December 10, 2006 - 12/10/06 Wonder

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

Howard did great!!! There were 11 karts today in his class. He qualified 4th and we got another third place win! He is happy. We are pleased. Alls well at the Moore house today. Thanks Andrea for the cheers and congrats on yalls day. It makes me happy that everyone has had a good day.

Iankh - I am contemplating the same. We are cat9 and I would like a verandah. If we do, great...If not we are still happy. I am a little concerned about the verandah with the children but.....if they go out on the deck, I dont guess there is any difference. William said we would give it a try. We will get on the boat late so I might not even have a chance. It would really be cool if we got our documents and they did it for us. I am generally not that lucky!!!!!

I also owe jehender an apology. It was their bracelets that I had forgotten to ship. I mailed them Wednesday or Thursday. I never had an address for anolaw. I am still willing to ship them to her. firstimecruiser I dont think is going with us and alexandnessa didnt want theirs. If anyone needs extras, dont be shy. I have plenty.

We are going to the Orphuem tonight to see Bill Cosby. The children are going with their cousin to haunted hayrides and trails of terror!!!! Next week we are going to the busch car races. They are having a parade in Memphis and we got the fan walk passes. Howard is sooooo excited. Christie is a tad.

 

[SILLYANDI]

I think it is suppose to be 1210 posts...the date of our cruise.

duh! I knew that! It still works out to just about 11 posts a day.

I was thinking about upgrading too-but we need to have adjoining rooms so I'm not counting on it.

 

[ktpool]

We are going to the Orphuem tonight to see Bill Cosby. The children are going with their cousin to haunted hayrides and trails of terror!!!! Next week we are going to the busch car races. They are having a parade in Memphis and we got the fan walk passes. Howard is sooooo excited. Christie is a tad.

I am so jealous - I would love to see Bill Cosby and love to go to the races. I wish I lived an a big city sometimes. I was born and raised in Miami (yes, I am a FL girl!), but moved to the midwest for hubby. I miss concerts and events.

Oh, well, just look forward to the cruise!

Kristen

 

[BabyBird]

Congratulations on your winning day everyone!!! That is so great!

I found the rest of my stuff for you guys but still didn't make it to Home Depot for the Mickey heads. Maybe I will get over there early tomorrow. It is right next to the mall and that area was packed today like it was Christmas or something. Did I miss the memo? Why is everyone shopping this weekend? My girlfriend and I went to a Christian book store away from the mall and it was packed and everyone was buying stuff! I found a picture for my DMIL that is of the laughing Christ, way cool. I know she has wanted it for a long time and I can't wait to give it to her at Christmas. (crossing that one off the list...)

If this were the week of your trip to WDW/DCL what would you be doing right now?
We would be at Jiko, having dinner and eagerly anticipating getting to the boat tomorrow. I believe there would be amarula in my coffee and some sort of creme brulee on the table. It will be bitter sweet because we love Jiko and AKL and won't be back for a very long time. What a beautiful way to spend an evening. Perhaps we will take a stroll outside and look at the critters before we turn in.

Blessings all - I'm off to work on my AKL Christmas decor for our room, shhhh don't tell DH/Joe. He doesn't know what I am up to, it's a surprise!

 

[BabyBird]

Did you guys see the 12/9 thread???
They are at 41-thousand posts!

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

We would be at the candlelight processional probably crying my eyes out!!! I am so excited about Steven Curtis Chapman. We have two of his Christmas cds and they are moving. He is a great artist. Years ago he came to our church to have a mini concert and it was wonderful.

Bill Cosby was great. He gave his speech on education etc which he has been criticized on this part of his show when starting the present tour that he is on. The sad thing is it is all true with the Memphis public school system.
Then he went on about his wife and family. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard!!!

William and I are going to have to Tan in the tanning beds before we go. If you saw William at first glance you would think he is tan, but lord have mercy when he puts his shorts on its like the eighties song "blinded by the light"!!
He has what I call a "farmers tan".

 

[SILLYANDI]

At the time of the post we would have been at CP also, having just enjoyed a wonderful steak at Le Cellier. I'm sure I will be bawling like a baby too-just like the last time we went to CP. I don't know what it is-it's no different than listening to carols and the Christmas story at Church. Something Disney does makes it incredibly moving.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Right now-we would be leaving WDW enroute to the ship...

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

Andrea - Did yall get a transfer by limo or are you using disneys transfer? Right now we are on disneys transfer...Not sure if I am leaving that way. I dont think they pick up at the poly until like 12:30. I think I may be changing.
I wonder what Kristen is doing about this and the others at the other resorts?

Christmas in general makes me cry. Alot of the songs, movies and stories. I love watching little ones doing the nativity scene at church. They are so innocent and special. I also cry because all of my siblings still miss my Dad so incredibly much and the holidays intensifies it. It has been 2 and half years and I dont feel that his death has gotten any easier. I dont persay mourn his death everyday but I do miss him everyday.

 

[SILLYANDI]

I rented a van from National. It was around $50 for a one way trip-cheaper than any transfers available for our big 'ole family. The plan is to pick it up at the dolphin-load up and drive to port. Matt will drop me & the kids off at port then take the car to the rental place.

I'd offer you a ride but I don't think we could fit any more people. I wonder what the rates are like for a 15 passenger van-maybe we could do that and split the cost?
I'll look into it...

 

[iankh]

I am really confused about tipping and how it works. Yes, I have read through all the tipping guides and they make as much sense as a technical manual (actually that would make more sense to me).

I'm not quite sure why I have such a mental block on this.

Who exactly gets tipped and is it a per day calculation or is it for the entire cruise?

The part that especially confuses me is who gets tipped? I mean I understand the obvious people like the cabin steward, and dining room server, but who else?

