June 14, 2011 - Father's Day on the Wonder in ALASKA!

[amyhuffman]

Is anyone platinum that would be able to share the shore excursion times for the trip? We need to wait about a week before we can view the times and I want to review times to see if we can do more than one excursion per day.

Thanks!

 

[Smileneyes]

I looked at some other posts and have learned a little about the FE list. Can you give me details on the gift exchange for this cruise. Is it just for the kids? How much should we spend on gifts and how many for each person/cabin? Please add our family to the FE list:

Amy (A)
Bruce (A)
Catherine (Female-13)
Taryn(Female-10)
Kelan (Male-8)

Columbus, Ohio


Thanks!

Welcome aboard, Amy! I'm organizing the FE list, and we will add you to the list of participants. If you would like the Excel version of the list, please send me a PM with your e-mail address...I will also need your stateroom number to distribute to the other participants. NOTE: You will need to have a minimum of 10 posts to send a PM...this is how DisBoards set up the requirements. So feel free to post away, get to the magic "10", and then send me the needed info.

--Drew

P.S. Good to see more Ohioans in the group!

 

[Smileneyes]

DREW: do you know of Spencer Ware?? He played high school football in Cincinnati at Princeton HS. He made a good choice and is now an LSU football and baseball player

Hi, Janie!

I don't know him personally, but I do recall seeing a few articles in the Cincinnati Enquirer about him. He's gonna be a fine addition to the Bayou Bengals!

--Drew

 

[Smileneyes]

Hello all,

We just booked for Alaska.

Irishbear family comprised of:

Alisa (first half of Irishbear)
Tom (second half of Irishbear)
David (DS - 14)
Katie (DD - 12)

This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise.

We are interested in what people are doing for shore excursions. Anybody thinking of doing excursions other than Disney's?

Lastly, when is the meet n greet?

Welcome to the gang, Irishbear!

Please feel free to let me know if you wish to participate in the FE exchange. As for the DisBoards "meet and greet", I don't think we've officially set anything in stone. Most of the previous cruises I've been on have had it on "boarding day" at 3PM in the Promenade Lounge, Deck 3. This historically left us about 30-40 minutes to say "hi" and get to know people before the muster drill at 4PM. From what I have been reading, it is no longer required to wear your life jackets at the drill...so, we could still do 3PM on the first day, and have a few extra minutes with each other before we set sail.

That's just a suggestion, however...we're open to whatever the masses decide!

--Drew

 

[amyhuffman]

Thanks for adding us to your list. As soon as I get to 10 posts, I'll PM you our information. We are really looking forward to the trip. Will you provide details closer to the cruise about how many gift items we will need for FE? I've see other posts where the FE list was broken into smaller groups.

 

[amyhuffman]

I just got really lucky and after searching for flights for hours over the past few days, SWA opened up another group of Rapid Reward Ticket dates for our outbound flights to Seattle. Now if only I can get a little more pixie dust and be able to use our other RR tickets for the return, it would be great. This would give us more money for shore excursions! Keeping my fingers crossed!!!!

 

[Mineu]

Well-it looks pretty definite that only half our family will make the cruiseMy 17 and 18 year old both got summer jobs so, will miss the cruise and my 18 year old signed up for college orientation on June 13 & 14-so, it looks like my husband will stay behind to help him do that. On the plus side I'm still onboard with my 14 year old and 12 year old So, we would love to participate in the FE now that the "cool" teenagers are staying behind... This will be my 9th Disney Cruise and my first chance to do the FE! Please tell me what we need to do to sign up-thanks!!

 

[amyhuffman]

I can't believe it, but SWA opened up the rapid rewards return flights for our trip. I guess I got my wish with regard to more pixie dust. Now we just can't wait for the shore excursions to open up...

 

[Smileneyes]

Thanks for adding us to your list. As soon as I get to 10 posts, I'll PM you our information. We are really looking forward to the trip. Will you provide details closer to the cruise about how many gift items we will need for FE? I've see other posts where the FE list was broken into smaller groups.

Hi, Amy! Thanks for the PM, I did receive it. As for the FE gifts, typically that's left up to the individual families participating. Some families will buy/make one nice gift, and some will do smaller ones, delivered at random times throughout the cruise. Some will do a "family gift", while others will get something for each individual in the stateroom. In past cruises, we've received the entire gamut of gifts...from Texas steak seasoning to homemade Oklahoma drink coasters to candy and pirate stickers. Feel free to accomodate your own budget and your own packing limitations.

At this moment, we'll likely be one big group for the FE...however, if we get a lot more participation, we may revisit.

I can't believe it, but SWA opened up the rapid rewards return flights for our trip. I guess I got my wish with regard to more pixie dust. Now we just can't wait for the shore excursions to open up...

Congrats on the luck with Southwest!!! If I understand correctly, CMH is a "hub", which would make your airline planning that much easier!!!

Thanks again!
--Drew

 

[Smileneyes]

Well-it looks pretty definite that only half our family will make the cruiseMy 17 and 18 year old both got summer jobs so, will miss the cruise and my 18 year old signed up for college orientation on June 13 & 14-so, it looks like my husband will stay behind to help him do that. On the plus side I'm still onboard with my 14 year old and 12 year old So, we would love to participate in the FE now that the "cool" teenagers are staying behind... This will be my 9th Disney Cruise and my first chance to do the FE! Please tell me what we need to do to sign up-thanks!!

