Fantasy 12/3/16 Christmas season with the Mouse!!

[professorandmom]

I just read a great post that I'd like to suggest can guide our FE group (sorry I didn't copy the original poster's DIS board name):

• Consider small gifts in the FE. Remember, what you bring, someone has to take home. If it all doesn't fit in your luggage, chances are it won't fit in the recipient's luggage either.
• The gifts do not have to be big or extravagant. Some of the simplest things make excellent gifts.
  
• The main goal of the FE exchange is to have fun and to share a little happiness.

One last observation that might be something to consider (just a suggestion to think about) - we might encourage the option to leave some FE gifts without the sender's name(s). This approach might add some anonymous pixie dust. I love Pixie dust...

Time does seem to move slowly. Just waiting for Southwest to open its calendar for December so we can get our plane tickets seems like an endless parade of days....

Thanks for sharing the wait and excitement with me!

 

[AshleiCal]

Hi! This will be my family's first Disney cruise and we are so excited! (Well, the kids would be excited if they knew about it, but we will probably not tell them until we leave for the airport.) We are staying in room 12022 and would love to do FE. At the time of the cruise, our kids will be 3 (Reagan) and 7 (Jake). Can't wait to meet you all in person!

 

[professorandmom]

Hi! This will be my family's first Disney cruise and we are so excited! (Well, the kids would be excited if they knew about it, but we will probably not tell them until we leave for the airport.) We are staying in room 12022 and would love to do FE. At the time of the cruise, our kids will be 3 (Reagan) and 7 (Jake). Can't wait to meet you all in person!

Welcome AshleiCal! I'll add you to the roll call on page 2! Could I ask if Reagan is a boy or a girl (I know the name could be either)??

 

[AshleiCal]

Welcome AshleiCal! I'll add you to the roll call on page 2! Could I ask if Reagan is a boy or a girl (I know the name could be either)??

Oops! She's a girl! Thank you!

 

[professorandmom]

Oops! She's a girl! Thank you!

got it - I'll add this to the roll call....thanks!

 

[Disneyelf10]

Fantastic! I will add you to the roll call on page 2
Only 285 days!!!

I just realized I didn't give you the info for us for the FE. Me: Donna, DH: Sean cabin #6096. thanks!

 

[professorandmom]

I just realized I didn't give you the info for us for the FE. Me: Donna, DH: Sean cabin #6096. thanks!

Thanks, Donna! I added your details. So exciting to be dreaming of our cruise!
Barb

 

[TxT365]

Hello, everyone! Barb, thanks for the link to this group!

We are a family of 3 heading on our very first Disney cruise. It will be me, DW and DS who will be 5 at that time. I'm looking forward to seeing his eyes light up when he sees everything. My first trip to see the Mouse was in 2003 with my wife's family. A little late to the game, but I was as amazed as I know our son will be. He is going to love the kids' clubs, too. I will admit to being a little jealous in that regards. I wanna play in the kids club...can't wait for those Open House hours!

Looking forward to meeting folks and having a wonderful trip!

 

[professorandmom]

Hello, everyone! Barb, thanks for the link to this group!

We are a family of 3 heading on our very first Disney cruise. It will be me, DW and DS who will be 5 at that time. I'm looking forward to seeing his eyes light up when he sees everything. My first trip to see the Mouse was in 2003 with my wife's family. A little late to the game, but I was as amazed as I know our son will be. He is going to love the kids' clubs, too. I will admit to being a little jealous in that regards. I wanna play in the kids club...can't wait for those Open House hours!

Looking forward to meeting folks and having a wonderful trip!

Thanks, TxT365, I added you to our roll call. Welcome!!!

Oh, and my DD26 and I will be right there with you in the kids clubs during open house!!!

 

[flynthruclouds]

Hello Everyone!

About me - Hi we are a family of four. This is our second Disney cruise and we participated in FE on our last cruise. It was wonderful! We have two boys one who is 7 and the other who is 4. Our 7 year old Jaden loves Goofy and Mickey. He is the typical boy who likes most Disney animated movies like Cars and Planes. His favorite color is green and he has no food or toy restrictions. My youngest son is John and this will be a special cruise as he is at the age where he begins to remember stuff like this. He loves everything Disney and Pixar related. He does not have a particular color yet as he is still learning them. He loves Mickey, Goofy, Donald Duck, Peter Pan and Captain Hook. He loves everything about Cars, Planes and Minions. John does not have any food or toy restrictions.

I, Amanda, will be celebrating my 26th birthday and I have no allergies or restrictions. My husband, Chris, and I love sour candies and chocolate but, (don't forget a little alcohol lol).

We have had a really rough couple of years involving car accidents, and surgeries so this vacation will be the perfect change of scenery for everything that has happened as well as a celebration of moving forward in life. We loved the idea of fish extenders. It brought so much excitement for our boys on our last cruise that we just have to do it again. We are happy to work with as many families that are willing to trade with us because an extra bit of magic and pixie dust can never hurt.

We are looking forward to meeting our fellow Disney cruisers!

We cannot wait to meet everyone! Our room is to be determined and we will keep you all updated as soon as possible.

