From WDW to DL With Love - January 06, 2011 part 5

[valbob89]

That annoys me. Apart from some smaller purchases, I bought a Dooney and Bourke tassel purse. So if they allowed you to purchase one for every $30 spent, I could have bought 5 there and then and would have done had I known about this.

I would love to have one of any spares that you have. What characters did the set consist of? Is there anything from the UK that you might like so that we can set up a trade? Otherwise I am quite happy to Paypal you the money.

Corinna

The six were:
Mickey
Pluto
Stitch
Minnie
Donald
Goofy

I can send her Mickey and Pluto - does anyone have any extras of any of the others? I wonder if they'll have more of them on other cruises? Does anyone know if they had then on the next cruises?

 

[clungstrum]

We finally made it home last night after spending an additional week at GCV. They were nice and very convenient to the parks but we were disappointed as our supposed park view was not that great. We were in villa 3514 which faced the pools and CA challenge trail. If I leaned out I could see more of the park, but it was a disappointing view.

Like many others, we've been sick this week. We're just glad to have a week in Southern California as we didn't feel too rushed to do everything and were able to check out the parks while getting a nap for the kids (and myself) most afternoons.

Now to start unpacking and finding some time to get through all of our pictures.

 

[sak0526]

I woldnt mind spending 2 days in cabo. met some more nice folks tendering so while it's not my favorite to do, i wouldnt mind.

i think i'm finally starting to feel well enough that its a LITTLE annoying that i've only unpacked clothes and my suitcase is still got tons in it. havent even looked at my pics! will need to do that at least!!

i'm jealous of all you going crusing (with Disney- i am concerned about the cruise i'm taking in 8 months that isnt). next time i'll do better about meeting more people to keep in touch with. i think i recognized more of you all walking around than you did me, but honestly i was just delighted to be with DD!!

take care all!

 

[Pixie Dust II]

I got a beautiful Dooney & Burke purse at Disneyland. It is navy blue & all Mickey heads for $60. It was The last one & my favorite. I am still sick & my family doctor is going to call something in down here for me Monday. Went to Urgent Care Tuesday. Do feel somewhat better. Only one way to go!!
I sure miss everyone!! Let's do it again. We booked April 15,2012 on the Dream. And another one to play with!

 

[TxMermaid1]

Both stores had the por thole with charaters GWP pins but they didn't seem to advertise them, you had to ask. We have a few extras if you want them, a Mickey and Pluto for sure. We traded with a few people to get the six. Val

I need a pluto to finish my grandaughters set. If you have it I would love to trade or buy it from you. I have an extra stitch and goofy.

 

[TxMermaid1]

The six were:
Mickey
Pluto
Stitch
Minnie
Donald
Goofy

I can send her Mickey and Pluto - does anyone have any extras of any of the others? I wonder if they'll have more of them on other cruises? Does anyone know if they had then on the next cruises?

I have stitch and goofy... I need pluto to complete grand-daughters set

 

[TxMermaid1]

I got a beautiful Dooney & Burke purse at Disneyland. It is navy blue & all Mickey heads for $60. It was The last one & my favorite. I am still sick & my family doctor is going to call something in down here for me Monday. Went to Urgent Care Tuesday. Do feel somewhat better. Only one way to go!!
I sure miss everyone!! Let's do it again. We booked April 15,2012 on the Dream. And another one to play with!

It was nice meeting you... I hope we meet again on another discruise. I hope you get over being sick soon.

It was nice meeting everyone! I am planning to book the TA if anyone else is going please let me know.

