May 31, 2003 Cruisers?

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by dewla
Thanks Pugdog,
Is there anything besides shopping and food at Downtown Disney or City Walk? I am afriad the kids may get bored. I f we get a cheapo Disney hotel, can we hang out at all the hotels? Can we see the Disney hotels if we are not staying on property?Wish I had booked our flights for Thur night! THat was a smart thing to do!
Thanks!!

Bruce listed some good things to do at DD. I would add that the cool lego land is there too and is quite interesting. Citywalk has a theatre and some cool themed restaurants (Hard Rock, Margaritaville, NBA something or other). If you've never been to either and have little ones, I would recommend DD.

If you want an inexpensive Disney hotel, I would recommend All Star Movies. If you can go up a tier my recommendation is Carribean Beach. At CBR, there is an actual beach to hang out on. Top tier I'd recommend the Polynesian. At the Poly, you'd get to see the nightly electrical parade and you could see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the hotel. You can't go wrong with any of these hotels... the theming is excellent at all.

 

[bahama97]

Have you considered one of Disney's waterparks? We have always enjoyed Blizzard Beach. That is one of dd's favorite places.

 

[dewla]

Pugdog and GLenda,
Thanks!! WE have never been to either DD or Citywalk. What is kind of a bummer about May 30th is that there are no MK fireworks that night (I called and asked) and MK closes at 7pm. Blizzard Beach also closes early. Silly me gets us into ORlando at 2pm and i figure 3pm at our hotel at the earliest. I could stay at AllStar for $99 or the Royal Pacific in Universal for $110 or Portofino for $155. And go tto DD at either, right?
Hard Rock at Universal has the largest pool in Orlando and a 240 ft slide (according to Universal). We can use any pools if we stay there...might be fun (and included in the hotel price). I am sure the kids will have fun regardless of what their obssesive mother comes up with for us!! )
I figured out the car thing, we are renting at the airport and dropping off at the Radisson and the reverse when we come back from the cruise. At least a decision has been made!!
)
Laura

 

[Pugdog007]

Because of your limited time, I would not recommend staying at a Universal hotel and trying to drive to DD. If you decide on DD, you're better off staying at a Disney hotel and taking the hotel transportation to DD. Despite both being in Orlando, Universal and Disney are a good ways apart, and you don't want to waste precious time driving all over town in that God-awful Orlando traffic. If you choose Hard Rock Hotel or another of Universal's hotels, Citywalk is within walking distance of all.

 

[dewla]

Oh yeah, Swan for $167 and Dolphin for $147. Animal Kingdom Lodge is $250 for no view and $315 for savannah view. A little pricey for just over night!! There is always Priceline for $60....WIth what we paid for the balcony on the Magic, gotta save somewhere!
Anyone have any suggestions on how to lose 20 lbs before we cruise?!?!?!

Laura )

 

[dewla]

Pugdog,
OK, will skip Universal. Will stay at Hilton in Downtown Disney. That should be convenient. We can check out whatever is going on there and maybe the Boardwalk, or a monorail ride, or maybe the beach at the Poly for the Electric Water Parade. And maybe an early night so we can be ready to go to the ship!!!

Only 10 more days!

YAY!

Laura--See everyone on the Magic!!

 

[bahama97]

Dewla - if you figure out how to lose 20 pounds in 10 days, please let me know! When I first booked this cruise in Jan, I said that I was going to try to lose 30 pounds. I think I actually gained 5! LOL

I think you'll like Downtown Disney. Dh likes going to the Lego place & I like the big souvenir store. There's a lot of things there that we haven't done, but it looks like a lot of fun. I think there is even a bowling alley.

Anyone going to be sporting the alien green mickeys while on board? I've got a set. I think I will be putting them on the baby bag/my bag and our stroller. If you see me, come on over & say hi!

 

[dewla]

What is an alien green Mickey???

Laura

 

[bahama97]

It's something that I read about on another thread. If you go to Home Depot in the paint department, they have these paint chip cards in the shape of Mickey's head. (They sell Disney paint there.) Apparently Alien Green is the color that represents the Dis Boards. When fellow Dis'ers go aboard they use the alien green Mickey's to recognize each other.

 

[dewla]

Ah ha!

Laura

 

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by bahama97
It's something that I read about on another thread. If you go to Home Depot in the paint department, they have these paint chip cards in the shape of Mickey's head. (They sell Disney paint there.) Apparently Alien Green is the color that represents the Dis Boards. When fellow Dis'ers go aboard they use the alien green Mickey's to recognize each other.

So... people are wearing paint chips on their head?

Count me in as one who planned to lose 15# or so before cruise time. Well... here I sit 8 days prior and haven't lost a pound What's new

 

[dewla]

I get it, we will recognize each other because we will be all the fat chicks with green Mickeys on our heads!!LOL!! Only reasonable suggestion for weight loss......starvation until the cruise!

OK, now that my "what am I doing the day before" is solved....what should we do in each port?? Should we wait until we board to decide?? Or book in advance? And does anyone have any suggestions on excursions? With kids?

