June 15 - June 22 2013 Eastern Fantasy

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Hello there! My family will be on this cruise, and after an informal poll, the concensus is that the kids want to participate in the Fish Extender again, so I figured I might as well start here and introduce us!

Cruising will be me, my DH, our DDs 22 and 17, and DD 22's fiance. We live in the Chicago area, and will be driving down, staying at the Animal Kingdom Villas for the week before the cruise.

This will be the first cruise for the fiance, but for my family it is either our 7th or 8th (apparently, I am old, and the memory is failing, for all the cruises have run together into one great big happy jumble of experiences!). He won't join us until the cruise, because he has to work to save money before he marries my DD (we like him, he has good priorities).

On this cruise, we shall be celebrating a college graduation with honours, a high school graduation with honours, and my youngest will be turning 18 on June 19th, during our cruise. I daresay, she is ecstatic at the prospect of being able to join mom and dad at the adult pool and the adult clubs. I am not sure what she believes happens there, but she can't wait to find out!

Oh, and almost forgot, we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary! Ok, it isn't until September, but since youngest is starting college then, DH doesn't want to be gone to the places I would like to go (Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, etc.), and he is right, we should be somewhat nearby in case DD "needs" us. The memory of the tears during eldest DD's first few months of college is ingrained upon our hearts, and we would feel awful if we weren't around in case the other girl has a rough adjustment! Some kids can't wait to leave home (me!), my children seem to like being home. And now there is a fiance that likes being with us, too.

Or there is the thought that DH doesn't want to leave the dogs twice in one summer. I believe that is the real reason we aren't going anywhere exotic for our anniversary!

Since this will be our celebration trip, I am going all out and having fun. I just might order two Mojitos in one day! Oh, I am the party animal! Maybe I will even bring the bikini! After all, after two Mojitos, I won't care what anyone thinks!

I have not read most of the posts on this thread yet (I shall try to catch up and get to know you all over the next few days), so please forgive me if this has been mentioned, but is there a list with the ages of the kids? Or will that be on the Fish Extender page?

I ask because my DD17 is certain there will be no one on the ship that she can hang out with. The teen club won't be for her, plus she will turn 18 mid-cruise so she would be the oldest, and she is sad that her sister will have her fiance with her, so no sister hang-out time like on our previous vacations. I am trying to convince her to try the 18-20 group on the ship, but I have heard that no one ever shows up to those events, and I would prefer she not spend time moping in the room. Will there be any young adults joining the fun?

I did read that some of you are thinking of having dinner before the cruise near the port. If anyone is staying at the resorts pre-cruise, I would be up for a get-together at Disney. We can start the Mojitos a few days early!

Well, I better start reading this thread from the beginning. I may finish before we leave for vacation! Woo-hoo!

aboard the Father's Day Eastern Fantasy. Looks like you have quite a group. The more the merrier. Also please feel free to join the FB page. The link to the FB page is in the first post of this thread as well as instructions to join the FE. If you have any questions regarding this cruise please feel free to ask.

 

[4newtocruise]

Hi, tluther5406! Are you just joining us, or have I been spacing out and missed an earlier post? At any rate, if you're a newcomer, welcome. Be sure to check out the first post for info about this thread such as joining our fe exchange and our fb page.

At any rate, perhaps we might be able to schedule a meet sometime during day one when the OC/OL has open house hours. That way we can all be there to introduce our kids and encourage them to include one another in play activities when they spot each other at the clubs. If we could piggyback it onto the whole group meet, that would be cool, but if not, maybe we can arrange something for the 7 - 11 group.

BTW, this might be a good idea for the 18 - 20 yo's as well. We seem to have quite a few of them, and I understand that this is sort of a black hole in Disney's club offerings; too old for the kids' clubs but too young for the bars. It would be nice for them to find one another early on and arrange activities they might enjoy together.

I guess we should all start thinking about times/places for our meetings! It's starting to get close...

We would be up for a group meet!!!!

I would suggest that the meet be indoors. On our last cruise we met on the top deck and it was soooo hot! There was absolutely no shade and it made it really hard to want to stay and talk to everyone.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I ask because my DD17 is certain there will be no one on the ship that she can hang out with. The teen club won't be for her, plus she will turn 18 mid-cruise so she would be the oldest, and she is sad that her sister will have her fiance with her, so no sister hang-out time like on our previous vacations. I am trying to convince her to try the 18-20 group on the ship, but I have heard that no one ever shows up to those events, and I would prefer she not spend time moping in the room. Will there be any young adults joining the fun?

!

I will have a 17 year-old DD on this trip too. May I ask why yours won't like the club? Mine plans to give it a try. She is a quiet person, but I am encouraging her to go the first night to meet people. After that, if she prefers not to join in, I am fine with it.

