"Double Dip Delight" Alternate Western 09/27/08

[Buckeye Gal]

FYI, I added a section on the new Kids' Meets on Post 577. It includes instructions on how to gain access as well as the guidelines that Brandie has already posted.

(Brandie, can you please take a look at it and make sure it's all accurately stated? If there's anything else you think would be beneficial, just let me know!)

 

[LuvtheEars]

Hi there!

Emilysmommy - My DD will be 5 on the cruise, but were in NC. . . only a few states away. We will also be sailing with some friends that have a DD the same age. I'm sure our girls will get along great!

Kimberly - I hope you get feeling better very soon! Strep is no fun at all! I'd send you some Chicken Soup, but it would be cold by the time it got to Ohio.

Donald & Daisy: We were able to get a garden view room for $306.00 with the AAA rate. We saved about $60.00 from the online rate. We stayed at AKL and Riverside last year, but wanted the convience of the monorail from the MNSSHP.

Doug46: I'm not sure about how fast the rooms will fill up in Sept, but I wanted to make sure we were able to get a good rate so I booked early. I have some friends that decided to go to WDW in January with only a months notice and were able to get almost everything they wanted. If you're not picky about what type of room you need then I wouldn't worry about booking now. We are also driving down so we don't have to worry about airfare.

Nenner: I hope you get over the morning sickness soon! That's no fun at all! PS I love your trip report from October (but I still have to finish reading it).

Hadley: Great story and thanks for the welcome back!

Drea: I'm sending prayers up for both your DH and your family at home! I also want to thank you and your DH for all you do to keep us safe!

Brandie: Thanks for the $ info for the port. I read that it was $12 a day, but was wondering what the actual cost would be with tax and all.

Stay warm all of you in the Winter weather zone! I also hope anyone from the mid-west is safe from all the violent storms there. We are heading back into winter weather ourselves in a day or so. Time to put the shorts away again and find my sweat shirts. Bummer!

Have a great day everyone!

Tiffany

PS - I think I've finally found an avatar I like, so I'll try to stop changing it.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

*pssssst* Ole Miss and all Mississippi universities are historically rivals with LSU... Ole Miss especially... Salt in the wound, Kimberly, salt in the wound!!!

Aren't you funny!

Oh...and 200 inches of snow!?!?! WHOA!

.....So, I hear a lot of you talking about college football. Isn't anyone excited about the NFL Playoffs? ..... I have a cute wooden sign that I put on my front door that says "We interrupt this family for football season" and sadly, that is no exaggeration

That's hilarious! For you, I hope the Packers win, Arin!

Well I finally made it back on the baords after an absense of, oh, I don't know, six months. Anyone care to bring me up to speed on what I missed? ....

Doug! Welcome back!!

To answer your question about bookings, I booked my Friday night hotel at T-364 days!! I'll be staying at WDW the Sunday-Thursday prior to the cruise, but we'll be heading to the Port Friday afternoon.

As for airfare, I'm still holding off, too. I've been tracking it about every 3 weeks since November 9. It's gone down $10 since then, but I checked yesterday, and it had gone up $1 since December 13. I'm hoping that once we hit the 6 month mark (when other airlines like Southwest open their ticket purchasing window) that the prices will go down. Right now, the best non-stop fare I can get from Columbus is $328, and the one-stop fares are VERY close to that as well. That's much more than I've planned for.

Back in the spring, I did find online a histogram of airfares of all carriers over a year's period. There was a significant (and the lowest in a year) drop in mid February to mid March of 2006. Not sure if this is a trend or not, but I'm willing to wait to see if it just might be.

 

[Fizzgig]

Kimberly, the note about the pictures on the website confuses me, because everyone can add their own picture as an avatar on the DISDoubleDip website, and I don't believe we have a photo gallery there. Is there a photo gallery here that I'm oblivious to? *chuckle* Like the poll on my own site's front page???

The kids' area explanation is correct to my eyes. Parents have to request access from me for their kid to be added, and I have to know the accounts to add. The parents and the kids accounts will both have access, and the area is closely monitored. If the parents, DH, or I see anything inappropriate, we'll deal with the issue. The reason it is so constrained is because of things I've seen on the DISBoards.

PM if you have any concerns or questions, if you'd like.

Brandie

 

[Buckeye Gal]

(Sorry I'm being so much of a space piggy on this page, but everytime I post something, I see I missed something to comment on or something new comes up!)

Tiffany, I appreciate the soup offer!! I'm all set though. I've been eating cream of chicken soup with cilantro as the pasta and veggies in "normal" chicken soup are too irritating. Applesauce and yogurt have been a good friend to me, too. Tonight, I'll have jello all gelled up for a snack, too. woo hoo I did notice the new avatar...looks smashing!

