01/02/10- Mickey's New Decade Brigade!

[GeneralMax]

I did some asking it looks like a group reservation at Palo is your "one" reservation you can make in advance.

That means a group prevents us from doing our own. I would still be willing to consider that for a bunch but would want to have dinner to ourselves. We plan on having our 18 year old daughter with us at bunch so this could be a fun meet for people with older kids.

If anyone else is interested let me know and I can try to get my travel agent to call and see what we can do.

Ruth

 

[KC-Disney]

Hi everyone, I would like to do a tea some afternoon but am really looking forward to booking a brunch reservation with my hubby. So i guess will see.

Well for St. Thomas, i confirmed. We are doing a tour with VI Scenic Tours. Just have to confirm my St. Maarten tour, and then wait to book our castaway cay ones.

Karen

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Okay so I posted a general question on the main DCL forum here on the DIS regarding the private room at Palo, and after hearing the responses, I'm not sure getting the group room is such a good idea. First of all, it is a minimum of 12 people but a max of like 14 or 15, which is a really narrow size group. And the DISers who responded to my question confirmed what I'd thought, that you can only have 1 Palo ressie per meal (ie- 1 dinner, 1 brunch, 1 tea), so if for example you had a Palo ressie for you and your spouse, and you signed up for the group thing and the group ressie got accepted, your individual Palo ressie gets cancelled! Plus, we'd all have to coordinate a day and time, even for brunch...seems like a lot of work for something that isnt even guaranteed (there are limited spots and you dont know for sure if you got the room until 30 days prior!). So, I'm just saying IMO, I don't think its worth it to do the group Palo thing. I am the type who likes to book my own ressies and have my own stuff confirmed, as a control freak lol, and the group thing is just to "iffy" for me. But that is just my opinion of course, everyone else is free to decide what they want to do.

There is another thing I was thinking of that would be easier and I think more fun than a group dinner/brunch at Palo. I was thinking of seeing if anyone in our Cruise Meet Thread wanted to "link" our reservations so we could sit together in our regular dining rotations? I ask because I've always had nice tablemates in the past but I think I would have a much better time being with DISers that I've already been "talking" to online for months and plus we all have so much in common being obsessed with DCL. And, most importantly, linking dining doesn't affect Palo or excursion stuff at all if we do it after the 75 day mark when everyone has already logged in and made their Palo/excursion/spa ressies (I heard if you link ressies before then, problems could arise if 2 or more groups that are linked try to log in to the DCL website at the same time, like at midnight for Palo ressies, for example). But if you link after 75 days when we've all taken care of our business, we can safely link up and confirm being seated together without fear of messing anything up.

If anyone is interested in linking for regular dining, let me know! I'm not sure what the largest table size is but we could always break into smaller groups if we had to. And we have plenty of time to decide this, since we still have several more weeks until the 75 day mark has passed, but I just thought I'd throw it out there now to see who's interested!

 

[dhluvsDisney]

Hello again! Haven't participated here for a while, but just wanted to share we have an addition to our group. DD (19) is bringing her friend who is also 19. That brings us to the following:

Myself, DH, DS (20turning21 on the 5th Jan), DD (19), Friend DD#2 (19), DS (13)

I know my eldest son was with a group of young adults on the cruise this past year the same dates and some are returning and they all had a blast together! The other girls are hoping to get in some serious dance time in the club (loads of fun, I know, cause they made me participate on retro night)

It's getting close!

 

[GeneralMax]

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There is another thing I was thinking of that would be easier and I think more fun than a group dinner/brunch at Palo. I was thinking of seeing if anyone in our Cruise Meet Thread wanted to "link" our reservations so we could sit together in our regular dining rotations? I ask because I've always had nice tablemates in the past but I think I would have a much better time being with DISers that I've already been "talking" to online for months and plus we all have so much in common being obsessed with DCL. And, most importantly, linking dining doesn't affect Palo or excursion stuff at all if we do it after the 75 day mark when everyone has already logged in and made their Palo/excursion/spa ressies (I heard if you link ressies before then, problems could arise if 2 or more groups that are linked try to log in to the DCL website at the same time, like at midnight for Palo ressies, for example). But if you link after 75 days when we've all taken care of our business, we can safely link up and confirm being seated together without fear of messing anything up.