 

[mneemouse]

Hi mneemouse here. I would like to sign our cabin for fish extender exchange. We are cabin 6108. We have mom36, dad37, grandma59, DD8, DS4. We are so excited about the cruise. It's our first Disney cruise and I am super excited about the FE exchange.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Hi mneemouse here. I would like to sign our cabin for fish extender exchange. We are cabin 6108. We have mom36, dad37, grandma59, DD8, DS4. We are so excited about the cruise. It's our first Disney cruise and I am super excited about the FE exchange.

aboard the Father's Day Eastern Fantasy. Please see the signup instructions for the FE in the first post of this thread.

 

[luvavacation]

Thanks for the welcome!

GBBTomorrow, since my DD will be turning 18 on this cruise, we figure she won't even be allowed into the teen club. I have heard that once the child is 18, they don't get to attend anymore. Which is fine, since neither of my girls ever liked going to the clubs anyway, and being an older teen, my DD definitely does not want to go.

It isn't that there is anything wrong with the clubs, and when my girls were younger they did go when there were activities like making Flubber, but otherwise, they have always wanted to stick with mom and dad. I guess they feel we might have fun without them, so they want to make sure that doesn't happen.

My girls are also rather quiet and shy when they are in a group of people they don't know, but very outgoing and friendly once they are comfortable. What they have found in the clubs though is that there are always a few kids that are outgoing with strong personalities, and my girls just stand in the backround in their presence. Then throw in teens of both sexes with freedom to hang around each other for hours on end with no parents watching, and my daughters are just uncomfortable. My girls aren't conservative nuns, but neither one is interested in flipping their hair around to impress a guy, but they seem to believe that is what is happening in the teen club.

I am sure they are incorrect, for I have seen some teens walking around that appear to have made great friendships, and in fact last summer we were on a cruise with my best friend and her family, and her teens loved the teen clubs! Younger DD tried, but even with my friend's DD and DS there, she still was not interested.

Don't get me wrong, my girls do have good, strong friendships with girls and boys their own ages, but they just feel overwhelmed around strong personalities in a new situation. Too much like their mother - I shall be the quiet one in the corner when we first meet, but after a few minutes, look out, my chatty side will emerge!

And trust me, I do have quite the chatty personality hiding behind my facade of aloofness!

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Good morning fellow cruisers. Another week has gone by.
We now have only

weeks to go to the Fantasy.

 

[mneemouse]

Ok, so I am a bit technically challenged, but when I select the link to see the list of current fish extender participants I am directed to a google account page. I don't have a google account. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Ok, so I am a bit technically challenged, but when I select the link to see the list of current fish extender participants I am directed to a google account page. I don't have a google account. Am I doing something wrong?

I'm pretty sure you have to send Daniel (TIGGER/POOH4) a private message to sign up and he will grant you access to the document.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Hello there! My family will be on this cruise, and after an informal poll, the concensus is that the kids want to participate in the Fish Extender again, so I figured I might as well start here and introduce us!

Cruising will be me, my DH, our DDs 22 and 17, and DD 22's fiance. We live in the Chicago area, and will be driving down, staying at the Animal Kingdom Villas for the week before the cruise.

This will be the first cruise for the fiance, but for my family it is either our 7th or 8th (apparently, I am old, and the memory is failing, for all the cruises have run together into one great big happy jumble of experiences!). He won't join us until the cruise, because he has to work to save money before he marries my DD (we like him, he has good priorities).

On this cruise, we shall be celebrating a college graduation with honours, a high school graduation with honours, and my youngest will be turning 18 on June 19th, during our cruise. I daresay, she is ecstatic at the prospect of being able to join mom and dad at the adult pool and the adult clubs. I am not sure what she believes happens there, but she can't wait to find out!

Oh, and almost forgot, we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary! Ok, it isn't until September, but since youngest is starting college then, DH doesn't want to be gone to the places I would like to go (Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, etc.), and he is right, we should be somewhat nearby in case DD "needs" us. The memory of the tears during eldest DD's first few months of college is ingrained upon our hearts, and we would feel awful if we weren't around in case the other girl has a rough adjustment! Some kids can't wait to leave home (me!), my children seem to like being home. And now there is a fiance that likes being with us, too.

Or there is the thought that DH doesn't want to leave the dogs twice in one summer. I believe that is the real reason we aren't going anywhere exotic for our anniversary!

Since this will be our celebration trip, I am going all out and having fun. I just might order two Mojitos in one day! Oh, I am the party animal! Maybe I will even bring the bikini! After all, after two Mojitos, I won't care what anyone thinks!

I have not read most of the posts on this thread yet (I shall try to catch up and get to know you all over the next few days), so please forgive me if this has been mentioned, but is there a list with the ages of the kids? Or will that be on the Fish Extender page?

