Dec. 2, 2010 3 day Wonder

[missj1975]

We are off the ship too. Our room was ready at the Contemporary so I am just checking my email while DH takes a nap.

We absolutely loved the FE exchange. It was so much fun seeing all the goodies and how creative everyone got. Thank you everyone!!!

We had an absolute blast on the cruise.

 

[CrazyBoutDisney]

Just sitting at the airport, waiting for our flight home. Wish we could have met everyone, too! We received such wonderful FE gifts, it would have been nice to say thanks in person. In any case, THANK YOU all, who participated in the exchange!!!

Would like to hear from schoonersky, too, about springing the surprise on the kids!! How did it go??????

So, when are we going back???!!!!!

 

[tink70]

Just got home, and am unpacking. It was a short but sweet trip.
This was our first time participating in the FE exchange, and my family loved it.
Even my DS, a teenager, was excited about it.
Thanks everyone for exchanging, I have to say I was so excited about the brush. Living in New England I take my kids to the beach often, and I plan on using one next summer to remind me of my trip! (The other is on display in my kitchen)
Thanks to everyone, I also wish we had met some of you but the time FLEW by.
Boy were we lucky with castaway cay, one of the life guards told me it was cold and windy the day before we were there.

 

[Momfong]

We are in Animal Kingdom today ... it is FREEZING. What happened to the Castaway Cay weather????

A big thank you for all the fun with the FE exchange. I had so much fun participating.

Everyone travel safe back to your original destinations (home).

 

[Julie Mouse]

Thank you all so much for the FE gifts - that was so much fun! It really made me feel like I wasn't traveling alone - plus the great people I ate with . What a wonderful vacation. I'm still high from it. thank you again!!!!!

 

[Momfong]

Just got home, and am unpacking. It was a short but sweet trip.
This was our first time participating in the FE exchange, and my family loved it.
Even my DS, a teenager, was excited about it.
Thanks everyone for exchanging, I have to say I was so excited about the brush. Living in New England I take my kids to the beach often, and I plan on using one next summer to remind me of my trip! (The other is on display in my kitchen)
Thanks to everyone, I also wish we had met some of you but the time FLEW by.
Boy were we lucky with castaway cay, one of the life guards told me it was cold and windy the day before we were there.

Hi - I actually "scraplifted" the ideam from a fellow DISer. Here are her directions..

Originally Posted by Buckeye Gal View Post
I promised to post my primary FE gift after my cruise, and sadly yet happily, that time has arrived.

Beach brushes to help get the sand off were my crafty gift this time. Being I was gone 2.5 weeks for the WBTA, I didn't have the luggage room to include a small container of baby powder, but if we were embarking from Port Canaveral, I would have shipped the baby powder in advance as part of the gift. (If you didn't know, baby powder helps the sand to easily come off.)

Supplies and instructions are noted below if you would like to make them as well!

Beach Brush


Supplies and Directions

* Soft Bristled Paint Brush (3” shown): remember SOFT is a key word here because someone may have a sunburn when they use it
* Mini Mickey Parts Rubber Stamps: these stamps are included in the Disney Alphabet set from EK Success (although these Mickey parts could be free-handed rather easily)
* Acrylic Paints: black, white, red, and goldenrod yellow
* Small Paint Brushes: use to fill in the shapes from the rubber stamps with the paint
* DCL Logo: print in color on standard paper and cut into small pieces
* Mod Podge: used to affix and seal DCL logo to brush handle
* Grosgrain Ribbon: I sewed the end that was going to be lying on top to get a clean edge. This was placed on the metal band below the handle.
* Dritz Fray-Check: use to eliminate the fray of the cut ribbon; clear nail polish could be used in a pinch
* Avery 18665 8.5”x11” Clear Label: print words for handle and cut to size
* Strong Glue: This is needed to hold ribbon in place, and you have to make sure you don’t use a kind that would come off with water. Velco Glue worked great by dabbing only on the ends of the ribbon and the sides of the brush. I do recommend you test whatever you use first to ensure it won’t leave a wet-looking spot on the ribbon after it dries.
* EK Success Jolee's Disney Mickey Head Dimensional Stickers: found in the scrapbooking section of your craft store
* Krylon Satin Finish Sealer: use 2-3 coats on both sides of handle after it’s decorated
* Rope Trim: Having something to hang the brush by is nice so you can tie it to a beach bag, stroller, or elsewhere. A large loose-leaf book ring would work great, too. Of course in this case, it also worked to attach the romance card I made.
* Romance Card: I wanted to ensure the intended use of the brush was known, so I wrote a poem and printed it off on cardstock paper with a Castaway Cay picture in the background. On the back side, I used a self-inking stamp I purchased that states the cruise and its voyage dates as well as a sentiment with my DISboard name. I then rubber stamped Tink beside it and colored it in with wet chalks. Finally, I laminated the romance card so it could go to the beach or be repurposed on luggage, a bag, or a scrapbook album.


