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

[Loriekins]

I have an 8 year old boy (3d grade), a 4 year old girl (will start kindergarten this fall) and an infant!!

Hopefully our boys will get a chance to meet! My son was really worried for awhile when I told him about all of the 4-year-old girls on the cruise. He pictured being tormented by lots of versions of his sister

Too funny! My 9 yr old son was worried about all the little kids (he has a ton of younger cousins) & girls. I always mention to him when there are other boys his age going on the cruise.

 

[denas]

Believe it or not the most expensive part of our entire trip is our airfare from Fort St. John to Vancouver, the shortest leg of our whole trip. It cost the same or less to fly my family of 4 from FSJ to Vancouver than Vancouver to Orlando. I hate small regional flights only manned by Air Canada! They rarely put a seat sale on, and if they do, it is like $50 off. Thankfully my parents booked our FSJ to Vancouver flight on their visa points, or else it would have cost $3200. Grrrrrr......so yes, we are paying a premium to do this trip, but it will be worth it! Someone has to represent Western Canada

I believe it!! I grew up in Spokane, WA and my father still lives there. My mother and sister live in San Diego. I know they get upset because we don't fly to the west coast very often. It is just economics. Spokane isn't the easiest place to get to and isn't service by a lot of airlines that will do the flight from the East Coast so we are lucky if we can find a ticket for around $500 a piece and it is usally more. That is $2500 for all five of us. I never pay more than $180 for tickets to Florida and seldom pay that much since I can usually partially use points. Even without points it is usually under $900 for all five of us to go to Florida!! Or we can drive with two hotel stays and gas for around $400. It is just hard to add that much in airfare to your vacation costs!!!

 

[denas]

Too funny! My 9 yr old son was worried about all the little kids (he has a ton of younger cousins) & girls. I always mention to him when there are other boys his age going on the cruise.

Little girls can realy terrorize their older boy relatives I am hoping she will mostly be interested in the stuff in the Club rather than the Lab so she isn't always over bothering him. I was a little disappointed that they re-did the ages and allowed kids from 3-10 to be in the clubs together rather than splitting them up. I know my son loves his little sister, but he definately likes his space and prefers to hang out with boys his own age and not have his sister constantly trying to interject herself into his play time

 

[denas]

We are finally close enough that we can start looking at the weather for our cruise.

Thursday, January 27th in Walt Disney World (for those going early), they are predicting a high of 70 (F) and 21(C) with only a slight chance (20%) of rain.

Friday at Disney World shows a high of 69 (20 C) with a 70% chance of rain.

For Friday, January 28th, the current forecast for Cape Canaveral shows a high of 66 (F) (19 C) with a 60% chance of rain.

And tomorrow they will have the 10-day forecast for the first day of our cruise!!!

 

[Loriekins]

Little girls can realy terrorize their older boy relatives I am hoping she will mostly be interested in the stuff in the Club rather than the Lab so she isn't always over bothering him. I was a little disappointed that they re-did the ages and allowed kids from 3-10 to be in the clubs together rather than splitting them up. I know my son loves his little sister, but he definately likes his space and prefers to hang out with boys his own age and not have his sister constantly trying to interject herself into his play time

I guess I thought they would have the ages split within the group. DS might not be too crazy over that.

 

[denas]

I guess I thought they would have the ages split within the group. DS might not be too crazy over that.

What I understgand is that there are activities now offered in both the club and the lab and the kids are free to move between the two to go to whatever activities appeal to them. Not surprising that the older kids don't hang out in the club since those activities are for the younger kids, however, I have seen some comments about the younger kids do go quite frequently to the activities for the older kids in the lab. There are recommended ages, but lots of parents decide that their kids will really like something or want to be with older siblings or whatever and send them.

I plan on sitting down each night and letting my kids look at what they want to do and really encouraging the younger one to go to the programming specifically designed for her...rather than her brother's activities. But lots of the parents of 9 and 10 year olds have complained about the new set up because their kids don't like the "little kids" taking over all of their activities.

Hopefully with our little group since we have several 8/9/10 year old boys we can get them together and they can be their own posse in the club and have fun regardless of the presence of younger kids.

