July 10, 2011--DIS PEEPS reunite on the Disney Dream!

[CrozB4]

Finally getting around to posting here. I'm 'CrusinNick's' mom. We booked our cruise for this week on our last cruise in December, an 11 night Holiday southern carribean.

Wanted to send out a friendly greeting to all who will be traveling on the Dream! This is our first Dream sail, and next year we booked the Fantasy.
We are SO excited. This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise.

We will be bringing a friend of my youngest DD this year to help her have even more fun.

We have late dining. Ugh... anyone want to switch? I hate eating so late!

We are doing the Dolphin Swim on Blue Lagoon Island on Nassau day, anyone else?

I have decided we won't be doing the FE this time, our last cruise we had over 60 cabins to deliver to and it was a chore. We've decided to relax this time.

Would love to meet some folks with older kids. My DD 15 and DS 13 would love to have someone to chat with until the sail date that they can hang out with during the cruise.

Great to meet you all, hope to see you real soon!

~Meemous

We are doing the Dolphin Swim on Nassau Day, too, but it's the later time. I think around noon.

OK -- my 13yo daughter has requested that I find her a buddy. She already had her cruise buddy picked out before we got on board last time.

So, if you have a 13yo daughter who likes to dance, is a cheerleader, is a reader, smart, singer, who wants a buddy for the cruise let me know. I have a dancing, cheerleading , Texas girl who wants a cruise buddy! We are going to WDW after the cruise and staying at Saratoga Springs for 3 nights afterwards.

This is our girls only cruise -- Me, my three daughters (13, 10, 8) and my sister. My husband and 16 yo son are going on a 2 week safari to South Africa the same time.

We have a DD13 (LouAnn) whose very down-to-earth and is eager to have a buddy also, as this is our first cruise. She doesn't cheer, but is a soccer player. Also into music and loves to read. Hopefully, they'll make a good pairing!

 

[Figment_Fan]

HappyontheLake, can't help with DD13, but can with DD10. My DD(10) is Kait. More tomboy than princess, but likes being treated like a princess. Loves theater and singing and dancing. She was "discussing" with us this weekend that she should be allowed to have check in and check out privileges for the kids clubs. At this point I said okay, but I might change it later. Any thoughts??

DD is independant, a brown belt, and smart. This will be cruise number 3, so she is familiar with cruising and the clubs. But, I was a little soft headed when I said okay. She may think this is over, I'm still thinking about it. We had to check something on the on-line check in.

 

[nuttyboys]

Hi everyone! We are getting excited for our first Disney Cruise. We chose the late seating because we were told that that way we will not have to worry about rushing back to the ship if we are off to shower and eat. We will be on West Coast time anyway. Also, we were told that the kids can eat dinner in the kids' club or the room if they are starving earlier. I hope I made the right decision! Anyone else in concierge with us? I was afraid of not being able to get into the spa or restaurants on board so we paid for concierge in order to have some priority. We have a cabana booked for both days on Castaway Island as well. What is this FE (Fish Exchange?) about? Any other families with boys aged 6, 7, or 9? Our 7 year old will turn 8 on the 15th, so this cruise is to celebrate. I asked about anything special we could do on the ship for him, like let him visit he bridge or something, but apparently Disney does not do anything for kids but sell you some cabin decorations. Any tips from experienced cruisers out there? I think we will be going on the dolphin excursion, too. Bye for now!

P.S. Oh! I was just told the dolphin experience is booked, so we will be going to the water park instead.

 

[HappyontheLake]

HappyontheLake, can't help with DD13, but can with DD10. My DD(10) is Kait. More tomboy than princess, but likes being treated like a princess. Loves theater and singing and dancing. She was "discussing" with us this weekend that she should be allowed to have check in and check out privileges for the kids clubs. At this point I said okay, but I might change it later. Any thoughts??