I ask because my DD17 is certain there will be no one on the ship that she can hang out with. The teen club won't be for her, plus she will turn 18 mid-cruise so she would be the oldest, and she is sad that her sister will have her fiance with her, so no sister hang-out time like on our previous vacations. I am trying to convince her to try the 18-20 group on the ship, but I have heard that no one ever shows up to those events, and I would prefer she not spend time moping in the room. Will there be any young adults joining the fun?

I did read that some of you are thinking of having dinner before the cruise near the port. If anyone is staying at the resorts pre-cruise, I would be up for a get-together at Disney. We can start the Mojitos a few days early!

Well, I better start reading this thread from the beginning. I may finish before we leave for vacation! Woo-hoo!

Welcome and love your post - especially the two mojitos in one day! That sounds a lot like us! Happy 25th a little early. We actually booked another Disney cruise for September to celebrate our Anniversary sans kids.

We too will be at the AK Villas, but only the night before the cruise itself. After the cruise, we are staying a few nights at BLT.

We have some young adults too, but a little younger than yours. My oldest will have just turned 18 about ten days before the cruise. My middle son is almost 16 and will be hanging out with my oldest. I've seen quite a few others post that they have 18-21 year olds too.

 

[jrcmpbl]

My family would like to join the FE. I tried to send a PM with our info but it wouldn't allow since I had less than 10 prior.
If we can still join, here is our info:

Category 5A room 10042

Me (jrcmpbl) Jennifer-Female-29

Henry-Male-40

Katie-Female-7

Olivia-Female-5

Madelyn-Female-1

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Hello there! My son will be 8 on the cruise and he is nuts about Minecraft! We should definitely get them together!

-Sandy

It's funny how kids don't seem to outgrow things. All three of my boys love Minecraft too (17, 15 and almost 11). My oldest (will be 18 on this cruise) actually created a huge replica of the Disney Fantasy in Minecraft. It has individual staterooms, all of the restaurants, gift shops, theaters, running track, pools, aquaduck, bridge, teen club, lifeboats, etc. His friend and him spent hours researching the deck plans and built the ship. His friend is actually joining us next year for a cruise on the Fantasy. It will be his first cruise ever and he will probably know the ship better than most guests.

I will try to create a walk-through video of my son's replica of the Fantasy and post it to the Facebook page.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

My family would like to join the FE. I tried to send a PM with our info but it wouldn't allow since I had less than 10 prior.
If we can still join, here is our info:

Category 5A room 10042

Me (jrcmpbl) Jennifer-Female-29

Henry-Male-40

Katie-Female-7

Olivia-Female-5

Madelyn-Female-1

Welcome!

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Ok, so I am a bit technically challenged, but when I select the link to see the list of current fish extender participants I am directed to a google account page. I don't have a google account. Am I doing something wrong?

I can see you do not have enough posts to PM me. You can email me at nascar9@aol.com with your information.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

My family would like to join the FE. I tried to send a PM with our info but it wouldn't allow since I had less than 10 prior.
If we can still join, here is our info:

Category 5A room 10042

Me (jrcmpbl) Jennifer-Female-29

Henry-Male-40

Katie-Female-7

Olivia-Female-5

Madelyn-Female-1

aboard the Father's Day Eastern Fantasy. You can email me at nascar9@aol.com with your information.

 

[Beesmom]

It's funny how kids don't seem to outgrow things. All three of my boys love Minecraft too (17, 15 and almost 11). My oldest (will be 18 on this cruise) actually created a huge replica of the Disney Fantasy in Minecraft. It has individual staterooms, all of the restaurants, gift shops, theaters, running track, pools, aquaduck, bridge, teen club, lifeboats, etc. His friend and him spent hours researching the deck plans and built the ship. His friend is actually joining us next year for a cruise on the Fantasy. It will be his first cruise ever and he will probably know the ship better than most guests.

I will try to create a walk-through video of my son's replica of the Fantasy and post it to the Facebook page.

I should admit that I've played my share too And I'd love to see that video (so would my son, I'm sure - he likes to look at Minecraft videos on youtube)!

-Sandy

 

[4newtocruise]

It's funny how kids don't seem to outgrow things. All three of my boys love Minecraft too (17, 15 and almost 11). My oldest (will be 18 on this cruise) actually created a huge replica of the Disney Fantasy in Minecraft. It has individual staterooms, all of the restaurants, gift shops, theaters, running track, pools, aquaduck, bridge, teen club, lifeboats, etc. His friend and him spent hours researching the deck plans and built the ship. His friend is actually joining us next year for a cruise on the Fantasy. It will be his first cruise ever and he will probably know the ship better than most guests.

I will try to create a walk-through video of my son's replica of the Fantasy and post it to the Facebook page.

