EARLY ROLL CALL....September 18, 2005 on Disney's Wonder (4 day cruise)

vossjemi

I LUV 2 Travel!!!
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Apr 16, 2004
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Hello to all who are Disney Veterans and to newbies like me!!! Thanks to those Vets I found this website and garnered enough information to convince me to book early! :D We were even lucky enough to get one of those coveted SPH's on deck 5!:teeth: Thanks guys!!

I've never been to WDW or on a Disney cruise, but DH went to WDW as a child. We have 2 children, who at the time of sailing will be: DD 5 :earsgirl: & DS 3:earsboy: . We haven't really ever taken them anywhere yet, so we're pretty excited about this trip. Since DH & I are already going on a cruise in 1/05, we didn't have enough time off work to do the whole land/sea pkg. :( But, never to fear, that just means another trip!:teeth: I think we're planning on a WDW trip next May or June 06.

I met a poster named hencoll from the boards at cruisecritic going on this same cruise and we thought we should start a Cruise Meet here. Hencoll, I hope you find this as I searched but didn't find any other roll call for our sailing. I hope others can find it too!::yes:: Lets chat and get to know each other.
 
Its me, HenColl from the Cruise Critics board. I was on my way to start this thread but I had to stop and prepare dinner.
As I mentioned on the CC board, we are a family of 5. 3 DDs and me and DH. This will be our youngest DDs first cruise. Our 8yr old has cruised Disney once before as well as twice on Celebrity and once on Carnival.
When planning this trip we began with a booking for a 7 nt on the Magic but then we reconsidered and thought the 4 night Wonder cruise would be a great intro to cruising for the youngest two girls.
I guess I babbled on enough. I hope others are planning to join us as we look towards Sept- 2005.
 
Kaseyc,

Nice to meet you! I see you are from Illinois. Where is Lake Villa? We're not far apart neighbor. We live in Springfield, Missouri about 30 minutes from Branson. We used to go to Illinois a lot to visit my grandfather in East Moline years ago until he passed away in 1990.

Sounds like your kids are cruise trained!:D DH & I have been on 2 prior cruises (RC and Carnival) and are planning a Panama Canal RC cruise in 1/05 (w/out kids). It'll probably be our last LONG vacation w/out kids. I'd like to have 2 vacation trips/year. One big one with the kids and one small one for DH & I.


I don't know a lot about how the whole DVC thing works (i see that in your avatar). I've got a lot to learn about Disney! But these boards are really fun and ADDICTIVE!:hyper:
 
Lake Villa is very close to the WI state line. We are north of Chicago. My DH commutes daily to the Chicago area (Deerfield) for work. I stay at home with the 3 Girls.

I lived in Missouri for about 4 years when we were kids. We lived in St. Joseph. We moved when I was 6. Is that far from you.

A great book to help with planning your cruise and the whole DCL experience is "Passporters Field Guide to the Disney Cruise Line"
It has alot of info. You can get it from most bookstores or order it directly from their website. www.passporter.com/dcl

Will check back later! :D
 

No, St. Joe isn't very close. Its about a 3 or so hour drive away. Its up north by Kansas City. But, I do have some relatives who live near there.

Springfield is in the southwest corner of Missouri. We like this location because we are literally surrounded by lakes. There are about 6-7 lakes within 30 min-1 hour drive all around us. We have a boat and go tent camping a lot. The kids, age 4 and 2 now, just LOVE the tent!:Pinkbounc :bounce: They also love to go out on the boat and swim. We just got a Triple Dawg this year, and my DD/DH or I will go out there with her. She thinks that is awesome! DS is a little scared and doesn't want to do that yet.

I've never been to Chicago, but I've been checking out the last minute airfare deals on smarterliving.com, and our small town airport has had deals for $135pp roundtrip. There were 2 airports listed (i'm thinking mid and ord, not sure what they stand for). DH & I were thinking that someday that would be a nice short romantic trip for us on last minute notice. Which is the better airport to fly into?

You are so lucky getting to stay home with the kids! I so wanted to do that, but couldn't. But, my kids are in a really good church daycare/preschool and they love it!!:jester:

I'll have to check out the passporter. I've seen others mention it. So, with 5 people do you get a suite or connecting cabins? Or do some of the standard cabins sleep 5?

Well, should get back to work. Check back w/you later!:wave:
 
kaseyc,

Hey, just ckng in. We just got back from a fun trip to galveston. It was the kids first trip to the ocean. We went for a wedding, and decided to make a vacation out of it.

I was wondering about Chicago airports. DH & I were thinking that someday that would be a nice short romantic trip for us on last minute notice. Which is the better airport to fly into? (mid or ord) Which is closer to magnificent mile?

I'll have to check out the passporter. I've seen others mention it. So, with 5 people do you get a suite or connecting cabins? Or do some of the standard cabins sleep 5?

Do you have any "must do" plans for this cruise? Any recommended excursions? We are thinking of booking a day room either at atlantis or comfort suites as others say that is the way to do atlantis (i guess dcl excursion doesn't allow use of pools/waterslides)

Also, any other posters out there on our cruise? We'd love to hear from you!
::MickeyMo ::MinnieMo
 
/
Hi guys! Myself and my DH will be joining you on this sailing. ( I hope) LOL I just got off the 11-27-04 sailing of the Magic and we booked this while on board. I sailed te 09-19-04 Wonder and we were one of the few sailings that month that had a glorious trip with interuptions or port changes. :cheer2: We enjoyed ourselves so much this year (without the kids) that we are shooting for the same time next, no kids! LOL
 
Hey Amanda! Great to hear from you! Cruising w/out the kids, eh? DH & I are doing that in jan....a 10 day cruise on the Brilliance of the Seas through the Panama Canal. They are only 4 and 2 now and their grandparents sooo want them to come visit, so luckily both sets of grandparents live in the same town and can divide up the time! Our Disney cruise we plan to bring the kids. They'll be 5 and 3 by then, and it'll be their first cruise! Can't wait.

