2004-01-31 Western Cruise Afterglow

[The4OfUs]

Losing the Disney store? That makes as much sense as when a McDonalds shuts down (which, unbelievably, has happened around us) - how can these stores not make enough to stay open, when stores like "As Seen On TV" seemingly propagate overnight?

Now I'll have to check on our local ones, we have two around us, one 10 mins to the north, the other 20 mins to the south!

 

[dheller97]

I'll have him check his site tonite, Gary. He may be over his limit with size but will check it out. If necessary, will email it to you tomorrow.

Dean

 

[goofyaboutmickey7]

Hi to all my fellow cruisers and future cruisers, Prayers to Glenn and all others suffering from one illness or another. annie and jaclyn and i will be going through withdrawls and nothing like shots of reality to get back to normal real quick. what ever normal is. we enjoyed all of you guys so much. after the western we enjoyed the eastern but it wasnt the same without all of you. AFTER CRUISING WE STAYED AT THE ROYAL PALMS AT THE MERRIOT WORLD CENTRE we took three days to get home from orlando 2 bumps in orlando and one bump in toronto. At least they compensated us good for the orlando bumps hopefully air canada will too. we hope to see all of you on future cruises or plan a reunion some where. TAKE CARE ALL AND THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS OUR MOST FUN AND LOVED VACATION EVER!!!!!!!!!

aRRRGGGHHH eH! Randy

 

[dheller97]

Gary,

Here's the link for the Time Magazine photo of the year:
http://mattman787.topcities.com/mickey_speedo.jpg

Due to space limitations, I had to give up the Newsweek photo of the year: Cheri & I with the famous Key West sunset in the background. Oh well, the things we do for that mouse, eh?

Take care, my friend!

Dean

 

[Annie12345]

Hi everyone....
Gary, I was there when that photo was taken so how come you are trying to deny that it's you??? Great photo, Dean...

Shingle, it's great to hear from you... Jaclyn talks about Dee Dee and Dale all the time...

Nikki - I hope Glenn is on the mend - I checked out your photos, they are great!!! Our bathing beauties are quite cute, aren't they... BTW, Jaclyn says to say "HI"... The Royal Palms in Orlando was wonderful... the pool was amazing and the condos were great... we would definitely stay there again...

So, gang... When are we going to have our reunion cruise? I'm ready to go back already... just watched According to Jim and it was so great to see the real life CM's and the ship...

HADD!!

 

[goofyaboutmickey7]

got my haircut today to blend the hatchet job that was done before the cruise. thanks for not juicing me about it. It must have been hard to refrain from teasing a little thanks anyway eh! hi Eleanor, Roger, Dale, Dee Dee, it was so great to meet you wonderful folks come to saskatoon sometime we'll put you up. Glen Nikki and kelsey, Tyler had a great time at the beach and on the ship you are invited to come up here and spend some time with us. Dean, Cheri, Matt come on up you are not that far, cap and Judy you are retired so anytime come on up.Karyn and Randy come check it out eh! any body else want to come on up you are welcome any time. Maybe we should hold a reunion right here in saskatoon saskatchewan canada gary and gail goes without saying you have a n open invite, even though you already knew that. any way see you all Reeeeeeaaalll sooooon!!!!! Arrrrrgggghhh EH!

 

[Cap]

Randy,

We're glad you got home alright. Did they save your work for you?

Thanks for the invitation to visit. Now which two days of the year did you say it was summer in Saskatoon?

Did Annie say you had booked for the 12/18/2004 cruise? If yes, then that thread will be getting gigantic by cruise date.

We're still trying to get on Rae & Andy's 50th Celebration Cruise, if DCL will decide where the Magic will be, AND share the news with us.

 

[kmc33]

Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation! And doesn't it make it a little easier to come back when you have your next one booked

It's good to hear that the Eastern was equally nice. I think we may be scheduling based on dates rather than itineraries.

I saw some of According to Jim last night too. It was great to see the ship and the CMs. I taped it, so I want to want the whole thing and then part 2 next week!

Gary, I can't believe you Disney Store is closing! I have heard that many are and that surprises me. I haven't been to Ross Park Mall recently, I am going to have to check and see what their status is!!

Nikki, thanks for sharing your album. The pictures are great! I hope Glenn is recovering well.

Spring is around the corner!

HADD!

 

[OKWMEMBER]

OK, Dean, I downloaded the picture! Thanks a bunch! Please put the picture of you and Cheri back up, it's a great picture of you two!!! It's a natural for your signature. If you need a place to put it, I'll put it on my web site and send you the link.

Kim and Nikki, it came as a shock to us, too! I think the decision to stop carrying adult clothing was a big mistake. The store manager said they sold a lot of it in our store and a lot of people complained when it stopped. All you can get now is an occasional t-shirt.

Re-union cruise? After watching "According to Jim" (didn't we all watch it?) last night, we're ready! We're going to OKW with Randy, Ann and JJ the week of December 12th. Anybody else interested? WDW is fabulous around the holidays!!!

