Hey! July 30th, 2005 cruise to Mexico DISfriends!

[lwilliam]

On Board Magic Focus Group-I Was Chosen-lots of new info!

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i came back to my cabin one night to find an invitation to participate in a one hour focus group on our last sea day (not bad-included a $50 credit and they ran a tab at the cove for whatever we cared to have during the meeting). we were told that disney does these about 6 cruises per year and the selection of participants is entirely random (although you are grouped by past cruisers, newbies, kids in different age groups...).

we had a great discussion, but here are some of the hightlights that the moderator shared with us: Alaska is at the stage of being simply negotiated for the actual ports, the Mediteranian is in final planning stages (so keep you eyes peeled for 2007), further enhancements onboard-plasma screens in the elevators with navigators and ships announcments/information to be installed, enhancements to navigators to include info. on crewmembers (number of world champions on board as well as highly involved community/charitable activists), look to see lots of enhancements to castaway club benefits (better gifts, one for each member of traveling party, discounts for variety of onboard things-either via a coupon book or codeing to your ktw, better/more communication with members so that they find out info. from disney prior to hearing it from a media announcement, possibly a tiered castaway club-more discounts, better gifts with each subsequent sailing).
we were told that the new free sodas were a direct result of the focus groups, and that the info they gathered during our cruise would be shared with the managment staff prior to our disembakation, and likely some form of an action plan on smaller issues we brought up would be in place by tomorrow. we were told that disney is realy committed to their castaway members because they are their biggest group of travelers (far outweigh newbies).
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[jlawall]

Thx Lucy, that's the post that I read as well..........it's looking promising!! Congrats on your show!

Hey Kathy, my family is giving me pressure to try a different line and I like the idea of avoiding the airfare and extra days we always add to the trip. I'm still checking it out but I still have the 6/06 ressie for DCL.


One day to go to conferences, so far, really great chats!! I'm encouraged!

 

[jfis1020]

Lucy
Gosh I am so glad to hear from you!! I am happy to hear about the success of the musical. It's so neat when a group becomes so close like that....like us!!!!! How cool to meet "Beauty"! Mallory would absolutely die! She loves Belle! Mark took me to see Beauty in Cincinnati for my 40th birthday and Mallory was NOT happy! We are book at WDW July 23rd for 12 days (I think) at the Boardwalk. Yes, we LOVE the Boardwalk. There's so much "action" at nights right downstairs, plus the walk to Epcot is so short that you can "pop" over there for dinner! It is also more compact than most of the resorts. We eat b'fast and lunch by the pool carried from our room most days in the summer. We also sometimes get goodies from the Bakery in the mornings....cinnamon yummies!

Interesting info on the future cruises. Whatever happened to that "big announcement"? Did I miss something?

Do you realize that our reunion is just 9 days away!! I am really psyched!

 

[lwilliam]

holiday

I am SO thankful for:
my new friends
a warm home
I have no family members serving in the armed forces
everyone is healthy, today

have a GREAT turkey day....Love, Lucy and Bob

 

[jlawall]

Thx Lucy, same to you and everyone..............

One of my grade partner's (a young 27 year-old) future husband has been in Iraq since last February, he'll be home this Februrary...........it's hard to believe it b/c you don't really think it can happen and then a close co-worker's fiance gets called over. She's been really brave, she's planning her wedding, and she emails him each and everyday!

OK, I DID IT, we're going to WDW 4/9-4/13 during my spring break at the GF (DVC points)! Whoopppeee, we've haven't stayed there in over 10 years. The girls are so psyched, we haven't seen the renovations, spa or new pool area. I also used points for the airfare, so now I just have to figure out how to get tix and food for free!! (jkjkjkjk)

hey kathy........I'll PM you when we decide what to do about June..........the family is really giving me pressure to try somewhere new............however, we are fully commited to 2007 (hopefully in MED)

 

[Albill]

How do you like my new signature...............getting ready for summer 2007!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

 

[LynnTarrant]

Hey Bill like the ticker, thanks for the christmas card our first it arrived today.

