August 16, 2011, Disney Dream - Part 4

[gfolchick]

Hi Everyone!
I can't believe our long anticipated cruise vacation has come to an end. It was a great 5 days. Sadly, I missed all the planned meets, completely forgot about them. I was looking into the Atrium on Friday to see if the photographers were shooting after dinner and saw all of you on the stairs when I remembered, hey I'm supposed to be there too!

I had asked for a placehold for a future cruise and was told I'd be contacted once back home again. I still haven't heard from Disney directly but Carol forwarded me our reservations so I guess they went ahead and chose a date for us (Nov 2012 3 day). Our deposit works out to only $100 per room for a Cat 9. Will transfer to a 7 day in 2013 once dates are released. Not sure I'd book another 5 day unless it was just DH and I. I really missed the extra sea days.

We had a very busy pre-cruise week, surprised the kids with Discovery Cove (where my camera broke-replacement camera from one that broke on 2009 cruise). We ended up spending most of Tuesday shopping for a new one. Visited Hollywood Studios with DH's brother, SIL and nephew (first time to Disney), Blizzard Beach, Sea World, Magic Kingdom and two days at Beach Club complete with a Kitchen Sink!

The Dream was beautiful. Check in was a breeze-all that stress for nothing. Unfortunately we dropped spouses and kids at port and then had DHs return rental cars which ate up a big chunk of time...I was boarding group 3 and by the time they returned they were calling group 19. We got our Palo dinner reservation and rode Aquaduck before lifeboat drill so it worked out. Elevators in Cabanas was weird. Wish I had done Midship Detective Agency, but on the last night we walked around the decks and the pictures came to life without the card. Kids loved the clubs. DS was worried his club wasn't cool enough, compared to Vibe, but I barely saw him the whole cruise so he liked it a lot. DD had fun making a movie with Vibe. We had a forward facing room and I don't remember seeing a lot of teens enjoying that private outdoor space much.

The FE was fun, I think my friends were a bit jealous. We shared some of the candy we received with them. Thanks everyone in #2!

Looks like we lucked out with our weather with Hurricane Irene on her way. We did hit some bad weather when we landed home yesterday afternoon. I actually heard the radio use the emergency broadcast system. Today and the rest of the week are supposed to be in the low 80's with the evenings in the 50's.

Welcome back to reality...safe travels to those still away.

Gina

 

[bz8bls]

I think I met you, BZ8BLS. I remember meeting someone from Novi (I'm the one who grew up in Westland).

I loved getting to meet a few of you. I wish there was more time to meet everyone and hang out more. As it was, I feel like we missed so much of the cruise.

THANK YOU (group 2) for the FE gifts. Everything was incredible and we had some very talented crafters. I loved going through it all again today.

Did anyone else end up buying the group photo? I got the one of us waving. Now I need a cheat sheet to tell me who everyone is.

Hi Woobie that would be me . My DH said to tell your DH "hello". We enjoyed the cruise and hope to go on the Fantasy in 2013. As I told you DH prefers DCL to Disney World (so he says, but he becomes the authority on WDW when talking with others who are not familiar with WDW)

Take care...nice meeting you.

 

[Pudo]

Did anyone else end up buying the group photo? I got the one of us waving. Now I need a cheat sheet to tell me who everyone is.

I bought 3 of the 4 on display Saturday night, one of them was our group waving. Thanks for the beer in the WDT. It was nice meeting and talking to you on CC.

 

[HallsofVA]

Hi everyone! Just logging in briefly to say hi! We've been at the Poly since getting off the ship on Sunday, and have had 2 good days thus far, though we're trying to watch what Irene is going to do and how that could impact our Thursday plans or Friday departure.

Thanks to everyone for a great cruise! Great FE's group !. Man are we a notebook and tote bag loving crowd. Unfortunately, when packing on Saturday I came across the little cards I printed to insert into our FE gifts that we gave out, since I hadn't gotten our names on the gifts before DH packed the box to mail to the port. So if anyone in group one was wondering where the green tote bags with the logo on them and various stuff inside, they were from us!

Whoever gave us the larger logo totebag - thank you! I toted mine all over the ship, since it was the perfect size for our extra large Family autograph book. And the sunscreen towelettes we received came in handy on Sunday when we found ourselves heading to the MK with no sun screen on! They worked great! Oh, and my DD loves the Minnie tile necklace - has been the perfect addition to wear at the parks! Those are just some of the fab gifts that we received. (I also loved the "I did FE on the Dream and only got this magnet" magnet.)

Have fun back at work everyone, and send your prayers and thoughts to those of us still in Florida that this storm passes us by this week!

Cathleen

 

[renda460]

Has anyone heard any news on the person with the medical emergency? I would love to hear that things turned out fine. I could be wrong, but I believe the family of this person was from these boards. I think they had our green lanyards on.

 

[Mjasp]

Has anyone heard any news on the person with the medical emergency? I would love to hear that things turned out fine. I could be wrong, but I believe the family of this person was from these boards. I think they had our green lanyards on.

That was very sad, those poor people, I like you, truly hope they are OK

 

[Maryrn11168]

Hi all! We are still enjoying our vacation and are at Bay Lake Towers! But I am really tired! We return home tonight, but a late flight!

Jeff, Thanks for organizing the group photo, unfortunatly this was the night my daughter (9) decided to walk away from us and not tell us where she was going, so we spent the next hour running in circles trying to find her and misssed the photos. We did book the June 15th out of NYC and a dummy date for next August, waiting for the 2013 dates.

We had a blast, FE gifts from group 1 were amazing! Thanks to everyone! Had a great time meeting so many and making new friends!

