09/15/07 Early Check in September 15, 2007 Eastern

[Tigger&Bubba]

Thanks for the fish extender photos. Did any of them come up missing during the cruise? We have heard of door decorations that ae moved or stolen.
Thanks for the info on the hats. Did you make the rest of the costumes?
What are the two identical items in the picture on the far right?
Happy weekend to all,
Jan

Unfortunately, we did have one fish extender come up missing during our trip. It was hand made by the family, but was not personalized. It was also not tie-wrapped onto the fish. After it was gone we went floor to floor and handed out extra tie wraps to each floor so we could make sure they were secured to the fish. As far as I know there were no other incidents with door signs or fish extenders. There were some very elaborate door decorartions on this trip.! ( some even started to extend down the hallway )

The two identical items in the picture are wine filter/caps. Sediment and or cork can ruin and otherwise good glass of wine. Handy little gadget. Since an average bottle of wine has 4 1/2 glasses, it is nice to be able to put a stopper in it too if you don't have someone to share with when you open it.

 

[JLSE50]

Unfortunately, we did have one fish extender come up missing during our trip. It was hand made by the family, but was not personalized. It was also not tie-wrapped onto the fish. After it was gone we went floor to floor and handed out extra tie wraps to each floor so we could make sure they were secured to the fish. As far as I know there were no other incidents with door signs or fish extenders. There were some very elaborate door decorartions on this trip.! ( some even started to extend down the hallway )

The two identical items in the picture are wine filter/caps. Sediment and or cork can ruin and otherwise good glass of wine. Handy little gadget. Since an average bottle of wine has 4 1/2 glasses, it is nice to be able to put a stopper in it too if you don't have someone to share with when you open it.

Any photos of the decorations extending down the hall?
Where would one get such a wine filter?
Jan

 

[Grandma4ever]

Can someone provide me with the measurements of the fish extender?

It seems like they would be easy to pull together but it is hard to tell how wide they are, how deep the pockets are etc, etc from a picture.

I can assume that they are used to collect goodies to and from other cruisers. It seemed from the picture that most of the gifts were low cost trinkets. Am I right? The bottle stoppers would be a little costly depending on how many one needs to buy.

So last question, on average how many rooms can one expect we might have in our group come next year? I'm thinking I had better start planning for this now. I think this is going to be the best cruise yet. Please correct me if I have misunderstood anything. Mouser

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

Can someone provide me with the measurements of the fish extender?

It seems like they would be easy to pull together but it is hard to tell how wide they are, how deep the pockets are etc, etc from a picture.

I can assume that they are used to collect goodies to and from other cruisers. It seemed from the picture that most of the gifts were low cost trinkets. Am I right? The bottle stoppers would be a little costly depending on how many one needs to buy.

So last question, on average how many rooms can one expect we might have in our group come next year? I'm thinking I had better start planning for this now. I think this is going to be the best cruise yet. Please correct me if I have misunderstood anything. Mouser

Hi Mouser,

No problem on the measurements. The overall hanging length is 32'' . The finished fabric length is approx. 26" . It is 8" wide. The dowel is a 1/2" dowel 10'' long. There is a rod pocket at the top for the dowel to slide through. The hanging cord is aprox. 13'' long and there are holes drilled through the dowel for the cord to be threaded and knotted.

I have seen alot of variations on the fish extender. One looked like a baseball bat and glove. One had fabric handprints for pockets. All were really cute. Mine was made by Carol and Doug Screenname "Parhumpgirl". They made over 100 of them. Each fish extender was personalized and decorated by the owner. (I did ours with scrapbook supplies mostly.) This was their generous gift to all of us. If you have more questions about how to make one they are the experts. Debbie Screenname "Epcotkilterfan" is the one who came up with the whole fish extender idea. I think it was on the Panama Canal cruise? She bought them at a chain store. You can purchase them on e-bay from what I have been told. This is about the extent of my knowledge on fish extenders.

As for the fish extender gifts, we sailed with a DISclaimer, we know that for some families this may be a once in a lifetime trip. And finances could be really tight. No one kept track of who was leaving gifts and who was not. It just sort of happened. We didn't want anyone left out. Most of the gifts were signed with a greeting i.e. happy sailing from the xxxxx family. Some of the gifts were not signed. Low cost trinkets galore. The costs seemed to range from under a dollar to several. Mostly, they were fun! Some were downright practical. ( a rigid clear plastic expandable folder to keep your navigators and other save papers in.)

How many cruisers will we have? I guess that depends somewhat on us! How much fun we want to have and how many people feel comfortable joining in. Our 11 day group was large due to the "Special Cruise" aspect. Many of the people had cruised together before and booked the 11 together. They will also be doing the Med cruises together. Some have known each other for years.

I hope all this helps.