If anyone is interested in linking for regular dining, let me know! I'm not sure what the largest table size is but we could always break into smaller groups if we had to. And we have plenty of time to decide this, since we still have several more weeks until the 75 day mark has passed, but I just thought I'd throw it out there now to see who's interested!

We have linked with other DisBoard Families in the past and it is really fun. On my last cruise they put a whole group of us together on the same rotation in the same area of the dining room. We are eating the late dinner and I woulds be happy to coordinate that group. I am also happy to get the info on the best way to do this and pass that on to the early group. If you are interested PM me and I will get back to the group.

Ruth

 

[WDW Princess 71]

We have linked with other DisBoard Families in the past and it is really fun. On my last cruise they put a whole group of us together on the same rotation in the same area of the dining room. We are eating the late dinner and I woulds be happy to coordinate that group. I am also happy to get the info on the best way to do this and pass that on to the early group. If you are interested PM me and I will get back to the group.

Ruth

Ruth, thanks for offering to coordinate the linked dining group! Since you've participated in that on previous cruises and said it worked out great, that makes me feel much better and definitely looking forward to doing it now. I'm also late seating (lol I couldn't possibly be ready for dinner at 5:30 or whatever the early one is!). On your other cruises where you've linked dining, how many people participated? Like were you all at one table or were you several smaller tables all surrounded by each other? I wonder how that works...if you know that would be great, but if not I suppose we could call DCL and ask about it. I do know (well from what other DISers posted to my question on the main forum) that all we have to give DCL is our reservation number and our real names for each person. So I think the best way to do that would be to PM you that info so its not totally public on here and you'll be the only one who has them. I would feel better not doing this until after the 75 day mark though...so maybe we could say that at 60 days out, will be the deadline to PM you our info to join the linked dining, and then you could call DCL. Does that sound good?

Now as far as the Early seating group is concerned, I'm wondering if you would be able to call and coordinate that or not, since you are in the other group. I'm thinking in order to call you are going to have to be member of that group yourself, so maybe someone else from the Early dining can volunteer to coordinate that one?

This is so exciting, I'm really looking forward to our dinners on board now!!

 

[mmackeymouse]

Hey all! Sorry it has been a while! When I am not working, I am swamped by what seems like an endless organizational pit, I like to call my paperwork nightmare. And then, when I am not doing those two things, I am at the gym at least trying to maintain what weight I can. One thing, it has definitely helped time to fly. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I am trying to savor the pre-trip planning.

I did get the packet! It was a bit later than DCL had previously told me, but still, it means we are that much closer to the trip! It was nothing new, and nothing I didn't already know, thanks to this wonderful forum, but still, it was nice to get something.

I would not have minded doing a Palo group brunch. But we do already plan to do Palo Brunch as a family (if we can get ressies, God willing). And, since it seems you can only pick one, if I had to choose, I think we'd rather do it as a family. Sorry!

I think linking regular meals might be a nice idea. We're kind of torn. On one hand, if we do eat with another family, we'd rather do it in a smaller group than a large one. And, I guess from that perspective, it would be much better to sit with someone you semi-know than strangers. On the other hand, and I know it is rarely done, but we had thought about requesting a table for 4. I know requests are just requests. I guess it is the whole "college roommate" conundrum. We are just kind of afraid of what we might get as tablemates. We'd rather eat alone than eat with someone we'll be uncomfortable with, make sense? At the same time, I kind of feel like getting to know new people is part of the cruising experience. Ach, I dunno!

Till next time...

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Hey all! Sorry it has been a while! When I am not working, I am swamped by what seems like an endless organizational pit, I like to call my paperwork nightmare. And then, when I am not doing those two things, I am at the gym at least trying to maintain what weight I can. One thing, it has definitely helped time to fly. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I am trying to savor the pre-trip planning.

