Calling All 8/19/06 Special Western Cruisers! AKA "The Cruisin' Castaways"

[florida sun]

Bev

We were on the Wonder this past August, what date did you go, we may have had the same trip.



Sue

 

[mickeymom923]

Sue,

We were on the Wonder August 19. 2004. When were you there?

Next August I will be at WDW at a timeshare but the date is not confirmed yet. Maybe we could meet up then. How old is Vicki? My DD Lindsay was just 17 in September. She wants to get a teen thread started but no one wants to respond.

Bev

 

[Verandah Man]

Captain Kangaroo, Soupy Sales, and Sally Starr

These three I remember quite well!!!

Our first trip to WDW was 9-9-1983 and we stayed in one of the Fort Wilderness Trailers for 8 nights. We had a BLAST, and returned in 1984. In June 1985 we made our first and only trip to DL. We have been back to WDW more times than I can count. Angelina made her first trip to WDW at the age of 13 months. We took our first DCL cruise in 2003 and were hooked from the moment we walked on the ship.

 

[O'BWV]

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


How have you been my friends? A quick glance tells me a few are you are sick, I'm sorry and I hope you are all feeling better. Thanks for all your birthday and travel wishes I really appreciate it. We had an awesome time and I'll post that later.

Please bear with me I'm trying to catch up on the thread but I do add a few initial things that jumped out at me. All add more later.

Ginny - I'm so sorry about your poochie. I see you haven't posted and I hope you're all okay. Losing a pet is very difficult. On a lighter note, I was successful with the lanyard and I'll PM you.

Darlene - I had NO idea you were going to WDW and it's funny because one day my DH said to me is that Darlene over there? I didn't think for a moment it could have been you but I bet it was. I think it was on the monorail. You were getting off and us on. Is it possible? Did you go to the parks at all? How's Stan?

Doreen - Did I read correctly, do you have pneumonia? OMG you poor baby. Take good care of yourself, you're having a rough time of it lately. Did you ever go for your MRI? Anymore slurring or forgetfulness or has that all resolved? Take care of yourself and thanks for thinking of me while I was away!

Lyn - How is poor Matt doing. Sounds very painful and I hope he's better.

Cindy & Bobby - How're you guys and what's up with the house. I have my fingers crossed.

Karen - How are you doing pal? How are your knees?

Andy - I'm sorry you had to cancel your trip! Hope your feeling better and it's great you got to reschedule. Just think, your vacation would be over already, but now you can still look forward to it.

Joanna - Thanks for keeping the list for me while I was gone! You're the best!

Lisa - I hope your back is feeling better!

Terry - I'm sorry about your web page. You know I really hate computers too! How's Bob LOL!

Bev, Sue, Dori & Diane - Howdy friends! How the heck have you all been?

Travis - Welcome to you and your family and I'm going to go right now and add you to our list!



I hope I didn't miss anyone!

I have missed talking to you all and I'm looking forward to catching up with all of you. Oh yeah, and I guess I'm starting a diet tomorrow LOL!

DIET - THE MOST OBSCENE FOUR LETTER WORD OF ALL!!!!!



CV

 

[O'BWV]

HEY LOOK EVERYBODY - I go away for a week and lo and behold we are under 650 days! WOO HOO!!!!!


