Feb 5th - 12th 2012 Mexican Riviera on the Disney Wonder

[DVCTigger]

There is a character breakfast, and you are assigned a day and time based on your dining rotation. They are on the three sea days, so you can at least see if your DSs birthday is on a sea day.

We will be staying at the GCV for two nights before the cruise. I have a college roommate that lives right next to DL. She's great, offered to be our transportation for the time we are there! So we will visit for our days before the cruise (have a couple of roommates/teammates that live in the Long Beach and Irvine area), figured the parks will be busy on the weekend anyhow. Then we are staying another two nights there post-cruise, and plan on getting 2 day hoppers for that part of the trip! We don't fly out until late on Valentines day, so will probably relax at the Grand the day we disembark and then use the passes for Mon and Tues.

We didn't realize that our embarkation day was Super Bowl Sunday . . . how great is that!!

Really starting to get excited for this trip, but have a lot going on prior with kids coming home from college and the holidays!!

 

[Nikkim]

Thanks so much for the info everyone. There is so much stuff to organize!! I hope to decorate our room just need to search for more info on this.

I am so excited it is ridiculous and it is a nightmare trying to keep it a secret from the kids as I desperately want to tell them but as it is DS birthday want to hold out as long as possible .

Danielle please do share your flights etc when you have them. I am still not decided on when to arrive and leave

Thanks again everyone
Nikki
x

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

Nikkim, you can search for magnets and a lot of people have posted ones they are sharing and you can reproduce. I am going to use my xyron to make magnets but you can also go to Staples/Office Depot/Office Max and get adhesive magnet sheets. I am planning on using Disney fonts:

http://mickeyavenue.com/fonts/disney-fonts-list/

http://www.disneyexperience.com/customize/fonts.php

DVCTigger My hubby is so excited to sail on Super Bowl Sunday, especially after he realized how big the funnelvision is. I hope they throw a tailgating party again. That would be amazing. I am not a football fan, but I am a fan of parties

 

[hawky7]

Ohhhh and if you live near a Costco, they have Laminators there, for $20 (at least at my Costco they do, in the office supplies area) which is a great deal, cause it comes with 100 sheets, and I laminate stuff all the stinkin time!!! So excited to NOT have to go to Kinko's for once!! I'm going to go crazy with my door stuff now!!! And super easy to just put the magnet tape on the back!!!! YAY YAY YAY!!!

 

[DaniellefromOttawa]

OK, my planning day wasn't as productive as I hoped, got a little side tracked, I know that's hard to imagine on these boards!

Definately staying in San Pedro on saturday night but haven't booked yet.

The whale watching trips sound like something we might do as an excusion. Maybe a snorkel / beach day, but haven't decided on another.
Anyone else decided yet on their excursions?

My kids want to go to a park with scarier rides than disney :-( and my dh thinks that we might be Disneyed out so they all think we should go to Knotts Berry Farm. I haven't been there in many years (about 23 ! ) does anyone has any thoughts or concerns with it?

Any idea what we would do with our suitcases for the day if we took shuttles?

Haven't done anything about my FE yet, but hoping to head to the craft store later this week, before Christmas craziness.

Hope the week is going well for everyone!

Danielle

 

[DVCTigger]

My kids want to go to a park with scarier rides than disney :-( and my dh thinks that we might be Disneyed out so they all think we should go to Knotts Berry Farm. I haven't been there in many years (about 23 ! ) does anyone has any thoughts or concerns with it?

If you REALLY want scarier rides, and are willing to drive a little. . .Magic Mountain, from what I have heard, has the most and biggest (scary) rollercoasters, maybe in the country! I know my big kids 21, 19, 17 have wanted to go there for a long time! Its about 1-1.5 hrs from DL, thats with decent traffic tho.......
I dont know much about Knotts Berry Farm tho, sorry.

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

Six Flags is definitely more thrill seeker friendly but it is such a trek. Knott's would be so much more convenient. I would definitely get Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner restaurant while you're there. Maybe you could rent a small car for the day to store your luggage?

Maybe we should set a cut-off date for signing up for FE? I think most groups set it 1-2 months out. This would give us a final number on participants so that we can plan our projects accordingly. I just emailed 7 other people who have posted on this board about FE groups. They've been silent for a while. Hopefully they'll join us soon

I am so looking forward to meeting all of you on the cruise ship!

 

[shanie17]

Hi everyone!

I just booked this cruise for my kids for Christmas!
I think we are interested in the fe but I need itb explained a little more..... Help!
Shannon

 

[shanie17]

Btw, knotts Berry farm is awesome and usually pretty empty!

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

Hi Edwards!

hawky7 is heading up our FE.

So some basics:

You make or purchase something like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Pocket-Mi...ltDomain_0&hash=item336ddf8ef9#ht_4777wt_1371

It is a Fish Extender and the other FE people will leave little surprises throughout the cruise.

We have a meet-up on the first day of the cruise to confirm staterooms and meet each other. Throughout the cruise we leave gifts in each of FE staterooms in our group. Some people leave one gift for the whole stateroom, some do gifts for each of the people in the stateroom, based on age. I might do one big stateroom gift followed up by little gifts for each person (this depends on how many people ultimately end up participating and how much time I have). There isn't a minimum or a maximum amount you have to spend.

