April 8, 2006 Western Magic Cruise

[windermerejudy]

Poconoboatniks-- I know you must be excited. It sounds like you guys are having all kinds of activities on west coast. Be sure and do a live thread ad we will do the same. Can't wait to hear the differences in embarkation, excursions...fHow does it feel to be a guinea pig?

 

[windermerejudy]

Hi guys thought I would bump us up a bit because I had to really search for this.

Just back last night. Poconoboatniks, I hear you all had someone sick too? we had 4 out of 6 of us sick towards the end. Hard to tell whether it was the rough seas or GI flu. I know we had fun but sure missed PC.

We got our rebook. Although the price sounded high so I have never tried Dreams Unlimited or others but I may price it out a variety of ways. Any suggestions?

Anyone good with designing logos? Not me. I made pockets for the doors and will be happy to do them again unless anyone else wants to do it. Also my daughter unpacked these mini dry erase boards with a DIS label for our doors unbeknownst to me so I still have them all ready for us if we want to use them.

Judy

 

[poconoboatniks]

Hi Judy,

Try All Seasons Travel and Dreams Unlimited to see if they can get a better price for you. The 4/8/06 sailing is one of the most expensive weeks to sail because it's the week before Easter. We have sailed that week twice before and have found the ship to be fun, but still enjoyable. We too missed PC and CC on the west coast cruise. The weather wasn't what we were expecting either. We had rough seas, clouds and cold temps the first and last sea days which only left one sea day to enjoy Deck 9 & 10. PV & Maz were ok. We loved Cabo and would like to go back. It was really weird that so many people didn't feel well on the cruise. The dissers who we sailed with were really nice.

Glad you guys will be joining us on this cruise.

Poconoboatniks

 

[windermerejudy]

I got a quote form Dreams Unlimited and it was higher than the rebook but she transferred my ressie over and gave us the $200 cash back offer which is great.

My kids are already so excited about snorkeling with the stingrays again. I love the beach break in Cozumel but I guess we will see if there are any new adventures. Key West we usually enjoy just walking around and having some food and drinks and then also enjoying the empty Mickey Pool.

I guess since it is offficial and we have never canceled a cruise yet I should ad this to my signature, huh?

BTW I would never travel alll that way with 3 kids to go to 1 lousy place, 1 good place and 1 great place with 3 lousy sea days when we could go to PC and have great weather, great ports, friendly people, no vendors on the beaches.......

 

[poconoboatniks]

We had a great time on the cruise in spite of of the weather. The cool temps actually worked to our advantage because we were traveling with my parents. If it had been hotter, my parents would not have been able to do as much as they did. Also, we were able to check out other activities that we would not have if the weather had been better on the sea days. DH tried the wine tasting series, dd saw some movies and ds went to the club.

Dh subscribes to the adage that, "a bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at work." The cruise is so relaxing and he enjoys having nothing to do. He commutes to NYC from Penna. and nevers gets a chance to have a leisurely breakfast with the kids. Someone is always running off to a piano lesson or some sort of sporting event. On the Magic, we have breakfast everyday together.

Pocono

 

[windermerejudy]

Wow commuting to NYC does not sound relaxing in the least. (and my husband thought he had it hard driving all over the city)

I went back and was counting up how many we have thus far (I am sure many will come and go) but we have 7 DIS groups of people. Loads of kids.I guess we have the youngest. I did not realize that your son was 8 too. My oldest is 8 now and wil be 9 on cruise. Do we know cabins yet?

We tried a new way of booking our rooms this time and will see how it works out. We used to stay in Family Suite and then we got my mom hooked after my father passed away, so we then started booking 2 rooms. We had the adjoining rooms last Christmas but my mom said she did not care about having the verandah so we tried rooms across the hall this time. The best she could do was 6540/6541. Have you ever been this far forward? We have not so I don't know what to expect. Some of our fellow DIS ers stayed all the way forward in 7000 and did not seem to notice much of a difference with the motion.

I was reading the next cruisers thread and they said it was supposed to rain in PV and M while they were there. We had such great weather all 3 port days. Now I feel so grateful for those days being awesome.

 

[poconoboatniks]

Our first two cruises on the Magic were in cat 11 & cat 10 cabins on deck 6. We had 6547 and 6543 (if my memeory serves me right). We love being on deck 6. This past cruise we were in cat 9 on deck 2. This was the first time we had a window. WOW. Although, dh missed being on deck 6 midship because it was close to everything. We never spend much time in the cabin. This past time our cabin was right over the deck 1 gangway and we heard them getting ready to dock at each of the ports (6 am). I can't remember our cabin number for the April cruise.

Pocono

 

[windermerejudy]

Pocono, what do you and your family enjoy doing? What grades are your children in? Anything special planned this summer?

My kids are going into Pre K3, Kindergarden, and 3rd. Our only real firm plans this summer are going down near Sarasota to a little town named Venice where you sift sand for sharks teeth. Kids love it. Then every summer we go home to Texas for a week.I need my mexican food fix!!!! We stay at New Braunfels which is home to Schlitterbahn Water Park. It is near San Antonio. Other than that we are sleeping in, trying to catch up on things, and relaxing.

