January 21, 2010 - Wonder

[thefyshes]

Getting ready to head out for a night of over eating, festive cheer and friends! Have a safe and amazing New Years Eve everyone

 

[hawky7]

We totally are the kids~~ LOVE IT!!! I'm a total kid at heart, and my DH thinks it hilarious when I get all excited about the disney stuff in the $1 section at Target, hey what can I say, I love it...

I'm doing the same, stuff that everyone can enjoy!!!!

So so so excited!!! I really gotta get working on my FE though.... has anyone finished theirs???

 

[Mickeymick1967]

hawky7,
I was going to try to rejuvenate my FE from the last trip, however I must admit it has seen better days. So I am off to get some new supplies and start anew!!

 

[Mickeymick1967]

Happy New Years everyone!!! Only 20 more days

 

[hawky7]

Yes I think I am going to cheat and use a hanging card holder from christmas, and just glue my disney stuff to it, I think I can make it look pretty good all things considering...Then I'll try and make a real one for a 2011 cruise, cause I think it'll take me that long to figure it out!!!

 

[KSandbergFL]

just curious -- how many of you are spending some time at Disney World before/after your cruise?

 

[thefyshes]

just curious -- how many of you are spending some time at Disney World before/after your cruise?

We will be spending 7 days at WDW prior to the cruise at the POFQ resort. My in-laws will join us at WDW and then we will cruise without them. We leave on the 14th!

I just finished my "homemade" FE made from gift bags and ribbon. I do not sew. Our magnets are printed and I'm just finishing up my FE gifts.

We can't wait!!!!!!! Christmas is put away and I'm starting to think about pre-packing. WhOOhOOo!

 

[Mickeymick1967]

We are at Old Key West Resort for 4 nights prior to the cruise, and we are hitting Hilton Head Island for 7 nights after

 

[thefyshes]

We are at Old Key West Resort for 4 nights prior to the cruise, and we are hitting Hilton Head Island for 7 nights after

Are you taking the Disney Transportation to the Port or renting a car?

 

[KSandbergFL]

The French Quarter is my personal favorite Disney resort, the landscaping and groundskeeping (love the French-style fountains!) are the best of any Disney resort, in my opinion. You can really feel like you're in a quaint French country town, or perhaps a suburb of Paris. One year, we went there for my son's 5th birthday... after checkout, the plan was to head to the Magic Kingdom... but my son was having so much fun playing in the various fountains at the French Quarter, we just stayed and "hung out" all day. We didn't miss the Magic Kingdom at all.

One tip -- if you have a day to kill, take the ferry boat to Downtown Disney. Once you get to Downtown Disney -- the Disney buses there will take you to ANY other Disney resort. Feel free to kill a day or two by touring the other Disney resorts, to see where you might want to stay on your next visit. The newest vacation club resorts (Saratoga Springs, Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village, Contemporary Bay Lake Towers) are the most impressive. An awesome way to end the day is by watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach at the Polynesian (we do it all the time!)... the fireworks are MUCH better there than from inside the park.

Have fun!

 

[KSandbergFL]

We are at Old Key West Resort for 4 nights prior to the cruise, and we are hitting Hilton Head Island for 7 nights after

We stayed at Old Key West once, using a FL resident rate. We liked it OK, but it's not our "favorite". We prefer Saratoga Springs... although we haven't yet tried the other DVC resorts yet.

Hilton Head -- are you staying at a Disney property there? Shall I assume you're a Vacation Club member?

My wife and I often toss around the idea of buying a DVC membership, but the scales always seem to tip against it, when we consider the amount of the annual membership dues versus what we can get for a FL resident rate. If it wasn't for the annual dues (which I've read can be as high as $800/year?) -- we'd probably be DVC members too.

 

[thefyshes]

The French Quarter is my personal favorite Disney resort, the landscaping and groundskeeping (love the French-style fountains!) are the best of any Disney resort, in my opinion. You can really feel like you're in a quaint French country town, or perhaps a suburb of Paris. One year, we went there for my son's 5th birthday... after checkout, the plan was to head to the Magic Kingdom... but my son was having so much fun playing in the various fountains at the French Quarter, we just stayed and "hung out" all day. We didn't miss the Magic Kingdom at all.

One tip -- if you have a day to kill, take the ferry boat to Downtown Disney. Once you get to Downtown Disney -- the Disney buses there will take you to ANY other Disney resort. Feel free to kill a day or two by touring the other Disney resorts, to see where you might want to stay on your next visit. The newest vacation club resorts (Saratoga Springs, Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village, Contemporary Bay Lake Towers) are the most impressive. An awesome way to end the day is by watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the beach at the Polynesian (we do it all the time!)... the fireworks are MUCH better there than from inside the park.

Have fun!

I love the advice, and have heard so many good things about FQ - Yah! We will have to check out the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the Polynesian beach - that sounds perfect!

Any more advice is definitely welcome for these first timers

Thanks

 

[KSandbergFL]

I love the advice, and have heard so many good things about FQ - Yah! We will have to check out the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the Polynesian beach - that sounds perfect!

Any more advice is definitely welcome for these first timers

I don't really have any other tips... your family will discover its own vacation. But I do highly recommend spending a day to "resort hop", to check out the other Disney hotels. We have spent entire afternoons at the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, or Wilderness Lodge.. playing at the beach or in the pools... there is a LOT to do and see, without stepping foot in an expensive theme park.