Kimberly, the note about the pictures on the website confuses me, because everyone can add their own picture as an avatar on the DISDoubleDip website...

Ahh....good catch!! That was noted there "from way back when" when Marsha (brady961) was creating our website. She was posting pictures that were sent to the DoubleDip09-2008@hotmail.com account to the website. I'll go back and correct that statement. THANK YOU!!

 

[Fizzgig]

Ahh....good catch!! That was noted there "from way back when" when Marsha (brady961) was creating our website. She was posting pictures that were sent to the DoubleDip09-2008@hotmail.com account to the website. I'll go back and correct that statement. THANK YOU!!

I'm glad you're able to eat something! And thanks for the explanation and compliment. DH is still chuckling over me not seeing the poll he made.

Brandie

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

Does anyone know where Marsha has been?

Kimberly, glad to hear you can eat at least something...strep throat is horrible.

Tiffany - love the new avatar....great fish...kinda looks familiar

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Does anyone know where Marsha has been?...

The last I communicated with Marsha via email was in Sept. She was heading out for another cruise then and was having a lot of challenges with work that crept up on her right before that cruise took off. So I'm sure she really appreciated the break! She had yet another cruise scheduled (or at least she did) for December, I think. Actually, now I think about it, wasn't she and another DDD diser on your last cruise, Stacy (pfishgirl)?

That woman knows how to cruise, I tell ya!! So maybe she'll rejoin us shortly being she has the other cruises under her belt. Although I wouldn't be surprised if she has yet another planned before ours in Sept!!! I hope we hear from her soon! She seems so nice!!

It does seem that many are coming out of hibernation now we have hit 2008 and the holidays are over!!! More friends will make all our chatting and planning that much more fun...that's for sure!

 

[LuvtheEars]

Tiffany - love the new avatar....great fish...kinda looks familiar

Thanks! It's actually a keychain I picked up on the Wonder in October! I thought it would make a great avatar!

Kimberly - Cream of Chicken with cilantro - yum!!! I love cilantro on just about everything! Enjoy the jello tonight too!

Tiffany

 

[crissichef]

Well I finally made it back on the baords after an absense of, oh, I don't know, six months. Anyone care to bring me up to speed on what I missed? Apparently is was only 4 or 5 thousand posts.

Couple questions since I am at work and can't read through too many posts (sorry if these have been covered recently):

Are people starting to book flights yet? I was hoping fuel costs would come down a bit, but looks like that is unlikely.

Are people booking hotels for the night or two before the cruise yet. I did see one note about a family booked at the Contemporary and that is why I am asking. Should I be doing that already? Our group has 7 cabins and we are all starting to get execited now that we are in the same calander year as the cruise.

I am going to try hard to start reading at least this thread regularly again, but life is so hectic these days.

We are waiting for Airtran to release their flights out of Phila.....we are up in the air about flying Airtran out of Phila or Spirit out of Atlantic City......

We booked our pre-cruise room at the MCO Hyatt months ago........I hear it fills up so I didn't want to chance it! We are also staying at POP Century the night after the cruise ends but haven't booked that yet.

Crissi

 

[NHdisneylover]

My internet went out for most of the day and boy was everyone chatty

Kimberly--I am GLAD it is strep. With strep you can get meds and feel better in about 24 hours. Much better than having to tought it out until your body fights off some nasty virus on its own. Feel better soon

Recently there have been a number of posts wondering about excursions in Costa Maya and/or ruins there. I typed a lengthy description (with photos) of the DCL tour to Kohunlich we did while on the Double Dip in '06. It is in posts 690, 692, 704, 710, 711, 712, 713, 714 If anyone is newer than the posts and would like to read it.

Tiffany--adorable Keychain

Airfare--we are waiting for Southwest to release rates before we book so it will be awhile (the biggest downside to SWA in my opinion). We will be at WDW for the entire week precruise staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter. I think we will use Tiffany Towncar as transportation to the port (our favourite way to get there ).

 

[pfishgirl]

The last I communicated with Marsha via email was in Sept. She was heading out for another cruise then and was having a lot of challenges with work that crept up on her right before that cruise took off. So I'm sure she really appreciated the break! She had yet another cruise scheduled (or at least she did) for December, I think. Actually, now I think about it, wasn't she and another DDD diser on your last cruise, Stacy (pfishgirl)?