Happy thanksgiving to you all from across the pond!

 

[jfis1020]

Bill Nice ticker big guy! Christmas cards? Oh, I need to get those envelopes stuffed. DCL did my cards and John recently did the envelopes. I might take those to do while the kids swim on Saturday.

Lynn Are you back to 100%? Just look at it this way, you got it over before your big trip back across the pond!!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Mark & I along with M&M just returned from Cracker Barrel. Great meal, low price, and no stress!!! Mark and I enjoyed the traditional foods of Thanksgiving, while M&M feasted on their usual......french fries for her and pancakes for him!!! John went to Chicago with his dad and step-mom this morning. I have spent the day just trying to "catch up".

Mark worked today. ( He was out of my hair!!!!) He is saving his hours for the trip to Pittsburgh next weekend with John. My "big boy" turns 12 on a week from today! Wait until he opens that envelope with Steelers vs. Bengals tickets in it! I have his absence arranged already with his teachers. He'll die when he finds out how many people knew ahead of time!! They will arrive back in Indy next Monday in time to meet my flight back from NYC!!

So what did everyone do today besides eat into oblivian??

Happy Thanksgiving all!!!

 

[jlawall]

I hear you Jenny! Tried not to overdo it yesterday...........(rejoined WW, again!) We had a nice visit with the 'rents (pps - party poopers.) The weather was sunny down the shore this weekend so it was nice. I won a total of $10 at the casinos which was cool, too. Can't wait until next weekend, let's hope the weather warms up alittle for our NYC trip!

Hey Lynn & Keith , Happy Thanksgiving! (jkjkjkjkjk)

See you all soon!

 

[DisneyMom13]

Hope you all had a great turkey day. Ours was pretty quiet, I cooked for 11 people, Micco's parents and sister, and my sister, her husband and the kids. No bird in the oven (so I didn't have to get up early for that), we did the deep fry turkey. Micco is our master deep fryer, while the bird is in the fryer, he is the hot tub with a drink and a cigar. LOL. Anyway, it was nice to have a day off from work.

Kathy - A little about the Disney college program. We had heard about it many years ago on one of our numerous trips to Disney. We saw someone wearing a badge that said "Earning My Ears" and asked about it. Ever since then Alex has wanted to participate in the program. The program has been in existence for 25 yrs now. When they came to recruit at her school, it was a no brainer. You work in Disney 30-45 hrs a week, and also take some college classes at the "Disney Unversity", they will be geared towards her curriculum, so she will still be earning college credit. They put you up in a real nice apartment complex, complete with in-ground pool, hot tub, cast parties, etc. You also get free entrance into Disney, as well as numerous discounts, and family members get a discount on hotel and admission to the parks. What could be better than that? Plus having Disney on your resume is a real door opener. Being a Fortune 100 company, people hire people who have worked for Disney. Now we are just playing the waiting game, Alex has taken to stalking the mailman starting today. Again, we are keeping our fingers crossed, it will be an awesome experience for Alex if she gets it, I'm just afraid she might not want to come back to NY.

Only 1 week till our cruise reunion, I am getting very excited. Just got word that our reservations are confirmed for Saturday night, it is going to be a lot of fun. JoAnn and Lucy - Let me know if you need directions to our house, I can email them to you.

I plan on getting the house decorated for Christmas this Sunday. Like I said, it is my favorite time of the year. I am just having a little trouble this year getting into the spirit, haven't really even started my holiday shopping (this time last year I was almost done). I think it's just working 6, sometimes 7 days a week, I have no time for anything. Going to have to start hitting the mall when it starts opening early in the morning. Also, having some of you down next weekend and our little trip to the city to see the tree should get me in the holiday mood.

Debi

 

[jfis1020]

Hey everyone!

