Feb 20, 2011 - Presidents' Week - Mexican Riviera

[Mich123]

Four months until our cruise!! Woo hoo!

 

[Jennifer_W]

Four months until our cruise!! Woo hoo!

WOO HOO to YOU, TOO!!!

And, we booked this morning for the Fantasy's Maiden Voyage next April!!! I am so excited!!!

 

[Jennifer_W]

And WHY is my cruise clock always off??? Is it because we are in different time zones and it is currently 11 p.m. here? I fixed it once & thought it was "on time". Sheeeesh!

 

[herefishy]

My husband, our daughter (who will be 18 months), and I are very excited for our first ever Disney Cruise! Yippee! I can't wait. The only catch right now is that we are holding out for early seating dining-hopefully it will happen for us before our deposit is due. Lia would never let us sit for a lengthy dinner in the late evening, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Any tips for us first timers with a toddler? And what is a FE, or fish extender?
Thanks,
Tracy in Nor. Cal!

 

[XMom]

My husband, our daughter (who will be 18 months), and I are very excited for our first ever Disney Cruise! Yippee! I can't wait. The only catch right now is that we are holding out for early seating dining-hopefully it will happen for us before our deposit is due. Lia would never let us sit for a lengthy dinner in the late evening, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Any tips for us first timers with a toddler? And what is a FE, or fish extender?
Thanks,
Tracy in Nor. Cal!

Tracy,

When we cruised with our kids and they were that age, we used to nap twice a day. I would do the 11am nap and my husband would do the 4 or 5pm nap. This way they were actually able to stay awake during dinner (most nights) and this way they were awake to see the show. My kids are very scheduled at home, but when it comes to vacations, we let loose. It takes a few days after we get home to get them back on track, but it is worth it in order for us to have a good time. Our first DCL cruise we had late seating. We were so busy all day that a late nap was easily achieved and besides going to bed a bit full, it all worked out well. Good luck to you with your seating!!!

Charlene

 

[minie_meese]

Hi - we will be on this cruise (and were lucky enough to get KSF).

It will be me (Kristina), DH (Jeff), DS 13, and DS 10. Right now we have a GTY 5A and are supposedly in 7048.

We will be traveling with my DSis (Susan), and her DH (Mike), DD 11 and DS 6. They have a GTY 5C and are in 6532 right now. You can add them to my screen name as she doesn't have one.

This will be our 3rd DCL (after we go on our DVC incentive 3-night Bahamas cruise in November!!) and my DSis's 2nd cruise (we all went together on a 3-night Bahamas on the Wonder in Feb. 2009).
..........

My husband, our daughter (who will be 18 months), and I are very excited for our first ever Disney Cruise! Yippee! I can't wait. The only catch right now is that we are holding out for early seating dining-hopefully it will happen for us before our deposit is due. Lia would never let us sit for a lengthy dinner in the late evening, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Any tips for us first timers with a toddler? And what is a FE, or fish extender?
Thanks,
Tracy in Nor. Cal!

Hi Tracy and Kristina - welcome to the cruise. I added your info to the first post for this cruise meet. Everyone who has posted on this board is listed there. People who've indicated they'd like to do the fish extender exchange have a red FE next to their info. If either or both of you decide you'd like to join the fish extender group just let me know. Tracy - there is information about fish extenders on post 61 (page 5) of this cruise meet. You can also find lots of info on the main cruise board. If you have any specific questions just ask.

Now that I'm back from my Disney trip I'll start to pull the info together.

Elaine

 

[LKFan]

Elaine, are you going to set a deadline for participating in the FE? Just want to know how much time I'll have to work on the gifts before the cruise.

 

[minie_meese]

Elaine, are you going to set a deadline for participating in the FE? Just want to know how much time I'll have to work on the gifts before the cruise.

I'm thinking we should set mid December for a final count on FE. How about December 12th. This is just the day to say if you will be participating and how many adults and children will be included.

This will give those making things a full 2 months and give people who have time off over the holidays some time.

Right now we have 15 families with 35 adults and 27 kids. Some of the families are family groups with 2 families (and 2 staterooms). The numbers will change but this can give people an approximate count. For details on the ages of the kids see post 1.

Families who participate will bring something to share with the other families at least one time during the cruise. At a minimum there should be something for each of the kids and something for each family. You can do more if you like. A few examples from my last cruise -
1) little 2x3 inch Disney notebooks for each of the kids and a small bottle of sunscreen to each family
2) handmade bookmark for each of the kids over 6 and a coloring book for kids 6 and under, and hand made Christmas ornament for each family
3) a goody bag with pirate stuff like tattoos and stickers for each of the kids and a small bottle of maple syrup for each family (this family was from Vermont)
The possibilities are endless and for those wishing to make hand made things there are a lot of threads on the main cruise board

This thread has lots of ideas for hand made FE gifts
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1980639

For those who do not have a Fish Extender - this link has an easy to make - no sew instructions for a FE - http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30302583&postcount=609

Finally - someone asked about a magnet exchange. Any family wishing to bring magnets to share with the other families - please do so but bring them around and leave them on stateroom doors early in the cruise so everyone can enjoy them. If you want to make hand made magnets see this thread - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2552775

Thats all for now

Elaine

 

[Monica D]

Well, it looks like dh and I are going to cancel our cruise. Not too excited about the ports/excursions and our kids are kind of at that in-between age as far as the clubs go. Maybe we'll do the Dream or Fantasy in a couple of years, but wanted to wish everyone the best and hope you have a great time!!

