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

[WDW Princess 71]

I kind of like The New Decade Brigade the best out of the choices so far. I understand the point about saying a “new” decade brigade implies that there was an old one could be considered, but at first glance all that comes to my mind is that it means a new decade has begun, not that there is a new brigade. Does that make sense? I think leaving the new makes it stand out that our theme is the first cruise of the new decade, which is something no other cruise meet can say.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I suppose we could add something more relevant to the title....

like Mickey's New Decade Brigade. Or something DIS related.....DISarming, DISstinctive, DISfunctional.....lol.

Or if anyone has any other theme ideas, speak up!

2010 (Twenty ten, NOT Two thousand ten): Let the Magical Decade Begin!

Less than 10 months till we sail. Still a lot of time to pass, BUT it will be here before you know it. Really, only 7 or 8 months till DP is due and we will want all our plans finalized. December will be a blur, I am sure, so we are hoping to get everything done in November.

 

[mruhaak]

Hi Gang!
Well... I haven't been on here in ages... because it's been too depressing. I'm afraid I had to cancel this cruise.

I hope to be able to book another one at some point but right now I'm without a cruise!

Anyway... I hope everyone has a great time!!!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

I suppose we could add something more relevant to the title....

like Mickey's New Decade Brigade. Or something DIS related.....DISarming, DISstinctive, DISfunctional.....lol.

Or if anyone has any other theme ideas, speak up!

2010 (Twenty ten, NOT Two thousand ten): Let the Magical Decade Begin!

Less than 10 months till we sail. Still a lot of time to pass, BUT it will be here before you know it. Really, only 7 or 8 months till DP is due and we will want all our plans finalized. December will be a blur, I am sure, so we are hoping to get everything done in November.

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t been on in so long, I’ve been super busy with work and grad school and I just got back from a great vacation in Punta Cana. Now I am trying to relax and rejuvenate before getting hyped up for WDW in May!

Anyway, I really like your suggestion, Mickey’s New Decade Brigade. It is Disney-ish, creative, and has a nice ring to it. Very cool! I also like the 2010: Let the MAGICal Decade Begin choice too.

You are totally right about time flying before the cruise even though we are 10 months out. I intend on researching and finalizing all of my excursion, Palo, and other plans over the summer when I have more time to focus on this trip planning, and then after that it will likely be a blur for me since I am VERY into Christmas and put all of my energy into the holidays. But I have decided that my brother and I will indeed be doing the WDW thing for New Years Eve…we are staying at Pop Century from 12/30-1/2, and we will be braving Magic Kingdom for New Years Eve for a crazy yet once-in-a-lifetime experience. It has always been a dream of mine to be at the castle on NYE, I am so excited…and then to know that I’ll have a fabulous 7 night cruise following that magical experience…WOW. I am almost happy that it is so far away because I love looking forward to it so much!

 

[mmackeymouse]

Anyway, I really like your suggestion, Mickey’s New Decade Brigade. It is Disney-ish, creative, and has a nice ring to it. Very cool! I also like the 2010: Let the MAGICal Decade Begin choice too.

You are totally right about time flying before the cruise even though we are 10 months out. I intend on researching and finalizing all of my excursion, Palo, and other plans over the summer when I have more time to focus on this trip planning, and then after that it will likely be a blur for me since I am VERY into Christmas and put all of my energy into the holidays. But I have decided that my brother and I will indeed be doing the WDW thing for New Years Eve…we are staying at Pop Century from 12/30-1/2, and we will be braving Magic Kingdom for New Years Eve for a crazy yet once-in-a-lifetime experience. It has always been a dream of mine to be at the castle on NYE, I am so excited…and then to know that I’ll have a fabulous 7 night cruise following that magical experience…WOW. I am almost happy that it is so far away because I love looking forward to it so much!

Wow, way to be decisive! Maybe we should be totally like mellow, emo, and have our theme be Unititled: Disney Cruise Edition. rofl.

