July 17th 2005 Magic?

[pclaire]

My daughter's passport arrived friday - it took about 2 1/2 weeks. I already had one. I know they are expensive, but I'm glad she has one now- it'll make traveling a little easier. I already have to deal with the letter from the doctor about her nut allergies (so she can bring the epi-pen on the plane) and a letter from her dad saying its ok to take her out of the country.
We may not know about pirate and formal night till we get on the ship since we're the only 6 night cruise this summer. I just guessed about which night to do Palo. I may end up cancelling anyway if the kid's club is a bust. We'll see - I'm just going to be flexible and have fun no matter what the schedule! (flexible - thats so unlike me ).

 

[DonnettaR]

Funny thing about the birthdates huh? I just thought the people at DCL thought August only had 30 days When I looked up the Palo's information on the website it stated that Tea, Brunch, and Dinner were all $10. I just thought the tea and brunch had gone up. Maybe we will change our minds.

We got passports as well. We've had them for a while but my daughter's expired and had to get a new one for her since her last one was at age 4. I know there has been a lot of talk about not getting them, but I feel more secure knowing that we have them. I am not looking forward to disembarkation in LA. I have been so spoiled by the way they do it at Port Canveral.

For those of you who are DL experts, we would appreciate any tips you could give us for our upcoming stay. We are worried about the crowds.

Cherta, Clarke is enjoying her e-mails as well. She is very excited to have a ready made buddy.

 

[diznylnd]

Hello again everyone,

I also made my DD5 res last week for the kids club, that is a very nice new change that they have made to the website. On our last cruise all the parents went to the kids club as soon as they got onboard and it was a little hecitc. So this will be a nice change.

Goofyonthehiseas: We live in Simi Valley so we are just a few minutes from you! I love your idea of going to the port and showing the kids the ship. My daughter and our whole family for that matter went crazy as we saw the ship and port at Florida! Its incredible.

We went to Disneyland on the 4th and Mothers day and the new Parade and Fireworks are amazing.

Is anyone else bringing a pillowcase to have signed by all the characters on this cruise? We heard about it on the boards last year before our cruise, so I had made my daughter a princess pillowcase took a permanent marker put it in a ziploc with her name on it and dropped it off at guest services. The last day of the cruise we picked it up and it was awesome everyone signed it.

We are getting very excited now!!!!!

 

[Cherta]

Hi All!
Well, my husband contacted the passport office and they told us to send it back and they'll make the correction. They promised it would take "two-weeks max," so, against my good sense , we are sending the passport back today. I told my husband that "you realize that if we don't get the passport and/or birth certificate back, then your daughter will not be able to board the boat. Do you really want to deal with the fallout if it doesn't get back here in time?!?" He said that it would probably not be a good idea to use the document with her wrong name, so... back it goes! Wish us luck!

diznylnd-looks like your daughter and my youngest daughter will be in the same club. Maybe they'll meet each other there (my daughter is very extroverted-"I make friends very easily, mom!"-she likes to tell me! ) I was thinking of dropping of either a t-shirt or matte picture frame for each of my girls-I'll ask them which they prefer. Either way, it's a great souvenier!

DonnettaR-Disneyland is ALWAYS crowed in the summer, especially now that it is their 50th anniversary. Use as many fast passes as you can, and think about seeing some of the small shows during peak hours (A good one I saw the last time I was there was the Hillybilly Bob show in Frontierland--I believe that's the name at least-someone please correct me if I'm wrong!)

Roger-great idea about going down to see the boat when it gets here! We live right across the bridge from San Pedro, so maybe we'll ride down there and check it out ourselves. Looking forward to seeing your pics!

 

[diznylnd]

Hi Cherta- How old is your youngest daughter? Mine would love to have a friend onboard too!

Maybe we will see you at the port on the 28th.

 

[Cherta]

Hi diznylnd,
My youngest daughter is 6-she will turn 7 on July 28th. She would love to meet your daughter-she could probably show my daughter the "ropes" since you're all cruise veterans! We'll probably get to port around 11:00, since I've already made all our reservations! What time are you thinking of arriving?

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Hi Cherta
I still think we will be getting to the port early, (10ish) since we still have an hour plus drive and not knowing what traffic will be like. It should be OK on a Sunday morning but occasionally we run into road construction on our way to Disneyland on Sunday mornings. We are also slated for Late seating and I would like to see if I can change that. I understand that when you get on the boat you can go to one of the bars and make a request. Also since ours is a shorter cruise I want to spend as much time on the boat on Sunday as possible. Party till we drop.
Roger

 

[Cherta]

I thought about arriving earlier, but I don't want to get there too early--my 13-year-old will drive me crazy if we're sitting around too long and not doing anything . What time do you think we'll be able to board? We're only 20 minutes away, so we can pretty much arrive anytime we want. I've read from past cruisers that they've boarded between 12:00 and 1:00, so I thought 11ish would be safe. That's in Florida, however; San Pedro may be a whole different ball game . Hopefully, we'll get more info from the May/June/early July cruisers.

