July 2, 2005 - WE ARE THERE!!!

[Disneynut1955]

We need to get together!! In fact we should have an Arizona get-to-gether!!! Dave, are you and your wife in? We could include Vegas too

Sounds like fun! Just let us know what works best for everyone. Monica was sad that she missed out on the whole experience, however, we remedied that by booking a cruise for the upcoming year. She has heard plenty of stories and would love to hear more...

 

[AOPI57]

Hi everyone! We arrived home late Wed. night. I am not happy to be home.It was a great trip. DL was fun but very crowded when we arrived on Saturday. It got better as the week went on. My kids loved California Adventure. We also took a tour of LA, Hollywood, Santa Monica. That was very enjoyable.

Ron and Dave- thanks again for hosting the party on the 4th. It was a lot of fun. The suite is amazing!

It was wonderful to meet all of you.
It was a great group and made the cruise that much better.

Judalyne- We also had Beckie and Mizar as our servers. They were the best ones we've had so far. Mizar always had us singing. My kids are still singing the songs!

We rebooked for July 06 but will switch to 07 when the new itineraries come out

Jill- have a great time today. Wsh I was there! Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[jgiants21]

Hello everyone, found us on page 2. we need to keep this board alive. It has cooled down a little today and is a very nice 80 degrees. DS (Adam) left for camp yesterday, Mona and I visited Cache Creek (Indian Casino) for awhile after we dropped him off. As my DD says, "Good Times". Missed the cruise and all our friends from the DIS Boards. Work starts again for me tomorrow, traveling to Seattle for a couple of days for a meeting.

For Lisa, We arrive at 10:30 at the terminal on Sat. Was able to park close enough to walk from car to terminal after dropping off luggage and wife in in front. Recived boarding number 6, everything went very smooth. Time went very quickly as met several DIS Board members, including Sherry, and talk with them. Being able to recongnize the members from their lime green shirts were a big help. We were with Sherry on all of her excursions... each were great fun with great people. My favorite was the Canopy tour, my DD the jet ski, my DW, Randi's... All were great. Have a great trip.

Ok, it is finally here, remember I was a little early on Fri, HAPPY 50TH TO DL.

Talk with all soon, (Dave, the disk will be in the mail tomorrow.)

Jim

 

[needalatte]

Jill: How was the Make-A-Wish day?

And how was DL today? The only thing in our newspaper about DL today was an article about how they keep the park so clean, how the cleanliness slipped in the 90s and how it's back up to par now under the new DL president. Give us something more interesting than that!

 

[4fosterkids]

