June 6, 2009--Anybody going?

[Suz D]

Hey Rose,

I don't think I would worry too much about the cost of each gift. I am joining in on this one but believe it is more a way of getting the kids to interact and get a chance to meet. I spent $1 on each gift and chose a local item, but I don't think the money is important. I imagine you can choose stickers or pencils or any inexpensive item. I too am struggling with the Fish Extenders game - not sure what to get that will be fun and affordable. All this just keeps reminding me of the cruise and seems to be a way to start cruising in our minds before we even get there!!!

Amanda
Absybabsy

I second the "cost is not important" statement. I have bronchitis right now so I'm not thinking clearly, but if each family brought one gift for each child wouldn't that work? If there are 25 kids but 2 of them are in my family then I would bring 23 gifts and each child would get one. If you have 4 children in your family then you only bring 21 gifts. This isn't totally "fair" to those who have less children as they will have to bring more gifts than other families, but having been the parent of an only child until recently, it wouldn't bother me to bring more gifts.

Like I said, with a fever and fuzzy brain this might not work out, but that was how I figured it in my mind.

I do have to day, I found the perfect thing for our FE gifts. Very reasonable $$, part of it is homemade, and very Disney themed. Sometimes everything just clicks and you are in the right place at the right time.

Will someone (or several of you) please respond to my suggestion and let me know if that is something that you'd all consider?

Suz
(who is remembering the last time she was this sick...on our 7 day Western where I got sick on Wednesday and was sick the rest of the week. $100.00 to the ships doctor just to be told that it was viral and I was miserable. Oh the bright side, I had free room service, a super comfy bed, and all the movies I could watch on TV).

 

[degrapevine]

Suz,

Duh! You're right in that we'd only have to bring 22 gifts per child, since my kids don't need to give gifts to themselves or to each other, but that's still 22 x 3 = 66 gifts.

If our family only gave 1 gift to each child from our whole family, then each child would be "shorted" 2 gifts. Maybe I'm making it too complicated? I think they still need to each give a gift to the other kids, just not to our own family. I'm also going to plan for each child's gift to be different so there are no "doubles."

I'm fine spending $.50-$.75 per kids gift plus what I'm planning for the FE gifts. Even at the top end, I should only be spending around $75. That's really not bad for a week's worth of fun and games and we'll be able to remember lots of our new friends after the cruise with all the goodies!

If there's something I'm missing, please someone let me know! I've done plenty of FE gift exchanges, but not any kids' gift exchanges, so I want to make sure I've got the details correct. Thanks again!

Rose

 

[Suz D]

Rose,

I see exactly what you are saying. In my drug induced stupor it made sense but you have explained it just right. If we did it the way I suggested each child would receive 15 gifts instead of 25. I'm okay with that, but absolutely will be fine with however it works out. We're just glad to be sailing!

Well, I'm off to bed. Night all!

 

[Grandma Debby]

Just returned from a week of skiing (3 feet of new snow is toooo much for me) so my legs are killing me

The idea behind the kid's gift exchange is to meet other kids on the cruise (some are already emailing and getting to know each other) and then remember them - keep the gifts simple and cheap - key chains or zipper pulls from your state, post cards, food items, music from your area. It is not to late to drop out and you are welcome to change the setup just let us all know. I think the kids need to meet Saturday afternoon (then they know each other before the sail away party) or Sunday morning (after the character breakfasts) and not wait until the end of the cruise. The DIS people are pretty easy to find as we are the ones who look like we know what we are doing instead of wandering around without a clue. I suggested by the Mickey Pool around 3:00 (most of the kids will be in one pool or the other and then they don't have to dry off to go to the Promenade Lounge or other inside meeting place). If someone else has a time and place just let us know. This is also a good time to meet each other before the safety drill when we all look like DORKS

If you haven't sent me your cabin number please do so soon - we leave for WDW on May 30th.

See you in June
Grandma Debby

 

[AbsyBabsy]

I think Saturday at 3 is a great idea!

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

3 pm -Mickey Pool

Grandma Debby, thanks for the hints on the kid's exchange -I was stressing cuz I could not think of anything clever- but now I'm gonna use the KISS method- Keep It Simple Silly

Less than 45 days- whose started packing yet?
We've added the Captain Nautica for St. Thomas and added a nights stay going up Wensday night DH off wk, and DS and I both only have 1/2 days so why not take advantage of it. If we're really lucky the Space shuttle is suppose to launch the morning we disembark 7:20 am so we should get a great view before we leave- Keep this in mind if you are flying out early or driving somewhere as traffic tends to be a nightmare.


See you all soon

 

[Suz D]

Saturday at 3:00 works for our family too. Just let us know the exact place and we'll be there! Getting SO excited!!

 

[Suz D]

If we're really lucky the Space shuttle is suppose to launch the morning we disembark 7:20 am so we should get a great view before we leave- Keep this in mind if you are flying out early or driving somewhere as traffic tends to be a nightmare.
See you all soon

I didn't know this! Thanks for posting the info. I really hope it works out. It would be very exciting!!

 

[Suz D]

BTW, our whole family will be wearing lime green t-shirts with 2008 on the front. We should be easy to spot.

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

I'm making custom shirts fro us to wear but they won't be lime green.

DH- shirt has Grumpy on it- and "My wife made me wear this stuipd t-shirt"

The DisIgn thread has some fantanstic people who have great custom disigns to choose from.

 

[MN Dis Fans]

I'll be easily identifiable; I'll be the one with the large re-fillable Disney beer mug in my hand.
No doubt the DW will have the 2x DS's & I wearing our "Cruising" shirts. The one's with the Disney Tropical Print on them.

