February 12, 2011 - 7 night Eastern

[Jess Warren]

What / where is CIS, I have to book us as well. Not sure if we should stay in Orlando or near the ship??

We are also going to do Bernard's Tour, so sounds like there will be a bunch of us

Does anyone know how long we have in St. Thomas?

Country Inn and Suites- and I think it is like a mile from the pier... they have a shuttle and a "park and cruise". It is $130 right now and inc the ride to the ship and back. Even though our flight gets in late (like 11:20) on Friday night, I would rather be closer to the port in the morning.
I haven't even decided on the tours- only thing, my DH and Dad are going to go fishing at Castaway Cay. In St Martin my parents used to go to every year, so we aren't doing an organized tour (they want to go see their old jewelry friends )

 

[Jax]

Wow the trip is coming up so quick, all of the chat about FE and shore excursions is making me all excited.

We paid in full a couple of weeks ago, and as of today we have flights so we are officially going on vacation!!!

My friend is in the process of designing our FE, can't wait to see what she comes up with.

As far as the gifts go I have a good idea what we will be giving out. I have already started to make some of the gifts which is exciting, now I just need to finish everything and figure out how I am going to get everything from home to the ship with out paying an arm and a leg for luggage.

I don't think we will be getting to dressed up for Pirate's night. I have designed some pirate themed t-shirts so as long as those turn out they will be our costumes for the evening.

I would love to meet up with people on facebook before the cruise, please send me a PM if you are interested.

Pajl, if you are looking for information on Disney run shore excursions, they have a list of them on their website. It gives you the length of the excursion (how many hours), activity level (easy, lots of walking uphill, etc), as well as the price.

Since I have cruised before I am able to start booking my shore excursions on Sunday, if anyone has any questions about the Disney excursions let me know and I can check it out on the site.

 

[ilovedevin]

whoo whoo three month's from today

 

[blessedmomofboys]

whoo whoo three month's from today

Woohoo!!!

 

[Jess Warren]

whoo whoo three month's from today

HURRAYY- I am getting so excited- still lots to do- but getting very excited!!

 

[pajl]

3 months??
Til the trip of a lifetime for us..
So exciting...the problem is I feel I cannot get *that* excited because dd does not know yet...and we are not telling her until Christmas..
me and hubby find it hard to even chat about it and resorted to emailing one another
LOL
sad eh?
So I will be happy when we ALL can feel the excitement!!!

Anyone else surprising the kiddies?
We have decided to do You Tube video to tell her..just compiling the pictures as we speak..So we will see how that turns out!

 

[Jax]

YEAH!!!! 3 months


Palj, we are also surprising the kiddies.

At this point we are still trying to figure out how/when to surprise them. I am making all of us shirts that say "Elizabeth's First Cruise - Disney Magic Feb 12-19".

So the initial thought was that we would tell the girls we are going to Florida, but not tell them about the cruise. Spend 1 day at WDW then the morning of the cruise give them their shirts to wear and see how long it takes them to figure it out.

Then we thought maybe we would just wait until we got to the ship itself and see when they clue in.

I kind of like the first idea because then we can talk about the cruise over breakfast and I can fill them in on all the fun they are going to have.

I see all of the Disney commercials on TV with all the kids being so surprised and happy, and I want that for the girls. They biggest fear is that they will be disappointed that we are not staying at WDW

Anyone else have any fun suggestions on how we can surprise them?

 

[Jax]

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

I just checked the system and at this point there seems to still be quite a bit availability for both Brunch and Dinner at Palos on Valentines day.

I will keep checking over the next couple of days and keep you guys updated but so far looks like some of you should get your valentines reservations.

Jackie

 

[blessedmomofboys]

I think I finally figured out what I want to do for FE gifts! YAY! Now I need to order my FE from ebay. On your FE, are y'all including a pocket for the parents or just pockets for the kids?

 

[TiredOfCold]

I love the idea of surprising the kids with a youtube video - brilliant!

I wish I had the control to have not told my daughter and surprised her. The main problem for me is that I'm making magnets for our door and it would be impossible for me to keep all of the supplies hidden! I really suck at surprises - hahaha.

Jax, I don't think the girls will be upset that they are not staying at WDW - I think the cruise is WAY more exciting especially if they get at least one day in the park prior.

Excited that there is still some availability at Palo for Valentines - only 11 more days and we can try and get those reservations.

Blessedmom - I ordered my FE from gradysmommy and had a pocket made for each of us. I figured we may be able to re-purpose it post-cruise and use it for miscellaneous storage at home for objects that should be left at the door (ie. car keys, sunglasses and other things my husband constantly loses).

 

[Jax]

Blessedmomofboys - that is so exciting that you have figured out what you are doing for your FEs. We are including pockets for the adults on our FE and are preparing gifts for the adults too.

