December 2,2006...Anyone want to join us?

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

I'm so jealous that you are getting so close to your next cruise! You sound well prepared for the holiday madness. I'm getting there. We got back into town yesterday from Thanksgiving with the IL's. Today we got our outdoor lights and christmas tree up. Tomorrow we'll decorate it. I did brave black Friday and was pleasantly surprised to fight no lines or crowds (we hit Target, and Toys R Us and a few others). I got some good deals and only have a few presents left to buy... But those are the fun ones (like shopping for my sister whose pregnant with her first child). I have no wrapping done yet. I'll probably start on that next week. In the meantime I have to do the laundry from the Thanksgiving trip and get packing... we leave for Disneyland in just 5 days!!!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Tink&Squirts mom,
It seems you are off to a great start for the holidays.
Hope you have a great time at disneyland. I went there when I was 14 but have not been back since. I was raised in Oregon, so it wasnt far to go to disneyland. Now for almost 6 years I have lived outside of Kissimme Florida, so just a 30 minute drive to WDW or universal studios, or sea world. We go to one of these parks almost every weekend. We are now going to look at all the Christmas decorations that are up in all the parks.
Have a great vacation. When you get back it will be only a year or less before we sail!!!
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Ok guys, this is it, we are officially on our one year countdown today!!!!!!



mom x4,grandma x4
Kathy

 

[TrolleyGirl]

I can't believe it......one year from today....
I'll be at Topsiders buffet eating some Mango soup, dancing on the deck with Goofy, Minnie & Mickey, and listening to that Magical horn blast "When you Wish Upon a Star"

 

[feenie]

ahhhhhhhh One year!!
I can't wait! (It is snowing here today.)
I think we will all stow away with you Kathy! 15 days is SO much sooner!

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

One year to go!! And to celebrate... I'm going to DISNEYLAND!



Talk you guys next week. Have fun doing the one year dance!

 

[princessdaisy]

Let's hope the new year goes by fast!! Hope everyone is healthy and enjoying the holidays/

Rachel: Have fun at Disneyland!! we will be making the 1 1/2 hour drive from San Diego to Disney in a few weeks. I love Disneyland!! I grew up near Disneyland and would go a few times a year...my hubby on the other hand is my Disney drag along He is orig. from New Orleans, so he had only been to Disney once or twice in his lifetime (well, until he met me...now he has been to DL 8 time & DW 7!!LOL).

Take care everyone!

 

[PenskeSth1]

WooHoo...One year to go!!!!

 

[disneycruising]

Hi everyone,

I haven't stopped by in awhile. I am glad to see that our group is growing. Welcome to all our new dis'ers.

Can you believe, that in a little less then a year we will be on the ship? What is some of the things you are looking forward to doing? Mine would have to be dinner at Palo's. I love, love, love the Choloate Souffle'. I am also looking forward to doing the "Spa Villa's" again.

Cindy

 

[alwayslisad]

Wowo this is so exciting! Less than a year - amazing -

we had our company christmas party this past saturday and had a blast - so they nabbed me for the committee for the next one - we started planning and guess what date it is - the first day of our cruise - so I said - well I can plan all you want - but I won't be there - I will be headed toward KEY WEST in a boat that is waiting for me!.....eheheheh

yahoooooooooooo ------

we have started gang ----- brings tears to my eyes to know it is getting closer --- waves and hugs to all!


Lisa

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to say hello!
I am cooking two turkeys today to frreze for Christmas dinner. Since we get back from our cruise on the 24th I wont feel like cooking for all our company, so doing it ahead of time will give me a chance to enjoy my family.
I have one stocking stuffer to get on monday and I am all done with buying and wrapping gifts and decorating the house.
Now to concentrate on our cruise in 9 days!!!
I still need the bottom half of a pirates costume. I'm not having any luck with finding a skirt or pants that look good with the top and vest that I have. I may have to wear an old pair of jeans as a last resort. I have two more times I can look when I'm in town before we leave, so maybe something will turn up, I hope.
Are the rest of you about ready to sit back and enjoy the holidays?
I'm sure some of you probably have snow too! We are having rain here in florida today. But suppose to be warm and sunny by sunday.
We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Years too!
stay safe!
mom x4,grandma x4
Kathy

Less than ayear to go!!!!

