MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[tinkerbell_29]

The encounter sonds more like something we would do. Neither one of us snorkles and I'm not sure how I feel about being pulled by a dolphin across deep water. I just really would like to be able to get close to one. I'll talk with me my mom tonight but I would deffinetly say i'll do it.

Lissa

 

[tinkerbell_29]

My mom says absolutely not. In fact she would rather stay on the ship. So i will deffinetly do it. Angie I sent you a PM.

Lissa

 

[gardengirlco]

This link has a really good comparision between the "Encounter" and "Swim". The encounter (what we are doing) is just that an encounter. You're in the water, the dolphin kisses you, sings a song, shakes your hand and moves on his way. Sounds like some of the dates I had in college.

I forgot to add to my earlier post that I went and asked some of the 9/27 Double Dippers if they would post Navigators when they get back. Two women said they were going to do TRs when they return and hopefully post Navigators in their TRs. So I'll be on the lookout for their TRs come early October and I'll report back here with links if they post Navigators from their Double Dip.

 

[gardengirlco]

I made our final payment last night so we are good to go come midnight EST this Sunday to start booking!

So what is everyone's #1 thing they want to get booked? The first thing I'm going to try to get for us is a Palo brunch reservation.

As far as excursions, I'm going to do the wave runners at CC with DS10 and DH will do the parasailing there also with DS10. Other than that, I just want to enjoy paradise. We're planning to find some time this trip to check out Serenity Bay. Also we want to rent bikes. But all of that is just at our leisure.

We already booked the dolphins at Chankanaab on our own. The only thing I still don't have figured out is GC. DS3 isn't old enough or tall enough to do the Atlantis sub, which is what DS10 wants to do. DS3 could go on one of the semi-subs, though. Not sure if we'll split up and do two different things or what. I wish we had more time in that port so we could just go explore a bit on our own, but with just 5.5 hours from start to finish, combined with tendering, we're going to do something through DCL. Has anyone been to GC before?

Probably enough rambling this morning. I need to go get more coffee. I was up at 5:45 to see if the new Disney VISA code for free dining in December would be a better deal than what we have booked for our WDW stay before the cruise, but it didn't work out to be a better deal. At least my call went right through, unlike some posts I read about people being on hold for 45 minutes first.

 

[Diana Lyn]

The encounter sonds more like something we would do. Neither one of us snorkles and I'm not sure how I feel about being pulled by a dolphin across deep water. I just really would like to be able to get close to one. I'll talk with me my mom tonight but I would deffinetly say i'll do it.

Lissa

I don't snorkle either, in fact, I don't even go in the ocean higher than my knees so this is going to be a bit of an adventure for me. The thought of being in water with fish swimming around me makes me I'm being brave for the girls.

 

[Diana Lyn]

I made our final payment last night so we are good to go come midnight EST this Sunday to start booking!

So what is everyone's #1 thing they want to get booked? The first thing I'm going to try to get for us is a Palo brunch reservation.

As far as excursions, I'm going to do the wave runners at CC with DS10 and DH will do the parasailing there also with DS10. Other than that, I just want to enjoy paradise. We're planning to find some time this trip to check out Serenity Bay. Also we want to rent bikes. But all of that is just at our leisure.

Is it midnight Saturday night aka Sunday morning or midnight Sunday night aka Monday morning? I always get confused by this and don't want to miss out!!

My #1 priority is getting the Spa Villa for Two....then Palo Bruch!

I'd like to get the Island Tour with Butterfly farm for GC

For CC we aren't going to book anything. We'll probably rent bikes one or both days. We did the JetSki tour in 06 and it scared the heck out of me. Bruce would do it again in a heartbeat.....I'd rather have a root canal. But I'm a big chicken.

I wanted Bruce and Julia to do the Stingray thing (again I don't get in the water with fish!) but you have to be 5 and she'll only be 4. Emma will be 5, but she's like me and won't be caught near the things. Julia is my brave and adventurous one, she'll be parasailing as soon as she meets the limit.

 

[nzdisneymom]

So I spent today reading back through all of our posts. Why? Because I wanted to get re-acquainted with all of you to start putting DISnames and Real-Life names together, as well as making a list to see how many things we'll want to bring for the fish extenders, etc.

And WOW - we have an awesome group of DISers and extended families! I put us into an Excel spreadsheet (because I'm a nerd that way) with UserNames, Adults, Children (and ages), Number of adults, Number of Children, and then Cabin, Where you're from (state, country), and then participation in Ornament Exchange, Fish Extenders, planning to come to the meet, etc. We're heading to WDW this weekend so I may be finding some stuff while we're there

Anyway, I see some folks haven't posted in a while (hope you're all still sailing with us). I'm really getting excited about this - and I love reading the excitement among the rest of you. We have 38 DIS-users whose family/friends sailing with us are made up of 97 adults and 73 children (under the age of 18).

