1/24/09 - Disney Magic - Western

[modlin1024]

I'm thinking of you today!!! I understand what you're going through! Just relax and try and get some rest. Think of the blue ocean (and a warm ocean) that will surround you next week. My thoughts are with you.

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words! the procedure went well yesterday and I am now recovering at home, frantically trying to finish all my FE stuff . I need to finish them so I can get them sent out by this weeekend! I am definitely thinking of the ocean, the wonderful food, and warm sun. I can't wait and I look forward to meeting everyone at the meets. Thanks again

 

[BeccaGrace]

BeccaGrace - if you happen to read this and get a chance, would love to know if things are working out for you to join us?

Thanks for checking on us

Wow, welcome to all the new families that have joined us since I last posted! It's looking like we will get to meet all of you in 8 short days modlin1024, I am so glad your surgery went okay...we stopped in North Pole, AK on our honeymoon and I loved it so much and remember saying I wanted to live there Not with -43 degrees though!

DD's neurologist (reluctantly) cleared her for the cruise yesterday I really thought he was going to say no because the first words out his mouth were, "I would be okay if it was a land-based trip in the US"...my heart just sunk I was honest with him and said that I needed a clear and practical view because the fact that the trip insurance wasn't going to cover cancellations since it is a pre-existing condition had clouded my opinion...it would have broken my heart if my MIL lost all that money if we had to cancel But luckily one of the residents with him had worked on a cruise ship and told him how quickly they had air-lifted people in cases of emergency, so he came up with a game plan that would make him comfortable with us making the trip:
--new MRI before we leave to rule out any changes that would be causing the recent seizures
--med increase of her second medication...this one makes her verrrry grouchy and emotional, so if Becca is not her usual sweet, charming self when you meet her please know that this is part of the trade off of our being able to go on the cruise!
--my entire carry-on is going to be filled with drugs...hopefully dh will have room for a few magazines for me
--call Verizon to make sure we have international coverage for our cell phone to call in case of emergency
--we get back on 1/31, go to school on 2/2 and then get admitted to the hospital for a three day video EEG and re-evaluation of her meds...yeah, her school is going to love me!

But it will all be worth it...we are finally excited for the cruise and relaxing and meeting all of you! And my wonderfil SIL has stepped in for my lack of planning...she got pillow cases made to get signatures for the girls and she bought them some treats to put in my ugly make-shift FE when I told her that I dropped out of the exchange. And SIL and I are having tea at Palo with MIL on her birthday and then DH and BIL are taking her there for a late birthday dinner...maybe Palo overkill for one day but you only turn 60 once!

So today is a happy day, a week from tonight we will be flying in to MCO! Thank you all for the kind words and PMs I've received from generous DISers, I can't wait to put faces with all the names and to see our kids running around the clubs together!

 

[Sophie_2003]

Glad to hear it, BeccaGrace, see you onboard!

 

[DutchsMommy]

I'm really happy things are working out for everyone! Great to hear.

I am in full planning mode now (interestingly I need to shift from planning to doing fairly soon....) and am making lists like a mad woman! I keep remembering things I need to think about or do. Oh well, regardless we will be on a plane on Wednesday whether I have everything done or not! This has really snuck up on me and I am feeling a little overwhelmed. But, being there is better than being here so I can't feel too sorry for myself LOL.

Anyway - ....... ........

 

[cyndik1111]

Thanks for checking on us

Wow, welcome to all the new families that have joined us since I last posted! It's looking like we will get to meet all of you in 8 short days modlin1024, I am so glad your surgery went okay...we stopped in North Pole, AK on our honeymoon and I loved it so much and remember saying I wanted to live there Not with -43 degrees though!

DD's neurologist (reluctantly) cleared her for the cruise yesterday I really thought he was going to say no because the first words out his mouth were, "I would be okay if it was a land-based trip in the US"...my heart just sunk I was honest with him and said that I needed a clear and practical view because the fact that the trip insurance wasn't going to cover cancellations since it is a pre-existing condition had clouded my opinion...it would have broken my heart if my MIL lost all that money if we had to cancel But luckily one of the residents with him had worked on a cruise ship and told him how quickly they had air-lifted people in cases of emergency, so he came up with a game plan that would make him comfortable with us making the trip:
--new MRI before we leave to rule out any changes that would be causing the recent seizures
--med increase of her second medication...this one makes her verrrry grouchy and emotional, so if Becca is not her usual sweet, charming self when you meet her please know that this is part of the trade off of our being able to go on the cruise!
--my entire carry-on is going to be filled with drugs...hopefully dh will have room for a few magazines for me
--call Verizon to make sure we have international coverage for our cell phone to call in case of emergency
--we get back on 1/31, go to school on 2/2 and then get admitted to the hospital for a three day video EEG and re-evaluation of her meds...yeah, her school is going to love me!