 

[danfromca]

I don't really have much to add to all that's been said. It was great meeting many of you, and like most - we had a great trip.
Some quick points:

• The ship definitely felt less crowded - reflected most at the shows. We'd show up at showtime and have no problem betting decent seats.
• Our servers were great - even the new trainee. Our room host was also wonderful.
• The medical center was great with our sick kid - quick service, antibiotics, and the next day he was fine. They even replaced some of the medication without charging when he accidently left a few days worth on a room service tray...
• I didn't get sick until the departure day, and took another 4-5 days to shake what really wasn't more than a moderate cold.
• This pins were absurd - I would have bought a set if it was easy. As it was, I did get one of the cruise pins (of which they had plenty) which now has a place of honor with the full set from '08.
• There were a few quirks along the way, but overall I felt the quality of the cruise and staff was excellent.

I'm quite curious to see how the Dream measures up....

 

[tlungstrum]

We are using SuperShuttle as well, going to Grand Californian. Found a discount code for Visa cardholders (LE74Z) to save 15%. This is much cheaper than the Disney transfers for us. Hopefully the service is good.

hmmmm questionable I'd say with all of the confusion for both trips.

I used to be able to pack really light, in my days as a software consultant that was on the road at least 5 days/week. When DH and I went to Korea for a week for a formal wedding we managed to get by with 2 roll-aboards, 1 hanging garment bag, and 1 small backpack - all carry on.

Now, with kids and husband, I just can't seem to pack so light. We'll probably have a total of 4 large suitcases, 1 rolling garment bag, and 1 small suitcase (with stuff we'll need Wednesday night) checked. And then each of us will have a carry-on, too. It's amazing how much "stuff" is needed when you travel with small children, like a step stool so they can reach the sink in the bathroom.

Is that my problem? DH and the kids?

Made it back home last night by 10:30pm. I'm exhausted but had a great time. DL was crowded on Sat.


I completely agree with Alan that they were not ready for this cruise. I encountered many issues. Nothing that ruined my cruise but just frustrating. Mainly shore excursions, lack of communication and new employees that were not informed properly. For example, I asked the first day of the cruise if they were doing Tea with Alice, I was told no. Well, I was walking by Studio Sea about midway through the cruise and guess what I say...people having Tea with Alice! At least guest services tried to make up for it by sending my daughter a stuffed Mickey. That's more than I can say for the shore excursions desk. Oh well, at least our servers were great. I heard many people complaining about poor service in the dining rooms but we had an experienced server that was great. I think our assistant server was new but was still good, just a little slow on refilling drinks.

I'm really thinking about doing a trip report but not sure I'll get around to it but definitely sending an e-mail to DCL.

It was so great meeting a lot of you. We didn't get to join in very many adult DIS events but did meet a lot of you with kids. LOVE all the FE gifts. THANK YOU!

Glad you made it home. We were glad to get to spend time with you and later in the week Jonathan asked where Emily was. It was cute. We also had issue with the tea party. Glad they sent Emily something.

Yes, that is what I was referring to about lack of communications. Nothing in navigator about Castaway Cay pin release (it just said limited edition pins available in Treasure Ketch), nothing about Ducky sessions, nothing about Tea with Alice tickets, no communication or reason for leaving Manzanillo early, etc. I'm sure there were probably galley tours too that weren't mentioned.

We really did have a great time on the cruise. Just dissappointed with several things. Especially no inaugural Wonder port photos from Shutters. I'm sure if I hadn't gone on the May 05 PC cruise, I wouldn't have been expecting as much - or expecting them to learn from their previous mistakes.

Agreed

We LOVED the zip lining in PV, but I have no other zipline to compare it to. The restaurant at the bottom of the zip line was a nice place to relax afterward and we enjoyed the food there too. The big plus for us at Los Veranos was that DD who is only 6 could zipline and she LOVED it. The staff were always there to rescue her when she couldn't make it to the end of the long runs. The guides were fantastic.

We loved the zip lining too and the guides were great. The videographer was my favorite though! I would highly recommend.

We wondered if there was some kind of curfew. Did anybody else see the trucks with police or army in the back with machine guns in the afternoon?


When I first read about this here I wondered if it was the lovely park Lithograph that was being sold. I got an Epcot one and I will have this framed and it will get a very special place in our apartment.

