Dec. 7, 2008 4 nite Mousefest Cruise - who's all going?

[mkmommy]

My DP and I signed up for this cruise last summer when we were on the Magic Med cruise. Really looking forward to cruising again. I usually don't have a lot of time to read or respond on the boards due to a very busy schedule. I am a triathlete and between working and working out time is always at at a premium but was racing at the Ironman 70.3 triathlon race at Disney and was involved in a bike crash which resulted in a fracture of my collar bone . Surgery was done to repair so now am at home recuperating until the surgeon releases me to go back to work. My right arm is in a sling so having to type and do all with one hand.

This will be our 2nd 4 day cruise. Looking forward to a nice relaxing cruise.

We live in Celebration so visit Disney all the time. Love it.

Would be interested in meeting others that love Disney

Welcome aboard, hope that you are back to 100% soon, and that you are relaxing with your extra time, as I am sure training takes lots of time.

December is coming fast.

If anyone is thinking of staying at the Hyatt at MCO, this may help .


You may be able to get a Hyatt Stay Certificate for $135 that you buy before hand. :

https://www.certificates.hyatt.com/p...CertsStay.aspx



I did this for my March 09 cruise, make sure to call and see if you can book a room first and then go online and buy the certificate. Just checked Hyatt.com and the AAA rate is $159 plus tax for Dec. so it is not a great savings but for March it is almost $100 savings.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Lisa

 

[Trigal]

Have any of you ever played golf while in Nassau on one of these cruises? I see that there are two courses on Paradise Island one of which is at the Atlantis resort on two on the big island. Since we go ashore at 9:30 and don't leave until 5 it would appear there is plenty of time to get in 18 holes.

Thanks
Debbie

 

[DisneySpirit]

Hello Everyone!
We just booked this cruise. We have always wanted to see holiday decorations on the ship and CC. We had booked the 3 day Wonder cruise on 12/4/08 but I just found out I'll be taking an early retirement in July. With more free time, we decided on this 4 day cruise instead. This will be our 11th DCL cruise. Looking forward to meeting all of you.

Tom (DisneySpirit) and Lynn (DW)

 

[mkmommy]

Sorry I do not golf , but you just ask on the main cruise thread, I am sure somewhere there would be able to help.

Have any of you ever played golf while in Nassau on one of these cruises? I see that there are two courses on Paradise Island one of which is at the Atlantis resort on two on the big island. Since we go ashore at 9:30 and don't leave until 5 it would appear there is plenty of time to get in 18 holes.

Thanks
Debbie

Welcome Tom and Lynn. Early retirement lucky you , I hope you get to do lots of wonderful things in your retirement, I can't wait till I can plan mine.


Lisa

Hello Everyone!
We just booked this cruise. We have always wanted to see holiday decorations on the ship and CC. We had booked the 3 day Wonder cruise on 12/4/08 but I just found out I'll be taking an early retirement in July. With more free time, we decided on this 4 day cruise instead. This will be our 11th DCL cruise. Looking forward to meeting all of you.

Tom (DisneySpirit) and Lynn (DW)

 

[mkmommy]

6 Months till we go

We are having a gift exchange, if anyone would like to join please let me know.

Our group so far.
Foxes Den- Food allergies, request no food gifts
Clarasunnyside
Mvlimmex
the2princessesmom
mkmommy
bmazsmith
Hanover


I have found some material to make a fish extender, now I just need to find some time to work on it.

Lisa

 

[RaySharpton]

Good morning everyone.

And may I say welcome to all of the new cruisers here since I last posted.

Oh...and guess what?

The first 2008 MouseFest Newsletter sign up link is posted below at :

Welcome to the MouseFest Newsletter, an e-newsletter for everyone planning (or hoping) to join us at MouseFest 2008! The MouseFest newsletter is available by free subscription to anyone -- join at

http://www.mousefest.org/newsletter.asp


You have a choice of information and updates for the cruise or land portions or both this year.

You can also unsubscribe to the newsletter at any time, too.

Vist www.MouseFest.org if you would like to see last year's meet and information and photos and trip reports onboard the Disney Wonder Cruise ship.

A great chance to meet the founder of the website AllEars.com Deb Wills in person.

And to meet the founders of the website PassPorter.com Dave and Jennifer Marx.

They are just wonderful people, and they will be glad to sign their books for you.

I am sure this has been mentioned before, but most of the meets that will be scheduled will be open to anyone.

