Disney Dream August 7, 2011

[Mackie Mouse]

Doppler...I hate to say it, but since we are mere days away from some members of the exchange leaving, I think we might be officially too late in time to add people. I'm so frustrated at having to say this, because when you joined the thread I really hoped your family would join in the exchange! I will, however, make it a tentative no, and I just PMed one of your parents the link to our site anyway so I can at least add you to the DISer list for our meet up...since some people were OK with adding another family last week, I'll open it up for discussion and see what the masses say. I did make one extra FE gift last night, just in case.. maybe others did, as well. If people will be scrambling, though, we will have to stick to the original rules we set up

If you want to buy a fish extender for this time (or for another cruise), ebay or etsy are terrific sites to look at. Just search "fish extender" and some great things will pop up. I would order something ASAP, though, even if it's just for next time, as it can take a few weeks for people to make and ship you a fish extender.

So, group...what do we think?

 

[Mackie Mouse]

I'd sorta prefer the link to be on our site if possible...

Done - sorry Belle...I should have tentatively removed it first and put it back up if no one cared My fault for doing too much multitasking tonight...

FYI - The link to the Google Doc is on the "Links" page of the site.

 

[artifex85]

So, group...what do we think?

Add Doppler!!!

 

[pennymike]

Hello, All! I haven't been on in forever.....but still very anxious to get sailin'! I just spent the last hour or so catching up the last 8 weeks of posts! Yikes!

I am not doing the FE, but wonder if there is any further info about the meet up on the 'password protected' website besides what is already on this thread? LMK if there is any reason for me to access the protected site. THanks!

Just had a former classmate go on a Dream cruise recently, and one of her biggest recommendations was to be sure to do Remy (we are not, at least this trip) and the do a Champagne Tasting. I am DEFINITELY up for some bubbles!

I will also HOPE to be at the Match Your Mate.....we were finally able to stay up long enough to go to that on our last cruise (Xmas '10) and it is HIL-arious! Hope to get to meet some of you.....SOON!!!

Penny

 

[Mackie Mouse]

I am not doing the FE, but wonder if there is any further info about the meet up on the 'password protected' website besides what is already on this thread? LMK if there is any reason for me to access the protected site. THanks!

Penny

Penny - You've got PM!

 

[Mackie Mouse]

We're going to make a FE run together, right?

(or you're at least going to print out a copy for me and KNo?)

Wait - do they not have printers out there in Arizona?!?

(Read: You can come along on my FE run...sigh...and MAYBE if you're super-nice and have a Drink of the Day waiting at the bottom of the Aquaduck for me you can even use the electronic copy on my iPad...and MAYBE if I'm feeling extra-generous I'll have a copy for you..)

 

[simbasmom2]

Mary...we love Destin, too! Beautiful!! We are debating about what cruise to book, too. We will def. atleast book dummy dates for future cruises. Our original plan was to be on the Fantasy next summer-Eastern, but since I have watched the prices DOUBLE+ it will be hard to swallow that cost knowing I am getting jipped (sp?). When I first checked out prices it was around 5300.00 for our gang and now around 10grand...no way Jose! I am investigating Carnival-we can have a suite for 5000.00. Or if we go Spring break a suite for 4,000. I am struggling with this, I really dont want to take the kids out of school if we don't have to(Teachers...please forget you read this).LOL. Dilemas diemas. Boy it sure is cheaper traveling off season. If we cant sail on the Fantasy next summer, we will book the first day 2013 dates are available (with our dummy date transfered). Oh well...lifes hard lmao.

As for the Fe exchange...I am finished with my gifts. I would prefer not to add more at this time, although I do have a few misc. extras that we will be bringing. Last FE exchange we saw FEs that weren't in our group. I wondered if they didnt undersand how it all worked. I felt bad for them and didn't have any extras. My sister and her family were traveling with us acrosed the ship and gave them some goodies ( the ones that were for our fe holder..haha). So the girls and I have a few items extra that we made in case this happens again.

Just 5 more days of work!!

WoW, I cant believe we are this close!!

So, who leaves first for pre-cruise fun?

We will go to the MK for one night after the cruise. We just found out youngest DDs best friend will be traveling to the WDW resort when we will be there. Sooo, we will meet up with them while at MK. I am going to get them matching Disney shirts, they will be sooo cute. What a great memory.