Yeah, once Halloween hits for our family, the rest of our year is pretty much shot. We are HUGE into the holidays. In our close family, 4 of us have birthdays in those two months. Plus, Thanksgiving is a HUGE production, so most of November is spent planning and preparing for that. Then, pretty much the whole month of December is wall to wall busy! We are shopping, decorating, celebrating. Then, the week after, we are usually hitting the after Christmas sales (something we may have to cut back on this year).

This/Next year however, we need to take the dog to the sitter on the 30th, because we will be going up to Indy on the 31st, with plans to fly out early the 1st. That basically gives us four days to recover, take decorations down, do what little after Christmas shopping we can. Ach!

NYE at the Castle will be amazing! That should definitely be a blast. If you do decide against Magic Kingdom though, I would highly recommend Epcot! If you watch from the Mexico Pavilion, you can see both Illuminations and the Studios fireworks.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Wow, way to be decisive! Maybe we should be totally like mellow, emo, and have our theme be Unititled: Disney Cruise Edition. rofl.

Yeah, once Halloween hits for our family, the rest of our year is pretty much shot. We are HUGE into the holidays. In our close family, 4 of us have birthdays in those two months. Plus, Thanksgiving is a HUGE production, so most of November is spent planning and preparing for that. Then, pretty much the whole month of December is wall to wall busy! We are shopping, decorating, celebrating. Then, the week after, we are usually hitting the after Christmas sales (something we may have to cut back on this year).

This/Next year however, we need to take the dog to the sitter on the 30th, because we will be going up to Indy on the 31st, with plans to fly out early the 1st. That basically gives us four days to recover, take decorations down, do what little after Christmas shopping we can. Ach!

NYE at the Castle will be amazing! That should definitely be a blast. If you do decide against Magic Kingdom though, I would highly recommend Epcot! If you watch from the Mexico Pavilion, you can see both Illuminations and the Studios fireworks.

Wow, your family sounds like it has a blast around the holidays. I think it is going to be a real plus for us to be so busy and occupied with the holidays so that the cruise will be upon us before we know it, and it will be a welcome relaxation after the hustle and bustle.

Thanks for the tip about where to go in Epcot for NYE if we change our minds. I'm wondering if they put on their special NYE show on 12/30 too, because I've heard that MK does their show both nights. If so, maybe we'll hit Epcot on the 30th and MK on the 31st.

Regarding your plans to fly out on the 1st, that is definitely a good idea. For my first DCL cruise in 2004 we flew in the day of the cruise, and even though we got to Orlando by 10:00 AM after our 2 hour nonstop flight and everything was on time, it was still a lot of rushing and stress worrying about delays, etc. This year we flew down the day before and it was so much more relaxing. We still took the earliest flight so we had time to pick up some stuff and the grocery and liquor stores, and then checked into the Radisson in Cape Canaveral and spent the day by the pool. I highly recommend that hotel for your pre-night stay...it had a beautiful heated pool area, decent breakfast and lunch, and it was 5 mins from the Hertz rental car and the port. Also we went to dinner at Grills which was 5 mins away on the water and the food was great and the best part was that we went at 4:30 or so on that Saturday night and got to wave goodbye to the Magic as it sailed out! If you go down the night before our cruise (Friday) you won't be able to wave to a Disney ship but there will probably be other ships going out and it is just so cool to watch them go by. If you want any more tips about a pre-stay in Cape Canaveral, please don't hesitate to ask.

Lastly, regarding our cruise meet name, perhaps we should finalize a list of choices and then set a date to pick the title by. I know we have a long way to go til January but it would be nice to settle on one. When would you like to have the name picked by- really soon or give it a couple more months?