Just show up.

Some meets may require a head count if the host of the meet has limited space for meeting or if they are going to give out little gifts.

And if you plan your vacation through one of the sponsor agencies, they may have exclusive meets for their clients only.

And if a meet requires money to join, like parasailing on the island, then they will definitely require a head count and a payment to the Wonder.

But you can read all about that on last year's meets at www.MouseFest.org for 2007.

I just wanted to let you know that the 2008 MouseFest newsletter is just information and updates as they are completed and announced.

And most meets on the Wonder and on the land are simply made by an individual who wants to meet other Disney loving people like themselves.

Like one year I held a meet at the Wonder's Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony where Mickey and Minnie and Goof and Pluto sang songs and lit the Christmas Tree.

Sometimes they even make it snow over the tree.

I didn't ask for a headcount, but welcomed anyone that wanted to talk about it in a thread. It didn't cost anything. It was part of the Wonder program.

It was a great way to start the first evening.

Or one person, Ms. Diva...a beautiful, mysterious lady sponsored a walk around the deck one morning for Breast Cancer Awareness.

No cost, just meet for coffee, and have a fun walk around the deck with Ms. Diva and her pink boa and pink champayne sun glasses.

One company did sponsor a limited $5.00 per person that came to the meet to be donated to Breast Cancer and Deb Wills of AllEars.com.

I could go on and on.

But I hope that you get the idea.

Just like up planning a dinner or sailaway meet or gift exchange.

But with MouseFest announcements the people hosting the meets may be an individual, couple, family, or members from a variety of Disney websites.

If you have any questions or are to shy, just ask me any questions and I will try and get you an answer.

Well today is my Friday.

Yes, I just got home from work after all weekend.

So I am about ready to go to sleep.

Everyone welcome and have a great week.

Sincerely, RaySharpton

 

[clarasunnyside]

Hi everyone

I have not written because after we got back I got a cold and then got busy with work.

But the trip was amazing. Coronado Srpings was amazing you feel like you are in mexico.
The parks were not that crowded . the adults actaully out numbered the kids.
I will fill U in on more soon


take care.

PS Vicki Anil saw on the news that there was some flooding in Wisconsin and he was worried and asked me to write to amke sure You guys are ok.
Hope all is well.

 

[goofy4tink]

Good morning everyone.

And may I say welcome to all of the new cruisers here since I last posted.

Oh...and guess what?

The first 2008 MouseFest Newsletter sign up link is posted below at :

Welcome to the MouseFest Newsletter, an e-newsletter for everyone planning (or hoping) to join us at MouseFest 2008! The MouseFest newsletter is available by free subscription to anyone -- join at

http://www.mousefest.org/newsletter.asp


You have a choice of information and updates for the cruise or land portions or both this year.

You can also unsubscribe to the newsletter at any time, too.

Vist www.MouseFest.org if you would like to see last year's meet and information and photos and trip reports onboard the Disney Wonder Cruise ship.

A great chance to meet the founder of the website AllEars.com Deb Wills in person.

And to meet the founders of the website PassPorter.com Dave and Jennifer Marx.

They are just wonderful people, and they will be glad to sign their books for you.

I am sure this has been mentioned before, but most of the meets that will be scheduled will be open to anyone.

Just show up.

Some meets may require a head count if the host of the meet has limited space for meeting or if they are going to give out little gifts.

And if you plan your vacation through one of the sponsor agencies, they may have exclusive meets for their clients only.

And if a meet requires money to join, like parasailing on the island, then they will definitely require a head count and a payment to the Wonder.

But you can read all about that on last year's meets at www.MouseFest.org for 2007.

I just wanted to let you know that the 2008 MouseFest newsletter is just information and updates as they are completed and announced.

And most meets on the Wonder and on the land are simply made by an individual who wants to meet other Disney loving people like themselves.

Like one year I held a meet at the Wonder's Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony where Mickey and Minnie and Goof and Pluto sang songs and lit the Christmas Tree.

Sometimes they even make it snow over the tree.

I didn't ask for a headcount, but welcomed anyone that wanted to talk about it in a thread. It didn't cost anything. It was part of the Wonder program.

It was a great way to start the first evening.

Or one person, Ms. Diva...a beautiful, mysterious lady sponsored a walk around the deck one morning for Breast Cancer Awareness.

