August 26, 2006 Magic

[Esteri]

I see I can start signing up for stuff tomorrow at 3 am. But, in which time zone?? Is that 3 am Eastern? Pacific?

Please help.

 

[mkygrl]

3AM eastern..yech! On a Monday morning! I will be there to get a Palo brunch ressie.

Hey anyone think of using a green antennae topper? I bought one and will upgrade it to hook on my backpack! I may even use sticky letters to put Dis on it! We shall see!

We are getting closer!!!! Anyone getting REALLY excited!

 

[kaceyisme]

I see I can start signing up for stuff tomorrow at 3 am. But, in which time zone?? Is that 3 am Eastern? Pacific?

Please help.

Esteri - It's 3AM Eastern - which is good news for you since you are in California, you only have to stay up until midnight.

 

[Esteri]

Esteri - It's 3AM Eastern - which is good news for you since you are in California, you only have to stay up until midnight.

Yee-ha!!

It's one of the few good things about being here when it comes to Disney. We're trying for a Palo dinner for 5.

 

[mkygrl]

It's so early! What am I thinking! Anyone else up? We are 75 days til our cruise!

 

[Cindy B]

At just before 6 am today (yes, I know 3 am it began...) Eastern, only one brunch was left, which was Sunday.

I wanted either a Sunday or Monday late Palo reservation. Monday only had 9 pm and Sunday had a host of times. We picked 8 pm on Sunday.

So I have my Palo and the kids are registered.

 

[kaceyisme]

I was very relieved that I was able to book my Mother-in-Law's shore excursions this morning. I had booked ours at the 90 day mark, and was so worried that I wouldn't be able to get her the same excursions, but I did it!

 

[pamjb]

From what I have heard, they don't release ALL of the bookings for online booking. There should be some available for booking once you get on board.

As soon as my kids baseball season is over (mid-July) I will be get the info together for the name/stateroom booklet. Baseball 6 days a week, a 16 year old that works 40 hours a week, my & DH 50 hour work weeks, doesn't leave a whole lot of time for organization. But I will get it all together.
I promise.

 

[Celestine]

Great to hear that you all seem to have got your prefered reservations. I can't believe that it's only 75 days to go...and counting

 

[Esteri]

Boy am I glad I had you guys to advise me about when to log on.

When I told my husband I was going to stay up till midnight (3 am for most of you) to book the reservations he thought I was nuts. I logged in at 11:57 (by my clock) - just to see if it was released early, or my clock was slow. No go. So, at the stroke of midnight I logged on. Lots of Palo times available. Got the night I wanted, and picked a time. Though it wouldn't let me ask for 5, so I got a 3-4 resie, and will have to alert them to the fact that we have 5 in the party when we board.

Got a couples cabana massage for Castaway Cay. And then realized that the time I picked at Palos conflicts with the show that evening - which is highly recommended. So I went back to get a later time that was available. Everything was gone except one lonely brunch time!! Elapsed time - 12 minutes.

Wow. Rock stars don't sell out that fast.

I've registered the boys for the clubs. I'd like your opinion on a matter. Self-check in/out for a 9 year old. What's your take? Actually, that's a good topic for the main board. I think I'll post it there. (But give me your opinion anyway.)


Here's hoping everyone got what they were looking for.



BTW: for those of you who've tried that URL to the cruise page we did last year. I've figured out the problem. Our Domain name expired this weekend. And our provider (a small one-person business) was out of town due to a death in the family. It was re-upped this morning, and I've been advised that it'll be 24-48 hours before we back up and running. Sorry for the problems.

 

[Jacob's Mom]

Hi Esteri. We have a 5 year old son, too. His name is Jacob. Maybe our boys can get together on the cruise.

 

[mkygrl]

I was up at 2:40 am. I logged on at 3am to get a Palo Brunch. I saw the Sunday that I wanted. I selected it and hit continue. IT WOULDN'T CONTINUE!!!!! I have no brunch.

 

[cinderella_mom]

Hi everyone. I was glad I checked this thread last night. I was up at 11:15pm and was getting ready to turn in when I read that the 3am check-in was EDT. I decided to stay up the extra 45 minutes and was able to get a Palo for Tuesday night and all the shore excursions we are considering through DCL. Thanks for posting the times. Hope everyone got what they wanted.