CRUIZEN MAMMACaptain Nautica is AWESOME! I think this was the best Disney excursion that we have done with them to date.
""DH- shirt has Grumpy on it- and "My wife made me wear this stuipd t-shirt"" I can so empathize with your DH! I've pretty much given up, and wear what the DW wants me to wear. I do draw the line at T-Shirts. I do not wear them.

Grandma Debby Skiing so close to a cruise? Very brave. I would be afraid of breaking something.
I sent you a PM with our room details. Will we be able to join in the FE exchange? I realize that we didn't subscribe until after the deadline, so if we missed out, no biggie, we'll manage. My DW & DS's do love doing this though

Still looking for some cruise buddies for our 14x & 11x year old. If any of you have DS's in this age range, my boys would love to hear from them.

 

[AStamm]

3 pm at the Mickey Pool works for us, too.

I'm ecstatic that we may have the chance to be so close to an actual shuttle liftoff. In all the time we've spent at WDW the last 6 years, this is one thing that's never happened while I've been there. To be right there so close would be amazing. I'll suffer through the traffic back out of town if we get this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Less than 45 days- whose started packing yet?

Not that crazy, but I did get 3 new dresses for dinners over the weekend! Can't wait to wear them on the cruise.

If you haven't sent me your cabin number please do so soon - we leave for WDW on May 30th.

Keeping my fingers crossed that we an upgrade from our Cat. 12 GTY--I'll keep my eyes on our reservation and let you know as soon as I have an actual room assigned.

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Not packing yet, but I did organize DS 's closet and told him to leave this section alone - it's his cruise clothes- that way all I have to do is throw it into a suitcase. I bought myself 4 pairs of shorts this weekend, but still looking for a dress for formal night, might just go with my old stand by if I can't find something I like.


I'm really looking forward to the Captain Nautica now- we are also doing the St. Marteen catermaran snorkel and parasailing at Castaway Cay- anyone do either of these excursions?

this week is a busy week for our family, school fuctions, church functions,
3rd grade field trip comming in May- but with each event we're one day closer to crusing

 

[michelleru]

Hi! We will be going on our first (finally) Disney Cruise. I was hoping to find others who were going on the same cruise with kids around the same age. I have 2 daughters- Kayla 15, Kiley 12. I am worried about my 15 year old- making sure she has fun on the cruise. Our last one on Carnival was awful for her, so she isn't very hopeful. Anyone out there who can help?

 

[wwtbamrob]

Hi! We will be going on our first (finally) Disney Cruise. I was hoping to find others who were going on the same cruise with kids around the same age. I have 2 daughters- Kayla 15, Kiley 12. I am worried about my 15 year old- making sure she has fun on the cruise. Our last one on Carnival was awful for her, so she isn't very hopeful. Anyone out there who can help?

My children are the same age as yours, but my 15 year old is a boy so probably not what you're looking for there. Perhaps if you mentioned the types of things that Kayla was interested in someone here could suggest activities that might be of interest.

As for Kiley, I'm sure our 12 year old daughter (Hayley) would enjoy meeting her.

Rob

 

[AbsyBabsy]

I am so excited - both of our rooms have been upgraded! We booked a Cat 9 18 months ago - down graded to a Cat 12 GTYwhen Florida Resident specials were announced and re-priced our trip. Our rooms were assigned today and we are Cat 9 side by side. 2042 and 2044 - anyone ever stayed in these rooms? I can't find a room report for them.

 

[michelleru]

My children are the same age as yours, but my 15 year old is a boy so probably not what you're looking for there. Perhaps if you mentioned the types of things that Kayla was interested in someone here could suggest activities that might be of interest.

As for Kiley, I'm sure our 12 year old daughter (Hayley) would enjoy meeting her.

Rob

Hi! Thanks for the response! Kayla is a typical 15 year old. She loves music and reading. She had a great time on the Princess cruise but was bored on Carnival. Poor kid had to hang out with her parents! If your comfortable with it, maybe the kids could exchange emails? Let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Michelle

 

[Suz D]

I am so excited - both of our rooms have been upgraded! We booked a Cat 9 18 months ago - down graded to a Cat 12 GTYwhen Florida Resident specials were announced and re-priced our trip. Our rooms were assigned today and we are Cat 9 side by side. 2042 and 2044 - anyone ever stayed in these rooms? I can't find a room report for them.

We sailed in 2088 on the Wonder in December. Loved the location on deck two. Thanks for posting this as today was the first day I didn't check to see if we got a room assignment. We got a small upgrade from a 12 to an 11 on deck 6. It's in a weird location so I'm going to check the room reports. I was hoping for an upgrade to a 10 with a split bath and would have LOVED a 9 (we got upgraded from a 12 to a 9 in December). I'm still hoping a bit that we may have another change before we board as I know that has happened in the past and there are lots of cabins still available.

The upside is that we have 3 cabins and they are all in a row which, as you know, is no "guarantee" with a "GTY".

How many of you are so excited that you can hardly stand it? I know I am!

Suz

 

[wwtbamrob]

Hi! Thanks for the response! Kayla is a typical 15 year old. She loves music and reading. She had a great time on the Princess cruise but was bored on Carnival. Poor kid had to hang out with her parents! If your comfortable with it, maybe the kids could exchange emails? Let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Michelle

I sent you a PM (Private Message) with contact information.

Rob

 

[disneydka]

How is it that I can tell what category our stateroom is? We had been booked as 12 gty and I can see that we have now been assigned a stateroom number. Also, I have a 16 yr old dd who has been looking for other teens..we have signed her up for the Wild Side Excursion on Castaway cay...hopefully she can connect with other teens prior to the cruise. I am at work now and cannot figure how to pm anyone so if you all with teens 15-17 would like to pm me...