Thanks again!!

Dewla

 

[Pugdog007]

I'm seriously considering the Duck Tour (non-Dis) for St. Maarten.

www.caribbeanducktours.com

Possibly a visit to Orient Beach afterwards. Definately some shopping.

In St. Thomas, we plan to go up to Paradise Point, maybe a trip to Maegen's Bay and definately shopping again (have to make it at least to Hard Rock Cafe and Del Sol.)

 

[SraRaton]

I kept to my weight loss goals and am now fantasizing about the new menus that Barb posted on her site. I am within 5lbs of what I weighed in high school and a size 6.
I am a 34 year old mom of two - this is an accomplishment since I think that exercise is a nasty word!

Whimper - I cannot wait to eat again : ) Think of the fun you have had by not dieting. For those of you who are serious even with only 10 days left - I am a devotee of a low carb lifestyle (except on cruises - whew) and the weight will come off quickly if you stick with it!

Thank goodness that you can run around so much on the cruise that you don't gain too much from the yummies.

Also single digit dancing burns lots of calories!

 

[dewla]

SraRaton,
Congratulations! Glad someone was able to stick with the starvation thing. I am doing the no-little carb thing form now till D-Day...How old are your kids??

dewla

 

[dewla]

Fellow cruisers and veterans,
Debating over the excursions on St. Maarten and St. Thomas. SOme of the things our daughter who is 7 cannot do. We are tenattivley booking the Doubloon Sail/Snorkel on St. Thomas. It snorkels off of Buck Island. WOuld one of the other snorkel trips be better? Would we rather take one of the ones to St. John instead?? PLEAASE HELP!
ALso, we are in St. Maarten a littel onger, so we were thinking of doing the America's Cup REgatta (without the kids) in the morning and then going back to get the kids for the day and maybe taking a taxi to a beach? WE tried to do the Golden Eagle with the kids after the Americ'a Cup Regatta thing, but they wouldn't let us book them both.
Is the snorkeling better at St, THomas or St. John or Buck Island or St. Maarten???

THANKS!!

I blew it yesterday and had bread with olive oil at an Itlaian restaurant...will start over today!

Laura

 

[bahama97]

Laura, I'm no help with the excursions. On St. Thomas, we are doing Paradise Point Tram & then we are renting a car from Budget & going to Magen's Bay. I went to Magen's Bay website & the view is spectacular. It was rated in the top ten for the best beaches by National Geographic. We're hoping dd (almost 2) will take a nap in the car seat so we can drive around St. Thomas. Blackbeard's castle is supposed to be on the island somewhere.

SraRaton - Congrats on your weight loss! That's fabulous! I wish I was in the same ballpark as what I was when I graduated. Unfortunately, 2 kids later, I am far away from that!


I'm going to settle with just losing a couple pounds by vacation. Maybe by the next cruise (if there is one) I will be a lot slimmer!

Here's what the green mickey ears looks like.

<img src="http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/98765/AlienGreenMickey.jpg" width=300 height=224>

I won't be wearing one on my head LOL but I'll probably have it attached to the baby's stroller & my bag. It's a week until we leave!! WOOHOO!! I started packing last night. I went ahead & just bought doubles of toothpaste, toothbrushes, personal items, etc so we can go ahead & get all packed up before the day we leave. All that stuff is packed & ready to go.

 

[dewla]

Glenda,
I must confess.....we will probably wait and pack the night before we leave. I will plan to do it sooner, but it NEVER happens. SO I will expect some last minute frenzied packing! My dh just told me he has a dinner meeting the night before we fly to Florida. Great. We are almost there!!
Single digits!!!

Laura

 

[Sauunders]

We are going next Sat. too!!!

There is DH, DW (me), DD (16) and DD (5).

This is our 4th Disney cruise
and our 3rd 7 day Eastern.

We are EXCITED...

We have 4 other families going.

It's a reward trip for our 4 rising high school senior girls (ages 16 & 17) and all their families.

Anyone heard what movies are playing? I know Lizzie McQuire will probably be playing. I'm sure we'll try to see that one.

Since we've been several times - ask me questions - I'll try to answer them.

See ya at the Sail-Away Deck Party (NOT TO BE MISSED!!!)

 

[dewla]

OK everyone, this time next week we will be heading to Cape Canaveral to see the Magic and start our vacation!!! Only7 more days!!

I think 11 people have responded on this thread. SO we will have the whole ship to ourselves! That will be nice! LOL!!

Wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions on our pre- cruise day. We will probably hang out at Downtown Disney, maybe check out Disney Quest, and do a little shopping. We rented a car from Avis for a total of $40 for all our ground from the airport to the htoel to the cruise, Disney said it would be @00 for transfers, seems silly and then we have no transportation in Disney/Orlando. And rented another day for the return to Orlando.

We are still working on the excursions question. Mailny deciding which snorkeling trip to do in St. THomas. One that goes to St. John or one that goes to Buck ISland??
Feel free to offer suggestions!

See everyone SOON!!


Laura )