MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[njmom23grls]

Lissa and Lisa Marie -

I'm sorry for the difficult time you both are going through. My thoughts of peace are with you and your families at this difficult time.

Lisa

 

[tinksmom]

I can't help it - last month Emily (my Emily) had over 6,000 text messages on our phone bill

Okay, we've got to hook up these two. Carly frequently has that many if not more. PM me and we'll get them together.
tenya

 

[nzdisneymom]

Angie - good luck with booking tonight. Remember that they have held some openings back for you 75-dayers to have a shot at Palo and various other excursions, so hopefully you'll be able to get what you want.

Lissa - I'm sorry to read about your grandfather - but as you wrote, I'm so glad you and your mom were able to make the trip to see him last week -- you will treasure those final days even with all the hecticness involved. Keep in touch when you can.

Lisa Marie - sorry to read about your DH's grandmother. It is hard to lose a grandparent. It's been just a month since we went through this with my grandmother, but it has been a great time to reflect on all the joys of having had grandparents that we knew and loved.


I also saw the post about 2010 DCL itineraries on the main board and am looking forward to tomorrow afternoon to learn where DCL is going. I had originally heard it would be Tuesday, so I was thrilled to learn it would be a day earlier It also gives some legitimacy to my "hangin' out on DIS Boards" for the kids.

 

[MOQu]

We have officially changed to the Thanksgiving cruise. It was great getting to know you guys. Have a great Christmas with the Mouse, and we will try our best not to trash the ship as we party hard.....

 

[tinksmom]

Lissa, sorry to hear about your grandfather. I know you'll cherish your memories of your last visit!

Lisa Marie, I hope the Lord makes your husband's grandmother's passing easy.

Merrilyn, we'll miss getting to meet you on the cruise. I hope your November cruise is all you hope for!

Angie and everyone else making ressies tonight -- GOOD LUCK!
tenya

 

[hinsok1]

Lisa - so sorry about your Grandfather . . . how special you were able to spend time with him so recently.

Lisa Marie - sorry to hear about your DH's Grandmother.

Our prayers are with both of you and your families!

Welcome Denise. I am Kim, wife to Brad, mother to Kat (12) and Matthew (7, turning 8 on the cruise) We are cruising with Brad's family for his parents 50th Anniv. This will be our second DCL Cruise.

Merilyn - Best wishes . . . totally understand about the change to the cruise.

Anyone hear about the potential problems with Sun Country? I'm starting to get a little worried. Our flights out on Dec 19 are on Sun Country . . .I'm trying to get info from our travel agent to see what our options might be. Can;t imagine how hard it will be to get four airline tickets if Sun Country does close down in early December!!!!

The Revolve Tour was great. Though I now realized that I am getting old for certain concerts. They had Hawk Nelson, Natalie Grant and Krystal Meyer. The teens loved. While I enjoy all of their music, I appreciate it much better at a lower sound level!! But Kat (DD 12) loved it. Trying to get 70 teens to sleep by 11:30 on Friday night was another challenge . . .some were determined they would sneak out! But we were smarter!!! They seem to forget we were once teens also!! Got to say, I was really looking forward to my own bed Saturday night. Sleeping on the floor in a church is definatley for the young!

We also have late dining, though on the waiting list for early. DIL's prefer early. I prefer late, but we are celebrating the DIL's anniversary, so we will let them decide when we eat!

Got to run, only had a few min to catch up . . . missed reading the boards for a few days.

Have a great week everyone . . .

 

[hinsok1]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am looking forward to sharing in the excitement as we count down to sailing. Has anyone ever been on the Jeep excursion on Cozumel? We have it reserved on the shore excursions, but I have heard mixed reviews on the conditions of the roads, etc.

Denise - we did the Jeep Excursion in Cozumel in Feb 2007. But reserved it on our own versus with Disney - saved a bit of $$. We really enjoyed it, but not enough to do it again. The drive was neat, but a little boring. There just isn't a lot to see. We didin't feel that the ruins were even worth it. The snorkling was very good, and the restaurant they took us to for lunch was very good (though I don't know the name of it to go there again :-() DS who was 5 at the time stayed on the ship with DGM. Very good thing. He would not have lasted through out the whole thing. Just not enough to interest him. This time we are either going to just go to a beach, or do some snorkling. Haven;'t decided yet. DD would like to stay with her cousins, but none of their families are ready to committ to an excursion yet, so we have held off on scheduleing ours. other than the wave runners at CC.