See you there.

 

[Esteri]

Hi Esteri. We have a 5 year old son, too. His name is Jacob. Maybe our boys can get together on the cruise.

That'd be super. I'd only noticed girls in his age group in reading through the posts. I'm glad he'll have a friend. His name is Issac. Older brother (the 9 yr old) is named Jakob - so Issac won't have any problem remembering Jacob's name!

Perhaps we can email each other their picture. So that they know who to look for.

I've been doing so much planning for this trip lately, Issac's been getting really excited about it and when are we going? So, the three of us made a paper chain. One ring for each day. Jakob put the date on each ring, and Issac picked out a Disney sticker to help hold it together. (I was in charge of the glue stick.) Every morning when he gets up he gets to tear off another ring. The chain hangs over his bed. This seems to be helping him understand the concept of time and when we'll be going.

I think I got that idea off a website someplace. Never thought I'd need it. But it's got his level of excitement back down to a low roar.

 

[pamjb]

I was up at 2:40 am. I logged on at 3am to get a Palo Brunch. I saw the Sunday that I wanted. I selected it and hit continue. IT WOULDN'T CONTINUE!!!!! I have no brunch.

mkygrl, don't despair. My neighbor who cruised in early May was able to book her Palo brunch when on board. You could also keep checking online, as there may have been a cancellation.

 

[mkygrl]

pamjb....Thanks for the vote of confidence! I know I can try to get on onboard. I was sooo wanting it though and got up early.ON A MONDAY. I also knew my workday was going to be really long (7:30am-9pm) and I was losing precious sleepy time. I was bummed out. I will check back just in case for cancellations.

 

[lcborn2run]

I've found the website to be pretty horrible these last few days. I did get a Palo dinner and brunch, but was constantly being kicked off the system. I would have liked to try for other days' availability, but I couldn't get back in to change the ressies. I called the 800 number and they said "keep trying". OK, I have lots of extra hours to spend trying to access a website!

I'm sure there will be plenty of ressies once we board. Is anyone interested in "introducing" our kids online before the trip. Again, my sons are 11 and 8 (two days before we leave) and my daughter is 5.

One last thing. On the Disney website, they have an excursion in Cozumel involving dune buggies. Howevery, it's not one of the choices when you actually try to book it. Does anyone know anything about this?

Thanks!!

Lisa

 

[kblb0725]

HELLO SHIPMATES - We are also going on this trip - we have a large group of appr. 32 - mostly from NJ, which are spread all over the ship. We (my brother-in-law and I) have been planning this since 2004 and booked back then. We are all very excited and wish the trip would hurry up and get here. The kids range from ages - Girls - (2) 11, (1) 8, (1) 5, (1) 4, (1) 3 - Boys - (1) 8, (1) 7, (1) 6. All of which are signed up for the kids club without the option of checking themselves out.

My family (4 of us - at the time my girls were 4 and 16 months) took this cruise before and loved every minute of it - we had a cat. 6. This trip we have a cat. 3 and are wait listed for whatever else there is to offer.

We will be coming from the parks before the cruise and hope to relax a little on the ship but boy can you stay busy without even trying.

 

[lcborn2run]

Hi...this is Lisa from NY - Staten Island to be precise. I guess you'll be Lisa from NJ!

For anyone interested, I went on the DCL website yesterday and was able to change my Palo ressie. So for whoever didn't get one the other day, try again and something may be open.

I registered the kids for the clubs online. I did give my 11 yr old son sign out, but it will be with the stipulation that he MUST let me know immediately when he signs out and where he is going. I've heard of other people doing this, but how is it done? Is it thru the beeper, or do we have to get radios?

Thanks....

Lisa

 

[cinderella_mom]

I printed out the navigators from the site today so I can read them to DD5 to see if there is anything she might not want to miss. She is very excited to make new friends so we should definately plan a get-together the first day so the 5-7 year olds can meet. What do you return cruisers think would be a good time and place?

Look forward to meeting you all.

Cinderella Mom (Susan)