I did get the packet! It was a bit later than DCL had previously told me, but still, it means we are that much closer to the trip! It was nothing new, and nothing I didn't already know, thanks to this wonderful forum, but still, it was nice to get something.

I would not have minded doing a Palo group brunch. But we do already plan to do Palo Brunch as a family (if we can get ressies, God willing). And, since it seems you can only pick one, if I had to choose, I think we'd rather do it as a family. Sorry!

I think linking regular meals might be a nice idea. We're kind of torn. On one hand, if we do eat with another family, we'd rather do it in a smaller group than a large one. And, I guess from that perspective, it would be much better to sit with someone you semi-know than strangers. On the other hand, and I know it is rarely done, but we had thought about requesting a table for 4. I know requests are just requests. I guess it is the whole "college roommate" conundrum. We are just kind of afraid of what we might get as tablemates. We'd rather eat alone than eat with someone we'll be uncomfortable with, make sense? At the same time, I kind of feel like getting to know new people is part of the cruising experience. Ach, I dunno!

Till next time...

Hey Melissa, I totally understand where you are coming from with the whole “college roommate” comparison, because that is what happened to me my Freshmen year, I had the roommate from h**l. I was so excited to meet new people and looking forward to hopefully making a new best friend with my roommate, and it turned out she was a really awful person and it was the worst 4 months of my life until she finally moved out to a single room and I moved out a few months later into an off-campus apartment. So yea, I can totally understand your fear with not knowing who your tablemates are for the cruise meals and wondering if you’ll get along, because its true, having bad tablemates can really put a damper on your experience. Luckily the ones I’ve had on my past two cruises were nice and we all got along, but I do wish we would have had more in common, which is why I’d like linking with DISers. And I’ve heard horror stories of awful tablemates here in threads where people ask “who were the worst tablemates you’ve ever had?”…lots of scary stories! And since this is my first 7 night cruise, I think its even more important to try to ensure that you are with people you like instead of taking the gamble. True, like you said you can request a 4-top table for just your family, but that’s not guaranteed so its still a gamble. I think the best option really is to link up with DISers since you know you wont have a horrible experience, and it seems like it would be really fun to hang out and have great company at dinner. I look at it this way, I really enjoy “talking” to all of you on here so I think it will be just as enjoyable, likely better, to eat together each night. But everyone has their own opinion, and we don’t have to decide this for several more weeks, so you and your family definitely have time to think about it.

 

[Mel0215]

Hey everyone! DH and I will be taking our 2nd cruise this time. Our first was in May 2008, for the honeymoon! What a fantastic adventure. We're looking foward to it all over again. I havn't read all the posts, but will in time. Anyone talking about an FE exchange? Also, has anyone cruised in Jan... is it going to be cold in the ports? Or will it stay tropical, around 70?

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Hey everyone! DH and I will be taking our 2nd cruise this time. Our first was in May 2008, for the honeymoon! What a fantastic adventure. We're looking foward to it all over again. I havn't read all the posts, but will in time. Anyone talking about an FE exchange? Also, has anyone cruised in Jan... is it going to be cold in the ports? Or will it stay tropical, around 70?

Hello and welcome to the cruise! That must have been such a wonderful experience as your honeymoon, a Disney cruise! Was it a 7 night cruise? This is my first 7 nighter so I’m really excited.

I know you have a lot of reading to catch up on all of the posts, but since you asked about the FE exchange, I can answer that for you now since I’m the organizer. Please refer to post #91 in this thread for the instructions on what to PM me in order to sign up. I hope you are interested, it is so fun!

To answer your second question, yes I have cruised in January 2009. It was the 4 day Bahamian cruise and luckily we had great, sunny weather around 80 degrees each day. But when we got back to PC at the end, it was only 45 degrees! January is a very iffy month to cruise as far as temps, but the 7 night cruises are generally warmer because they go further south—I have been to St. Thomas on vacation before in January and it was hot in the 80s every day. So PC might be cold and CC might, but the rest of the cruise should be good. Some people say the water is too cold in CC but I disagree, it is the same temp that is the warmest we get in NJ in the summer, so its fine to me!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Sorry double post ; )

 

[Mel0215]

Ok. I'll go and find the post. I'm getting more and more excited. The holidays are coming, and it's like a little extension to go on the cruise after the rush. 45 in PC, thats cold for Florida. lol. Atleast the other places will be warm! YAY! Thanks for the info.