Wow...some pretty big changes there! I know what you mean about the job situation with the kids and planning for college. We spent this past weekend filling out scholarship applications and financial aid forms.

As for the FE, we'd be glad to have you join! Just send me a PM with the names, genders, and ages of the participants. I'll also need your stateroom number. Finally, if you want the Excel spreadsheet that I'm creating for all of the participants, please send me an e-mail address...I'll be sending the list out to everyone in mid-April.

--Drew

 

[lsutiggeratwk]

Must be the week for Pixie Dust

DCL called yesterday to let us know that our waitlist for the first night of our trip at the Pacific Rim had come thru !! Got on line, paid for the room and the ground transportation from the airport to the hotel. so now we are all set BTW, the room was much cheaper thru Disney that it was booked independently. So we saved some $$$

Next on the list: make the final decisions about port adventures I think we have narrowed it down, but no final decisions.

for those of you that have been to Ketchikan - how easy is it to get around? in the travel books it doesn't look very hard. We are thinking about going to Saxman to see the totem poles and taking the public transportation. it would be cheaper to do it that way and we would have more time to spend there.
does this sound like a do-able plan??

Are we at 100 days from sailing yet????

 

[mmmears]

Are we at 100 days from sailing yet????

If I remember correctly, when I logged on to the DCL website last night, it said we were 111 days from sailing.

 

[DVC Mary]

I can't believe it, but SWA opened up the rapid rewards return flights for our trip. I guess I got my wish with regard to more pixie dust. Now we just can't wait for the shore excursions to open up...

Me too!! I tried doing a search on the main boards, but I'm not having very good luck.

Our family is having the hardest time deciding on our excursions.

What's everyone else doing???

 

[Smileneyes]

Me too!! I tried doing a search on the main boards, but I'm not having very good luck.

Our family is having the hardest time deciding on our excursions.

What's everyone else doing???

Hmm...IF they're available at 12:01 AM on 3/1/11, we're planning to do the following excursions:

Juneau: Disney Exclusive Glacier Dog Musher for a Day
Skagway: Klondike Gold Dredge and White Pass Railway
Ketchikan: Adventure Kart Expedition

Yep, planning to plop down a chunk of change for the bucket list....

--Drew

P.S. Mary, I sent you a PM back on February 11th...did you get it?

 

[lsutigger2]

Our list for port adventures, as of today, are:

Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier and Rainforest Garden Adventure...
Skagway - Yukon Suspension Bridge, City and White Pass Railway - Adult Only
Ketchikan - will probably go see the totem poles on our own, if not the City Highlights, totems and Creek Street by Trolley. my only concern about the tour is there doesn't seem to be much time to see and explore the totem poles.

Let us know how the booking goes next week. I am leaving for WDW on March 16 which is the day that i can make our reservations. So i think i will just stay up {will probably be packing anyway } and try at 12:01am
Hoping for some pixie dust.

Later -

 

[wendy151950]

Hi Drew - please sign us up to do FE as well. It sounds fun. We didn't do it on our last cruise.

Still have a ways to go on excursions but did sign up for a whale watching tour with Marv and Harv (seriously) since that is one thing we really want to do. Am hoping that one of the Skagway excursions that include gold panning will still be open. It is on Sarah's bucket list!

 

[ward3]

Trying to find a good idea for FE gifts. Have a few things but I was looking for something from our state to give. Not much to choose from in Kentucky. We have Lincoln birthplace, Corvette plant, Derby, and Mammoth Cave. Any special requests or ideas?

 

[Smileneyes]

Hi Drew - please sign us up to do FE as well. It sounds fun. We didn't do it on our last cruise.

Still have a ways to go on excursions but did sign up for a whale watching tour with Marv and Harv (seriously) since that is one thing we really want to do. Am hoping that one of the Skagway excursions that include gold panning will still be open. It is on Sarah's bucket list!

Hi, Wendy! I have you on the evergrowing FE list!

When you get a moment, please send me a PM with your stateroom number...as well as your e-mail address, if you want the popular Excel version of the list, which will be sent out mid-April.

Glad you're participating!

 

[Smileneyes]

Let us know how the booking goes next week. I am leaving for WDW on March 16 which is the day that i can make our reservations. So i think i will just stay up {will probably be packing anyway } and try at 12:01am
Hoping for some pixie dust.

Later -

Hoping for pixie dust ourselves, Janie...will definitely let y'all know what we get at midnight on Tuesday.

--Drew

 

[Smileneyes]

Trying to find a good idea for FE gifts. Have a few things but I was looking for something from our state to give. Not much to choose from in Kentucky. We have Lincoln birthplace, Corvette plant, Derby, and Mammoth Cave. Any special requests or ideas?

Don't forget some other options: UK Wildcat gear, Fort Boonesborough, the Stephen Foster Story in/near Bardstown, and Lake Cumberland. But if you want to just drop a little gold in our FE from Fort Knox, we wouldn't turn it down! LOL