8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC #14

[KSDisneyDad]

Hi! I am lurking from Oct 19 board. I hope it is all right. Just very excited to go on my first cruise. Our board is small in comparison to yours. It is fun to see how much some of you connected and I hope we get much of the same.

Quick question if you all do not mind, or find it untactful. I am trying to put together some FE gifts and some thank you tokens for the nursery/kid clubs ect.; what was the items you got/gave that worked well, was really cool? If not appropriate to answer, I understand.


Again, really fun to have followed the last part of your trip. I am from CA, San Diego actually, but in CO now and enjoyed the small references to CA.

Thank you again for helping me get my pre-cruise fix.

Hello from Thornton, Colorado! I have two co-workers who live North of Loveland and commute down to Denver everyday.

Well, have a great time and please keep in touch when you get back. If you need anything else just let me know. We are not to far I think, ok according to map qwest its about hour and 30 min. I just moved here from Oregon. Today was cold and wanting warm weather since we got back. That would be cool to go during that time too. But the storms are kinda crazy this year.

I hope that you all have a great and safe trip.

Your friend,
Dawn

Yes, way too cold here this week. I'm not ready for fall. I don't think it even hit 60 degrees yesterday. At least I got to wear my Panama Canal sweatshirt!

good evening everyone! i've filled up all the space on my computer! i had to go delete some older stuff, so i could finish loading my pics on here!
is anyone else still swaying with the ocean? i find myself still a little off balance!!!

Yes, I ran into the door at work the second day back as if I were off-balance. Oops!

Hello, Pirates!

Got back very late Monday and had to go full blast into school on Tuesday, so no time to DIS! Hope everyone had smooth trips home and the 5 day is surviving the stormy areas.

I did not do much on board, but I enjoyed all the activities I made it to and enjoyed the company of all the people I did meet.

Thanks so much to all who added the special touches: lanyards, bracelets, FE gifts, SM exchange, dining ressies, Palo ressies, wine tasting, bus, Cartegena tour, DL meets, Pirate parade, and so much more!

I plan on adding pics once I finally get mine off the cameras. Can't wait to see all the others.

Hi Linda! It was fun ziplining with your family. We got some pictures of your boys coming in on the final zipline that we'll have to get to you.

We did the same thing. I found an unbelievable deal on the watches, so I ordered 100, thinking that it would be more than enough. I was kicking myself for not buying more when they were available.

I also want to thank everyone for the wonderful FE gifts. I also enjoyed the stamps! One of my favorites. Mike -- the kids took turn wearing yours -- the only fair thing we could do. They loved it. We also enjoyed the magnets, pens, pins, buttons, tattoos, glow sticks, stickers, postcards, candy and all of the other wonderful and creative gifts. I rediscovered the rock candy last night and we're still munching on it.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Hazel and I arrived home earlier this evening, but I wanted to post this link of my video from yesterday of the new pool on the Disney Magic, thanks to TS Hanna.

The "New Adult Wave Pool" on the Disney Magic......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6m28YIo8co​

Wow, that's scary. That last night on the EB about put June over the edge as she was prone to seasickness. I think I would have had to take her down to Medical to be sedated!!

 

[silmarg]

I loved the card someone put in the FE with the postage stamps from the countries. Maybe I will find some of those to stick in there so they won't be naked anymore.

The creator of that FE gift was none other than good ol' SIL! I recall chatting with SIL on the ship about that. He had to scrounge for stamps in QUANTITY for one country in particular .. which I vaguely recall was Columbia... (or was it Aruba?).... and stamps from that ONE country cost SIL 10x whatr the other stamps cost him! I can still recall the image of his always smiling face as he recanted the ordeal he went through in acquiring the stamps for his FE project!
​

we loved the stamps! that was a great idea sil!! thanks so much. this was one of the gifts that the kids are fighting over who will take to show and tell first!!!

