4/29/06 Eastern Magic...We're Going!!!!!

[OHJulie]

I tried to upload my pictures to Snapfish - but no luck. I'm not sure why it won't work. I have used them before with no problems.

Anyone else depressed this week? It has been so rainy and gloomy here that I just feel tired all the time!! I think a good dose of Castaway Cay would really help.

 

[castlegazer]

Me - that wold be me!

I am totally missing my kids this week too. I LOVED being with them for the two weeks and now I am in such a state of depression. I am not planning any vacations, not doing anything special any time soon - even Memorial Day has been shot due to Birthday parties and a church meeting. BLUE, BLUE, BLUE.

The only bright spot is that last night and today I am finalizing the Kingdom Magic Vacations stuff and will soon be on my way to booking other people's vacations. Even my friends who I normally help book their vacations at WDW for aren't travelling any time soon. I feel so antsy not checking on codes, not checking on flights, not checking on crowd levels, that this will be a great release for me to start doing it for others.

So that is also why I didn't finish uloading pics last night for you guys. I was busy getting my computer system set up for calls and e-mail and bookings. I am finding snapfish to be SLOW as mud, but it let me upload. It's slow for me because I don't want to download their software as I normally use Sony's imagestation. But it's very cool to have the site thanks to Suzie.

I can't find April's pics - where do I look for those?

 

[rubysmom]

Shyla, when you first log in, click on where it says 'go to photos'. April & Tim have 3 albums there under green section entitled 'friends albums'. Congrats on getting the biz started. I know what you mean about checking codes and flights and things. Everytime an acquantance mentions the possiblity of going to Disney, my ears perk up and I feel the need to RESEARCH!

OHJulie, maybe it was just taking a long time? My upload of over 500 pics took a couple hours at least. I took a chance and did it overnite, though it seems that's when computer viruses are usually contracted, but I survived, I guess.

I'm blue too, but honestly, working with all the pics on the snapfish site really helps! Thank you Suzie!!

 

[rubysmom]

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention I got a call from DCL today. On disembarkation (debarkation?) day, I managed to get thru customs with my comment card still in hand, so I mailed it to them with a 2 pg letter talking about various crew members who made my vacation 'particularly magical'. I mentioned William our server (of course!), Vivane our asst server, Kadir (my bartender--thanks, Tom!), Michael (c'mon Michael!) the Bingo emcee and entertainer extraordinaire, Hollywood (Rockin Bar D party host), and of course Brent Davies the cruise director (No, I'm not just brown-nosing, you all know what a great guy he was (is)!). Anyway, they called me just to thank me and to tell me they would be sure to share my comments with these specific people and that since I had rebooked, they looked forward to seeing me again soon.

It's not that the call made me feel singled out or special or anything, but I sure appreciate the acknowledgement and knowing that the CMs will get to hear what I had to say. Makes for a nice day.

 

[Belle and Rella's Dad]

Alright I have come up with a way to get rid of all the Blahs that we are feeling, first let me apologize for my absence and I admit I am big into avoiding anything I perceive as negative, so when the cruise ended and it really sucked I went into the not calling after the first date that your mother set you up with because they are nice mode, and for that I am sorry.

So back on point, I just looked ahead to 2008 and I think that May 3rd will work, yes I don't know if it is the Eastern or the Western, but it gives us something to shoot for. I also know that it is 716 Days away thanks to the extra day for Leap year in 08, but how about it?????

It will be like when you are hung over, having a Bloody Mary, when you fall off the horse, getting back on, or when your cruise ended, booking another one.

Tom

 

[Lisa D]

Hi everyone,

Julie and Shyla I'm depressed too. It's cold here, and I have no major vacations planned aside from a week on the Jersey shore (where I will be the only mom to two families, which means cooking and laundry and - you know, not really much of a vacation!). I was watching a show on A&E last night about WDW and the wheels started turning for maybe summer of 2007 for WDW, since we skipped the parks this time????? But another cruise in 2008 sounds like a plan!

Trish, how nice of you to mention those CM's. Although we had different servers, all those people contributed so much to everyone's cruise, and they deserve to be mentioned! I was so happy that I got a really good picture of Hollywood and Michael from the Sailaway Party.