Do you know what you are going to do yet? I'm thinking of the palo brunch for sure, and possibly do the comfort suites/atlantis day.
 
Oh that sounds fun! A 10 day cruise! Please let me know how you like it! We just got off the magic on Saturday, so I am not in cruise mode right now! LOL But we sailed on Spet 19 Wonder this year, without the kids and it was fantastic. Only I was disappointed with Atlantis. I think we will take advantage of the empty ship on Nassau day!
 
Hi Amanda. Curious why you didn't like Atlantis? Did you have access to everything like the pools/slides/beach, etc...?
 
No, we only took a water taxi over, and went into the casino, and I was just not impressed at all. I guess I had seen pictures of the tower for so long, that I had it built up in my head, only to get there and find out it is a regular resort, ya know? We did do the catamaran sail and snorkel and it was enjoyable, but again not as good as snorkeling in Grand Caymen or Cozumel was. I guess I was just let down by Nassau all together.
 
I have read lots of comments on Cruisecritic that Nassau isn't all that great. Many have said they'd rather just stay on the ship. I guess I'll see Atlantis so I can say I've done it. I'm hoping to get a good deal through comfort suites so we can use the pools, etc...

Is your vacation cruise only? We are thinking of adding on a couple of days at disneyworld afterwards. Nothing definitive yet. Never been on disney or to disneyworld before. Thinking of the poly for convenience since our kids are 3 and 5. My DD can't wait!
 
Well, you know what they say about opinions ;-p LOL Now, we would be cruising only. We have 4 kids, and it will be tough just to get someone to keep them for us and get them off to school in the mornings, just for the 4 days of the cruise. However, we live close enough to Orlando to go to the parks, and make it a 4 day weekend. ( Still not close enough in my opinion LOL) It looks like we are going to have an empty ship, huh? LOL More fun for us!
 
Hey Amanda! 4 kids! Good for you! I've only got 2...originally thought about more but my 2nd one is a HANDFUL! People describe him as a TORNADO. Destroys everything in his path. Non stop energy. I probably should have had my kids when I was younger. I still feel pretty active at 36 but boy he wears me out! I know. I know. :charac2: ha. ha.

I too am surprised that we haven't gotten more of a response to this roll call. Back when DCL released dates for 06 people were starting roll calls like mad, and I thought...hmmm. Why isn't anyone going with me? Ha. Ha. Maybe its due to hurricane season? People just don't want to risk it again next year? I know its risky, but this will be the first time we've taken our kids on a plane trip type of vacation, which will be expensive enough as it is. So, we opted for cheap season with our fingers crossed. We aren't really going for the ports anyway. I figure if a port was really important to me, I'd either just go there directly for a land vacation or book a different time of year. We are mainly going to expose our kids to disney and be on the ship! My DD4 cannot wait to see all the princesses! We are thinking of adding a couple days at WDW and do MK only, but that is still undecided. We'll see.

Have a great weekend! We've got Breakfast with Santa at Bass Pro planned for tomorrow!
 
I agree with you about the ports! If we can just get on the ship and go sailing, it will be allllll right! LOL Heck we sailed with hurrican Jeanne at bay, and you would never have known. It did not affect the weather at all!!

And, as far as the kids go, I am only 29 and I am worn out! I couldnt imagine if I were just starting my family NOW! LOL So I feel ya girl! LOL

I am sure that the closer we get more people will trickle in! LOL Thats okay more time for us to become pals ;-)
 
Oh to be 29 again! Hee. Hee. 30 was hard for me. Heck, I sometimes wonder "am i really an adult now? I want to be a kid forever!" DH & I have actually been together since 1988. Married in 91, but went back to school, finished, and had to get career started up first and wanted a house first too...so we'd been married 9 years before we had kids! It sure changed everything! LOL

My DD4 was a breeze so I thought, lets have another one. DS is total opposite. It was clear he had his own mind before he was even born. I was scheduled for an induction, and he came a day early.....so fast that I got absolutely no drugs at all! He's in his terrible 2's right now and nobody is telling him nothin! I think he was pulling his sister's hair and bullying her before he could even walk. He's definitely got that troublemaker grin written all over his face with the cutest dimples to boot!! He's a darlin, but you can't trust him thats for sure!

We're actually still tempted to have more....but are waiting til after this cruise to decide. :scratchin

How far is the drive from Columbus? I haven't experienced Georgia much other than flying in the Atlanta hub a couple times for connecting flights.
 
IT is not but about 400 miles. NOt too bad. I was tricked by my 1st child also. He was so easy, and I thought to myself, this parenting stuff is easy! Yeah right, then SHE came along. OMGoodness! My DD is something else! I am so glad she is my only girl, as she is harder on me then all 3 boys together!
I have uploaded a few photos from our recent 11-27 cruise here http://photobucket.com/albums/v295/dzneprincess/?action=logout if you would like to take a look. THe ones at the beginning are from our sans kids trip in Sept. Did you see that they have stopped taking ressies for the 09/25 Wonder? Due to a charter? We may get a few more DISers in on this thread after all. I am so greatful that they did not pick our week to charter the ship
 

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