E komo mai o Hawaii

[LittleGirlGrey]

DRAMA! With a captiol D!!!

Today I was thinking about our flight…well freaking out would be more like it. We “were” flying in the day of the Cruise, from DC…getting into LAX at 11am. I thought that this would be okay…until today that is. Today I started freaking out.

I went onto our DIS boards FB page and put my dilemma out there for all to see. I asked if anyone else was flying in the day of, two people are but they get in MUCH earlier. Then the awesome Travel Agents started piling on and others who have done flights like this before.

They were VERY adamant that we should change our flight for the before. I was beginning to agree and still freaking out. So I waited until my mom got home and plopped her down and told her whats what. She totally agreed with me! YAY!
So we are now arriving the day before. Which led to another dilemma. Hotels!? Where should we stay. Other people were staying at Double Tree and Crowne Plaza. At first I was SUPER excited about Double Tree. I LOVE their cookies. And I’m a Pastry Chef. They have some of the best chocolate chip cookies. But the price for one night was a bit steep and we would rather use that money for fun onboard things like drinks and Bingo!

So I found that there is a Vegabond Inn there, which apparently my mother has stayed at while she goes to conventions or whatnot. $80 and free shuttle to the Port! PERFECT! So perfect in fact we’re changing our hotel for the day the Cruise docks to the same hotel. And we’ll be Blue Shuttling it to and free the airport.

This will also be very good for my mom since she has leg issues and we can go to the hotel and she can stretch out and relax before we head to the ship the following day.

Mischief Managed if I do say so myself!!!

Thanks to all my Disers who weighed in! It means so much!

UPDATE!

We’re not staying at Vegabond. We are in fact going to stay at Hotel Maya *which is also a Double Tree* while I was waiting on the phone FOR AN HOUR to change out flight *which btw, the price had gone down! HAZAA!* I was looking at hotels and found this one. Its beautiful and amazing and a mile from The Queen Mary!

[/IMG]

So we’ve decided to get to the hotel, check in and go grab some lunch on the Queen Mary! We may do a tour…they have a ghost tour! And a few others, and apparently they do fireworks which you can see from our hotel! Or, at least that’s what I’ve read.

 

[pas130]

Thank you! For the bday and congrats! I'll tell my mom, I think I'm more excited about her having a bday on the cruise then she is!!! I emailed our family and said "Buy her a day at the Rainforest room!" Thats one of her favorite places, and if they each do that she'll be covered for the whole two weeks!

That's SO cool...

And YAY for getting your stateroom # & a DIS meet

 

[pas130]

WOOHOO on saving $$$ with the flight change

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

That's SO cool...

And YAY for getting your stateroom # & a DIS meet

WOOHOO on saving $$$ with the flight change

We are SO excited! We couldn't believe our luck! For the flight and for the room. I keep doing little happy dances!!!!

 

[amandaw]

That's great that you were able to change your flight & save money! I would definitely get there the day before.

And that hotel looks so pretty & sounds like a great location!

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

That's great that you were able to change your flight & save money! I would definitely get there the day before.

And that hotel looks so pretty & sounds like a great location!

I know! It was totally random about the money saving. My mom wonders if we hadn't changed it, if we would have gotten money back. I think it was just LESS money for that day... But still awesome!!!

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

GUESS WHAT!!! 50 DAYS TO GO!

Do you think I’m excited?

Hi All!!! I’m all over this PTR now aren’t I!

So yesterday I finished up ALL of the travel plans! Whew! But I still have to call my Disney CM about our flight info and to cancel our buses with them to and from the Cruise. Since we’re staying so close to the ship now and we’ll have free travel from the hotels we’re going to give that up.

Did I make any changes? Yes. Yes I did. I decided to that we would stay at Vegabond instead. I just was not okay with us paying around 200 per night *that’s with taxes and whatnot put in it, and we would be staying there for 2 nights* when we could pay $100 instead. I mean that’s an extra $200 RIGHT there for drinks or Bingo or another fun thing. Hey! We could get a wine package now!!!

