Disney Wonder Jan 23, 2011

[SueTGGR]

OMG I couldn't stop laughing when I read that!
Sue you are a riot!

To answer your question............

Glad I could brighten your day.
Sometimes I wonder if what I post comes across with the amount of goofy-ness intended.

I am going to be gone most of this weekend but I will catch up Monday or Tuesday!
I will have to check out the trip report. I love reading about others travels. I am hoping a few of those excursions on the link I posted are going to be for our cruise. But I will try and be patient. NOT!
Well, I just put the finishing touches helping my DS with his biography report. Guess who he chose? Walt Disney! The teacher got a kick when she found out. I'm sure the others picked boring people like Lincoln or a famous ball player. Now DH has to figure out how to get something to make him look like Walt Disney. Glad I have to work!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Sue

 

[Kidlette]

Glad I could brighten your day.
Sometimes I wonder if what I post comes across with the amount of goofy-ness intended.

I am going to be gone most of this weekend but I will catch up Monday or Tuesday!
I will have to check out the trip report. I love reading about others travels. I am hoping a few of those excursions on the link I posted are going to be for our cruise. But I will try and be patient. NOT!
Well, I just put the finishing touches helping my DS with his biography report. Guess who he chose? Walt Disney! The teacher got a kick when she found out. I'm sure the others picked boring people like Lincoln or a famous ball player. Now DH has to figure out how to get something to make him look like Walt Disney. Glad I have to work!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Sue

I can tell that you're goofy!

I looked at that link you gave a few days ago, and they all sound about right to me! They pretty much match up with what I found in the research I posted, so considering they match, I think it's right! Which of those excursions are you most interested in?!?!? Do you want me to put that link on our little site? YEAH - I'll do that!

That is too funny about your son! I was asked in an interview once which businessman/entrepreneur I respected most and would want to be my mentor/why, and I said Walt Disney! The lady thought I was nuts! She asked me why I would say that and I told her that Walts dream of Disneyland came from wanting a way to spend time with his daughter(s), but have an atmosphere and activities for the parent and child to enjoy. I told her that any man who can take the love of his family and turn it into a multi-bazillion dollar business is not only a genius, but someone to admire. I don't think she agreed with me because I didn't get the job As far as how to make your sun look like Walt Disney - that's a tricky one!
Good luck to your DH, he's going to need it!

 

[Tigger1313]

Glad I could brighten your day.
Sometimes I wonder if what I post comes across with the amount of goofy-ness intended.

I am going to be gone most of this weekend but I will catch up Monday or Tuesday!
I will have to check out the trip report. I love reading about others travels. I am hoping a few of those excursions on the link I posted are going to be for our cruise. But I will try and be patient. NOT!
Well, I just put the finishing touches helping my DS with his biography report. Guess who he chose? Walt Disney! The teacher got a kick when she found out. I'm sure the others picked boring people like Lincoln or a famous ball player. Now DH has to figure out how to get something to make him look like Walt Disney. Glad I have to work!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Sue

Sue
Dress your DS in a light color suit. slick back his hair and glue (or draw using a eye liner) a thin mustache on him. If you could find a hat like they use to wear in the 40s he would look perfedt.

 

[ryanmcin]

If you are limited for time, be sure you hit the things they don't have at WDW like the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Indiana Jones, Pinocchio, Mr Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Nemo subs, Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, Storybook Land Canal Boats, and also Space Mountain and Pirates as they are much better here. DCA has a lot of haters in the Disney community but if you go into it with an open mind, you'll have a lot of fun there too.

Don't forget the real, original Tiki Room (not the abomination at WDW) and Casey Jr and the vastly superior version of Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

You are right about DCA, it isn't as bad as everyone says, but at the same time it would be hard to fill a day there. Give it a few more years and it will be something special.

 

[SueTGGR]

Sue
Dress your DS in a light color suit. slick back his hair and glue (or draw using a eye liner) a thin mustache on him. If you could find a hat like they use to wear in the 40s he would look perfedt.