This FE gift was amazing! Thanks SIL

Hmmm - I just asked a friend that participated in the FE gift exchange if she received the stamps because I wanted to get a copy to put in the scrapbook for the kids and she said she didn't

We didn't get it either - I assume either there wasn't quite enough for all and only some floors were done OR people were helping themselves to stuff when no one was looking. There we things we got that others said they didn't so it all sort of works out

We didn't get that either. I saw a few things like magnets that we didn't get and have seen things mentioned on this thread now that we also didn't receive. I figured since it wasn't like mandatory to have enough for every single person on the list- that sometimes some people didn't have enough for everyone on the list and that meant some people weren't going to get it.. which means ofcourse sometimes *I* wouldn't get it. LOL
We were thrilled with everything we received though- thanks again everyone!

Wow! Just getting back to the boards after a difficult week at work (and TOAL withdrawl) and see quite a discussion about my FE gift. Those who got it and enjoyed it... I am thrilled. When trying to decide that the FE gift should be, I wanted it to be interesting, educational and unique. Below is a what the FE gift looked like for those who for some reason did not get one:

Actually the image is missing a Panama stamp (those I gave out to everyone had a Panama (or Canal Zone) stamp on it). It turns out I had the fewest Panama stamps.

I did have just enough FE gifts for every family (like 140) who was on the last FE list (in fact I forgot to pack the FE color coded map and Julie (bellinus) got me a copy on short notice). I only had like 4 fully completed version left over after distributing them. While aboard a DISer said they didnt get it, so I gave them one. Then gave one to my server, asst server and my mousekeeper... so I have none left! (my DW is not pleased I did not keep one for ourselves). I am not sure why so many of you did not get one... it was certainly not my intention.

I have enough supplies (ex a Panama stamp) to make about 10 to 15 more of these FEs for anyone that wants one (does anyone have Panama stamps from Mickey Mates they never used?). PM me if you want me to send a FE to you or if you have Panama stamps to support this cause.

As for the history of my FE... it started out with my wanting to do something related to coins from each country as several countries had odd shaped coins such as:

The 20 centavo coin is 12 sided (not round).

But getting such coins in bulk in advance was proving quite difficult (and I work for a major bank). So I turned to stamps.

I was trolling e-bay and found a fair supply - and many at bargain prices. I found one guy selling 150 postally used Bahamas stamps from his fathers collection for like $2. After I won the auction I asked if he had stamps from the other countries he said yes to all but Aruba. And he gave them all to me for like $10. What a bargain! So all I needed was Aruba. How hard could that be? Well, Aruba has only been an independant country since 1986, so there are not may old collections out there collecting dust and being sold on ebay. I posted a want ad on ebay and contacted collectors in the Netherlands and Belguim - all to no avail. So I called the Aruban Post Office around July 25. They contacted me with the Philatelic (stamp collecting) bureau. The woman there was willing to sell me 40c stamps in bulk and have it Express shipped to me if I would wire funds to her. She wanted like $30 for the stamps, $30 for express delivery... and it cost $40 for the bank wire (no, us employees dont get a discount). And the "express" delivery was anything but... A week passed... no package... Two weeks... no package... we finally got the package on the day we left for the TOAL (Aug 13).

On my flight to LA I began to assemble the FE gift. The flight attendants were asking me what I was doing. I said I am making a gift for some friends I am going on a cruise with. Her response.... "you have a lot of friends!"

"Now you all know the rest of the story... good day!"

 

[silmarg]

The ROAMING GNOME....

Thanks for those that participated!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[silmarg]

​

Dumb question... what does "cosas para hacer" mean?

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

OK guys - Steve and I have to fly to Fed Ex to pick up boxes - meanwhile - I'm having deja vu - the dryer on the washing machine is taking up two sessions. Good thing I don't have to pay for this.

Anyway, gotta fly but here is a teaser!

Enjoy!

