Magic, January 16, 2010--Winter Day Castaways

[AimeeJ]

Thanks for the info. I forwarded it to my dad (he is paying for the excursions).

 

[Bunless]

Dis Meet Question ​

Good morning Castaways!

From everyone that I have heard from, the preference for the meet is before the muster drill.

All ship services are suspended at 3:30 for the drill at 4:00, so I know when we have to be done by
...but when should we start? Thoughts?


Shellcruiser is still organizing a Fish Extender event! Please see her post #6 on the first page!​

...and don't forget, if you are planning on coming to the dismeet and your name is not in the first post, please let me know!​

 

[pit303]

Dis Meet Question ​

Good morning Castaways!

From everyone that I have heard from, the preference for the meet is before the muster drill.

All ship services are suspended at 3:30 for the drill at 4:00, so I know when we have to be done by
...but when should we start? Thoughts?


Shellcruiser is still organizing a Fish Extender event! Please see her post #6 on the first page!​

...and don't forget, if you are planning on coming to the dismeet and your name is not in the first post, please let me know!​

On prior cruises we usually meet around 3 and started heading back to our cabins for the drill around 3:45.

 

[AimeeJ]

3 pm sounds good to me, I'm getting so excited!!!

 

[shellcruiser]

I agree with Maureen. 3 pm is fine. Seems like on the last cruise we might have made it earlier like 2:30, but we had 97 dis-families. YES 300+ potential participants. It was a little loud

 

[ltzol]

Can't believe we are actually to the point of picking time - soooo excited!

It will be here before we know it!

Do we have a cut off date for the FE's?

 

[ljcrochet]

3 o'clock sounds great to me.
What time is everyone planing on getting to the ship? If you are flying how are you getting to the pier?

 

[hgon76]

3 sounds good. I just hope I remember in all the excitement of the day. We're flying in the day before, staying at the Radisson & driving a rental from budget to the budget office & taking the shuttle to port. That's what we did last year & it worked great.

 

[shellcruiser]

Do we have a cut off date for the FE's?

I had just messaged Bunless about that. We need to decide on a cut off. I think 1 month is fair. What do you think?

3 o'clock sounds great to me.
What time is everyone planing on getting to the ship?

We arrive at port as soon as we are able (determined by our shuttle time). When you check in at the port you will be assigned a boarding pass with a number. Disney boards everyone with boarding pass #1 first then #2 etc. You will not have access to your room right away, but you will be able to board early. More experienced DCL cruisers help me out here...I'm thinking we've been on board as early as 11:30 am, but I just don't really recall.

3 sounds good. I just hope I remember in all the excitement of the day. We're flying in the day before, staying at the Radisson & driving a rental from budget to the budget office & taking the shuttle to port. That's what we did last year & it worked great.

We used Radisson last time and were very pleased. We will be in the throng with you waiting for our shuttle Sat. am.

 

[shellcruiser]

Posting another ALL CALL for anyone who wants to participate in the FE exchange. I'm sure we have a few fellow castaways who have not yet decided to join the fun.

Winter Days Castaways ​

Fish Extender Gift Exchange


Registration Deadline: Dec. 15th

Everyone is invited to participate. The more the merrier.​

If you think you want to join in the fun, but don't know what to expect feel free to PM me with your questions.


For those who want to sign up... PM (private message) me or simply post that you want to join in.

 

[Bunless]

It sounds like the 3 o'clocks have it!
Now for where to meet...


We're flying in the night before and will be staying on points at a non-view (cheaper) room at Animal Kingdom. Then we'll take the Disney shuttle from WDW, it's just the two of us, so the price is sort of a wash compared to car rental--and we don't need to change seatings or get reservations for anything. It also seems an easy way to do it--do they play a video on the cruise shuttle like they do from the airport to WDW?

 

[pit303]

It sounds like the 3 o'clocks have it!
Now for where to meet...


We're flying in the night before and will be staying on points at a non-view (cheaper) room at Animal Kingdom. Then we'll take the Disney shuttle from WDW, it's just the two of us, so the price is sort of a wash compared to car rental--and we don't need to change seatings or get reservations for anything. It also seems an easy way to do it--do they play a video on the cruise shuttle like they do from the airport to WDW?

We were going to stay at AKL but now we are renting a car when we get there on Friday AM and staying at the Inn at Cocoa Beach We usually get to the port around 10-10:30 if we want to upgrade which I think we may try for this time We will drop the car off at Budget and take their shuttle over to the port

My private boat tour to St John is filled last time I talked to him he didn't have anyone but us now he got 4 more people and the max is 6 Sorry anyone who was interested

 

[ljcrochet]

We are just doing the cruise. I think dh arranged for FL tours to take us from MCO to the ship. I don't remember what time our flight is, i think it is early since i remember making plans to drop the dog off on Friday.

 

[ltzol]

I am not sure if we are staying in Orlando or closer to the port - I am working on getting free tickets to Kennedy Space Center so if I get those - that will make the decision easy!

My husband travels a lot so we will be staying at a Marriott in either location.

We also have a rental car and I think we will be getting to the port early because I may try for an upgrade (unless I get touched with some pixie dust beforehand)

 

[williamson_ja]

how do you get free tickets to the kennedy space center?

 

[AimeeJ]

What time is everyone planing on getting to the ship?

That depends on if I work the night before and if I'm done packing. Sure, living 30 min from the port sounds nice but that just means you can put everything off until the last moment. I am really going to try not to have to work Friday night, though. (12 hour night shift at the hospital) We plan to arrive around noon. That seems to work well. With the airport and resorts able to check people in now, I do not feel the need to beat the busses. I don't know how things are now, but at the begining of the year we were getting very few early boarding cards for port check-ins. Our numbers basicly were starting at group 4.

More experienced DCL cruisers help me out here...I'm thinking we've been on board as early as 11:30 am, but I just don't really recall.

Here is the inside scoop Check in starts about 10 - 10:30 am (Most CMs are eating lunch from 10 - 10:30). They try really hard to start boarding at 11:45 am and 95% of the time there is no problem. However, sometimes things do run late. Think about it - the last of 2,700 people leave the ship at 10 am and an hour fourty-five min later they start letting 2,700 people back on the ship. I still find the logistics of it amaizing.

 

[AimeeJ]

Got my first set of FE gifts finished up today. Still have left overs so sign up people or DD will not be able to earn much arcade money for delivering the gifts.

 

[GrammieMame]

We originally signed up for the Disney excursion to St. John, but then read something highly recommending Rumbaba charters (sailboat to St. John). They are more expensive, but offer whole lots more and promise to go where the big boat excursions don't. The excursion is for 6 people; we signed up 4. Wondering if anyone else would like to make up the sixsome. You can google Rumbaba charters for all the info.

 

[GrammieMame]

Just read your post and I'm wondering if you are doing Rumbaba. We recently signed up four people and maybe you were two and our four made a bull boat.

 

[AimeeJ]

Questions for those of you booking your own trips? Have you ever had to cancel? What about unexpected itenery changes? I just have seen too many people panic at the port when we let them know about an itenery change at check-in to feel comfortable right now, though I've read what sounds like some really fun alternatives. Any thoughts or experiences?