Magic Christmas Cruise 2010 (Dec 18th - 29th) - PART II

[IceSk8ersMom]

Hello everyone!

Sorry I have been pretty much MIA for over a month now. I've been lurking on the thread everyday, but have refrained from posting for a reason...

Long story short, DH and I had looked at doing some home renovations this summer but decided to hold off due to the ourtrageous quote we got. We then decided to book this cruise. A few weeks after we booked it, the company who we wanted to do the renovation work offered us quite a big discount, so much so that we felt foolish not to go ahead with the work. Well, as that commenced, we got really busy and also started wondering if we needed to hold off on the cruise, so we cancelled it just before the PIF date and decided to re-book it again later if we felt it was the right thing to do. That was my motivation to go into major saving mode and I'm happy to say that we just rebooked!

Now I will probably be on this thread more often than you all would like - ha ha!

We're already signed up for the FE exchange, and I need to look back at the other activities going on to see what else we might be able to do.

Anyhow, I am majorly doing the happy dance right now!

Kimberly

I am doing the happy dance too. Welcome back.

 

[IceSk8ersMom]

Looks like Mike has a new avatar picture. What is that? A camper? RV? Bus?

As I type this, Joann is somewhere over the Saharah Desert. She'll land in Entebbe in about 2 and a half hours.

(If the name Entebbe saounds familiar, think back to 1976. An Air France flight that originated in Tel Aviv, and routed through Athens to Paris, was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and taken to Entebbe airport in Uganda. Idi Amin was in power and welcomed the Palestinians. The situation ended on July 4, when Israeli commandos flew in and stormed the airport to free the Israeli hostages. There were several movies about it in the late 70s.)

Tomorrow is DD9's birthday party followed by a sleepover. Thanks heavens Joann will be back in time for that one!

Good luck with the sleepover. We had a sleepover last week. The girls slept over after the homecoming dance. There was giggling all night. I hope your daughter has a fabulous birthday. I am glad your DW will be there for "back-up." Enjoy!

 

[Kitster]

Yay Kimberly! A big part of my motivaton for this cruise is the back to back down to the studs remodels we did to our cabin and our house starting in August 2008 through August 2010! While living in them... I'm still finding dust. And I'm just wiped out from it all. The cruise will be a nice break. I know Kitster has been doing some BIG projects too.

Heck, this last remodel was just a LITTLE job. Late last year / earlier this year we did a gut and replace of the kitchen and the year prior to that I was in Fl doing a gut and replace on my dad's house. getting it ready to sell. Have I mentioned I'm sick of remodeling / redecorating?!?!?!?

 

[craftygramma]

Belated thanks for all the welcomes. I had my daughter help me get on the boards then left town!

I can try to do these for everyone... if someone can send me a clean copy of the clip art on page one that I can size and I can get everyone's "real names" versus DIS names.... no $1.00 required, LOL

Thanks for doing this!
craftygramma - Madge
(dh) Fred

I am just getting so excited


Caryn

We are too

 

[pennymike]

So now we need lanyards Fish extenders and a dining rotation!?
We booked a cruise because I don't want to have to think about anything! Seriously though I am kind of confused about FE's and lanyards. Please explain!

I know others have responded to this........I'm way behind on reading here!

Anyway...NO WORRIES! It's a Disney Cruise......you don't HAVE to DO anything! That's why we DCL. You can be super busy or lay back and snooze the whole time! It's ALL good!

RE: Lanyards? The nice cast members at the port check in will hand you your lanyards when you check in at Port Canaveral. We have almost enough to equip a classroom with their own lanyards for nametags at this point!

 

[DVC4US]

The family and I are working on joining ya'll.
The booking process is in the works as we speak.

That's awesome! Keep us posted on the booking process. We have a pretty great DIS group on this cruise. Make sure you read the first post - Aaron(bigAWL) has done a wonderful job of keeping all our information organized.

 

[pennymike]

Is the Character Brunch rumor different from the normal Character Breakfast on the 7+ night cruises? Not sure about the quotes...if it is not Princess Bride I have a hard time quoting it...

Princess Bride.....don't get me started.....

 

[DVC4US]

Congrats to the Rangers and all their fans! I don't really have a specific team, I just didn't want the Yankees going to the WS again.

 

[BBQMommy]

Congrats to the Rangers and all their fans! I don't really have a specific team, I just didn't want the Yankees to go to the WS again.

Yes! and YESSSSSSSS


Caryn

 

[Dagny]

Yay! Rangers!!!! Woo Hoo!!

Ok, for those who want name tags - CAN YOU PLEASE PM ME??? It will be very difficult to manage through the posts here

Please PM me with your DIS name and your REAL name.... Now obviously, not everyone will have both, so if you have no DIS name, just put N/A and then the read name....

Hope that makes sense!!! I am happy to do these and realize I must be crazy saying that. I will be providing the name tags at the first DIS meet on the boat as we will not be at the Hyatt pre-crusie (we are going to be at the Boardwalk on the evening of the 17th - yay).

Phew! What am I missing? Oh, and did I mention that the Rangers are going to the World Series!!! Something us Texans thought we may never see, LOL!

 

[colkath2005]

Today is a busy day for me. Its my birthday I will be working from 2 until 8, then I have a meal with all my work mates at TGI Friday's. So I am enjoying the morning being showered with hugs and kisses from my 3 boys.