Dianna

 

[Grandma4ever]

Hi Mouser,

No problem on the measurements. The overall hanging length is 32'' . The finished fabric length is approx. 26" . It is 8" wide. The dowel is a 1/2" dowel 10'' long. There is a rod pocket at the top for the dowel to slide through. The hanging cord is aprox. 13'' long and there are holes drilled through the dowel for the cord to be threaded and knotted.

I have seen alot of variations on the fish extender. One looked like a baseball bat and glove. One had fabric handprints for pockets. All were really cute. Mine was made by Carol and Doug Screenname "Parhumpgirl". They made over 100 of them. Each fish extender was personalized and decorated by the owner. (I did ours with scrapbook supplies mostly.) This was their generous gift to all of us. If you have more questions about how to make one they are the experts. Debbie Screenname "Epcotkilterfan" is the one who came up with the whole fish extender idea. I think it was on the Panama Canal cruise? She bought them at a chain store. You can purchase them on e-bay from what I have been told. This is about the extent of my knowledge on fish extenders.

As for the fish extender gifts, we sailed with a DISclaimer, we know that for some families this may be a once in a lifetime trip. And finances could be really tight. No one kept track of who was leaving gifts and who was not. It just sort of happened. We didn't want anyone left out. Most of the gifts were signed with a greeting i.e. happy sailing from the xxxxx family. Some of the gifts were not signed. Low cost trinkets galore. The costs seemed to range from under a dollar to several. Mostly, they were fun! Some were downright practical. ( a rigid clear plastic expandable folder to keep your navigators and other save papers in.)

How many cruisers will we have? I guess that depends somewhat on us! How much fun we want to have and how many people feel comfortable joining in. Our 11 day group was large due to the "Special Cruise" aspect. Many of the people had cruised together before and booked the 11 together. They will also be doing the Med cruises together. Some have known each other for years.

I hope all this helps.

Dianna

Yes this is very helpful information. being that we are both social workers we don't have a money tree in the back yard but we are doing ok. The gift thing sounds fun but we will need to be realistic with it. I have some ideas. It will mostly depend on how many I will need and we won't know that till much closer. It doesn't help that we are planning to do a B2B this trip out. I am looking forward to getting to know folks before we start so there is more interaction between each other. Thanks for the quick response.

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

Any photos of the decorations extending down the hall?
Where would one get such a wine filter?
Jan

Sorry Jan, I didn't get any door pics. I really didn't take alot of pictures. Perhaps the captain can help? I know he took many, many pictures.

Wine filters are available at many wine shops and wineries. Probably online as well. I last saw them at Lakeridge Winery.

 

[Lisa0503]

Hi Everyone

Well, we just got back from our first family trip to WDW and I needed another vacation to plan so DH & I just booked this cruise yesterday We loved the Wonder last year but it was just not long enough. I am looking forward to sailing on the Magic. This time we are leaving the kids at home. DH and I are celebrating our 5 yr anniversary next fall and definately looking forward to some alone time We are also looking forward to meeting fellow Disers. Last year we made our cruise plans so late and I had just found the DisBoards so I never really got to know anyone on our cruise. Plus last year DD was 22 months and DS was 4 months when we cruised so we had our hands full with them and couldn't make it to the DisMeet.

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

Hi Everyone

Well, we just got back from our first family trip to WDW and I needed another vacation to plan so DH & I just booked this cruise yesterday We loved the Wonder last year but it was just not long enough. I am looking forward to sailing on the Magic. This time we are leaving the kids at home. DH and I are celebrating our 5 yr anniversary next fall and definately looking forward to some alone time We are also looking forward to meeting fellow Disers. Last year we made our cruise plans so late and I had just found the DisBoards so I never really got to know anyone on our cruise. Plus last year DD was 22 months and DS was 4 months when we cruised so we had our hands full with them and couldn't make it to the DisMeet.

Lisa0503 glad you will be aboard. You'll have plenty of time to get to know us this time around



Dianna

 

[captaincrash]

Sorry Jan, I didn't get any door pics. I really didn't take alot of pictures. Perhaps the captain can help? I know he took many, many pictures.

Wine filters are available at many wine shops and wineries. Probably online as well. I last saw them at Lakeridge Winery.

yup...

I got a few ... sadly NONE of the decorations "I" brought on the last sailing.... my stuff was a little too "much" and would not fit under the door when closed (I had to plug it in) plus my spouse said I was "nuts" so I just didn't use it!... and I have to confess that on those occasions when I was passing out my "goodies", or sneaking Secret Mickey stuff... and on the one occasion when I helping a neighboring DIS family pass out their stuff (all done after 1AM generally) I was sort of "working" to distribute stuff and hustle back to sleep. I shot a few cabin doors then came to realize there were 100-150 or more doors to "visit" and if I took pix of every door I would have doubled my time running about the ship. Besides - on a couple occasions we (or I) had ships security "shadowing" me the whole time. So I was twice running about with a stroller loaded with stuff to pass out and in a slight hurry. Below are a few of the fish extenders I shot - and out of the 6,000+ images I shot this was all I found. I think I might have a few more here and there - but that will have to come another time....