Just a note as I head toward bed. My mother called at 7 a.m. quite ill this morning. Mark called 911 as I headed over to her trailer. The paramedics were already in when I got there. She was in a lot of pain. As of tonight she has had an EKG which was normal. Her blood work showed an elevation level in the pancreas which is an indicator of gall bladdar. They took her and scoped her, but couldn't see the opening of the gall bladdar or pancreas due to some "stuff" (I'll spare you of that detail). They just did the equivalent of an MRI on her pancreas and we are waiting the results. I will head in to the hospital early to try to find the doc. I sent Mark and Marshall on to Cincinnati as I had sold three of our tickets for Sunday and was suppose to meet up with the buyer in the morning. (Need $ for NYC!!). I suspect she will have the gall bladdar removed, but we'll have to wait for the doc. We've had great care so far (this is the hospital where Mark works).

I am still in full plans on coming! Only problem is she my sitter! My sister (this is the BIG SHOCK) says that if mom is remotely up to it, she wants me to leave the kids with mom and she and her husband will help too (her husband is the most patient man)! Chris says that Mom will be disappointed if I don't leave them. However I called my sitter and she is all for keeping the kids, which means I have a back up plan. Given that this is not a life threatening situation everyone is pushing me to carry on and therefore I am going to. Maybe it's because they know how excited I am. So, keep your fingers crossed that we can get the "old girl" up and moving!!

I'll post tomorrow when I can get to a computer.

Micco in the hot tub with a drink and cigar? I can see that! We deep fried turkeys at the Bengals tailgate last weekend. I love them that way! Sounds like a great Thanksgiving (even better than Cracker Barrel)

 

[DisneyMom13]

Jenny - Our prayers are with your mom. Keep us posted.

 

[jlawall]

Wow, Jenny, that's scary............best wishes that she is well and recovering soon!

The deep-fried turkey sounded good (especially the hot tub part, should we be bringing our suits?............yikes! )

Really best wishes to Alex with the Disney internship, I have always wanted my girls to do that and I hope they do. I do know a young man who did it last year. He said it was great, the program is sort of strict and you have to (not party too hard or not make too much noise in the provided housing, etc.) but he loved it. He said he didn't make a lot of money (maybe $6 an hour) but it was all worth it. I'm sure it's a once in a lifetime experience! We will definitely visit her in April if she's there.

Thx again to Debi and Micco, for hosting this event next weekend. Since we talk almost everyday(!), I feel like we are "hanging" with old friends which is really special. This should be cool.

We'll miss all our cruise friends who won't be there but you'll join us in spirit!!

 

[jfis1020]

Hi all! I have slipped over to Cincy for the game tomorrow. Mom is in a "holding pattern" until the CAT scan results are in. The MRI did show a spot on the liver that wasn't a factor yesterday thus the CAT scan. We did learn that the duct is not blocked which is good. Mark & I did our research on surgeons today. It appears that the gall bladder is coming out the first of the week. My sister has to be gone (she and her husband do OTR driving) Mon-Fri. I will take the reigns again tomorrow upon return. She will take over on Friday when I leave. It is so nice to get along (we sure didn't as kids!!!). I guess you can call this tag team sisters!!!! My back up sitter is in place. Mom will be fine, but she is getting impatient. I cannot blame her there. Her girlfriends were starting to pop in this afternoon which made a great exit for me!!! She is even calling me and bossing me around now which is always a good sign!!

6 more days!!

 

[jlawall]

Great, Jenny!

Time to start getting ready!!!

 

[DisneyMom13]

Jenny - Sounds like a plan, like I said I hope everything works out.

Anyway, bring your bathing suits this w/e, the hot tub is still open, and we can enjoy that Friday night, just hang out and relax.

Going to go get the house decorated for Christmas today. Big job, but it looks great when it's done.