This is how our Arrival looks like:
Saturday: Arrival:
LAX @ 12:15pm
Catch Blue Shuttle to VB hotel
Settle in, then walk to The Queen Mary for dinner
Head Back to VB and get some rest
Sunday: DISNEY CRUISE!!!
Have Breakfast @ VB hotel *it’s offered!*
Grab Shuttle to Port, our check in time is for 12:15
Check in! FUN CAN BEGIN!

I told my mom after I had made the plans and she was all: “What? We’re not staying at the pretty one?” It was VERY funny. But she agreed, money saved there is money spent elsewhere!

Now I have to make lunch reservations with Mama’s Fish House in Maui. If you’ve never heard of her restaurant…go read up on it now! We first heard about it on Food Network, they have a passion fruit crème brulee. One of my favorite desserts! So we decided that was a MUST to go to, and then I found their lunch menu. I wish we were there long enough for us to have dinner there as well…

Yesterday I also went to Disneystore.com to buy my mom her birthday gift from me *I’m also going to get her the B-day sign for our room, and a massage* but the last time we had been at the Disney Store I saw these awesome 3 Fairy’s!!! They are one of my moms FAVORITES *which is actually very funny, because she LOVES Maleficent as well. So the good fairies and the bad ones!*

While there I saw that they had the new collection of the Disney Villains! OMG! Have you seen the Disney Princess Collection? They don’t sell it anymore, but I was able to get a few things from it. Well this one…had an AMAZING bag…did I buy it? Of course!!! It will be my kick-*** travel bag for the Cruise!!! And a Queen of Hearts Journal *Her little drawing is SO pretty* and a Maleficent mug for my mom! I’ll give that to her before we leave though, I’m not dragging it across America!

ALSO! We got our new tiny travel computer! YAY!!!! I opened it and get it all set up, and now it will go through many a test! We have 30 days to return it, and I promise you, if it lacks in ANY area I will be returning it. So I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.

On one last note *sorry this has been a long update* we found out that a little girl and her family will be on our cruise through Make A Wish. Her mother posted on our DIS FB page about some of the groups and getting t-shirts for her two daughters. One daughter is sick *the older one* and the other is not only her sister but also her best friend.

This breaks my heart. I know we all *all the DISers* want to make this little girls cruise MAGICAL! So I have a few Disney Princess Porcelain dolls that I bought when I worked for Disney 11 years ago. They are still in their packages, and I’ll be giving her one. My mom is also going to make cloaks for both little girls. My mom is an EXCELLENT seamstress. And we’ll give them the cloaks at the start of the trip so they can wear them! I did ask her mom if this was okay and her mom loves the idea. My mom is SO excited to make the cloaks for these little girls, we’ll be heading to JoAnn’s today! This picture is my niece Sophia,

and my mom made this one for her about 2 months ago!

 

[amandaw]

Love all of the stuff you bought at the Disney Store! Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite movies - all because (like your mom) I love both the 3 good Fairies and Maleficent.

That's really sweet of y'all to help make a magical trip for the Make a Wish child.

 

[pas130]

That's really sweet of y'all to help make a magical trip for the Make a Wish child.

Agreed...they are Ambassors of Disney Magic

 

[RGirl]

Fantastic news about the cabin upgrade!

Really good call on flying into Cali a day early.

Oh, I was just looking at the villain stuff the other day. I loved the Cruella notebook, but the one you got may have been even better. Sadly, I didn't order anything - saving all the pennies for our next Disney trip.

The cloak is beautiful. And so sweet. :

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

Love all of the stuff you bought at the Disney Store! Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite movies - all because (like your mom) I love both the 3 good Fairies and Maleficent.

That's really sweet of y'all to help make a magical trip for the Make a Wish child.