 

[kimgregg]

Hi Everyone

Well, we just got back from our first family trip to WDW and I needed another vacation to plan so DH & I just booked this cruise yesterday We loved the Wonder last year but it was just not long enough. I am looking forward to sailing on the Magic. This time we are leaving the kids at home. DH and I are celebrating our 5 yr anniversary next fall and definately looking forward to some alone time We are also looking forward to meeting fellow Disers. Last year we made our cruise plans so late and I had just found the DisBoards so I never really got to know anyone on our cruise. Plus last year DD was 22 months and DS was 4 months when we cruised so we had our hands full with them and couldn't make it to the DisMeet.

We will be traveling with a 2 yr old on this trip. How did yours do on your cruise? Did she stay in Flounders? Did she like it? Any tips on traveling with a 2 yr old?

Thanks!

 

[Windy City Heather]

Boy, I am glad we are starting to talk about all this now. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Fish extenders, door magnets, gifts to put in the extenders (I already know what I am getting to put in them), pirate costumes and I know that as we talk we will come up with more stuff.

Can we talk a little more about Secret Mickey? How does it work? I really want to do it.

 

[Lisa0503]

We will be traveling with a 2 yr old on this trip. How did yours do on your cruise? Did she stay in Flounders? Did she like it? Any tips on traveling with a 2 yr old?
Thanks!

You are going to have a great time!!!! Our daughter absolutely LOVED sailing on "Mickeys Boat". She did great. We did do alot before our trip to prepare her since this was her first BIG trip and first time seeing the characters. We spent alot of time before the trip on the DisBoards looking at all the pictures of the ship and the characters and talking about the trip so she was more familar with everything once we got there. My daughter is VERY friendly (not a shy bone in her body) so she took to Mickey & the characters immediately.

Both kids did spend a couple of hours in Flounders on our day at sea so that DH & I could enjoy the Palo brunch. I definately recommend you use Flounders and get to Palo at least once. She really enjoyed Flounders and the baby was well taken care of there too... I only wished we had taken advantage of Flounders more on our trip.

Our biggest problem with traveling with such young kids was sleeping/napping. DD is not the type of kid to just nap anywhere so we had to go back to the cabin for naps. She also resisted taking them so that was a struggle. Also the first night was really tough getting her to sleep in a new place in a pack n play when she was used to sleeping at home. I have always been a big believer in 'crying it out' and the first night she cried for over an hour before she fell asleep then she woke up that first night and cried for about a half hour around midnight. After that first night though she was asleep in miniutes and slept thru the night. We did the 4 day cruise so it seemed like as soon as the kids got used to being in a new place and a new schedule, it was time to go home. We will probably never do another 4 day cruise again...It was just not long enough.

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

Boy, I am glad we are starting to talk about all this now. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Fish extenders, door magnets, gifts to put in the extenders (I already know what I am getting to put in them), pirate costumes and I know that as we talk we will come up with more stuff.

Can we talk a little more about Secret Mickey? How does it work? I really want to do it.

Good morning Heather,

I LOVE Secret Mickey and will volunteer officially to organize this Dis activity.

Here is how it works:

There are adult and children catagories. Adult to adult. Child to child. Female to female. Male to male.

There is a dollar limit set. Total amount spent should not exceed set limit.
On a seven night cruise I think 3 or 4 gifts is a good number.

Participation is completely voluntary. Secret Mickey is randomly selected from participants. You cannot request a particular person. Two weeks before sailing you are assigned your Secret Mickey so you can start shopping.

When we get closer to the sailing date I will ask for PM's from those people that want to participate and ask a series of questions that will help your Secret Mickey select gifts for you.

We will decide on a time and place for the Secret Mickey reveal where you can find out who your Secret Mickey is and thank them personally. Lot's of fun.

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

Is anyone interested in organising the PJ breakfast? We need a volunteer.

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

Dear Kimgregg,

I hope we get to meet you and your 2 year old. What a "Magical" age. We have no grandbabies so we are looking forward to enjoying everyone's children.

The captain has little ones too. Captain did you use Flounders or your girls are older?

 

[Hixski]

Sadly we will not be having a fish extender. DH is a fun guy but he cringes when he sees all the stuff on peoples doors. He is one of those people that just knows it is going to get stolen. In fact there will be no way he would even let anyone know what room we are in. We had neighbors quite a few years back that decided we were their new best friends. By the time they moved away it had graduated to stalking us. A little scary. The wife would call 20 times a day. She would run out of the house if she saw us leaving wanting to know where we were going. He is just a bit paranoid now.

