January 29, 2011 - 7 Day Eastern - WOOHOO!!

[schimj]

Ok we are in...I sent a note to the person organizing the FE

I thought we would not know our cabin until we got on the ship - good to know that we will know before then. Thanks

Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to your post before, but like my wife said, all is well with people in GTY cabins participating...the cutoff date is just so people can have an accurate count of what they need to have done for the FE. As cabin #s start to roll in, I'd update the list as needed.

 

[boundfordisney]

We are flying out of Buffalo with southwest on the 27th 10 am nonstop flight, staying at the poly for the 2 nights before the cruise, we are taking our 6 year old grandson Logun with us. his first cruise , dh and I were on the western last Nov. first stay at the poly for all of us. We are planning to do universal hp next August so will be looking forward to all you can share about it averysmommy

 

[AverysMommy]

My 13 year old son will be jealous, he wants us to go a day or two early to see the Harry Potter thing at Universal.

We are east of Toronto in Bowmanville. Flying out of Buffalo too. This will be our 5th cruise Disney Cruise , but my 6th one if you count the one without the kids on another cruiseline.

Hubby works for OPG and I get to stay home.

What is OPG?

 

[AverysMommy]

OK - I missed this part too, but will add my info now!

1. Northern Virginia - Outside DC is where we currently live and plan on staying. We are a military family so this is always a loaded question! I am originally from Spokane, Washington and hubby is from outside Detroit. All of our kids were born in different states (Texas, Kansas and Virginia)

2. No! Second DCL cruise and second with kids. Hubby and I have done Western Caribbean trips a bunch and a Mediteranean cruise.

3. Hubby is in the Army. We are celebrating him hitting 20 years in March!! Originally this was going to be his "retirement cruise" but the economy sucks so he probably won't be retiring this year. I was in the ARmy 12 years and now work as a defense contractor. My main hobby these days seems to be planning this vacation!!!

4. Kids - Luke is 8. He plays electric guitar (he is in a band). He played Hockey until he broke his arm the SECOND time last spring and had to have his SECOND surgery. When hubby broke his pelvis playing over 40 hockey two months later, I put my foot down and put away their hockey gear. Annemarie is 4. She dances and does whatever else she can to keep up with her brother! Jake will be 10 months when we sail.


We are also sailing with my in-laws in a connecting cabin. This is an early 50 year anniversary for them (48 years actually). And a 15 year anniversary celebration for hubby and I!!!

WOW - 8 years old and plays in a band. That is very cool. Spencer played 1 year of acoustic guitar and then switched to electric last year. he loves it. I love the kids playing music. I have raised him well (LOL) as he knows ACDC, Van Halen, Zeppelin, etc.

 

[AverysMommy]

Yeah, I thought about that one too, it came down to eating in Parrot Cay so many times and when we would end up in the character breakfast. With the PLAPLAP rotation, I don't think you do the character breakfast until late in the cruise.

On a separate note....Jen sent me a pic of our FE - can't wait till it is shipped!!!!

We would normally do Palos on a Parrot Cay night but that would mean the first night or the last night (cant skip Pirate Night). Not sure I like either option.

What rotation do you think is best?

 

[AverysMommy]

Yeah, I thought about that one too, it came down to eating in Parrot Cay so many times and when we would end up in the character breakfast. With the PLAPLAP rotation, I don't think you do the character breakfast until late in the cruise.

On a separate note....Jen sent me a pic of our FE - can't wait till it is shipped!!!!

You ordered an FE from someone? How much did it cost? What does it look like?

 

[AverysMommy]

We are flying out of Buffalo with southwest on the 27th 10 am nonstop flight, staying at the poly for the 2 nights before the cruise, we are taking our 6 year old grandson Logun with us. his first cruise , dh and I were on the western last Nov. first stay at the poly for all of us. We are planning to do universal hp next August so will be looking forward to all you can share about it averysmommy

Poly looks so beautiful........I am jealous. We always just stay at moderates. You are clearly amazing Grandparents to take Logan to WDW and DCL.

your pictures says you are from Hamilton - what part? I was born in Beamsville and lived there until i was 12.

 

[NAB]

What is OPG?

Ontario Power Generation.

 

[mom2brats]

Hi everyone! Is it too late for me to join???
This will be our first Disney cruise and my head is spinning!!! So busy trying to figure everything out from hotels before and after to renting cars. Haven't even had time to think about the actual cruise which I am CRAZY stoked about.
My dh and I are coming with my 3 monsters Ds 15, Ds12 and DD 8. Hoping to get lots of good advice and join the fun.

 

[NAB]

Hi everyone! Is it too late for me to join???
This will be our first Disney cruise and my head is spinning!!! So busy trying to figure everything out from hotels before and after to renting cars. Haven't even had time to think about the actual cruise which I am CRAZY stoked about.
My dh and I are coming with my 3 monsters Ds 15, Ds12 and DD 8. Hoping to get lots of good advice and join the fun.

Never too late to join... Well unless it is after the cruise that is.

Glad to see more teenagers. I have a son that is 13. And a girl that is 10.

 

[AverysMommy]

Hi everyone! Is it too late for me to join???
This will be our first Disney cruise and my head is spinning!!! So busy trying to figure everything out from hotels before and after to renting cars. Haven't even had time to think about the actual cruise which I am CRAZY stoked about.
My dh and I are coming with my 3 monsters Ds 15, Ds12 and DD 8. Hoping to get lots of good advice and join the fun.

Welcome to the Cruise. My DS is 11.5 and my DD is 8 so your kids will have lots of friends.

Lots to do but you dont need to worry - everyone has a great time on the Disney Cruise.

Just ask us questions as there are lots of experienced cruisers on this board.