Have a great day!
Debi

 

[littleowensmommy]

Hi All, Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been all about getting our Christmas lights up for our Grand Illumination this evening. Our handyman/window washer hangs the lights which outline the house. It requires a 40' ladder which he doesn't have. Last year I had to cruise the neighborhood in seach of a painting crew with a tall enough ladder to save the day. I had to pay Joseph (the handyman) and the 3 painters for their time and for the use of the ladder. It all worked out and took only one day to complete the entire job. This year Joseph told me not to worry and he would take care of everything. He still didn't have a ladder tall enough and he showed up late to start the job on Wednesday. It is a full days work to hang all of the lights and lighted garland. He did not finish. He came back on Thanksgiving morning which was a total waste of time since he still didn't have a tall enough ladder to complete the job. I truly believe he was trying to will his 34' ladder to grow 6'. Nobody was working on Thanksgiving to loan him a ladder so he came back again on Friday and Ted rented him a 40' ladder and he was able to get all of the lights hung. Ted finished putting up the rest of the lights in the bushes and trees and on the lawn. I added about 1500 more lights this year as well as an outdoor projector. It is maybe 10% more than last year. Tonight we had about 40 people over for the Grand Illumination and we tripped the breaker after about 10 minutes. The circuit is overloaded. So tomorrow I've got to get the electrician out here to upgrade our circuit. Ted warned me that we were on the verge of this happening last year. So the party's over tonight. It really looked great when it was lit though.

Jenny, I hope your mom is feeling much better soon. That is Ted's area of expertise. His focus in gastroenterology is ERCP (don't ask me what it stands for) where he "snakes the drain" to the gallbladder. My uncle recently had coronary bypass surgery and had to get his gallbladder out shortly thereafter due to acute cholecystitis, a complication of his triple bypass.

Debi, the Disney college program sounds wonderful. I hope it is still around when Owen and Amy are of age. Please let us know as soon as Alex gets the good word.

 

[DisneyMom13]

Kathy - 25 years and still going strong, I think as long as Disney is around, the program will be there. Anyway, we are hoping to hear some good news in the mail today. Alex's roommate also applied and she got in, she got her notification on Saturday. So we are hoping the mailman brings some news today. Now she will really be devastated if she doesn't get in. Your lights sound spectacular, unfortunately I don't have the space to do something that great. Our property is only 40 x 145 (which in SI is pretty big), but I really have no front yard. I would love to get one of those new snow globes, they are adorable with the snow coming down, but I can't figure out where to put it!

Micco and I are really looking forward to this weekend, I can't believe it is finally here. I finished decorating most of the house yesterday, and I am starting to get in the holiday spirit. Now if I could just start my shopping, I'd really be in good shape. I ordered my Christmas cards from Costco on Sat, thought I would have them yesterday, but when I went to pick them up, they said their hard drive was fried and they should have it in by Tuesday, therefore the cards won't be ready until at least Thursday. I was hoping to have them out by then. I usually make my cards, but just wasn't in the mood this year. We used one of the pictures from the cruise, they came out really nice.

Well, again, can't wait to see some of you on Friday. Just know that the rest of you will be here in spirit!!!

Debi

 

[jlawall]

Best wishes to Alex! We know she'll make it!!

One day closer! Best wishes to Jenny's mom, hopefully there'll be good news tomorrow!

Ken and I are getting ready..........some of our decorations are up and I've made some serious headway in the Xmas shopping department! The big holiday is coming up quick! No pressure, everyone!!

Kathy, don't kill me! We will probably be switching to the RCL trip next June. I can save over $1000 and leave out of Baltimore which would save a ton on airfare as well. The girls want to try a new line and this way we can definitely plan on 2007 in the Meditteraean. I'm bummed about missing you guys but the family pressure was too much for me! Also, I'm not sure if you got wind of some of the teen problems last trip but my girls were not happy with how they were treated in the 18 & older clubs last summer. I put in a few complaints but we never heard anything.)
Hopefully, DCL will begin to accomodate this age group better by 2007.

 

[littleowensmommy]

I've actually been wondering if cruising next June is a good idea for us. I guess it will depend on how quickly Cozumel and Costa Maya recover from the hurricanes. If we don't do this cruise how can we transfer our onboard booking discount to the Summer 2007 cruise if those itineraries are not yet available?

We're going to be in WDW 7-9 April and then at VB 9-14 April.