DD is independant, a brown belt, and smart. This will be cruise number 3, so she is familiar with cruising and the clubs. But, I was a little soft headed when I said okay. She may think this is over, I'm still thinking about it. We had to check something on the on-line check in.

My DD10 is a tomboy -- ride horses, has more scrapes than glitter, wants to raise animals and show them in FFA. This is cruise #3 for us and I am giving her check in/out privileges this time -- she barely spent anytime in the clubs in March (think 1.5 hours total) so she probably won't go in at all this time either.

 

[nuttyboys]

Our boys have blue/green and green belts. The oldest, who is 9, likes girls who can hang with the boys! He will be finishing the third grade this year. What did your daughter do if she was not in the club? I heard the pools on board are too small for the number of cruisers, and as such are not so fun, just packed!! Hope this in not true! I don't think I could give my 9 year old permission to run around freely on the ship, especially since this is his first cruise. Girls are different, though. More mature!

 

[Figment_Fan]

I hope the pools aren't that crowded either. My DD would call to get out of the clubs to go swimming - mostly. She stayed in the clubs for anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours at a time. She also might pick a movie or wanted to be on deck to take part in the dance/hoola-hoop competition/or just be with us.(Weird on the be with us part, I know.) She has been practicing the hoola- hoop thing, just in case.

Anyway, DD is generally proud of her scrapes and bruises, looks at the deer in the back yard and comments on how pretty they are, but wonders when might she learn to hunt as she loves venison jerky. (I don't hunt, and never have, but some of the kids and teachers at school do. She sees no problem with loving Bambi, then enjoying venison.)

Knowing her, giving her some ability to control the in and out of the club would not be a problem. She would just check out to find us, but that is not a guaranteed thing. Oh, that delicate balance between independance/life-experience/parental comfort zone/ reality and chance. How do we survive the growth of our children?

Luckily, my parents don't have to worry - I never grew up.

 

[nuttyboys]

Ha! Ha! I will look forward to meeting your daughter. She sounds adventurous! Hunting her own? Brave girl! Are we all going to meet once we are on board, by the way? I don't think our boys will be that interested in hanging with us (except maybe the youngest one, depending on how many friends he makes) if there are any video games to be had, sadly. We will have to bone up on our hula hoop skills, then.
Thanks!

 

[Figment_Fan]

as to the video games, they have one of those big floor models. The kids played on one at Epcot a few weeks ago. It was cool. About 10 feet be 14 feet. It interacted via movement. Your son may never come out of the game room!

Although, I posted on another thread - and I'm doing so as I hope somebody with the skills can work on it. Take the floor model, put one on each wall, the ceiling and the floor and make the closest thing we can have to a StarTrek holodeck. Then put it in the adults only area of the ship - or in my house, whichever.

On the last two cruises there was a dismeet at each. I don't think anybody has set a time or location yet. Ummm, hey, anybody leading this party???? Any thoughts on time, location, for a meet? Any thoughts at all? Me, I don't think, especially on vacation, just ask my DW. I figure that I think too much at work. My time off is special. Just air(head) time.

 

[chip&daleuk]

Hi everyone! We are getting excited for our first Disney Cruise. We chose the late seating because we were told that that way we will not have to worry about rushing back to the ship if we are off to shower and eat. We will be on West Coast time anyway. Also, we were told that the kids can eat dinner in the kids' club or the room if they are starving earlier. I hope I made the right decision! Anyone else in concierge with us? I was afraid of not being able to get into the spa or restaurants on board so we paid for concierge in order to have some priority. We have a cabana booked for both days on Castaway Island as well. What is this FE (Fish Exchange?) about? Any other families with boys aged 6, 7, or 9? Our 7 year old will turn 8 on the 15th, so this cruise is to celebrate. I asked about anything special we could do on the ship for him, like let him visit he bridge or something, but apparently Disney does not do anything for kids but sell you some cabin decorations. Any tips from experienced cruisers out there? I think we will be going on the dolphin excursion, too. Bye for now!