I love that picture! They are such a cute (and happy!) couple. You cannot help but be smiling when you're around Linda! Even looking at her pictures makes me smile

Hazel and I arrived home earlier this evening, but I wanted to post this link of my video from yesterday of the new pool on the Disney Magic, thanks to TS Hanna.

The "New Adult Wave Pool" on the Disney Magic......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6m28YIo8co​

That is so wicked!
And someone walked by like it was nothing. Was it really that easy to walk around without weeble wobbling while it was enough to make the pool have waves like that??

Wow! Just getting back to the boards after a difficult week at work (and TOAL withdrawl) and see quite a discussion about my FE gift. Those who got it and enjoyed it... I am thrilled. When trying to decide that the FE gift should be, I wanted it to be interesting, educational and unique. Below is a what the FE gift looked like for those who for some reason did not get one:

Actually the image is missing a Panama stamp (those I gave out to everyone had a Panama (or Canal Zone) stamp on it). It turns out I had the fewest Panama stamps.

I did have just enough FE gifts for every family (like 140) who was on the last FE list (in fact I forgot to pack the FE color coded map and Julie (bellinus) got me a copy on short notice). I only had like 4 fully completed version left over after distributing them. While aboard a DISer said they didnt get it, so I gave them one. Then gave one to my server, asst server and my mousekeeper... so I have none left! (my DW is not pleased I did not keep one for ourselves). I am not sure why so many of you did not get one... it was certainly not my intention.

I have enough supplies (ex a Panama stamp) to make about 10 to 15 more of these FEs for anyone that wants one (does anyone have Panama stamps from Mickey Mates they never used?). PM me if you want me to send a FE to you or if you have Panama stamps to support this cause.

As for the history of my FE... it started out with my wanting to do something related to coins from each country as several countries had odd shaped coins such as:

The 20 centavo coin is 12 sided (not round).

But getting such coins in bulk in advance was proving quite difficult (and I work for a major bank). So I turned to stamps.

I was trolling e-bay and found a fair supply - and many at bargain prices. I found one guy selling 150 postally used Bahamas stamps from his fathers collection for like $2. After I won the auction I asked if he had stamps from the other countries he said yes to all but Aruba. And he gave them all to me for like $10. What a bargain! So all I needed was Aruba. How hard could that be? Well, Aruba has only been an independant country since 1986, so there are not may old collections out there collecting dust and being sold on ebay. I posted a want ad on ebay and contacted collectors in the Netherlands and Belguim - all to no avail. So I called the Aruban Post Office around July 25. They contacted me with the Philatelic (stamp collecting) bureau. The woman there was willing to sell me 40c stamps in bulk and have it Express shipped to me if I would wire funds to her. She wanted like $30 for the stamps, $30 for express delivery... and it cost $40 for the bank wire (no, us employees dont get a discount). And the "express" delivery was anything but... A week passed... no package... Two weeks... no package... we finally got the package on the day we left for the TOAL (Aug 13).

On my flight to LA I began to assemble the FE gift. The flight attendants were asking me what I was doing. I said I am making a gift for some friends I am going on a cruise with. Her response.... "you have a lot of friends!"

"Now you all know the rest of the story... good day!"

Oh I'd love to have one! but you've already gone to so much trouble with them that I'd hate to ask you to go to even more trouble!
A lot of friends... indeed!

The ROAMING GNOME....

Thanks for those that participated!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

That was a really cool idea too!
(and just to let everyone know I do know proper grammar... I was only second on the gnome magnet and at first only put "bip was here" then read what the other person put and decided to put "& family" on there and room numbers. But now it says BIP & Family was here... haha Can't erase marker and start over so... left it that way LOL)

Dumb question... what does "cosas para hacer" mean?

Not a dumb question- I was totally wondering the same thing!

 

[ReAnSt]

That is so wicked!
And someone walked by like it was nothing. Was it really that easy to walk around without weeble wobbling while it was enough to make the pool have waves like that??

