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

[BBQMommy]

I would love to see Tron on the ship

Those photos are wonderful! I wonder if Animal Kingdom at WDW is a bit of a letdown for you? I would think it would either be a comforting reminder or be like visiting the Venetian in Vegas after spending time in Venice, Italy

If it is OK not to have the same thing for all (late comers) I am fine with Nov 18. Is there a list somewhere of the number of cabins, number of adults, and number of kids with ages signed up so far? (actually just the DIS names signed up would be great and we could figure it out comparing it to the roll call list on page one). Thank you!!

Caryn

 

[bigAWL]

Wow,
bigawl, those pictures are gorgeous. Can we make a port stop there????? I see you are getting your gymboree there! (I am a reseller) Are your girls missing anything from the US? I can make their FE special. Which kids club will you put the girls in? Mine turn 8 November 14. Being that they still believe in Santa, I think I am going to keep them in the lab this trip, if Dis will let me.

Seriously PM me if you guys have any special suggestions.

We can never have enough Gymboree!

DD9 turns 9 next month - she'll spend most of her time in the lab. DD7 will turn 7 while we're in WDW the week before the cruise. She splits time between the club and lab. While DD3 will turn 4 right after the cruise. She'll spend most of her time in the club. Your twins should be just right for the lab, although they'll be welcome in the club, too. The Ocean Quest is for 11-13 y.o.s.

What do they miss from the US? Snow.

Honestly, they don't miss much. Between internet shopping (we get mail and packages delivered by diplomatic pouch) and the Disney Channel (from satellite TV out of South Africa), they don't miss out on much. They've spent most of their lives outside of the US, so if they are missing something - they don't really know it.

 

[BBQMommy]

Another Gymbo Mom here - that hat jumped right out at me

Caryn

 

[Pooh's Pals]

DH and I watched the original Tron on TV this weekend, will be great to see the new version on board.

Re FE: coming from the UK, we weren't exactly sure when Thanksgiving was for the cut off date but 1st Nov sounds good for us - as the numbers grow I'm beginning to worry that we won't have enough space/weight allocation unless everything is going to be very small/light

 

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

 

[eve adkins]

I have a question for you experienced cruisers...My daughter will be two months away from being three when we go. I have heard that if she's potty trained they might let her go to the kids club. I guess I more looking for opinions on moving her up to the kids club or making reservations for the nursery. Looking through the pictures it looks like the nursery might be kind of boring for her (she has 3 big brothers) but I worry about her having an accident if she goes to the kids club or maybe being overwhelmed by the older kids....Any suggestions?? Thanks, Eve

 

[3princessMommy]

I have a question for you experienced cruisers...My daughter will be two months away from being three when we go. I have heard that if she's potty trained they might let her go to the kids club. I guess I more looking for opinions on moving her up to the kids club or making reservations for the nursery. Looking through the pictures it looks like the nursery might be kind of boring for her (she has 3 big brothers) but I worry about her having an accident if she goes to the kids club or maybe being overwhelmed by the older kids....Any suggestions?? Thanks, Eve

Normally they will allow children who are within a month of their birthday to move up into the Club. But they are VERY strict with the potty-training stuff in the Club. It's not just that she knows when she needs to go. She has to be able to do everything by herself without any help. Our daughter has issues with this, which worried me a lot about her in the Club on our last cruise.

I think on cruises when there aren't a lot of young kids (like our last one) they are a lot more lenient. But when the Club is full, they can get very strict. My understanding is that generally speaking they will let one (maybe two accidents) slide figuring the kids are overexcited, etc. But more than that and they will ask you to use the Nursery or to stay with your child in the Club. If there is an accident, you will be paged immediately and expected to pick up your child and get them changed. (DD3 had a couple accidents on our last cruise and I was ready to be booted, which luckily they never did.) We also had her older sister in the Club who helped to remind her that she needed to go potty and would go with her so she wasn't completely alone.

I have heard of families who put their children in the Nursery due to age, only to have the Nursery tell them that their child is ready for the Club and they can go there. But they will not allow you to register your child for the Club in advance due to her age - I think it's on a case-by-case basis.

If I were you, I'd schedule Nursery time - particularly for that Palo brunch or dinner, special show, or excursion. Then if you can switch to the Club, you can just cancel the Nursery ressie. (I don't think there's a penalty. You might check on that to be sure.) That way, regardless of what they decide, you are covered.