Recap of WDW Trip -

As most of you know I turned 29 (44) during this trip and we celebrated at the Olive Garden which is a restaurant that I love. (Don't ever let it be said that I'm not a cheap date!). We left on Sat 10/30 at 4 am and drove straight through and arrived at 9:10. The drive was slightly over 17 hours and wasn't bad at all. We've never drove straight through before but we did it home too and now John's a convert. It took us 16:50 mins. to get home and it was really great to sleep in our own beds last night instead of a hotel in Virginia. Anyway, we stayed the night we arrived on 10/30 at Sheraton Safari. I won it on Priceline for $37 for the night and it was a great hotel. It had the heavenly beds and it was truly a bargain at that price and I would definitely stay there again. Our last night I also won on Priceline (the Contemporary was booked) I won the Radisson WorldGate on 192W for $47 and the place was disgusting! Don't ever stay there okay? Halloween Day we moved over to the Contemporary where we stayed 5 nights using our DVC points. We had a room in the South wing and it was really nice. The CR is definitely one of our favs! On Halloween night we went to the MNNSHP and had a true blast. John & I dressed as doctors, Taryn as a pirate, and John Jr. as a football player. Kids went trick-or-treating and we stayed till the bitter end. Monday we did Epcot, Tuesday Typhoon Lagoon, & Wednesday Animal Kingdom. Wed. is when John had to fly home for work. We took him to the airport Wed night and return to the CR very sad. Thursday Taryn danced at the Magic Kingdom and it was the experience of a lifetime. Since I was stag, I met up with a dear friend and her family and became a fifth wheel. I don't think they minded though since they called me the next day and we did Universal. I met quite a few people I knew I guess cause it was Jersey week at all. Of course, since I'm no wallflower anyway I spend my day chatting around the MK. Friday, I checked out of the CR and checked into the really divey Radisson and went with my friends to Universal. Finally it was time to go to the airport and get John. John's flight was delayed one hour and he finally arrived at Orlando Airport at 11:45. We were back at the yucky Radisson by 12:30 am, slept till 5 am and hit the road by 5:20. We arrrived at 10:05 last night and hit the hay hard. It's nice to go away, but it's nice to come home too!

A few observations from this trip:

-Very hot! Very, very hot. Over 90 some days!
-Very crowded! Very, very crowded. Park full of fellow Jerseyans & many Brits (maybe this is a school break time for them too)
-You have a 50/50 shot with Priceline. I won't take the chance again.
-Parks close early in Nov., therefore, the parks are really, really crowded all day.
-I go every year in August and have NEVER seen crowds like I did at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday. It was the kind of crowded that if you stood still, the crowd could still carry you along.
-The airport isn't very close to WDW
-I love my husband very much and really missed him and really appreciate him flying back to Florida to drive us home so I wouldn't have to drive alone! You're the best John!!!!!
- I LOVE WALT DISNEY WORLD



CV

 

[florida sun]

Bev

We were on the August 22nd 4 day wonder, we had a great time.
Let me know when you have your dates for next August and if you are there the same time as us it would be great to meet up.
My daughter Vicki is 14 a little bit younger than yours, but I am sure she thinks she's 17.

Carmen- Welcome back, glad the holiday went well.Do you think your husband will fly over to the UK to drive me to your next breakfast meet, I will be very grateful lol.


Sue

 

[O'BWV]

Hi Sue!

I'm sure my DH will hop over the pond and drive you to our next breakfast LOL! Is it a school holiday time for you guys over there by any chance? There seemed to be alot of people from the UK at WDW this past week. I just love the accent and I could listen to it all day.




CV

 

[florida sun]

Carmen

School holidays started 24th October in Wales but only for 1 week, I think in England the holidays may differ by about a week, so yes it is quite possible that there were a lot of people from over here, at WDW the last couple of weeks. Anyway thank your DH for agreeing to drive me to the next breakfast meet, I will look forward to it.

Sue

 

[mickeymom923]

Carmen - Welcome back. Glad you made it home safe. I'm jealous that you got to spend time with my pal Mickey and I didn't. It was great to read your recap - brings back great memories. Can't wait till I go back to WDW next August. Of course, my kids want to do a Disney Cruise even if it's 3 days. A 3 day Disney Cruise is better than a no day Disney Cruise. lol

Bev

 

[O'BWV]

Sue,

Is it expensive to vacation in Florida from the UK or is the exchange rate favorable?



CV

 

[florida sun]

Carmen

The exchange rate at the moment is the best it has been for a long time, it peaked the other day at $1.85 to the £1.00, just to let you know how good that is when I first went in 2000 I got just
$1.35 to the £1.00. It has been forcasted to get to $2.00 to the £ by the end of the year by some experts. It is cheaper now in some cases to book a holiday to Florida from the UK than it is to go to Europe.

Sue

 

[Reenieny18]

Welcome back CV.. we really missed you guys alot. So glad you had a great time and it proved to be a life time experience for Taryn. What a great husband you have to drive all that way and fly back down for you.. what a man... GOOD FOR YOU.

Darlene how is Stan?
Lynn how is Matt?

Jaclyn had a junior prom to go to last night at a friends school. her and my mom designed the gown and she looked beautiful (of course I am biesed) I am going to try to attach a pic of them.

lets try this and see...
Doreen

 

[Mjasp]

CV WELCOME BACK

I wonder if it was Darlene that your DH saw.

