February 7, 2009 Western early check in!

[pgsahm2]

Good early afternoon everyone!

I was playing around on the Disney site and found that category 6 is currently being sold as GTY. So is cat 12, but that's almost always anyhow. Just thought I'd share. If you check cat 5 there's still plenty of rooms available though. I wonder what this means for the upgrade fairy and which of us will be surprised with an upgrade!!

I checked to see how many ships are in port with us too. Cozumel there are 5 not including the Magic! Yikes! Cozumel is going to be busy, busy that day.

Grand Cayman has 2 other ships and Key West has 1. I just realized I told the ports in complete reverse... lol Sorry!

Time is flying! Before you know it we'll be boarding!!!! Yay!!

 

[deedeedubbs]

I may have said this already but I am so excited about reading everyone's bit 'o info about themselves. Keep 'em comin' !

I guess the 1st step to setting up a Dis-Meet and fish extenders is to have someone begin it and say, "Who's in?" so I'll begin...

"Who's in for the dismeet?" - we are !

"Who's in for the fish extenders?" - we are !

We didn't get involved in any of it for our 4 day cruise in Feb 2008 because I was a lurker on the disboards and not a member. After reading many of the trip reports I felt like we missed a real opportunity for something special .

Did any of you decorate your doors on any of your cruises? My DH and I had this whole Tink and Jack Sparrow thing playing out for a few months before our cruise with letters from the respective characters, gifts waiting for them in our cabin from each of the respective characters and finally our door decoration. As soon as we boarded my DH and I slip up. He took the kids to the pool and I changed our dinner seating and then waited until I could get down our hall to our cabin where I decorated our door to my kids absolute delight. I don't know how to upload pix into this so I can't share...but I'd love to see some of yours or if someone could talk me through it I'd give it a try to post them (they were fun but nothing special to brag about).

I just told my DH that I'm meeting all of you online and he said how great it is and also how wonderful it would be if we got to know anyone on board the ship...He's so wonderful .

Did I write too much again ?

 

[dceks cruisers]

Hi everyone! I've been reading this thread since it began but wasn't ready to post until I knew for sure we were really going! YIPPEE!

We had other family members signed up to go with us but it will be just my family. DH, DW (me), DS13 and DD8. This is our first cruise and we are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.

I booked excursions tonight along with Palo for Sunday night. I'm not sure if there's any good time I want to book Palo for - seems there is something going on every night that I don't want to miss for the kids.

Talk to you later!

 

[JRandAJsMom]

Well, it's feeling more and more real!!! And I'm gathering all the pixie dust ideas you all are leaving on here to try and make it as magical as I can for my boys I can't wait to decorate the door and leave gifts from their favorite characters Trying to figure out some super pixie dust for the hubby who isn't so keen on the Disney scene, but humors my obsession Speaking of him-- I was really excited about taking him to Palo. I did get in for a late night reservation on a casual night (I stayed up til midnight so I could do them first thing this morning, haha) but missed the brunch and tea. Can you book those when you get on the ship or is that a hopeless cause at this point? I'm perfectly happy with just dinner, but still wondering

I was also wondering if anyone out there has done one of the all-inclusive-beach excursions in Cozumel or Chankanaab Lagoon Beach? I was thinking about the latter, but read it gets crowded, but from some of the pictures I saw, it looked like it had some good things for the boys to explore (DS's 6 and 4-1/2). I know there are things to do right when you get off the ship in all the others (shopping and beaches in Cayman, same in Key West plus the sunset party they have, and well-- Castaway Cay-- what can I say??? haha), but I'm a little stuck on what to do in Cozumel... Any suggestions?

AHHHH!!! I'm SOOOO excited!!!

 

[deedeedubbs]

Hi everyone! I've been reading this thread since it began but wasn't ready to post until I knew for sure we were really going! YIPPEE!

Welcome aboard! Being in Disney Limbo is tough. We too weren't sure until just recently it was a go for us.