*correction to previous post, it was May 2009! (I hit 2008 by accident)

 

[GeneralMax]

We did a 7 day over New Years and the weather was great in all the ports except for Castaway Cay. It was too cold there to swim.

 

[secretkeeper]

Hi all!

We just moved our cruise from the Jan 16th to this one. We are booked and paid (gulp!). So it now seems real. We are a Family of 5. DH 51, Me 44, DD 18, DS 16, DS 6. We are up for Fish Extenders, magnets and everything. This is our third cruise and are very exccited. I haven't read the full thread but is their someone coordinating stuff that we need to give info to? Thanks in advance and looking forward to joining in the excitement. Also a side question to any previous cruisers. What time do the reservations open when you hit your booking window. I seem to remember 9:00pm for the west coast but not exactly sure. Thanks for any help!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Hi all!

We just moved our cruise from the Jan 16th to this one. We are booked and paid (gulp!). So it now seems real. We are a Family of 5. DH 51, Me 44, DD 18, DS 16, DS 6. We are up for Fish Extenders, magnets and everything. This is our third cruise and are very exccited. I haven't read the full thread but is their someone coordinating stuff that we need to give info to? Thanks in advance and looking forward to joining in the excitement. Also a side question to any previous cruisers. What time do the reservations open when you hit your booking window. I seem to remember 9:00pm for the west coast but not exactly sure. Thanks for any help!

Hello and welcome! I'm so excited that more people are signing up for our cruise and even more happy that more people are interested in doing the special activities we are planning. I am in charge of organizing the Fish Extender exchange- to sign up, please read post #91 in this thread which contains all of the info you will need to PM me so I can add you to the list : )

To answer your question about what time you can log on to make Palo, spa, excursion, etc ressies online, it is 12:00 AM Eastern, so 9:00 Pacific on October 4. I see in your info you are from San Diego? I went to college at USD, graduated in 2007! I am back home in NJ now and really missing the weather and palm trees in SD! Luckily I'll be back out to CA in November for a trip to Disneyland and San Diego : )

 

[secretkeeper]

Thanks for the reservation answer. I actually called because we are going to be at Disneyland For "Mickey's not so Scary Halloween Party" that weekend. I was worried about how to coordinate. I was told that because we are on the West Coast that our window opens at 9:00 PST on the 3rd due to the time difference. So now I have to schlep the laptop and get to the hotel to borrow their "WIFI". However, you have got to do what you have to do

You sure attended a beautiful college! I'm a native and take it for granted that we only have 2 seasons, Night and Day. I hope you enjoy your trip and are at Disneyland after they decorate for the holidays. We try to make several trips at that time since it is so beautiful.

I also PM'd you our information.

 

[geber826]

So I am new to the boards and my family is booked on this trip. We are sailing on my DDs birthday!!! We are sooo excited. We haven't been to Disney in a year and are having withdrawls. We will be sailing with my DDs (6 turning 7 and 3), My husband, and my parents. I am just starting to read about FE and magnents and other coordinations. I am interested and will find out more about this as I keep reading. Anyone with children about this age going? I would love to have the kids do some emails or maybe even video chats before the trip.

Jenni

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Thanks for the reservation answer. I actually called because we are going to be at Disneyland For "Mickey's not so Scary Halloween Party" that weekend. I was worried about how to coordinate. I was told that because we are on the West Coast that our window opens at 9:00 PST on the 3rd due to the time difference. So now I have to schlep the laptop and get to the hotel to borrow their "WIFI". However, you have got to do what you have to do

You sure attended a beautiful college! I'm a native and take it for granted that we only have 2 seasons, Night and Day. I hope you enjoy your trip and are at Disneyland after they decorate for the holidays. We try to make several trips at that time since it is so beautiful.