 

[AverysMommy]

Ontario Power Generation.

Thats interesting work.......so many interesting things are in the works on how we can improve the energy situation in teh world.

 

[5boyz]

We have requested the APLAPLA rotation and main dining. We have Palo booked for Wednesday at 8pm, can't wait!!! I had the same nights marked for formal/pirate/semi-formal as NAB.

I have the late dining but I didnt realize you picked your rotation?!I dont know one from the other so what are some preferences (SP?) When I was speaking to my cm she told me the nights, she thinks that is how it will be Formal night 2...Semi night 6...Pirate night 4....Casual 1 3 5 7...she didnt say anything about picking a rotation...Oh well I am sure I will get put in the rotation somewhere .......

 

[5boyz]

Your kids are letting you go on a DIsney Cruise without taking any of them? My kids woudl kill me if I tried that one!

Well the big ones dont care and the 2 younger ones want to come but this is mommy and daddy time...I got a great deal when I was looking for cruises so could not resist. I am hoping to book one for Sept/Oct 2011 with the 2 younger ones. We have been to Disney the last 6 yrs and they are getting bored of it now....

 

[5boyz]

My 13 year old son will be jealous, he wants us to go a day or two early to see the Harry Potter thing at Universal.

We are east of Toronto in Bowmanville. Flying out of Buffalo too. This will be our 5th cruise Disney Cruise , but my 6th one if you count the one without the kids on another cruiseline.

Hubby works for OPG and I get to stay home.

When are you leaving from Buffalo? We are flying out too....Fri Jan 28th 10am.

Also sorry what is OPG? I know I am going to say...OH YEAH!!!! DHUH!!!

 

[boundfordisney]

Poly looks so beautiful........I am jealous. We always just stay at moderates. You are clearly amazing Grandparents to take Logan to WDW and DCL.

your pictures says you are from Hamilton - what part? I was born in Beamsville and lived there until i was 12.

We live on the east mountain, Beamsville is not far away at all nice little town! We have stayed at the cbr a few times and really love it there, what moderates have you stayed at?Yes when we vacation the grandkids are always with us, last cruise took 2 of the older grandkids but Logun at that time didn t want to come. He has deceided to go this time around after hearing how much fun it was from his sister Tori who went in Nov. with us. Tori and my grandson Jordan loved the cruise and made many friends that they still keep in touch with ,Im sure Logun is gonna have just as much fun and will meet new friends as well.

 

[denas]

WOW - 8 years old and plays in a band. That is very cool. Spencer played 1 year of acoustic guitar and then switched to electric last year. he loves it. I love the kids playing music. I have raised him well (LOL) as he knows ACDC, Van Halen, Zeppelin, etc.

His band did TNT at their "gig" last Spring!! It is really pretty cute. The studio he takes from offers a"Putting the Band Together" workshop.
They have 2 age groups - 10-13 and 14 and up. They come up with their songs, rehearse, etc for about 8 weeks with a couple of guys who are in a band here in the DC area. Then they get a perfromance - last year at one of the local coffee shops which does a Friday night Happy Hour with music every month. Even though my son was only 7, he got selected for the younger kids band. It really is cute to see a bunch of kids with an average age of 10 on the drums, lead, bass and rythm guitar and vocals. This year they have added a kid who plays keyboard and the sax and they are doing "Bad to the Bone" and some Green Day song. My son is hoping to be the singer for Bad to the Bone!! It is also really good for the kids because it is entirely different playing in an atmosphere where people are talking and eating and drinking at tables around them versus a recital where everyone is sitting in rows quietly listening.

I have been really happy with the electric guitar mostly because my son loves it so he practices!

 

[denas]

You ordered an FE from someone? How much did it cost? What does it look like?

I ordered mine on ebay from gradysmommy. I thought hers were really cute. Just type in fish extender and she pops up! I had heard about her work on the main board. I think the three pocket ones were $30 and the 4 pocket were $35. She had tons of designs and colors and about 20 pics of different options on the site. I heard back from her within minutes of purchase with her email address to send her what I wanted for colors/mickey heads/names etc. I haven't seen the product yet, but she was so quick to reply and so friendly in email I would recommend her so far!!

I also ordered some embroidered pillow cases from her. Her price was less than what I would pay to buy the pillow cases here and have the names embroidered on at a local shop (of course DC is outrageously expensive so that may not be the case for everyone!!) I am going to drop them off at guest services on the first day with pens and surprise my kids with autographed pillow cases at the end of the cruise. I guess all of the characters will sign the pillow cases over the length of the cruise. I read about this on one of the tips - didn't know they would do this!!

 

[AverysMommy]

Hey there - I thought I would fly an idea out there......We are seriously looking at the Private Cabanas that you can now rent on CC. But the price of $499 is a lot of money. There are 4 of us so we thought if we could find 2 people who wanted to split the cost then that might work as the cost woudl then be $333 for us and $166 for the other 2 people

If you want to learn more about the Cabanas then let me know and I can send you links - but it includes bikes, scuba gear, floaties, hammocks, etc

No rush to decide as we cant book until you are on the cruise itself........let me know if anyone is interested.

Is anyone else looking at the Cabanas? I am not sure why they are going with such a high price point? I thought they were going to be $200-250.

 

[NAB]

Thats interesting work.......so many interesting things are in the works on how we can improve the energy situation in teh world.

That is so true. Lots of windmills. He actually is a nuclear operator at Darlington power plant. He keeps our lights , etc on

We used to live up in Paisley( this is near Walkerton , everyone remembers the water thing) because he worked at the Bruce for many years until transfering down here.

And for our flight, Hubby is still working on that . It will probably be Friday but he doesn't know the flight back. Wonders if we can make it back to the airport and though security by 11:50am on Saturday.