HADD!!!

 

[The4OfUs]

First off, thanks for all the good wishes to Glenn, his leg is healing, although it's looking like there could be some nasty scarring, especially around his ankle. Really his main complaint now is the itching, but that's a good sign, right? It means the new skin is coming in and healing?

Glad you all like the photos, Randy & Annie (or anyone else) I can send you the high res versions of any you liked. Watched about an hour of the 3 hours of video we took, before the ABC show last night, and ended it with our visit to the beach in Grand Cayman - I wish I could capture that stuff and put it up, we have some great video of Kelsey and Jaclyn wandering around the beach, and of all of us swimming. I can't believe we didn't tape "Super E" and his Wonder Van! *grin*

I'm apparently obsessed with figuring out when we can do this again...I have enough points now to consider one in Feb next year, so I was just looking at the Feb 12th sailing, Annie/Randy, you got that one right? Although I'd like to try the Eastern, but at the same time I'd love to hook up with all you guys again! Maybe a quick pre-xmas trip to OKW would work too tho... hmm. Decisions decisions!

So is everyone back in the swing of things by now? Life has returned to craziness with work, Kelsey in a play at school and getting ready for her summer trip to Australia/New Zealand, Tyler with his karate, plans for getting our new puppy next weekend, and *gasp* it might even hit FIFTY here this weekend! We can put on the tropical clothes we bought in Key West and pretend we're back on board...someone quick, send me the recipie for a Konch Cooler!!

sidenote: I remember a couple of years back going to a Disney STore for Father's Day, I wanted to buy a golf/polo shirt...and they told me they wouldn't be carrying that sort of thing anymore. I was shocked, and said then that this was a horrible marketing mistake...I hate that I might have been close to being right.

 

[Annie12345]

Hi everyone - Hope all is well...

Now Cap, that's a myth about it always being cold in Canada - Saskatchewan is beautiful from May to September... We get 80 + degree weather and lots of sunshine... we live less than two hours from a national park which has one of the top 10 golf courses in the world (Bob Hope used to play there all the time); lots of beautiful lakes, etc. etc... I wouldn't choose to visit in January although you're always welcome... Yes, Randy did say we booked the Christmas cruise but we haven't even checked out that thread yet... we like this one!! Maybe we can go for another 3,000 posts...

Nikki - I'll go through your album more carefully and jot down some numbers... that would be great to add to our album... once we figure out how to get our pictures posted, we'll do the same... it would be so wonderful if we were on the same cruise again... we're not sure if we're going to change that Feb. 12th date to the week before or after - we need to find out when Jaclyn will be out of school... we also have to figure out if we can afford to go twice in such a short time ... the good thing is we took a bump when flying home - we ended up getting home a day and a half later but we got quite a good credit from the airline. If we can get some good seat sales, we should be able to get to Orlando at least once with the credit... maybe even twice...

Kim, it does make it easier to come home when you re-book... last year we re-booked the 2nd day on board and it was sort of a relief when we had to leave to know that we would be coming back...

HADD!

 

[The4OfUs]

Good morning all!

Spent last night, while my son was taking his karate lessons, showing off my photos from the cruise to many of the "karate moms" also waiting, with several of them wanting to take a cruise but worried about this or that...I think I sold at least one of them on Disney (not like I was trying, but I tend to get overemotional about this! *grin*), once she heard about the kids clubs and how amazing it was to be on board and have all these different "pockets" of atmosphere. Think about it...walk down deck 10, you go from "Grown Up Land" with the music and the quiet and the smell of the yummy coffee drinks, to "Family Land", with the upbeat tunes and laughter and Goofy pool, to "Kiddie Land", with the Mickey pool and so on...it was like sliding from one land to another at Magic Kingdom, and somehow they made them all work, with one not overrunning the other. That was simply incredible - this particular woman has a 9 and 11 yr old, and wants to spend family time, but still know that the kids will enjoy themselves enough to let them spend "couple" time, while at the same time knowing that the kids can always come find them without it being intrusive or angering other cruisers. Yep, that'd be Disney!

Annie, let us know what you find out about Jaclyn's vacation time - I'd like to try the Eastern, but I'd also LOVE to cruise with you guys again (with ALL YOU GUYS, everyone start booking now!)!

It's fun, the one photo that everyone kept oohing and aahing over last night was the "DIS meet group photo". They were astounded at how many of us all got to know each other (except for that "one woman", you know the sort...*GASP* "You TALKED TO STRANGERS, not only strangers but INTERNET STRANGERS? Oh my GOD, I would NEVER do such a thing!!" - all the time rolling her eyes and then couching it in "Well, you're so friendly, I'm not..." REALLY...wouldn't have guessed! )

Anyhow, off to start my last workday of the week, it's supposed to hit 50 here Sunday, I'm pulling out the bikini and the Tortuga Rum, and sunbathing in the snow!

 

[OKWMEMBER]

Another week-end and I still don't have my photos organized!!! I did make SOME progress, however.

