MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[nzdisneymom]

So I am seriously thinking of parasailing at Castaway Cay -- but which day? Should I book for the first stop or the second? What do you all think? Pros and cons for each day????

 

[xsjackson]

My daughter has been begging me to let her do this since our first DCL cruise in 2005. Now she's 18 and can do what she wants but its a toss up between parasailing and waverunners. She and my husband LOVE waverunners - but say the ones at Castaway Cay are too slow.

I forgot we will be there twice. maybe both. Maybe I will parasail, what about an over weight 47 yr old with ADVENTURE!!!

mmm... new thoughts....light bulbs....

 

[ShannonR]

Mitchell and I are going to go parasailing, also. We wanted to SOOO bad on our last cruise in 3/07, but DCL did not offer it at the time. Something about trouble with the vendor. I think we will go on the first stop. I am still debating whether or not to take Melissa . I think it is based on weight, right? If so, then she will probably be too light.

Only 3 1/2 more days till NO MORE SCHOOL, Thank God!!! We are averaging over 100 degrees each day. Poor Mitchell and baseball. It doesn't seem to affect the kids though. (It's the parents who really suffer, right? )

Shannon

 

[DisneyZell]

The more you guys talk about parasailing, the more I want to do it. Does anyone know what the age requirement is? I think it would be great to do it with my younger son who will be 6. Their age requirements always seem so high...poor Connor doesn't get to do a lot. Although, he will be on a Disney cruise, so how "poor" can he be!! We have not done any excursions on Castaway Cay, so I'm thinking this is the time to do it. I was going to sign up for the banana boat ride, but just read that they are no longer offering that. I know one of the days we plan on renting bikes and exploring more of island. I have found some stuff for the fish extenders and am still looking for more. I love this stuff! We also just booked our airline tickets down to Orlando for Dec. 17 but still don't have return flights. We are really hoping SW comes through and starts with some decent prices. I am planning on making our hotel reservations today, probably staying at the All Star Sports Hotel. We are planning on going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party on the 18th as well. Well, hope everyone has a great day!

 

[Az Pirates]

DCL age requirements can be tough when you have little ones.
We've booked independant excursions several times for that very reason.

The minimum age to parasail on CC is 8 years old and anyone under 13 is supposed to go tandem.

But you're right Shannon, they sometimes make the call based on weight too. I once booked 3 of us, all planning to go single, but it started getting windy enough that they said DD (over 13 at the time) and I would have to go tandem or not go at all since they were concerned about the weight thing.
(DD's, not mine... unfortunately; I'm sure they figured I'd serve as her anchor so she wouldn't float away)


We're waiting for SW too.
Rumour has it that December dates could be released on 6/27

 

[xsjackson]

Got airfare two weeks ago for the 3 Jacksons, 4 Williams, (8 out of Seattle)and 2 Newsoms (SLC) on Delta before the restrictions and $60 extra fare. Staying at the radisson at the Port the night before our cruise. Last time we took a DCL at Christmas (2006) we almost didn't make the cruise due to power failures and snow/wind in Seattle. Delayed 18 hours without electricity. My neighborhood was out of electricty for the entire 10 day cruise. What a mess when we got home. But a relaxing 10 days in the sun!!!

Waiting for SW for my daughter who will be a freshman at PENN in the fall. Afraid something will mess up between now and December. Also we are meeting my inlaws at WDW after the cruise and my husband and I aer treating. Hope to get good fares with SW for them - Philly to Orlando.

Wish me luck!!!

Did i mention that out luggage met us in Key West on our Christmas DCL cruise - advantage of booking air with Disney and baggage not arriving.

 

[corinnak]

Sorry I haven't checked in until now. My family of 4 will be on this cruise come December, but it has seemed so far away, and still does, really, that we haven't really been planning and dreaming too much about it yet. My DH booked it while we were on the Med cruise last summer. We have 2 boys who will be 10 and 5 in December.

We're all vegetarians, so I am prepared to field WDW vegetarian dining questions, Susan. Though I must confess to not actually noticing which places have steak.....

And count us in for the fish-extender-gift-exchange-extravaganza.