 

[Az Pirates]

Wow, I think we need to dub Cindy official Christmas Cruise go to gal.

So what kind of numbers are you getting for the fish extender exchange?
I know we have several folks who post on our thread that are part of larger groups, and I wasn't sure how many of their cabins would actually be participating.
I've got some FE ideas and have started to pick up a few things, but I have no idea if I have too many or not enough.
Couldn't possibly be just right.

Diana,
If I'm understanding it correctly, the booking window for CC members opens on Sunday 9/21, so in my case that means I can actually log in after 9pm on Saturday 9/20 (I'm west coast time zone)
Of course we happen to have tickets to the big Gymnastics show that night and I'm sure DD's think Shawn, Nastia, et al are much more important than cruise ressies, so I may have to delegate booking duty to DH.
Yikes! Just the thought makes me woozie since I handle all travel arrangements around here.

 

[gardengirlco]

Shows you what I know and why I need to be on the DIS. I just saw 9/21 when I plugged in the numbers on the Priority Seating online calculator and so thought it was Sunday night, but Saturday night makes more sense. Thanks for pointing that out, Sheila. We're going out to dinner with friends, but we should be home before 10. I'm sure they'll think I'm a total nut when I say sorry we have to call it a night, I've got cruise plans to book!

 

[alikat99]

We're heading to WDW this weekend so I may be finding some stuff while we're there

Hey! We're going to be at Disney this weekend. We're heading over after school tomorrow, but we're just staying Friday night and Saturday.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Amy - we're going to WDW after school on Friday - we're staying at Old Key West - and we'll be there til Sunday afternoon when we have to come back home. We're planning to go to Hollywood Studios on Saturday, and then having lunch at noon at Liberty Tree Tavern (Zachary's birthday is next Wednesday so we're celebrating his b'day a few days early).

What are your plans? I'd love to meet up with you but we'd have to just say we're "disboards friends" and not mention the cruise.... you guys could talk about cruising but not about us going at the same time as you guys

 

[alikat99]

Well, we're staying at the Beach Club Villas on Friday night. Originally, the whole reason for this trip was that it was a one day trip to go to DHS to see the pre-show at the Beauty and the Beast show (Four for a Dollar). Chris loves them, and they're last day at Disney is this weekend, Saturday actually. So, we were going to go just for Saturday.

But, Chris is in Orlando for a conference for work all week, and he rode with a friend. So, he's having his friend drop him off at the Beach Club and we're going over after school. I just didn't see the point to him driving all the way back to St. Pete on Friday night, just to go back over on Saturday morning. So, a couple of weeks ago, I was able to get a room at BCV, so we took it.

We really don't have any big plans. I think that we're going to play around at Stormalong Bay on Friday afternoon/evening, maybe get dinner at Beaches N Cream or Cape May Cafe (try) and then maybe walk over to Epcot for fireworks.

Then, we're probably going to spend the day at DHS. Months ago, we actually scheduled next weekend at WDW for MNSSHP and F&W festival for 3 days (Fri - Sun, because we have no school on Friday). So, this is just an impromptu trip.

 

[alikat99]

Ok, so I'm a big loser, because I must have only read the beginning of your post, because I didn't realize until I went back to read it that you're planning on DHS on Saturday too.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Ok I had a blond moment last night. I meant to send a pm to Amy about the dolhin encounter not to Angie opps. So Amy I do want to do the Dolphin encounter please add me to the list and 1 pm is a perfect time.

As for other excursions I'll be booking matt on the Mecain cooking class in Cozumel. We will do our own thing at GC. At CC all I'm intrested in is a float and from what I understand you don't reserve those. We will be booking Palo for Brunch and afternoon tea as we did not get to do those on our last cruise.

Lissa

 

[nzdisneymom]

Amy - I'll keep an eye out for you guys at DHS on Saturday. I didn't know four for a dollar was ending. I always enjoyed them.

Lissa - the cooking excursion looks like it will be really good, and the few reports I've seen about it have been positive.

 

[alikat99]

Amy - I'll keep an eye out for you guys at DHS on Saturday. I didn't know four for a dollar was ending. I always enjoyed them.

Lissa - the cooking excursion looks like it will be really good, and the few reports I've seen about it have been positive.

