February 03 2007 Eastern

[mom2grace]

If your kids are really little (under 7) I wouldn't worry about sea sick. This is DD's 3rd cruise (she's 5 1/2) and she doesn't even notice. I think a lot of sea sick is psychological, I do get sea sick and car sick! Kids, for the most part, don't get sea sick.

But, if your kid gets car sick, I would be proactive on the cruise!

 

[mom2grace]

STOP talking about packing!

I start a new job on Monday, and we have to have our house ready to be put on the market for showings the day after we leave (so the cleaners can come first)..................I haven't even begun to think about it, I guess you'll know us on the ship!

Also, I live in Indianapolis, and Wal-Mart here just put out sand toys, buckets, etc. I usually go to Target, but had $30 in Wal mart gift cards from Christmas!

 

[djarhansen]

Jackie-thanks for the info about the repo cruise. I was way off on what I thought it was!

Mom2Grace- I am a fellow Hoosier. We live in NW Indiana (about 30 mins from Chicago) but I have alot of friends that I graduated with that now live in Indy. Althought I was born and raised in IN I had never been to downtown Indy until last month. It is a beautiful city. It reminded me of a clearer,smaller version of Chicago.

 

[OKWMEMBER]

Hello all. I was looking through the board and saw your most recent posts.
As a reminder, our family consists of myself, DH and 3 DD (12yrs, 10yrs (it's her birthday today) and 6 yrs. We're in Central Oregon, where it's been a lovely 0-5 degrees every morning this last week (warming up to about 27)..

One question and one piece of advice.
Packing: Not that I'm an expert but this really helped me:
A few months back our family took a 15-day cruise thru the Panama Canal (it was a 50th anniversary trip with the grandparents). With 3 kids, I was frantic about packing too much or too little; being prepared for weather, etc etc. (RCCL does not have washers onboard). Here's what I did: For each child I wrote down all the clothes I thought I might want to take. Then listed all the nights, noting # of formal, semi-formal and casual dinners. Then from my written list, I could create outfits and put a hash-mark by each item of clothing as it was "used". Anything I didn't list to wear at least 3x, I took off the list. It was much easier than trying to figure out outfits from the clothes piled on the bed; I could keep track of each outfit and see what items were really unnecessary. The result, for 5 of us, we had 4 large suitcases and we did great over 15 days. Just a thought.

As to my question: I see someone in our group is an Old Key West fan. Our family will be at Old Key West the week before the cruise. This is our first WDW trip ever (took 3 yrs of scrimping, planning and saving to do this). Any advice about the resort would be great. We've done obsessive amounts of planning for the parks (created touring plans, listed times for shows, researched where to go to see the fireworks, etc). Any advice about OKW would be great. We're in a 2-bdr condo for 7 nights.

Thank you all for your help and insight. We've booked 2 snorkeling excursions thru DCL, but I could not get Palo res. I'm hoping to score when we board. I actually just wanted to do the brunch, but nothing online is open.
Take Care - we'll see you all in a few weeks.
Laura

Laura, your gonna LOVE OKW!!! With the 2 Bdr condo you'll have a living room and kitchen with all the appliances. If you have a car, you should go off property to stock up on some groceries. There's a great restaurant at the resort called Olivia's. If you have any other questions, please ask. It's our home resort and we've stayed there many times.

 

[gmark2000]

Who's keeping the thread member list? If you post the latest copy, I can help maintain it from now on.

How's this??

