Disney Wonder Jan 23, 2011

[Kidlette]

Sue: You guys are great too! We loved getting together with you guys! We HAVE to get together again before the cruise! Hopefully we'll be able to afford the Halloween party in October, but if not we could still meet you for lunch or dinner at Downtown Disney! We could even meet you for breakfast - Steakhouse 55 has an awesome breakfast at reasonable prices! Hopefully you still have my number; we can work something out when it gets closer!

I am also REALLY excited about Hawaii! I have been there once (for business), and Ryan has never been. I can't talk him into going anywhere unless it's Disney related! Now - he HAS to go to Hawaii with me! I LOVED it! I was so adventurous when I went, I did a helicopter ride over the islands all by myself! Steve, will you please email me the Hawaii chart also? Thanks!

Sue: I'm sorry to do this, but I have to disagree about using points for Hotel Del. Yes, it's a BEAUTIFUL place (I grew up in San Diego and I know it well), but the points are really high! On average it's more than 50 points per night! If you have multiple ownerships and a lot of points (like you do), then it's not a problem; but for people with only 1 ownership and/or minimum points - it's SUPER steep! Ryan and I could never "afford" that with points. Plus, when you do the cash conversion (avg. $10 - $11 per point), cash value you would be "paying" an average of $500 - $550 per night. I have priced Hotel Del on cash before, and you can find rooms as low as $300 or $400 cash. Anyway - I agree 100% that everyone should go to the Hotel Del at some point in time! But, I don't agree that it's a good value on points. Sorry darlin', I disagree with you, but I still love ya!

Ryan (AKA Dudley): Ummm...why would they replace the Pirates in the Caribbean Party with Minnie's Fiesta? Pirates is a night show with fireworks and Minnie's Fiesta is a 2nd deck party when you're leaving one of the Mexico ports. You're silly! But ... I just realized something. It's "Pirates in the Caribbean" - but - we won't actually be inthe Caribbean! Oh no!

 

[Kidlette]

OK Everyone - I have a question!

Has anyone ever purchased the internet package thing on a Disney cruise? How expensive was it? I just realized that my scholastic plans have changed since we originally booked this cruise, and now I'm screwed! My original plan had me getting my AS degree in December and being done with school completely in January. But now I am going for my BA and will be enrolled in 5 classes in January! I just learned that school starts on the 18th, and our 2 night cruise sails on the 21st EEEK! Hopefully my professors will be lenient about me missing the 2nd week of class! But, I will have a couple of online classes that I can keep up with on the ship...if it's not too expensive!

Thanks!!!

 

[airtime247]

Ryan (AKA Dudley): Ummm...why would they replace the Pirates in the Caribbean Party with Minnie's Fiesta? Pirates is a night show with fireworks and Minnie's Fiesta is a 2nd deck party when you're leaving one of the Mexico ports. You're silly! But ... I just realized something. It's "Pirates in the Caribbean" - but - we won't actually be inthe Caribbean! Oh no!

Hmmm...well, maybe we can have our own 'Rascals, Scoundrels, Villains, and Knaves' in the Riviera Party!

Has anyone ever purchased the internet package thing on a Disney cruise? How expensive was it?

The last I checked it was $9.95 for a 24-hour contiguous period in your room. It's too bad they don't give free Wi-Fi in the rooms like they do for DVC members at WDW.

-steve

 

[Kidlette]

The last I checked it was $9.95 for a 24-hour contiguous period in your room. It's too bad they don't give free Wi-Fi in the rooms like they do for DVC members at WDW.

-steve

Wouldn't that be awesome! I thought I heard it was SUPER expensive, like $39 for 24 hours or something?!?! Maybe I'm wrong! Hopefully I'm wrong! If it's only $9.95, that's not bad at all!

 

[SueTGGR]

Those of you who are DVC members AND can drive down to So Cal, check your e-mail. I just got an invite to a special viewing and special offers to buy into the Hawaii DVC resort. It will be July 1-7, why couldn't they have done this while we were down there????? I am so tempted to just drive down and back! I am sure I will find out other info as we get closer but I thought I would share.
Oh, if you want to see my pictures from this last week, check it out:
http://s471.photobucket.com/albums/rr72/SueTGGR/5th annual Fathers Day 2010/
I took a few pictures from the Mexico section of It's a Small World in case anyone wants to be inspired for a logo

One of my fav's

Off to dream!
Sue

 

[Kidlette]

Sue: That's a great picture of Alec!