This is our first cruise and we are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.

Congratulations! What a wonderful way to celebrate your anniversary. I read somewhere in our Disney paperwork where they asked if a special celebration was planned or taking place while onboard. Have you contacted a cast member to inquire if the cruise line does something special due to your 25th anniversary happening while onboard?

 

[dissydebb]

After many months of planning and reading the boards. We have to bail out! I just found out that I have breast cancer. Who would've have thought at the age of 37 and no family history. It was quite a shocker I must say. We are still unsure as to what treatment I will need. I just canceled my cruise on Saturday and my airline tickets today. It was a sad day for me. On a good note I told my husband that we will be doing another cruise. I went ahead and booked one for the end of Feb and one for next Nov and I also booked WDW for March. I will get on atleast one of these trips if not two. I hope you all have a wonderful time! Have a drink or two or three for me!

 

[deedeedubbs]

I am so sorry to hear about your diagnosis! Our family has been hit by breast cancer and other types and it is never easy. I pray you have a wonderful support system, excellent care and wonderful family and friends to help you through.

My family and I will remember you in our dinner prayers tonight and our goodnight prayers.

Stay well!

This is for you...

 

[DizNutDad]

dissydebb...

We are thinking about you. Keep your mouse ears on and spirits high. Our prayers are with you as well.

 

[Jackie Psarianos]

I'm a big planner also. I have calendars everywhere I sit or stand around to plan (computer area, kitchen counter, fridge, purse where I use the calendar to plan when at Starbucks, in the car while waiting for kids to finish stuff).

Yes, I'm weird, but I love planning and calendars.

 

[pgsahm2]

dissydebb, I cannot imagine what you are going through right now. Take care of yourself and know that we're all pulling for you. Stay positive!

 

[pgsahm2]

I guess the 1st step to setting up a Dis-Meet and fish extenders is to have someone begin it and say, "Who's in?" so I'll begin...

"Who's in for the dismeet?" - we are !

"Who's in for the fish extenders?" - we are !

Did any of you decorate your doors on any of your cruises?

Dismeet -- Absolutely!
Fish extenders -- yes, as long as we're not the only ones!
Door decor -- not last time but we'll do a little something this time. I'm going to wait and let the kids help me decide what we want to do. Only ONE month until Christmas and our big surprise!

 

[pgsahm2]

It looks like we have DISers coming from various states (and Canada!) for our cruise. Is everyone planning on flying? Have you booked flights?

We are still up in the air about driving. From Virginia it's probably a 13 hour drive. It's very do-able but we've never taken a road trip that long with all 3 kids. The plane tickets keeping coming down in price so we'll still consider flying if the price is right. Since we have 5 plane tickets to buy it's going to be more expensive that way since gas prices have come down A LOT in the past few months. It was $1.64 when we filled up my Tahoe this morning. No complaints!

Has anyone booked excursions thru Disney? We are not booking anything specific. I think we're just going to wing it at each port based on the research that I've done. Having a 2 year old limits us anyhow. There are not very many excursions for young kids. We'll save quite a bit of money doing things on our own anyhow.

Okay, what else can we talk about to get to know one another and start up some conversation? Hmmmm... How about some non-Disney questions? Here's a few for those that want to play along! Someone else feel free to make up some questions too!

1. What are your favorite TV shows? Is there one that you CANNOT miss a single episode?

2. What's the weather like at your house today?

3. What kind of hobbies do you enjoy?

4. What was the last book you read?

5. With Thanksgiving this week, what are your holiday plans (if any)?

Who's first?

 

[deedeedubbs]

Has anyone booked excursions thru Disney? We are not booking anything specific.

I've booked snorkeling with the rays and sailing in Caymen and a boat ride to the ruins on the Mexican mainland (the full day excursion). I hope we can keep them but $ is always an issue. Our car just died Sunday and we were forced to buy a car tonight so $ is tighter than usual.

Who's first?