That was a really cool idea too!
(and just to let everyone know I do know proper grammar... I was only second on the gnome magnet and at first only put "bip was here" then read what the other person put and decided to put "& family" on there and room numbers. But now it says BIP & Family was here... haha Can't erase marker and start over so... left it that way LOL)


Not a dumb question- I was totally wondering the same thing!

Cosas para hacer; means things to do

As for the waves we had 24-30+ foot waves for 30 hours or more on our first cruise. The pools looked like that but adults were still in them. It was when they started emptying all over the deck they were all closed. Walking was not that bad except going up and down steps. At least IMO. Although I felt like I was still on the ship for 2-3 weeks after that 4 day cruise.

I felt the worst for the juggler he was the entertainer that night and did a great job. At one point he jumped in the air and the ship dropped out from underneath him and he was like 10 feet in the air. He wanted to do it again.

I forget not everyone's first cruise was like that. I continue to cruise in Hurricane season. So I know the risk of repeating that exists.

 

[pdarrah]

My DH thinks that someone may have been lifting gifts from our FE. We did not get the watch or the postcard. He noticed one day as he went into the room that there were 3 pencils and left them for DS to take out since he would be back soon. When DS came 10 minutes later, there were only 2 pencils. He didn't think much of it at the time, but now that we realize that we didn't get some of the "stuff" it seems likely someone was taking it . BIP - I wonder if you had the same problem since you were just a ways down the hall from us (we were in 6076). We have plenty of stuff, but it is sad that someone would just take things that clearly are intended for someone else.

Pamela, I found and bought some new pillows! I got them from JC Penney's. Went looking at our local Macy's and JCP and although thier websites say they carry Pacific Coast, they weren't in the stores. But I tested them out and got theWm for $39 each. They are the JCP Home Collection Natural Fill White Down Pillows. I got Med. They are so wonderful! They feel just like the ones on the ship!

Hi Tina - thanks for the pillow info! We don't have a Penney's that close to us, but I'll see if I can get there in the next week or two.

Pamela

 

[sk8ingmom]

I give up! I've tried 14 different screennames and they're all taken.

That is precisely the reason why my AOL name is mwastaken. I was also therearenonamesleft on another board for a while.

our mail just came, and we rec'd the postcard that we sent from the panama canal. i really didn't think it would come this quickly! has anyone else gotten theirs yet? ours had no other marks on it...no postmark or anything. i really thought that it would have some kind of marking on it. it looks like we just took it out of the store and put a stamp on it. and to think i rushed to make it to the 12:00 drop off!!

We got our yesterday too. I was shocked it was so fast compared to CC.

I don't think the Magic or the Wonder can actually sail in Alaska. Neither ship is equipped to sail through icy water. I don't know if those are changes that can be made in dry dock or if the ship needed to be built with the ice stuff.

Inside Passage doesn't ice up - especially in the summer.

Wow! Just getting back to the boards after a difficult week at work (and TOAL withdrawl) and see quite a discussion about my FE gift. Those who got it and enjoyed it... I am thrilled. When trying to decide that the FE gift should be, I wanted it to be interesting, educational and unique. Below is a what the FE gift looked like for those who for some reason did not get one:

Actually the image is missing a Panama stamp (those I gave out to everyone had a Panama (or Canal Zone) stamp on it). It turns out I had the fewest Panama stamps.

I did have just enough FE gifts for every family (like 140) who was on the last FE list (in fact I forgot to pack the FE color coded map and Julie (bellinus) got me a copy on short notice). I only had like 4 fully completed version left over after distributing them. While aboard a DISer said they didnt get it, so I gave them one. Then gave one to my server, asst server and my mousekeeper... so I have none left! (my DW is not pleased I did not keep one for ourselves). I am not sure why so many of you did not get one... it was certainly not my intention.

I have enough supplies (ex a Panama stamp) to make about 10 to 15 more of these FEs for anyone that wants one (does anyone have Panama stamps from Mickey Mates they never used?). PM me if you want me to send a FE to you or if you have Panama stamps to support this cause.