TiredofCold - As a hint, since Calgary is 2 hours behind Florida you will be able to start making your reservations at 10:00 pm the night prior to the booking date. So for example I was able to start making reservations on the 14th, which meant I could access the system starting at 10:00 pm our time on the 13th.

I am sure the girls will be good about finding out about the cruise, my concern is that they aren't really familiar with the cruise. The first time we surprised them it was with their very first trip to Disneyland. Since they had never done anything Disney before that they weren't to excited about the trip (in fact they were more interested in playing the Wii instead of learning they were going on vacation). I am sure no matter what it will be great.

 

[TiredOfCold]

Thank you Jax - I will stick it in my iPhone so I don't forget to log on ASAP

 

[pajl]

YEAH!!!! 3 months


Palj, we are also surprising the kiddies.

At this point we are still trying to figure out how/when to surprise them. I am making all of us shirts that say "Elizabeth's First Cruise - Disney Magic Feb 12-19".

So the initial thought was that we would tell the girls we are going to Florida, but not tell them about the cruise. Spend 1 day at WDW then the morning of the cruise give them their shirts to wear and see how long it takes them to figure it out.

Then we thought maybe we would just wait until we got to the ship itself and see when they clue in.

I kind of like the first idea because then we can talk about the cruise over breakfast and I can fill them in on all the fun they are going to have.

I see all of the Disney commercials on TV with all the kids being so surprised and happy, and I want that for the girls. They biggest fear is that they will be disappointed that we are not staying at WDW

Anyone else have any fun suggestions on how we can surprise them?

Hey Jackie...that sounds awesome!!
I love the TShirt idea too!!

Those Disney commercials are good timing...too funny everytime Jess sees one..and the look that we get!
If only she knew...

I am sure they will be thrilled with the cruise!!
How can they not?
in those clubs til midnight!! no parents!!!
lol

 

[pajl]

I love the idea of surprising the kids with a youtube video - brilliant!

I wish I had the control to have not told my daughter and surprised her. The main problem for me is that I'm making magnets for our door and it would be impossible for me to keep all of the supplies hidden! I really suck at surprises - hahaha.

Jax, I don't think the girls will be upset that they are not staying at WDW - I think the cruise is WAY more exciting especially if they get at least one day in the park prior.

Excited that there is still some availability at Palo for Valentines - only 11 more days and we can try and get those reservations.

Blessedmom - I ordered my FE from gradysmommy and had a pocket made for each of us. I figured we may be able to re-purpose it post-cruise and use it for miscellaneous storage at home for objects that should be left at the door (ie. car keys, sunglasses and other things my husband constantly loses).

Thanks re: You Tube video..we are pretty excited as well.
I am doing all the Disney stuff while she is in bed or out at friends!!
not easy let me tell ya!
lol
I will be glad the surprise part of it is over...
I am going to order my FE thingy from Gradysmom too...I will also order with pockets for us..

PS
like the last statement..."items your husband loses.."
always blames me for those missing items!!
This seems like it will help that!
lol

 

[ilovedevin]

So I have all my FE's done and started on my hostess gift for the DIS Meet and was so excited about how they are tuning out and BAM I realized that I typed in 2010 instead of 2011 so now I have to start all over good thing I wasn't too far along. However I have to go buy another color catridge and other supplies. Seriously my proof reader is fired oh wait that's me.

 

[robinpgma]

Our flights are booked....YES!!!!! Still working on the Feb 11 hotel and what to do....

Does anyone know if any of the people at the beginning of the thread are still going? haven't heard from them lately.... just wonderin'

 

[ilovedevin]

I know we lost three and not sure about tristi... she posted the first post then never returned

 

[pajl]

now I am excited!
Bought some FE things today...hard not to get carried away though...

Found out some good news yesterday...one of dd's very good friends..(we are friends as well with family..) well dd comes home from school to say her friend's family are going on a cruise in Feb, so I email the mother only to find out...they are going on the EXACT same cruise as us in Feb 2011!
Great news for my dd!

Less than 3 months now...

 

[robinpgma]

now I am excited!
Bought some FE things today...hard not to get carried away though...

Found out some good news yesterday...one of dd's very good friends..(we are friends as well with family..) well dd comes home from school to say her friend's family are going on a cruise in Feb, so I email the mother only to find out...they are going on the EXACT same cruise as us in Feb 2011!
Great news for my dd!

Less than 3 months now...

Get them on the boards...so we can meet them too.....you daughter should have so much MORE fun now.

 

[robinpgma]

I AM SO EXCITED.....we are paid in full as of yesterday....now to see what to do.....haven't really looked yet.... I also need to figure out what we are doing for Feb 11 before the cruise... I am leaning towards going to Wonder Works (on international drive) in Orlando....it's like a big fun house....for both kids AND adults. We rented a one way rental for Fri into Sat.

Plans coming together .... PRICELESS !!