Ooooh, me , me...pick me...I'll go first!
1. What are your favorite TV shows? Is there one that you CANNOT miss a single episode?
I love Bonnie Hunt and have been a big fan for years so I love her new talk show. Night TV just doesn't have much that we can watch as a family anymore so we rely on DVD's mostly.

2. What's the weather like at your house today?
Rainy but warmer today. It has been in the 20's and 30's but today it is up a bit.

3. What kind of hobbies do you enjoy?
It is sad but I really don't have any hobbies anymore I need to get a life I guess.

4. What was the last book you read?
It was either Last Patriot by Brad Thor or Night by Ellie Wassel (sp?) or Dead Heat by Joel Rosenberg. I read them all in fast succession so I don't remember the order. I'd highly recommend all three

5. With Thanksgiving this week, what are your holiday plans (if any)?
We are celebrating a real "Thanks"giving! Oct. 12th we received a call from my dad that my mom was in ICU all the way in South Carolina (they were on vacation there from New Jersey). She was dying due to her colon bursting. Her heart stopped a few times, her organs began shutting down, etc...My brother and I rushed down there to be with her for 5 days and had to come home (I hated leaving her because I was so afraid I'd never see her again alive). God answered our prayers with a, "YES" and my mom has just been released from ICU this week and has begun therapy and will be home for Christmas. My kids and DH and I are driving down to South Carolina to be with my mom and dad. We are just filled with such joy I tear up just thinking about it! God is great!

 

[Michellepooh]

dissydeb - so sorry to hear about what you are going through.

I am definitely in for fish extenders!! We had so much fun with those on our last cruise.

No excursions planned. Not much you can do with a 4 year old and a 4 month old!

We've bought our plane tickets to Orlando, but haven't booked our return flight because I'm hoping prices will come down. Hmm...maybe that means we won't have to go home!

Weather today? Pouring rain!!! (better than snow!)

Hobbies? I'm a scrapbooking addict!

Don't have much time to read.

Looking forward to meeting all of you!!

 

[MyLove4Disney]

Hey eveyone it looks like we have had some good and bad news this week. My thoughts will be with you. Just wanted to say, that I am thankful this year that everyone is doing well with my family and my friends, my DD is graduating from college this year and that I have a good job. Thank you God

We are in for a dis meet, I don't have any children, so if the FE is going to be for everyone I would be happy to join in on that as well. Just let us know. Thanks


I didn't answer the other survey questions but I'll take a jab at these

1. What are your favorite TV shows? Is there one that you CANNOT miss a single episode? Well was sex and the city, now I think it is NCIS, some really good lookers in that group.

2. What's the weather like at your house today?
it was pretty nice today. 65 just a little overcast, suppose to have a little rain in the morning, but I don't think there will be anything, We have been having a very warm fall, two weeks ago it was 91. I live in northern california. Tahoe had 2 feet of snow weeks ago, now they only have 2 inches. No snowboarding for Turkey day.

3. What kind of hobbies do you enjoy?
Well I enjoy motorcycle riding, sewing, playing piano and traveling, Well most of all traveling to DISNEY

4. What was the last book you read?
Sorry, I'm not a pleasure book reader. I work in the computer industry and have to read to many how-to books.

5. With Thanksgiving this week, what are your holiday plans (if any)?
My close family all live in the same town, so we spend time together a lot, and TG will be at my oldest brothers house. I usually always host most of our family gatherings since my mom past. I have a house that is large enough to have everyone and space for everyone to sit confortablely. So it will be a change at my bothers home. Not sure how it will work out, but it will be nice that I don't have to cook.

 

[deedeedubbs]

We are heading down to South Carolina within minutes and just wanted to say, "Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!"

I'll be going though Disboards withdrawal while I'm away!

 

[pgsahm2]

1. What are your favorite TV shows? Is there one that you CANNOT miss a single episode?

I refuse to miss an episode of LOST. I am a huge LOST fan, even though I stay frustrated about not knowing what the heck is really going on... I also rarely miss an episode of The Office, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Celebrity Rehab and American Idol. I'm not a tv junkie but since we got a DVR a few months ago I have fallen in love with adding things to record!