I was kind of thinking in that direction. I don't know what some teachers are thinking of when they want them to do things like this. He gives his presentation on Wednesday (mind you he is in 4th grade) and he will have to be at school all day in a suit with a mustache! I'm trying to think of a travel kit he can go and change in to as he has PE that same day! Crazy!

Anyway, I have been lost in the homemade FE gifts and now the door magnet pages. We didn't do either on our last (& 1st) cruise and I think we need to get more in the spirit this time. So mark us down the the FE's and I will start looking for silly little things for everyone. I have already created a sorcerer Mickey hat and a Pirate hat that is supposed to fit on top of our cabin # porthole on our door. There is a very talented lady on the DIS boards that has put a bunch of different designs out there for everyone to use.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2184704 has the directions to make them. Dolly is VERY Talented
Off to work!
Later,
Sue
BTW....8 months 5 days & counting!

 

[Kidlette]

I was kind of thinking in that direction. I don't know what some teachers are thinking of when they want them to do things like this. He gives his presentation on Wednesday (mind you he is in 4th grade) and he will have to be at school all day in a suit with a mustache! I'm trying to think of a travel kit he can go and change in to as he has PE that same day! Crazy!

Anyway, I have been lost in the homemade FE gifts and now the door magnet pages. We didn't do either on our last (& 1st) cruise and I think we need to get more in the spirit this time. So mark us down the the FE's and I will start looking for silly little things for everyone. I have already created a sorcerer Mickey hat and a Pirate hat that is supposed to fit on top of our cabin # porthole on our door. There is a very talented lady on the DIS boards that has put a bunch of different designs out there for everyone to use.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2184704 has the directions to make them. Dolly is VERY Talented
Off to work!
Later,
Sue
BTW....8 months 5 days & counting!

Good morning!

Sue - that's wonderful! I will update you on the site & list. (I will check the list to make sure it's updated for Yanira and everyone too).

Don't worry about the gifts, it's no biggie! Ryan and I have had a couple of small ideas, but we have yet to figure it out. Money is tight right now (I think for everyone), so expense, size, etc. make no difference. Also remember, you don't have to give FE gifts everyday - just whatever you want or can do. Some people only give a gift once on the whole cruise - it's up to you!

have a great day!

Jess

 

[airtime247]

I didn't think about all the construction at DCA. We were just there in March and there were a lot of walls up around the lagoon for World of Color. The entrance and pretty much everything else appeared to be open back then. We actually saw Tori Spelling and her family near California Screamin shortly before the park closed.

We are going back in September and I imagine there will be a lot more closed. I think we may spend a lot more time at Disneyland if that's the case.

Another place to look for excursion info for the Mexican ports is Cruisecritic.com. They have a forum similar to Disboards but only for cruises. They don't offer much for Disney but there is a huge wealth of information about pretty much every port a cruise ship visits. We have found some great independent excursions on there without relying on the cruiseline. We wouldn't risk booking one without all of the reviews from past guests.

Jessica - I just emailed you some pictures for the site. I love the changes. It looks fantastic.

As the sailing date gets nearer and we have more people, another idea for the site might be to start thinking about one or more meets where we can all plan to meet up in person at the same time. We have done this before at the sailaway Party on Deck 10 facing the stage. We have also had meets in different lounges on days at sea. Whatever everyone decides.

On the site we can also include any excursions people are doing in each port so they can see which DISers are joining them. We have had some great times on excursions with people from these boards.

Sue - My wife loves making door magnets for our cabin door. I think she finds them on Disboards and them customizes them with our names. You are right, there are some very talented people on there so willing to share which is great.

I guess we need to start thinking of an idea for our FE gifts too. Hmmm....

Good luck with your son's report!

-steve

 

[Kidlette]

Jessica - You've done a great job on the site. I love it! I'll email you a picture of us in the next few days. It will most likely be from our WDW trip in January. The next time you get around to updating the Characters of Wonder page, our hometown is Eureka, CA and we have main/early dining. We are celebrating Emma's 5th birthday on the cruise. It's not really a gift for her. It's for us but her birthday just happens to be near the sailing date. We'll let her think that and celebrate by letting her spend as much time in the Oceaneer Club as she wants. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad will rough it by the adult pool, in Palo, getting massages, etc.

