July 9th 2005 - West Coast Cruise.

[mommykeg]

Karen...I booked through DCL, but I think anyone can book excursions through DCL at 90 days as long as their balance is paid in full. You might want to call to check on that, though.

Kim

 

[jel0511]

Karen...I booked through DCL, but I think anyone can book excursions through DCL at 90 days as long as their balance is paid in full. You might want to call to check on that, though.

Kim

Yes, that's true. You just have to call and have your DCL reservation number available.

Karen - good luck with the possible move. We might be relocating next summer also, and it is frightening, though I'll be leaving NYC, which is a GOOD thing.

 

[cruzin'gain]

Paid off our cruise today and dropped of the boys passport applications at the county clerk ! Will be booking excursions on Sunday!

Looking forward to trip reports from the earlier west coast cruises!

 

[Sarangel]

Must be a good day for passports, because Mike dropped the paperwork off for our DD's passport today, too.

The downside is that he got a parking ticket (it took 12 minutes, and he'd only put in enough to cover 10). The meter guy handed it to him and said, "Tough luck." (not nicely, either ). Oh well, at least the passport thing is covered for the next 5 years.

 

[jel0511]

We applied for the kids passports almost 2 weeks ago, so hopefully they'll be here soon. The government has come out and said they are going to be putting the new regulations into effect. Anyone traveling to the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central or South America will be required to have a passport after the end of this year. Luckily we applied for the kids now, we usually go to the Caribbean once a year!!!!

 

[Dylcal]

Only a few more days til we can book excursions! I hope I can get the dolphin swim/encounter we want...the kids are really excited and would be devastated if we couldn't do it! Guess I'll be on the phone at 5 a.m. on Sunday!!

Kim

I actually plan on staying up Saturday and calling just after mid-night. Last year we wanted to do the dolphin encounter in Cozumel and by the time I called it was too late. I kept calling every week and lucked into a cancellation so we got to go but I was sweating it! I figure it is better safe than sorry -- besides I probably will be out Saturday so mid-night shouldn't be a problem!!

Karen -- good luck on the Move! I know it is hard. As for the housing you can't get any near that in Maryland either. For that square footage you would pay close to a$1 million!

Sheryl

 

[cruzin'gain]

I actually plan on staying up Saturday and calling just after mid-night. Last year we wanted to do the dolphin encounter in Cozumel and by the time I called it was too late. I kept calling every week and lucked into a cancellation so we got to go but I was sweating it! I figure it is better safe than sorry -- besides I probably will be out Saturday so mid-night shouldn't be a problem!!

Sheryl

You may want to check with the folks at Disney. I do not think they are open until 9am eastern to take reservations for excursions!

 

[SCOUTER-MOM]

Hi, everyone we are new to the disney cruise adventure and are so excited to be on the July 9th cruise.We are a family of three my dh ds(9) and myself

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Welcome aboard Craig, Christine, and Quinton!

There's lots of information on these boards and if you have any questions, just ask.

 

[SCOUTER-MOM]

We all went to disneyland on thursday and they have the cutiest gold mouse ears for the 50th Anniversary we just had to have them.Oh,my son wanted to know if there are any boys around the age of 9 on this thread? How many families are on this thread already?

 

[mommykeg]

I actually plan on staying up Saturday and calling just after mid-night. Last year we wanted to do the dolphin encounter in Cozumel and by the time I called it was too late. I kept calling every week and lucked into a cancellation so we got to go but I was sweating it! I figure it is better safe than sorry -- besides I probably will be out Saturday so mid-night shouldn't be a problem!!

Sheryl...I didn't think there would be anyone answering the phones at DCL at 3:00 a.m. EST. But if you find out that there will be, I'm with ya! Let me know!

Kim

 

[Sarangel]

Well, I'm disappointed. I tried e-mailing Randi's Happy Horses to ask the following questions:

My husband, daughter and I are arriving in Mazatlan on 7/13/05 on the
Disney Magic, and a group of internet friends have already booked with
you. We'd like to join them, but I have a couple of questions:

1) With 14 or 15 of them already booked, do you have space for 2 1/2
more people?
2) My husband is over 275 lbs, and many hire-a-horse places have weight
restrictions. What weight restrictions do you have? He is moderately
experienced with horses & has ridden as part of Renaissance Theatrical
exhibitions, so he should be able to handle most horses, provided you
have something big enough to take his weight.
3) Our daughter will be just 2 years old when we're cruising, and I'm
assuming she would have to ride with one of us. Since my husband is
more experienced, it would be logical to have her ride with him, but
that gets back into the weight issue.
4) With a small child, do you have any special saddles that would make
it easier to handle both child & horse?
5) what price would you charge for our daughter to join us?

We've heard great things about your operation, and would love to book
with you, but I don't want to make it difficult for you either. I know
that small children pose a lot of challenges. Please let me know if
this would be possible and how to proceed from here.