Hi Betsy and others......this is long.....sorry - lots of information!
The Make a Wish event was really fun, but a really long day. We got bussed to the ship at 11:30am and left the port at midnight to go home.
We were given lunch in the terminal VIP room (which was one of those doors right next to the Kids check in/pager area we used) It was a nice lunch from Corner Bakery. We then got a quick welcome, rah rah briefing, split into our assigned groups and taken in smaller groups for our training. I was assigned red carpet greeter and breaker. Our training was pretty short & sweet, and we were given our credentials to board, itinerary of the night and map of the ship. I am SO glad I had been on it already, as it would have been really hard to direct people to different areas if you did not know the ship very well. They did a short tour of the ship, but I know it took me all week to get around easily. Other's had Valet greeters, pool picture areas, Sports deck help, Diversions, Shutters, Rockin' D and other helpers. There were different things going on at many different places. They had a brass band in the terminal, a swing ensemble in the atrium, a band in the Promenade lounge, the Charles Marshall Band at Goofy Pool, Jazz trio at Quiet Cove a Pianist at Lumiere's, the Disneyland Dapper Dans at Animators and another band at Parrot Cay. They had 4 basic "wish" stations: 1. I wish to have, 2. I wish to meet, 3. I wish to go and 4. I wish to be. At Rockin' Bar D they had "I wish to have a dance party with Raven" and Radio Disney and celebrity meet n greets music related stars. Diversions had I wish to meet a sports celebrity and they had many sports stars from the Lakers, Angels, Dodgers, X games, NFL and more. Studio Sea had I wish to go to a TV studio/make a video along with trivia game shows. Shutters had I wish to meet an animator/sketch artist with artists on hand showing and teaching. Buena Vista Theatre was I wish to be in a movie, and included red carpet interviews with Rona Rivers and 2 showings of Twice Charmed. Oceaneer club had I wish to be an author, play areas for kids and celebrity story time. There were character photo locations all over. The sports deck had pitching with the Angels/Dodgers, Shoot w/ the stars w/ NBA and Xtreme photos w/ Xgames. The mickey pool had Xtreme Ice makeover w/ Paige and Paul from the show. They also had Xtremem shuffleboard. I got to hear Brent, "our cruise director" all night announcing......which I absolutely LOVED to hear all week. We saw Travis (my sons twin on board) and other crewmembers also. I spent a few 30 minutes sessions in the mid ship elevators, giving breaks to the castmembers working inside directing guests up/down and thru the ship. They gave us a special access card to take any stars or dignitaries directly to their destination without having to stop on other floors (that would have been nice to have during our week too!) At the end of the evening we formed a long and winding line that all guests traveled down from the ship and gave them a special CD and Make a Wish bracelet. It was very fun and emotional to see all the kids having such a special time, as well as their parents. What a night.
Then...after 5 hours of sleep, we got up and headed to Disneyland for the celebration. We arrived about 8am and the line was really long and winding all thru downtown Disney, but it was moving very well. It felt like a long walk thru the area and we never stopped until we lined up at the Disneyland turnstiles..and even then there were only 20-30 or so people ahead of us. As we went thru we were given special golden ears w/ a different logo then our other pair and the date embroidered on the back, and some special 1 day only park maps of DL and DCA. There were free cupcakes too. We headed to meet friends (disfrog who camped out at DCA at 5am) who had a spot in the Small World mall right in front of the big screen they set up. We hung out there until the celebration began a few minutes after 10am. They had announcements, video and speeches by Art Linkletter, Bob Iger, Michael Eisner, Diane Disney, Arnold Schwartznegger, characters, singers/dancers, band, confetti & streamers and tons of golden eared guests watching it all! It was really great and neat to be a part of the special day. We walked around for an hour or so, did some shopping, had a churro and headed back down main street to go home. We had a quick lunch in downtown Disney and were home by 2!
After last night and today...my feet have a few choice words for me...boy are they sore.
I hope the other Disney lovers who made it to the park today had a great time too. Can't wait to hear their stories.
Sorry this was so long...but hopefully not too boring.
Jill

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Jill - thanks for the cool info on the Make-A-Wish event. I got off the Magic yesterday and would have loved to stay for that! When we had breakfast in Parrot Cay yesterday, they had all of the Pirates In The Caribbean stuff setup in there.

I too loved to listen to Brent all week! I just watched some of our video and was happy to find that I recorded him doing the countdown at sailaway.

Boy, do I miss the Magic already!

 

[jgiants21]

Jill. It sounds like you had a great time. God bless people like the "make a wish foundation". My wife's brothers son had cancer at a very early age (1) and they have been very good to him. He is now in his 20's and doing well.

DL sound magical today. I am glad you were there to report back to us.

Jim

 

[DareTooDream]

Thanks for the report Jill! Not boring at all!

Jim and Mona, any luck at Cache Creek??? I never seem to have much luck.

Ron, Dave (Monica?), Judy...who else do we know is at DL today? I hope everyone got their special pins and hats and what have you!

Sherry

 

[Zebramom]

Jill - Glad to hear about the Make-A-Wish fundraiser event. I'm glad you were able to help out.

Sherry - Do you do scrapbooking? It will take a while for me to get my cruise book done. Ben said we took over 900 pictures. I haven't gotten but a small percentage printed. It would be great to have an Arizona meet. Where and when? The 116 degrees today was terribly muggy.