Yay for both good and bad fairies! She's very excited to make the cloaks for those little girls. We're going to send them ahead and have them placed in their room! My moms idea! SUCH a great idea!

Agreed...they are Ambassors of Disney Magic

I didn't know that! That is SO cool!!!

Fantastic news about the cabin upgrade!

Really good call on flying into Cali a day early.

Oh, I was just looking at the villain stuff the other day. I loved the Cruella notebook, but the one you got may have been even better. Sadly, I didn't order anything - saving all the pennies for our next Disney trip.

The cloak is beautiful. And so sweet. :

So....where's your next cruise!!!

Yes, we're both really glad we changed our plans. I feel so much better about it and so does my mom. This way it will give us a day to get some rest before we got on board. Otherwise we probably would have been SO tired that Sunday evening.

I figure I'll use the journal as my note taking journal for the cruise. I was going to buy one anyway...

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

I need to do an update! I keep writing one and then saying…ehh…its to boring and then deleting it. But I know I just need to post one. Sadly nothing new has really happened.

I’m working on lists, lists, lists! Those are always fun, and I was going to start organizing bits and pieces. Such as clothes we’ll wear on the ship, but we wont be wearing right now. But I want to wash them now, and then hang them up so that I wont have to wash them before we leave! I’ll just have to fold and pack.

OH! I did look around online for a new boarding spot for my cats. Not that I hate the vets I normally board them with, I just feel like they don’t give Lexxie the attention she needs because they don’t like her. So I found one place online that has had great reviews, so I’ll be making an apt to go look at their boarding area. I think that’s AWESOME that you get to see where your animals live. I mean, its 2 weeks. I don’t want Lexxie to be ignored for 2 weeks because she can have a bad attitude! She doesn’t bite or scratch she just yells at you.

I’m also going to return the tiny laptop. Its just not doing what I want it to do. So this week I’ll return it. All in all the trip is coming together. I’m super excited and so is my mom. Apparently someone at her work often goes on Disney Cruises and she will come into my moms office and screech: HOW MANY MORE DAYS!? Hee hee, my mom couldn’t remember yesterday and the lady was shocked! In a funny way that is.

 

[geffric]

subscribed!

can't wait..now I am questioning my choice of excursions..

BTW - sometime on board we can talk about my gluten free lifestyle..

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

subscribed!

can't wait..now I am questioning my choice of excursions..

BTW - sometime on board we can talk about my gluten free lifestyle..

HI!!!! YAY!

Why are you questioning your choice of excursions!?

One of my really good friends is Gluten Free!!! So I have some great recipes!

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

Hello All,

Sorry its been awhile since my last update. I haven’t really been doing much. I’m sick…but with a weird sickness. We don’t really know what it is, but I believe its some sort of autoimmune disorder. They tend to run in my family. The problem is, I have no job and no insurance to go get it checked out, so my mom and I are debating on if I should go up to AK for a few weeks and get looked at up there. I’m Alaskan Native and get free health care…so I’ll keep you posted on that front. If anyone out there has Lupus or know anything about it a PM would be wonderful!!!

As for the trip we are still EXTREMLY excited and I still have much to do. I’m hoping this bout of ickness will go away so I can get back to planning. I still need to set up boarding for the cats, find my moms passport, clean out luggage, work on FE gifts…the list continues!!!

I’m also super excited to get a laminating machine and get to making magnets for our door!!! Anyone have any good tips on making magnets!?

 

[amandaw]

I'm so sorry to hear that you've been sick! I hope you can get up to AK to get it checked out.

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

I'm so sorry to hear that you've been sick! I hope you can get up to AK to get it checked out.

Thank you! It'll have to wait for after the Cruise! That comes first! I'm feeling a bit better.

 

[LittleGirlGrey]

SAY WHAT!? 35 Days to go!!!!!!