DIS_name_________|_State_|_Travel_Group____________|_Friday_night_accommodations_|_Transport_|_Suite/Deck_|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
frexicle_________|___AB__|
mylove4Disney____|___CA__|_M44_DD22________________|_Country_Inn_and_Suite_______|_rental____|_2592
eponine2020______|___CA__|
deebs____________|___CA__|
flmomof2_________|___FL__|_DW_DH_DD4_DD1___________|_____________________________|___________|_7510
vic32____________|___IL__|_DW_DH_DS8_DD4___________|_Raddison____________________|_towncar___|_6516
djarhansen_______|___IN__|_DW_DH_DS11_DD6_DS4______|_____________________________|_rental
mom2grace________|___IN__|_DW36_DH36_DD5_DS3_______|_probably_CIS________________|_rental____|_GTY
momrek06_________|___MA__|_DW52_DH52_______________|_____________________________|___________|_7556
tjeagle__________|___MD__|_M39_DH38_DD8_DS8________|_Radisson____________________|_towncar___|_2032
LisaPisa_________|___MD__|_DW_DH_DD11_DD8_DD6______|
rjh8115__________|___MI__|_DH_DW_DS9_DS7___________|
mjmjcrop_________|___MI__|_________________________|_____________________________|_rental
Tony&Sherie______|___MI__|_DW_DH_DD7_______________|_Stay_with_Friends___________|_drive
smilingmouse_____|___MN__|_________________________|_____________________________|___________|_6634
piperg___________|___MN__|_DW_DH_DS9_______________|_____________________________|___________|_6548
disneydiva4ever__|___MN__|_DW_DH_+_9_relatives_____|
catwoman25_______|___MN__|_M_DS9_DD6_GF_+_DD5______|_Radisson_
weloveDCL________|_MS/TX_|_DW_DH_DD6_+_DSD_DSDH_DD5_|_____________________________|_rental____|_5626
yachtsea_________|___NC__|
wingkng__________|___NC__|_DH_DW___________________|_Savannah____________________|_drive_____|
umber____________|___NH__|_DW_DH_DD4_______________|_Holiday_Inn
jokesten_2000____|___NJ__|_DH_DW___________________|_____________________________|___________|_7512
MandM22__________|___NJ__|_DH_DW
jblb1020_________|___NJ__|
jerzeegirl_______|___NJ__|
softballchickuhh_|___NY__|
magicbound2007___|___NY__|_DW_DH_DS3_DD2___________|_Radisson____________________|___________|_7058
queenbee1127_____|___NY__|_DW35_DH33_DD7_DS4_______|_WDW_________________________|_rental____|
CBJHockeyNut_____|___OH__|_DH_DW_DS11_DD8
dorabella________|___ON__|_DW_DW_DD3_DS2
gmark2000________|___ON__|_DH_DW_DD4_DD4___________|_WDW/POR_____________________|_DCL_bus___|_Deck_7
laura_b__________|___OR__|
DVCprincess______|___PA__|_
okwmember________|___PA__|_DH53_DW54_______________|_WDW/POR_____________________|_DCL_Bus
mickeyfanatic3___|___PA__|_DW_DH_DD3_______________|_____________________________|___________|_6074
smarttm__________|___PA__|_DW40_DH37,_DS6__________|_WDW_________________________|_rental____|
welovedvc________|___PA__|
triplel__________|___TX__|
GreatDaneMom_____|___VA__|_DW_DH_DD12______________|_____________________________|___________|_2066
SnowWhite2_______|___?___|_DD10
BrianD___________|___?___|_DH_DW
MdmMim___________|___?___|_________________________|_WDW
wig______________|___?___|DH_DW_DD3________________|_____________________________|___________|1074/1076

 

[tjeagle]

STOP talking about packing!

I start a new job on Monday, and we have to have our house ready to be put on the market for showings the day after we leave (so the cleaners can come first)..................I haven't even begun to think about it, I guess you'll know us on the ship!

Also, I live in Indianapolis, and Wal-Mart here just put out sand toys, buckets, etc. I usually go to Target, but had $30 in Wal mart gift cards from Christmas!

My stress level just rose reading your post! Good luck!
(if you need anything on the cruise call me....I am a notorious overpacker!! )

 

[tjeagle]

Good morning all!
It is cold and rainy here in MD (Bundle up Lisapisa!!)
I know this isn't our dance day but.......15 days.......a girls gotta dance!!

Welcome to the 15 Day Mini-Dance!!

 

[vic32]

Good Morning all!! Another day closer! Just checking in to see what everyone has been up to! My poor son sounds like a seal when he coughs, and his throat hurts so bad it hurts to cough.
I am tempted to go ahead and tell about the trip to cheer him up
MoMo(dh) says to keep a suprise. I went this long whats a couple of weeks now. Time to go cruising the boards!

 

[OKWMEMBER]

Ladies and Gentlemen!!! Boys and Girls!!!
WELCOME TO THE 15 DAY DANCE!!!