OMG, my DS 10 would love to see that! He loves Minecraft.

 

[Maltese5]

Hello there! My family will be on this cruise, and after an informal poll, the concensus is that the kids want to participate in the Fish Extender again, so I figured I might as well start here and introduce us!

Cruising will be me, my DH, our DDs 22 and 17, and DD 22's fiance. We live in the Chicago area, and will be driving down, staying at the Animal Kingdom Villas for the week before the cruise.

This will be the first cruise for the fiance, but for my family it is either our 7th or 8th (apparently, I am old, and the memory is failing, for all the cruises have run together into one great big happy jumble of experiences!). He won't join us until the cruise, because he has to work to save money before he marries my DD (we like him, he has good priorities).

On this cruise, we shall be celebrating a college graduation with honours, a high school graduation with honours, and my youngest will be turning 18 on June 19th, during our cruise. I daresay, she is ecstatic at the prospect of being able to join mom and dad at the adult pool and the adult clubs. I am not sure what she believes happens there, but she can't wait to find out!

Oh, and almost forgot, we are celebrating our 25th Anniversary! Ok, it isn't until September, but since youngest is starting college then, DH doesn't want to be gone to the places I would like to go (Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, etc.), and he is right, we should be somewhat nearby in case DD "needs" us. The memory of the tears during eldest DD's first few months of college is ingrained upon our hearts, and we would feel awful if we weren't around in case the other girl has a rough adjustment! Some kids can't wait to leave home (me!), my children seem to like being home. And now there is a fiance that likes being with us, too.

Or there is the thought that DH doesn't want to leave the dogs twice in one summer. I believe that is the real reason we aren't going anywhere exotic for our anniversary!

Since this will be our celebration trip, I am going all out and having fun. I just might order two Mojitos in one day! Oh, I am the party animal! Maybe I will even bring the bikini! After all, after two Mojitos, I won't care what anyone thinks!

I have not read most of the posts on this thread yet (I shall try to catch up and get to know you all over the next few days), so please forgive me if this has been mentioned, but is there a list with the ages of the kids? Or will that be on the Fish Extender page?

I ask because my DD17 is certain there will be no one on the ship that she can hang out with. The teen club won't be for her, plus she will turn 18 mid-cruise so she would be the oldest, and she is sad that her sister will have her fiance with her, so no sister hang-out time like on our previous vacations. I am trying to convince her to try the 18-20 group on the ship, but I have heard that no one ever shows up to those events, and I would prefer she not spend time moping in the room. Will there be any young adults joining the fun?

I did read that some of you are thinking of having dinner before the cruise near the port. If anyone is staying at the resorts pre-cruise, I would be up for a get-together at Disney. We can start the Mojitos a few days early!

Well, I better start reading this thread from the beginning. I may finish before we leave for vacation! Woo-hoo!

Hi!
My son who has always loved the teen club will now be 18 on this cruise so will no longer be able to participate in the clubs. He is also a high school senior and we are celebrating his graduation.
I highly encourage your daughter to come to the "get to know you" meet so she can meet everyone in the 18-21 year old group early on. You are right as once she turns 18 she will no longer be allowed in the Vibe.
Looks like DCL has been working hard for the 18-21 year old group. Seems to be more successful now especially during the summer cruises as there were lots of college age kids when we traveled last June on the Fantasy.

 

[LittleBooPeep]

It's funny how kids don't seem to outgrow things. All three of my boys love Minecraft too (17, 15 and almost 11). My oldest (will be 18 on this cruise) actually created a huge replica of the Disney Fantasy in Minecraft. It has individual staterooms, all of the restaurants, gift shops, theaters, running track, pools, aquaduck, bridge, teen club, lifeboats, etc. His friend and him spent hours researching the deck plans and built the ship. His friend is actually joining us next year for a cruise on the Fantasy. It will be his first cruise ever and he will probably know the ship better than most guests.

I will try to create a walk-through video of my son's replica of the Fantasy and post it to the Facebook page.

My DS8 will go nuts over this... I'm pretty impressed as well!!!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I should admit that I've played my share too And I'd love to see that video (so would my son, I'm sure - he likes to look at Minecraft videos on youtube)!

-Sandy

OMG, my DS 10 would love to see that! He loves Minecraft.

My DS8 will go nuts over this... I'm pretty impressed as well!!!

I posted the Minecraft Disney Fantasy video over on the FB page. As you can see, my son and his friend spent quite a bit of time creating this. The ship is docked at Port Caveral in his version.

It even features a ride on the Aquaduck and Mickey slide. The only areas he has yet to finish include Europa; kid's club detail (although he did recreate the teen club) and the customs area as you leave the port terminal building. He even has the Disney cruise busses parked at the terminal.