2/15/2013 - 8 Night Western Cruise, Galveston, TX

[KPetty725]

So am I the only one stressing out about the FEE?? I still have NO idea what I'm going to do... and have the creativity of a dead houseplant, lol. And precious little $$. Ugh!! It's fun but stressful at the same time. -gina-

I am seriously dying from your dead house plant line. That was hilarious!! Sadly, I know all too well about that!

As for FE inspiration, I will say Beth's Pinterest board is amazing! I've seen several ideas that I would love to do that would be inexpensive and require little time. There were others that I would do if I knew how to sew, but that is definitely out of the question.

I'm using something from Pinterest but it was something I found a while back. If you want to look at my boards, feel free. I have TONS of crafty stuff that's not necessarily Disney-related but can be adapted. Here's a link to my Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/katiepetty725/

I'd say the "gifts" board and the "fun crafts for me" would be the best. Maybe I should start an FE board too!

 

[SnipsNSnails]

We already have a few ideas. I know one thing that we are doing for each person that are all the same and then we will be doing and additional thing for each person based on gender/ages and we've talked about 1 more small extra thing for the kids which I just have to narrow down to what specific thing. The things for each person based on age/gender are a little more up in the air, we've talked about a few different things so it's just a matter of deciding what we're doing for each group.

I'm anxious to get started on it all though. My mom and I need to sit down and plan it all out. I also need to make/get an FE yet. I think I want to make but I don't sew so I have a few ideas, just need to get to the store to see what I can find that will meet my needs.

So maybe a little stressed but we also have a few months yet to go so I'm not too worried about getting it done.

 

[Gina]

I am seriously dying from your dead house plant line. That was hilarious!! Sadly, I know all too well about that!

As for FE inspiration, I will say Beth's Pinterest board is amazing! I've seen several ideas that I would love to do that would be inexpensive and require little time. There were others that I would do if I knew how to sew, but that is definitely out of the question.

I'm using something from Pinterest but it was something I found a while back. If you want to look at my boards, feel free. I have TONS of crafty stuff that's not necessarily Disney-related but can be adapted. Here's a link to my Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/katiepetty725/

I'd say the "gifts" board and the "fun crafts for me" would be the best. Maybe I should start an FE board too!

Thank you for the Pinterest link!! I so very much Pinterest... I'll check out the link as soon as I get home from work!

 

[Ichiban]

I wish I was motivated enough to do the FEE, but I am already stressed out enough about Christmas shopping and can't handle thinking about anything else. Plus, just when I thought I had all of our travel arrangements worked out, the airline changed our flight times They didn't even notify us - I just happened to check on our reservation and saw it.

The way it looks now, I think we are going to have to arrive even later on Thurs night and depart early Sat afternoon. I just really hope that there aren't any fog delays when we return, or it could get dicey.

On a positive note, I am super excited for our booking window to finally open tomorrow night!!! I am crossing my fingers we get the 6:30 am bus to Epcot that a lot of you are already on!

 

[SnipsNSnails]

On a positive note, I am super excited for our booking window to finally open tomorrow night!!! I am crossing my fingers we get the 6:30 am bus to Epcot that a lot of you are already on!

Me too! Test Track was one of my oldest son's favorite rides last Sept. and I'd love to get that in first thing and then hop on over to MK.

 

[KPetty725]

I'm done with my Christmas shopping (small Christmas this year helped with that) so now I just get to focus on getting through all the holiday performances!!

 

[glorib]

We're still keeping our secret here! Our plan is to wrap up "gift/clues" for a scavenger hunt on Christmas morning. So far we're thinking flipflops. new sunglasses, an underwater camera and the Disney Oceans documentary movie. I'd like maybe one or two more clues, so I'm still brainstorming!

I do have a question - we can book our excursions and bus tomorrow night - how do I know which bus to pick - is there somewhere where the park hours are listed? I tried looking, but couldn't find the info I needed. (I'm sure I'm just not looking in the right place...)

 

[FloridaFun]

Oh my! I got busy with work and life the last couple of days and the board here got a ton of posts for me to catch up on.

Never bugging me either Katie, I love it when people ask questions as it makes me think of things that I would never have thought of. I hope you have a wonderful Bday party for your DH.

Welcome Jeff! I will see what I can do to set up a 3rd FEE group. Anyone else lurking out there that would like to be in an FEE group still? Do you know that we also have a Facebook group that is going strong with a lot of getting to know you posts. Would love to get to know you and your family more before the cruise too. The page is here and JulieFSU is the admin. http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/202895766512925/

Thanks SunshineCruisers and Gina for the dining rotation information and recommendations. I hope you will find us in your same dining room, but right now we have late dining and are waiting to clear the waiting list for the earlier dining time.

