any November 15th eastern 7 ngt cruisers out there?

[mcampbell_22]

Michelle,

I'm another charm bracelet wearer. I got new gold one a few years back and now DH and the kids get me charms to add to it that represent favorite things, places and vacations. I have the regular hanging charm style.

I just picked up a gold Disney Cinderella's castle charm from Ebay. Only ended up paying $6.00! I'm hoping to add some more from this vacation like a cruise ship and a dolphin.

For the kids I've been picking up Disney pins on Ebay too (haven't yet paid over $4 including shipping on any of them). The kids have their lanyards and enjoy trading. On our last trip I managed to leave out souveniers for them every day when we returned to our room. They still think that Mickey Mouse left them all those gifts. I'm going to do the same thing with the pins on this trip. I also have a DCL's plush cruise ship with 4 dolls that I will have for the kids when we return home with a note from Mickey saying how he already misses them and wanted to give them this boat to play with until he sees them again. Boy am I hokey!

 

[mkauffman]

Mary.......I happen to love hokey! Very cute!

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

Mary I have the cruise ships for the kids to find on their beds when we get home too!!! Not hokey at all. I had thought about taking them with us to have Mickey leave the first night but they are too big. I am going to print out a card in Mickey's hand writing with a note for them.

 

[JulieGS]

Count me in on the walking -- any excuse for a second dessert! Of course, I'll look forward to the "dish" while we're doing our laps, too!

Leaving gifts in the room for the kids is a great idea. Mary, what kind of things did you leave? And how did you do it? Sneak back in the room later? (Great job on your weight loss! We're going to have a great bunch of motivators on this trip!) Lisa, where do you get the plush boat? (Is everyone feeling better? How's the hurricane clean-up going?)

Julie

 

[mkauffman]

So........does that mean we can ONLY have the 2nd dessert if we promise to walk the next morning??

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

I NEED THIS VACATION SO BADLY RIGHT NOW!!!! DH is home sick again. He got a bad headache from paint fumes at work and last night heh ad a high fever again. It seems that the virus is back in his system after just taking a day off. I had 3 of them home today. Good news...I have broken out in spots. I am hoping that is linked to my fever being gone, like what happened with DS.

I got the plush ships thru a Hasbro rebate. You sent in receipts for $40 worth of Hasbro or MB games and you got a ship. It started after the first of the year & I had gotten a ton of games at the after Christmas clearances at Target & WM. There were also $3 coupons on the back of goldfish boxes. There were 2 per box & each one was good on one game. I ended up spending $11 for each $40 worth, so for each ship. They cost at least $40 on the ship too. Now I have pleanty of games for the kids, birthday gifts for their friends and Toys for Tots. Of course that doesn't include the pile of games that I ended up getting free from Amazon. LOL! DH still doesn't understand that one. I think they totaled $214 in value. Free shipping too.

 

[SINK]

I'm in on the walk. Typically, I'm up by 7AM, no matter how late I sleep. I'm just so excited about being on the ship. DW however, sleeps in until 11AM (sometimes 12). She really knows how to vacation. DW and I typically walk either afterlunch or after her nap. She has always complainted about going through immigration when returning to Port Canaveral.

 

[lbgraves]

LOL! The last time I slept in until 11 I had been up all night with one of the kids and had probably gotten back to bed around 9 am. DD keeps me on schedule by waking me around 6 am every morning. That is good though since we will have that much more time to enjoy the ship.

 

[Jo-Anne]

yep, we're early risers here too! DH and I are up every morning around 6:30 to get ready for work, and kids usually follow by 6:50. On weekends, I think latest we've slept in is around 7:45am, but it's usually 7:00am. I'm wondering if the no windows in a fully darkened category 11 room will give us any illusion that its still the middle of the night and let us sleep in?? I think one morning of sleeping in until 8:00am would be bliss, but we'll all probably be up by 7:00 every morning! Lisa - take care of yourself..don't get run down now! Put the kids to bed, run a hot bath, light the candles, put on some carribean music and have a mini-mental vacation! Jo

 

[mcampbell_22]

Good morning!