2. What's the weather like at your house today?

Right now it's overcast and dreary looking and around 40. We've had a weird fall in Virginia this year. We rarely ever see snow but we had flurries twice in the month of November! That's very odd in these parts!


3. What kind of hobbies do you enjoy?

I like to garden. I have a beautiful yard in the spring and summer. And this year I had my very first veggie garden. It went really well and hopefully next year will be even better. I also enjoy baking sometimes, but mainly cookies at Christmas. And reading and writing. Oh and movies. I am addicted to Netflix.


4. What was the last book you read?

Unfortunately I stay so tired that I'm lucky if I read a page or two before falling asleep (I have a 2 yr old that has decided he wants to get up every single night at least once. This has been going on for months now. It has made me a walking zombie). So the very last book I read from start to finish was probably The Other Boleyn Girl.


5. With Thanksgiving this week, what are your holiday plans (if any)?

This was the 4th year in a row that we've hosted Thanksgiving at our house. We started doing it here when we moved into this house (we built it and moved in March 2005). It makes it so much easier because our families come and bring food and since we're the only ones with kids we don't have to drag our kids anywhere. All of our family is local anyhow so it makes it easy. Prior to this new tradition we would go to my in-laws for lunch and then to my parents for dinner. Oof. That made for a miserable belly ache that evening. Nowadays we eat ONE big meal and call it quits!

I always cook the turkey. And this year I did the stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls and a peanut butter/chocolate trifle for dessert. Others brought everything from shrimp appetizers to collards to dump cake. It was another great Thanksgiving! I am avoiding the scales to see how much weight I've gained in the past few days!

Anyone else want to answer?

 

[pgsahm2]

I've booked snorkeling with the rays and sailing in Caymen and a boat ride to the ruins on the Mexican mainland (the full day excursion). I hope we can keep them but $ is always an issue. Our car just died Sunday and we were forced to buy a car tonight so $ is tighter than usual.

Oh yikes! What kind of car did you buy? We just put new tires on my Tahoe and that was bad enough!

5. With Thanksgiving this week, what are your holiday plans (if any)?
We are celebrating a real "Thanks"giving! Oct. 12th we received a call from my dad that my mom was in ICU all the way in South Carolina (they were on vacation there from New Jersey). She was dying due to her colon bursting. Her heart stopped a few times, her organs began shutting down, etc...My brother and I rushed down there to be with her for 5 days and had to come home (I hated leaving her because I was so afraid I'd never see her again alive). God answered our prayers with a, "YES" and my mom has just been released from ICU this week and has begun therapy and will be home for Christmas. My kids and DH and I are driving down to South Carolina to be with my mom and dad. We are just filled with such joy I tear up just thinking about it! God is great!

Wow! That is something to be thankful for! I hope she has a full and easy recovery.

We've bought our plane tickets to Orlando, but haven't booked our return flight because I'm hoping prices will come down. Hmm...maybe that means we won't have to go home!

We still haven't made a decision about flying. I have coupon codes for AirTran $20 off each flight that expire on Monday. It's a great deal but we're having a hard time justifying spending around $700 for transportation (between 5 tickets and then ground transportation) when the price of gas is so good right now. We can probably drive for less than half BUT it's also 24 hours total of driving roundtrip. Oy. I can't make up my mind!

3. What kind of hobbies do you enjoy?
Well I enjoy motorcycle riding, sewing, playing piano and traveling, Well most of all traveling to DISNEY

Do you own a motorcycle? How cool!

How far are you from Disneyland? I've never made it to California but hope to one day. I want to experience Disneyland eventually. I'm just grateful I've been to the World as many times as I have (which compared to some is not that much!). It's amazing how many people I've run into over the last few years that have never been to Disney World. I cannot imagine! lol My MIL took her 80 year old mother on a trip to WDW in May. It was the first time for both of them!

