July 9th 2005 - West Coast Cruise.

[GrumpyMom1]

For those of you meeting at DL today, please drive carefully in this nasty weather!

Have fun and say hi to for me.

 

[Dylcal]

Just figured I would check the boards and see if anyone was cruising this July. Boy was I surprised to find 33 pages!! By the way I fell like I already know you all. This will be our 4th Disney cruise, just me and my DS who will be 11! Our last cruise was July 3,2004. We are so looking forward to what I am calling the "Love Boat" cruise since we are doing the same ports. We live on the East Coast (Maryland). We will be flying in on the 5th to stay at the Paradise Pier for a few days in Disneyland! We are located on Deck 5, the only Navigators Verandah left when I booked! Look forward to chatting and seeing you on the 9th!

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Welcome about Dylcal! I don't know if you read through all 33 pages but we have a wild bunch here.

I will be traveling with my DD16 and DD12. Where's your cabin on deck 5? We will be in 5137 which is a cat 11, deck 5 aft. You may be close because there are Navigators Verandahs across the hall.

 

[hayesktrm]

Welcome Dylcal! My DS is 12 so they will be together.

I am SO sick of this rain. I hope the ones meeting today at DL are having a good time. The good news is, it's probably not very crowded.

I sure hope it doesn't rain on our cruise. I keep seeing the Long Beach cam on the news and the you can see the Carnival ship. That would not be fun to be on that cruise.

Karen

 

[cruzin'gain]

DYLCAL~

Welcome Aboard !

 

[mommykeg]

Hey everybody...

I am so sad that we are NOT at Disneyland for the meet today! We were supposed to be there, but DS3 was up all night with a croupy cough and high fever! Took him to the doctor today...fluid in his ears (not infected yet! ) and a throat infection. So, we're resting at home with an antibiotic and cough medicine instead of socializing at Disneyland! Oh well, hope they're staying dry and having fun without us. Can't wait to see the pics!

Kim

 

[FOJMO]

Val & Stu here from Tampa, FL. We have older kids -- Carly (DD19) and her friend, Alexis, (18). This is our fourth Disney cruise, too. Welcome to the group!

Yes, we are a wild group. I'm sure soccerdad (Chris) will be officially welcoming you when he reads your post. He's sort of our "group leader" if you will. (Hope you don't mind, Chris, that I've referred to you as our "leader") -- lol

Val

 

[Dylcal]

GrumpyMom1

Well it looks like we will be across the hall in Cabin #5132!

 

[soccerdad-Chris]

Hey, guys!!!

My goodness, we got back from DL not long ago, and so much interesting stuff has happened here on the board today!!!

Firstly, proper protocol requires that I, uhhhh "officially" ( ) welcome Dylcal to our little group here. We're glad you're along for the ride.

Val, I'm not sure how accurate your portrayal of my "leader" role is, but I'm flattered that you think so. Sara, however, is the only one on this thread that has been referred to as the "Grand Pooh-Bah", so perhaps the true "official" welcome should come from her when she returns to the Bay Area.

Kim, while we sure missed meeting you and the rest of your gang today, I do feel empowered to say that we were all hoping that things worked out and that Hunter is doing better now. Who knows, perhaps we'll manage another meet opportunity before July??

OK, back to you, Dylcal...I don't know how much of this thread you've read, but in case you haven't read much, there're a couple of things that you should probably be aware of. One is that we're kind of on a first-name basis around here, so if you're willing to share yours....well, I'm guessing it'll probably be easier to type than "Dylcal"... Another is that this group, in addition to preparing for a great cruise, is also on a mission to get to 90 pages of posts before we set sail. I'm on the hook to buy a round of sail-away drinks for the whole group if we do so. If you do have an opportunity to read the whole thread, you'll see that the people here are willing to do a lot of creative things to increase activity and get a free drink..and that some of it is quite funny!!! BTW, my DS is also 11, and he'll be thrilled that there's another potential member of the possie he's assembling to bring chaos and destruction to the Magic.

Alright. Well, I must say, now that I've met some of the people we're going to be cruising with, that I'm more excited than ever. Can't it be July NOW??? For those of you that could only be there in spirit, you should know that there're some very fun and very cool people sailing with you!! We had a great time today, and we managed to hook up with Sara and Mike (and Lexi, of course, who's a little doll!!) last night for dinner at the Blue Bayou!!

Sorry for the long post, but much has happened, and I've been away from the boards and going through withdrawls.

Chris

 

[GrumpyMom1]

If you do have an opportunity to read the whole thread, you'll see that the people here are willing to do a lot of creative things to increase activity and get a free drink

I don't know what you're talking about!

 

[Amous]

Welcome aboard Dylcal! Matt, my DS-15, will be sailing with me. We have a lot of kids in the group (big and little ones). Nice to have you part of the group!

