Calling all July 20th Western Cruisers!!!

[PartiesNBalloons]

Your kindness is definitely "Disney Style"!!

 

[Laura E.]

Hello Shirley

Just one of the excited cruisers here - I have one question for you? Are you for real? It seems so unusual that someone will go out of their way to help perfect strangers. But since you put the offer out there - hope you don't mind if I take you up on it if the need arises. Thanks so much for thinking about others, its refreshing to realize there really are nice people still out there.

Thanks - Laura E.

 

[floridaminnie]

PartiesNBalloons, I sent you a PM

 

[windyguy]

We are from the Windy city of Chicago thus the name Windyguy.
This is our first time and everyone in the family had to come sons 23 & 17 daughter 18. My oldest feels a little strange being with so many younger kids on the cruise but should fill that void playing basketball with me and the younger son maybe we spot a three on three with other cruisers. Also bringing my sister along to help keep me and the wife tipsy... See you all very soon now.

 

[floridaminnie]

windyguy, just a little FYI we were reading the navigator's from barb's website and they have a special group meeting for the 18-25 year old group to meet. I guess that is to help those in the in-between group meet each other.

 

[DisneyCruiseluvr]

Hey fellow cruisers!

So far, these are the families that will meet on our sailing day at 4:30PM on the 9th deck by the towel bins at the Mickey pool (facing the DCL building):

PartiesNBalloons
SDoane
Laura E
BLB531 (told me she'd do her best!)
DisneyCruiseLuvr (me)
LaurapKY
Amcanzo

I hope I didn't miss anyone, I'm doing this by memory. Anyone else out there coming by to meet with us?

I'm getting really anxious to start filling up our suitcases!!!! How about you guys???

 

[floridaminnie]

I have to make another trip to the dollar store today to finish up the endless list of have to haves for the trip.

 

[PartiesNBalloons]

Hi fellow cruisers!!

Just curious where everyone is staying the night before the cruise. We're staying at the Radisson. Anyone else joining us??

I'm ready to pull out the suitcases too, DisneyCruiseLuvr!! I cannot believe it is sooo close now. I started this thread when we were 6 weeks out and now only have 11 days to go!!

BTW, I bought a box of 24 party bubbles yestersday. I"ll bring these for our Sailaway Dis party!!

See ya soon!

 

[amcanzo]

We're flying in that day to Orlando....but we would like to plan on meeting everyone too... So count us in!



Ann

 

[DisneyCruiseluvr]

Hey Ann!

We'll be looking forward to meeting you! I've already printed out my "DIS" labels for our DCL lanyards so you all will be able to spot us out right away. We are a family of four (Me, DH, DS13 & DD9).

We'll be in Disneyworld before the cruise. That's why I'm sooooooo ready to pack our bags!!! We leave on July 17th. We've had this vacation planned for about a year. I can't believe it's almost time to go!!

 

[DOOGIERUNNER]

Count DoogieRunner and family in (DD - 7 DS - 9). Last cruise we met the DISers while mulling around in the terminal!!! Not sure if we'll be at the 4:30 meeting. Anyone besides PartiesandBallon a DVC member?

We're getting in on the 18th, and spending Friday at Seaworld, Crusing, followed by a week @ VB then a week @ BWV. Can't wait !!!

 

[PartiesNBalloons]

What a vacation!! Don't tell me you have enough points to do the entire vacation.... I"ll be sooo jealous!! Let me know how VB is. We've never been and I'm curious of how it is. We own at Hilton Head and love it! That's where we are going next summer. It is such a laid back vacation. No parks, no alarms.... it's great.

Are you still going to the DVC reception? Is it on Sunday morning?

See you in 11 days!!

 

[floridaminnie]

Just a quick ? for those that are DVC members. When I calculated the cost of membership along with the annual maint. cost. I came up with six dollars per point which is a great savings over the cost of a reg. hotel at WDW onsite. I was just wondering how you like it and do you find it worth the cost. Any drawbacks of being a member? I ordered info. from them, but plan on talking to rep while on cruise. Thanks! Only ten more days!

 

[PartiesNBalloons]

I'm not sure about how you caculated your points but $6 a points sounds really low. If you visit the DVC board, I'm sure someone can help you with it.

As far as being happy with DVC... we love it and feel it is the best investment we have ever made for our family!! It pretty much guarantees us a great vacation every year until we are like 80 years old!!! The part we like the most is having so much space. We usually get the 2 brdm for our family of 4 and it is so much more relaxing than being crammed in a little one room hotel.

