9/24/09 3 Day Wonder - Cruise Meets, and FEs, and Goombays oh my!

[jenny105]

Hi everyone. I'm back from Universal and had a good time but unfortunately, I got some very sad news while I was there. My sister called almost as soon as I arrived and told me my cousin was found unconscious Sunday morning. She was in a coma and stayed that way until she passed yesterday morning. She was only 28 years old.

I'm just in complete shock. It was so sudden. I grew up with her and her brother. They are both close to my age and don't live far away. My grandparents used to watch us every summer. I just can't believe it.

She has a 6 year old daughter and I feel so awful for her. I haven't had the chance to see her yet. She must be devastated.

 

[karentan]

hope you're all ok sorry to hear of your loss

 

[jenny105]

Thanks, Karen. How is Disney??

 

[karentan]

yeah its great thanks!! not too busy, and the westher is holding up nicely.
just transferred photos from my memory card to computer (about 5% of them i'll probably erase, they're blurry etc) but so far i've taken 1275 photos......

 

[jenny105]

WOW! I took like...20 while I was in Universal. The weather was gorgeous down there, except for Sunday. It kept raining on and off. Other than that, the rain held off for the other days.

 

[karentan]

we were coming out of seaworld at about 5pm when it absolutely threw it down, we got soaked!!! cant wait to hear all about your universal fam, but obviously understand that you've got other things on your mind at the mo

but on the flip side, in exactly one week we'll be eating dinner on our first night!!

 

[m_kasch]

Jenny, sorry to hear about your loss. I hope your family is doing okay.

My DSis and I are at the airport hotel right now. I was HOPING to pack only one bag and a carryon...which didn't work out, LOL!! I have 2 bags, and my carryon. It's just hard with work one week and vacation the next, i have to bring extra shoes which take up more space...too much stuff!!

I can't believe in one week we will be on the ship!!!

 

[portsofcall]

Hi everyone. I'm back from Universal and had a good time but unfortunately, I got some very sad news while I was there. My sister called almost as soon as I arrived and told me my cousin was found unconscious Sunday morning. She was in a coma and stayed that way until she passed yesterday morning. She was only 28 years old.

I'm just in complete shock. It was so sudden. I grew up with her and her brother. They are both close to my age and don't live far away. My grandparents used to watch us every summer. I just can't believe it.

She has a 6 year old daughter and I feel so awful for her. I haven't had the chance to see her yet. She must be devastated.

...

 

[portsofcall]

Jenny, sorry to hear about your loss. I hope your family is doing okay.

My DSis and I are at the airport hotel right now. I was HOPING to pack only one bag and a carryon...which didn't work out, LOL!! I have 2 bags, and my carryon. It's just hard with work one week and vacation the next, i have to bring extra shoes which take up more space...too much stuff!!

I can't believe in one week we will be on the ship!!!

I'm bringing stuff for the cruise and then more stuff for land portion. We usually ship dirty laundry and extra shoes after our cruises since we won't need them anymore. If you haven't done that before, flat rate boxes are $10 to ship up 70 pounds inside. Some post office have the automated kiosk so you don't have to wait in line.

 

[portsofcall]

WOW! I took like...20 while I was in Universal. The weather was gorgeous down there, except for Sunday. It kept raining on and off. Other than that, the rain held off for the other days.

A coworker just got back from there. The minute they arrived she started having pain, she had to wait in the hotel room while her husband went with the kids to one park, but she managed the rest of the parks. She ended up flying home and having emergency gall bladder surgery! She had no insurance. She never had any symptoms except for chest pain. I get symptoms every day, but I think it's work stress. We work for a state that has 3 furlough days per month with the same workload or more. She said they had a hurricane while they were there, but I didn't read anything about that.

Any word about a forecast? I'm worried about our reservations at Comfort Suites. Sept. 23 last day to cancel

Has anyone taken any pirate costumes for the pirate party? I heard they give out hats to wear, but can we use our own?

...

 

[m_kasch]

Hi Guys!! I am on my flight, at 39,014 feet w/ 1 hr 9 minutes left until we get to Orlando!! This Southwest flight is a wifi hotspot so you can use your laptops here! Karen, where are you going to be this weekend? I think you said you are going to be in DHS tomorrow? We will be there in the morning too. Maybe we'll see you!

I wouldn't worry too much about Nassau. I just checked the weather forecast, and it is Sunny, no rain, and around 90. That sounds PERFECT for a day at the water park!! I think the only reason we would miss the port is if there was a hurricane, and we would know that probably before we left...so we could cancel from the ship. I have a blackberry, so if you have your reservation number, you could always cancel from my phone -- as long as it's before we leave, so I don't get charged the super high international roaming rates!!

 

[jenny105]

Thank you everybody. It's just going to be a rough couple of days. I'm glad I have the trip afterward to get my mind off of it.

So at one of the dinner's Universal hosted for us, they kept refilling our wine before it was even empty. Needless to say it went to my head and while I was talking on the phone with Joe, I let it slip that we were staying at WL. I'm a dummy. I kept it quiet all this time! At least BCV is still a secret.

The weather while I was in Universal was perfect. It would get cloudy in the afternoon but it usually didn't rain and if it did, it was only for 15 minutes or so. I'm not too worried about it.

I'm bringing a carry on suitcase that is going to have all of my cruise stuff in it and checking a bigger bag that will be for the land portion of my trip. I hope it's not overweight. It's $19 each to check a bag, per person, each way. That was $76 well spent.

