June 14, 2011 - Father's Day on the Wonder in ALASKA!

Hi all. It's been ages since I've been on the DIS - just peeked in yesterday and realized how long it has been.

We are doing all our air and hotel and transportation via DCL so we'll get our air assignments probably in early May.

Smithsonian travel has a webinar coming up this week on the inside passage of Alaska - I don't still have the link but you could probably google it if you were interested. I guess they do trips and such.

Hi to all the new folks. By way of introduction, I'm Cindy D., married to DH Gary, mom to Nathan (14, turning 15 on the cruise) and Zachary (13). Nathan is a freshman in high school this year and Zachary will be entering 8th grade, so there are a few more teens for this trip!!!! This is our family's 7th cruise and our 6th one on Disney.

We have two friends who are also sailing with us - I don't know if she's joined DIS or not - we've talked about it a few times.
 
Hello there! Our family recently booked this sailing and is super excited to be going to Alaska, as well as getting to know our fellow cruisers!

My name is Angela, my DH is Kevin, and we have two sons, DS Jackson (6) and DS Charley (14 months at time of sailing). We live in Chicagoland and this will be our 4th Disney cruise.

If one is being organized, we'd love to participate in the FE exchange.

I look forward to chatting with everyone! Have a great weekend! :goodvibes
 
Has anyone booked flights? I'm trying to hold out until Southwest releases their dates (November 18th)-it's an extra two hour drive for us-but love the free bags!!

We are also holding out for Southwest - hoping to use reward tickets to fly from Chicago to Seattle, and connect to Vancouver on another airline. Trying to save where we can, since this cruise is a little pricier than others we've taken. Every little bit helps! :thumbsup2
 
Hello there! Our family recently booked this sailing and is super excited to be going to Alaska, as well as getting to know our fellow cruisers!

My name is Angela, my DH is Kevin, and we have two sons, DS Jackson (6) and DS Charley (14 months at time of sailing). We live in Chicagoland and this will be our 4th Disney cruise.

If one is being organized, we'd love to participate in the FE exchange.

I look forward to chatting with everyone! Have a great weekend! :goodvibes

Welcome to the gang, Angela (and family)! We're glad to have you aboard!
 

Welcome Angela & boys! The ship is going to be taken over by the boys. :laughing: We live in Schaumburg 5 minutes away from the Doorway to Dreams store when my youngest DS needs a pin trade fix. PM if you want about where you live. I know some people don't like to reveal their true locations. Both my boys are great w/ younger boys. My 8th grader has a 2nd grade prayer buddy---sooo cute. They team up the Confirmation kids w/ the kids making their 1st communion. :littleangel:


I'm busy today trying to book the Fantasy & quite frustrated at the newer ships design. Really wanted to do something similar to Alaska w/ an inside room & verandah across the hall. Called at 7am my time & no luck. I booked 2 connecting 8Ds. I need space w/ my boys. They're getting bigger, smellier, wanting to pack more, & more argumentative. I want my space. I may kick all three (DH, DS 13 now, DS10 now) into the one room and I'll take the other. :lmao:

Hmmmmm.......

I think I've stumbled upon a wonderful idea. Think they'll go for it??? :rotfl:

I may still try other dates & combos, but for now it's the Fantasy June 30th, 2012.


I wish the Alaska excursions would be announced already. I'm starting to really fret over that. I guess I'm just in an ornery mood--too much to grade & the end of the quarter makes a :teacher: moody. I hade a kid following me around in the lunchroom yesterday bugging me about a quiz grade I hadn't entered online, but he knew the grade---ugh!
 
I want my space. I may kick all three (DH, DS 13 now, DS10 now) into the one room and I'll take the other. :lmao:

Hmmmmm.......