 

[pclaire]

My daughter would love to meet some girls also - she's turning 7 on july 15th. Isn't it amazing how much better vacation is when they find a friend ??

 

[Cherta]

Hi pclaire,
I think it would be great for the kids to meet ahead of time! I can have my youngest daughter PM you and your daughter if you'd like (it would be more like dictation, but I think my daughter would love to do it!) . Let me know if you're interested and I'll talk to her this evening.
BTY-disnylnd or anyone else with a child in this age range (5-7)-I'm sure my little social butterfly would like to meet other new friends, too! Let me know if you'd like to do this.earsgirl:

 

[ThreeJ's]

Hi, Me and my daughter, who also will be 7 at the end of July, can't wait for the cruise. We both are huge Disney dorks and time just isn't passing quick enough for us

We are also travelling with another family who has 3 kids - 8, 11? and 14.

 

[Cherta]

Welcome ThreeJ's,
Nice to know there are now a total of 8 families on this cruise!

 

[pclaire]

Cherta, my daughter would love to get a message from yours!
Welcome Three Js - is it just you and your daughter travelling? Thats what my daughter and I are doing - hence the need for her to really like the kids club!

 

[ThreeJ's]

Thanks for the welcome

There are three of us, all with J names, hence ThreeJ's So, it's me and my daughter and our family friend. I am hoping my DD will enjoy the kids club too. I am looking forward to some me time and some family time. The DD in the family we are traveling with is a little older and I'm not sure that they will be in the same programming.

I looked at some kids club navigators online and the activities sound fun. I keep trying to talk them up so my DD will be excited about them. There are a few expirements planned. I think she will really like that part. There are crafts and play times too. At the end of the cruise I think the kids put on a show or something.

The main thing is that I am on vacation, away from home and not having to think about school work

 

[ThreeJ's]

I think it is so 'cool' that Cherta, pclaire and my daughter's birthday (7/31) are within weeks of each other and all turning 7. ANybody else celebrating a birthday on the cruise?

I'll talk to my daughter about making friends before we board, that would be fun.

 

[Cherta]

Hi everyone,

ThreeJ's-My birthday is July 1st, so I'll be celebrating my birthday on the boat as well. I hope my kids like the clubs, but I've prepared myself, just in case. I've made Palo reservations, so I'll tell my girls that they'll have to go during those times (dinner, lunch and tea). Other than that, if they don't want to go, then we'll do something together. I would like to do the wine tasting and a couple of the other things offered, but if I don't, then I'll just have to do those things on the next cruise. However, I'm really concerned about my 13-year-old son; I don't think he'll like the teen club, so he'll have to entertain himself. I just hope he's not miserable the entire time. Although I think he'll find something to do (the arcade, room service, movies, games, etc...)

pclaire-I will let my daughter know--she'll be thrilled!

Is anyone else (from California) going down to see the boat on the 28th? I wish we could, but we'll be in Pismo Beach over the holiday. I heard there might be a lot of press and fanfare--let us know how it goes!

 

[DonnettaR]

I think it is so 'cool' that Cherta, pclaire and my daughter's birthday (7/31) are within weeks of each other and all turning 7. ANybody else celebrating a birthday on the cruise?

I'll talk to my daughter about making friends before we board, that would be fun.

Talk about birthdays? My DM's birthday is 7/22, mine is 7/16, DH(not traveling with us 7/28 and DD's 8/31(but we will celebrate now too). What a festive bunch we have?

 

[pclaire]

your daughter has a message from my daughter!!! very cool

 

[esmarelda]

Regarding birthdays, just so no one forgets, mine is Thursday, July 21st (36), and the oldest son of the family traveling with us turns 9 on July 24th.

There are so many of you with girls. It seems our families will be providing the majority of the boys on this trip. Cherta, your 13 year old is welcome to hang out with our 9 year olds if he has any interest, but I'm sure he'll be able to find some friends his age on the boat.

It's really getting close now. The Magic is finally headed to the west coast!

Amie

 

[ThreeJ's]

Wow, I can't believe all the birthdays. I'm sure it will be a magically birthday for all those celebrating on the cruise. I can't believe the date is fast approaching. Yeah!

I haven't checked any Disney news sites, but has there been any publicity about the Magic leaving on the repo cruise?