Dave - It would be nice to meet your wife Monica? When did you guys rebook for your next cruise?

To the others that went to the Disneyland festivities let us hear more about it.

My world has fially stopped rolling. It sounds like vacation is over for most of the group.

More Later,
Vickie

 

[Zebramom]

There were others who said they had to have their scrapbooks done this weekend. Did you get done? I would love to see them, if anyone has scanned stuff and posted it on the web.

 

[AnnaS]

Just came back from the Jersey Shore (lot's of rain here). Have browsed through some posts.

Jill thanks for the report on the Make a Wish event on board. Definitely not boring.

Sorry to hear some of you guys are/were not feeling well after the cruise - hope you are all better now.

PV - we also heard many people were sick on this excursion. The water was a bit rough that morning - we did the Las Caletas excursion and took the catamaran to the bay. Many of us were sick also including myself. It was an hour's ride and after about 30 minutes, it was enough for me and I joined the rest of the group getting sick. My sons were thrilled they had the opportunity and went scuba diving here.

For everyone here who will be cruising soon and in 06, let us know if you hear any rumors/news about new itineraries for 07.

Wendy's family and mine agree that Beckie and Mizar were definitely the best servers we have had so far. They literally had us standing on our chairs. We all had a great time with them even our older sons. This was also the largest dismeet of the three we have met up with. Wish we had spent more time together.

Fran - do you remember when you went to check your bill on the morning of our third day? Glad I saw you and also remembered I needed to check mine - my daughter had charged $145 in the arcade up to that time - took away charging priviliges immediately. My dh was to blame since he wanted to give her charging privileges and I felt she was not ready. Lesson learned.

Talk to you guys soon.

 

[tchrmom]

Anna................

It happens to us all! Thank goodness, we only went through that once. This year, DD and DS had Disney $ to spend. They went to guest services and "prepaid" for their charges. Now if Dave and I could just learn to do the same thing with our bar bill!

This is my last full week of vacation. Teachers hve to report back on the 27th. I'm not ready to go back. I'm ready to go back to Mangos and watch the day drift by!!!!!!

Do you think it is too early to start working on my May cruise????????

OK.......that stupid treadmill is making me feel bad. ( Who had the bright idea to put it in the bedroom, so I have to see it everytime I walk in there?????) I guess I better get on it, so I'll stop feeling guilty. Wish I'd only gained 4 lbs. like most of you! Then I could ignore the treadmill!!!!!

Fran

 

[Judalyne]

Thanks for the great Make-a-Wish report. Sounds like an awesome, but tiring day. I made it to the 50th at Disneyland. I went with my brother and SIL. I spent the night at their house and basically stayed up all night talking to my nephew (he's 21). We arrived at Disneyland at 2:20 am and there was already a sea of humanity. I can not tell you how reassuring it is to know that I'm not the only crazy person out there!

We parked in Pumba and had to walk in, then lined up in the Lion King tram area. After a couple of hours there, we were herded into DCA. We were given our color coded wrist bands, special ears and map. Fortunately, we got in line by Paradise Pier where we got some chairs to sit on. Most people were sleeping on the ground. Around 7:00 am we started going into Disneyland. They moved us right by all the people waiting to get into the park. When I saw them, I was really happy my DB and SIL decided to go early! We immediately got in line for the "I was there" pin. We made a giant blunder and stood in the line for the merchandise plus pins, instead of the just pins line. That was about an extra hour in line Anyway, from the time we got to the park until the time we got our pins and other stuff, we had been "in line" for almost 10 hours. We did get to see most of the ceremony on the jumbo tron and we walked around a little after that, but I was VERY ready to get home

Arlene went to Comic-Con and stood in line for 2 hours to get a sketch from an artist. After hearing my long, sad tale, she said that I won. A dubios honor, indeed.