 

[mmackeymouse]

We still took the earliest flight so we had time to pick up some stuff and the grocery and liquor stores, and then checked into the Radisson in Cape Canaveral and spent the day by the pool. I highly recommend that hotel for your pre-night stay...it had a beautiful heated pool area, decent breakfast and lunch, and it was 5 mins from the Hertz rental car and the port. Also we went to dinner at Grills which was 5 mins away on the water and the food was great and the best part was that we went at 4:30 or so on that Saturday night and got to wave goodbye to the Magic as it sailed out! If you go down the night before our cruise (Friday) you won't be able to wave to a Disney ship but there will probably be other ships going out and it is just so cool to watch them go by. If you want any more tips about a pre-stay in Cape Canaveral, please don't hesitate to ask.

Lastly, regarding our cruise meet name, perhaps we should finalize a list of choices and then set a date to pick the title by. I know we have a long way to go til January but it would be nice to settle on one. When would you like to have the name picked by- really soon or give it a couple more months?

We are not totally sure what our plans are for the day we fly in, whether we will drive over to Canaveral or stay in Orlando. I think we are leaving toward staying either on property or at one of the DTD hotels and spending part of the day at Downtown Disney. Some of our family MAY be down there that week before our cruise, so if they are, we'll probably meet up with them at some point. They have DVC at the Beach Club and make an annual trip down there around Christmas. Usually, it is the week after Christmas that they go, but this past year, they went the week of Christmas. We are kind of waiting to hear from them which week they'll be going, before we make any decisions.

I have read so much about that Grills place, and I think it looks like a blast, if we do choose the Canaveral option. I am hoping someone sailing on the Wonder the next day will be eating there, and will take some pictures of us waving from the boat. I think that would be so neat.

I totally agree with you about getting this darn thread named! I was hoping to wait until we got more interest in the thread, but here it is, almost April. We may have a very small, cozy DIS group, if the thread continues at the pace it has been.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

We are not totally sure what our plans are for the day we fly in, whether we will drive over to Canaveral or stay in Orlando. I think we are leaving toward staying either on property or at one of the DTD hotels and spending part of the day at Downtown Disney. Some of our family MAY be down there that week before our cruise, so if they are, we'll probably meet up with them at some point. They have DVC at the Beach Club and make an annual trip down there around Christmas. Usually, it is the week after Christmas that they go, but this past year, they went the week of Christmas. We are kind of waiting to hear from them which week they'll be going, before we make any decisions.

I have read so much about that Grills place, and I think it looks like a blast, if we do choose the Canaveral option. I am hoping someone sailing on the Wonder the next day will be eating there, and will take some pictures of us waving from the boat. I think that would be so neat.

I totally agree with you about getting this darn thread named! I was hoping to wait until we got more interest in the thread, but here it is, almost April. We may have a very small, cozy DIS group, if the thread continues at the pace it has been.

That would definitely be cool if you met someone at Grills who could take pics of you on the Magic the next day! But at the very least you will definitely enjoyed great seafood there and a beautiful view of other ships going out!

Regarding the small size of our group so far, I wouldn't worry just yet. I didn't book my January 2009 cruise until late April 2008, and then of course I joined that thread right away, but many other families didn't joing until much later, like September or so. I think we set our deadline for the Fish Extender list as Thanksgiving so that everyone had time to get their gifts together for those who were participating. We ended up having about 15 staterooms, which was cool...not too big, not too small. It was a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll have at least that for this group too eventually. So I guess we can give it some more time for the name while we wait for more to join, or we could just set a date for those who are already on here to vote or something.

 

[TADsMommy]

Hi all,

We are a DCL-loving family and it looks like we will be joining you for the first cruise of the 2010 decade!! We are all very excited. We have been holding "dummy" reservations since last May but now have found a sailing date!!

I look forward to getting to know everyone in the upcoming months.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Regarding the small size of our group so far, I wouldn't worry just yet. I didn't book my January 2009 cruise until late April 2008, and then of course I joined that thread right away, but many other families didn't joing until much later, like September or so. I think we set our deadline for the Fish Extender list as Thanksgiving so that everyone had time to get their gifts together for those who were participating. We ended up having about 15 staterooms, which was cool...not too big, not too small. It was a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll have at least that for this group too eventually. So I guess we can give it some more time for the name while we wait for more to join, or we could just set a date for those who are already on here to vote or something.

