I'm giving up Black Friday for a Disney Cruise! A DCL PTR/TR - 1/28 NEW PTR!!!

So super excited to read about your time on the Magic. That is what we are sailing in May :thumbsup2 but there has been a lot of bad reviews on it lately - has me kinda scared :sad2:

Can't wait to hear about how you tell the boys!
 
Oh, you are getting close. Are you heading directly to the cruise or will you be spending a night at Disney?

Glad to know I am not the only one....my ticker is off a day too! We leave the 18th as well. It says 8 days but it is really 9.

Can't wait to hear what you do with the boys! How exciting.
 
No Black Friday shopping for me, Happydog. I stay safe, comfortable, and warm inside my house and check out the brave/crazy folks out in the chaos as it is reported live on the morning news.

I definitely like the idea of a "This Time Next Week" countdown - for you, for them, for us....:rolleyes1 Now that my evaluation stuff is over for at least a couple of months, I am excited about being able to keep up a little better on DIStown. The first two and a half months of school have been overwhelmingly focused on SCHOOLtown! :headache:

Well, MeMom, I started that countdown! I promise to post about it tonight. :thumbsup2 We have just one week, Friday actually!!! :eek: I am a big mess right now!!!! :laughing: Breathe, breathe, breathe...:laughing:

HappyDog,
I can say Whoo Hoo!! I am off Black Friday!! To shop or not to shop?? That is the question for Black Friday.

Well it sounds like MIDNIGHT Madness, Black Friday!!! :laughing: Good for you! Put your boxing gloves on and keep your head low!


Joining in for all of the fun!
Black Friday shopping is not for me. I'm not that brave. :rotfl:

I am not that brave exactly, either, but I love watching the fun!!!! :laughing:


YAY!!! Hi there!!!! Glad to have you hop over!!

So super excited to read about your time on the Magic. That is what we are sailing in May :thumbsup2 but there has been a lot of bad reviews on it lately - has me kinda scared :sad2:

Can't wait to hear about how you tell the boys!

Oh dear, well, I am going in with my fingers crossed, I guess, but I have never been on a bad Disney cruise, so hopefully we will have a MAGICal cruise... I have not been looking for any reports about the Magic as of late, no time! But the cruisers I have been listening to about the Turkey Day cruise are repeat Thanksgiving week trippers! SO lets hope!!

Oh, you are getting close. Are you heading directly to the cruise or will you be spending a night at Disney?

Glad to know I am not the only one....my ticker is off a day too! We leave the 18th as well. It says 8 days but it is really 9.

Can't wait to hear what you do with the boys! How exciting.

OH I bet you are going to have a great time!!! Are you just as excited and stressed about leaving in a week as I am??!! :laughing: No, this time we are crashing right near the port. Just that one night, we get in REALLY late on Friday.
 


I am speechless!!! Thanksgiving sounded SOOOOO far away when I last thought about this cruise... and now, it is HERE!!!! :yay: GOOD grief do I have a lot to do before hand!!!

Now, I am usually an excellent source for a good PTR. But so much this fall has been a distraction to me!!!! :laughing: So, because of that, I guess I will have to put this PTR into HYPERDRIVE!!!! :laughing: OF course, right now, this is me: :surfweb:

Well, not for long!!!! I am going into full speed ahead! :car: I am packing, I am shopping, I am organizing... I am :faint: NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. Not going to do it!!!! :laughing: Too much to do!!!

I will be back this evening, I will have a great update on what I have been doing for the cruise, my FE stuff, and my new Cruise purchase that I can't wait to wear!!! :goodvibes

Happy Saturday, and STAY TUNED!!!!!
 
Thanksgiving has come quickly! Can't believe you only have a few days left before you leave! Just toss everything in the suitcase and don't stress! You always manage to pull it together! :goodvibes Just remember if you can leave for Disney at a moment's notice (and it really was a moment's notice :laughing:) during the snowstorm a couple of years ago, you can get ready for a cruise in six days! :thumbsup2
 


I think I know what you are talking about when you mention that cruise purchase!

I'll just tell you I have been searching high and low for that darn Capt. Jack hat. I figure I have one more day to find it!
 
Hi everyone! :wave: SORRY for the delay!!!

Well I had a good excuse this weekend. I was trying to finish my TR from my summer vacation :laughing: So I did that, feel free to check it out on the WDW TR board!!!! AND, additionally, I started packing and such for this cruise vacation which starts, for us, on Friday evening!!!! GASP!!! :eek:

Well, I am happy to say it was a productive weekend! I received some of the items I had ordered, so it was great to get my packing underway... I also had head to Target a few times... :rolleyes:

I am all finished stuffing my FE gifts... I have to print the labels and then they will be done! I promise to upload a photo of them before we leave, and of course if you are on the Thanksgiving cruise, DON'T peek!!! Of course I am not sure who is reading this TR other than those who have posted, but I know you are out there!!! :laughing:

Here are some photos of my goodie bags to the kids... well here is what is going into the bags!!! :thumbsup2

IMG_20111113_162826.jpg


Most of these items I had bought this past summer and in October while I was at WDW... This picture shows the two books I got for DS6... one I got at the Disney Outlet for 1.99! and the other is a Muppets book! Of course I thought that would be fun since we think there will be a PremEAR at Sea for the new Muppets movie! The boxed Pirate kit I ordered from the Disney store, and it was on sale with free shipping! The revolvers are the really nice cap guns from the POTC shop. Candy, glow sticks, cruise cookies, and another sword for Pirate night! Now for DS9 I swapped books, I got him everything else exactly the same except these two books...

