Hello Everyone on the "Plenty o' Rum n Parlay 4 None" crew!
I am posting a piece written by a fellow DISer that I got to cruise with last April. Her DIS name is Deb T. This posting is sort of a
Disney Cruise Line "Boot Camp" where you can begin to prepare your family for the upcoming cruise. If you have cruised with Disney before you will really get a chuckle out of her writing...those that have not cruised yet...get prepared...it's definitely a
Disney adventure coming your way!!!
Hello Fellow Cruisers!
Just for fun, I've come up with a "Top 10" list of what you can do now to prepare for this cruise. In true David Letterman style, this is all in jest, so enjoy! Oh, and if this is your first
Disney cruise, please be sure to re-read this again after our cruise... I promise it'll be much more humorous then.
Deb T.'s Top 10 List of Things to Do to Help Your Family Prepare for a Disney Cruise:
10. Start serving all breakfasts and lunches buffet style.
9. Every Monday evening, make everyone dress in full pirate gear for dinner. After dinner, dance around while talking like a pirate. Arrrrrrrrgh!
8. Set your children's artwork out on display in the living room, set up folding chairs for everyone to sit on, and then auction off each piece of artwork to the highest bidder.
7. Step outside and lean on a porch or deck railing, gaze wistfully out at your landscape, and comment on how amazing it is that the ocean is spread out before you for as far as you can see.
6. Start checking your children in and out of their playroom. If your children want to leave the playroom before you come to get them, they must stand in the doorway and make beeper sounds until you arrive.
5. Draw the
DCL logo on tall plastic cups and drink your favorite alcoholic beverages out of them.
4. Every night, perform a turn-down service for everyone. Place a small chocolate bar on each pillow and leave a schedule of the next day's events and a towel animal on each bed. Oh, and don't forget to set chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk on the nightstand (from Room Service, of course!).
3. Every evening at t 5:40 p.m. (for those of you with main dining; 8:10 p.m. for those with late dining), make your family line up outside the dining room door to wait for dinner to begin. Before they are allowed to enter at 5:45 p.m. (or 8:15 p.m.), make sure the table is set and their favorite drinks are poured and waiting for them. Oh, and of course, have a 4-course dinner prepared to serve.
2. Every evening at 8:00 p.m. (for those of you with main dining; 5:45 p.m. for those with late dining), have everyone sit in front of the TV to wait for that evening's show to begin. Actually, if you'd really like to enhance the cruise, I suggest you have the children watch Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, 101 Dalmatians (live action w/Glen Close), Sleeping Beauty, Tarzan (animated version), Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio. Now, back to my silliness: on Monday nights watch Toy Story and Toy Story II for the "Toy Story The Musical" show and on Wednesday nights watch Peter Pan for the "Disney Dreams" show.
And the number one thing to do to help your family prepare for your cruise
1. In the mornings, make a 3-tone chime noise, then make the following announcement in your best British accent: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Girls and Boys, in 2 minutes time the forward door will open for all guests to disembark for school. The weather today is going to be (insert your weather, i.e. cold) so be sure to take your (insert necessity, i.e. hat and mittens) when you leave the house. And remember, all aboard is at (whatever your curfew is). Have a magical day!
I am starting to think that we are jinxed. Is this normal? for so many people to leave a cruise? Did I forget to put on deodorant?
loved the top ten! Somehow, my family did not appreciate my wanting to pretend I am already on the boat...
...by doing the "I'm on vacation dance." 
Sipping on one of those fruity drinks served in the fancy cups!!!
I am definitely ready for "Plenty o' Rum n Parlay 4 None!"
Cheers to the best day possible! CrystalNow comes paying for college
) and I have been printing and laminating pictures for our door. I hope we won't have difficulty in finding magnets to glue onto the back when Stateside! I also need to finish my fish extender today. I forget how much ribbon I need to tie onto it though. Next week we are 'moving' to our summer house, where there are no phones, tv, internet, etc... so we are trying to wrap things up HA!
Awesome Fish Extender! I can't wait to put goodies in it! 
Thanks for the good words!