 

[kritter]

We had a blast!! Still having fun here @ Wdw!!

 

[hmansure]

Sadly our trip comes to an end today

Had a great day park hopping yesterday - though the heat was tough during the day. Actually slept in today - something that we didn't get to do over the last 11 days

A quick accounting of our stuff and it looks like we only "lost" one thing on vacation - an autograph book! We usually lose something! Fortunately it was used 1 day pre-cruise and was replaced early!! Vicki is on a quest to find it!

Family votes on their favorite stuff as we quickly look back:

Me - The "Believe" show and laying around on the beach
Vicki - Vera Bradley outlet in Orlando , Pirate night, family portraits we had done.
Tim - "food"
Jake - Aquaduck
Keira - Kids' clubs, swimming.

On the downside - collectively we shared an "odd" dining experience (service and table mates) and a disdain for lines, crowds, and some rude people (e.g. an older man actually pushed Keira forcing his way into the theater).

 

[acomasdiaz]

We're back home now. Have enough laundry to do to last me the rest of the week.

We had a wonderful time! I'm sorry we didn't get to meet so many of you. It's amazing to me how quickly the time went by. Our family loved the Dream but I will say it's size was a little overwhelminng at times.

I want to thank FE group 2. We all loved all the amazing gifts. As always, it was a lot of fun giving and receiving the gifts.

We booked a dummy date and will wait for the 203 dates. We're hoping to go on the Fantasy then. Next year, we'll be taking the 5 night out of NYC.

 

[hmansure]

Safe travels to all heading up the east coast the next few days. Hurricane Irene has its eyes set on the mid-Atlantic and there's been an earthquake near DC that was felt all the way through New England?!?! As we sit here at the auto train station - we are waiting to see if they are going to cancel the train because of the earthquake??? What are the odds?!

 

[sdchickie]

They just cancelled my sons school orientation, we drove up there and they said that they were evacuating because of the earthquake. I guess it was all the years living in CA, but I didn't think it was all that bad here in southern MD.

 

[sdchickie]

we're back too, happy to be home in my own bed! My dogs left me quite alot of dirt on the floors to vacuum up with my new Dyson that I got for my B-day, I guess there must have been alot of rain storms while we were gone. The weather is just beautiful here (ironically I said earlier that it was just like San Diego weather, little did I know we were going to get the earthquake to go with it!) Thanks so much to all the group 2 FE peeps, the gifts were fantastic and we are still munching on all the treats that we got. I never did see the group photo, was it in your portfolio books or did they have it somewhere else? I enjoyed meeting everone that I got to meet and I also loved doing the cabin tour. We now know which room to book for the next cruise!

 

[Woobie]

there's been an earthquake near DC that was felt all the way through New England?!?!

Hubby called me from work (south of Boston) and said they felt it. He thought it was just after affects of the cruise (swaying) at first. We didn't feel it north of Boston. We thought he was crazy. My friend's hubby is working in Baltimore. His building was evacuated. CRAZY!!

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Hubby called me from work (south of Boston) and said they felt it. He thought it was just after affects of the cruise (swaying) at first. We didn't feel it north of Boston. We thought he was crazy. My friend's hubby is working in Baltimore. His building was evacuated. CRAZY!!

Hi Woobie,

I was at Budget with you on the 16th. What a disaster I took a private shuttle to the port with another family. I was there with my wife and three daughters.

We had a great cruise I was sitting at a light during the quake in philly and thought that I was still rocking from the Dream

Joe

 

[Princess Runner]

Carlos and I had a great time with you guys, specially the night we got together, exchange station shirts and rode the Aquaduck! it was awesome, what a fantastic group we are! Will keep you all in our prayers and hope to see you soon. Elcka

 

[elgerber]

Carlos and I had a great time with you guys, specially the night we got together, exchange station shirts and rode the Aquaduck! it was awesome, what a fantastic group we are! Will keep you all in our prayers and hope to see you soon. Elcka

Elcka, that was a great time, too bad they booted us out of the hot tub!!!!! It was great to meet you and Carlos!!

 

[Mjasp]

We're back home now. Have enough laundry to do to last me the rest of the week.

We had a wonderful time! I'm sorry we didn't get to meet so many of you. It's amazing to me how quickly the time went by. Our family loved the Dream but I will say it's size was a little overwhelming at times.

I want to thank FE group 2. We all loved all the amazing gifts. As always, it was a lot of fun giving and receiving the gifts.

We booked a dummy date and will wait for the 203 dates. We're hoping to go on the Fantasy then. Next year, we'll be taking the 5 night out of NYC.

I just LOVED Serenity Bay on CC, it was my first time at the adult beach and ohhhh what a difference. Can I go back there now?
Which 5 night are you doing? My DD is trying to talk me in to a 4 nt on the Dream in November 2012. I booked 2 cabins for dummy dates, so I have a lot of play. I right now have the 7/20 eight night booked but that I think is too many Disney shows for me, so I'm thinking a 4 night or waiting for the Fantasy I heard they are taking the kinks out of the Dream with the Fantasy. Can't wait to hear about all the details.

 

[lisare]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! I have done a few FE exchanges but group #2 was by far thee most creative. My kids LOVED everything as did my DH & I. Thank you so much.

 

[elgerber]

Clearly the rebooking desk knows you want a dummy date, if you just drop the card in the box LOL. I just got an e-mail that I am booked in two rooms on the December 8th, 2012 Western, on the Fantasy! I think it's hilarious that they just book you without even calling or anything. Wow, the prices are high on that cruise!!! I don't think I could swing it, good thing it's only a dummy date!
What dates are you guys getting, if you dropped the card in the box?