 

[iankh]

If today were 12/10, right now we'd probably be getting off the DCL bus from the airport and going to check in at the DCL terminal.

We're doing airport to port, and port to resort transfers. There are only two of us (there had originally been 3), so renting a car isn't really cost effective. Plus I hate to drive, especially if I don't know where I'm going, so I avoid it.

Our big trip continues after the cruise, when we'll be spending 4 nights in a 1 bedroom at BWV and then 4 nights in a 1 bedroom at VWL. So, this is sort like 3 different vacations packed together.

We don't celebrate Christmas though the decorations this time of year at WDW are nice.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Shari- I found a 12 passenger van for $125 one way. I don't have my paperwork with me, but if the van I have reserved is less than $62 each way-I'd be willing to go 1/2's with you and get a bigger van. (I wonder if we could squeeze Kristen's group of 19 or whatever it is now into our van and get an even better deal! HA!HA!)

 

[disneyfan'ole]

Right now we would be on the boat.....Eating lunch!!

 

[BabyBird]

We are taking the Disney transfer from AKL to DCL - I am kind of looking forward to not having to migrate my luggage myself on this trip, at least not as much as I have in the past.

IanKH - your vacation sounds like a dream. I was talking to my DS on the phone while I was reading your post and we both decided that you will have ideal locations for premium park visiting.

The decoration making last night went very, very well. I am super pleased with what I have done so far. I will be passing the whole mess onto one of the families that returns from the 7-day Magic cruise on the 9th so I am not only trying to do something lovely for Joe but for the other group as well. So far so good - I need good paperdoll patterns though, if anyone has any ideas please share.

IanKH - the tipping is less of a big deal once you get there and sort of see who is taking care of you. We tipped our cabin steward what was suggested, she was nice but didn't do anything beyond the minimum required. Our table staff was amazing and so super nice! DH and I shared a table with another couple and they waited on us like we were the only people in the world. Our waiter was lovely and the bar waitres at Serenity Bay on CC ended up being his wife! She was great and we gave him/them about twice what was expected because they took such great care of us. I didn't so much care for tipping the dining room manager, probably because all of his work is more or less behind the scenes - the only time we saw him was the last night when he was looking for $$$.
We went to guest services and took care of the tips on CC day; Joe passed them their envelopes the last night. The money that we tipped above the recommended amount was in cash. I think once you see how much they do, it won't be so confusing. I know we felt the same way before we went last time.

If you want something to ponder, look at the Navigators for the 4-day cruise and try to figure out how on earth you are ever going to fit in all of the things that you want to do. Will you be commando or will you be chill? We opted for chill last time, I'm thinking commando this year!

 

[ktpool]

As I post today, I imagine we will just be getting settled in for lunch and a swim before we can get to our cabins.

We have a 12 passenger van (we are now 11 since my aunt's family backed out). My parents are driving, so we should have just enough room for the luggage for 11 (!) between the 2 vehicles. I do need to go back and reprice our van and see if I can get it any cheaper. We are doing the same in reverse! I think the transfers are pretty darn expensive for the drive to the port.

I am thinking I need to get the luggage out and start packing!

I made a huge mistake and picked up the JC Penney's Christmas catalog yesterday! All day all I have heard is "this is what I want for Christmas, this is want I am asking Santa for". The already know that the vacation is their Christmas, so the only present will be from Santa under the tree.

Now, only if I stick to the plan

 

[disneyfan'ole]

I know what you mean. Everytime Alexis sees a commercial she is like "I want that for Christmas (or birthday)" I tell her put it on your list. I'm hoping that because she is 4, she will forget half the things she told me!! With her birthday so close to Christmas, we try to go light because everyone else floods her with gifts!! I have tried to stop them, but you know grandparents. And with her being the only grandchild....

We are going to be busy these next two months...between getting ready for the cruise, the holidays, Alexis' birthday party. I would love to get the Christmas cards out before the cruise and have all the Christmas shopping done. I am waiting for all the good deals that come along before the holiday. Yup, I will be the crazy person that will be shopping the day after Thanksgiving!! But hey, I hate buying things and then they go on sale!! Just irks me!! he he he

 

[disneyfan'ole]

oh....we are almost to 800 posts!!

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

Andrea - I certainly dont want to complicate things!!!!! I am undecided but if it would save you money and our luggage would fit we could check a little more into it. Why are you leaving from the dolphin?

iankh - When we went in June on Carnival,I thought it was going to be confusing but it really wasnt. They pretty much tell you the suggested nd we just added extra where we thought it was due. Our cabin steward was awesome. I promise you if we left the room for an hour and messed up anything it would fixed when we got back.

Kristen - Its so hard for me to stick to a plan like that. I am a sucker when it comes to the children. My problem is we have a big family and they do to much and William only has his sister, no more family, but she is worse than my whole family because hers are grown. Howard has no problem letting me know what he wants, but Christie really hasnt said much other than limited too gift cards.

For those who need to buy something for a little one, Christie and I saw the cutest bear that glows. It wasnt a care bear. It changes colors and glows it was so cute.

 

[ktpool]

Yup, I will be the crazy person that will be shopping the day after Thanksgiving!! But hey, I hate buying things and then they go on sale!! Just irks me!! he he he

I had dinner with my sisters-in-law last night and we made plans for Black Friday shopping We went together 2 years ago, but skipped last year because my niece was only 10 days old . I found a site last year that has a lot of the Thanksgiving ads that were pirated somehow - it is helpful for planning. If I can find it again, I will post it. I know they have a DIS link on the budget board too, I think!

It will be my mother-in-law, 2 s-i-l's and Emilee. She actually got up at 5AM the last 2 years to go with me - the girl likes to show (unless it is for groceries!)

Kind of like her mom, haha!

Kristen