12/01/07 Western December 1, 2007 - Let's get the party started!

[kimszath]

Hey everybody! I hadn't been on in awhile... realized the DIS boards had stopped sending me messages from this board since I hadn't been here lately! I'm starting to actually think about excursions... Last time we cruised, we did the Eastern, so this will be all new for us. I was born in Key West, and though hubby and I have been to Key West plenty, my almost-8-y.o. son has never been (shows you how long it's been since I went down there, and I LIVE in FL!) I need to start reading all over again! I remember how fast the months went by last time, so I don't want to leave it on the back burner for too long. I promise to be a little more active here!!! We're less than 9 months away now... it's starting to feel REAL!!!

 

[mom+3girls]

Hey gang -
The boys and I were just looking at the shore excursions for Grand Cayman. Anyone been there before? DS14 wants to go on the Atlantis submarine and the other thinks a trip to Hell is a must do. .(he just wants a shirt that says he's been to Hell) I am not planning on too many shore excursions, and wondering if it is possible to do both while we are there. I don't want this to end up being a big issue as the boys bicker constantly already - also, the Atlantis is really expensive. Any words of advice?

Then, on to Cozumel. I'm curious if anyone has had experience with the jeep tour. I'd like to visit the ruins.
Hope everyone is well!

I think they have Atlantis in Cozumel, maybe you can do Hell on Grand Cayman, I promise you it is nothing, it is some rock formations a post office and a little gift shop. You could take a taxi there and back and it should not cost you very much. The cab would probably wait on you, it won't take you 5 minutes to see hell and buy a t=shirt and then do Atlantis in Cozumel.
When my girls and I cruised in 2005 we did the island tour went to hell and the turtle farm. My oldest daughter bought a t-shirt and I bought a bumper sticker (my boss collects them ) the sticker said I went to hell and back to get you this bumper sticker the t-shirt said something like that as well. We did not do Atlantis, something about being in a very small enclosed place underwater just doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Popovich]

Welcome Jill-I'm sure you and your boys will have a great time. I also think it would be easy to do both excursions. Hell really does take 15 min max. We did the Western last year-our kids were 7 & 8. The loved the turtle farm and swimming with the sting rays at Grand Cayman was a big hit with all of us.

I just haven't gotten in vacation mode yet. I don't know what's wrong with me. The last two years I've been an avid poster. I have to get with it!!

I think I'd like to see the ruins, but I also hear Paradise Beach is nice in Cozemel.

I think I need to be more active!

Have a great weekend!

 

[kimszath]

Hey everybody!!! Only 8 more months til we GO!!!!!!! Oh I am SO ready. Hope you all had a great March. I'm trying to think of some great April Fools Day jokes for tomorrow. Anybody got any?

 

[CraftyMouse]

First, let me introduce myself. I am Craftymouse (Michele) and we will also be on the 12/1/07 sailing. We are actually doing a back-to-back with the 11/24 Eastern! It will be me, DH, DD14 and DS12.

Then, on to Cozumel. I'm curious if anyone has had experience with the jeep tour. I'd like to visit the ruins.
Hope everyone is well!

We have not done the Jeep tour but we did visit Tulum on our last Western. We really enjoyed the day but keep in mind that it is a very long and very hot trip to the ruins and back.

This time we will be heading to Paradise Beach for the day.
http://www.paradise-beach-cozumel.com/

As for Grand Cayman, I can HIGHLY recommend Captain Marvin's Stingray City tours. It was the highlight of our last Western and easily the best excursion we have ever done.

We can't wait to meet everyone!

 

[Popovich]

Well, we just came back from 10 glorious days in WDW and I'm in full vacation mode! I can't wait for my next Dis fix . I think I'm addicted!!! We had nice warm weather for the most part and came home today to cold and snow on the ground.

We went for spring break with a group of 15 family and friends. The kids had a blast because they had cousins and friends to keep them occupied-and the parents were happy because their kids weren't fighting with their siblings!

Our flight arrived home at 6:00 pm and we had our travel companions over for margaritas and pizza. Everyone just left. I'm already having vacation withdrawal!

I'm really looking forward to our cruise . I found pirate tatoos at the party store. I think the kids will have fun with them. I also need to start thinking about excursions and finding pin pals for DD9 and DS 8. Our pin pals really made our last two DCL trips so much more memorable!

Well, all for now!