P.S. Oh! I was just told the dolphin experience is booked, so we will be going to the water park instead.

Hi Nuttyboys,
We are in concierge too and it is also our first cruise!!

 

[marukochan]

Hi everyone! We are getting excited for our first Disney Cruise. We chose the late seating because we were told that that way we will not have to worry about rushing back to the ship if we are off to shower and eat. We will be on West Coast time anyway. Also, we were told that the kids can eat dinner in the kids' club or the room if they are starving earlier. I hope I made the right decision! Anyone else in concierge with us? I was afraid of not being able to get into the spa or restaurants on board so we paid for concierge in order to have some priority. We have a cabana booked for both days on Castaway Island as well. What is this FE (Fish Exchange?) about? Any other families with boys aged 6, 7, or 9? Our 7 year old will turn 8 on the 15th, so this cruise is to celebrate. I asked about anything special we could do on the ship for him, like let him visit he bridge or something, but apparently Disney does not do anything for kids but sell you some cabin decorations. Any tips from experienced cruisers out there? I think we will be going on the dolphin excursion, too. Bye for now!

P.S. Oh! I was just told the dolphin experience is booked, so we will be going to the water park instead.

Hello!

We have an 8 year old (soon to be 9) in 3 grade as well!

Maru

 

[camikey]

Okay all you experienced cruisers. Will I get a lanyard for my first cruise or should I buy one? Do I need a passport for Nassua? Wondering if I need to bring a stroller????? DD will be 5, but she still wants to be carreid when she is tired. She is pretty heavy these days or of course I'm just more tired and out of shape.

 

[Roodoll]

I was wondering if there was a way to rent a stroller or do we have to bring our own? My hubby and i are bringing our son who will be 5 months old. also where is the dis meet going to be at? So far i havent seen any posts about it yet.

 

[camikey]

Just wondering if we are going to assign days????? One per cabin??? One per person???? What ever you wish to do????

 

[policycobb]

You can rent strollers but there is a limited supply and I believe first come first served basis. Emily was three on our first cruise and we didn't bring a stroller. She did okay. Even today at six yrs old she would still prefer to be carried. She is too tall and I am to out of shape to carry her now.

 

[LV Disney Fan(atic)]

Just wondering if we are going to assign days????? One per cabin??? One per person???? What ever you wish to do????

Here's what I was thinking about the FE exchange; let me know if it's okay with everyone.

- Number and type of gift is completely up to each participant. If you want to do one gift per cabin, or separate gifts for each person, or one for the adults and separate ones for the kids.....all fine. This is supposed to be fun and as long as everyone gives at least one gift per cabin it's all good.

- I would like to assign delivery days just so there's something in the FE every day and we don't overload the FEs by all delivering at once. That said, if you can't/don't want to deliver on your assigned day, just do it another day! We're on vacation - no stress

We agreed to cutoff the FE sign up list on May 31, so if anyone is lurking or still thinking about it - don't wait too long!

For those of you that have mentioned a DISmeet on board, someone just needs to step up and plan it (not me - I've got the FEs ). Anyone been on the Dream yet and have an idea for a good meeting place? We used the Promonade Lounge on the Wonder and the Magic; does the Dream have a similar venue?

Dany

 

[policycobb]

FE assigning days sounds great!

 

[btmommy]

FE assignments sound good to me. Thanks again for helping make our cruise more magical!

 

[btmommy]

Can we please add my sister-in-law and her family to the FE as well?
DW, DH, DS 6, DS 2
We may also have one more family traveling with us who would like to do the FE as well. I will post prior to the deadline letting you know. Thanks!
Also, could you please update the ages of my kids...they are now 4 and 2 at time of cruising. Thanks!!!

 

[underthesea2010]

8 more Sundays and we'll be cruisin' the Dream!!!!

 

[HappyontheLake]

WooHoo! Got my stateroom number and I am very happy! Didn't get upgraded, but got a great location (actually one I would have chosen for myself).