As for the history of my FE... it started out with my wanting to do something related to coins from each country as several countries had odd shaped coins such as:

The 20 centavo coin is 12 sided (not round).

But getting such coins in bulk in advance was proving quite difficult (and I work for a major bank). So I turned to stamps.

I was trolling e-bay and found a fair supply - and many at bargain prices. I found one guy selling 150 postally used Bahamas stamps from his fathers collection for like $2. After I won the auction I asked if he had stamps from the other countries he said yes to all but Aruba. And he gave them all to me for like $10. What a bargain! So all I needed was Aruba. How hard could that be? Well, Aruba has only been an independant country since 1986, so there are not may old collections out there collecting dust and being sold on ebay. I posted a want ad on ebay and contacted collectors in the Netherlands and Belguim - all to no avail. So I called the Aruban Post Office around July 25. They contacted me with the Philatelic (stamp collecting) bureau. The woman there was willing to sell me 40c stamps in bulk and have it Express shipped to me if I would wire funds to her. She wanted like $30 for the stamps, $30 for express delivery... and it cost $40 for the bank wire (no, us employees dont get a discount). And the "express" delivery was anything but... A week passed... no package... Two weeks... no package... we finally got the package on the day we left for the TOAL (Aug 13).

On my flight to LA I began to assemble the FE gift. The flight attendants were asking me what I was doing. I said I am making a gift for some friends I am going on a cruise with. Her response.... "you have a lot of friends!"

"Now you all know the rest of the story... good day!"

Both were such great ideas Sil!

I feel your pain. I made 500 buttons the week before we left!

 

[M<3'sMickey]

OK...

... shall we plan on forming a boarding party then to TAKE OVER a Celebrity or Carnival ship ... to reflag it as a Disney ship if thiers' are properly outfitted to sail in Alaskan waters? My Secret Mickey (4Boons) was kind enough to equip my family with FOUR FOAM SWORDS (as well as a raft of embarassingly generous gifts) ... so my little crew can add to the muscle of our Boarding Party!

Sounds like a plan! I'm all for it.

We were just watching the video my mother taped from the cruise and I am so desperately sad while watching it! I cannot believe that just a week ago I was still on my ship! I want to go baaaaack!

 

[captaincrash]

Dumb question... what does "cosas para hacer" mean?

In spanish... because we were going through Mexican ports.... "Things to Do" ....

And the other varient said the SAME THING ... only in French. And I used French because it was on "sale" .... and sounded interesting to me. < wink >

And may I add... that's some story pal on the trials and tribulations of your generous and creative FE gift! Truly ... a wonderfuly thought out neighborly token of good will! Thanks again!!!!

By the way... can you send me ALL 12 or so of your remaining FE gifts left to assemble? I understand there may be a secondary market on ebay for such things and I need to raise funds to pay off my ship-board TOAL tab! < chuckles >

 

[pdarrah]

Sort of weird post for any who care My stitches are finally disolving and going away!!!!

My "dear" DH and DS have been telling nearly everyone they meet about my Disneyland accident

Pamela

 

[Verandah Man]

BIP--actually, the walking around wasn't all that bad. Decks 4 and 10 were closed for some time for safety reasons.

For the first time in 6 Disney cruises, we had one of our magnets stolen from our door. It was there when we went for the muster drill, when we came back 15 minutes later, it was gone. It was the first FE gift we had received on our cruise this past week.

 

[captaincrash]

My DH thinks that someone may have been lifting gifts from our FE. We did not get the watch or the postcard. He noticed one day as he went into the room that there were 3 pencils and left them for DS to take out since he would be back soon. When DS came 10 minutes later, there were only 2 pencils. He didn't think much of it at the time, but now that we realize that we didn't get some of the "stuff" it seems likely someone was taking it . BIP - I wonder if you had the same problem since you were just a ways down the hall from us (we were in 6076). We have plenty of stuff, but it is sad that someone would just take things that clearly are intended for someone else.