Fifteen seems like a great number to me! I was initially thinking to set it maybe sometime in May, but maybe we should push it to June? I really have no idea, what are you thinking? I mean, we have plenty of time, but I guess it is just me, being the obsessive planner that I am, wanting to get things set.

Hi all,

We are a DCL-loving family and it looks like we will be joining you for the first cruise of the 2010 decade!! We are all very excited. We have been holding "dummy" reservations since last May but now have found a sailing date!!

I look forward to getting to know everyone in the upcoming months.

Karen

Welcome, welcome! Tell us about yourself, your family, etc etc. Do you have any good ideas for a cruise theme? We have been floating ideas around for a few months, but fresh ideas are more than welcome.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Fifteen seems like a great number to me! I was initially thinking to set it maybe sometime in May, but maybe we should push it to June? I really have no idea, what are you thinking? I mean, we have plenty of time, but I guess it is just me, being the obsessive planner that I am, wanting to get things set.



Welcome, welcome! Tell us about yourself, your family, etc etc. Do you have any good ideas for a cruise theme? We have been floating ideas around for a few months, but fresh ideas are more than welcome.

I know how you feel, I am an obsessive planner too. I was originally thinking July 2, since that is exactly 6 months out from the cruise, which could be a "standard" deadline. Or we could do it earlier and just pick a random day, like May 1 like you said. I'm fine either way.

And to Karen- Welcome to our Cruise Meet Thread! As MMackeyMouse said, we are currently in the process of trying to pick a theme name for our group. "Mickey's New Decade Brigade" and "2010: Let the MAGICal Decade Begin" are two favorites so far, but we are still up for any new ideas too. We are trying to pick names that play off the fact that our cruise will be the Magic's first cruise of the new decade. Also, I can't wait to hear more about yourself and your family. It is really fun getting to know people on this website and then finally meeting in person on board and participating in the Fish Extender gift exchange!

 

[TADsMommy]

Hi all

I am a stay home, homeschooling Mom to my three teens (8th/9th/10th) and I am a Travel Agent - I own a travel company which specializes in Group Travel ... needless to say I am a Disney Vacations Specialist.

I am working with several families - some even want to have family reunions onboard, so we may have a large group soon.

My son (and youngest child) has just been accepted to a Prep School - for high school in the Fall. Until now we have had great flexibility with our travel plans - we just booked the cheapest week but now we have his schedule to consider. Since they close the school for the first two weeks each January (the Juniors go to Europe), this became the perfect week for us.

I have lots of fun things planned for my group: behind-the-scenes tour, group photo with characters, surprise gift signed by "all" the characters, scavenger hunt on last sea day (great for when Moms or Dads are packing). If anyone wants to join in these events, please PM me privately and I will forward the details.

Count me in for everything the DIS groups wants to do: Fish Extender surprises, group photo, door tag, meet and greet, or ???

Okay, now I'd like to hear a little about all of you!!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Hi all

I am a stay home, homeschooling Mom to my three teens (8th/9th/10th) and I am a Travel Agent - I own a travel company which specializes in Group Travel ... needless to say I am a Disney Vacations Specialist.

I am working with several families - some even want to have family reunions onboard, so we may have a large group soon.

My son (and youngest child) has just been accepted to a Prep School - for high school in the Fall. Until now we have had great flexibility with our travel plans - we just booked the cheapest week but now we have his schedule to consider. Since they close the school for the first two weeks each January (the Juniors go to Europe), this became the perfect week for us.

I have lots of fun things planned for my group: behind-the-scenes tour, group photo with characters, surprise gift signed by "all" the characters, scavenger hunt on last sea day (great for when Moms or Dads are packing). If anyone wants to join in these events, please PM me privately and I will forward the details.