Yeah, my DH really loves them!! He actually sings barbershop harmony, with a chorus in Tampa, so he enjoys that stuff a lot!!

 

[hinsok1]

Hi everyone . . . I love all the activity on our thread!! My sister-in-laws still can't understand my excitement. I am so glad I have all of you who understand

I am spinning trying to understand the new job, so I don't feel like I have been on line as much as I would like . . .

To answer some questions . . We have been on the Jeep excursion in Cozumel. We enjoyed it, but not enough to do again. We did not book through DCL. DD(10 at the time) really enjoyed it, expecially since one of the girls she meet in DQ was on it with her family. DH, DD and FIL snorkel, which was wonderful!! the tour at the ruins was ok, and the drive around the island was a little boring. DS stayed on the ship in the clubs (MIL was staying on the ship also). Glad he did not go, I don't think he would have been content and would have been stir crazy. We have decided to snorkel here this time, but not sure where.

I want to go to Seven Mile Beach at GC. Really enjoyed our time there last time. Spend several hours after the Stingray City tour. Really enjoyed that, but it was a little deep to stand in the water for DS (5 at the time), he did not want to try the snorkling in the water that was over his head, so I sat on the boat with him. I'm hoping I can get him to try it this year.

DH and I went on a NCL cruise w/o the kids in Mar 08 and I tried snorkling again. since I was able to walk into the water, verus having to jump in to deep water, I was able to get comfortable and LOVED it. Can't wait to do it at CC and to try it at Cozumel. Cozumel has great reviews.

DH and DD want to do the jetskis at CC. They did that in 2006 and reallly enjoyed it. Not sure if I will do it. DS wants to do it, so I might end up taking him, but FIL said he would maybe take DS. DH and the kids also want to try parasailing. There is no way I will do that. At CC I want to float, and snorkel so I can say I saw the underwater Mickey! I purchased one of the floats that folds up into a flat circle on clearance a few weeks ago. It packs easily into my suitcase and I have an instant float for about the price of renting on at CC.

I can't get our extended family to decide on excursions, so I will make ours and they can do what they want . . . It would be fun to do the same, but they are not ready yet . . .and they can't make theirs until 75 days. They said they might wait until they get on the ship. DH and I did that for a few on the NCL trip and ended up not being able to do the one we wanted.

Cindy - Love your speadsheet idea. . . any chance you would be willing to share. That is exactly what I have done on previous trips . . but haven't had the time this time around. . .

Thank you everyone for making my day brighter each time I log into read this thread!!! DD(12) said to tell your kids on the kids thread that she will be joining them, she is just waiting for me to fax in the paperwork . . . my fax machine died and I haven't got around to fixing it yet . . . I deal with broken computers and processes all day at work, really hate to come home and deal with the same

 

[gardengirlco]

Amy and Cindy, have a great time at WDW this weekend! I'm jealous! And happy early birthday to Zachary! I can't think of a better place to celebrate!

 

[hinsok1]

We are in cabin 5502.

Since I haven't been as consistant as I would like on here . . . let me run down everything to make sure I am planning correctly . . .

We have a meet and greet at 3:00 on Sat, then we are doing a christmas ornament exchange (when was that again?) and doing the Fish Extender gifts. Do people usually try to tie the FE items to where they are from?

Did I miss anything?

So I need to have one Christmas ornament, but many items for each family who is partisipating in the FE?

Who has made their FE and who has bought one? I'm usually creative, but not sure if I will be able to make one before the trip . . . between work, kid activities, and church activities, there are very few weekends free between now and the trip!!!!

This is going to be fun

Is anyone interested in any of the tasting events . . . We plan to definately do the beer tasting again and maybe one of the other tastings . . .

 

[alikat99]

We are in cabin 5502.

Since I haven't been as consistant as I would like on here . . . let me run down everything to make sure I am planning correctly . . .

We have a meet and greet at 3:00 on Sat, then we are doing a christmas ornament exchange (when was that again?) and doing the Fish Extender gifts. Do people usually try to tie the FE items to where they are from?

Did I miss anything?

So I need to have one Christmas ornament, but many items for each family who is partisipating in the FE?

Who has made their FE and who has bought one? I'm usually creative, but not sure if I will be able to make one before the trip . . . between work, kid activities, and church activities, there are very few weekends free between now and the trip!!!!

This is going to be fun

Is anyone interested in any of the tasting events . . . We plan to definately do the beer tasting again and maybe one of the other tastings . . .

You're just on the other side of us, we're in 5024, one of the secret porthole rooms. And, Diana is right around the corner from me!! Go Deck 5 forward!!!