MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[dbxazd]

hi all!
We're all set for our second Disney Cruise. We went on our first Disney cruise (actually first ever) last December (2007) on board the Magic for the Western Caribbean trip. We booked this Christmas cruise before we even left the ship - we just fell in LOVE!
Travelling in my party is:
me - 34
DH - 39
DS - 8
DD - 6
and our close friends
DH - 39
DW - 35
DD - 9
DS - 6

I absolutely CAN NOT wait for this cruise. We decided to make it a very long vacation and added 3 days at WDW to the beginning of our trip - we'll be staying at the POP Century from 12/17 to 12/20!!!

I'd love to hear from any past Christmas cruisers as to what to expect on Christmas day (last year when we went - it was the first week in December - so we saw all the decorations on board and at Castaway Cay).

Oh - and we'll be dressed up for Pirate night too - my DS and DD LOVE the Pirates movies (and myself - i'm a fan of jack sparrow ). My DH and our friends DH will just be in their island gear/hawaiian shirts.

Can't wait to chat about this cruise!
Robin

 

[nzdisneymom]

Robin and family and friends - welcome to the Thread!

Our first cruise was a DCL in December 2005 - we got off the Magic on Christmas Eve. So as you know, the ship is absolutely beautiful in all her holiday glory!

I'm Cindy D., traveling with DH Gary, and boys Nathan (12) and Zachary (11) ... this trip is a surprise for the boys if I can keep my blabbermouth shut for another 4+ months. This will be our 4th DCL cruise - we had a 3-night in April which helped me not blab about this one.

We're getting our thoughts together about DIS Board activities for the cruise as we have quite a few families traveling. We're planning a meet for the first day (not sure of where or time yet), a Secret Santa exchange, an ornament exchange, and there is some discussion about doing a group t-shirt.

And there has been a suggestion for a digital scavenger hunt which sounds like loads of fun!

 

[DisneyZell]

Robin, family & friends!

I am Deanna sailing with DH Drew, DS Nick (10 at cruise time), DS Connor (6) and our good friends. It sounds like our itineraries are pretty similar. We are heading down to WDW on 12/17 and staying at All-Star Sports until 12/20. We are going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on 12/18, but those are the only plans we have so far. This will be our 3rd cruise, however, we have only sailed in Oct. so don't know much about Christmas on the cruise. We did just get a packet of info from DCL, which made me very happy just looking at it! Of course it is the same packet we got last time, but anytime I get something from DCL I am happy! We will all be dressed up for pirate night as well, and I am thinking of having all the boys in tux's for formal night this time.

Talk to you later, Deanna

 

[dbxazd]

We have plans to hit our "favorites" at WDW for those 3 days we are there before the cruise. We have ADR's for dinner time each of the 3 nights, with us being at DHS on Friday for Fantasmic!
We're trying to jam pack thing in on those first days.....and then reeeeelax for our cruise. Having been on last years, I have more of an idea of what I want to do on this cruise......and what I don't want to do.
We have the main dining time and am going to LOVE the double dip at Castaway Cay!

Robin

 

[nzdisneymom]

The double-dip at Castaway Cay is part of what sold me on doing this particular itinerary. Our original DCL was Key West, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya (since Cozumel was out of commission), and Castaway Cay. The other thing that sold us was that we'd have the Cozumel stop. We didn't care about going back to Costa Maya, and as it turns out, that's been replaced by Grand Cayman - which for us is a great thing as we did an island tour and then returned to the ship on our first time but said later on that we wished we had gone back onto the island for some shopping, etc., in the afternoon. But being novice cruisers, we did what we were comfortable with at the time. Plus I had a spa appt that afternoon (LOL).

When we were at Castaway Cay in April, it was so nice, and the one thing that kept me from being a bit sad about the end of our day was knowing that we'd be back, not once but twice! Hopefully we'll have ideal weather in December. The boys enjoyed doing a paddle-boat with DH, and after watching them have so much fun, I think I'll actually join them if they want to do it again this time. We did bike rides our first trip, but didn't last time even though I wanted to --- so I plan to do a bike ride at least one of the days.

I'm just curious about the double-dip in terms of food for lunch - if they'll serve the same menu or if they'll do something different - since they are pretty much set up for how they have things for single-stops.

 

[BearFan]

Welcome Robin and crew! My DH Paul(44) and I(43) are sailing on our first Christmas day cruise but this will be our 11th cruise with DCL. We usually sail the week after Thanksgiving when the ship is dressed to the nines but it's not quite high season. After our last Christmas, we decided to go it alone without relatives (long story). I actually booked this cruise on Dec 26th and have been looking forward to it ever since.
We have a variety of fun things planned with the group. I'm putting together a digital scavenger hunt and you're more than welcome to join in. I'm officially volunteering to organize the ornament exchange right now. If anyone wants to participate just PM me and I'll start a list. I know Cindy had six yeas from people and one maybe. Cindy, would you PM that info, too, so I don't miss anyone? Thanks.
Hope everyone had a great weekend! I know we did, we are celebrating our 23rd anniversary today!!!!
Lisa Marie
aka BearFan

 

[nzdisneymom]

Lisa - happy anniversary! And thanks for volunteering for the Ornament Exchange. I didn't keep an actual list of who wanted to do what - I just tally-marked them to get a count, so for those who are interested, they could either post here in the thread or PM you - whichever you prefer.