I think I've stumbled upon a wonderful idea. Think they'll go for it??? :rotfl:

:rotfl2: Absolutely hilarious, Mary! And yet, an incredibly good idea! If I need peace & quiet, I may send Matthew down there too! LOL

FYI Matthew is headed your way at the end of March (23rd-26th) for the Dixie Classic Choir Festival. Don't know much yet about performance date/time, but it appears that the high school will be going to a speakeasy...among other things.... :scared1:

I'm beginning to check the boards daily again...if for no other reason than to watch my ticker move closer to ZERO.... popcorn::

--Drew
 
I wish the Alaska excursions would be announced already. I'm starting to really fret over that.

Just thought I'd let you know that you are really not alone on this one. I wish I knew what Disney is planning to offer since if it's interesting to us we'll just book thought DCL. If there isn't anything we like (or can afford :rolleyes1), then we'll have to look around at finding outside vendors -- time consuming to do now when I don't even know if I need to do all the work or not.:confused3
 

Going to Alaska on the 14th Wonder Cruise. Me:teacher: with DH:teacher: and DD(12). Flying out from Nashville. We have booked cabin 6104. Anyone else with tween daughter?


2005 WDW AKL
2008 WDW Poly
2010 WDW GF
 
Welcome!

What do you guys teach? We had tons of teacher on our cruise in mid June of 2009. Some of them kept running into their students everywhere. Luckily I didn't.

I'll try to search of thread for girls, but many people who aren't happy w/ new info on 2012 (some thinking Alaska might happen again or ??, seem to be booking Alaska. I suspect we'll get more people soon.

Your daughter will have a lot of boys to meet. If anyone gives her trouble, we've got a gaggle of teeanage boys who can come to her rescue. JK

It will be a blast! What grade will your daughter be finishing? When do you finish your school year? Depending on snow days, I should be done between June 3d - June 8th.

Welcome again! We're glad to have more people to get to know before the cruise!
 
Did a quick search & found girls 9, 14, 14.

My DS will be turning 11 on the cruise. Your DD will be in the same age grouping in Oceaneeneer's Lab as my son, so at least she can meet a very friendly outgoing boy. He makes friends really easy. His cruise friend 2 years ago was from Tennessee!

I promise to have him be extra friendly to her, when he sees her in the OL. He'd live in the OL or the Lab as we call it. He was in there so much last cruise, we nicknamed his the "labrat." This also comes from his not so favorite nickname of "Ratrick" instead of Patrick. He has a habit of hiding food in his room. :rotfl:

He's bugging me when can he start talking on the DIS w/ some kids his own age or emailing. So when/if she's game to chat w/ a boy :eek: a little younger than her, I can see if Patrick is willing to do the same.
 
FYI Matthew is headed your way at the end of March (23rd-26th) for the Dixie Classic Choir Festival. Don't know much yet about performance date/time, but it appears that the high school will be going to a speakeasy...among other things.... :scared1:

I'm beginning to check the boards daily again...if for no other reason than to watch my ticker move closer to ZERO.... popcorn::

--Drew

Drew--Are you coming w/ him? Let me know if he'd like to try to meet up or if Choir festival is open to the public. It's Spring Break for one part of my family. I have a different Spring Break as my kids about every 2-3 years. I'd never book a Spring Break cruise for that reason. Don't worry about the speakeasy thing. If it's where I suspect, it's a really cheesy place that perpertrates the history of Chicago as only being about Al Capone, but can be fun. We have so much more to our history. If he needs any info on Chicago, have him PM me. I may live in the suburbs now, but I'm a city girl at heart who loves the history of her great city! :worship: Remember I gave you guys slips for free Chicago pizza in your FE gifts, but you had to come here to collect!
 
We get out of school in May unless it snows. We live in KY, a little north of Nashville. I teach 1st, DH is a principal and DD finishing 6th grade and will be turning 12 in April.

Love WDW, but never been on a cruise. Trying to finish visiting all 50 states before DD graduates.

Will the EDGE be ready on the Wonder for tweens? Or will they have to do OL?