 

[DisneyZell]

Welcome corinnak! We are so happy to have another family join us. We have boys very similar in age...My ds, Nick will be 10 when we cruise and ds, Connor, will be 6. There aren't too many boys around 5/6 years old, so it will be good to know that there will at least be one for Connor to get to know.

I just made our reservations for the All Star Sports hotel. It has been awhile since we have stayed on property, so it should be fun. Too bad the minimum age for parasailing is 8...we'll have to find something else special for Connor to do. Maybe he'll do the stingrays.

Have a good night everyone!

 

[xsjackson]

We're all vegetarians, so I am prepared to field WDW vegetarian dining questions, Susan. Though I must confess to not actually noticing which places have steak.....

Good news on the cruise. They have veggie selections for adults and kids on the cruise. Usually 2-3 each dinner. Last DCL cruise we took Christmas 06 I asked for each menu every night (10 nights) for my sister and family. They are also vegetarians - but eat fish. Even kids menu has items. Check allears.net. They have a vegetarian section and menus for wdw.

 

[xsjackson]

We are also brings in our group of 16, a 5 year old boy. And a 4 year old girl! Not mine mine will be 18 and 16 YES! Some time alone.

Still working on places to eat at WDW. We will be staying at Pop Century Dec 27 - Jan 2. Then back to school and work for all of us.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Corinna - welcome! We were fortunate to do the Med last summer, too -- which sailing were you on? We were on the July 18th one. This time last year we were in serious planning mode, so it just feels right to start seriously planning for our upcoming December cruise!

One thing I want to do on the cruise is take a sea day to "eat my way around the ship" ... I'll need to do this after I parasail though (LOL). There are so many places to pick up a bite to eat that I just haven't had and I want to make sure to try them out. Like the little pastry display at the cove cafe. Or more than grabbing a banana at Goofy's Galley. And what about late-night snacks at Beat Street or the Promenade lounge? And dinner at Topsiders? What else am I missing? Oh, something more than cookies and ice cream bars from room service.

 

[corinnak]

DisneyZell - I appreciate the warm welcome. My 5 year old is the only one of the family who would probably agree to parasail - it's going to be a few more years for him, I guess! Where is the age split between the younger kids club and the lab again? I have forgotten everything.


Susan - Thanks for the tips! It is a funny thing - we are so used to having one option and choosing where to eat based on what the one option is, that we often have a hard time deciding when there is more than one choice. We have so little practice at it!

Cindy - We were on the last cruise before the Repo. August something through something.....I have no memory for numbers. They were out of Mickey Bars by the time we got on board, I kid you not. Instead, there were some pirate bars, but they only had a chocolate hat. It seems like this cruise is taking a lot less planning than the one last year - I agree that we really buckled down around this time, too. There were SO many excursions, SO many ports, SO much more hassle to fly into Barcelona!

I was going to say that I've never eaten anything in any of the places you just mentioned, either, but it's not entirely true! I've never even been in the Cove Cafe - all those excursions kept us too busy for much time on the ship, I guess. I did eat a meal at Goofy's Galley one time - it was OK. The ice cream there is so nice, though. I miss the topsider's breakfast buffet. My FIL seriously preferred Pirate's Cay or Lumiere's but for breakfast, my favorite was 100% Topsider. Their dinner was fine the night we...ahem...had an issue at Animator's Pallette and I ended up taking the kids up to eat at Topsider - it was a family issue, not a Disney issue, incidentally. The cheese plate from room service is darned good, too.

I am just rambling on and on - I love your idea - maybe we should plan a progressive DIS-meet.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Corinna - they were out of Mickey bars when we were on the Med in mid-July and those "pirate bars" were no substitute. The kids were disappointed.

There's really not a lot of excursion plannng for this trip, especially until Costa Maya info is available. But really for this trip, my "destination" is more of just being on the ship, while the ports were our destinations for the Med. cruise.

 

[DisneyZell]

Corinnak-the age split for the club is up to 7 (3-4 & 5-7) and lab starts at 8. And, xsjackson, so glad to hear another 5 year old boy will be with us. Sorry if I missed that in another post! One of the only excursions I want to do is a mayn ruin tour. However, I don't know how my kids would do on that! I am hoping to do one on Costa Maya and then just stay on the ship at Cozumel. We'll see once our excursions are available.