That woman knows how to cruise, I tell ya!! So maybe she'll rejoin us shortly being she has the other cruises under her belt. Although I wouldn't be surprised if she has yet another planned before ours in Sept!!! I hope we hear from her soon! She seems so nice!!

It does seem that many are coming out of hibernation now we have hit 2008 and the holidays are over!!! More friends will make all our chatting and planning that much more fun...that's for sure!

Marsha and I were Cruising together in December... She did post a Hello on January 3rd on another thread... She was saying how cold it was in Florida that week..

 

[pfishgirl]

We are waiting for Airtran to release their flights out of Phila.....we are up in the air about flying Airtran out of Phila or Spirit out of Atlantic City......

Crissi

We ALWAYS use Spirit from AC... It's only about an hour away!!

Matter of fact.... We are leaving tomorrow for a quick weekend trip to WDW with friends..

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

We used Spirit in Dec and it was GREAT, no delays and Philly had cancellations galore. Our only concern is getting down there on a Friday night after the kids get done school, and the 42 traffic which can be REALLY bad...

We ALWAYS use Spirit from AC... It's only about an hour away!!

Matter of fact.... We are leaving tomorrow for a quick weekend trip to WDW with friends..

 

[CaptainJack]

We are on the Magic right now. For any of you that have not decided whether to go to Palo, I stongly suggest that you go.

We went for dinner on Tuesday and for brunch today. If you can only choose one, choose bunch. The food at dinnner was excellent, but once we cleared port, there was not much to see of the ocean.

Bunch was fantastic.

Our server for both was Roberto. We drew him by random for dinner and he was so good that we requested him for brunch. Remember, that you need to tip the servers at Palo. I spoke with the manager of Palo and the $10 per person charged at Palo does not go as a tip to the servers. Therefore, their livelihood is dependent on everyone tipping.

If you do not have a server that you prefer, we have been on 5 cruises and our server on this one has been the best of the 5 servers we have had. That is not to say that we have had bad service from any of the servers, just that of the 5 he has been the best. His name is Edward and he is from England.

Lionel

 

[Emilysmom]

Thanks so much! You guys sure know how to make a newbie feel welcomed. I have looked at the posts that you recommended, and I will definitely keep in touch. My Emily is 4 now, but she will be almost 5 when we cruise. So, I asked on the last cruise (in Sept), and the kids club staff said that she would be able to try out the 5-7 group since she is so close to being 5. Thanks again for all of the info.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hello everyone (and welcome to Emilysmom). Captain Jack I hope you are having a lovely trip.

Here are a couple of totally not cruise related things to make you chuckle as you wait for Friday to arrive:

Dave is working in another town this week (it is really an extended interview as he s still in limbo with his job--so send pixie dust if you'd like). They ordered in lunch yesterday. They wanted Chineese. There is one Chinese place in town: TOKYO house I think the owners (who are very typical New England in looks--they have their photo on the menu) need a geography lesson!

The kids and I went to Dunkin Donuts today. Rio is a bright kid, but he can be kinda--well, dense, at times. So, he is looking at the little photos which go along with the "America Runs on Dunkin" slogan and asks (I am NOT making this up) "Why is there someone swimming in a Martini glass for 'runs'?" Okay, here is where you go to the Dunkin webiste and look at that slogan again and Sheesh--I can see it now that he said it but how on earth did his mind jump to MARTINIS over legs while knowing it meant running????

On a non comical but happy note for me, Marika (my own personal Hermione) has finally tried reading Harry Potter again (they scared her when she was 6 and she never would look at them after) and read all of the first book last night and this morning and loved it Of course, now it is too late to ever take her to a midnight release rolleyes:

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

We are on the Magic right now.

I am so jealous!!!!! We too really love to have brunch at Palo's. Dinner is great, but the brunch is my absolute favorite.

 

[Fizzgig]

CaptainJack: Oh man, you are so lucky!!!

Hadley: I see the martini glass, if I unfocus my eyes... I miss donut holes. This diet thing STINKS. I want some caramel popcorn, lotsa chocolate, and a vat of Italian food. Hey... maybe I should go get some lunch, seeing as I can feel my face again (dentist appt this morning)...

*wave* I'm off to rummage for eatables. Oh, and to put some acorn squash seeds out to dry... cause evidently I eat bird food on this diet.

Brandie

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Captain Jack,

So thrilled it sounds like you're having a great time!! I hope you'll let us know if you write a trip report!!

Your comment in your post specifically around tipping is very timely to a thread that started today. I hope you don't mind, but since you answered the on-going question related to the $10 fee going to the servers or not, I went ahead and copied your post out there.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1682728

Thanks for stopping by to say hello and share your experience today!!