywdw.

That would make our schedule:

Thurs. 4/18: Swim at Pop, look around AoA. It seems like we always plan to just stay at the resort when we arrive, and that we usually end up going to DTD, or to another resort to eat at their food court, and then we regret it because it ends up being much later than we planned.

Fri. 4/19: MK

Sat. 4/20: We get 2 vouchers for DQ, so DH & Angel will go there. We've gone before, but I can't remember how long ago it was. I didn't do too much then, so I'm just fine not going this time. I may do some , but I'm guessing that I'll need to do it Thurs. instead. I plan to go get pressed pennies at Boardwalk, POR, and Ft. Wilderness. Normally we go do that together, but this will give me something to do instead of DQ. We'll meet later to shop at DTD.

Sun. 4/21: HS

Mon. 4/22: EP

Tues. 4/23: AK

Wed. 4/24: not sure yet, depends on if we got the resort pennies, saw all of AOA, finished shopping at DTD. I like having time to pack, instead of trying to do it after getting back late from a park. I'm sure Angel will want to swim some more, it was one of the things she missed doing the most last summer.


Got our online check in done for the cruise, and called to request late dining, a table by ourselves, and added our celebrations. Called and put in room requests for Pop, and had Magical Express added for going home.

I think the next thing I need to work on is getting our luggage from the old house. I have to disinfect it before we can bring it in this house. It's supposed to snow a lot today though, so I probably won't go over to try to get it, because I probably won't be able to even get in the old house - the screen door latch broke last summer, so we held it shut with a flower pot in front of it "temporarily", and now when it freezes, the flower pot freezes to the concrete, and I can't move it so I can open the door.

 

[p00h4me]

I wear my Crocs around the house and have worn them to Disney. They really are comfy. I don't have any jibbitz but the ones you and Angel have are cute! Hope you can get your luggage from your old place soon when the weather gets warmed up! Your plans for your stay at DW looks good!

 

[angel's momma]

Thanks Gail

Angel's school had a snow day, but we ended up barely getting any snow. She's been happily reading some tip threads about the Dream, and has her Parks cds playing. We looked at some deck maps online & on the planning cd, to try to familiarize ourselves with the layout a little.

I forgot that our large suitcase had seen better days, and when we were moving things over to this house last summer DH had decided it was time for it to go. It probably should have gone when we got back from the last trip, but we decided to keep storing all the stuff we only use for wdw in it. DH found a decent set on sale around Black Friday, and picked it up because we knew that Angel would eventually get her trip. So some of our luggage is already here , and all the stuff that had been in the old suitcase is here too - that means I can start packing.

 

[ETHANSMOMMA]

following along, what an ordeal you have had! so glad things seem to be back on track!! we had a snow day here too, but we are getting quite a bit of this storm coming through.