 

[jlowejd5]

Nothing much doing. Just bumping us off of page four. BTW, we just broke 220 days...

 

[missmulan]

bumping! finally took my kids to get their passports for this trip. woo-hoo!

 

[Hanover]

We received our passports yesterday...10 weeks and 3 days after applying. It feels good to have them in our hands. We are dong the 11 day DCL Mediterranean cruise 7/7/07 so we were beginning to get a bit worried that they hadn't come in our "6-8 week" window the post office told us. They were not entered in the Department of State computer system's "checking the status of your application" until about 8 weeks after applying and only said to expect them with in 10 weeks of applying.

 

[Gerweniel]

Hello again all!
Hanover - thank you so much for your info on the passports. You answered some questions I had completely. We applied at a post office 3/17/07 and are still waiting. I've been checking online and have not seen a thing in the status section so I was getting a bit worried that they were lost or something. Now, I know not to expect our status to be updated.

Hi there Craftymouse! Can you please tell me a bit about the Grand Cayman Capt Marvins excursion you are so thrilled with? We have plenty of time to plan, but it was an excursion I had not considered.

Check back in with you all soon!

Jill and the boys
Ian 14
Devin 12

 

[mom+3girls]

I applied for mine and the girls passports March 14, the check cleared my account mid-April. I still do not have the passports.
Thanks for the info, I was getting worried, but maybe they will come in the next couple of weeks.

I think I read somewhere over the weekend that children don't have to have passports until later than the end of this year. Has anyone heard or read this anywhere?

 

[Gerweniel]

My sons are at school and I just had to tell someone.....I bought our airline tickets for the cruise this morning!! YIPPIE!
I booked AirTran and have been watching the fares and hearing rumors of them increasing. I've never flown AirTran before, but flights are nonstop out of a smaller, closer airport and will save me tons on airport parking. The only curious thing is I had to pay $5.00 per seat to reserve our seats which kinda stinks but I am such a nervous Nelly that I wanted them confirmed in advance. Well, the deed is done, now I have to work, work, work to pay off everything else.

I received the passports for my 14 year old and myself 10 weeks and 6 days after applying for them....My 12 year old's is hung up because they need a "certified" copy of my custody paper. (I sent them the original from my attorney). Anyway, now I have to get the certified one from another county clerks office, and I drove there to find out my paperwork is in microfische and the only person who can access it was on vacation etc, etc, etc.....
I love living in small towns, but I am so used to instant information retrieval, this whole situation is archaic.
Hopefully, I'll get that certified copy this week and send it back to the Passport agency so they can complete his passport.

Anyway, we are all getting more and more excited each day for our first cruise. Hope everyone's plans are coming together!
Jill

 

[kimszath]

Hi Everyone! Wow... now we're getting close! Since last time I was on, I booked another Disney cruise--the double-dip on the Wonder from June 6-12, 2008. Same cabin, too---the Secret Porthole Room 5020!!! Should be fun. We love Castaway Cay. Would love to see more details on Captain Marvin's at Grand Cayman--sound like something we might want to do. And how long is the Tulum excursion? Will we have time to do anything else? I would think that it woulnd't be a bad thing to do in December.

 

[Hanover]

We received our Welcome Back letter and excursion guide book today for our 12/1/07 cruise.

We just got off our Mediterranean Magic cruise on 7/18/07 and were feeling the post DCL blues so it was nice to get it.

 

[JustLorri]

Hi everyone, do you have room for one more?

Three weeks ago, my in-laws called and invited us on a cruise to Quebec in November. Dh and I talked it over and decided no, but I said off-handedly, if it were a Disney Cruise, we'd go. The next thing I know, we find out it's not about the cruise, but all about spending more time with our dc, who the in-laws never see...and yes, a Disney Cruise would be lovely!

So here we go!

Besides my in-laws, there'll be my single 40-something BIL, dh and me and we'll have a son who'll be 9, and daughter who'll be less than a month from turning 7 and a toddler (boy) who will be 2. The toddler is throwing a wrench into all the planning since besides Flounders, there is nothing for him to do and not very many excursions he can go on. But my FIL is in poor health and will most likely stay on board most of the time, so maybe we'll all do the same.

Our rooms are 6049 and 6051. We went for an inside room to hopefully help with dd's motion sickness. Plus, at this late date, we're lucky to have gotten rooms close together.