But it will all be worth it...we are finally excited for the cruise and relaxing and meeting all of you! And my wonderfil SIL has stepped in for my lack of planning...she got pillow cases made to get signatures for the girls and she bought them some treats to put in my ugly make-shift FE when I told her that I dropped out of the exchange. And SIL and I are having tea at Palo with MIL on her birthday and then DH and BIL are taking her there for a late birthday dinner...maybe Palo overkill for one day but you only turn 60 once!

So today is a happy day, a week from tonight we will be flying in to MCO! Thank you all for the kind words and PMs I've received from generous DISers, I can't wait to put faces with all the names and to see our kids running around the clubs together!

I'm so glad you are at least going to hang your FE thing. What was I gonna do with all the goodies I have for your girls? I had envisioned hanging them from a plastic grocery bag and the room stewart thinking it was trash. - PLEASE don't feel you have to pass out goodies. I have a feeling there will be so much. No one will even notice.

Glad to hear the neuro doc cleared you guys. Don't worry, all will work out just fine- we're going to the land (boat) where dreams come true.

See you in 8 days!

 

[modlin1024]

Hey BeccaGrace! I am glad you have the all clear to go on the cruise! Thanks for the nice words and yes, North Pole is a neat place to live but I am glad that this is my last winter here! We have orders and will be moving on to bigger and better things, thank goodness! No more freezing cold winters! Ince again, I am glad to hear you are all ready to go and I can't wait to meet you as well!

So, when is everyone leaving? We are leaving Thursday night and arriving on Friday, staying at the Sheraton Friday night and then heading to the Port on Saturday. I am so excited that I have been up until 0200 working on the FE gifts. My husband thinks I am nuts and says that he doubts there are any guys on our cruise meets who are making FE gifts! I told him he was probably right and it was definitely a chick thing! I can't wait!

 

[tw2123]

So, when is everyone leaving? We are leaving Thursday night and arriving on Friday, staying at the Sheraton Friday night and then heading to the Port on Saturday. I am so excited that I have been up until 0200 working on the FE gifts. My husband thinks I am nuts and says that he doubts there are any guys on our cruise meets who are making FE gifts! I told him he was probably right and it was definitely a chick thing! I can't wait!

Your husband is right, my husband is so not into the FE thing. He keeps giving me a hard time about it, but I told him the other day "I know it is not your thing, but the kids and I are excited about it so he needs to just let us have our fun." He hasn't complained since. I think it is a cute idea and everyone I tell about it thinks it sounds fun, so oh well.

We are leaving Friday morning, going do Disney World for the day, then staying in Orlando for the night. We will head to the port Sat. morning. Getting very excited now, and very ready to leave the freezing cold here in Michigan.

 

[princess kates mum]

We are leaving Canada on Wednesday and spending 3 days in Orlando.
The weather here is bitter cold!! I am glad to here BeccaGrace will be joining all of us.
Hope everyone has a safe trip Look forward to meeting all of you on Saturday the 24th.

 

[3 otters]

Glad to hear that everyone is doing well and healthy.
We are flying in on Thursday night and staying near the airport than traveling to cape Canaveral for Friday to see the space shuttle etc. and staying at the Radisson at the Port that night to count down the hours and try to sleep through the excitement of getting the the ship the next day.
Can't wait to see everyone soon and make new friendships.

 

[emmysusu8]

It's getting close! Glad the Beccagrace family is going to be able to make it!

We are flying in Friday night and staying in Cocoa Beach at the Courtyard by Marriott. Heading to the port early Saturday morning to meet up with the rest of the family. If you see some red headed boys in tears it is because they just met up with their Granny they haven't seen in months. I hope they don't knock her over with their hugs.

I hope everyone has a safe trip! 8 days until we sail! So close!