:boat::boat::boat:
 

Going to Alaska on the 14th Wonder Cruise. Me:teacher: with DH:teacher: and DD(12). Flying out from Nashville. We have booked cabin 6104. Anyone else with tween daughter?


2005 WDW AKL
2008 WDW Poly
2010 WDW GF

Welcome to the gang, "neighbor"! If I were a betting man, I'd guess "Bowling Green, KY"? We're up the road in Cincy.

Look forward to getting to know y'all before we sail!
 
Drew--Are you coming w/ him? Let me know if he'd like to try to meet up or if Choir festival is open to the public. It's Spring Break for one part of my family. I have a different Spring Break as my kids about every 2-3 years. I'd never book a Spring Break cruise for that reason. Don't worry about the speakeasy thing. If it's where I suspect, it's a really cheesy place that perpertrates the history of Chicago as only being about Al Capone, but can be fun. We have so much more to our history. If he needs any info on Chicago, have him PM me. I may live in the suburbs now, but I'm a city girl at heart who loves the history of her great city! :worship: Remember I gave you guys slips for free Chicago pizza in your FE gifts, but you had to come here to collect!

Hi, Mary...at this time I'm not going to be up there for the entire festival. I'm giving serious thought to driving up for the competition though. I'll let you know as we get closer to the date. Oh, and thanks for the reminder about the pizza gift. I'll pull that out of the souvenirs to give him (just in case the choir ends up going there).

Did you pick first or second seating for dinner? We've got second seating, with a request to have Carina (from South Africa) as our dining room manager...she was INCREDIBLE on our B2B last time.

I'm also getting antsy about the excursions. If they offer some of the same ones that I took with Mom on HAL in 2006, I would highly recommend these to anyone who might be considering their options:

JUNEAU: Mendenhall Glacier & Whale Watching. We saw quite a few whales...and the history of the glacier was amazing.

SKAGWAY: White Pass & Yukon Trail Rail Ride. You take a bus from Skagway, through B.C. and into the Yukon Territory...the views are incredible. Then, a passenger train brings you down the path of the Gold Rush...plenty of history there!

KETCHIKAN: Misty Fjords National Monument Float Plane. This was, by far, our favorite of the three. We took a float plane that seats 10 up into the Misty Fjords National Monument Park and landed on a lake in the middle of the mountains. If you do not believe that our environment is changing daily, I strongly encourage you to take this trip to see for yourself. Awe inspiring and thought provoking.

We may do one or two of these again...but we have a goal to save the $ to take a helicopter up onto a glacier and run sled dogs. I hear this one costs around $450-$500 per person, but it's on my bucket list...so I'm saving now in the event it's available!
 
Oh, and thanks for the reminder about the pizza gift. I'll pull that out of the souvenirs to give him (just in case the choir ends up going there).

He has to see me to get the pizza. I'm buying. Don't go searching for real gift certs.

[/QUOTE] Did you pick first or second seating for dinner? We've got second seating, with a request to have Carina (from South Africa) as our dining room manager...she was INCREDIBLE on our B2B last time.[/QUOTE]

1st seating b/c Patrick did not do well when we ate later--no patience for a longer meal. I may rethink it though b/c we can stay as late as 7:30 in port 2 places. Hmmm.....?

[/QUOTE] We may do one or two of these again...but we have a goal to save the $ to take a helicopter up onto a glacier and run sled dogs. I hear this one costs around $450-$500 per person, but it's on my bucket list...so I'm saving now in the event it's available![/QUOTE]

My boys really want to do sled dogs. I'm saying ok possibly but it means it's their Christmas gift from Santa ;) & from us. My Mom, Scott's mom, & a few other relatives would still buy for them. They'd still get stockings, but they have to agree to this. Patrick is still leaning towards wanting presents. Maybe this is a little too much for a 10 yr old to comprehend. Liam is all for it. Patrick also want to do a fishing excursion. The ones you mentioned are more up my alley.