I really doubt we will be able to visit Disneyland after the cruise since it gets in on Sunday and we have a 12-hour drive ahead of us! I'm trying to talk Amy into driving down a little early and spending the day before the cruise there and use some DVC points for a night at the Grand Californian.

Best of luck with your math test. I really hope you get the job you want. We're pulling for you here!

-steve

Hi! I just realized I never responded to this, so here goes!

Your address, celebration, etc. has been updated. Also, what you said about Emma and the kids club was too funny!

As far as Disneyland, I wasn't thinking of going right after the cruise, we couldn't do that either. I was thinking like 4 - 6 months after the cruise! Lol, but like I said, we should probably make sure we all like each other first!

And....my math test....well, we'll just leave that be! I suck at math. The week of that test I spent 11 - 12 hours in the math lab getting help and stuff, and I did WORSE than I've done before! I really hope I pass because I need this class and the one after it to do what I want to do. The saddest part is that this math class is going to lower my GPA, and I've worked SO HARD to keep it as high as possible

Yanira - FYI - I know in your email to me you said you were checking our little site for updates. I added Steve, Amy, and Emma's photos today, so check it out!

 

[Kidlette]

I didn't think about all the construction at DCA. We were just there in March and there were a lot of walls up around the lagoon for World of Color. The entrance and pretty much everything else appeared to be open back then. We actually saw Tori Spelling and her family near California Screamin shortly before the park closed.

We are going back in September and I imagine there will be a lot more closed. I think we may spend a lot more time at Disneyland if that's the case.

Hi Steve,

The World of Color show will be open in September - so at least you know you'll get to see that! We go to Disneyland every two weeks or so, and when we were there last weekend the construction wasn't too bad. Right now is the "Food and Wine Festival" at DCA, but it pales in comparison to Epcot's. The walls surrounding the area of the World of Color show are down, but now other walls are up. They have also started construction on CARS land ! I don't know what-all will be going on in September, but I'm sure Ryan could find out and post it here. I don't know when they're closing the front. (Ryan loves looking at this stuff on a daily basis)

Ryan - will you please post here the details of what the front will be changed to? Also, can you please look into what might be going on at DCA in September and post that too? Thanks!

Another place to look for excursion info for the Mexican ports is Cruisecritic.com. They have a forum similar to Disboards but only for cruises. They don't offer much for Disney but there is a huge wealth of information about pretty much every port a cruise ship visits. We have found some great independent excursions on there without relying on the cruiseline. We wouldn't risk booking one without all of the reviews from past guests.

I will look into cruise critic!

Jessica - I just emailed you some pictures for the site. I love the changes. It looks fantastic.

As the sailing date gets nearer and we have more people, another idea for the site might be to start thinking about one or more meets where we can all plan to meet up in person at the same time. We have done this before at the sailaway Party on Deck 10 facing the stage. We have also had meets in different lounges on days at sea. Whatever everyone decides.

On the site we can also include any excursions people are doing in each port so they can see which DISers are joining them. We have had some great times on excursions with people from these boards.

-steve

Thank you! I think the bright colors and mickey background are a lot better than the black!

Also - those are FANTASTIC ideas! You have the best thoughts! I already added a shore excursion page, and we will update that when Disney releases the excursions. I've also gotten a jump on creating the "shore excursion's tally" page to keep track of who is going on what. I won't set that live until we have some info for it, but at least I have it started so it's not a huge amount of work if we get a lot more participants!

I think getting everyone together is a WONDERFUL idea! When/where would everyone want to meet-up? Ryan and I will be on the 2 night sailing before this one, so we will already be on board when everyone else is boarding. At first we were thinking we could hold spaces for the sail away party, but then we remembered that even if we went on deck and held spaces, we would lose them when we had to go to do the safety drill. Hmm. Any thoughts on this? I think it's 7 nights, so if we want to all meet up more than once that would be great! Oh, what about the Disney movie on the jumbo-tron on deck at night? We could all get lounge chairs and sit under the stars and watch the movie together We could also meet in lounges, or all join/do one of the games they host on a sea day, etc. Everyone - what do you think? When/where do you think we should all meet up? (I started a page for this already and it is live, but obviously there's no info on it until we decide)

I'm so excited - I want to be on my Disney cruise RIGHT NOW!