It is odd tha Disney did this, though. Every other cruiseline has moved away from combining kids and created more age groups and Disney goes the other way!!

 

[Loriekins]

What I understgand is that there are activities now offered in both the club and the lab and the kids are free to move between the two to go to whatever activities appeal to them. Not surprising that the older kids don't hang out in the club since those activities are for the younger kids, however, I have seen some comments about the younger kids do go quite frequently to the activities for the older kids in the lab. There are recommended ages, but lots of parents decide that their kids will really like something or want to be with older siblings or whatever and send them.

I plan on sitting down each night and letting my kids look at what they want to do and really encouraging the younger one to go to the programming specifically designed for her...rather than her brother's activities. But lots of the parents of 9 and 10 year olds have complained about the new set up because their kids don't like the "little kids" taking over all of their activities.

Hopefully with our little group since we have several 8/9/10 year old boys we can get them together and they can be their own posse in the club and have fun regardless of the presence of younger kids.

It is odd tha Disney did this, though. Every other cruiseline has moved away from combining kids and created more age groups and Disney goes the other way!!

Thanks for the info! Yeah that is pretty odd that they are doing that. Will is excited about meeting the kids that I am chatting with their Mom's on the dis boards. lol I know he also wants to hang out at the sports deck weather permitting. I figured I would do the same with him, looking at what is offered & what he wants to do when.

 

[NAB]

I wish they didn't change the ages in the clubs either. My dd is 10 and not sure what she will like to do this time around.

My son who is 13 will be in the Edge and out and about so no worries there. He may even switch up to the teen club but I think he should be with his own age set , don't want him hanging out with 17 year olds.

I think it would be cool to have a women's night out .....

I watched the Dream get Christened this morning. Looks nice in Florida, kids wearing shorts and all. Hope it doesn't rain when we are at Universal but maybe it well scare people away from Harry Potter.

 

[binky1]

I'm thinking about sending a box with my FE stuff in it ahead of time to the ship. Has anyone done this before? We ended up deciding to fly instead of drive and thought it might be cheaper than the checked luggage fee.

I sent one last time and did it again this time. Cost me $20. to send from Ottawa. It was in our stateroom when we got there. Well worth the money!!

 

[sonny75]

How old are your kids again? If they hit it off, maybe we can arrange a playdate I also have an 8 yr old niece, 5 yr old great-nephew, 3 yr old great-niece, and almost 2 yr old great-niece. My other nieces and nephews are older between ages 14-27.

We are driving because it's just cheaper with so many of us going and with the amount of baggage we have to take (strollers, etc).

My oldest son, Evan, is 5 too. My youngest son, Owen, is 3 1/2, and my niece will also be traveling with us and celebrating her fourth birthday on the ship.

 

[ali004]

Updated List

Lets see if I can get this right - please add details or correct me if I got anything wrong.............

In order of leaving the Port/Orlando:
Sat, February 5th at 10am - adventure_woman (Stephanie)
Sat, February 5th at 10am - TiffanyD
Sat, February 5th at 1230 - cblack (Cassie)
Sat, February 5th at 130pm - BoundforDisney
Sat, February 5th at 130pm - 5Boyz (Caroline)
Sat, February 5th at 4pm - Sonny75 (Amy)
Sat, February 5th at 5pm - NAB
Sat, February 5th at ???? - DisneySilver (Joanne)
Sat, February 5th at ???? - LorieKins (Lorie)
Sun, February 6th in pm - lovedisney50
Mon, February 7th at ??? - Paddle_Nut (Karla)
Tue, February 8th at 10am - Averysmommy (Jessalynn)
Tue, February 8th at 330pm - Jerelle
Tue, February 8th at 6pm - Mom2Brats

We aren't leaving until sometime Saturday, February 12th.

 

[Loriekins]

Updated List

Lets see if I can get this right - please add details or correct me if I got anything wrong.............