So I heard that the ship will already be decorated for Christmas? Wow, I'm not sure it can get better than this!

 

[JustLorri]

Anybody?

oh well

 

[mom+3girls]

Hi everyone, do you have room for one more?

Three weeks ago, my in-laws called and invited us on a cruise to Quebec in November. Dh and I talked it over and decided no, but I said off-handedly, if it were a Disney Cruise, we'd go. The next thing I know, we find out it's not about the cruise, but all about spending more time with our dc, who the in-laws never see...and yes, a Disney Cruise would be lovely!

So here we go!

Besides my in-laws, there'll be my single 40-something BIL, dh and me and we'll have a son who'll be 9, and daughter who'll be less than a month from turning 7 and a toddler (boy) who will be 2. The toddler is throwing a wrench into all the planning since besides Flounders, there is nothing for him to do and not very many excursions he can go on. But my FIL is in poor health and will most likely stay on board most of the time, so maybe we'll all do the same.

Our rooms are 6049 and 6051. We went for an inside room to hopefully help with dd's motion sickness. Plus, at this late date, we're lucky to have gotten rooms close together.

So I heard that the ship will already be decorated for Christmas? Wow, I'm not sure it can get better than this!

JustLorri
Welcome aboard!!!!!
I am really excited about the ship being decorated for Christmas.
We don't have that long to wait until the cruise.

 

[kimszath]

Hey everybody! Okay, NOW I feel like we're getting ready to go on a cruise!!! Hope you're all well... we transferred our ressies over the weekend from Disney to a TA. Very happy--got a nice credit/discount for our trouble. Now I feel like we're actually going!!! So does anybody have their excursions worked out? I"m just getting ready to sit down and make some decisions... gotta go to the threads that talk about Western excursions, and see what we want to do.

Chat with you all SOON!!!

 

[Hanover]

I think we will probably do excursions on our own in the ports. We were on the 11 day DCL Med Cruise in July and did half DCL excursions/half on our own. We really saved a ton of $$ and saw so much more by doing them on our own. DH and I have been to Key West and Cozumel before and have done the trolley tour and dolphin swim at Chankanaab. We will most likely take our boys on the trolley tour and possibly go to the beach in Key West. In Cozumel we will probably take a taxi to a beach or Chankanaab to swim/snorkel. We thought of doing the dolphin swim with ds6 and ds10, but don't know for sure yet. In Grand Cayman, we will probably also go to the beach and might do the pirate adventure excursion. It will be really cold at home so we want to spend as much time outside and on the beach as possible.

I'm sure the next 4 months will fly by. We did the 3 day Wonder last year in early December and the ship was decorated beautifully. We loved the tree lighting the first night and seeing it in the atrium. They had a wonderful hand made gingerbread house on deck 3 right under the stairway leading to Shutters. It smelled so good and had lots of cute little characters hidden in the windows. I'm sure the Magic will also have the same. Castaway Cay was also decorated nicely with lots of Christmas touches. We took pictures for our picture Christmas cards of the boys on the beach with their Mickey Santa ears.

We are heading to WDW on 11/28. On the 29th we are doing MVMCP and park hopping on the 30th. We are staying at Saratoga Springs for the first time. We bought into DVC on the Med Cruise at Animal Kingdom Villas. We are really excited!

 

[mom+3girls]

Hi everyone, do you have room for one more?

Three weeks ago, my in-laws called and invited us on a cruise to Quebec in November. Dh and I talked it over and decided no, but I said off-handedly, if it were a Disney Cruise, we'd go. The next thing I know, we find out it's not about the cruise, but all about spending more time with our dc, who the in-laws never see...and yes, a Disney Cruise would be lovely!

So here we go!

Besides my in-laws, there'll be my single 40-something BIL, dh and me and we'll have a son who'll be 9, and daughter who'll be less than a month from turning 7 and a toddler (boy) who will be 2. The toddler is throwing a wrench into all the planning since besides Flounders, there is nothing for him to do and not very many excursions he can go on. But my FIL is in poor health and will most likely stay on board most of the time, so maybe we'll all do the same.

Our rooms are 6049 and 6051. We went for an inside room to hopefully help with dd's motion sickness. Plus, at this late date, we're lucky to have gotten rooms close together.

So I heard that the ship will already be decorated for Christmas? Wow, I'm not sure it can get better than this!

Hey JustLorri,
I just realized you will be right down the hall from me.
vickie