IMG_20111113_162839.jpg


The POTC novel is one of those "junior" novel/chapter books... is easy reading, frankly, and DS9 is reading much more difficult novels, but it looked fun ... and thematic of course! I thought the Hidden Mickey book for the cruise would be something fun to try as a family, since we are going to be on the cruise for a whole week. :thumbsup2 It will give them something adventurous to do on their own, well I might let them try some areas alone... or with us near by!

Now here is the question with all this loot... what to put it in??

This past summer I made these drawstring backpacks for the boys...

IMG_20111113_162937.jpg


They were a big hit... The personalized label/patch was made by an Etsy crafter, the same one who made our FE hanger, and then I sewed them to these pirate themed bags that I made (bought the fabric, found the pattern on line). They are very cute! :) But the issue is that they have already been used as part of a surprise. Do you think it is a big deal that the boys have seen them before? I just thought that I won't get a chance to use them much longer... And I would hate for them to have only one showing!!! The trip isn't a surprise this time, either, so I figured that they'll just be excited by what is inside the bags, right? I also bought these cute shark pull string bags on sale, I will show you those when I post tomorrow...

So what did I purchase for myself?! Well.... at the Disney Outlet we came across this cute charm bracelet!!!

IMG_20111113_175917.jpg


Here is another shot....

IMG_20111113_175858.jpg


These are close-ups, of either end.

It was nearly 75% off, in the end, regular $125.00!!!! And so I was thrilled to find it for the price I found it, and I think it is TOO cute! WigD bought one too! I was thinking I would get plenty of use out of it on this cruise and the next! :thumbsup2 It is a lot of "jingle" and has those great "retro" graphic charms they have been using for the cruise line and other resorts.. too adorable, the photos don't do it justice!!!!

Now I know many of you were wondering how we were telling our boys about the new cruise... so here is what I did...

IMG_20111113_195316.jpg


IMG_20111113_195328.jpg


I created "this time next week" flyers and started posting them on their bathroom mirror... Friday they got the one that said we were taking a plane, and Saturday evening they read that we were taking the cruise on the Disney Magic! They were excited and enjoyed looking at the map. They are particularly excited that they will miss two and a half days of school!!! ;) So for each day this week, I will share a new "this time next week" and outline our whole itinerary, etc.

So hopefully this short update will get you interested, I will be back tomorrow with some more fun!

I really cannot believe it is here. I have been so absorbed with work, that when I started to think about the date, it still seemed so far off!!:laughing: BUT this cruise is most certainly here!! :yay: :yay:

Coming up next, the details I have been able to discover about Christmas theming and what that will look like on the ship, as well as our reservations and excursions!!! :thumbsup2

TTFN!!!

 
I think I know what you are talking about when you mention that cruise purchase!

I'll just tell you I have been searching high and low for that darn Capt. Jack hat. I figure I have one more day to find it!

YES, I think you will certainly find it familiar!!! :)

No worries on the hat! I will get another one!!! I ended up cutting off the hair from the hat I bought before -- I was not impressed with the quality of the Disney Store one. At least not this particular hat (it came out just this past spring... the wig isn't the same quality as others I have seen, including the one at Disney.

Only one week! :yay:
I can't believe how fast fall is going! I'm not ready for the holidays.

Gosh, tell me about it!! I keep getting twitchy when I walk into stores seeing all of the Christmas staging!!! :laughing:

Thanksgiving has come quickly! Can't believe you only have a few days left before you leave! Just toss everything in the suitcase and don't stress! You always manage to pull it together! :goodvibes Just remember if you can leave for Disney at a moment's notice (and it really was a moment's notice :laughing:) during the snowstorm a couple of years ago, you can get ready for a cruise in six days! :thumbsup2

I KNOW!!!! I am trying not to stress, and you are right, if I can leave in a moment's notice I can do this!!! And now in THREE days!!! LOL!!!! :laughing:
 
All caught up! Such fun. Like Jackie, my first thought was maybe the ship has Black Friday deals. I was laughing as I thought it but you heard they really do?? That would be really cool. Can't wait to hear about it and see the spoils.

And do they also do any form of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner? You could make like Pilgrims out on Castaway Cay! :laughing:

I am in awe of your energy and organization between the prep, fish extenders, this time next week reveal etc. :worship:

Can't wait to hear all about your adventure! pirate:
 
If and when I find that hat again it's getting sent straight to you! I can't wait to wear my bracelet either....
So stinking cute!!!!
 
All caught up! Such fun. Like Jackie, my first thought was maybe the ship has Black Friday deals. I was laughing as I thought it but you heard they really do?? That would be really cool. Can't wait to hear about it and see the spoils.