Have a safe flight Mary!

 

[karentan]

hi mary! we're planning on going to hollywood studios tomorrow morning, we went today and got a few of the rides done but couldnt get on toy story, plus we have a lunch reservation at 1.05pm at 50s prime time.
we're going to try and get there at 8 for morning EMH, if you're going there tomorrow, drop me a text on garys phone on +447879119344 and we could try and meet up and say hi!

 

[karentan]

HAPPY WEDDING DAY FOR TOMORROW LAINEY AND GREG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


and i cant quite believe (despite the fact that i'm already here!) that its almost cruise time!

by the way, do any of you remember me saying about garys fear of coasters and that i always have to ride on my own while he sits outside?
well while we were at seaworld he went on atlantis (he has been on this before on our honeymoon, but refused to go on it last year). i got him on splash mountain and BTMRR at MK, and today he came on rock and roller coaster!!! i think he's cured! we actually went back on RRC too!!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Hi Guys!! I am on my flight, at 39,014 feet w/ 1 hr 9 minutes left until we get to Orlando!!

Mary, that is so cool that you can post from the plane! I heard that several airlines were doing that!

Thank you everybody. It's just going to be a rough couple of days. I'm glad I have the trip afterward to get my mind off of it.

So at one of the dinner's Universal hosted for us, they kept refilling our wine before it was even empty. Needless to say it went to my head and while I was talking on the phone with Joe, I let it slip that we were staying at WL. I'm a dummy. I kept it quiet all this time! At least BCV is still a secret.

Jenny, so sorry about your loss. Is Joe excited about WL now that he knows?

hi mary! we're planning on going to hollywood studios tomorrow morning, we went today and got a few of the rides done but couldnt get on toy story, plus we have a lunch reservation at 1.05pm at 50s prime time. !

Hey Karen! I've been reading your live report, sounds like you two are having a great time! I told Bob you went to the gun range, which is something he never thought of doing in Orlando. We have done it in Hawaii and it was lots of fun. We were with a Japanese tour group who were thrilled that we were from Chicago...for some reason they kept asking us if we knew Nicolas Cage , and they would ask us about gangsters..like Al Capone. If Bob could find a place to ride an ATV in Orlando he would be in heaven...it's one of his favorite things to do. We tried to book an ATV excursion in Nassau, but the company told us they discontinued them about 6 months ago.

Lilo is doing really well, she has been active and happy, her re-check and blood work is Monday. I feel like it will be good news, it would devastate me if anything happened to her while we were gone!

We have been running around doing last minute things. I shipped my boxes down to Orlando, got my hair cut, and bought a suitcase with the fancy wheels that let the suitcase pivot. Kelly has gone from a brunette, brown eyed girl to having blonde highlights and blue eyes (ditched the glasses and got colored contacts). We booked a stretch Limo to take us the airport, since we have to leave a car for my brother to get Lilo back and forth the Vet!
The wait is killing me!!!! My countdown clock has 4 days 7 hours more to go!!! This is going to be the longest 4 days ever!

 

[karentan]

glad to hear that lilo is ok donna.

thought i'd let you guys know of something that happened yesterday:
yesterday on the way to MK in the evening we stopped at the entrance of the bus stops at MK by a big white van, then buses were quite backed up, but as it was nearly park closing i just thought that there were too many buses and that we had to wait for a stop.
when we got back to SSR we had a voicemail from the hotel apologising for the delays in the buses. we didnt have any delays so again didnt think anything of it.

just seen on the news that they found a suspicious package attached under one of the disney buses, apparently it wasnt a bomb but they're refusing to say what it was. there were aerial photos of all the buses lined up down one of the roads obviously waiting to be checked out.

i'm guessing that the white van at the front of MK was checking under all the buses as they were coming into the park to make sure its all ok.

to us this shows that disney are very competent at coping with things like this, we took a few buses yesterday and didnt notice any problems at all.

well done disney!

 

[jenny105]

Karen, I read about that on the DIS. Did they ever find out what it was?

Donna, I'm glad Lilo is feeling better!

The services for my cousin were yesterday and today. So hard. I couldn't believe we were all there for her, it just wasn't right. I'm glad I have the trip to take my mind off it all. My heart isn't into it right now, I've got to pack and I keep putting it off, but I know I'll feel 100x better when I see the castle. It hasn't hit me yet that I'll be there at this time tomorrow.

See you all soon!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Today we decided to empty out our suitcases and double check that we packed everything we needed...Bob and I were walking back and forth between the couch and the bed carrying clothes...and we came back from one trip and saw this:

Awwwww Lilo doesn't want us to go! Bob sat on the bed and told her not to worry she is going to be with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days, then her Uncle Greg (my brother) will stay with her....she was not impressed

Makes me wish I could bring her along! Tomorrow morning is her recheck with the vet...I will let you all know how she is doing when I bring her home!

 

[karentan]

hi everyone!! cant believe everyone will be coming out soon. its been SOOOOO hot out here the past week, hope it stays that way!

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

Hope everyone had a wonderful cruise! We just got back home.

Anyone that participated in the FE exchange...PLEASE PM me your address. We left 2 bags at home by accident, one of which had our FE gifts in them, and it wasn't noticed until well after our luggage arrived to our stateroom (and apparently, ours caused the security issue the first day).

I'm so sorry we didn't have the gifts to give out I was really upset and embarrassed, and didn't know what else to do other than getting addresses to mail them to.