I talked to Ron on the phone several times, but never actually saw him. He spent the ENTIRE night waiting. I'm anxious to hear his report. Everytime I called him there was much noise and merrymaking in the background!

Now, back to work, if I can get my legs to function! Judy

 

[needalatte]

Jill-What a great report. It almost sounds like being home again! Thanks for sharing. What a wonderful experience to be able to participate in, and so soon after your cruise!

I hope all of you who got to DL yesterday had a great time and are able to rest up today. Can't wait to hear more.

Fran--Condolences on returning to work. I have training today and tomorrow, but then I'm off until the end of August, about the 20th or so.

Take care, everyone. I'm off to work.

 

[Disneynut1955]

Dave - It would be nice to meet your wife Monica? When did you guys rebook for your next cruise?

Monica and I are currently waitlisted for a Cat. 1 on three cruises this coming year. They are:

February 4 - 11
May 13 - 20
December 2 - 9

We also have some dates for 2007 but we were told we could not discuss this until it is officially announced later this year.

We are already booked on two different cruise lines this coming year (Carnival for a Eastern Caribbean and another cruise line for a European cruise). Although they sound like fun, I look forward to taking Monica on a Disney cruise.

Monica would love to meet everyone so let us know what works best for you. We are having a belated birthday party in Las Vegas in October and we would love to see everyone there. Until then, we are trapped here in the heat.

My signature has a photo of my girls!

 

[tchrmom]

Monica and I are currently waitlisted for a Cat. 1 on three cruises this coming year. They are:

February 4 - 11
May 13 - 20
December 2 - 9

Dave............why not change to the May 27th cruise and come with us????????

LOVED the picture!


Fran

 

[MinnieMart]

hi everyone! well the jersey shore is still the same weather here for almost a wk. we've lost our tan! my parents have a summer home in avalon nj, near cape may, ane we wnt to the beach cause it was so hot and humid , no sun, a seagull pooped on the top of my hair!! it was gross! i started to cry!! today here in toms river the sun came out for a while this am so i ventured to the beach and was there for 30 min and it thundered and rained! oh well. ran into someone today in the grocery store that went on DCL in april and loved it . we talked about all our memories! and when i came home i made a blueberry pie. so much for dieting! well thanks for sharing all about make a wish. sounds great. good thing there is no westcarribean dcl cruise this wk. hope all is well with the caymensa and cozumel. talk soon lisa!

 

[disfrog]

I wish, just got part of my pictures back. Unfortunately Jill has the rest... Hint Hint! Can you just order one of everything for me please?

Sauni

 

[Disneynut1955]

Dave............why not change to the May 27th cruise and come with us????????

We would love to share a cruise with you both, but sadly, they did not have a room that will work for us on that cruise. I have this thing about space and I need a large room. We can certainly ask that they waitlist us, however, it seems to be a popular cruise. Maybe we can come to Florida and meet at Disneyworld, Monica is all over me about going back to WDW sometime soon.

Thanks for the nice words about the pic... I love my Tinkerbell (but not nearly as much as my wife )

 

[vetswithpets]

Dave that is one cute dog,
How much hair does she have on the top of her head.
enough to hold a barrett. In one of My catalogs there is a little tiara I almost bought once.

I will have to get a picture of Tinker Too with her patriotic tutu collar

Well I think we are finally turning the corner on these colds.

We spent the weekend on Ryans Birthday party and having friends over and making Raspberry Mojitos. They turned out really good. Sunday night our friends stayed late enough to have dessert coffee and watch the fireflies. You didn't know we have fireflies in California Did you. They tend to congregate around the waterfalls

What is cooking on a No Cal get together. Let us know As I said before we can have it here.

Ron and I are gearing up for a massive spay program for cats this fall with a rescue organization and I am speding part of tonight starting to put the power point presentation together to recruit other veterinarians. We should be hopping this winter hopefully it will take care of our problem. hopefully we we be able to take a break to see DL decorated for Christmas.

More Later
It is back to the powerpoint.

Sue