In order of leaving the Port/Orlando:
Sat, February 5th at 10am - adventure_woman (Stephanie)
Sat, February 5th at 10am - TiffanyD
Sat, February 5th at 1230 - cblack (Cassie)
Sat, February 5th at 130pm - BoundforDisney
Sat, February 5th at 130pm - 5Boyz (Caroline)
Sat, February 5th at 4pm - Sonny75 (Amy)
Sat, February 5th at 5pm - NAB
Sat, February 5th at ???? - DisneySilver (Joanne)
Sat, February 5th at ???? - LorieKins (Lorie)
Sun, February 6th in pm - lovedisney50
Mon, February 7th at ??? - Paddle_Nut (Karla)
Tue, February 8th at 10am - Averysmommy (Jessalynn)
Tue, February 8th at 330pm - Jerelle
Tue, February 8th at 6pm - Mom2Brats
Sat, February 12th in am - ali004 (Alison), Tink113, Tink113sMom

We are leaving Orlando Airport at 4 pm on Sat the 5th.

 

[denas]

Updated List

Lets see if I can get this right - please add details or correct me if I got anything wrong.............

In order of leaving the Port/Orlando:
Sat, February 5th at 10am - adventure_woman (Stephanie)
Sat, February 5th at 10am - TiffanyD
Sat, February 5th at 1230 - cblack (Cassie)
Sat, February 5th at 130pm - BoundforDisney
Sat, February 5th at 130pm - 5Boyz (Caroline)
Sat, February 5th at 4pm - Sonny75 (Amy)
Sat, February 5th at 5pm - NAB
Sat, February 5th at ???? - DisneySilver (Joanne)
Sat, February 5th at ???? - LorieKins (Lorie)
Sun, February 6th in pm - lovedisney50
Mon, February 7th at ??? - Paddle_Nut (Karla)
Tue, February 8th at 10am - Averysmommy (Jessalynn)
Tue, February 8th at 330pm - Jerelle
Tue, February 8th at 6pm - Mom2Brats
Sat, February 12th in am - ali004 (Alison), Tink113, Tink113sMom

We are leaving Feb 5 at 8 pm. We are spending the day at Sea World with my children's godparents

 

[myolite]

I sent one last time and did it again this time. Cost me $20. to send from Ottawa. It was in our stateroom when we got there. Well worth the money!!

Thanks for the info!!!

 

[myolite]

We are leaving Feb 5 at 8 pm. We are spending the day at Sea World with my children's godparents

We leave Fri the 28th and hit Orlando Airport at 6 pm. ME to Beach Club Villas.
then sat the 5th to wilderness lodge and then the airport sunday the 6th at 3 PM.

 

[myolite]

Boy we have been chatty the last day! I log back on today and have PAGES to go through! I am SO ready for our vacation. With DD#2 being sick it has been a LONGGG couple of days. She finally slept in her own bed last night and stayed there, so I think we are on the upswing now. DD#1 keeps asking how many more days until the cruise?

For all of you have little girls....will any of them go on the waterslide? I am trying my hardest to get DD4 to go down it...but she doesn't even like REGULAR playground slides. I'm hoping maybe a little peer pressure would help! She says she will right now, but that is something I have to see to believe.

Oh wow neat. I thought only the new ships have the waterslide. I totally need to research this part of things more.

 

[sonny75]

I Finally got the boys clothes sorted out and thankfully I don't think I will need to do any last minute shopping!!!

Only one full week to go and I am so looking forward to it. We are supposed to get another 2-5 inches of snow on Friday...YUCK!!

 

[Loriekins]

Oh wow neat. I thought only the new ships have the waterslide. I totally need to research this part of things more.

I read the slides get really busy. My 9 yr old son is dying to try the slide, he wants to do it right when we get on the ship.

 

[Loriekins]

I Finally got the boys clothes sorted out and thankfully I don't think I will need to do any last minute shopping!!!

Only one full week to go and I am so looking forward to it. We are supposed to get another 2-5 inches of snow on Friday...YUCK!!

I think we are all done with that too. I know, we are supposed to get more snow too. I am so ready for the sun & fun!

 

[myolite]

I Finally got the boys clothes sorted out and thankfully I don't think I will need to do any last minute shopping!!!

Only one full week to go and I am so looking forward to it. We are supposed to get another 2-5 inches of snow on Friday...YUCK!!

Ick. We've had snow every day the last several days. Working overnights, it seems like I get the worst of it in the morning leaving the hospital. eeeew.