No cost, just meet for coffee, and have a fun walk around the deck with Ms. Diva and her pink boa and pink champayne sun glasses.

One company did sponsor a limited $5.00 per person that came to the meet to be donated to Breast Cancer and Deb Wills of AllEars.com.

I could go on and on.

But I hope that you get the idea.

Just like up planning a dinner or sailaway meet or gift exchange.

But with MouseFest announcements the people hosting the meets may be an individual, couple, family, or members from a variety of Disney websites.

If you have any questions or are to shy, just ask me any questions and I will try and get you an answer.

Well today is my Friday.

Yes, I just got home from work after all weekend.

So I am about ready to go to sleep.

Everyone welcome and have a great week.

Sincerely, RaySharpton

Looks like you beat me to it Ray!! I was going to post that link but now you've done it instead. Thanks for that ...I'm sure it will help a lot of folks make some plans.
Can't wait to cruise with the MF group. Should be so much fun....6 months from today we'll be at sea and feeling sad that we get off the ship in a day.

 

[TiggerTails57]

I will be on the Wonder for the sea portion of MouseFest, followed by 11th -17th at SOG. It's my first Cruise!

(Hello, Ray!)

 

[RaySharpton]

Hi, Janice. This is going to be one great cruise.

Hi, Goofy4Tink and Jellyrolls. I can't wait to see you guys again.

Hi, Clarasunnyside. I'm so glad that you had a great WDW trip.

Hi, everyone. I'm enjoying reading everyone's posts.

I hope that I get to meet everyone.

Ray

 

[mvlimmex]

Hi everyone,

Hope you all are doing well. Welcome to those who have just joined us.


Hey Ray,

Nice to hear from you. Thanks for the MouseFest update.


Hi Clara,

I am so glad that you had a great trip to WDW. I bet the kids had a fun time. I bet they were really surprised too. I look forward to hearing about your trip. Our house is ok here with all the rain, though we did get some water in our basement this afternoon due to 3 more inches of rain. Ugg! There are so many fields and rivers flooded. It is so hard to believe. The small town we live close too, had some flooded roads and houses.

We need a break of rain here. We had a lot of flooded back in 1993 and they called that the year of the flood, but They are calling this even worse.

I have heard next week it is suppose to be nice, so lets hope so.

Talk to you soon!

Vicki

 

[clarasunnyside]

First Vicki so glad to hear everything is ok where you are.

Ray thanks for the information.


So we have to be @ the airport at 6am. So I start to wake up the boys @ 4am, we stayed @ my sister's house since she is about 20 minutes from the airport. My little guy says "mom why are you waking me up when the sky is still purple" Oh I say we are going on a special road trip today and we have to leave now. so off to the airport. Once there, thier faces were of total confusion.( They did not see us packing up the car with the suit cases). My older DS starts to ask "who is going away" so once my brother in law starts to unload the suit cases I explain to them how proud we are of them and how well they have handled such a difficult year and then the tears start rolling . I tried but it was so hard and then I tell them " WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY" and there was nothing just silence . oh oh may be they did not want to go. They just stood there with thier mouths open for a good two minutes and then.................... they started jumping up & down and screaming. and the questions where are we going first, can we buy some toys, I want to see mickey first etc, etc, etc,. The flight was great, the pilot got us there in 1hr. 50min. awesome more time @ the park today.

We arrive @ the hotel, get our key and off to our room, this place is huge so of course I got lost everyday trying to find my room . We had decided to go to Epcot today. And so off we go to Epcot. the park was pleasantly not crowded, and it was only about 1pm. so we get on everything @ epcot and head over to the world showcase we walk around and stop @ almost every store . The boys were amazed by it all and then it dawned on me that my younger DS had been on the cruise and not to the parks so this was his first trip to the parks and my older DS was only 15 months old when he went.
So now its 9pm and we are exhausted, . So we go to the bus terminal to wait for the bus, and we wait and wait and wait and wait some more. we waited for 45 min, we were almost faling when the bus finally came. so when we get back to the hotel, my sister mentioned it to the person @ the front desk. They took her room # and said someone would be calling her.
We get back to the room and about 10 min later the transportaion manager calls my sister, she explained that she just thought a 45 min was a little to long to wait and they agreed. The transpostation manager said she was going to find out what happened and call us back in the morning,

The boys took a nice refreshing shower and off to bed. My crazy sister at that hour decides we have to decorate the window and the room and off to decorate she goes.