 

[MyLove4Disney]

Do you own a motorcycle? How cool!

How far are you from Disneyland? I've never made it to California but hope to one day. I want to experience Disneyland eventually. I'm just grateful I've been to the World as many times as I have (which compared to some is not that much!). It's amazing how many people I've run into over the last few years that have never been to Disney World. I cannot imagine! lol My MIL took her 80 year old mother on a trip to WDW in May. It was the first time for both of them!

Hello Everyone Hope all had a great holiday. my Turkey Day was nice, since this is the first time all I had to do was make the pies and show up.

I own 3 motorcycles of 3 different levels. My 1st that I have is a very old 1972 Honda Trail 90, it still runs and is fun to ride around on. My second is a 2004 Suzuki Burgman 400, A mega Scooter bike, it is Freeway legal out here I have gotten it up to 85 mph and my 3rd bike is a 2001 Suzuki Volusia my true motorcycle, I wish it was a Harley, but can't afford that yet, I've been enjoying my DCL cruises to much and paying for my DD college education.

Disneyland is 409 miles from my house. I have lived here my entire life and the first time I ever went to disneyland was when I was 12 and we only went for about 3 hours. The 2nd time I went I was 25 years old with my oldest brother, my dd was 2 and I left her at home can you believe that. I'm such a bad mom, we only went for a couple of days. The first year I went to WDW was 1991 my works software company was based out of Orlando so they had a national users conference at WDW, one every year in June. Well by the time my DD was in the 3rd grade, I wanted her to come and meet me in WDW, my mom wouldn't let her fly alone, so she had to come also. My mom got hooked also we went to WDW every year up until 2 years before my mom past, but we went in my Feb because of the humid in June. We only went to DL one time in between all that time that was 7 years ago.

Then my DD decided to go to college down in Long Beach which is 15 miles from DL. Her 2nd semester she got a job at DL, which she just loved (she didn't make much money but she had a blast), so it wasn't until she moved down there that we could say we had been to DL more times than WDW. She hopes to work for Disney someday in a very differnt capacity than in the parks. She hopes someday you will hear her voice as the voice of some new princess singing one of their new songs. But for now you just have to hear her in the Rock'n Bar D on beat street.


can't wait for my clock to show this at zero, but for now it is 69 until cruise day and 64 days until WDW

 

[cdnstitchfan]

My turn....

We didn’t book any excursions this time. We didn’t see anything that we really wanted to do. So we decided to just sort of wing it and spend more time enjoying the ship and decide on port days whether we wanted to get off the ship and maybe walk around and maybe find a beach to enjoy. We did get Palo reservations for Tuesday night at 7:00 and Palo brunch on Thursday for 10:30.
We have book our flights and are coming in Wednesday night before the cruise and are staying at the Radission to spend some time exploring the area, before we board the ship.

1. What are your favorite TV shows? Is there one that you CANNOT miss a single episode?
Since I am the only female in the house, beside the dog, are tv is usually tuned into sports. Of course our favourite is hockey and we do enjoy watching golf. Both DS enjoying playing and watching Rugby. As we try to never miss an episode of the Amazing Race. Really enjoying watching how people cope in situations they are not familiar with and enjoying seeing the places they are travelling too.

2. What's the weather like at your house today?
Today it is cool but at least it is sunny. Temp is currently 5c which is approx. 41f.

3. What kind of hobbies do you enjoy?For hobbies don’t have many but in the warm months enjoy golfing and in the winter months enjoy Traveling to warmer climates.

4. What was the last book you read?
I do enjoy reading as well. It helps pass the time while I take the public transit into the downtown core. The last book I read was The Archimedes Effect by Tom Clancy.

5. With Thanksgiving this week, what are your holiday plans (if any)?Our thanksgiving was in October, so this week and weekend is a normal weekend for us. But do wish everyone in the US a Happy Thanksgiving!!