Everyone: I know we haven't decided on a group "name", but I was trying to come up with ideas and put something together. This is not what we have to use, but it's what I've done so far. I'm afraid I'm not a graphic designer or anything, so this is the best I can do with my limited tools. Let me know what you all think! If you have ideas of something you'd like to see changed (or completely different), let me know and I'll see what I can do!

In this sample I've just used what I called us on the website "characters of wonder". If we want, we can just use that and not come up with a name. Let me know what you think!

The only other name idea I've had is "LOST - in the Mexican Riviera" (because technically Disney owns the LOST show)

Here's what I've played with so far.

 

[Kidlette]

I've actually done a few samples. Here are two others that I like!

OR.....

 

[cdnsluvdisney]

HI We just confirmed our reservation for a Cat. 5A for the January 23rd sailing. Sooo excited!!!

I (40) will be travelling with my husband Greg (40) and our children Ryan (5) and Brendan (3). We are from BC, Canada, and would love to be involved with the FE and be part of this group! Look forward to meeting everyone and having tons of fun!! Thanks for starting this thread

Michele

 

[ryanmcin]

Those of you who are DVC members AND can drive down to So Cal, check your e-mail. I just got an invite to a special viewing and special offers to buy into the Hawaii DVC resort. It will be July 1-7, why couldn't they have done this while we were down there????? I am so tempted to just drive down and back! I am sure I will find out other info as we get closer but I thought I would share.

I got that e-mail too. Free pin if you show up! I think that we have signed for 3 of these events in the past, but we have never actually made it to one. If it wasn't 4th of July weekend then I think I would do it, but it is going to be nuts at DLR.

 

[Kidlette]

HI We just confirmed our reservation for a Cat. 5A for the January 23rd sailing. Sooo excited!!!

I (40) will be travelling with my husband Greg (40) and our children Ryan (5) and Brendan (3). We are from BC, Canada, and would love to be involved with the FE and be part of this group! Look forward to meeting everyone and having tons of fun!! Thanks for starting this thread

Michele

Welcome Michele & family!
I have added you to the FE list on page 2 as well as to our website! I will need your cabin number for FE's! If you don't know your cabin number yet just let me know that you're on a guarantee status!

Everyone: I have worked on the website a little bit this morning! I've added a "printable" version of the Characters of Wonder list. On that page I have also included any FE restrictions. If you have a restriction you would like noted, please send me a PM (or post) and I will get it updated ASAP! Also, a LOT of people have "TBA" on your info (cabin number, etc). Cabin number is especially important for FE's (otherwise we won't know where to leave your gifts)! Please let me know your cabin number OR if you have a guarantee cabin. We'll need to devise a plan for guarantee rooms and people who are upgraded.

Also you'll notice we now have approximately 74 characters on this sailing! 47 of those are participating in FE's! I will continue to keep this count updated on the top of the characters of wonder page...just for fun!

Private gathering/reception:
I wasn't going to mention this right away, but I'm too excited about the thought so I have to share! When I saw that we already have 74 people, I called DCL to find out if they would allow us a private group gathering or private group reception! I received the contact information and details for the proper department and I will be faxing them tomorrow! The cast member said that it will depend on whether or not there are already other groups filling the space, but they don't think it will be a problem. They also said that there could be a cost based on what exactly we're looking for, so we'll get a quote when they respond to my fax. For instance, we can request a reception with desserts, snacks, drinks, a breakfast, entertainment, characters, a private group photo session, etc! My thought was that we could request a group gathering the first morning at sea (that would be a great way to update and exchange all cabin numbers too). As far as the details, I just thought I'd ask for information and pricing on all of the things listed above! (It doesn't hurt to get the info, right?!?!) I think a breakfast (maybe with the captain or characters), or maybe a reception with desserts/drinks, characters, or a group photo session would be wonderful! A group photo would be awesome I think! However, I think that would only be possible if they allowed us to have the photo taken, but allowed only the people who wanted one to purchase it. If it was mandatory that we had to pay for that many photos, it would be way too much $! Like I said though, I will get ALL of the info, report back, and we can decide if we think this is a good idea! Our own private party with Mickey and Minnie would be so cool!

 

[Kidlette]

Ok, now I'm depressed. Ryan found the "logo" from someone who did the Mexican Riviera Cruise in 2005. There's is AWESOME! I think we should figure out a way to steal it!