 

[airtime247]

I wish I could take credit for any of this but these are just things other people thought of on cruises we took. Especially on the big 14-night cruise in 2005, we had a lot of time and days at sea and there were about 300 DISers, most of whom were very experienced cruisers.

When we met at the sailaway party, we just agreed on a deck and time which was right after the lifeboat drill. We didn't have to reserve any places. Everyone just grabbed their adult beverage of choice and met there. We all had matching lanyards with our names and DIS screen names on them so it made it really easy to identify each other. It got a little crowded so other guests just moved on to other places on deck.

Most of the meets we had require a lot of people so they probably wouldn't make sense on this cruise. We did things like had a wine tasting meet where one of the lounges was reserved ahead of time and everyone brought a bottle of wine local to where they lived. I think Dreams Unlimited sponsored it and brought cheese, crackers and fruit and a lot of plastic wine glasses for everyone.

Another was a scrapbook meet where one of our scrapbook junkie friends put together all the things needed to make a page and we all met in a lounge to put them together.

One of the people we sailed with had the Walt Disney Suite and he had an open house of it so it was really cool to see. (MAJOR hint-hint if anyone here is shelling out the $$$ for that suite! I'd gladly let that person check out my sideways inside cabin so they could see how the other end of the economic spectrum lives! )

Another, and probably the most fun meet was about 50 of us showed up at Lumiere's for breakfast one morning at the same time...all wearing our Disney pajamas! We got the funniest looks from other passengers and crew but it was a BLAST. You should have seen us marching down the halls.

I think another person brought his poker chips and they had a big game somewhere.

Back then, Disney was a lot more lenient with their Palo ressies and they let us have that big room in back for a couple of High Tea meets.

Also since there were so few kids on board for that cruise, Disney let the adults invade the Oceaneer Lab one night so we could paint cels, make Flubber and play video games.

I definitely can't see these last two happening in January but maybe they will help people think of something. It's hard to say as of now how big our group will get but I'm sure there are some great ideas out there. Even if it is just to meet up and hang out. Maybe a meet for lunch in one of the restaurants or buffet at a set time on a day at sea would be fun. All we would need is for someone to let Disney know ahead of time our party size. They could easily block out a corner for us.

Our last cruise last May was a lot smaller. I threw out meet suggestions a few times but no one seemed very interested so we really didn't plan anything. A few people had excursions together. We linked our dining with a great family which was very rewarding. It was harder for all of us to spot each other because not many people submitted photos and we only wore matching wristbands which were a lot harder to see. Someone tried to have us meet in the terminal but that is such a stressful and chaotic place, we all just wanted to get on to the ship, drop our bags, and pick up our forks.

We had quite a few people who were so vocal on the cruise thread. We were very much looking forward to meeting them as we really hit it off but never once saw them on the ship.

Just some food for thought. We have a ton of time though and don't have to worry about coming up with anything right away.

Sorry I get so chatty when it's late! G'night y'all!

-steve

 

[airtime247]

One last thing, I searched and found a page with a lot of our meet and FE ideas. Maybe this will help stir up some ideas for our 1/23 cruise!

http://www.htp.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=798089

Check out post #5.

 

[ryanmcin]

Hi Steve,
Ryan - will you please post here the details of what the front will be changed to? Also, can you please look into what might be going on at DCA in September and post that too? Thanks!

September doesn't look too bad.

Originally the plan was to start tearing apart the entrance plaza in September, but it looks like that got pushed back to October to avoid the end of Summer crowds. Once that work in October starts it is going to be a huge mess in the front portion of the park since they will be demolishing half of the entrance and using the other half then swapping to demolish the remaining portion of the entrance. The stores are all coming out, the fountain area is coming out, and the trolley tracks will have to go in which will require construction walls everywhere.