POEM

Here is the poem I wrote for the romance card:

We sail from sea to shining sea,
To see the sun rise at Castaway Cay.
You feel the sand embrace your feet,
Which is a marvelous, warm treat!

As the day comes to a close,
The sand is tickling your little toes.
Just feel the bristles between your fingers,
Then the sand no longer lingers!

 

[disneydeb]

Thank you all so much for the FE gifts - that was so much fun! It really made me feel like I wasn't traveling alone - plus the great people I ate with . What a wonderful vacation. I'm still high from it. thank you again!!!!!

hi julie, its me your tablemate debbie, glad to see you made it home safely! it was very nice to meet you and hope you had as much fun on the cruise as i did, i now know what fish extenders are!!! have a blessed christmas -deb

 

[schoonersky]

Our trip was unbelievable. The frames we did were perfect when I packed them....and then....Our kids were so excited! Picked them up at school with our popcorn buckets from the World, told them we had errands to run...when we pulled off at the airport, they wanted to know what errands and we said "well we think it's a good day to go back to Disney and get some more popcorn buckets from the other parks." They were very excited. For the first hour at the airport. And then...

DS called his Nana to tell her he was going to Disney. And she said "isn't that great? And a cruise too!" So much for my surprise T-shirts for the next morning..... But alas...

Our flight to New York was cancelled and we were told they couldn't get us to Orlando. Try again tomorrow. Finally after an hour of begging and pleading on the phone and in person (and two very nice gentlemen who sent me ahead of them in line at the ticket counter), we JUST managed to get on a plane bound for Toronto. The kids overhead mom begging because we were going on a CRUISE tomorrow....so I guess Nana's blip of the secret was irrelevant.

We got off in Toronto and thought we were on some flight to somewhere, turned out that all of the American Airlines staff were gone and so on the phone I got again. Found out we were on a 6:30am flight to Chicago Thursday morning, with a connection to Orlando landing at 12:50pm.

We found a hotel and the kids got some sleep. I called SPACE PORT TRANSORT at 10:30pm to tell them not to pick us up at 9am at the Orlando hotel as we clearly wouldn't be there. They graciously said they would be at MCO at 12:50, no problem at all (and no extra charge for the change!). I laid with my eyes staring at the ceiling all night - stressing about whether we would make it or not. Got up at 4 and back to the airport. Fortunately...everything went off without a hitch and we landed in Orlando at 12:35pm.

Bob from Space Port drove us to the Port, and I gave the kids their SURPRISE t-shirts. Who was I kidding about that surprise? We looked so wretched in our T-shirts with no sleep for our boarding picture...it was sad really. I missed the drink by the pool and the 'quiet' time on the ship. We went right to our cabin and enjoyed the balcony and a beer from our basket from Shirley at The Perfect Gift.

We went to dinner, and sat with a lovely family from Miami - V, R and A if you see this please pm me - we missed breakfast and I'm so sorry I don't have your contact information!!! [Is there any way to get your dining partner's info after the fact???] DD(8) feel asleep at the table and the rest of us weren't far behind, 9pm and we were all in bed - no show for us.

Bahamas day was great, a short walk around and then enjoyed the pool and stuff on board. Went to do our FE Gifts....and many of them were destroyed in some way, shape or form. I'M SO SORRY IF YOUR FRAME DOESN'T HAVE SHELLS! I had two extra, and they were both broken completely. Mental note to self, no frames for FE Gifts next time! And to top it all off, I couldn't find my FE list! But a fellow dis-er helped save the day! By the way - the sunscreen came in handy because I forgot ours!!!