Hi Tina - thanks for the pillow info! We don't have a Penney's that close to us, but I'll see if I can get there in the next week or two.

Pamela

Now that's a real bummer. I was suspicious of folks watching ME when I passed out my FE gifts... seeing as mine were ... corruptable/compromisable gifts. So I sought to do it at times that were likely for folks to return to thier cabins ... or I did it in the dead of the nite/early AM when folks (including STs) were more certain to be asleep. Plus I watched carefully to see I wasn't being trailed and stalked.... a fella like me knows a thing or two about avoiding too much scrutiny. < wink >

Seriously, I gotta go now. We have a reservation for da Kitchen Table at Bucca tonite ... and we gotta get rolling in another minute or so....

 

[ga9497]

4Boons[/B]) was kind enough to equip my family with FOUR FOAM SWORDS (as well as a raft of embarassingly generous gifts) ... so my little crew can add to the muscle of our Boarding Party!

I believe when the announcement was made about the new ships the press release said that the two new ships would be sailing out of Port Canaveral for the first three or four years.

Personally I would take either Holland America or Princess cruise through Alaska if it wasn't DCL. They are the two companies that have the longest standing contracts with Alaska on cruising Glacier Bay National Park. Nothing against the other cruise lines, I have sailed most of them but if I go to Alaska I want to make sure I cruise past Glacier Bay and those are the two that will give you the best chance at it. Of course you will know by the itinerary if they will go there but Princess even has their own resort and rail line if you want to combine a cruise and land portion

My DH thinks that someone may have been lifting gifts from our FE. We did not get the watch or the postcard. He noticed one day as he went into the room that there were 3 pencils and left them for DS to take out since he would be back soon. When DS came 10 minutes later, there were only 2 pencils. He didn't think much of it at the time, but now that we realize that we didn't get some of the "stuff" it seems likely someone was taking it . BIP - I wonder if you had the same problem since you were just a ways down the hall from us (we were in 6076). We have plenty of stuff, but it is sad that someone would just take things that clearly are intended for someone else.

Tell your DH that my kids agree. They said they saw an adult and a child take something out of ours as they were walking towards our room. DD said her and her friends saw a few people take things out of a couple of others and it was always adults

 

[ga9497]

Here is a press release quote
http://dclnews.com/viewpressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=109427&siteid=2

Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer Stan Payne said, “Disney Cruise Line has been extremely successful in drawing a strong family market to Port Canaveral since its launch 10 years ago. We’re thrilled that Disney has committed to stay here long-term and are looking forward to the two new ships home porting here.”


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-disney2008mar20,0,5598087.story

Under the agreement, Disney will station the two new cruise ships it is having built in Germany at Port Canaveral for at least three years after they begin sailing in 2011 and 2012. Each of the ships will carry 4,000 passengers, or 1,300 more than the existing Disney Magic and Disney Wonder liners.

 

[captaincrash]

BIP--actually, the walking around wasn't all that bad. Decks 4 and 10 were closed for some time for safety reasons.

For the first time in 6 Disney cruises, we had one of our magnets stolen from our door. It was there when we went for the muster drill, when we came back 15 minutes later, it was gone. It was the first FE gift we had received on our cruise this past week.

Yeah...

Andy ... I tell ya ... what's the world coming to when that sort of stuff comes to pass. I too had a couple of magnets dissappear off my door. SO I started writing my cabin number on the back of most of my new magnets!

Plus ... I noticed that those magnetic dry erase memo pads my task force [ Downrivermama, MrsScooby, pdarrah, radioclash2 & tiggrbaby ]made ... well.... when I made my first batch to distribute at approximately 11PM early in the cruise... I set off to distribute them. And I only placed about a dozen that first evening... and wouldn't ya know it... I decided approximately FIFTEEN MINUTES after I placed them that I could use my GOLD PEN to personalize a few that were otherwise generic... IE, I wanted to write in gold ink the screen ID on the ones passed out 15 minutes ago. And I found that ONE of the dozen I just placed 15 minutes ago had DISSAPPEARED ALREADY!!!