More to come

 

[clarasunnyside]

http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh73/clarasunnyside/

 

[the2princessesmom]

Clara your first day sounds wounderful. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip. The pictures are great. We love Crystal Palace and have our ADR's for when we go to Disney after the cruise.

Lill

 

[clarasunnyside]

So we get up and are getting ready when the phone rings and its the transportation manager to tell us that "Bob" our driver is downstairs waiting for us.
Awesome. So Bob takes us to Hollywood studios.

Again the lines were very short and the adults out numbered the kids. This is great. We are done in a few hours since we skippied the fast rides, like tower of terror and the rock N roll coaster.
We get back to the hotel and its was hot so we decided to hit the pool and have lunch there. Oh boy the pool is beautiful. We were there for a couple of hours. We head back to the room and get dressed for the pirates and princess party @ Magic Kingdom. Again the park was not crowded. We got to see alot of characters got autograghs did the rides, saw the parade had some ice cream Mickey Bars Oh yeah life is gpod. .
We stay until midnight and then head back to the room, exhausted excited but exhausted.

 

[mvlimmex]

Hi Clara,

The rain has let up here for a few days, which is good. Our basement is drying up, as well as some of the fields around here, but there is still flooding in some areas.

I really enjoy reading your trip report. It sounds like you all are having a great time and I look forward to reading the rest of your report
You are so lucky that the parks weren't very crowded. I enjoyed looking at your Disney pictures too. How long were you there for? I bet seeing your kids faces as you told them about the trip was something you will never forget. I would have such a hard time keeping it a secret, but seeing their faces when you surprised them would be so worth it.

We are plannning a trip this Aug to WDW and are getting really excited. It was kind of the spur of the moment thing. We are going to be staying at Ft. Wilderness cabins and are going to go to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I haven't been to Magic Kingdom since I was around 12 years old. We are driving down there. We are hoping to take my mother along, as my father just passed away from congestive heart failure 2 weeks ago. He had had a hard winter, but we thought with summer coming that he would be alright, but he had a fall due to low blood pressure on Memorial Day and just went down hill from there. It was so sad to see my dad in the hospital and not be able to do anything for him - except make him comfortable. I know my mom is having a hard time with my dad gone and we thought that maybe in a couple of months we could take her to WDW with us to help ease her pain and hopefully get her mind off of things for a while. I am not sure that she will want to go or not, but we are hoping that she will go along with us.

I look forward to the rest of your report!!!!!

Vicki

 

[clarasunnyside]

Oh Vicki

I am so sorry to hear about your dad. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. I know how hard it is, not being able to help them, its such a horrible feeling, and you just want the doctors to get them better and send them home.
I think it would be good for your mom to get away. My father in law moved in with us, and it is heartbreaking to watch him he is just so sad all the time. We try are best to keep him busy but after 55 years together, he is just inconsolable. So stay strong even though it may be hard and it will be and some days will be just horrible, but as long as you all are there for each other things will be manageable.

Clara

 

[clarasunnyside]

OK so today we are off to Animal Kingdom. We head straight for the Safari, but the wait was already @ almost 2 hours and teh fast pass was not much better. So we do the 3D movie" its tough to be a bug" and it is hilarious to watch my little during the movie. Although he did not think it was funny .
WE spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon at the park.
We then head back to the hotel and head to the pool for a little while.
And in the evening we went back to the Magic Kingdom and Oh boy was it crowded. I got a little spoiled with the parks not being crowded. Well tonight made up for it.
We walked around and di some more rides and watch the Electric parade, it so awesome, you just feel like a kid watching it.

and again we stayed until Midnight and head back to the hotel to to to to PACK oh no do we realy have to leave.

 

[clarasunnyside]

Such a sad morning. But we get up and go to Animal Kingdom for breakfast with the Characters. The boys loved it and after breakfast we try the Safari again, the wait is alot less so we do the Safari and the boys were fascinated, by the Safari and keep talking about doing it again when we go in December.
And as we get ready to leave we have one more Mickey icecream Pop.
We then head back to the hotel to wait for the bus to take us to the airport.

And well now we are home just wishing it was December 4th.

 

[bmazsmith]

Clara,
Thanks for the little bit of Pixie dust. It makes December seem not so far when you get alittle bit of the Magic in between. I went to make my dining reservations yesterday and already could not get all of them that I wanted. Have a great week
Beth