I'm sure once you are on board you can talk with a rep. I think you can even come to the DVC reception if you are thinking of buying.

10 days and counting down!!

 

[windyguy]

This is sounding better by the minute and boy this family certainly cannot wait for our trip. We have been DVC since 93 and yes we love it only drawback is that it expires 2042 and then is purchasing again but surely we should get a chance of some sort of cost saving and that's something my kids need to worry about I should be long gone.hahaha. We also have timeshare with Marriott and also love that but feel DVC is the best for what we have in being part of the Mania of Disney. We come into Orlando on Thurdays staying at the Boardwalk for two nights before coming to port and expect to party all day long thruout the World park hopping is for us. Reservations for Contemporry california Grill on arrival just to watch the fireworks that night from there, we don't like the food so much there but the sight is awesome. We may not also make the 4:30pm meeting but hopefully should catch up with most of the DIS member during the cruise.
One question more please the boys don't want to dress in Tux for formal night and wish to wear just a plain suit Black thusly I would wear a Sport jacket with nice slack and shirt would this be out of place much for you experience cruiser to answer?.
Thanks for the information on 18-25 gathering makes the big boy happy to know that this is taking place and he has a chance to be within his age group. Wife is ready to pack now and have had to restrain her since we still have more then a few to go but thats what being crazy about Disney is,,, see you all soon!!!!!
for joy......

 

[PartiesNBalloons]

Reading all the posts about formal night, I really think you and your sons will be ok in a suit. My DH is wearing a black suit and tie for formal night, also.

See ya in 10 days!

 

[DOOGIERUNNER]

In regards to the $6/point value... your point value is much higher if you use them at DVC home resorts, more like $29 - $35/pp. On the cruise I think ours were around $9. Just take the price you would have had to pay for a passenger and divide it by the number of points required for that passenger. Same with a room at a DVC resort.

PartiesNBalloons.. no we're not taking the whole 3 weeks on points, we paid cash for our two kids for the cruise. .

windycity... you will be fine in a suit. We went on the eastern last year and I'd say much less than half of the folks were in in evening gowns and tuxes. After early seating, many changed into their casual clothes for the rest of evening's activities.

We're packing a fewer clothes this year. Word of advice, you won't need as many clothes as you think. Most sun folks hang in tees and swimwear all day. I'm taking my evening clothes for dinner, everything else will be swimsuits, running shorts, tee shirts and tank tops. I'll be running on deck 4 early in the mornings, by the pool after breakfast until early afternoon then napping and reading a book on the lounge chairs on deck 4 again before dinner. Last year our kids stayed up until around midnight every night so they needed that afternoon nap (as did I). They spent their fair share of time in the club but not as much as they would have liked... it is a family vacation!!

 

[Laura E.]

Dear Doogierunner - might I ask what time you will be running? Reason? I have a 16-yo who must train for cross country during vacation or he won't be allowed to participate in a cross country week long training camp upon our return to CA. He's concerned that others won't be running or that their isn't room to run. Any way you can allay his fears? Might help his nervousness seeing as 'mom' never knows anything! But hearing it from others might make it real. If you can just e-mail me I'll give you his address. Thanks for your help.

Laura E.

 

[DisneyCruiseluvr]

Hi Laura E.!

Please tell your son that there is plenty of space to run on the 4th deck. I use to get up early in the morning and run a few laps before breakfast sometimes. I think if you run 4 whole laps it's equal to 2 miles, something like that anyways. I heard that info. is posted on a wall somewhere on Deck 4.

The "track" is outdoors for most of the run, but when you go around the front and back of the boat, it goes indoors. I'm sure he'll be passing me up sometime!

 

[DOOGIERUNNER]

Laura E.,

Regarding running.... I run marathons so I run year round. I'm one of those who doesn't need an alarm clock so I'm usually up by 6... which would be 7 eastern. I think last year I was out between 7-7:30 most mornings for an hour. There were always plenty of folks running around deck 4 then. In the late morning it's walkers. They say its just over 1/4 mile around, but based on the time it takes me to run a mile, I say it's closer to 3 laps per mile. They also have treadmills in the spa but I'm not a treadmill fan. If you son wants to meet me Sunday morning let me know by replying to this post. I'm not fast, 6:30s to 7's are a relaxed pace... getting old.


Someone earlier mentioned things to pack... a highlighter for the daily navigator. There's so much to do. We liked highlighting those things that sounded fun... whether we did them or not was a different story, it's vacation; we don't like being tied to a schedule .