I was truly beside myself thinking... of all the numbskull things to do with a gift for someone!!! SO ... after a while I thought ... gee, maybe someone had taken it down to examine in thier cabin? Or maybe someone had a different cabin assigned them and recognized this was intended for them??? But then common sense set in and I decided that some foul simplton had pinched it. On a Disney Cruise to boot.

So I set about walking the whole ship to catch ALL the generic memo pads we had distributed ... and I started personalizing as many as I could find with screen IDs and CABIN NUMBER ... so as to thus discourage petty theft. I know I must have missed many ... but I believe among the many I caught and personalized that I may have averted mass thievery and mischief making.

As an after thought... I later noticed a couple days later that a memo board appeared in my area of coverage taht DID NOT BELONG THERE! Yeah... the guilty might very well have been busted. I caught them as they were going in ... some STs... and I asked about it saying I made 192 of these and thiers was NOT on my list... I took it down and walked off. They were definately NOT from our DIS party.

OK,... I gotta run now to Bucca...

TTFN!

 

[Caropooh]

The ROAMING GNOME....

Thanks for those that participated!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I'm bummed now. We didn't get the stamp postcard or ever see the ROAMING GNOME!!!
All the FE gifts we got were wonderful though!

 

[ga9497]

I'm bummed now. We didn't get the stamp postcard or ever see the ROAMING GNOME!!!
All the FE gifts we got were wonderful though!

I saw the gnome two days before the cruise ended on someone's door but it never made it to ours. Great idea though and what a great souvenier to have

 

[Stepht5]

our mail just came, and we rec'd the postcard that we sent from the panama canal. i really didn't think it would come this quickly! has anyone else gotten theirs yet? ours had no other marks on it...no postmark or anything. i really thought that it would have some kind of marking on it. it looks like we just took it out of the store and put a stamp on it. and to think i rushed to make it to the 12:00 drop off!!

I do wish they had a post mark!! UGH!

Thanks to everyone for the good thoughts about the strike. They are really appreciated. Of course I'm hoping it will be settled quickly, time will tell. It's really hard to understand the mentality of some of my fellow union members. Yesterday after it was announced the strike was on, a suspicious package was found in the building I work in. Building was evacuated until it was determined it was a pipe bomb.

As others have said maybe they didn't have enough or just planned to have x amount and when they were out they were out. I purchased 110 gifts when the list was staying steady at about 90 or so and then about a month later it jumped to over 140. I had some pins and other things that I use for gifts for clients that I used for the remainder so mine weren't all the same for everyone.

That happened to me! I got a great deal on the antennae toppers (3 different ones) and I bought 100....... So, I had to buy a few other things to fill in! LOL! If I had known I would have needed more I would rather have bought more toppers! LOL!

OK...

... shall we plan on forming a boarding party then to TAKE OVER a Celebrity or Carnival ship ... to reflag it as a Disney ship if thiers' are properly outfitted to sail in Alaskan waters? My Secret Mickey (4Boons) was kind enough to equip my family with FOUR FOAM SWORDS (as well as a raft of embarassingly generous gifts) ... so my little crew can add to the muscle of our Boarding Party!

The 4boons were our tablemates!!! They are so nice! We had a great time with them!!!

Laura posted on the Pirate Zone. I don't think she has ever read this board. Bill did in the beginning.

What's funny is that we had Bill's wife Laura as our Secret Mickey, and we got the same swords. When we saw your kids and my kids on pirate night with the same swords, I thought we had you pegged as our Secret Mickey. (Plus I saw you lurking in a non-innocent manner in the hallway )

Well played, Boon family! Well played indeed!

Yes, way too cold here this week. I'm not ready for fall. I don't think it even hit 60 degrees yesterday. At least I got to wear my Panama Canal sweatshirt!

It's in the 90's here.....