We missed you yesterday Kim. Sorry to hear you have a sick one at home. Hope Hunter is feeling better! Sending some hugs and sunshine!

We had a wonderful 'meet' yesterday. Great company and great food! Sorry we had to bail so early though! Kids with track practice and lunches packed into one afternoon makes for a busy day. Would love to meet up with ya'll again (before the cruise). I'm willing to bribe someone with a bottle of chardonnay if they'd like to coordinate a meet?

Shameless, isn't it......

 

[hayesktrm]

Kim,

Megan is also sick. She has a temp of 102.1 and a very croupy cough. If she's not better by tomorrow, I will take her to the doctor. Wonderful timing, my parents are about 4 hours from our house driving from Washington State. Their DGD is sick and we have had more than 12 inches more than they have had in Washington this year. Hopefully, Megan will get better soon and the rain will stop and they can have enjoyable vacation here.


All our Southern California neighbors,

Is everyone doing okay in the rain? I am so glad we live on a nice, flat piece of property. I have some friends that live on a hillside and they are more than a little stressed. Hope everyone is okay.

-Karen

 

[Dylcal]

My first name is Sheryl. Dylan is my son (hence the Dyl - cal is for calvin our cat!). He is excited that there will be kids he can meet before the cruise. I have to echo the sentiments -- Is it JULY yet??????

 

[Sarangel]

Sheryl, welcome to our merry band of misfits. So far, we've been having a fine time (which I'm sure you noticed if you read through some of the old posts). We just had a mini-meet this last weekend in Disneyland (missed you Kim, but I hope Hunter's doing better & glad his ears aren't infected), and there's an east coast group that's trying to find time to meet each other.

You may find it easier to figure out who all these people are if you ask Chris to PM you his infamous "cheat-sheet." He's got every one's screen name, kids, ages, and I don't remember what all else on an excel spreadsheet (he must have had time on his hands during one of his infamous 'conference calls').

In the mini-meet category, we *do* have pictures, which we will post as soon as Mike & I catch up on the laundry & the rest of the chores we put off while we went to drown at Disneyland.

Sara

 

[GrumpyMom1]

In the mini-meet category, we *do* have pictures, which we will post as soon as Mike & I catch up on the laundry & the rest of the chores we put off while we went to drown at Disneyland.

Can't wait to see the pictures. I hope you guys had a good time in spite of the weather.

Did anyone else receive the letter from DCL suggesting passports for the cruise? I may get one for myself but it may be more trouble than it's worth to try and coordinate with the girls dad and get passports for them.

 

[FOJMO]

Yes, we got the letter a while ago, urging people to get passports because of tightened security, etc.

Our DD Carly and her friend, Alexis, already have theirs as they went to Europe in their HS Junior year.

Stu and I are going to go ahead and get them also, as we hope to do some traveling abroad in the next few years. Poor Stu -- he's never been out of the country except to Canada and the Caribbean on the cruises. We're hoping to go to London next year for our 25th.

I'm glad you California guys were able to meet up -- can't wait to see the pictures. Sorry you have so much rain and hope you're all doing OK.

Val

 

[mommykeg]

We've been hearing rumors about the passports too...but we haven't received anything from DCL yet. It's so expensive for the four of us...but I guess it's the safest way to go!

Thanks for all of the good wishes for Hunter everyone. He's on a course of antibiotics and is doing MUCH better than he was Sunday night and Monday!

For those of you booked with Randi's Happy Horses...I'm having a few worries about my son, who will be 4 on the cruise. I'm nervous about him doing OK on the ride. Randi says she has knowledgeable guides and he'll be fine. What do you think? Also...worried about no helmets for the kids. Any horseback riders out there who can give me a reason why you WOULDN'T put helmets on kids?

Kim

 

[hayesktrm]

Kim, I'm glad DS is on antibiotics and will soon be feeling better. I ended up taking Megan to the Dr. late this afternoon and they took a flu test. She has it and they gave her Tamiflu (sp.?). She is miserable, I feel so bad for her. Hopefully the rest of the family won't get it.

As for Randi's--won't they have a guide walk with him since he is so young? Also, the lack of helmets does concern me. Because both my kids take lessons and they always wear helmets, I am sure they will be a bit freaked out. Since I didn't know that, I may bring their helmets. We won't be flying in so it won't be much of a pain to do. Maybe you could do the same.

 

[Amous]

We need passports?! Haven't received a letter either, but will get on the ball to receive passports. Wow, thanks for the heads up!

Amy

 

[Sarangel]

We didn't get anything from Disney, but my MIL called to tell us that as of 1/1/05 she thinks passports are required for all travellers going out of the country (which means we need to get one for our DD, aged almost 2).

Sara