YOU GO, JACKIE GIRL!!!

 

[tjeagle]

Good Morning all!! Another day closer! Just checking in to see what everyone has been up to! My poor son sounds like a seal when he coughs, and his throat hurts so bad it hurts to cough.
I am tempted to go ahead and tell about the trip to cheer him up
MoMo(dh) says to keep a suprise. I went this long whats a couple of weeks now. Time to go cruising the boards!

NOOOOOOO! Vicki, keep the secret! We are all rooting for you!!

 

[vic32]

I am not going to tell him, I just really feel for him.After being so sick I think he will be even more excited!!He's gonna freak out when he finds everyone but him knew!!

 

[OKWMEMBER]

Just for the record, I dance every five days from the 30 day mark. Also, I also celebrate at the 9 day mark with a little thing I call the Single Digit Dance!!!
Be there or be square!!!

 

[CBJHockeyNut]

Sydney (4) asks every day if we are going on the big boat today. We are going to make one of those paper chains today to count down the days. Like the kind I made in kindergarten with the strips of construction paper and you pull off a link each day. That way she can see when we get close!

My DD(8) started her paper chain back at Thanksgiving!!!! Every night before bed she tears off another link. A great way to count down--she is a little obsessive though starting all the way back at Thanksgiving!!

She is clearly a future DIS-board member is the making!!

I also totally resemble the guy who wasn't sure about cruising which is why we started with the land and sea. The year before we just went to WDW and I spent more time on the cell phone dealing with work issues than really enjoying myself. The first days on the boat I was like an addict on withdraw--no cell phone. By CC, the shakes and small tremors had stopped and I finally relaxed--been coming back ever since.

Now, I still get the Wi-Fi package and check emails each morning. I get my "fix" in the morning and I am good to go. Plus, sitting on deck, checking emails while looking at St. Maarten, for example, is one heck of a lot better than sitting in my office in Columbus, Ohio watching the snow blow by!!

 

[mickeyfanatic3]

Yes I will also join the 15 day dance.
It's getting closer and I'm getting more excited. I'm just finishing up our costumes for Pirate Night. Anyone else dressing up and getting into the spirit?

On another note - DD is sick and sounds like a seal. She's going to the doctor's today. I hope it's just a quick viral thing - but we will wait and see. At least it's today and not the day before the cruise.

Cathy

 

[CBJHockeyNut]

Ok, I am the last person to pass along advice on packing for the cruise--don't kill me--but I don't do anything. DW (who also reads these boards so I can't fake it) does it all. I "pack" the car and get us to the airport and the port--important duties no doubt but not the same stress and getting everything packed.

With that said, as we were discussing our cruise last night (and potentially what cat. we would like to book for the repo!!) my DW commented that the best tip or trick she ever got was the shoe hanger (or what ever you call it) for the back of the door.

Lotions, glasses, kids' small toys for dinner, anything small that could potentially either clutter up the room and/or get lost gets one of the pockets.

We have our fair share of experienced DCL folks on this sailing but thought I would pass it along anyway. Can't beat it.

 

[CBJHockeyNut]

All right, I also have to admit that I was hoping that post 50 would get me past the "earning my ears" status. For all you DIS-vets, if you can remember 4,000 posts ago, when does that get up-dated. I am now guessing 100. (A long way to go since I joined the DIS in March 2005 and just hit 50.

I generally luck unless it is getting close to cruise time or trying to make a reservation.

 

[weloveDCL]

one of the best tips i ever read and it is more than likely in this thread somewhere is a power strip.surge protector with several outlets... i put it on the desk and it is invaluable.. for all of the little things that always need plugged in.. cell chargers, camera chargers, hair appliances etc..

 

[queenbee1127]

Now, I still get the Wi-Fi package and check emails each morning. !

How do you go about getting the Wi-Fi package? I would like to think my DH could go for a week w/o worrying about the office, but I don't think it's going to happen!!

Thanks for the info!

- Quenby

 

[queenbee1127]

Just wanted to add that we're dancing in the snow here in NY!

15 DAYS!
15 DAYS!
We'll be cruisin' in 15 DAYS!!

 

[weloveDCL]

they offer the internet package on the ship.. they have minute/day and cruise length packages.