Hope that helps.

Kim

 

[nzdisneymom]

I hope that those of you who were scheduling excursions and Palo reservations last night were able to get them. This means we are officially at 75 days out, right? Woo-hoo!

It's a busy week for us, but we're going to WDW this weekend for Gary to run in the Race for the Taste on Sunday. He and some friends will do the Keys to the Kingdom tour on Saturday morning - it's really interesting and if you ever get a chance to do it, I highly recommend it.

Then next week we have to go to Oregon for a conference ... I know, tough gig I am presenting a workshop at the conference, so once that is over, I can breathe a sigh of relief and start fully focusing on the cruise (like I haven't been already? - hee hee).

Hope you all get done the things you need to do this week.

 

[DCLInauguralXmas]

First off, I want to tell Lissa & Lisa Marie that I am thinking of them during their difficult times.

Next, Susan I would love to get your DD Lexi and your DS Nick hooked up with my DS Scott 18 and my DD Shelby 16 before the cruise. I was worried about Scott because he is too old for the stack and too young for want to be with his dad and I the whole trip. If your kids are interested E-mail me and we can exchange cell phone numbers for the kids to text or e-mail addresses. It would be so nice if they knew someone going into the cruise.

Ok, now I am going to ask a dumb question - I have not had a chance to read all 75 pages of the thread, I have read at least 20 (that has to count for something). But I have not stumbled on the explanation of what a fish extender is. Please have pity on me and tell me what one is and what you do with them.

 

[nzdisneymom]

A fish extender is something that one can hang on the "fish" that is outside the cabin door. The fish is just a decorative thing where DCL may leave notes for you, invitations for your children to the Stack or other events, etc. Several years ago, DIS-Boarders were engaging in gift-exchanges with their fellow DIS-Board passengers and needed a way to drop items off at various cabins. Thus the invention of the Fish Extender - which is basically a pocket-organizer that is hung from the Fish - thus extending the fish That way, others can drop off little gifts in the pockets of the Fish Extender.

But the Fish Extender doesn't have to be a pocket-organizer type thing - it can be anything that basically provides a place to have stuff left in it -- a small fabric bag / tote works just as well.

If you search for "fish extender" or look for "fish extender" in the thread titles on the main board, you'll likely find some pictures.

As for what to do with them, if you want to participate in the Fish Extender exchange, just let me know what your cabin number is and I'll add you to the list. Then what you'll do is bring a small item for the others participating in the exchange and drop them off during the course of the week. You'll have items left for you, too. They can be whatever you want -- Disney related, pirate themed, travel stuff, something from your hometown, etc. It can be a one-time delivery or maybe break it up to deliver something a few days during the cruise. You can give a "one per family" thing or something for everyone. We'll have a list of those participating including ages of the kids in case you wanted to tailor your gifts to each cabin (for example, I might not give crayons to a family with teenagers - they might get a cool pen instead).

I don't remember the official count right now, but it was not yet 30 families participating from our Meet thread.

 

[DCLInauguralXmas]

As for what to do with them, if you want to participate in the Fish Extender exchange, just let me know what your cabin number is and I'll add you to the list. Then what you'll do is bring a small item for the others participating in the exchange and drop them off during the course of the week. You'll have items left for you, too. .

We would love the join in the fun for both the Fish Extender and the ornament exchange. We are in Cabins 7016 and 7014. DH Dennis, DS Scott, 18, DS Daniel 10 and I are in 7016 and my mother, DD Shelby 16, and DS Darrin 10 are in 7014.

Is there a price limit or any kind of parameters?

 

[minnie1]

Lissa & Lisa Marie, I am so sorry for your losses. You are in our thoughts.

Merilyn, Have fun on your Thanksgiving Cruise. We will be thinking of you. Please come back and let us know how it went.