 

[ErieCruiser08]

We are flying into Orlando late Friday night and staying at the Hyatt at the airport--DCL arranged everything for us and geez, are we paying! Next time we book a cruise, we are definitely taking care of airfare and hotel ourselves!

My husband is really into the F/E stuff! He has been helping me get stuff ready and has helped a ton with 'making' one of the things we are passing out. He's a good guy and he's super excited cuz we are celebrating his birthday onboard--Jan 25! He LOVES Disney--he especially has an obsession with Ariel--lol. Its good to be a kid at heart--we definitely are!

Can't wait to meet everyone soon!

BeccaGrace--glad to hear things are working out for you! Like someone else mentioned--don't stress about finding F/E gifts to pass out, its not that big of a deal! I was actually thinking about having to bring a plastic bag to hang on your door too to put goodies for the girls in, lol.

Good luck everyone getting ready to go!
Amy

 

[Sophie_2003]

Getting ready here as well...could someone fix the Florida weather for next week? Downright chilly for our land portion. I have an extra suitcase for pants/sweaters and GLOVES...the horror

 

[cyndik1111]

OK- I'm a little too visual and I am having a hard time imagining this ship (I have to visualize everything) I am map-obessed and always have to have them.
So I looked at the Deck Plans- which are tiny. You can click on them and they enlarge, but when I hit print, they printed small. Now my 40-something eyes cannot see that little tiny print. So I found a way to enlarge them and print them (had to "fill" in a little that didn't print). I really hope I didn't just reinvent the wheel. Anyway- I will bring lots of copies onto the boat, so if you want nice big maps of each deck- show up at one of our meets.

Using these maps I made a delivery plan:

Here’s my delivery plan for FE stuff if you are interested
It makes more sense when you look at the maps
(tw2123 so nicely put them in order- thank you)

Start on 8th deck & work my way down to deck 1

Aft Elevators to 8th deck
Get off elevators/ turn left/ This is starboard side
Make a left (going Forward)
Walk down to Cabin:
8556 modlin1024
Continue down hall to Midship elevators
Cross to other side of boat/ This is Port side
Make a right (going Starboard again)
Walk down to Cabin:
8028 Memories2make
Continue down the hall to Forward elevators
Take forward elevators/stairs down to Deck 6
Get off elevator turn left (Starboard side)
Turn Right down hall (going Aft)
Walk down to cabin:
Cabin 6640 - 3 otters
Head back to Aft elevators and deliver
To Cabin :
Cabin 6634 - cyndik1111
Then Cabin:
Cabin 6614 – eeyoresbestfriend
You are back at Aft elevators
Continue down this hall
To Cabin:
Cabin 6539 - roobug
Then cabin:
Cabin 6537 - love2disneycruise
Then Cabin:
Cabin 6522 - ErieCruiser 08
Then Cabin:
Cabin 6507 - Sophie 2003
You are now all the way forward
Turn around and head back to Forward elevator lobby- cross over to other side of boat (Port side)
Turn left down this hall and head Aft
Deliver to cabins near Midship elevators:
Cabin 6064/6066 - nikitta28
Continue down the hall to Aft elevators
Take elevators/stairs to Deck 2
Get off elevators and make a right, going Aft, deliver to Cabin:
Cabin 2622 or 2624 – lindaso
Also you’ll find:
Cabin 2640/2638 – BeccaGrace (if you so desire)
Head back to Aft elevators
Cross over to Port side and deliver
To Cabin:
Cabin 2112 - tw2123
Continue down this hall to midship elevators/stairs. Take them
To Deck 1
Deliver to cabin:
Cabin 1051 - disney kat
YOU”RE DONE!!!!

 

[cyndik1111]

Also, our second meet/greet was going to be on Monday at 1100am at cove cafe- but that is adult only. So can we meet at promenade lounge again? If it is busy we can head to secret aft deck 7, or somewhere else.

 

[roobug]

We leave on Friday EARLY AM - still trying to figure out the logistics of getting to the airport with the carseats, luggage and stroller, and, and We are not morning people and it is only the love of disney and the call of the cruise that is making this bearable. (our boys sleep in until 10:00AM usually) then we are staying at the Hyatt at the airport - kind of excited to see the hotel - never stayed in an airport legally before...We let disney do all the prep too - what were we thinking??? So expensive.