If you'd like to join us, just pm hawky7 with the names and ages of those in your stateroom. Also send her your stateroom # if you have it. (you won't be able to pm her until you've posted 10 times)

 

[hawky7]

I was off the board for a day, and look at all those new posts!!!! Sorry, yesterday I was busy writing a schedule for Black Friday, and my store opens at midnight and is open for nearly 24 hours. UGH! I'm exhausted already!!!!

Anywho, I don't think I ever introduced myself other than hawky7. Drum roll please... I'm Rebekah, and I'm a Disney-aholic. DH is Art or Arthur, and he isn't a Disney-aholic, he just goes with me, cause he's too dang nice.

Lets set a final date for FE setup something in Mid December, or right after Christmas, I have a feeling we might get some people booking soon and doing it for a Christmas present. What do you guys think??

Danielle- Have they been to DL before?? What about California Adventure, I know, I know, not probably the thrills they are looking for, but California Screamin, and Tower of Terror are pretty thrill seeker. Knotts would be fun, and probably the easiest to get to after the cruise. Six Flags is the craziest, but it is far away as PP mentioned, and I'd be afraid you wouldn't get enough time... Plus, they might be closed?? They have random seasonal hours.

Welcome to our cruise Shannon!!! How exciting you are joining us!!! FE is exactly what PrincessSophiesMom said, easy way to explain them is that they are like Secret Santa on board. You put out this little thing (see the link she posted) and then throughout the cruise, people put gifts in it. It's so much fun to come back to your room and have some goodies! What you put in it is optional, and can be a stateroom gift, or gifts for each person. There is no right or wrong, it's all up to you!!! Check out this thread...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1980639 It has ideas of what people have done for FE gift exchange starting all the way back in 2008, and is current up to page 203 which is posted on daily. Some really fun stuff in there. I lived on that thing on my first cruise!!! Made my brain start working!!!

 

[shanie17]

Thanks! IM excited about this!!!! When do we find out how many people are participating so that we know how many gifts to make??
Im so excited about this cruise!!!!

Shannon

 

[hawky7]

Thanks! IM excited about this!!!! When do we find out how many people are participating so that we know how many gifts to make??
Im so excited about this cruise!!!!

Shannon

I'm thinking we'll make the cutoff in December. Then I'll send out a list via PM to everyone. Right now, I think there may only be like 5 staterooms involved. Even if we go higher, it'll be nice. I've read about cruises where they have like 25 rooms, uhhh no thanks. LOL!!!

 

[Cartersmum]

We set sail in 80 DAYS!!!

 

[DVCTigger]

80 days?!? Wow, that's crazy! And I know Six Flags is really a long drive, especially from the port area, just thought I would throw it out there since it may be THE thrill seeker park in the country. But you may be right about it being closed, I didn't even think about that.

And to the Edwards! Glad you are joining us!

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

One more week till I can check us in for our cruise!!! Crossing my fingers we can get Palo ressies, but I don't know how we'd even go to Palo when our 2 year old probably can't be left at Flounder's Reef. Hmm maybe I can upgrade to concierge level and have the food from Palo brought to our room.

 

[shanie17]

Thanks everyone! We are excited! Count us in for the fish extender exchange!

Btw, six flags is only open on the weekends in winter.

 

[hawky7]

I'm sure you'll get into Palo no problem, I was on DCL.com the first day I could make them, and there was every day and time available. I'm fairly sad I can only make one ressie though. I'd like to go to Palo dinner twice. Can Sophie go into the nursery during the day? Maybe you could do a brunch! I hear they are amazing!!! (I don't know anything about how the kids clubs work.)

79 days now huh....Hallelujah!!! After this Holiday season, this cruise can't come fast enough... I know, it's not technically Holiday season for another week, but for me, Holiday started like 2 weeks ago, and I'm already exhausted!

 

[PrincessSophiesMom]

hooray! i just purchased our fish extender from gradysmommy on ebay. i'm going to ship her fabric though (i'm kind of particular). i also just purchased a trunki for DD Sophie through Open Sky (it looked misleadingly expensive until I called up Open Sky and found out that their trunki comes with the stickers and the saddlebag. combine that with my $15 of credit and it was a steal!) slowly chipping away at our trip planning. i cannot wait to start on our fish extender gifts!!! it might be time for me to bust out this baby http://welcome.solutions.brother.co...html?reg=us&c=us_ot&lang=en&prod=hf_se270deus

hawky7 sophie's likelihood of going into the nursery at anytime of day is equal, ha ha. it is unlikely. i'm a work at home mom most of the time so she is very used to having me around. she might make a ruckus at flounder's reef. my hubby and i are considering have a girl's dinner and boy's dinner (one of us will watch sophie in the interim) if we can find someone to dine with us, or possibly dining solo, though that sounds a wee bit depressing (palo might be worth it though).

 

[DaniellefromOttawa]

So glad to see all the new posts!

Yes, I think Knott's Berry Farm will be the destination on the post cruise day! I'm hoping the boys will be so tired they will sleep on our red eye flight. However, I've been known to have "sealegs" post cruise so that could make an interesting mix with the crazy rides! Good idea to rent a car. I'm going to research a port pick up with airport drop off and see how expensive it is.

Off to look up creative idea to surprise my kids at Christmas when we tell them about the cruise! When I asked them a month or so ago if they'd rather go back to WDW or go on a cruise (we did RDL last time) they couldn't decide, so I think they'll be pretty excited about a Disney cruise (or at least about missing 6 days of school!).

Have a great weekend if I don't gat back here before then!!

Danielle