I have to take youngest DD for her orthodontic eval. today. $$$. Oldest DD already has hers off.

My girls start school so soon...August 15th!! They will only have 1 day to rest after the trip and then they start school. This is a big year for us...one moves up to HS and the other to middle school after being in a private school. So this trip is a nice distraction, although they are excited about the changes. They dont seemed worried at all!!! Just momma bear worries apparently.

Have a great day all!

 

[BelleBway]

I have to take youngest DD for her orthodontic eval. today. $$$. Oldest DD already has hers off.

My girls start school so soon...August 15th!! They will only have 1 day to rest after the trip and then they start school. This is a big year for us...one moves up to HS and the other to middle school after being in a private school. So this trip is a nice distraction, although they are excited about the changes. They dont seemed worried at all!!! Just momma bear worries apparently.

Ha ha, this sounds like my nieces... youngest one goes to the orthodontist this Sept; older one starts high school. Although the oldest seems not so excited for high school- I think she doesn't like change. I'm sure she'll be fine once she gets there.

They start school a little later- last trip I took them on, they only had a day or 2 after and they wanted to go earlier. Also, I had to deal with some "we have to go home AND we have to go back to school" tears.

I'm also basically finished with FE gifts. I've been working for months on them, and I don't think it's fair to add people at the last minute when they won't really have the time to dedicate to really working on stuff. (not that it matters to me whether or not everyone actually spent much time on it- but at least they had the chance to spend as little or as much time as they wanted and definitely a chance to think about it for awhile and plan what they wanted to do, get a FE holder, etc)

Like Simbasmom2, I do have a few random extras. But we've announced the closing date several times... and now it's way past and people are already packing and leaving this weekend and we really need to draw the line somewhere. I really wish Doppler would have asked earlier since they've been on this thread for awhile already.

My nieces have also been working on FE gifts for everyone for the past couple weeks! I haven't seen what they are doing, but they love crafts and are quite artistic so I encouraged them to work on stuff for FE.

I gave one purposely-made extra of my main FE gift to my mom and she loved it, so hopefully everyone else will love theirs!

 

[Doppler]

It is ok if some people don't have anything cause they're done also where can we get the fe pocket thing for our door?

 

[Marypoppinsiam]

We leave for WDW on the 5th and then we will return for 2 days after the cruise, so at least this will make up for the cruise not being 7 days long. We are celebrating our 15th anniversary at Remy's on the 10th. We would love to do the Palo brunch but unfortunately no online ressies and I don't really want to stand in line once I get on the boat. We have done Palo brunch and dinner everytime we cruise but maybe this time it wasn't meant to be. Oh well....

Dave made the decision to go ahead and make a dummy date for later. I will make sure to do this the first opportunity because if you wait later in the cruise that place is just crazy.

I have to laugh about the ortho appts . I am just finishing up my invisiline braces. I totally get the $$$ there.

As for the FE I have a few extras I plan to bring along. But as stated before the deadline has come and gone.

 

[teach22180]

So, who leaves first for pre-cruise fun?
Have a great day all!

I may be the big winner because I fly down on Saturday for my 8 nights at Pop! Last fall I splurged on my first ever AP, so I used it to get a lower rate at the resort and have time to really wander around the world. I'm most excited about my KTTK tour (seeing the utilidors!!) and my day that I'm doing all 4 parks!

And, I found flights home were much cheaper on Saturday, so I'm really splurging yet again on a night at Wilderness Lodge after the cruise. I'm more of a value type girl, but I have always wanted to see the real lodges out in the national parks, so I think I will enjoy seeing the Disney version. I didn't want to get myself all tired again after refreshing myself at Castaway Cay, but I'll take that risk!

This adventure is a big reward for a very hard year at school. I was special education department chair, which meant I wasn't teaching, and boy did I miss the kids big time. So, I'm back to the classroom next year; I learned that lesson the hard way. There were so many times during the year I just closed my eyes and imagined myself on the cruise or at the parks. I am so happy the time has finally come. See you all on the ship!!

 

[Mackie Mouse]

It is ok if some people don't have anything cause they're done also where can we get the fe pocket thing for our door?