Made it to dinner and Toy Story - a great day. DD(8) could not make it for the fireworks though. I watched them on video.... not the same I'm afraid. But the 24 hour travel excursion had wiped all of us out.

Castaway Cay - amazing. And the FE gifts....the kids were so excited, and DH too, who thought I was a lunatic spending hours on the frames. He was as disappointed as me that they weren't perfect. My kids finally decided on this last night that they liked the Oceaneer's Lab. Oh well - ready for next time!

The week at the Contemporary was lovely, we almost bought DVC but decided to wait for now....I want to cruise again and soon!! We came home today, and unbelievably our connecting flight was cancelled, so after 16 long hours we are home. Off to bed!

Thanks so much for the lovely gifts...and thanks to JulieMouse who helped me get them delivered by giving me her list. Would love to hear how others' trips went!

 

[tink70]

schoonersky, OMG!!!!!
What a trip! Thank goodness you made it!!!! I guess it is a very good thing that you went a day early. We flew in on the day of the cruise and had no problems at all, thank goodness!
Our frame was in perfect shape, thank you!
We had an awesome trip, surpsiingly my DS enjoyed the fish extender experience the most. Being a teenager I did not think he would even notice, but he loved it!
We had a neat thing happen to us. After kayaking near the boat, we were walking back to the bbq area when some people approached us with a video camera and asked us if we would like to be interviewed for disney cruise line.
I actaully was not sure at first but my family was very excited and we did do it. They are putting together a new video. They asked us questions about what we were doing and what we liked and then at the end asked us to say "its included". We wil probably end up ont he cutting room floor but it was pretty neat! I actauly have a great castatway cay stroy I tell about how last time I was there, I flet like a little kids so much that when my DH said it was time to go I said, "NOOOOOOOO. Wouldnt you know I forgot my story when they asked, I guess I am not cut out for tv!

 

[Julie Mouse]

hi julie, its me your tablemate debbie, glad to see you made it home safely! it was very nice to meet you and hope you had as much fun on the cruise as i did, i now know what fish extenders are!!! have a blessed christmas -deb

Hi Debbie!

I tell you - I have had the craziest time with the DisBoards - just can't log in. It was really nice to meet you, too. I hope you had a great rest of your vacation. Merry Christmas! Julie

 

[dr&momto2boys]

We just got back last night. What a crazy trip! Fun, but COLD! We weren't prepared. The cruise was great though! Thanks everyone for the FE gifts! The gifts were all so nice! You could tell people really put effort and thought into them. We did an FE exchange on our last cruise and this one was way better! I'm just trying to say THANKS! The kids really appreciated the gifts especially for them. Ella is still carrying aroung her little Eeyore and Jacob thought it was awesome that someone made special magnets for his birthday! Thank you all very much!

 

[Momfong]

We just got back last night. What a crazy trip! Fun, but COLD! We weren't prepared. The cruise was great though! Thanks everyone for the FE gifts! The gifts were all so nice! You could tell people really put effort and thought into them. We did an FE exchange on our last cruise and this one was way better! I'm just trying to say THANKS! The kids really appreciated the gifts especially for them. Ella is still carrying aroung her little Eeyore and Jacob thought it was awesome that someone made special magnets for his birthday! Thank you all very much!

I think we were ALL surprised by the cold weather. My family had to go shopping at the outlets for "Winter" clothes. Most of us came home on Sunday (the weekend was actually nice). My oldest is still there and he says it is cold again.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I think we were ALL surprised by the cold weather. My family had to go shopping at the outlets for "Winter" clothes. Most of us came home on Sunday (the weekend was actually nice). My oldest is still there and he says it is cold again.

The weather yesterday morning was in the thirties! Of course we returned home to 18 degrees and snow!

I forgot to ask, did anyone else book another cruise while onboard? We booked the Western Caribbean on the Fanatasy in May 2012! Sounds like a long time from now, but better than nothing! My new little one will be 12 months old and the weather should be warm! Plus the ship will be almost new--it's maiden voyage is in April I believe. I think we'll be on her 6th or 7th cruise.

 

[gurlwithwings35]

I just joined the boards, but I just thought I'd say that I got engaged on this cruise!
Best cruise ever.....so far

 

[tink70]

Congratulations!! That's wonderful!! Also, welcome to the disboards, it's lots of fun and very informative!!!