Count me in for everything the DIS groups wants to do: Fish Extender surprises, group photo, door tag, meet and greet, or ???

Okay, now I'd like to hear a little about all of you!!

Wow, Karen, I am so glad that you are a part of our group! It is wonderful that as a travel agent you are so well-versed in all things Disney, and even better that you have all of those special things planned for your group! I will be PM'ing you as soon as I'm done writing this to hear more details!

I'm also excited that you said there might be several large reunion groups joining us too, which will make our meet-and-greet and Fish Extender exchange even more fun! Is this your first Disney Cruise, or have you been on any before?

For a little about me- my name is Nicole, and I will be 23 at the time of the cruise, going with my 19 year old brother Michael. This is my 3rd DCL cruise- I've done two 4-night Wonder cruises, and I'm very excited to go on my first Magic 7-nighter now! I'm in graduate school and work part-time, and my brother will be in his first year of college, so this week is perfect for us too since we'll both be on Winter Break at that time. I love Disney travel so I am trying to pack in as many vacations as possible until I have to get a "real" job with a meager 2 weeks off per year : (. I am very much looking forward to this vacation since it will be my first 7 night cruise, and also because we are staying at WDW for 3 nights before the cruise and are planning on doing New Years Eve at Magic Kingdom, which has been a lifelong dream of mine! As a travel agent, have you (or any of your clients) done this before? I would greatly appreciate any advice you might have (you can PM me if you want).

This is going to be a great cruise!!

 

[TADsMommy]

Hey Nicole (and all)

Our first WONDERful cruise was when my oldest daughter (11 at the time) completed her 2.5 years of chemo for leukemia. We decided we had better take a "trip of a lifetime" just in case (she has just turned 16 and all is well).

Well, we got "hooked" on Disney cruises and rebooked for the first 14day PC crossing. After 10 glorious sea days ... we just wanted to move onboard. Nothing beats 2 weeks of MAGIC for us. I have taken 6 DCL cruises ... but prefer to think of it as having experienced 48 days of WONDER and MAGIC on the high seas.

I am happy to share my information and past experiences, most of what I know I have learned from the DIS boards ... and then of course by personal experience.

I'll check my PMs and "talk" with you soon.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I know how you feel, I am an obsessive planner too. I was originally thinking July 2, since that is exactly 6 months out from the cruise, which could be a "standard" deadline. Or we could do it earlier and just pick a random day, like May 1 like you said. I'm fine either way.

July 2 sounds great to me......All opposed? *silence*

July 2nd it is!

TAD, a little about myself....I am 26, from a very Disney family, but this will be our first time on a cruise. It will be myself, my 22 year old sister, and our parents. We are hoping to spend a lot of time in the Adults Only sections

We are from a small town in Indiana, so if we seem a little "different," that may be why.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

July 2 sounds great to me......All opposed? *silence*

July 2nd it is!

TAD, a little about myself....I am 26, from a very Disney family, but this will be our first time on a cruise. It will be myself, my 22 year old sister, and our parents. We are hoping to spend a lot of time in the Adults Only sections

We are from a small town in Indiana, so if we seem a little "different," that may be why.

Great, so glad that you took the command on July 2nd!

I am really excited to meet you on the cruise since I'm close in age to both you and your sister, and my brother and I will also be spending lots of time in the adults only sections. I've actually never sat by either the family or kids pool ever, even on my first cruise when I was 17 I still stayed at the adult pool because the other pools get so packed, loud, and crazy I can't imagine relaxing there. But the adult area is paradise- they even have nicer lounge chairs there than the other pools! And the adults only beach on CC, and the clubs and lounges, and Palo...ahh, the life of an adult on a Disney cruise. Besides my obsession with Disney, this is the other reason that I feel spoiled by DCL and doubt that I'll ever cruise another line because none of them can offer the amount of adults only areas that Disney does!