Corinna

We saw the police too... scary! We're glad you like the litho.

Me too! We did an Alaska cruise on RCI in 1999. LOVED it! But, we are waiting until DD3 is a little older so we can really enjoy it. And, as much as I love Disney, I really think we might do RCI again. We really like that cruise line too and their Alaska ships have a solarium (indoor heated pool area). Didn't get to enjoy it last cruise as I really didn't think about packing swimsuits for an Alaska cruise. I also heard they now have Dreamworks characters onboard, mostly Shrek characters I think, so my DD can get her character fix.

We wanted to do the Alaska cruise too but aren't sure if we'll go with DCL or another line.

We never knew about the dessert buffet until the next day,Not that we needed more food but it would have been fun to go to.

We didn't know about it either and would've liked to go to take pictures of all of the lovely displays they do with the desserts.

I could not even find one on a CM lanyard the whole 2 weeks, or as Christiaan put it, half a month.

Well that explains the porthole pins. Thanks. I was not given a choice of the $1 or $2 pins.

We were able to trade for some of these, I believe I saw the set being sold in Mickey's Mates early on in the cruise but they ran out.


We're glad to be back home and are trying to recover from sickness too. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon.

 

[RRBB]

We finally made it home last night after spending an additional week at GCV. They were nice and very convenient to the parks but we were disappointed as our supposed park view was not that great. We were in villa 3514 which faced the pools and CA challenge trail. If I leaned out I could see more of the park, but it was a disappointing view.

We were 2 floors up, in 5514. Loved the room, it's huge! And so easy to find from the elevators. But the view to CA really was a stretch.

Is that my problem? DH and the kids?

...

We didn't know about it either and would've liked to go to take pictures of all of the lovely displays they do with the desserts.

Yes. Travel WITHOUT family is so much easier. I've threatened to leave them all at home next time, too.

We just happened upon the dessert buffet. We were talking to some folks near the mid-ship elevators on deck 4 looking down at the line. I had no idea what it was at first, but when DD heard it was desserts she insisted on going. Like a 3 year old needs more sugar at midnight!

 

[tlungstrum]

We just checked our credit card statement and had a charge for $3300 from a company in South Africa. Not sure if this is due to something on the cruise or just coincidence, but it's not a bad idea to check.

 

[tlungstrum]

We were 2 floors up, in 5514. Loved the room, it's huge! And so easy to find from the elevators. But the view to CA really was a stretch.

Yes. Travel WITHOUT family is so much easier. I've threatened to leave them all at home next time, too.

We just happened upon the dessert buffet. We were talking to some folks near the mid-ship elevators on deck 4 looking down at the line. I had no idea what it was at first, but when DD heard it was desserts she insisted on going. Like a 3 year old needs more sugar at midnight!

LOL yes, 2 year olds and 3 year olds both!

 

[goofprincess]

My first layout from the cruise. Thanks SmugMug group for the small pics of the Dream. (I still haven't turned on the laptop with all my pics yet.)

Very nice layout. I can't wait to get scrap booking again!

 

[tlungstrum]

Can someone tell me what the results of the scavenger hunt were? We thought we were walking by the correct cabins but we never saw the results.

I would love to see the results too if it's not to much trouble!

My first layout from the cruise. Thanks SmugMug group for the small pics of the Dream. (I still haven't turned on the laptop with all my pics yet.)

I'm so jealous, you've already got a layout done! It's beautiful, maybe you can give me some tips on digi-scrapbooking sometime.

 

[LimoFam5]

We just checked our credit card statement and had a charge for $3300 from a company in South Africa. Not sure if this is due to something on the cruise or just coincidence, but it's not a bad idea to check.

I would call ASAP, South Africa.... I highly doubt that is something from the cruise!!!!

 

[clungstrum]

I would call ASAP, South Africa.... I highly doubt that is something from the cruise!!!!