I was lurking on some of the other threads and found one where the had a countdown chain. Basically its a paper chain (like the kids make at christmas) and everyday you take off a link. This one has a Disney charector/logo on each link and a countdown e.g, 49 days to disney. As we are leaving early and the kids wont get an advent calender I thought this was a great idea.

The kids were very impressed,loved making them and it (almost) makes up for te fact we wont have our house decorated this year!

 

[itutorfortravel]

Happy Birthday colkath2005! I hope you have a wonderful day

I think the countdown chain sounds great. We did something similar the year we went on our first cruise. I made a big poster with traced Mickey heads - one for each day until we left - and DD colored one in every day. It let her see how close we were getting to actually leaving on our trip.

I too will scale back on decorations this year. I'm not sure if I can get away with not having a Christmas tree, but I will cut way back on the sit-around stuff. This is what I did last year and it was soooo nice not having a bunch to pack up!

 

[BBQMommy]

Happy Birthday Colkath2005! Hope you have a super day

The countdown chain sounds wonderful!!!


Caryn

 

[DVC4US]

Happy Birthday Colette! Hope you have a fantastic day!

BTW - my DD has really enjoyed talking to your DS on the teen thread.

 

[pennymike]

If there are any other people interested in knowing who is on your excursions, PM me with a list of your excursions. I'm making an Excel workbook of all peoples plans, so we know who in the group will be on where / when.

Great idea! I assume you have mine, eh?

 

[pennymike]

I can try to do these for everyone... if someone can send me a clean copy of the clip art on page one that I can size and I can get everyone's "real names" versus DIS names.... no $1.00 required, LOL

My vote would be to make them the size to fit INTO the lanyard card holder; Just my preference

 

[Cruisin'Nick]

"Its my birthday"

Happy Birthday!!! Hope you had a good day!!!

And Congratulations to the Rangers!!! SO glad they're going to the WS!!!

 

[pennymike]

I dunno...DH's story in Cozumel went like something like this: The girls and I stayed on and he went off in search of a Mexican hardware store (tools being different in different countries, blah blah blah...I tune out). He goes in, looks around and they ask if he is looking for anything in particular. He answers something to the effect of no, just looking, and the guy says "I have a sister. Would you like to look at my sister?" and points to her standing in the doorway.

Hmmm....maybe THAT'S why he wants to go searching for hardware stores in clothing optional vacations spots, now that I think about it.

My DH and his friends went roaming through the shopping areas of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and got offered photos, drugs, sisters, and even brothers when they continually said "No, Gracias". Yikes! Cozumel, too, eh? Never got those types of offers in the Caribbean before, so hopefully it's more a Mexico thing.

 

[VA Girl]

So, I've been really busy lately and I haven't been able to post or read posts. I had sooo many pages of posts to catch up on. I'm finally all caught up and I'm going to try and post more often.

Welcome to all the new people joining us. This is really a great DIS group we have going. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and having a great vacation together.

Gretchen

 

[pennymike]

This is from the FAQ sticky on the main cruise board.

Boxes Sent the Ship Ahead of Cruise - PLEASE follow these instructions carefully!!!!!! UPDATED AS OF 2/25/2009
• ONE box per stateroom, no exceptions.
• The package must have the guest full name, ship, sailing date, stateroom number or GTY if you have not been assigned a stateroom number.
• The package also must have a packing slip attached to the outside of the box that details the contents of the package. For prescriptions, a copy of the prescription is sufficient. Your list may or may not be read but it must have one. Write packing slip on the outside of the envelope.
• NO FOODS/DRINKS OF ANY KIND, LIQUOR OF ANY KIND, FIREARMS, ETC.. Items that cannot be shipped to the Disney Cruise Line Warehouse and delivered to the ship include: food products (any and all food products including baby food/formula), beverages (liquor, water, etc.), chemicals, and luggage. These items will not be accepted at the warehouse and will be returned. This may cause the dogs to hit on your box and that would be a bad thing.
• The required size of the cartons you are shipping down have to be about the size of a record storage box 12 inches on a side and should not weigh more than 20 lbs. (This has been asked personally by Dave Adams who is the owner)

Address your package(s) to:
Disney Cruise Line Warehouse
Guest Name / Stateroom # (GTY, if you don't know what it is when you send the package)
8633 Transport Drive
Orlando, FL 32832
Phone: 407-566-8196

In the bottom left corner of the top of the package put the following information: ATTN: HOUSEKEEPING
*Name
*Sail Date
*Ship
*Stateroom Number
*Packing slip that details contents of the package (for prescriptions, a copy of the prescription is sufficient)
• Packages must arrive by Friday by 3:00pm for the 7-Night Cruise on the Disney Magic (Saturday).
• Packages must arrive by Friday by 3:00pm for the 4-Night Cruise on the Disney Wonder (Sunday).
• Packages must arrive by Wednesday by 3:00pm for the 3-Night Cruise on the Disney Wonder (Thursday).

If your box is hit on by the screening dog or chosen for additional screening they will open the list and the box and look through it. They will close it back up and provided nothing bad is in it then it will be in your room as usual later after boarding. These boxes will be coming on the ship with the crew mail among other things so they may be in the staterooms later then they were before as they are low priority in the scheme of things for Disney.

Thanks, LeiLani!