As for booking last night, I got everything I wanted except the 1 thing I really wanted most of all.
I really wanted to do Palo brunch or tea. Of course, they were booked and I logged on right at midnight. Do you know if they keep some spots open for people that try and book when we get on the boat? I guess if we don't get to go, I will have to convince dh to take another Disney cruise because then we would be able to book things at 90 days.

Angie

 

[DCLInauguralXmas]

there weren't any Palo brunches left when I logged-on at midnight on the 90th day (Castaway Club date). So don't feel too bad, we settled for a high tea and I am not sure if we will keep it or cancel it. I bought a book on the cruise line and they gave a sample menu of the tea and other than the tea and the desert I don't think my husband or son would eat any of it. I will figure that out as time gets closer.

I saw someone was interested in finding out who had what dinner times- we have the late dinner shift. With older kids I figured they would enjoy the extra play time before getting cleaned up for dinner.

 

[Az Pirates]

Angie,
They absolutely hold back Palo ressies for booking onboard the first day. You could still get just what you want.
The time and place will be listed in the navigator. I think it's usually in Rockin Bar D. The last time we cruised you could go there as soon as you boarded, but I believe someone on a recent cruise said there was a specific time later in the afternoon for Palo requests. I hope that doesn't mean waiting in a long line; but if it does, I'll probably be right there with you... even with the 90 day booking window I wasn't able to get what I wanted.


Has everyone checked out the new itinerary announcement?
I haven't really been keeping up with the speculation threads, but from what I have read, it looks like the Dis sleuths had much of what was announced figured out already.
So anything you all are intersted in?

 

[nzdisneymom]

Sheila - we are interested in the Northern European Capitals cruise (12-nights) with either a pre- or post-cruise stay in London.

As for Palo brunch, be sure to go by Rockin' Bar D and at least get on the waitlist for brunch if you want it - some folks end up canceling their reservations once they are on board.

 

[Az Pirates]

That's the one I'd choose too.
And I think spending some extra time in London would be ideal!

I don't think we'll be booking anything on 10/14 though. We've decided to pursue some other vacation options for the next couple of years.

Truth be told; I'm all for another DCL trip, but I got outvoted. I don't let that happen often, but I figure it could actually work to my advantage this time... I should be able to reintroduce the DCL idea again about the time the new ships are rolled out.


Looks like they're offering a 10 night Christmas cruise again too.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Boy I needed some happy news today. We will deffinetly be booking the 12 night northern European cruise with a per and post stay in London. This will be matt and mine graduation gift. I'm so excited about this.

The reception is tomorrow and then the funeral is on Wednesday morning. Thank ya'll for all your thoughts and prayers they are greatly appreciated.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Boy I needed some happy news today. We will deffinetly be booking the 12 night northern European cruise with a per and post stay in London. This will be matt and mine graduation gift. I'm so excited about this.

The reception is tomorrow and then the funeral is on Wednesday morning. Thank ya'll for all your thoughts and prayers they are greatly appreciated.

Lissa, Matt, and Nancy - hang in there -- know that you are being covered with good thoughts and prayers of comfort.

We are looking at July 6th Northern European Capitals cruise because it goes to Helsinki. The June one is too early for us to go and the other two go to Estonia rather than Finland. My grandmother was Finnish, so I'm 1/4 Finn, so I want to go there. Gary asked me to tell you, Lissa, that we are planning on July 6th in case you guys were planning to go and didn't have a date preference! I also looked at the hotels that DCL offers -- the Grosvenor would mean we need two rooms, while the Renaissance Chancery would let us sleep four in a room. I never could locate the Park one online but I haven't looked on the main board yet - I'm sure someone has already posted hotel links

 

[tinksmom]

Angie, keep checking for the Palo brunch. I picked one up yesterday before it opened up for the 75 dayers. When I checked stuff today there was still a brunch slot left for the first sea day. Also, I cancelled out dinner, so I'm sure there will be other people out there chaning plans over the next 10.5 weeks.
Tenya

 

[psharrock]

Paul - I didn't realize you all were also surprising your children! Yay for surprises!!!!

Eleven weeks from today!

We try and give them a surprise on every vacation, but most of them are much much smaller than this one.

Paul