 

[poconoboatniks]

Judy,

Our kids are ds 7 1/2 & dd 11. Both kids play baseball and soccer. dd is a Girl Scout and will be going to sleepover camp in July. ds is a Cub Scout and will hopefully be going to day camp in Aug. We may or may not be going to WDW in Aug. We didn't get a chance to go to the parks this past Feb. We live very close to Camelbeach Waterpark in Pa and will be spending the hot sunny days at there. We saw a waterpark in Texas on the Travel channel. Is that the park you are going to? My dd was salvating over the slides. We are going to the dismeet in Allentown on the 9th of July. That should be a lot of fun. My husband has gotten into pin trading and is looking forward to meeting the pin trader (huge Disney pin trader) at the Dis meet.

My son would love to shift for shark teeth. I bought him a necklace in Cabo which had a shark tooth on it. He kept touching the tooth after I put it on him. What is it with boys and scarey animals?

I was checking out the door sign thread and I'm a little intimidated. My sister did a nice job on our door signs for the May 28th trip and she' not going on the April 8th trip. I guess I should get started now and maybe by the time the cruise comes around I'll have something to put on the door.

Pocono

 

[windermerejudy]

Pocono,

It sounds like you have a really fun summer planned.

DIS has area meets? I never knew that. Do they do it everywhere?

Yes, Schlitterbahn is the #1 waterpark in the country every year. It is very different than most in that there is a beautiful spring fed river running through town with rapids that people ride down in tubes. Schlitterbahn built itself around the river and uses river water on all of its rides in the "old" park. There are 3 with 2 being like normal water parks with slides, wavepools, watercoasters, kids areas.....There are rooms winding their way through the "old" park which is where we stay. It is awesome to stop back in your room for a snack or drink every few rides.There is a pizza parlor, ice cream parlor, arcade, ....It is very hilly here and the rides mostly start at the top of the hill and wind their way down the hill to eventually dump you in the river. One ride is even 45 minutes long. Almost all of the rides in this park have you ride in tubes through rapids, waterfalls, drops, caves, under buildings, .....It is a kids paradise. We have been going here every summer since I was born ( a long time ago ) Schlitterbahn wasn't there then and when it came in many people including my parents thought it ruined the town. These days Schlitterbahn is the # 1 industry in town. San Antonio is fun too because there are wild animal parks, caves, river walk, and of course GREAT MEXICAN FOOD AND MARGARITAS.

Overall its a relaxing, nofrills, no hurries, no worries, hang out with your great kids kind of place. Perfect!!!!!!

 

[poconoboatniks]

Page 3 Yikes

 

[windermerejudy]

Just bumping us up. Hope everyone is having a great 4th.

 

[poconoboatniks]

We have to add my inlaws, DML, DFL, DSL, DSL, DML & DNephew 5. We'll be celebrating my inlaws 50th anniversary. My ML is so excited. I'm so happy for her. My FL agreed to go, WAHOOO!

Poconoboatniks

 

[poconoboatniks]

Back to page one

 

[poconoboatniks]

Happy Birthday Disneyland!

Back to page 1

Anyone else want to join us?

Poconoboatniks

 

[missstcroix]

Hi! I am just now considering booking this cruise...
Have never cruised before, but we are disney freaks and go at least once a year. Trying to decide if the 4/6 3 day would be a better way to break into it and see if we like it. I tried to get that 12/29 one that someone posted about but it is sold out. My kids are 10 and 8...seems like the same as the rest of you! What should I do????

 

[poconoboatniks]

Book it and you won't regret it! This will be cruise # 5 for us. Our kids prefer a cruise over going to the parks. They love the sea days. Our first cruise was 7 days and our 3rd was a 4 night. The 4 night was ok because we knew that cruise #4 was 3 months away. The ports are better on the 7 night and you get a chance to settle in.

Feel free to ask any questions.

Poconoboatniks

 

[disney_mommy]

So excited!! First time cruiser here going on the April 8-15th, 2006 Western on the Magic. Will be going with dm, dd, and ds(7). Can anyone tell me some helpful hints? I am devouring all of the info I can find, but am always looking for more! We will be on deck 5.

 

[poconoboatniks]

Welcome Disney Mom

We're glad you decided to join us. This cruise is great! The weather should be great. The ports are great! I noticed you have a 7yr old son. My son will be 8 on the cruise. How old is your daughter?

What would you like to know? Are you flying down early? If so, where are you staying? We stay at the Radisson. Last time, we rented a car and drove to the Port. We used the DCL bus for the way back. This site has so much information available to you. Keep reading & posting. YOu will be a pro by next April.

Poconoboatniks

 

[disney_mommy]

Thanks for replying so quickly! Oh, sorry! By DM and DD, I meant mom and dad! Sorry for the confusion. Well, we still have one day left on our passes from the last time we were at WDW, so we're thinking of going a day early and spending the day at Animal Kingdom, then staying in a hotel near port. How did you like the Radisson? How was the transportation? Did you rent a car just to go to port? How did that work out? Why didn't you do that on the way back? Thanks for answering my questions, I'm sure I'll have a ton more by April! So excited!!