The one thing that I really like about the FEE is that it is really up to each person how they participate. It is all about fun and just another way to enjoy getting to know each other. I have been getting ideas from Katie’s Pinterest Boards too. I am blessed to have one niece and love the ideas on your “Things I can make for the girls” board.

I have been having fun with my FEE items. I will admit to making something special for my Michigan Peeps, Stephanne and Dawn. With that said, I came up with an idea for Andrea’s husband too (yes, even a die hard Michigan fan can show kindness to an Ohio State fan). Of course, I couldn’t help but notice that Jeff said he was flying out of Columbus, OH. Any favorite sports team for you Jeff?

Sounds like we have the same plan Stephanne for the Disney World Day. Start at Epcot, then hop of to MK. We plan to do the new Be Our guest for lunch and spend the afternoon at MK. Then over to Hollywood Studios for the evening.

Glorib, you can find all the park hours at this link: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/calendars/

Note to self… Don’t let work and life interfere with my Disney cruise planning fun next time!

 

[FSU88]

I was checking the itinerary for Key West, and it says we arrive at 7:30am and leave at 12:45PM, for a whopping 5 hours and 15 minutes on Key West. I was going to call them to confirm the stop is in fact this short. Is this timetable confirmed? That just seems very short to me.

I do see the stop at Canaveral is very long, from 6:45AM until after midnight, which should give all a nice long day at the parks.

I was going to book a couple of adventures on Key West, but the time just seems so quick that one may be all anyone can do.
Jeff

 

[FSU88]

Of course, I couldn’t help but notice that Jeff said he was flying out of Columbus, OH. Any favorite sports team for you Jeff?

Alumni Florida State University 1988

I'm living right between the land of M and OSU right now and lean O-H-.....

 

[Kimbo71]

We're still keeping our secret here! Our plan is to wrap up "gift/clues" for a scavenger hunt on Christmas morning. So far we're thinking flipflops. new sunglasses, an underwater camera and the Disney Oceans documentary movie. I'd like maybe one or two more clues, so I'm still brainstorming!

I do have a question - we can book our excursions and bus tomorrow night - how do I know which bus to pick - is there somewhere where the park hours are listed? I tried looking, but couldn't find the info I needed. (I'm sure I'm just not looking in the right place...)

We are still keeping our secret, too! 24 days to go!!! (we are telling our kids Christmas Eve morning!)

 

[juliefsu]

Alumni Florida State University 1988

I'm living right between the land of M and OSU right now and lean O-H-.....

Jeff- both my husband and I went to FSU. Love The picture of the fountain. I was there 94-98 DH was there 89-94 (he went there for both undergrad and grad). Fun their will be another Seminole on the ship.

 

[KPetty725]

Beth - we're going to eat lunch at Be Our Guest too!! With two little girls we'll probably spend the entire day in the new fantasyland section. I'm so excited to see all the changes!!

For all of you keeping the secret til Christmas, keep it up. You're in the home stretch now!! My girls know about the cruise (we've had a count down paper chain going since 100 days out) but they don't know we're going to Disney world. I'm planning in just putting them on the bus and letting them figure it out.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

Katie - My boys don't know about WDW either.

 

[duck_widow]

Yay. I stayed up late and just booked the 6:30am bus to Epcot. I think we'll split the day between Epcot and Animal Kingdom and if time permits maybe hit MK to see the new Fantasyland. I also booked a Palo dinner for the third night. It was tough to pick the night for that since I don't know what dining room we'd be in on that day.

It is so hard keeping this secret from the kids. I feel like I'm going to blurt it out anytime. I will join the Facebook after Christmas so the surprise doesn't get blown through others seeing my Facebook posts about it.

For the character call, does anyone know if the message will be left on voicemail if you don't answer? I'm trying to figure out what time on Christmas to have that call come in. Like some others, we'll save one last present for later that we'll 'accidentally' forget to open. That will start a scavenger hunt that will end with a box box with a balloon inside that will pop out when they open it that tells them their going on a Disney cruise along with the itinerary, the cruise planning CD and some odds and ends. I wanted to get the Steamboat Mickey ornament but they were already sold out last week. So bummed about that!

I am seeing more kids near the same age as ours: 12 Girl, 6 Girl an 6 Boy, so that is exciting!

 

[wdrl]

Beth - we're going to eat lunch at Be Our Guest too!! With two little girls we'll probably spend the entire day in the new fantasyland section. I'm so excited to see all the changes!!