Deanna

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Welcome everyone new! I've been busy wraping up the end of the school year and starting a new class. Doing my masters online has been easrier than going to class but there is no break.

As for the cruise we talk about it all the time but have not thought about any excursions. We are more intrested in enjoying the ship and getting to castaway cay. Our first cruise was the med cruise and I remember very litle of the ship that cruise was so excursion heavy. Parasailing might be fun but I'm not sure how I would feel about heights. Were going to WDW after the cruise for New Years and soon it will be time to making dining for that. Can't believe this trip will be here before we lnow it time is flying.

Lissa

 

[xsjackson]

I talked to my sister tonight and she is excited to know other 5 yr old boys on our cruise. She can never get onto the internet because her kids - 5,7,9,11 are always on. Build a bear is the 9 year olds current favorite site. They are so excited to meet other kids.

It is so nice to get then excited since there dad will not go on vacation with them or us - my sisters family. In fact my sister is a stay at home mom and an excellent sewer. She has been participating in craft shows for the last to years to afforfd this trip.

DCL and WDW here we come!!!

 

[minnie1]

Corinna,
Welcome to the Christmas Cruise meet. Our traveling party is me, my dh, and two dd's (age 10 & 7). Also traveling is my brother, SIL, and theri ds (5).

We are so excited about the cruise. I talk about it all the time but dh is concentrating on our WDW trip this August. I think after the WDW trip we will start thinking about excursions. I really want to see the ruins but I have read that the excursion takes so long that I am not sure my kids will have fun.

It seems like a lot of us are planning on going to WDW after the cruise for New Years. We are staying from Dec 27th to the 2nd at Old Key West. I don't think we are going to do the parks since we are going in Aug. I think we are just going to relax and do a lot of the other things that Disney has to offer.

Everyone have a good weekend.

Angie

 

[xsjackson]

We are also going as a big family group with 4 rooms on deck 6 and 2 on deck 7. My family has cruised before but really no one else. Then we have 6 rooms at POP until Jan 2nd. We haven't been to WDW since 2005 and having a college freshman, I was afraid she will not want to vacation with us after this trip.

Our ages range from my 4 yr old neice to my 74 yr old dad.

We are SOOOOOO planning. We each have our "jobs". I am the planner. My next sister is the sewer - making pirate costumes for all, sister #2 is the motivator, and sister #3 is an artist and she designs our tee-shirts, etc.

Yeah for planning!

 

[xmascruise04]

Count us in as well. For 12 of us this will be our 4th X-MAS cruise 02, 04, 06 and now 08 together. My wife and three kids as well as her sister and 3 kids and one set of grandparents have convinced another 12 cousins to come along ans see what we have been talking about since 02. We are now a party of 24. My wife and I will be celebrating our 18th wedding anniv. on board (4th Cruise anniv!) We have been spoiled with the last two x-mas crusies lasting 10 days and were disapponted at 7 days when we first saw the dates....that disappointment lasted all of 15 minutes About 6 more months!! Can't wait!!!!

 

[ShannonR]

Welcome! to all the newcomers. I am Shannon, and along with my DH Rick, we have three children: DD15 Morgan, DS11 Mitchell and DD4 Melissa . I have volunteered myself to coordinate the Secret Santa Gift Exchange and would love if EVERYBODY participated!!! I have only gotten 6 people to respond so far . I hope we have more, so this can be really fun!

Is everyone out of school now? Our last day was the 30th of May!!! It is sooooo nice having the kids out of school; no more early mornings, the endless homework/school projects, etc... We have a full summer with sports and trips, but we are looking forward to all of it!

We just recently decided to add 3 days of WDW to the end of our cruise trip!! Hopefully that will dull the depressed feeling you get when you walk off the ship. We are going to stay at Port Orleans-Riverside and enjoy 3 full days at the parks. Our little one is finally tall enough to get on most of the rides so we will all be able to ride at the same time this trip instead of doing the parent pass off of the baby.

Well, I hope everyone enjoys what is left of the weekend!!

Shannon