Great to hear that there are a lot of early risers. Same here. DH got up to go to work at 3 am this morning, but on days when he goes is at 7 or 8 he will still get up early to get in a workout! How sick is that!

I'm not the only "hokey" on it seems! Birds of a feather... Julie when we went to WDW I had picked up plush charater dolls, Disney cups, pins, shirts, and other knick knack items at the Disney Store over the previous 6 months when they marked things down 75% or more. Most of the items were the same ones that the kids saw in the stores around the park but at 4 times more money.

I managed to have a bunch of Disney gift boxes (There is a store around me that has them for 3/$1 for small and 2/$1 big) and have the items inside. As DH and the kids would leave the room, I always made sure to be the last one out who had to "check" to make sure we had all we needed. I would pull the boxes out from under the bed and put them on their pillows. Ahh, the underhanded tricks of a mother!

Lisa, I can image how stressed and tired you must be. Make sure to take care of you because everyone else depends on you so much and It's been my experience that when the Mother gets sick there's no one to take care of her! So make sure to get your rest, vitamins and eat right! That's a direct order! We want you fresh and healthy so WE can tire you out and get you to eat all the wrong things! LOL

Michelle,

Girl you're great. I got the nametags in the mail yesterday and they are terrific! I've been wearing mine around the house and the kids think I'm crazy! As they get older, this fact will be confirmed! Tick Tock Tick... it's getting closer!

Off to get the kids on bus. Talk to you all soon.

Mary

 

[mcampbell_22]

Yikes, just caught a few of my typos. Oops. No excuse, just too lazy to spell check!

 

[mcampbell_22]

Boy am I on a roll or what?! Julie I forgot to tell you that I did pick up the DCL boat and plush dolls on Ebay. I think I paid $13 or $14 for the boat and dolls and $6 or $7 for shipping. Cost around $20 total. I thought it was a good deal. I missed the Hasbro promotion but figured I would have spent way to much money on toys just to get the boat!

There is a seller who sells these boats (new) quite frequently. If you go to ebay and search Disney cruise you will find many items by maybe this one. This particular sellers id is "cubby615" (no quotes) so you could also search by seller id.

OK, now I'm really done!

 

[mkauffman]

Lisa, I really am sending PD your way.......it must not have made it to your house yet. Sorry. I'll bump up the supply I'm sending! Maybe this is all working it's way out of your house and by November you'll all be healthy (positive thinking!).

Mary, you are so welcome! I'm glad you liked the name tags. Kids will always think we're crazy, no matter what, so why not give them a good reason to think it??

All you early risers.......I love to sleep in! I don't normally get to but when I get the chance, watch out! We're in a category 11 cabin so it's really, really dark. I have to set the alarm or get a wake up call because I'd be sleeping till noon!

What will be find to talk about on the ship...I feel like I know every one of you already! Wait........that's a silly question. There's always something to talk about!

Michelle

 

[SINK]

Hi All:

Just wanted to clarify. I'm a late riser, same as DW. I get into work at around 9:30 and sometimes later if I can't wake up. I tend to turn in past midnight, usually around 1AM.

However, when I'm on vacation, I tend to wake up early. Again, too excited. Furthermore, since I'm the family's tour guide/travel agent (I make all the travel arrangements and schedule all the activities including meals), I'm always preparing/fine tuning our next step. I would even make a binder with all our vacation information (daily schedules, reservation numbers, and the budgets).

Even when counting down to our Nov 15th cruise, I'm working on our future cruises. We have at least one more cruise this year, RCCL Monarch. Then, we have four next year, none of which is DCL. So, I would need to find a way to squeeze one in.

 

[mcampbell_22]

SINK you're a man after my own heart! I love my planning binders. I end up keeping them as mementos of our vacations!