Tom, May 2008 sounds good. I loved your pictures of Tequila Tasting.

Lisa

 

[The Roses]

715 days! Where's our daily number pics?

We've put May 3, 2008 on our calendars. Sorry we haven't posted our 370 pics yet, but we will soon. Jon's still uploading them and I'm searching for the one with him in the kilt and the reflection off the shiny floor....

The Roses

 

[castlegazer]

May 3rd falls into a very tough period for my husband and his work schedule, but I am targeting it - hopefully it can work! I always tell people that I don't like to travel to Florida for vacation during the winter because there are sooo many variables in whether or not your flight will leave or whether you will come home and have to dig your car out. I LOVE traveling in late April early May, one because it works perfectly with my work schedule, two because you get to come home to fairly decent weather and not be shocked into crap and possible pneumonia, and three because it's not THAT hot down there yet, oh and four thet crowds aren't totally scary either and if you're luck you get hte flower and garden show at Epcot. It is perfect in my mind. I loved the weather we had - even the rain.

 

[BLBCB]

If we are planning this far out, we should try to add some park time too. Might as well dream big.

I thought you all might find this ironic after all of our moving. I have been saying that the only move I will make now is to an old-folks-home or Florida. We are playing baseball on a team and last night was our first game. My first game in almost 19 years! The game itself was not pretty, but after we were sitting around and visiting and we got onto the subject of Disney. I know what a shock, I somehow got the subject around to Disney!! Anyway, this one guy my husband works with says there are connections through work that would get him a job in Florida. He just has to say the word. Now what do I do? I really don't want to move, but what an opportunity. Guess what I will be thinking about non-stop now.

Barb

 

[tiggersister2]

Oh My Gosh -- I am so far behind in reading all the posts - although that's how I got started on this site - way behind. I'd love to find the pictures, especially April's since I may be in one or two - how do I go about that - are they on yahoo - spell it out for me I'm very slow at this stuff.

I just got back yesterday from my trip to WDW after the cruise. I am exhausted - way too long for a trip - I know, I know - I shouldn't complain. The cruise seems like such a long time ago. I had a wonderful time and it was such fun sitting with Tim, April, Angela and Amy and finding out they were people I'd spoken to online here. My sister and I had a great time except she got pretty sick with a cold. We loved Palos and just about everything else. I was pretty surprised at the lack of "downtime" we had - it just seemed to be go, go, go. Thanks to Belle and Rella's dad for our dance - sure do wish we'd know who each other was before that tho .
Thanks to everyone who said hello to us. I felt bad missing the sailaway get together - we just decided to unpack first and it took longer than we thought. Then the last night we ran out of time and were pooped out.
I think I ran into Jen the most. Actually, Lisa and (oops - I forget your husband's name - sorry) - we saw you a lot also. That was a great tequila tasting - I couldn't walk for an hour after that.

MY trip to Disney afterwards was wonderful --my sister left after two days and my daughter joined me then. I was depressed leaving the ship and then I got to Beach Club and was told we got a complimentary upgrade to concierge -- well - that helped with the post cruise sadness LOL. It was a perfect room overlooking the pool. Then we went to WL and had a nice stay there and ended at Riverside. I am so exhausted I can't think so I can't type anymore right now. Just wanted to check in and say hi and hope everyone is well. Sorry I didn't meet all of you. Take care, Sandy

 

[Belle and Rella's Dad]

Tiggersister,

Glad you had such a great time, I can't believe you just got back, because it does seem like it has been forever since we went on the cruise. I have to tell you HollyWood couldn't have pick a better person out of the crowd for me to dance with, I had a great time (I guess anyone who was there could have told that).

I hope that I will not be the last one to post on this page????????

Tom

 

[tiggersister2]

Thanks Belle and Rella's Dad - that was nice of you to say - it was fun meeting you and B and R's mom. I have video of that tequila tasting -- my husband and other daughter could not believe I socked all that down.