And do they also do any form of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner? You could make like Pilgrims out on Castaway Cay! :laughing:

I am in awe of your energy and organization between the prep, fish extenders, this time next week reveal etc. :worship:

Can't wait to hear all about your adventure! pirate:

Well apparently there is LOBSTER for thanksgiving dinner!!! I think they do have a traditional spread as well... I may have to have a little of both! :laughing: CCay is the following day, so there really will be a lot of beached whales out there on the shore!!! :lmao:

Well, I am curious to see what kind of deal they may offer for shopping... it will be interesting! However, Black Friday is CCay day... so I wonder if they really will have "specials" since they only open the shops in the late afternoon... We'll see... :thumbsup2

If and when I find that hat again it's getting sent straight to you! I can't wait to wear my bracelet either....
So stinking cute!!!!

No worries! I will probably buy one on the ship, I removed the hair from the other hat, and Griffin wants to wear it like that anyhow, so I don't know that I need to buy one in the end...

I will wear it my first day for sure!
 
Can you believe it?! I cannot! :laughing: So here I am trying to cross check all my packing and last minute shopping. It all has to be done tomorrow, with minimal stuff to do on Friday. We leave LATE Friday night, getting into MCO even later. :faint: BUT as of Friday after school we will be on VACATION!!! SO it can't be better than that, right??!!

I am not sure that I shared this, but Here is the itinerary for the cruise! :boat:
Saturday we leave on our week long adventure! We are staying at a hotel there port side Friday night... I can't remember which one and I am too lazy to get up and check :laughing: We are renting a car from the airport as a one day rental to get us to the hotel, and to port (DH will drop us and our luggage off and then take the car to the rental office). On Saturday morning we plan to get breakfast and then head on over. Our check in time is 11am. We have printed our documents, etc. and completed all online registration required. I don't anticipate any trouble with this first morning/day...

We have a rendezvous with my inlaws there in the terminal...

Once they let us on, we will likely head up to get lunch, and study the navigator some more! I hope to maybe switch our tea to a different day, so I will want to try and manage that, but I am not going to wait in a long line to do so. Once we can go to our cabin we will do that and drop our stuff off, then of course head up on deck to relax until the drill! I don't know what the weather will be like, so that will determine what we do... The kids will be already registered for the kids club, so we will likely go explore that, and help them to know where our cabin is onboard.

I know they are going to be a little confused since the ship is not the same one we were on this past summer. It is smaller than the Dream, so that is a good thing.

We leave port Saturday and are At Sea for two days! We arrive in St. Marteen on Tuesday, and then arrive in St. Thomas/St. John VI on Wednesday. Thursday we are At Sea, and Friday is Castaway Cay! And Saturday we return, hopefully well rested, well fed, and TAN!!! :rotfl:

I have requested the following dining rotation:

Parrot Cay, Lumiere's, Animators, Parrot Cay, Lumiere's, Animators, Parrot Cay

I chose this rotation because I wanted to make sure that we were in Lumiere's for formal night, and I wanted to have Parrot Cay for Pirate Night pirate:. We are in Animator's for our "Thanksgiving" evening (which is traditionally the Lobster feast night, so that will be interesting!!!)... and we will miss the second night in Lumiere's since we have Palo's but we will probably go sit with everyone for dinner, before we go. My inlaws will be with the boys at dinner officially that night, and take them to the show. We will be back in Parrot Cay for our final night after being at Castaway, so it seemed appropriate then, too. There are special menus throughout the week, so being in the same restaurant isn't a problem.

There are a few new stage productions this cruise, and as I mentioned earlier, the hope is that there will be a PremEAR as Sea for the new Muppet Movie on Thursday! :goodvibes

We have already booked Tea, Brunch, and some Spa time, including the rainroom, for this cruise. :thumbsup2 We didn't book any excursions in advance, because we will likely do that ourselves off the boat. DH and I have been doing some research :surfweb:

From what I can tell, it seems as if we have lucked out with the weather... I am not holding my breath until we are there!!! :hyper:

I am really looking forward to this cruise!!!

I have all my FE gifts taken care of, I will post those and my magnets tomorrow evening so you can see them.

I am looking forward to relaxing on the beach, and enjoying the sights!

I did get a new underwater camera! So I hope to take some different photos this time around.

Well, that is it for now! Stay Tuned for one more update!!!
 
WOW I'm so excited about your cruise!!! I know you guys are going to have the best time ever!!!! Wish I could go along!!! Can't wait to see your FE gifts!!
 
I am beginning to feel a bit like the White Rabbit -- always running late! :laughing: That's why I texted you yesterday -- I knew I couldn't miss your send-off! :goodvibes

The goody bag contents are great! Do you have a pattern you used for your drawstring bag? I think my two need some for the summer trip if I can manage to figure out how to make them.

The charm bracelet is CUTE, CUTE, CUTE! I love Shag's artwork and what a deal on the price! That will be very fun to wear this week!

The cruise itinerary sounds fabulous! You are going to have so much fun!!!
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!














Top