Cyndi - love the written map - do you have the route highlighted on the maps? Also thank you for finding another place to meet - I appriciate it!

Can't wait to meet everyone!

 

[modlin1024]

Cyndi - you are just too good! I will have to follow that plan of attack when I deliver all the FE gifts! It could definitely take awhile and maybe I will make it my morning workout Thanks for writing that up for us!

Roo - I know what you mean about getting to the airport, car seats, luggage, etc... It is crazy! I couldn't imagine it with twins! It is a pain here because you have to park your car out in the boonies, plug it in, trudge through mounds of ice and snow, freezing your butt off, get everyone in and take off all the layers of coats, gloves, hats, etc, and then DH has to take everything back out to the car (since we won't need all the coats, hats, etc) and has to run back into the airport, trying not to freeze! It is comical but a real pain. They don't allow curbside drop off so it just creates havoc. But, it is all worth it just to be heading to Florida and seeing that beautiful ship and feeling the warm sun. I can't wait!

I am almost done with my FE gifts. Just a few more to make. My DH is glad I am making them because he is hoping it is keeping my mind off the miscarriage. It definitely has helped! I have had fun making them and just hopes everyone likes them.

Oh yeah, can we post when the meets will be again? Is the first one on Saturday? I couldn't remember when... Can't wait to meet everyone!

 

[Melrosgirl]

We're at the one week mark!

The next time the Magic gets to Port Canaveral, it will be to pick us up!

 

[Francisca64]

The weather is supposed to warm up over the next couple of days down here in the South...thank goodness. I need to explain to God that 16 degrees in Georgia is NOT what I signed up for when I was born in the South!!!! LOL I know it's nothing to the rest of you but we poor Southerners barely have warm coats! If there is even a chance of an inch of snow on the ground Wal Mart is over run with Southerners shopping for milk, etc. and schools are closed! I work for a Canadian company so needless to say we never close for the weather. They finally took half a day off a few weeks back when a blizzard was blowing through...in Belleville, ON.

Soooo, I keep checking the temps at Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Looks good so far...70's & 80's. I just hope the water is warm down there. I don't think it will be at Castaway or the Keys with this cold snap we've had.

By the way, if you see a 40's something woman wandering around by herself on the ship with a book...that's me. We'll see how this "alone time" for a week works out. The kiddies are mighty jealous. But my son and I are going in May for his graduation/18th birthday and my daughter and I are doing the WDW thing for Fall Break so I'm not too worried about them.

See you on the ship!!!!

 

[disney kat]

Cyndi, so glad you are map-obsessed...it really works to our advantage Thanks for all of your hard work and for sharing!

We don't have twins, but have flown with 2 huge carseats, double stroller, 5 kiddos, etc...SO much to think about. We have always brought the carseats on the plane and have had more than one occasion where the seatbelt was nearly impossible to unlatch upon landing. On one flight the attendant was on the intercom repeating that everyone MUST get off the plane...Helloooo, we were the only ones left on the plane and trying desperately to unhook the seatbelt and the child in it. Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry !

We fly down on Wednesday and will stay at Disney two nights. We will do a little sightseeing on Friday. Some of us (my husband and oldest son) want to drive to Daytona that day. We are going to try and find a citrus grove to check out, also. We did this on our honeymoon 15 years ago and thought the kids might get a kick out of it. They probably won't

We have now decided to keep our rental van the entire time and leave it at the hotel in Port Canaveral. I did some rechecking at Budget and they have "last minute" deals for weekly rentals out of MCO. It will be about the same price as before (dropping it off the 24th and rerenting the 31st), but now we can at least keep the carseat in the van and not bring it on the ship!

One week

 

[Chernabog66]

First day of driving from Grand Rapids begins at 0430 am Thursday morning. Overnight in Macon (a good 16 hour stretch. Thank god for the car's DVD player with wireless headphones. That way, my wife & I can listen to a book on tape.) Then on to Cocoa Beach on Friday to overnight at the Courtyard Marriott. At this point, mid 60's sound just fine, after dealing with wind chills of 20 below for the last several days. Weather's looking pretty good for the road trip though, which will make my life considerably easier.

Six months ago I was trying to plan on a 600 dollar fuel expenditure(still cheaper than flying a family of five and a rental car), now, for every dollar gas has dropped, I save 100 dollars each way. Nice little bonus of a lousy economy.