Well, I may be the last to post here. I'm actually for the first time in my life "disneyed out". Hubby and I werw going to go down right after Thanksgiving as I have never seen the Christmas decorations.....I hope I feel ready again by then.
Well - to all those who are left reading this...hi and hope all is well with you!!!
Sandy

 

[Lisa D]

I agree with Tom - it does seem like a long time ago! But we had a wonderful time. I'm glad you had a good time as well. If you need help getting in to see the pictures, either e-mail or private message me and I'll walk you through it. If I can do it anyone can - although I did have to call Suzie once for help!

The tequila tasting was a blast - we've been telling all our friends about it, especially those who say "Do they have alcohol on the Disney cruise?"

Barb, if you're out there, what an interesting concept! I'd be thinking non-stop too.

Phil and I have pretty much decided to visit the Mouse on land next summer. We'll have two years worth of DVC points at the Boardwalk we'll probably use in August. This was a secret plan of mine until Phil said "When are we going to the Boardwalk again?" Still my goal to cruise again in 2008.

If I am the last to post here, thanks for the journey everyone. It's been great.

Lisa

 

[rieggman]

Hey everyone!!!

How's it going?

Sorry I haven't been on in a bit, but life comes at you fast. Back to work and the daily grind in no time at all.

I finally got all my pictures uploaded onto the Snapfish site. For all of you SteveMed fan club members, there are a few that may be of particular interest to you. There is also a really nice group shot of some of us DISers on the beach at Castaway Cay. It's actually a really nice picture. Hope you like...

For all of you May re-bookers, you know I'd be there in a flash, but school's in in May. It's really kinda hard for me to get time off. And the "big guy" (superintendent) may frown upon my absence. Not to mention, I feel kinda guilty about taking my kids out of school? I don't worry so much about Elementary, but Ethan will be a Junior in HS by 2008 and Meghan, Lauren and a lot of the kids in our group will be in Middle school by then. We'd LOVE to go again, but it most likely won't happen during that week. I'd probably shoot for April vacation week or something like that.

Any takers? I wish I had more flexibility with my job, but I have to follow the school calendar. Sorry if I'm being a "downer."

Anyway (deep breath and a new big smile on my face). Hope you like the pics and hope everyone is doing great. Take care friends.

SUEegg

 

[castlegazer]

BARB! How cool! So how is the thought process going since you posted that????

Sue, I started looking at 2008 and I will have to follow a school calendar too, so you may have a taker. Sick STEVE onto rates ASAP in October for that. Hmmm, I just don't know what dates to do. I am so up in the air about it. I did just confirm a December 2007 trip to the World with our friends, though, so April and May may be a little fast after that - hmmmmm.... well, we can't stop posting here - we all have to figure this out.

Catrina has had pneumonia since last week, so that is why I have been missing in action. She came down with a nasty cold when we got back - well, actually while we were still away - and it manifested into pneumonia. Blllleeeeeeeeehhhhhh. Nice souvenier.

I'll hop on over to snapfish tonight hopefully and then get some more of mine up also.

 

[BLBCB]

I of course can't stop thinking about it, but realistically we can't move again until the kids graduate. This last move (left our house in Aug, temp. slept on the floor in a rundown rental for 4 months then moved into our house in Feb) has been anything but smooth. You would think that after all of our moves, we would have the process down to a science. As much as I think of the U.S. and Canada as the same thing, I can't even imagine the complications of moving to another country. 7 years and our youngest will graduate, we can think about it then I guess. With all of our moves people have joked that we must be running from something. Can you imagine the comments if we left the country this time!! Everyone says that we are the only ones they use pencil for in their address book. If we do end up there, you would all have a place to stay when you came to visit the mouse!!

Castlegazer, you said that you brought home sick kids as a souvenir. Caity picked up some kind of mouth infection either at the end of the cruise or the next night when we stayed at the Contemporary. She has been off school for 2 weeks trying to fight this thing. Poor kid, the inside of her mouth, tongue & lips developed huge sores and everything swole up so bad she couldn't even close her mouth. They missed two weeks of school for the vacation, and then she missed another 2 weeks. Good thing the school year is almost over. That was a souvenir I could have done without. Looks like Len needs surgery on his knee now too. Just came back from the doctor. Medical system slow though so it could be 18 months to 2 years before he would get in for it. Watch, they would schedule him for beginning of May 2008. Wouldn't that just be ironic.