Spring is here! Almost 60 yesterday out yesterday. I saw the Magic pull into Key West yesterday. The warm weather is on it's way!!!

We still have some odds and ends in the guest room from the cruise. I hate to clean it up because it really closes the door on our wonderful cruise. Anybody else hanging on?

HADD!!!

 

[Cap]

I'm trying to get organized. Some of our friends who were on the cruise have given us photos that I want to scan and save. I've gotten Adobe Photoshop Album to help organize all the pictures on the computer. Now I have to make myself sit down and actually organize them.

As for spring - I think it was like the cruise. It just stopped by during winter for a week, but now has gone away again.

And yes, I still have one empty cruise suitcase by the basement stairs, waiting to be taken to the storage area. Once that is gone, then the 2004 Winter Cruise is done, and we're looking forward to the next one. I wish Disney would get on and announce the 2005 May - September schedule, so I could see if a repositioning cruise is going to happen.

Have a great week.

 

[auntrenae]

I'm sitting here using my air conditioner for the 2nd day in a row, and thought of all of you. It's 82 here today, so we are 'almost' missing the cool weather from last week. I hope you get some spring weather soon.

Dean, thanks loads for the group picture!!! I love it, but am sad that I didn't have a chance to be there when it was taken. You guys are the best bunch of Dis'ers we've cruised with, and a lot of fun.

Yes, those funny guys were with me, and as you can tell, the Hale men love to tell stories. Dad even got up in the van on the way to Capt. Marvin's boat to sing his 'my old Grandpa' song. He's the funniest guy I've ever met. Family reunions are a blast with these people!

Any of you who are coming to Orlando have a standing invite to my place or to meet at the parks. We are always up to go there if we're not working, so give us a call!

For those of you losing your Disney stores, I have a website address at work that I will bring home on Thursday for mailorder of things from WDW. The Disney store has their own catalog, but we aren't part of that, so I don't have their address. I hope that helps...

ttfn, Renae

 

[auntrenae]

Hey,
I almost forgot to tell you, yesterday the Florida state pension fund members voted 'no confidence' for Michael Eisner to stay president of the board of Disney. That is a HUGE group of stockholders, and is a sign that many people will maybe do the same at the annual stockholders meeting tomorrow. You might want to watch the national news tomorrow night to see what happeed at that meeting. It will certainly be interesting. It seems that many stockholders are angry that he keeps so much money for himself and his cronies instead of giving dividends to the stockholders. We shall see....
Renae

 

[dizdadof2]

I will be back at Disney in a few weeks. Keep that warm weather for me (Coming from Canada with a high of about 4F today.

Staying at the AKL for a few days and then off to check out the new POFQ.

Anyone know if there are internet connections in the rooms there?

Mike

 

[auntrenae]

Mike,
It's supposed to be warm this week, then cool off to the high 70's next week. I don't know any farther than that. You'll have to ask Karyn about that... Bring your swim suit and plan to hit the water parks then, they are both open now and big crowds. I saw a lot of people in the store yesterday with really bad sunburns. I asked them if they had aloe vera for it and they said they didn't think it was hot enough to need sunscreen.... duh! Oh well, I doubt they would make that mistake again. OUCH!
I'm sure the heat will be here pretty much from now on till winter, so you can feel confident any time you come that it will be hot.
Hope to hear from you when you come, Renae

 

[dizdadof2]

I am from Canada, of course I'll bring sun screen, hat, etc.

Arrive Mar 21, leave April 10. I'll rely on the weather gods, and Karyn for the forecast.

Looking forward to the weather. Hope to see you there.

Mike

 

[Chickenlady]

Just had to pull this thread back up to page 1. Sorry I've been missing in action but the surgery to biopsy my lymph nodes really knocked me down as well as left me with a lovely 2 inch scar right at the base of my neck....ok, I'm a little vain.. may have to start wearing big choker necklaces to hide it.

Anyway the good news is that once again they did not find any cancer in the biopsy. Bad news is that they found disseminated Histoplasmosis......fungal infection that had spread throughout my body. This fungus is commonly found in places contaminated with bird droppings.....several people at work seriously asked "Wonder where you picked that up?"....remember I'm a poultry physiologist and spend most of my time crawling around the chicken houses.

Bottom line is that I was very lucky that all the tests indicated cancer....otherwise the dr. might not have be as quick to get more specific results. Many people who do get disseminated histo. actually die from it. My symptoms were fairly general...fever, cough, shortness of breath, joint pain....I can see how it could have gotten worse very quickly. All the antibiotics in the world would have done nothing against this fungus. As it is I scheduled for 6 months of treatment with a very strong antifungal drug (costs a fortune!!!). All that may change though, it seems that only 12 days of treatment has adversely affected my liver. I see the infectious disease dr. soon as my pulmonologist is admitting that this is over his head.

I'll keep lurking and reading as I don't have much energy to do any work. I spend lot of time now dreaming about getting back on the Magic.

Thanks to all of you who worried and wondered how I was doing.

Janice