My DCL binder is broken down into planning tips, copy of the "Magical Disney Cruise Guide" (wdwig.com/cruise/htm if you want to check it out), shipboard entertainment, dining etc, excursions/island shopping/taxi/sightseeing, packing lists, travel documents/itinerary etc., DCL planning catalog and finally a section about "our gang." I love my cover. It shows Goofy olding a photo of the "Magic" in the ocean with a sand castle on the beach at Castaway Cay. The title of this binder "The Campbells are cruisin' for a vacation Nov. 15-22, 2003!"

When we went to WDW I even had laminated notecards with our daily itinerary. Boy do I need help! LOL

I'm of the school that if you plan well in advance then you can relax more on the actual vacation and enjoy all those things that just seem to evolve and "happen."

 

[SINK]

Cool, Mary:

My family and friends thought I'm nuts/anal for setting up the binder. Similiarly, after our trip, I will 3-hole punch or daily Navigators, mount any postcards/mementos, even receipts (airline boarding passes, tickets, etc.). However, I have not been that creative in making the covers to the binder. It's a nice "scrapbook" of our trip. Furthermore, I will use the binder when planning future trips.

I do this not only for Disney cruise, but on our non-Disney cruises as well.

I got a feeling that I'm 49% gay, I love Disney, broadway musicals, romantic comedies, and dislike going to homedepot. DW on the other is more of the handyman around the house, since I dislike doing anything around the house. She goes to homedepot more than I do.

 

[alexturner74]

And I thought I was bad planning for trips!

 

[lbgraves]

LOL! I have tried to scale back on this vacation as far as planning. With the DCL portion, I have the Passporter and have been reading the DIS boards religiously. I feel like I know waht to expect & we should have a great time. With the MK portion I have the passporter but have not read that part of the boards much. To be honest, there is just so much more information that it is overwhelming. I am trying to take that as our first experience at WDW. We are pros at going to Busch Gardens so as far as packing & strollers I think we will do OK, though I realize this is a much bigger scale. We will just take it slow & soak in what we can for the day. I know that we will return to the MK after this trip so if we miss something, we can always plan to do it then. I want to give the kids some freedom to do what they want also. If they end up liking the characters, we will try to see as many of them as possible, which I know will take up time. If not, I know there are other things for them to do.

This is such a big step for me with my over planning mentality. I made up a minute by minute schedule for our wedding party since we had a full Mass and most had never attended one. I am starting to have dreams about being on the Magic.

 

[SINK]

My hobby is planning for our vacations. I spend countless hours on the internet, buying travel guides, and talking with others. But, it's all worth it, when I first board any ship, it felt like I have already been there. No getting lost.

In terms of WDW/DCL, I have various guide books (including both passporters). I did comment on the fact that the information here on this board is equilivent if not better than the passporter. Although passport is a good summary and in one place. I would like to see "strategy guide". Maybe I should write one.

Lisa, if you don't mind shelling out reasonable amount of money, character meals are the best. We have always done character meals, but we have not gone to all the places that offered them. Hopefully, this trip we will hit the remaining ones.

 

[mcampbell_22]

SINK I can't wait to meet you! You literally made me laugh out loud (49% gay hahahaha). DH had to come see what was going on - "What's so funny?"

In regards to characters at WDW, my kids loved them. I bought a small clear page photo album and some unlined index cards. When we met up with characters I took a picture of the kids with them and they got their autographs on the index cards. When we got home I had double prints made (I for me and my scrapbook, one for them) and put the autograph and matching photo side by side in the album. The kids still go through these quite frequently and discuss their memories of the meetings. The index cards worked great because you could carry a stack (I also has a small clipboard) and it didn't take up alot of room. Remember to bring a "fat" pen so it's easier for characters to write.

Also, when we went to Epcot one night, we were given the "hint" that if we went to the far back of the Morrocco exhibit we might meet up with some special friends. We strolled back there and the kids ended up having almost a full hour alone with both Aladdin AND Jasmine! They still talk about how they all danced and how they searched the "market" with Aladdin looking for Abu. We also met up with quite a few characters in the UK. Capt. Hook (I had to make the aside "I bet he's a lefty" Hook gave me quite a look!), Smee, Tweedle Dee & Dum, Queen of Hearts & Snow Witch. Lots of fun!