July 2, 2005 - WE ARE THERE!!!

[jgiants21]

Darcy, you are in God's country. What a wonderful place to live. Thanks for the info as to the video - I am sure it is a must have...

Dave, Where do you get all the energy!!! Just reading what you completed makes me tired. I would agree the Blue Bayou is the only real standout restaurant for DL. Good character breakfast buffet at HOTEL CALIFORNIA. Lots of fun. Thanks for the heads up as to reservations 60 days out. I will e-mail her again to let her know our interest. How many does this make for our excursion? There will be 3 of us participating and my DW watching. Should we let her know our interest to be in one group? Please let me know what you think....

Jim

 

[tchrmom]

Jim...........

There are 4 of us doing the tour. I think that we could all go as one group.........anyone else have any thought? My only concern would be how long is this tour, and will we make it back to the ship on time? Did I miss something on the website that told your about how long this tour takes?

XLT HAS been a busy beaver. He can rest this weekend. We are going to Disney on Sat. BUT.......for 4 1/2 years he has talked about putting tile down in the whole house. Next weekend, we pull up the entryway?????????

Fran

 

[jgiants21]

Fran, I have read that the excursion could take up up to 6 hours from the time you leave the ship until you return. I glad the Dave could have some fun this weekend, he needs it with all the work he is doing!

Jim

 

[mokehil]

I think it would be great if we let her know we were one group. Maybe they would make a stop at the dock for us. On Tuesdays they do a pick up in Nuevo Puerta (north of port) and we would be trying to get to town pickup spot (south of port).

We would be a group of 14 (6 Me+4Jim+4Fran) but only 13 on the tour. How big is the transportation? We might already be too many.

The 6 hour length seems reasonable to me. 15-30 minutes to get to pick up point (traffic conditions), 45-60 minutes drive to tour, 1 1/2 hour tour. Has anyone confirmed the time we are leaving PV? I am thinking it is 7 or 7:30.

If our group is too big to travel together then I will go earlier because there is a chance that John will be too small and DH and I will have to tag team it(one zip, the other hang with John.). That would make our tour last 3 hours. Sylvie was kind enough to offer to watch him, but until I get there I am not sure if I will be able to leave him with someone I don't know AND in the middle of the jungle in a foriegn country.

Should we contact them to determine if they can accomdate our size group? Maybe it is just a matter of mulitple vechicles. Not sure if this is the tour that seats you in the back of a large open truck or not. Although it would not have AC, it reminds me of my Peace Corps days and I would like my children to experience that mode of transportation.

Fran and Dave, I can't remember the ages, gender of your children. Please remind me. Thank you.

Have lots of fun at Disney this weekend. We are too far from DL to do it except every 2-4 years. Our last trip was Leap Day 2004 (Little John's "FIRST" birthday). Still wishing we could swing a visit before the cruise but $$$ too tight at the moment. Still only dreaming of a visit to Walt Disney World.

Have a good day.

Darcy

 

[XLT800]

I agree that it would be great if we could all book together. We need to get confirmation though on what time we leave.

Darcy....we have DD who will be 10 and DS who is 13

Dave

 

[XLT800]

Someone help me if I am wrong......according to our confirmation paper we depart Puerto Vallarta at 5:00 which makes all a board at about 4:30. Doing a 6 hour excursion will not work unless we start much earlier than 11:00. Please let me know if anyone has any different information.

Dave

 

[jgiants21]

Darcy, Great idea if they would make a special trip to pick us up at the dock since our group would be so large. Would you contact Sylvie to make the arrangements and ask your qeustions?

Dave, I have also read that we may be leaving departing @ 5. Maybe the 10:00 am time slot would be better for all of us, to ensure we are back to the ship in time. However, I am sure that Sylvie could give us a better response to how long it would take and what time we should try to schedule.

Jim

 

[AOPI57]

AmyJ- I,m also thinking of doing the Paradise Village excursion. Is there a website for it? I thought it sounded nice. Thanks

 

[mokehil]

The Disney Cruise Line Website states departures times as PV 7:00, M 7:30, CSL 3:30. At PV there are Dolphin Encourters starting at 3:00 lasting for 3-3.5 hours. We did not find out about our cruise until Christmas and I don't remember ever seeing the 5:00 pm departure time. Could this be a change made after the initial booking were made? I would expect that we will be able to confirm port times soon because the May 28th group will get their docs in about 4 weeks or so, although it appears that we can make ressies at the beginning of May.

I will contact Sylvie and ask about lenght of tour and possible port pick up. It cannot hurt to ask. We are 6 adults, (15, 12), (10, 13), (5, 7, 12, 14).

Darcy

 

[jgiants21]

Thanks Darci, I can't wait to see what Sylvie saids.

Jim

 

[AmyJ of Ca]

AmyJ- I,m also thinking of doing the Paradise Village excursion. Is there a website for it? I thought it sounded nice. Thanks

Here is the website for Paradise Village. www.paradisevillage.com You may also want to look over at cruise critics at the ports-of-call section for Mexican Riviera. Lots of usefull info there!! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=203
Amy

 

[mokehil]

I called Disney: The woman who answered said that PV port time is 8:00-10:00 pm! Can we believe this?? Therefore, 11 pm will be perfect!! Seems that we will need to contiune to monitor the port times, since there are several times mentioned.

This is what Sylvie said:

"The 11am tour will have you down by.....1:30pm approx.