We will come to the DIS meet and do some of the other stuff but some things like the fish extender will be out for us. Just a bit of fair warning. I don't want anyone to think we aren't friendly. We really are, just wary after stalking neighbors.

 

[Tigger&Bubba]

Sadly we will not be having a fish extender. DH is a fun guy but he cringes when he sees all the stuff on peoples doors. He is one of those people that just knows it is going to get stolen. In fact there will be no way he would even let anyone know what room we are in. We had neighbors quite a few years back that decided we were their new best friends. By the time they moved away it had graduated to stalking us. A little scary. The wife would call 20 times a day. She would run out of the house if she saw us leaving wanting to know where we were going. He is just a bit paranoid now.

We will come to the DIS meet and do some of the other stuff but some things like the fish extender will be out for us. Just a bit of fair warning. I don't want anyone to think we aren't friendly. We really are, just wary after stalking neighbors.

No Problem! I totally understand. On one of our cruises we were almost moved in on when a couple at our table found out we were in an upper category stateroom. Weird people are everywhere. That is why we have "Dis"claimers and stress everything is voluntary. Participate as much or as little as you want. It's your vacation. We spent much of our time in our stateroom this last trip. (even if it doesn't sound like it.) Skipped both formal nights, even though Lamar had his tux and I brought two gowns.
There is always so much to do you can't do everything. We didn't want to do it all.
Don't be surprised if you find gifts in your stateroom though. That could happen when you have a stateroom attendant. Fish extender or not.

 

[kimgregg]

You are going to have a great time!!!! Our daughter absolutely LOVED sailing on "Mickeys Boat". She did great. We did do alot before our trip to prepare her since this was her first BIG trip and first time seeing the characters. We spent alot of time before the trip on the DisBoards looking at all the pictures of the ship and the characters and talking about the trip so she was more familar with everything once we got there. My daughter is VERY friendly (not a shy bone in her body) so she took to Mickey & the characters immediately.

Both kids did spend a couple of hours in Flounders on our day at sea so that DH & I could enjoy the Palo brunch. I definately recommend you use Flounders and get to Palo at least once. She really enjoyed Flounders and the baby was well taken care of there too... I only wished we had taken advantage of Flounders more on our trip.

Our biggest problem with traveling with such young kids was sleeping/napping. DD is not the type of kid to just nap anywhere so we had to go back to the cabin for naps. She also resisted taking them so that was a struggle. Also the first night was really tough getting her to sleep in a new place in a pack n play when she was used to sleeping at home. I have always been a big believer in 'crying it out' and the first night she cried for over an hour before she fell asleep then she woke up that first night and cried for about a half hour around midnight. After that first night though she was asleep in miniutes and slept thru the night. We did the 4 day cruise so it seemed like as soon as the kids got used to being in a new place and a new schedule, it was time to go home. We will probably never do another 4 day cruise again...It was just not long enough.

Thank so much for the info. My son too has a problem sleeping anywhere but his bed so I've been worried about that. I learned after my first child to make sure I put the second one in his bed and let him go to sleep on his own. I was also worried about keeping the neighbors up with his crying if he had a problem sleeping in a strange place.

 

[kimgregg]

Sadly we will not be having a fish extender. DH is a fun guy but he cringes when he sees all the stuff on peoples doors. He is one of those people that just knows it is going to get stolen. In fact there will be no way he would even let anyone know what room we are in. We had neighbors quite a few years back that decided we were their new best friends. By the time they moved away it had graduated to stalking us. A little scary. The wife would call 20 times a day. She would run out of the house if she saw us leaving wanting to know where we were going. He is just a bit paranoid now.

We will come to the DIS meet and do some of the other stuff but some things like the fish extender will be out for us. Just a bit of fair warning. I don't want anyone to think we aren't friendly. We really are, just wary after stalking neighbors.

We haven't been stalked by crazy neighbors but my husband is alot like this. He never wants to meet the neighbors because he doesn't want them coming over all the time. He is such a pessimist thinking something bad is going to happen. Hopefully I can talk him into getting into some of the fun events!

Kim

 

[kimgregg]

Dear Kimgregg,

I hope we get to meet you and your 2 year old. What a "Magical" age. We have no grandbabies so we are looking forward to enjoying everyone's children.

The captain has little ones too. Captain did you use Flounders or your girls are older?

Thanks. I hope we get to meet you too. We also have a 6 yr old daughter. I know she will have the time of her life on this cruise. We are such cruisaholics. We love to cruise. This will be our (my DH & I) 5th cruise, DD has been on 3 cruises and DS has been on 1. But this will be our first on Disney. We have also sailed on NCL to Alaska and since we live close to Galveston have been on several out of there on Royal Caribbean (Rhapsondy of The Seas) and Princess (Grand).