Wow! Just getting back to the boards after a difficult week at work (and TOAL withdrawl) and see quite a discussion about my FE gift. Those who got it and enjoyed it... I am thrilled. When trying to decide that the FE gift should be, I wanted it to be interesting, educational and unique. Below is a what the FE gift looked like for those who for some reason did not get one:

Actually the image is missing a Panama stamp (those I gave out to everyone had a Panama (or Canal Zone) stamp on it). It turns out I had the fewest Panama stamps.

I did have just enough FE gifts for every family (like 140) who was on the last FE list (in fact I forgot to pack the FE color coded map and Julie (bellinus) got me a copy on short notice). I only had like 4 fully completed version left over after distributing them. While aboard a DISer said they didnt get it, so I gave them one. Then gave one to my server, asst server and my mousekeeper... so I have none left! (my DW is not pleased I did not keep one for ourselves). I am not sure why so many of you did not get one... it was certainly not my intention.

I have enough supplies (ex a Panama stamp) to make about 10 to 15 more of these FEs for anyone that wants one (does anyone have Panama stamps from Mickey Mates they never used?). PM me if you want me to send a FE to you or if you have Panama stamps to support this cause.

As for the history of my FE... it started out with my wanting to do something related to coins from each country as several countries had odd shaped coins such as:

But getting such coins in bulk in advance was proving quite difficult (and I work for a major bank). So I turned to stamps.

I was trolling e-bay and found a fair supply - and many at bargain prices. I found one guy selling 150 postally used Bahamas stamps from his fathers collection for like $2. After I won the auction I asked if he had stamps from the other countries he said yes to all but Aruba. And he gave them all to me for like $10. What a bargain! So all I needed was Aruba. How hard could that be? Well, Aruba has only been an independant country since 1986, so there are not may old collections out there collecting dust and being sold on ebay. I posted a want ad on ebay and contacted collectors in the Netherlands and Belguim - all to no avail. So I called the Aruban Post Office around July 25. They contacted me with the Philatelic (stamp collecting) bureau. The woman there was willing to sell me 40c stamps in bulk and have it Express shipped to me if I would wire funds to her. She wanted like $30 for the stamps, $30 for express delivery... and it cost $40 for the bank wire (no, us employees dont get a discount). And the "express" delivery was anything but... A week passed... no package... Two weeks... no package... we finally got the package on the day we left for the TOAL (Aug 13).

On my flight to LA I began to assemble the FE gift. The flight attendants were asking me what I was doing. I said I am making a gift for some friends I am going on a cruise with. Her response.... "you have a lot of friends!"

"Now you all know the rest of the story... good day!"

Love the story!!! And we LOVED the gift it was so COOL!!!

My DH thinks that someone may have been lifting gifts from our FE. We did not get the watch or the postcard. He noticed one day as he went into the room that there were 3 pencils and left them for DS to take out since he would be back soon. When DS came 10 minutes later, there were only 2 pencils. He didn't think much of it at the time, but now that we realize that we didn't get some of the "stuff" it seems likely someone was taking it . BIP - I wonder if you had the same problem since you were just a ways down the hall from us (we were in 6076). We have plenty of stuff, but it is sad that someone would just take things that clearly are intended for someone else.

Pamela

That is sad! What is wrong with people???

That is precisely the reason why my AOL name is mwastaken. I was also therearenonamesleft on another board for a while.

I feel your pain. I made 500 buttons the week before we left!

The reason I have my screen name is back then (we started with AOL 15yrs ago) AOL only allowed 7 spaces.

I my bottons!!!!

Tell your DH that my kids agree. They said they saw an adult and a child take something out of ours as they were walking towards our room. DD said her and her friends saw a few people take things out of a couple of others and it was always adults

I read this to dh and his reply *That's pathetic.* I agree.

I left a larger gift for a few people and that was what I was afraid of. I know that Cheryl got hers but, I don't know about the others -- I didn't put our name on it so, they don't know it's from me.