Amanda and Chris

 

[professorandmom]

Hello Everyone!

Hey Amanda, welcome! I have added you to our roll call. Sounds like your cruise will be magical! So glad we get to share it with you!
Barb

 

[prpleyedgirl87]

prpleyedgirl87, feel free to connect any way you would like and I'll edit the roll call. Always happy to make changes. I am addicted to the boards so I am here all the time!

It's highly likely that some folks who checked in earlier in the our thread may have changed their cruise plans by this fall. So, sometime in, say, September, we'll have to run another roll call to update our list so it is accurate...but we can worry about that when we get closer...
Have a great day!
Barb

Thank you I will wait until it gets a little closer then in case things change again thank you soo much SOO excited

 

[professorandmom]

Thank you I will wait until it gets a little closer then in case things change again thank you soo much SOO excited

Agreed! Super excited. I've been tracking posts about excursions for months! I've collected some potential FE gifts when I hit a cool item at a good price but it is a bit challenging without an accurate list (although, wow, are there a lot of boys on this cruise: currently 10 girls and 26 boys!!! - bummer on the princess front [not that anyone has to give FE gifts to all those kidos])
Thanks for sharing my excitement!!! Only 271 days to go

 

[KelJim]

What is the easiest way to tell our count and ages? I have picked up a few things as I see something but not sure of ages and genders of the kids or adult gifts. I wasn't sure if this is all in one place or if we just need to wait as it gets a little closer.
Thanks!
Kelly

 

[RedwineFamily]

Hey Everybody!!!
Just popping in to introduce our family. I'm Amber and I will be traveling with my DH Troy, DD Mia(11), and DS Tristan(6). This will be our 2nd Disney cruise, and 1st on the Fantasy. We did a 4 day Dream last time, and I can't wait for an extra 3 days. 4 days = NOT ENOUGH!!! We chose this particular sailing so we could cruise with another family that we bonded with on our first Disney cruise. I loved the DISboard group we had last time, and can't wait to meet some more new friends.

I'm still debating on FE participation for us. We drove to Florida last time (17 hours from Texas ) so there were no restrictions on packing. We will be flying this time, so we will have to take it into consideration. I plan on going through and reading all the posts on here, but haven't yet. What are the plans on group size for participation? That will help me decide if I want to take the plunge,or not.

 

[professorandmom]

What is the easiest way to tell our count and ages? I have picked up a few things as I see something but not sure of ages and genders of the kids or adult gifts. I wasn't sure if this is all in one place or if we just need to wait as it gets a little closer.
Thanks!
Kelly

I agree, it isn't easy right now to know who might be in an FE group...I hate to wait but I suspect even if we set up things now, we'd have lots of changes...should we explore trying to organize things now?? We'd need to start with a roll call to see if some of the early folks are still planning on going...

 

[professorandmom]

Hey Everybody!!!
Just popping in to introduce our family. I'm Amber and I will be traveling with my DH Troy, DD Mia(11), and DS Tristan(6). This will be our 2nd Disney cruise, and 1st on the Fantasy. We did a 4 day Dream last time, and I can't wait for an extra 3 days. 4 days = NOT ENOUGH!!! We chose this particular sailing so we could cruise with another family that we bonded with on our first Disney cruise. I loved the DISboard group we had last time, and can't wait to meet some more new friends.

I'm still debating on FE participation for us. We drove to Florida last time (17 hours from Texas ) so there were no restrictions on packing. We will be flying this time, so we will have to take it into consideration. I plan on going through and reading all the posts on here, but haven't yet. What are the plans on group size for participation? That will help me decide if I want to take the plunge,or not.

Thanks, Amber, I'll add your names to the roll call...you can decide about FE later...
Barb

 

[professorandmom]

What are the plans on group size for participation? That will help me decide if I want to take the plunge,or not.

We haven't decided about FE group size but I was thinking of suggesting groups of 10 cabins and then people could do more than one group if they wish...

 

[RedwineFamily]

I agree, it isn't easy right now to know who might be in an FE group...I hate to wait but I suspect even if we set up things now, we'd have lots of changes...should we explore trying to organize things now?? We'd need to start with a roll call to see if some of the early folks are still planning on going...

I organized the FE on our last cruise. We made one large list and broke it up into equal groups after the PIF date. It was a lot of work though, and could get a little stressful. I am on another group for this sailing, and they are breaking up as they go along. They have a set number of staterooms on a list and they gave it a name. Once it was full, they opened a new list with a new name......and so on and so on. This is a good plan, but a lot of people tend to drop before the PIF date. I myself had to cancel this cruise already and pull my family off of the list. Luckily, our crisis resolved itself quickly and I was able to rebook.

 

[professorandmom]

I am on another group for this sailing, and they are breaking up as they go along. They have a set number of staterooms on a list and they gave it a name.

So, let me ask this of the folks on this list...I'd be happy to start breaking into FE groups...should we???
If so, we'll need to consider a check in with some of the earlier posters....
Let me know what you think...
Thanks!
Barb
PS...I am good with handling the details...love the planning!