Wow, just WOW! I am getting SO excited!!! Some major things I need to do:

-Call Disney, ask if they have wheelchairs…(If I’m still feeling under the weather that is)

-Go get a laminator!!! MAKE MAGNETS!

-Help mom finish FE gifts

-Help mom finish cloaks

-Start organizing stuff!!! (clothes and whatnot)

-Call to set up apts for Cats!!!

-Go get a spray on tan! Cus I look like I’ve lived in the dark.

There are still so many things to do. Oh and I have to return the tiny computer.
TODAY people started getting their tags and stuff from Disney! When I read that I walked to the mail box, which took ALL of my energy. It was killer…and no Disney packet. SAD FACE! I need to call our Disney guy and cancel our bus service from the airport. Maybe I’ll email him….

I’ll do another update probably tomorrow!!! Tomorrow I am getting my bum OUT of this house no matter how I feel. I need to start making magnets! And I need to walk some so in case I still feel crappy I can have SOME stamina. I’m finally starting to eat again, so that’s ONE good sign. I need to eat more…because the FIRST thing on the ship I want besides a DOTD! Is FRENCH FRIES! Yum.

 

[geffric]

I am sorry that you still dont feel well..( hugs)

as far as magnets..there is a lady on the DIS that makes designs foe them and you print them out..check out Cruise Magnet Graphics by Milliepie

 

[RGirl]

Hello All,

Sorry its been awhile since my last update. I haven’t really been doing much. I’m sick…but with a weird sickness. We don’t really know what it is, but I believe its some sort of autoimmune disorder. They tend to run in my family. The problem is, I have no job and no insurance to go get it checked out, so my mom and I are debating on if I should go up to AK for a few weeks and get looked at up there. I’m Alaskan Native and get free health care…so I’ll keep you posted on that front. If anyone out there has Lupus or know anything about it a PM would be wonderful!!!

As for the trip we are still EXTREMLY excited and I still have much to do. I’m hoping this bout of ickness will go away so I can get back to planning. I still need to set up boarding for the cats, find my moms passport, clean out luggage, work on FE gifts…the list continues!!!

I’m also super excited to get a laminating machine and get to making magnets for our door!!! Anyone have any good tips on making magnets!?

Oh no! I hope you are feeling better. And I REALLY hope you get checked out - whether you have to go to Alaska or just find someone there to help despite the lack of insurance. You have to take care of yourself.

SAY WHAT!? 35 Days to go!!!!!!

Wow, just WOW! I am getting SO excited!!! Some major things I need to do:

-Call Disney, ask if they have wheelchairs…(If I’m still feeling under the weather that is)

-Go get a laminator!!! MAKE MAGNETS!

-Help mom finish FE gifts

-Help mom finish cloaks

-Start organizing stuff!!! (clothes and whatnot)

-Call to set up apts for Cats!!!

-Go get a spray on tan! Cus I look like I’ve lived in the dark.

There are still so many things to do. Oh and I have to return the tiny computer.
TODAY people started getting their tags and stuff from Disney! When I read that I walked to the mail box, which took ALL of my energy. It was killer…and no Disney packet. SAD FACE! I need to call our Disney guy and cancel our bus service from the airport. Maybe I’ll email him….

I’ll do another update probably tomorrow!!! Tomorrow I am getting my bum OUT of this house no matter how I feel. I need to start making magnets! And I need to walk some so in case I still feel crappy I can have SOME stamina. I’m finally starting to eat again, so that’s ONE good sign. I need to eat more…because the FIRST thing on the ship I want besides a DOTD! Is FRENCH FRIES! Yum.

Oh my gosh - the cruise is so close! I hope that you will be well enough to enjoy it.

No need to waste money on a laminator machine - you can buy sheets that don't require a machine and work really well. For my magnets, I didn't even bother - I just printed on photo stock paper and glued them to a roll of magnet sheet and cut them out. They held up great - will probably use some of them on the next cruise.