We were just did a preview of the New Fantasyland a few weeks ago and were quite impressed with it. We had lunch at BOG and thought the food was quite good. My wife had the quiche and I had the steak sandwich. Be sure to walk around BOG and check out all three dining rooms. The Beast's West Wing is a little dark and has thunder and lightning sound effects. I preferred the main ballroom -- you can see snow falling outside the windows. The Rose Room has a large music box.

Gaston's Tavern sells huge cinnamon rolls. They are big enough for two adults to share.

Ariel's Under the Sea Adventure is a relatively quick-moving queue. It uses the same ride technology as at Haunted Mansion, so guests are able get on and get off fairly quickly. Its a great ride, especially if you are a big fan of Ariel.

Belle's ride is also great. However, the queue moves much, much slower than Ariel's because guests are moved through the ride in groups. Big Hint: Be sure to have your kids volunteer to play a part when they meet Belle. When we were there, PhotoPass photographers took photos of Belle with each of the kids that participated in the little skit. However, if you are just in the audience, you don't get your photo taken with Belle. (BTW: I wonder if Disney will change how it takes the photo pass photos in this attraction. Its nice to have individual photos, but it really slows down the ride due to the time it takes to pose so many different guests).

Another hint: If you get to the New Fantasyland early, check out the queue for Belle's ride. If its short, then do it first because it gets longer as the day goes on. Also, we were told that Belle's ride will not have FastPasses.

Be sure to be on the lookout for Gaston.

Ceiling of the main ballroom at BOG restaurant:

Some of the art work in the West Wing dining room at BOG:

A man who, in his own mind, needs no introduction:

 

[Dishy24]

Hi again,
I currently have a cabana (#8 I think) booked (on the family beach) for this cruise. I am thinking about releasing it since I would prefer to get one in April when my son & I cruise with my parents on the Fantasy. (This cruise is with Dh & ds & when it is the 3 of us we spend most of our time playing in the water). If anybody is interested in picking it up from me, we can work out a time for me to release it so you can immediately grab it. Let me know...

Also, did anybody get their air yet? What airport? Thanks!

I am SO EXCITED to go back on the Magic! Ds & I went on an 8 night out of NYC in August & it was wonderful... this cruise has a very similar itinarary. We LOVE sea days!!!

 

[SnipsNSnails]

We got the 6:30 Epcot bus too, so I'm very excited about that! I don't think we'll stay long at Epcot but my son love test track so it will be fun to see the new changes to it. And then I'm not sure whether we'll go straight to MK or if we are going to do AK and then MK. It will take some planning for sure.

 

[SunshineCruiser]

Do those that said they are having lunch at Be Our Guest have reservations? I tried to get reservations a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't get any.

We are going to Hollywood Studios first and then to Magic Kingdom. I do have one son that is going to be disappointed if we don't go to Epcot instead of Magic Kingdom, but I just can't see having enough time to visit all three, and the rest of us can't imagine missing MK (and everyone's first choice is HS - tower of terror and rockin rollercoster). We are taking the 9:00 am bus because we are late risers (especially on vacation), but I'm sure we will be there until the end closing the place down. One of our children has high functioning autism, so if we really wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves (and not stress anyone out) we would probably just be doing one park. I just can't relate to you 6:30 people, but I do envy you, if it was just me and no kids I would probably right there with you beating the rush and collecting the fastpasses. No matter what, that one day is going to fly by way to fast. Can't wait!

 

[I❤MICKEY]

We got our preferred bus too. We are going to AK on the first bus. We are either going to DHS or MK next. All depends on how long we spend in AK. If we go to DHS we are going to hit TTMM and ARC. I would like to end the day at MK for the fireworks and parade. The parks close sort of early while we are there. Not sure how much we will be able to squeeze in. We actually thought about doing the VIP option which gets you fast passes for all the big attractions but based on my kids ages probably not worth it.

I was checking the itinerary for Key West, and it says we arrive at 7:30am and leave at 12:45PM, for a whopping 5 hours and 15 minutes on Key West. I was going to call them to confirm the stop is in fact this short. Is this timetable confirmed? That just seems very short to me.

I do see the stop at Canaveral is very long, from 6:45AM until after midnight, which should give all a nice long day at the parks.

I was going to book a couple of adventures on Key West, but the time just seems so quick that one may be all anyone can do.
Jeff

I was wondering the same thing. Because of my kids ages we probably won't do any adventures but had planned to at least walk up/down Duvall Street and enjoy some conch fritters. I've never been to Key West but I have friends that are there now and they said they wouldn't necessarily consider it a family friendly area. Maybe that explains why the stop is so short.