Here's their logo:

 

[Kidlette]

Oh No! This one is even BETTER! Ok, forget the dinky things I tried to make, let me see what I can do about stealing one of these!

This one is AWESOME!

 

[ryanmcin]

I found the current internet usage fees. I wish it was $9.95 a day.

Pay as you go - $0.75 per minute
50 min for $27.50 ($0.55/min)
100 min for $40 ($0.40/min)
250 min for $75 ($0.30/min)

 

[Boutit]

There should be internet cafe's in the ports we visit, they will be cheaper than the shipboard rates. You will have to put your assignments on a flash drive. Ships internet is usually very slow. You wind up paying much more than you should, especially with uploads. Been there, done that.

 

[Kidlette]

There should be internet cafe's in the ports we visit, they will be cheaper than the shipboard rates. You will have to put your assignments on a flash drive. Ships internet is usually very slow. You wind up paying much more than you should, especially with uploads. Been there, done that.

Hi Leland, thanks for the idea! The only problem I see with that is this: I would have to do my homework in the port instead of shore excursions. I would rather do my homework while lounging by the pool on a sea day! I wonder if you can get some kind of international internet thing through a provider and not go through the cruise line or ports at all. Do you know if that's possible?!?

 

[Boutit]

You should be able to do your homework poolside and save it to a disk drive. If your homework allows you to cut and paste you only need to go online to get the assignment and then to submit it. You sould be able to complete the work offline. I guess it will depend on the classes you take.
As far as another internet provider, I don't think you will find one. The ship has the service locked up to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Kidlette]

Hey everyone! OK, I know I've done a lot of posting today so this is the last one. But...I've found out where and how we can get an awesome logo
(like the one I posted earlier today) for ourselves! I'm working on it. It may take a couple of weeks, but that gives us a week or so to figure out our name! These are my newest thoughts:

Characters of Wonder
Mickey's Mariachi Mates
Minnie's Mariachi Mates
Caballero's Castaways

As an example, the Oct. 2nd group came up with "Mickey's Mexican Mousekateers" (or however you spell that). I can't think of anything with Mexican in it, can anyone else? I kind of like the mariachi mates one. What does everyone think???

We should figure this out soon to finalize a logo!

Have a good night, and a wonder-ful monday!

 

[airtime247]

Jessica - Those initial logos look good. I'm anxious to see what you come up with!

Thank you so much for looking into the group gathering info. We are open to anything. If they want to gouge us for everything (Disney wouldn't do that now would they?), there are still plenty of free options we can look into. These ideas sound really cool though. Please let us know the details when you get them.

Michele - Welcome! I think you're the third family from Canada joining us. That's great. I've only been to Canada twice and both times were to Vancouver. We stayed near Langley in Surrey. We loved it there! You live in such a beautiful area.

I flipped when I saw how cheap (I thought) gas was there. I was ready to start filling up ice chests and water bottles before I realized it was per liter and not gallon!

Ryan - Yikes, that is expensive. I must have been thinking about WDW's fees. I would be surprised if she can't find a wi-fi hot spot in Puerta Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas. Like Leland said, I would put everything on a flash drive if she can and then if she can only find an Internet Cafe, she can just jump on long enough to submit her homework. I guess if that's the case she can probably do it on the ship and just get on the ship's Internet long enough to submit it. At only 75 cents pay-as-you-go, she can hopefully be on and off in a minute or two.

-steve

 

[googles111]

Hi, I'm Tonya. We just booked the Jan. 23 cruise too! I can't wait. This will be our 2nd cruise. We went on the Double Dip in Sept 2008. Did any of you happen to go on that one too?

We did the fish extenders and had so much fun. My kids couldn't wait to check out what they got. Lots of fun for them.. and me! We have 2 boys that will be 8 and 12. We are going to tell them about the cruise for Christmas.

Anybody else have good ideas on ideas for Christmas? My friend did a poem scavenger hunt thing a couple years ago. The kids loved it.Took them to their next clue until they found out what the big present was.

 

[denversees4me]

Can I just start by saying I LOVE OUR GROUP !
We sooooo rock !
Jessica I vote for Characters of Wonder LOVE THIS and the part about the mex rivera with the donald logo ITS SO COOL
Last cruise we had a logo and I didnt purchase anything etc this cruise if we do that logo IM SOOOOOO DOING T SHIRTS !

I will send you a PM now to give you pics and rooms for the site
Catching up on reading now
think we will have to either break up the FE list into smaller groups or figure out something creative