I want to do it all & I don't know when we'll get back to Alaska as a family again. Things get busy as they hit h.s. & college. It seems like a lot of kids take summer school for at least one session in this district to get some classes out of the way to make room for things like band. This isn't the norm where I teach, but more of rarity. Kids might take one semester of summer school for 1 -2 summers but that's it. Around here it seems like the kids are taking 1 semester each summer. :confused3

Liam already sleeps about 60% of the summer away from home between our vacation, band camp, & MULTIPLE boy scout camping trips.

Talked to DCL today & again they're saying no excursion announcements until possibly February! :scared1: & :mad:
 
We get out of school in May unless it snows. We live in KY, a little north of Nashville. I teach 1st, DH is a principal and DD finishing 6th grade and will be turning 12 in April.

Love WDW, but never been on a cruise. Trying to finish visiting all 50 states before DD graduates.

Will the EDGE be ready on the Wonder for tweens? Or will they have to do OL?

:boat::boat::boat:

I loved 1st grade as a child & when my boys went through it. You are so lucky!

I have a feeling they'll be in the OL, but may be pulled out of there for the "Out & About" program. Totally confused about OQ & if it will be there. It was too crowded for my eldest DS last time, but he'd meet people there & then go hang up on deck or do other things.

Here's what I found out has been happening which sounds like fun:

"To the parents of "tweens"...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I haven't seen anything on this, so in case anyone is unaware, (as I was), there is currently programming (at least on the Wonder) just for tweens (10-12). The group is called "Out and About" and has scheduled activities outside of the Oceaneer club/lab. Our daughter (10) was thrilled to have a group of her own!

They travel together in activities such as dodgeball on deck 9, private game show in Studio Sea, lunch together at beach blanket buffet and even scheduled use of teens space aloft. DD's group consisted of about 8 or so last week.

One thing to consider however, is that you'd need to feel comfortable registering your child as a "self-check," as this is required for participation. So they'd be able to check in/out without an adult. We were okay allowing our dd this privilege, with confidence she'd go nowhere without communication. You can locate your child thoughout the day through the "out and about" schedule on PN. I had my daughter request the counselor send us a text on beeper if she wanted to opt of of an activiy and stay in the club/lab ( group stops there in between scheduled activities). It all worked out very well ."

Check out this Navigator for an idea of what the "Out & About" program will be:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/Photos/DCL-Navigators/5-30-10/NavigatorDay30001.pdf
 
My guys did Out and About on the Magic over the summer - it was for 10-14s so I hope that's what it will be on the Wonder next summer. It is an awesome program - I told them how much I liked that addition. Our older son was more involved with programming on that trip than any previous ones. Of course they both loved Ocean Quest and we will miss having that option for them on the Wonder, but then maybe they'll both try Aloft.
 
Talked to DCL today & again they're saying no excursion announcements until possibly February! :scared1: & :mad:

I can't help but think that the excursions will be released a little earlier. Here's why:

My ressie says that we can book excursions beginning 03/01/11 (based on Gold status). Assuming (as I believe is the case) that Platinum CC members get a 15 day head start on Golds, that would mean that they can start booking for our sailing (06/14/11) on 2/14/11. The first full Alaska sailing is 05/03/11, which SHOULD mean that Platinum members on that cruise would be able to begin booking excursions on/around 01/03/11.

My hunch would be that we will begin to be able to see excursions and pricing sometime in mid-December. Will keep my fingers crossed for that.... :surfweb:

--Drew
 
1st seating b/c Patrick did not do well when we ate later--no patience for a longer meal. I may rethink it though b/c we can stay as late as 7:30 in port 2 places. Hmmm.....?

We love second seating...of course, when dinner is over, we end up back at the room in a prone position due to overstuffing..... :rotfl2:

If you decide to move over to second seating rotation, let me know...if you would like to dine together, we can contact DCL to link our ressies for dining! :thumbsup2

--Drew
 

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