I'm about to start on our fish extender - wish me luck!

 

[alikat99]

I'm definitely in for the ornament exchange, and anything else that we've got planned!!!

 

[minnie1]

Welcome Robin and family!!
My traveling party is me, dh, dd(10), and dd (7). We also have my brother, SIL, and their ds(5) traveling with us.
This is our first Disney Cruise and we are so excited.

Lisa, we are in on the ornament exchange.

Angie

 

[ShannonR]

Welcome Robin!!!

I am Shannon, and along with my husband, Rick, we have 3 children (DD15, DS12, and DD4 ). This will be our second Disney cruise.

Just got home from yet another crazy night in labor and delivery! We broke our own record for the month of July with 740 deliveries!!! I think we will break THAT record for the month of August because it is only the 5th and we are already at 70 something deliveries! I AM EXHAUSTED!!! This vacation cannot come soon enough!

Hobby Lobby already has all their Christmas stuff out and we bought our Christmas tree with the miniature lights, ornaments, and tree topper!! I am now looking for the perfect stockings to use as our fish extenders!

Have a great day, everyone, I am going to sleep!

Shannon

 

[DisneyZell]

Hi everyone,

Thank you Lisa for doing the ornament exchange. We are in for that and our friends (Sailing Shamu) want to do it as well (they don't get on line here much, so they have given me the go ahead to sign them up for whatever we are doing). I have our material for our FE, but I haven't started putting them together. My two boys just started football practice, so things are a little busy here right now.

We just realized we will be making our Palo & excursion reservations while we are in Germany. I had no idea Sept. 21 was the 90 day mark...it sure is coming up soon. So, we'll be paying off our balance the week before!

Well, I better get going. talk to you later.

Deanna

 

[tinkerbell_29]

We are deffinetly in for the ornament exchange. Bought the ornament yesterday actually. It is beyond hot here today. We stuck a themometer on the outside of the sliding door and it is reading a 106. Yesterday we did the backstage magic tour. If this is somethign you've not done you should consider it was amazing seeing how the magic at the parks really happens. Well were off to the pool take care everyone.

 

[BearFan]

Hi!
Well, so far I have 6 in for the ornament exchange:
BearFan
Alikat99
Minnie 1
DisneyZell
Sailing Shamu
Tinkerbell 29
I've been looking for an ornament, too but nothing has struck my fancy. Would you like to limit it to a dollar amount or should we just use our best judgement? Also, most of us will be flying down and I know that we're not supposed to bring wrapped presents in our bags because of security. I was planning to put mine in a gift bag. Is that what you're thinking of, too? This sort of planning makes me look forward to seeing the holiday decorations in the malls during the summer!
Lisa Marie

 

[nzdisneymom]

Lisa - Count our family in for the ornament exchange.


Lissa - enjoy the pool - I'm sure it's hot as blazes at WDW. Enjoy that DVC A/C


I got a good start on the fish extender last night and am happy with it so far. I just need to figure out the top and hanger part. I've seen some cute dowels with the Mickey heads on the ends but don't know where they've come from. I'm going by Michael's tomorrow to look to see if I see something that I like for it. Otherwise I'll just make a fabric loop to attach and hang. Danged thing is gonna cost me about $20 by the time I'm all done, but hey, I'll have it for future trips as well. So if you're buying one on ebay for $25 or so, you're getting a good deal! Once it's done, I'll post a pic.

 

[ShannonR]

Lisa: Count us in for the ornament exchange!!! I am going to start looking soon for our ornament and our stockings!

Amy: Any more news about the Dolphin Encounter? Are we going to do it as a group or do I need to make reservations on our own?

Have a great day! I am off to another night of babies, babies, babies!!!

Shannon

 

[theodorechipmunkluvr]

i just remembered one thing, dd rachel is the theodore chipmunk fan from a couple of pages back, who posted prematurely to our booking the cruise. but it is all good now, cause here we are.

ok it is theodorechipmunkluvr. If any 14 yr olds wannt talk.

 

[Diana Lyn]

Count us in for the ornament exchange as well!

 

[minnie1]

Lissa,
I'm sure you and your family are having an amazing time at WDW. I saw your post about the temp and my mom has been telling me how hot it is.
Anyway, I was wondering how the crowds at the parks have been? We leave in less than a week, and that is something I have been thinking about since we usually go to Disney in Feb or March.

Angie

 

[nzdisneymom]

Totally OT, but here are some amazing pics from the Olympics opening ceremonies:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/2008_olympics_opening_ceremony.html

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Angie the crowds are horrible almost as bad as christmas maybe even worse due to the heat. We've come the first two weeks in August before and the nplace has been dead not this year. Attendance may be lower by the time you come due to some schools getting ready to start back. It is pouring rain today which we are actually enjoying because it causes us to slow down and it cools off a little.

Lissa