As for rebooking, I don't really know if I could take them out of school again in May. That is the time we always go, but the ages they are it's getting harder. By 2008, they will be in grades 8, 10 & 12. Our spring break up here is usually in March so that doesn't work. I guess when the prices come out it will help us decide.

SueEgg, Brittany took some pictures while in the clubs and there are some nice ones of Ethan. I'll try to get the rest of the pictures uploaded on the snapfish site ASAP so you can see them. I think we have some video of your group returning from your excursion on St. Thomas as well. Heard the singing from a ways off, sounded like a lot of fun. I haven't gone through our video yet. If it is on there, I'll email it to you if I can.

Everyone keeps saying that they might be the last one to post on this thread. We have to stay in touch enough to get rebooking info out. I don't think everyone put their info on the yahoo site so we can't even go by that.

Barb

 

[rubysmom]

Sandy, sorry we didn't see you more on the ship. Did you get on the picture site yet? Waytogo on the upgrade, OMG, complimentary concierge...sounds like a contradiction and yet there it is!

Barb & Shyla, I'm with you guys...we can't let this thread go until we have a new sail date, and then of course the title of this thread would no longer make sense!

Barb, is Brittany fully recovered? I hope so! Too bad about the move idea...I'm telling you, if Dave ever even hints at moving closer to Disney, I'll jump on it, but I can see what you mean...I would have to think twice if it was to another country, even if it was Canada. I like how you keep your friends guessing, though!

Shyla, I pray Catrina gets better quick!! Nasty old pneumonia...just the word scares me.

SueEgg, thanks for sharing! The banana daiquiri pics are especially entertaining. Steve, you ARE the Banana Man, always will be. Just like Gary Delana forever 'ruined' the Lion King song for me, you have forever 'ruined' bananas for me in general! Great DIS pics on CC.

As far as a 2008 sail date, I'm up for whatevah. At this point, I'm only booked for 2 which is theoretically just myself & DH, but he recently told Kathy (the faint-at-heart may want to cover their eyes and ears) "I'm not really interested in doing anything Disney or cruise-related" So I either have 2 years to convert him, or maybe just go with Kathy again! Doesn't he know that resistance is futile? Anyway, I'm sure if I had the cruise (and all that that entails) paid for before we sailed, he would be more excited about it and we can always add the kids on to the reservation as we get closer and pick a date.

 

[STEVEMED]

We are in for 2008.We just have to pick a date.I think school break would work better for us but if everyone is going on a different date I think we would go then.

Ok.Suzzie and CG are our leaders so try to get this date thing all worked out....Let me know.

 

[suziemva]

Sorry, count us out. We didn't rebook onboard thinking about having a 5 year old and 19 month old. We saw what a terrible time Shyla had with Catrina and Flounders, so we will be waiting until the baby is older. By that time, Tori will be in real school and harder to get out with school permission. So, we will be rethinking vacation planning altogether.

Thanks for thinking of us, though.

 

[castlegazer]

Yeah, gotta tell ya, that may be the right decision with a baby in tow. Especially, since you have gotten used to sailing with Tori alone. Having to pre-book and pay for Flounders whenever you wanted to use it, rather than at a drop of a hat dropping a child at the clubs, did pretty much suck and definately did not work out well. Flounders was not the real problem, usually, except is was hard to get times when you really wanted them, in the middle of the afternoon, but what was bad was just trying to get her fed at that age. I think baby food stage would have been better - at least then I would know she was getting a vegetable in her for the seven days and actually eating something other than bread and not being distracted by everything around her and wanting to walk everywhere. Which by the way, she is now a pro at. Funny how a stable, not rocking floor will do that for progressing the walking.

I don't think I am any type of leader here. We'll get something worked out. I also get bookings 30 days out, so that may be the way I go into the future now. Can you imagine, going from 18 months of planning to 30 days! So I think I am going to play it very loose with my rebooking schedule.

Barb, that is awful! We can't seem to shake the coughs and colds, but nothing like that. The pneumonia is handleable with anitbiotics and nebulizers. I think it's funny what you say about waiting for the surgery time to open up - guess there are trade offs to a national health care system, hunh. I still am jealous of Canada's system.

Suzie, you have to update us on the business - how is it going? Note that the health care discussion made me think of you and setting up the business.