I received the following (fairly snarkey, in my opinion) reply:

Thank you for your interest in my ride. I am over reserved for the 13th of
July.
And while I really do not have a weight limit, I figure that if you are too
heavy to ride you should know that, I do resent being called a Rent a Horse
business. We plan and I have experienced guides that take you on the ride.
If all you are looking for is a rent a horse business I suggest going with
Mike's Gentle Horses. They have no quams about weight nor size.
Again, Thank you for your interest in my ride.
I can take you or your husband to Victor's restaurant, round trip
transportation included for $15usd per person which includes chips and salsa
plus your first soft drink or soda.
Then you can meet your friends at Victor's.

I can't believe how impolite she was - I can understand being overbooked, but she completely skipped over the fact we have a 2 year old daughter and the fact that different horses have different carrying capacaties. Perhaps she's nicer when she's not offended, but what else could I have called a place that people pay to ride on horses? Anyway, I guess that means that Mike, Lexi & I won't be riding with you guys in Mazatlan.

Sara

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

WOW! Time to book excursions already? Well, if we want to do anything with new DIS friends, we'd better get moving on that web site so we can keep who's-where straight. Can't remember who stepped up to the plate to create a web site (and I'm too dang lazy to go back and look it up ), but once we've all made our lists, we could PM them to the great webmaster. That other site I mentioned lists the excursions, and the names of who's going (and the ages of the kids). Seems fairly simple. But, I know absolutely zip about the web - except how to download lot's of adware

Sara- I was going to look into the Happy Horses myself this week. (Maybe she would have preferred to be called a thorobred avdenture.) If you find something else, let me know. Cassie would love to ride with Lexie I'm sure.

What do you all think about just faxing in the ressies for the excursions you want early that mornig rather than wait on hold "for the next available reservation agent." Do you think it's too risky for the dolphin stuff? By the way ---- when is the exact 90 day mark anyway???

 

[mommykeg]

Cheri...the exact 90 day mark is on Sunday. A rep I spoke to told me they open at 8 am EST that day. I hadn't thought about the fax! I guess I should call back and ask about that...if you fax it in at 12:01 am, hypothetically speaking of course , would your request be honored BEFORE the people who start calling at 8 am EST? If so, I'll be at Kinko's at midnight!

Kim

 

[mommykeg]

Sara...sorry about the rude response you got from Randi! Totally uncalled for! I can't imagine why she was so offended...there didn't seem to be anything offensive in your e-mail at all! I've only had really positive responses from her so far...hope that positive trend continues!

Kim

 

[SCOUTER-DAD]

Hey, what a great thread. We made reservations last June. I have been checking this thread off and on. I was really disappointed how dead it was and never checked again after the holidays. Boy, has this joint changed. I’m real excited about the cruise. I Hope I haven’t “Missed the boat.” I will be traveling with my DW & DS 9(YO). Look forward to getting to know a few before our big sail date.

 

[Amous]

Craig, Christine, and Quinton - welcome back to our discussion! We have picked up a bit and we're a crazy and fun bunch! Nice to meet ya'll!

Sara - Dang! That was a response-and-a-half from Randi's Happy Horses. Doesn't sound to happy to me!

Here's a question for the group... Because we won't be sailing from Florida and won't have access to our Shirley's great gift baskets, what do we do? I'm guessing Disney's baskets will be the best alternative?

Amy

 

[Sarangel]

Craig, Christine, and Quinton you guys have a lot of reading to catch up on! I suppose the most important point for you to get caught up on is that Chris basically bet all of us that we couldn't get to 90 pages of posts - but that if we did, he'd buy a round of drinks at the sailaway party. Most of us (including Chris) are currently betting that his wallet (of KTTW card) is going to hate him on 7/16...

Thanks all for the kind words re: Randi, I was a little afraid that I was over-reacting. Like I said, I can understand being overbooked, it was just the rest of it that seemed a little uncalled for.

Cheri - we're actually looking into Mike's gentle horses, since they say they make acomodations for "generous sized persons" as well as small children. We'll see whether or not they can actually help us get a 2 year old on a horse.

Amy - I know Shirley has been actively looking for a florist in the area to help DISers with gift baskets & so on, she just hasn't found one that she likes yet. Maybe she'll find someone before May. If not, I'm already looking at one of the Disney bags that I could add stuff to.

Sara

 

[Amous]

I know Shirley has been actively looking for a florist in the area to help DISers with gift baskets & so on, she just hasn't found one that she likes yet. Maybe she'll find someone before May. If not, I'm already looking at one of the Disney bags that I could add stuff to.

Thanks Sara!!

 

[hayesktrm]

What does that mean that Randi's is "overbooked." What if we all show up--then what does she do? It seems like the group for that day will all be from our DIS board group, so chances are, we'll all show up. This has me a little worried. Sorry about her email. Sometimes people are very sensitive about things that we have no idea about, maybe she was having a bad day. No excuse, but maybe an explanation.