If your child doesn't want to go, you will have to wait for the 2pm tour
which brings you down by 3:30pm. The shuttle going back would be around 4pm approx.You would actually be cutting it close if you ship leaves at 5pm. You probably won't be able to enjoy the tour if you're worrying about getting
back. We often have parents leave their children with us (as long as they child wants to AND is well behaved) while they go up on the tour. This is another option.
The other thing I need to mention is that I will need a credit card numberto hold the spaces. You still have time to work it out since we take bookings two months prior to the date. You can pay cash at the tour. We would only use the card number if you didn't show up without advising us.

With regards to a pick up at the pier. Unfortunately, we don't provide
transport from there. You will need to take a taxi to our shuttle which is
approx. a 20min ride. Feel free to email with any questions.

I look forward to your "ressie" in May. ~Sylvie"

When May comes maybe we could create a reservation under Disney Magic so we can be linked. That way each family can use a personal credit card.

More waiting................and planning!

Darcy

 

[mokehil]

Found this review on another board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=1500178#post1500178

Darcy

 

[XLT800]

That is some useful info that you got us. I feel a little better knowing that we would be done by 1:30. We would EASILY make the 5:00 sailing. (IF that is when we sail....according to my confirmation paper.) It's a "piece of cake" if we sail later than that!
We're not ones for sleeping in, so we could go earlier, if need be.

Looks like we'll be in for some GREAT weather tomorrow for Disney World. 76 and sunny with 0% chance of rain. LOW humidity!!!!!!
Let's all have a "Magical Day"..........
Fran


Opps........Didn't know I was DH's log in!

 

[jgiants21]

Darci, Thanks for the info. We have no problem using a credit card to reserv our space. The link to the Magic is a good idea. I quess we just need to agree to the time. Either time would work for us.

Dave & Fran - Have a great day at DW

 

[AnnaS]

Ohhhh Boy - I have not been on this thread for a few weeks. I think almost three weeks - need to go back and start reading to catch up and know what is going on. I apologize. Not getting e-mail notifications does not help either.

Let's see - was away for 8 days (Jupiter and WDW) - great weather, vacation, etc.

Came back to work (I work part-time) and worked almost 40 hours (two people on vacation) and this past week worked another 30 plus hour week.

All we have accomplished is applied at the Post Office for passports (one more son to go - hopefully this Mon. or Tues.). A few emails back and forth with Wendy (AOIP57) re: excurstions.

I quickly read the last two pages - you guys have been busy with the excursions. We need to decide fast too.

 

[AnnaS]

I have just emailed Randi's with some questions. Can you guys share any information - if you know..... while I wait
like,

Fee - includes pick up and drop off?

Weight limit - jeans/sneakers recommended?

Do you pay them cash (US $) there or pay beforehand.

What if one person in your group does not/cannot ride.

How long is the tour?

Can we still hit a beach for a few hours before heading back to ship?

Limit to number of riders they book that morning?

Thank you so much if you have any answers - please do not hesitate to add info.

Considering this.

 

[AmyJ of Ca]

I have just emailed Randi's with some questions. Can you guys share any information - if you know..... while I wait
like,

Fee - includes pick up and drop off?

Weight limit - jeans/sneakers recommended?

Do you pay them cash (US $) there or pay beforehand.

What if one person in your group does not/cannot ride.

How long is the tour?

Can we still hit a beach for a few hours before heading back to ship?

Limit to number of riders they book that morning?

Thank you so much if you have any answers - please do not hesitate to add info.

Considering this.

OK let me try a few of these ?? since we have done this tour before.

Yes the fee does include p/u and drop off.

There is a weight limit but I don't know what it is.

It's fine to wear shorts as they put a towel on the saddle and was very comfortable.

We paid them, I believe, when we left and it was cash only at that time..could have changed since then.

The ride was about 1 to 1 1/2 hours long then you get off your horse at Victors, which is an opened air restaurant on the beach. I am not riding and will just meet up with everyone in my group at Victors. She give you a few hours on the beach/Victors and then she escorts everyone back to the ship. Randy uses some public transportation to get to the horses..She arranges a taxi to get you to the water taxi that takes your a short distance acros the water then you get on this trailer pulled by a tractor with bench style seats that takes to the house where the horses are waiting. She matches horses and riders. When we went last time, a rider had his retired parents with him and they did what I am going to do and just got a ride from the house to Victors. Randy only charges a minimal amount for those who aren't riding.

Phew..I think I got most of the answers for you.. If you get different answers from Randy, let me know so I don;t give people the wrong answer. Thanks, Amy

 

[AnnaS]

Wow - thanks Amy

All this for $45 - sounds pretty reasonable to me. My husband I am sure will ride - just want to make sure with the weight. I think he is under the max.

So they can charge a minimal fee for non-rider just in case - sounds good. How is the beach by Victors? Any thing going on here, or available like chairs, umbrella, restroom/changing facilities - activities. Just curious again.

Also, assuming there are are 100 people - do they accomodate everyone? Is it first come - or do they have different riding times?

Did you book yours already? Did you do it all through e-mail/computer? How much did you pay for non-rider? Thank you so much.

 

[mokehil]

Here is a link to the website.
http://www.randishappyhorses.com

I also could find no mention of weight limit. For some reason 250 sticks in my head, but I think that is for the canopy tour. I made my reservation by email. I told Randi the ages of my kids. She said to meet at the end of the tram at 8:30 am. Seemed easy enough.

I will keep looking for non-rider price. I know I have seen it somewhere too. Maybe on the Cruise Critics board- Mexican Riveria. AmyJ gave us the link a few messages back. Thanks.

Darcy