Back to September, it looks like the Maliboomer is going to close in early September (it is going to be removed). The swings will be open by then, so will World of Color. The Hyperion Theater was going to be closed for a few months starting in mid-August to make the transition to the Toy Story musical, but they decided to stick with Aladdin. It sounds like the Theater will still be closing for a few weeks for maintenance, I've seen people say that it will still start in mid-August, but I think that the World of Color madness will delay the closing until September (we'll see). The walkway between A Bug's Land and the Hollywood area should be opened up again by then. And, the Blue Sky Cellar will have some new exhibits by then.

 

[airtime247]

Thanks for the update Ryan. I'm really looking forward to the new Cars ride. I heard they began testing. Test Track is one of my favorite rides and I'm hoping this will be even better. The changes will hopefully draw a lot more crowds.

I just heard about Aladdin staying too. It really is a good show. I haven't seen Toy Story yet so I can't compare. As much as I like Monsters Inc, I wish they would have kept Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in one of their parks. I really had a blast with that show.

Now what I'd really love to see on the west coast is Mickey's PhilharMagic!

The site is really coming together great Jessica. I'm sad to see that we are the only early diners so far. As much as we'd love to dine late, Emma's bedtime is normally 7:30 and to ask her to sit still that late would be asking for trouble!

Emma has been doing amazing with her swim lessons so we are really looking forward to letting her swim on the ship. We have been watching YouTube clips of the Mickey slide and she is really anxious to try it out. We might also go to a private resort at one of the ports to relax and let her swim a bit.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

-steve

 

[ryanmcin]

Thanks for the update Ryan. I'm really looking forward to the new Cars ride. I heard they began testing. Test Track is one of my favorite rides and I'm hoping this will be even better. The changes will hopefully draw a lot more crowds.

I know that they have a car on the portion of the track that has been installed, and I have read that they are going to do some testing, but I don't know what they can really do. There isn't that much track installed. It looks like they are going to drag the cars along the track, maybe to ensure that the rolls along the track properly?

I just heard about Aladdin staying too. It really is a good show. I haven't seen Toy Story yet so I can't compare.

Aladdin is quite good. You will get to experience Toy Story on the cruise and it is quite awful. I don't expect a cruise line musical to be an amazing production, but even the songs were awful. Toy story just doesn't translate to a music very well.

As much as I like Monsters Inc, I wish they would have kept Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in one of their parks. I really had a blast with that show.

Monster's Inc didn't take Millionaire's place, it took Superstar Limo's place. The Millionaire building is just sitting there unused. I never saw the Millionaire show, but it has to better than an empty building in an amusement park that is lacking attractions.

 

[Kidlette]

Evening ship-mate!

I just heard about Aladdin staying too. It really is a good show. I haven't seen Toy Story yet so I can't compare. As much as I like Monsters Inc, I wish they would have kept Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in one of their parks. I really had a blast with that show.

I LOVE the Aladdin show, as long as I'm on the bottom floor and not in the balcony Yeah - I know, yet another thing I have a restriction on! But seriously, what Ryan said is SO RIGHT! The Toy Story show on the cruise is AWFUL! That is one night Ryan and I will be doing something else! You should probably go to experience at least once, but afterward you'll understand. The music is horrible, but worse, it's horrible and it gets stuck in your head

The site is really coming together great Jessica. I'm sad to see that we are the only early diners so far. As much as we'd love to dine late, Emma's bedtime is normally 7:30 and to ask her to sit still that late would be asking for trouble!

Thanks! I like how it's coming along too!

The part about dinner though, that kind of makes me sad. Part of me wants to offer to switch, but 5:00/5:30 is really too early, especially since we don't have kids. And - even more than that - the problem is that 2 of the three ports have us staying until 6:30 or 7:00 PM. With late dining we can all stay later and still have time to shower/change before dinner, then, take in the late shows on board. What's a ship-mate to do? I don't have Sue's dining time yet, but they have a 10 year old. Since they have a kid, maybe they did early dining too

Emma has been doing amazing with her swim lessons so we are really looking forward to letting her swim on the ship. We have been watching YouTube clips of the Mickey slide and she is really anxious to try it out. We might also go to a private resort at one of the ports to relax and let her swim a bit.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

-steve

That's awesome that Emma can swim! The Mickey pools do look fun, don't they?!!?? Because of my weight I've never been comfortable in a bathing suit in public places, but I should just get over that. I'd love to dive into the Mickey pools!