 

[EricaG]

Thanks for organizing the FE exchange for us, Elaine!

It's finally getting close enough that I feel like it's real!

 

[Pooh Lover]

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do the FE. I'm a little nervous about the space/weight issue for the gifts. It's just me and the 2 little ones, so I want as few peices of luggage as possible. Plus we have to pay for each piece this trip which is really cruddy. I'm so used to JetBlue to MCO and no luggage fees. I think the kids would love it, just not sure I am up to tall the coordination.

I'm glad I have a little while to figure it out. I have both kids' birthdays and Thanksgiving at my house over the next 6 weeks. Once all that is over, I can start looking toward the cruise.

 

[DVC_Chris]

WOO HOO to YOU, TOO!!!

And, we booked this morning for the Fantasy's Maiden Voyage next April!!! I am so excited!!!

We are booked on that one too... I do not know which cruise I am more excited about

 

[LKFan]

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do the FE. I'm a little nervous about the space/weight issue for the gifts. It's just me and the 2 little ones, so I want as few peices of luggage as possible. Plus we have to pay for each piece this trip which is really cruddy. I'm so used to JetBlue to MCO and no luggage fees. I think the kids would love it, just not sure I am up to tall the coordination.

I'm glad I have a little while to figure it out. I have both kids' birthdays and Thanksgiving at my house over the next 6 weeks. Once all that is over, I can start looking toward the cruise.

The fun is returning to your room to find a trinket or surprise waiting for you. The gifts don't have to be elaborate. You can do simple, light weight options like stickers, bookmarks, silly bands, etc.

 

[XMom]

109 days to go!!! Got some cute pirate costumes from target at 75% off!!! Yippie...

 

[DVC_Chris]

I am starting to plan this trip in earnest now, and looking for the best way to get back to the Orange County Airport for our flights back east. I think Super Shuttle is probably the best way, and was wondering if there was anyone else who was also looking to go back to SNA? There are four in my group, but if we can get 8 people in the van, it would be $17 pp including tip, if 9 it would be $15 pp.

Let me know.

 

[minie_meese]

Hope everyone is getting excited about our upcoming cruise. Since I volunteered to coordinate the FE group I figured I should get started. Right now we have 15 families who've indicated they'd like to participate and another 1 or 2 who haven't decided yet. I'm sure some things will change between now and mid-December when I'd like to get most of the details finalized but it takes a little work to pull things together so no time like the present to get things going.

The way I'd like to do this is to collect the information below from each family - you can post it on the board or PM me. Since some people may not want their information shared on the boards I am going to share the full detail list with FE participants only via email or PM. The list will not be posted on this board.

I know some staterooms have not yet been assigned and some may change even after we board the ship - just provide me what you can for now and as we get closer I will re-validate. Once final payments are due we shouldn't see much change other than the staterooms so I will send out a preliminary list around that time.

Below is the information I need - anything with an "*" is posted on the first post - if that info is ok just say so and only provide me the additional information requested

Please provide me with the following for your party

*disboard name
*first name of the person providing the information (optional)
Stateroom Number(s) - (if you are currently GTY just indicate that)
Number of adult ladies and number of adult men - some people like to make things specifically for lady or a man
*number of girls and their ages
*number of boys and their ages
*how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise?
Are you celebrating anything special (like a birthday or anniversary)? - if so, who in your party and what are they celebrating?
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party - this could be any number of things like allergies or requests because of allergies (no nuts, no food items) or something Disney related that someone in your party likes (6yr old loves Lightning McQueen) - include anything that will help people who wish to personalize their FE gifts do so.

Many people often do generic things for everyone and that is totally fine. There are others who like to get creative - so if anyone putting together FE gifts needs more information than I am asking for please contact me. On my last cruise someone wanted the favorite color of each adult and the favorite Disney character of each child. If people want to that information I'll try my best to collect it.

That's all I can think of for now

Elaine

 

[DVC_Chris]

DW and I were on the FE fence, but decided to take the plunge, here is our info:

Please provide me with the following for your party

*disboard name DVC_Chris
*first name of the person providing the information (optional) Chris
Stateroom Number(s) - 6130
Number of adult ladies and number of adult men - some people like to make things specifically for lady or a man 1 of each
*number of girls and their ages N/A
*number of boys and their ages N/A
*how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise? 7
Are you celebrating anything special (like a birthday or anniversary)? - if so, who in your party and what are they celebrating? No
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party - this could be any number of things like allergies or requests because of allergies (no nuts, no food items) or something Disney related that someone in your party likes (6yr old loves Lightning McQueen) - include anything that will help people who wish to personalize their FE gifts do so.
No food items please
Elaine

My MIL & FIL will be cruising with us as well, but they are not sure yet if they want to participate.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Elaine, I PM'ed you our information. Thank you again for organizing this!

 

[LKFan]

I also sent you a PM. Thanks for putting this together.

 

[AuntAmy]

My niece and I have booked our cruise and are excited to be joining you this week. We are interested in participating in the Fish Extenders if there is still room. Here is our information.

disboard name: AuntAmy
first name of the person providing the information: Amy
Stateroom Number(s): Do not know yet
1 adult female
1 girl age 6
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise? Our first.