I also PM'd you our information.

Dana- you're welcome about the answer for the online reservations- so yes, since you are on the west coast you get to log on at 9:00 PM on 10/3, and here on the east coast we log on at 12:00 AM on 10/4. Hopefully it wont be too much trouble for you to get on the wifi on the laptop at the hotel to take care of business! I'm personally worried about how many Palo slots will be available for booking on our 90 day mark, since DCL has just introduced the whole "tiered castaway club" thing recently and so many more people will be booking at the 105 day mark since gold and platinum members can do that, versus only the suites and REAS people before...I just hope there are still some brunch and dinners for Palo up for grabs by the time we log on!

Yes, I did go to a very beautiful school, it was almost surreal! And it sure was nice sitting by the pool in January- people at home were so jealous! I think I'll move back someday, just not sure when, but definitely someday in the future- but for now I am very excited about my trip in November, and especially the Disneyland part- we will be there 11/10-11/12 which is a little before they are in full swing with the parades and fireworks for the holidays, but most if not all the decorations should be up so i'm excited for that!

So I am new to the boards and my family is booked on this trip. We are sailing on my DDs birthday!!! We are sooo excited. We haven't been to Disney in a year and are having withdrawls. We will be sailing with my DDs (6 turning 7 and 3), My husband, and my parents. I am just starting to read about FE and magnents and other coordinations. I am interested and will find out more about this as I keep reading. Anyone with children about this age going? I would love to have the kids do some emails or maybe even video chats before the trip.

Jenni

Hello and welcome, Jenni! Have you done a DCL cruise before or is this your first? I'm so glad you are interested in the FE and magnets and everything! We haven't finalized too much about the magnets or onboard activities we might organize yet, but I am in charge of the FE list for those who want to participate- for information on how to sign up, please read my post #91 in this thread. and if you want any more information about the whole FE thing, like what the FE itself looks like, or types of gifts, etc, just let me know and I'll be happy to explain in more detail : )

 

[itssarayay]

It's been so long since I've logged on, school is killing me! I'm glad to see so many new people on the thread!

I just wanted to offer to organize the magnet exchange since a few people are interested. I can collect everyone's information and pass out a list of room numbers (names and ages too, if they're needed) a few weeks before the cruise.

I was thinking, we could pass one magnet around between the families and then those of us who want to make or buy magnets for everyone can do that. That way, no one will miss out on being able to get the cruise magnet if they're unable to bring something for everyone else.

Just PM or email (sara.burton.al@gmail.com) me the first names of everyone in your party (and your family name too, if you're willing), their ages, favorite Disney character, and your cabin number. Also, tell me if you're bringing magnets for the other cabins.

Did I forget anything important?


I am SO READY to be on the Magic! I'm seriously counting down the days already! I don't think we'll be linking reservations or doing anything with Palo... We are going to be in the late dining seating, though... Maybe we can arrange to be in whatever rotation everyone else does?

 

[WDW Princess 71]

It's been so long since I've logged on, school is killing me! I'm glad to see so many new people on the thread!

I just wanted to offer to organize the magnet exchange since a few people are interested. I can collect everyone's information and pass out a list of room numbers (names and ages too, if they're needed) a few weeks before the cruise.

Just PM me the first names of everyone in your party (and your family name too, if you're willing), their ages, favorite Disney character, and your cabin number.

Did I forget anything important?


I am SO READY to be on the Magic! I'm seriously counting down the days already! I don't think we'll be linking reservations or doing anything with Palo... We are going to be in the late dining seating, though... Maybe we can arrange to be in whatever rotation everyone else does?

Hey Sara! I definitely want to do the magnet thing and I will definitely PM you my info soon. Can you just give me a quick reminder about what type of magnet thing we are doing? Is this the one where we each put a magnet on each other person's stateroom door, and what kind of magnet is it? Or is this like the magnet thing we are going to "pass around" from room to room? i've never done anything magnet related on my past cruises other than decorating my own door, so I just need a little reminder of what you had in mind. Im sure whatever it is will be so fun!