As for being overwhelmed by the other kids - I don't think that's an issue at all. There are plenty of counselors and they really do keep the kids occupied and safe. We've never had a problem with any of our three feeling overwhelmed by the other kids.

 

[3princessMommy]

Those photos are wonderful! I wonder if Animal Kingdom at WDW is a bit of a letdown for you? I would think it would either be a comforting reminder or be like visiting the Venetian in Vegas after spending time in Venice, Italy

Caryn

Funny you should mention it...The first time we went to Animal Kingdom, we had been living in West Africa and our oldest was 6. When we got to the Africa section and started walking through the "village" DD6 shouts, "This doesn't look like Africa AT ALL!" We got a lot of funny stares from passersby as to why this blond-haired, blue-eyed child would have any inkling of what Africa really looks like!

To be fair to both Caitie and Disney, the African village at Animal Kingdom is modeled on a Kenyan village and she had only ever been to West Africa. The architecture and colonial influences are very different in the two regions, so they were both right!

 

[bigAWL]

Those photos are wonderful! I wonder if Animal Kingdom at WDW is a bit of a letdown for you? I would think it would either be a comforting reminder or be like visiting the Venetian in Vegas after spending time in Venice, Italy

Caryn

Before Uganda, we spent three years in west Africa, in a country called Burkina Faso. [free drink to the first person who can name the capital... and pronounce it correctly.] The first time we walked ino the Africa land at Animal Kingdom back in 2008, my DD7 at the time said, "This isn't what Africa looks like."

 

[3princessMommy]

I would also like to sign up to the FE group, please. Thank you

BigHugs - PM TinkMischief just to make sure she gets your name and info.

If it is OK not to have the same thing for all (late comers) I am fine with Nov 18. Is there a list somewhere of the number of cabins, number of adults, and number of kids with ages signed up so far? (actually just the DIS names signed up would be great and we could figure it out comparing it to the roll call list on page one). Thank you!!

TinkMischief is keeping the list. She posted it a while back, but we've had several additions since then. I'm sure she'll post it again soon when she gets it updated. I think there were 31 cabins and lots of 12-year-olds!

 

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[bigAWL]

Funny you should mention it...The first time we went to Animal Kingdom, we had been living in West Africa and our oldest was 6. When we got to the Africa section and started walking through the "village" DD6 shouts, "This doesn't look like Africa AT ALL!" We got a lot of funny stares from passersby as to why this blond-haired, blue-eyed child would have any inkling of what Africa really looks like!

To be fair to both Caitie and Disney, the African village at Animal Kingdom is modeled on a Kenyan village and she had only ever been to West Africa. The architecture and colonial influences are very different in the two regions, so they were both right!

Guess I'm a little slow tonight. It's football season, afterall.

 

[3princessMommy]

Looking at the Itinerary, we have two Formal nights - I was wondering, how many of this Dis group will be dressing up for one or both nights?

I was looking at dresses but didn't want to get something if I was to be the only one dressing up, then feeling out of place with everyone else

We'll be dressy! I'm really hoping for a formal Christmas dinner in Lumieres!

DH will wear a tux. My father will be in his Air Force Mess Dress Uniform. I have a floor-length gown and have ordered similar dresses for DDs from eBay.

 

[bigAWL]

You must have Sky Movies because I watched Tron yesterday too

I can't wait to see the new version - I'm hoping they'll be showing it on board

I would also like to sign up to the FE group, please. Thank you

Now I'm going to have to make sure I watch the original Tron before the cruise. (I'm not sure I ever saw the entire movie. Was it any good?) Just added it to my Netflix queue.

 

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[3princessMommy]

Oh good, this is what I was looking at getting too!

Now I won't worry that I would have been OTT in a gown - thank you

Hmmm...Now that you mention it though, there are TWO FORMALS! Now I wonder if I need two dresses.....uh oh

 

[BBQMommy]

That is great about AK

I will PM TinkMischief, thank you

Now, football ...

Just looking at my team's schedule. Maybe a set on the ship will show Miami hammering the Bills on Sunday the 19th or New England embarrassing them on the 26th.

 

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[bigAWL]

That is great about AK

I will PM TinkMischief, thank you

Now, football ...

Just looking at my team's schedule. Maybe a set on the ship will show Miami hammering the Bills on Sunday the 19th or New England embarrassing them on the 26th.

I'm in a football quandary tonight. My Redskins will play the hated Cowboys for the first game of the season. But it'll be something like 2am here at kickoff. I guess I don't need to actually be awake when I walk into work a few hours later.