Doreen...Post the pic when you get it up there, Junior Prom. I have 3 more years for that.

Under 650 days, I can't even imagine how many days long that really is.

Anyone cruising next year? I know Terry has the voyager booked. Anyone else going non Disney? We are hoping to cruise in 2005 and if so it will be NON Disney. Funny when you crusie non Disney, you don't feel the need to rush to book.

Joanna

 

[allshookup]

Originally posted by Mjasp

Anyone cruising next year? I know Terry has the voyager booked. Anyone else going non Disney? We are hoping to cruise in 2005 and if so it will be NON Disney. Funny when you crusie non Disney, you don't feel the need to rush to book.

Joanna

We are cruising the NCL Dawn for the 2nd time 4-17-05 out of NY to FL & the Bahamas. I hope it makes waiting for our 8/06 cruise a little easier!

Diane

 

[Reenieny18]

Ok, I finally, added some pics to Bobbys site of Jaclyns prom she went to. She got home at 130am and I am so tired,,lol
She got up about 1030 AM..
needless to say she is asleep now at 8pm.
Here is a link to the pics on Bobbys site. Ginny where are you?

http://www167.pair.com/rjmweb/disney/cruise/gallery/album07

Doreen

 

[Colestat]

Originally posted by Mjasp

Anyone cruising next year? I know Terry has the voyager booked. Anyone else going non Disney? We are hoping to cruise in 2005 and if so it will be NON Disney. Funny when you crusie non Disney, you don't feel the need to rush to book.

Joanna

We have a Voyager booked for August 2005 out of Bayonne, NJ.

Terry - I see you are also sailing Voyager in June. Have you ever sailed RCCL before? I have been spending some time on Cruise Critic trying to get some insider information.

Sue

 

[Mjasp]

Originally posted by allshookup
We are cruising the NCL Dawn for the 2nd time 4-17-05 out of NY to FL & the Bahamas. I hope it makes waiting for our 8/06 cruise a little easier!

Diane

Diane...Why don't you put a countdown timer for your NCL cruise, look at my timer for April, it is getting there.

Colestat...The 26th of August is too close to school for me, especially what happened this year to us this year. I wouldn't have a problem but DD starts a new school in Sept. Yep High School, can't miss the first day of that.

Joanna

 

[Colestat]

Originally posted by Mjasp
[Colestat...The 26th of August is too close to school for me, especially what happened this year to us this year. I wouldn't have a problem but DD starts a new school in Sept. Yep High School, can't miss the first day of that.

Joanna [/B]

Hi Joanna,
Yes, August 26th is very close to the start of school. My kids will be in 4th and 6th grade. We are hoping we will not have a problem. It can't be as bad as this year.

Sue

 

[sandygirl]

DOREEN - Jaclyn is absolutely gorgeous! Love the dress, love the hair, love the smile! I hope she had a great time.

CARMEN - You should have yelled!!!! It was probably me if it was Monday. Sandy and I only went to the MNSSHP. I only had the party tickets and didn't do any other parks. She was dressed as Pocahontus and was adorable. We took the monorail from the TTC around 4-4:30 and didn't get back to our hotel until after midnight. She was a trooper. I know 4 other families from our town who were supposed to be there that night for the party but I didn't see anyone. We came home on Tues. If we had been there on Thurs I would loved to have seen Taryn dance. That is so exciting! I wanted to get your cell phone number before I left but I actually was still changing my mind about going as I drove to the airport. I just threw some stuff in the suitcases on Sat morning and went to the hospital and to the airport.

I am so bummed that we may have just passed each other! I'm glad the trip worked out with John traveling back and forth. He is sweet.

Darlene

 

[sandygirl]

Originally posted by florida sun
Carmen

The exchange rate at the moment is the best it has been for a long time, it peaked the other day at $1.85 to the £1.00, just to let you know how good that is when I first went in 2000 I got just
$1.35 to the £1.00. It has been forcasted to get to $2.00 to the £ by the end of the year by some experts. It is cheaper now in some cases to book a holiday to Florida from the UK than it is to go to Europe.

Sue

My stepson brought pictures over today from his trip to Ireland in May. Beautiful! We were discussing the exchange rate. I remember when I used to get 2.50 marks on every dollar. Sure made my rent almost reasonable. But that was a long time ago. Can you buy your airfare in dollars? Or just what you purchase in the US?

Darlene