We called the bank as soon as we noticed and have already cancelled the cards and had the charge credited. They're even expediting new cards for us that should be here by Tuesday for no charge.

 

[RRBB]

We just checked our credit card statement and had a charge for $3300 from a company in South Africa. Not sure if this is due to something on the cruise or just coincidence, but it's not a bad idea to check.

YIKES!!! That's a big chunk o'change someone is trying to get away with. Good thing you looked it over.

I would love to see the results too if it's not to much trouble!

I'm so jealous, you've already got a layout done! It's beautiful, maybe you can give me some tips on digi-scrapbooking sometime.

Yeah, I missed the results too. But it sure was fun wandering the ship trying to figure out all the clues.

And anytime, I'll be glad to help out. I'm also really good at pointing out where other's have already shared good digi scrapping tips.

Very nice layout. I can't wait to get scrap booking again!

Thanks. I tried again to get in some scrapping therapy tonight but it just wasn't happening. I think I'll go look over the rest of my pics from the cruise. I have a couple memory cards I think went bad and I've been dreading looking. At least most, including all PC day, are safely transferred already to the EHD I took on the cruise.

 

[valbob89]

...[[Originally Posted by Happy Goofy]]
[[We never knew about the dessert buffet until the next day,Not that we]]
[[needed more food but it would have been fun to go to.]]

We didn't know about it either and would've liked to go to take pictures of all of the lovely displays they do with the desserts.

...

I begged my way in the back door of Triton's and got some photos before the displays were demolished by the ravenous hordes (including, later, Valerie and me after we reentered fairly by the front door).

Anyway, I'll look for the photos and put them in the flickr.com group Valbob's Disney Wonder Panama Canal. Actually, they start out in my "rmvandy" photostream, and are clearly marked as from the cruise.

I think anyone can copy from there, but it's possible you may have to join Flickr. It's free, though, and no junk mail. And then you can join groups (like ours) to comment or post your own photos, and save photos to Flickr to share with others.

By the way, the other photos that Valerie has posted in this group came from the Flickr group -- if you want to copy them or see more.

bob

 

[valbob89]

My first layout from the cruise. Thanks SmugMug group for the small pics of the Dream. (I still haven't turned on the laptop with all my pics yet.)
...
(Robin posted a beautiful "ships passing in the night" quote and photo layout, but I'm not going to take up all that space here...bob

Valerie and I do scissors-and-paste scrapbooking, and just started last year. I end up getting about 200 or 500 prints from Walgreens and sort them down to 50-100, two to four per page, and make simple themes. Not nearly as nice as yours! What I mean is, not nearly as nice as yours!

What program do you use for scrapbooking?

If you have trouble with your memory cards, try cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser. I accidentally put a card from my wife's camera into mine, and it displayed a warning about format unreadable -- maybe that's all that happened to you. Otherwise, try uploading using a different method -- i.e. if you usually use the card reader on the front of your computer, try using the USB cord that came with the camera. Maybe call The Geek Squad (at Best Buy) or Office Depot or a local computer company and ask if they can recover data from a mem card. The memories may be worth the trouble and cost!

Discussions in one of my Flickr groups led to these recommendations for memory in cameras: Don't buy really big cards unless you have to leave the camera sealed during shooting (rainy day, dusty, lots of action as at a wedding). Swap cards often, and don't store them all in one place (in case of loss or water). Try to copy to your laptop if possible.

Magic's Shutters has a card reader so you can select and print shots. They're 40 cents u.s. and available by 9 p.m. the next day. I tried Wonder's Shutters, but they don't have one. And when we were on a Celebrity cruise about 5 years ago, the ship had a CD burner so you could copy your cards. But that was back in the 4-megapixel days.

 

[LimoFam5]

Thought I would share with you all......
I used the below pictures in my photo book I had made.
Photos are from the early morning when we arrived here HOME.....in LA.