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

Well were back from Disneyland. Guess it's time to take off my DL ticker and get one up for the cruise! DL was great. Its beautiful for Christmas time. Small World Holiday was wonderful (amazing how much more fun that ride is when they change up the song), and we went on Haunted Mansion Holiday many, many, many times, thanks to ds who LOVES the Nightmare Before Christmas. DD,5, turned into a little thrill seeker and rode TOT and Space Mountain! The only bummer was waiting 2 1/2 hours for the fireworks only to have them canceled due to wind. We got to stay at the Grand Californian which I think rivals any WDW deluxe (at least the 3 we've stayed at) and has one better on them due to the location (can walk right out of the hotel into CA Adventure and Downtown Disney). It will be hard to go back and not be able to stay there. But it took years for me to get a $169 rate, and it'll probably be many more before I see something that good again. Now that we are home though, I am feeling so behind on all the Christmas preparations going on here. And that was only being gone 4 days, next year it will be like 10! Next year I am gonna have to plan better!! Ok off to wrap some presents...

And 9 days Kathy?!? I am soo jealous!!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Tink&SquirtsMom,
Wow, it sound like you had a great vacation. I havnt been to DL since I was 14, so I'm sure it has changed a lot since then. But I have made up for it by going to WDW almost every weekend. Did your hotel have a gingerbread display of some kind??? Almost all the hotels here ( wdw) have gingerbread houses ( 15 ft tall) or a carousel, an entire gingerbread village and the polynesian resort has a gingerbread model on itself with chocolate palm trees and the coconuts on them make a hidden mickey head, also a volcano that is steaming with a miniature monorail going around it. They are really elaborate.
and completley edible!!
Happy to hear you made it home safely and now can get ready for the holdays.
I'm ready to go now and still have 8 days to go!
The only thing left to do is pick up our daughter and her family from the airport the night before we cruise and then GO!
I'll post after we return. Merry Christmas to all,
mom x4,grandma x4
Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi Cindy,
You asked an impossible question to answer. What are we looking forward to the most on the ship???
It is TOOOOOOO hard to choose a favorite. we love all the music in the clubs, the live stage shows, the fabulous food, the exciting ports of call, and all the new friends we make while on board. I cant think of anything we are not looking forward to on board. I just cant pick a favorite thing, i guess we look forward to everything.
How about the rest of you what do you look forward to the most????
mom x4,grandma x4'
Kathy

 

[princessdaisy]

Have a wonderful cruise & write us a trip report when your back and rested I am sure you gonna have a great time!

We are so looking forward to our cruise next year and meeting all you wonderful Dis friends. I also love everything about the ship but the spa is pretty high on my list of favorite things to do!!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Alwayslisad,
I saw your post, your very sneaky trying to sneak on board as a playmate for those 3 kids!!!! It sounded like a good idea to me. That is the same cruise I'm on. too bad it didnt work, we could of met sooner.
mom x4,grandma x4
kathy

 

[alwayslisad]

so if you are going - then I don't have to pretend to be 15, 13 & 6 - I can just be your luggage....hehehehe ?? ?? ?? ya think you would notice me? what time is OUR flight? Now remember I have to get to where ever you are from NH - so I need a lead time.....

ok so I am really needing a cruise right now - waaaaaaaaaaa - waaaaaaaaaaa - I want to be going with Kathy this weekend!!!!!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I wish all of you could come with us, that would be all the more fun for us, however unless your the size of Dopey, I have serious doubts about fitting in the luggage. Good try though!!! I have a feeling the drug and bomb sniffing dogs would sniff you out too and then we'd both need a LOT of pixie dust to get out of trouble.
Your one consolation is after this cruise we will be in the same boat and i will be waiting just like all of you. Of course I'll have the memories and pictures of a recent cruise!!!! That should help some. Of course if I can find a place to stow away, you may not hear from me for awhile. Ha! Ha! My GS has it all figured out how to do that, accept his mom would notice him missing, and probably tell on him. Mom's just don't understand sometimes.
I will post short cruise report after we get back to rub it in!!!!
You know that if our positions were reversed you'd do the same thing!!!!!!
Kathy