Well - have a good night all!

 

[SueTGGR]

YES! I forgot to tell you we have the early seating.
We had grand plans our other cruise. We had the late seating so we could watch the shows before we ate. Especially since we were on West Coast time. It didn't work that way at all. If fact we missed a lot of the shows. But now I am reading about the late seating deal with the kids. Something about the kids being brought dinner earlier to the tables and kids club people coming to the table to scoop them away while we continue with an adult meal? But for now we are early seating. I will give you a heads up soon if we change but we typically stick with something once we decide.
I really need to look at our site again. Mental note for tomorrow...look at all the great work my fellow cruisers are doing online.
Let me know if there is other info I am missing. Still looking for a good family pic of the 3 of us.
Later!

 

[airtime247]

Ryan - Doh, how could I forget Monsters Inc replaced that horrible Superstar Limo? I'm glad I got to see it the year it opened but glad am they made the change. I guess I had Millionaire on the brain because I'm still bitter Idol replaced it in WDW. We still haven't seen Idol so I can't "judge" it. The desire to go see it just hasn't been there yet.

I had forgotten about the late dining deal for kids. Hmmmmmmm, I think we'll need a family meeting on the bleachers while Emma practices her Little Mermaid skills at the pool tonight!

We always intend to stay in port later than we actually do. We've been to these ports before so I can't see us staying out past 2 or 3pm unless we have an excursion that keeps us later.

I wonder when Disney will give us the lineup of which shows are on which nights. That will help with planning how late to stay in port if we had late dining. I used to also like to request the rotation that best fits formal and tropical/pirate nights but I don't know how soon before our cruise that will be released either.

I'll keep you posted on what the boss and I decide! All this rain and cold we are having up here is making me think it's winter. Is it January yet?

-steve

 

[SueTGGR]

OK, I found a picture of the 3 of us just before we got off the cruise Jan 08. It is funny, it seems like either I am taking the picture or Jeff is. Alec is in ALL of them it seems.
Now how do you want me to get it to you for our cast of characters?
Can't we have a little bit of Summer before we get to January?? I thought California always had sun?

Later,
Sue

 

[ayumac]

Hi Everyone,

If everything goes well, we will be joining you in Jan.

I just went to my TA's site for the first time in 2 month and found this cruise. "I" just could not resist not making a reservation. I have not told my DH that I have holded a spot yet. We will see how it goes.

We are family of 4 (w/DS9 & DD6) traveling from Cupertino, CA (near San Jose). This will be our very first Wonder cruise (3rd DCL cruise).


Ayumi

 

[airtime247]

Welcome Ayumi! I hope everything works out with your cruise. Good luck!

Sue - Go to our site http://sites.google.com/site/wonderjan23/ and you will see a link on the left that says Contact Jessica. It has her email address. We are the same way with pictures. It's always Emma and Mom or Emma and Dad.

Amy and I talked about dining yesterday. We are leaning toward doing the late dining now as it sounds like a great deal to have them pick her up and take her to the Lab. We are a little (okay, very) skeptical about how she will do in there because of how it went on our last cruise in May. She got really spooked by a little boy her second time in there and didn't want to go back.

We had to stay with her each time we dropped her off and would usually get paged within an hour or so after dropping her off. The counselors said she never left their side. She has gotten better since then but is still clingy in these kinds of situations at home.

We got called out of Palo during our brunch and had to cancel our dinner there as well as wine tasting because by about day 4, she didn't want to go back at all.

I wish the Oceaneer Lab on the Wonder looked different than on the Magic so she hopefully doesn't associate it with her past experience but I'm always shocked at what she remembers.

So, if we switch, we are just hoping it doesn't backfire. It would be so nice to have a nice relaxing dinner every night while she is having a blast with her new friends but that might be wishful thinking on our part. We will have to think about it some more but it does sound really appealing.

-steve