See my earlier post - the easiest way is to do a search on ebay or etsy. However, you may want to do this soon and may not have it in time for the cruise - most of them are handmade and take a few weeks to get done.

I'm very torn here - I do not want people who have worked extremely hard on their gifts to feel guilty about not being able to give one to your family, and at at the same time I do not want you to scramble and work hard on gifts that people will not be able to reciprocate. I also do not want to make people feel obligated to put together an extra gift if you are last-minute not able to make this work. (If I may be frank...this was the reason for the deadline in the first place, Doppler.)

If you are dead-set on participating and do not mind giving without receiving in return, my only advice to you would be to make enough gifts this week so that you will potentially have one for every family and to give out those gifts early on in the cruise with your DISer name and cabin number clearly labeled. That way, anyone who happens to have an extra gift handy can try to give one back to you. However, I don't think this solution would make me feel much better if I were giving a gift like what Belle has planned. I also wouldn't expect to receive too many gifts. And again, with so little time left to plan and assemble gifts and obtain an FE, I think you may be biting off more than you can chew...

I got nothin' beyond that. I think the teacher in me is trying to make sure a middle school kid doesn't feel left out.

 

[Mackie Mouse]

I may be the big winner because I fly down on Saturday for my 8 nights at Pop! Last fall I splurged on my first ever AP, so I used it to get a lower rate at the resort and have time to really wander around the world. I'm most excited about my KTTK tour (seeing the utilidors!!) and my day that I'm doing all 4 parks!

This adventure is a big reward for a very hard year at school. I was special education department chair, which meant I wasn't teaching, and boy did I miss the kids big time. So, I'm back to the classroom next year; I learned that lesson the hard way. There were so many times during the year I just closed my eyes and imagined myself on the cruise or at the parks. I am so happy the time has finally come. See you all on the ship!!

You DEFNITELY deserve this reward! Special ed teachers have my utmost respect. I could never deal with all that you do! Enjoy the KTTK tour!!

 

[pennymike]

My DH, DMIL and DSFIL and I fly down on Friday, Aug 5th; We'll be staying at the Wilderness Lodge until DCL time. Then afterwards we go back to Animal Kingdom for a couple nights, then fly home on Sunday, Aug 14th. We are staying at DVC villas for the first time, and sharing it with the ILs....who got us started on DCL in '05 or so. Very excited to be able to do that together. We are also taking them to see La Nouba at Downtown Disney the day we get off the Dream. SO thrilled to see that show again....if you haven't seen it, try to fit it in next time! SO worth it!

 

[Marypoppinsiam]

teach22180 I can't wait to hear about the tour. How awesome would that be! I would love to do that tour sometime. Your vacation is a true dream trip that is for sure!

 

[kk92476]

So glad you sent this list....I'd somehow missed one cabin entirely! Phew... that was a close one!!!

Wait - do they not have printers out there in Arizona?!?

(Read: You can come along on my FE run...sigh...and MAYBE if you're super-nice and have a Drink of the Day waiting at the bottom of the Aquaduck for me you can even use the electronic copy on my iPad...and MAYBE if I'm feeling extra-generous I'll have a copy for you..)

 

[J & C's Mom]

Can't wait too see everyone. We leave this Friday to drive to sunny FL, spending the week prior to the cruise at my parents. Then we are also at the Wilderness Lodge the night before the cruise. PennyMike - we love DVC at WL. The pool is great, there's a soda fountain by the bar at the pool and a small food court for lunch. Then back to WL for five more days after the cruise.

Happy Packing everyone!

 

[michpoit]

We are also going to be at WL after the cruise but at the Villas. We will be staying there for 7 days. It is our favorite DVC resort. I can't wait!

Picking DD Samantha up from Girl Scout camp tomorrow. The week has just flown by. Plenty of dirty laundry to deal with once she gets back.

 

[Mackie Mouse]

2 days! 2 days!!!

 

[BelleBway]

1 week til we're on the ship!

File under kids say the darndest things... we're talking about how the girls should start packing so we know if the suitcases are big enough in case they need to borrow one of mine... older niece asks me if there is at least a 95% chance that we will be swimming at all. We're going on a cruise. With 2 beach days. And I'd told them we're swimming with dolphins.