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

Hey Kathy, Nope no gingerbread. I've seen those on the Samantha Brown Holiday Special about WDW. Can't wait to see them in person. While architechturally (sp) the Grand Californian was right up with the WDW deluxes (very close to Wilderness Lodge) I think all the DL resorts need to play some catch up on resort activities and amenties (things like the gingerbread, basically, lol) designed to keep guests at the resorts. They just aren't where WDW is there. However, I guess they also kinda don't need to be, since DL isn't really that kind of vacation. They did have a gorgeous tree and Santa was in the lobby most of the day. The thing that makes it so great though is location, walking right from your room to the hotel exclusive entrance into California Adventure. Anyways we are debating where to stay before and after the cruise next time to see the gingerbread and other great Christmas decorations WDW resorts offer. We've stayed at the Beach Club for 5 nights, AKL savannah view for 5 nights, and Poly for one (post cruise, flying out the next morning) and visited the Wilderness Lodge and Contempory. We LOVED, LOVED, the AKL, everything about it. So it would be hard to go back and not stay there at least part of the time. We'll probably do a few nights pre cruise and two post cruise (those will probably be the AKL nights) at WDW. So I'll have to figure out where to go for those first few nights. Doesn't have to be deluxe (in fact my budget would prefer it weren't), but it should be Christmas-y... any suggestions?

So you must be getting excited. Are you playing the "this time next week" game and dreaming about all the fun you'll be having. Some of my neighbors (two families) are on the Magic right now. They booked that cruise after hearing me talk about how excited I was to book this one and how great our last one was. Doesn't seem fair that they could book after me and go before me (pout, whine, pout). But my friend works for Radio Disney and gets an insanely good rate for booking last minute.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Tink&Squirtsmom,
I love the AKL too. I have never stayed there but as an annual pass holder we got to go through it before it was opened to the public so we got to enjoy it while it was empty, which made it easy to see. We live so close we never stay at WDW, however we are going to spend the weekend at Wilderness Lodge towards the end of next month for for the weekend as a late anniversary celebration. Our anniversity was the 12 of this month, but it was so close to the cruise we decided to celebrate it next month. I love the WL, we often go for a walk in that area and just sit in that huge lobby and look at all the wood work. There is a really neat hidden mickey on the stone work on the fireplace, it was so hard to see, we tried for 8 or 9 times to find it, so we finally took our son and he showed us where it was, then of course it was easy to see. He knows where most of the hidden mickeys are that are the hardest ones to find, since he works for WDW he gets asked about them a lot. As for suggestion as to where to stay there that is an economy price, all the All Star Hotel rooms are clean and nice, very basic, but that is all you need because you are in the parks all day. We have stayed twice in the all star sports which was nice. But their newest economy hotel, The Pop Century is really bright and colorful, I love the decor on the outside, it's great! The rooms are laid out the same on the inside as the all star hotels, but it is much more cheerful to stay at. I believe it is the same price. If you want a refrigerator it will cost you extra, but there is a place to eat, pop machines, juice machines, a gift shop and a few food items in the gift shop too. All the hotels decorate for Christmas, but only the moderate to expensive ones have the gingerbread displays. But you are free to visit all of them and it's easy to do, even without a car to drive to them. There are buses to any hotel from every theme parks, and at the ticket and transportation center there is a monorail to Polynesian, contemporary, grand floridian, then to Magic kingdom before returning to TTC. That makes it very quick to see all their displays. Then go to the boardwalk shopping area you can walk in tthe Boardwalk hotel for their display and then walk 5 minutes to the yacht and beach club to see their display too.
You'll love it. When the trip is closer, remind me and I will send you park maps and any brochures I can find at WDW if you want so you can see the changes and where everything is located. They have added a lot to every park this last year and the giant roller coaster at AK, Mt. Everst will open this spring. At the time you can PM me with your address and I will send them to you if you want, it may help in your planning.
Time to finish up the last minute things before saturday.
I did do a small gingerbread house yesterday, it came out pretty good, but after seeing the ones the professionals did, it looks pretty tiny.
take care,
kathy