 

[TADsMommy]

Just checking in with a quick Hello ... cannot sleep so am surfing DIS

I actually downloaded (and printed) copies of the Navigators from an Eastern 7day in January.

And I have been alternating my Castaway Cay (I have 3 different CC tees) shirts each day this week ... can you tell I am experiencing DCL longings?!?

 

[mmackeymouse]

Just checking in with a quick Hello ... cannot sleep so am surfing DIS

I actually downloaded (and printed) copies of the Navigators from an Eastern 7day in January.

And I have been alternating my Castaway Cay (I have 3 different CC tees) shirts each day this week ... can you tell I am experiencing DCL longings?!?

Yeah, I definitely need something to occupy my time through the summer. I think once I get through the summer, I should be just fine.

But, gosh, until then, my time is spent browsing and planning and searching......it's an obsession. I have an illness, a genuine illness, I say!

 

[TADsMommy]

Good Morning all

I am already planning "in overdrive".

I am considering my FishExtender gift and dreaming of a nice steak and some quiet moments with DH and a BahamaMama on Serenity Bay.

My absolutely favorite thing to do while waiting to board the Magic is gaze longingly at a very cool picture I have of Deck Four. I will try to post it for anyone that wants to "dream" with me.

Sooo... Is it too early to start "official planning"?!? I don't want to take over anyone else's "baby", but I am willing to coordinate Door Tag and/or can help plan a Meet & Greet (maybe a gift exchange with a token gift from the area you live) on Deck Nine or the Promenade Lounge and/or can help with organizing the Fish Extender exchange (to make sure all days are covered and the gifts keep coming all week! LOL)

If I am way too enthusiastic here ... feel free to burst my bubble. I can calm down if needed.

So whatz everyone doing this weekend??

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Good Morning all

I am already planning "in overdrive".

I am considering my FishExtender gift and dreaming of a nice steak and some quiet moments with DH and a BahamaMama on Serenity Bay.

My absolutely favorite thing to do while waiting to board the Magic is gaze longingly at a very cool picture I have of Deck Four. I will try to post it for anyone that wants to "dream" with me.

Sooo... Is it too early to start "official planning"?!? I don't want to take over anyone else's "baby", but I am willing to coordinate Door Tag and/or can help plan a Meet & Greet (maybe a gift exchange with a token gift from the area you live) on Deck Nine or the Promenade Lounge and/or can help with organizing the Fish Extender exchange (to make sure all days are covered and the gifts keep coming all week! LOL)

If I am way too enthusiastic here ... feel free to burst my bubble. I can calm down if needed.

So whatz everyone doing this weekend??

Hi Karen! That is so nice of you to offer to "officially" take the lead with organizing/planning. You have the most experience on DCL out of everyone here so I'd love to have you in charge! Of course, if you want/need any help, I'm ready to pitch in.

I definitely want to do the Meet and Greet and Fish Extender exchange. For the fish extender exchange, I really like how we did it on my last cruise...once we had the final list of participants, the organizer made a spreadsheet of the screennames, staterooms, number of adults/kids in each room, gender/age of kids, and then broke the list down to assign each person to a specific day to go around and drop off their gifts. This made sure that we would get at least one gift/day versus not having assigned days, everyone might drop off gifts the first couple days, and then nothing to look forward to the rest of the cruise. I think this will be even more important for a 7 night cruise, to make sure that gifts are distributed throughout the week instead of clumped in the first couple days. Does that sound like a good idea to you?

Also, I have never hear of a "Door Tag" though- can you explain what that entails? Sounds interesting!

Lastly, did you get the last PM I sent you with my email address? I just wanted to check because I haven't heard anything back from you and my comcast email has been down all day for some reason. I'm sure you are busy and I don't mean to nag, I just wanted to make sure you got the message with my email because I'm very much looking forward to hearing the details of the other special things you are planning for the group you are going with so I can join in too! Thanks again!