A recent discovery for us is the new restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village (Kidani Village is brand new, opened last summer). It's called Sanaa (sun-NAAAH) and is African/Indian themed. The restaurant has glass walls facing a small "savannah", with zebras, giraffes, etc. The prices aren't too bad either. On your "resort-hopping" day, make a reservation at Sanaa for dinner... get to the resort a little early so you can walk around... see the animals, play in the pool, get a taste of the Disney Vacation Club experience. Animal Kingdom Lodge is right next to Blizzard Beach... so if a day at Blizzard Beach is on your itinerary -- that's perfect! Do Blizzard Beach during the day, and head to Sanaa for dinner (we did exactly that, this past August... awesome way to spend a day!). You can do it all on the free Disney transportation:

FQ to Blizzard beach: bus
Blizzard Beach to Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village: bus
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Downtown Disney: bus
Downtown Disney to FQ: riverboat or bus (riverboat recommended)

 

[Melynny]

Hi folks! Dh and I are on this cruise also, (no kids ) . Have all of you recieved your cruise docs? We still don't have ours?

We were on Vacation from the 16th to until yesterday and I just picked up our held mail and there was nothing from DCL there?

I'll be brining along some left over stuff from my DCL House party to put in your FE's.

Melynn

 

[Mickeymick1967]

thefyshes, we are driving down, we usually stop at the Hilton Head Disney resort on the way down, then head right into Disney, not bad about a 5 hour drive. We are stopping back at Hilton Head after the cruise for a week.... We absolutely LOVE Hilton Head Island

 

[hawky7]

WElCOME Melynny! Glad to have some other adult groups, I think so far, us and you guys might be the only adults only group! You guys going to Palo?
We rcvd our cruise docs like a week and a half ago, or longer. I think you should call to check on those...



We are going to WDW for just one day after the cruise. Sad to only go for one day, but we gotta get back to work, so we are going to fly overnight Wed, get to the cruise, go to WDW on Sunday, and fly home on Monday., and then back to work on Tuesday. Crazy!


POFQ is my favorite resort there too. It feels very quiet and relaxing compared to most of the other resorts. We are staying just one night at the Contemporary this time, which is really my very favorite, but I just can't justify the cost for an entire week trip. I love the rooms at the Contemporary, and of course the location and being able to walk to MK doesn't hurt either!!!

KSandbergFL- When you go to Polynesian for fireworks, do you have to show something to get out to the beach, or you just go out there. I think that sounds awesome, so can you give me info on what to do. I hate the crowds of MK after Wishes, makes me want to scream, so viewing from there would be awesome!

Is someone on our cruise DVC members??? I'd like to pick their brain if they are.... 17 days!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mickeymick1967]

KSandbergFL,
We are members of the DVC and we have stayed at all of the Dvc Resorts except Saratoga Springs. Our very favourite is the Boardwalk Villas, as it is so close to many things. We stayed at OKW this past November and we were really surprised at how much we liked it.
The Disney resort at Hilton Head is absolutely awesome, I highly recommend staying there if you get the chance.. I understand you guys hesitating at buying into the DVC, Florida residents get some really great deals

 

[LuvtheEars]

We will be heading on the same cruise and I have an 8yr old boy and 6 yr old daughter-maybe they will meet in the kids areas-that would be nice-I also have a son who will turn 4 right before we cruise-can't wait-it is our first cruise and a total surprise for them! We are also heading to Atlantis for the stop in Nassau-sounds like we might bump into each other...
-Amanda

Hi Amanda,

I'm glad to hear there will be more 6 year old girls on this cruise! My DS meets new friends quickly, but my DD is a little slower to make new friends. We are going to the Pirate Museum on Nassau day - We are heading to Atlantis on the 4 day cruise before this one. We also have to stop by the Rum Cake store and replenish our supply (OK, we ran out of rum cakes a long time ago )

Hi Amanda,

We have a DD that is 6 and a DS that will almost be 4!

Great to hear there will be lots of kids their age on the cruise. We will have been at WDW for 7 days before the cruise so we will be utilizing the Kids Club to get some adult vacation on the ship

WOOOHHoOOO, we can't wait

...melanie

Another 6 year old girl! Megan will have lots of kids her age to play with!

For anyone who is interested I called today to see what movies would be playing on our cruise on 1/21...I guess I am just so excited I am craving info LOL
Here is the list they gave me:

Up in 3D
G-Force
Surrogates
Toy Story 1
Toy Story 2 in 3D
Old Dogs
Princess and the Frog

Thank you for posting this! I told the kids last night I thought the Princess and the Frog might be playing, but I forgot about Old Dogs!

For those who have cruised recently (our last cruise was in May '09) are the CM's from the kids clubs still coming to the dining rooms to gather the kids and take them to the clubs? I loved this. We fed the kids quickly and finished our meals alone! I hope they are still doing this.

 

[Purplejewel]

My DH and I got our cruise documents in the mail yesterday. I'm sure yours will show up soon.

 

[Purplejewel]

My DH and I have been DVC members since 1/08. This is the only way that we can afford to take our four DDs to Disney on a regular basis and still take a "adults-only" trip to Disney once a year. I would be happy to answer any questions you have regarding being a DVC member. You might want to consider going to the "DVC Group Presentation" that they do onboard the cruiseship. I believe it is usually on the 2nd day around 4:00 p.m. It's a great way to get alot of information on being a DVC member and speak directly with DVC members about the pros and cons of being a member. They don't pressure you at all about purchasing a membership - they don't need to because the benefits of being a member speak for themselves. In addition, you are entered to win a shipboard credit (I believe it is for around $300.00) by just attending the Group Presentation. Like I said, if you have any questions, I would be happy to help.