MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[ShannonR]

Good evening everyone!! If you are checking in at anytime this weekend, Amy and Cindy, I hope you are having a great time at WDW!!

I went wild with shopping today! I got ALL my FE gifts, our stockings that we are going to be using as FE, new luggage and some clothes (not all, but some-will wait until it gets closer to cruise time to buy the kids their new clothes). It was so exciting to put those things in the "cruise box".

I just have to figure out the gifts for the staff. I saw some good ideas from others who have given gifts in the past, so I will probably follow in that direction.

Mitchell has an all weekend baseball tournament this weekend (NOT how I was looking forward to spending my weekend, believe-you-me). It is still in the mid to upper 90's here, so I will have my umbrella with me.

Shannon

 

[hinsok1]

Shannon - hope you guys are staying safe. Keep us posted when you can.

Lisa - I love the idea of a digital scavenger hunt - I know my boys would absolutely love it -- on our last cruise, we gave them the camera and told them to "go have fun." We have pics of parts of the ship we've never seen before (oops!). But seriously, I love that idea.

I keep forgetting to say . . . we would love to do this. Let me know if you want any help setting it up.

 

[tinksmom]

Hi Everyone,
As the cruise is getting closer, I'll be on more and hopefully making new friends with you all.

I was glad to see other's will be using stockings for FEs. I bought a Tinker Bell stocking at Target this week and was worried that it might not be big enough. I'm going to shop online this week for gifts. Any idea yet how many families are participating? I guess the answer to that will be on the spreadsheet.

Shannon, I'd love to hook Carly up with your older daughter. I think it will help her go the Stack the first time if she knows someone. I'm going to sign her up for the Wild Side on the second CC day. Is your daughter interested?
Our weather was great in the DFW area this week -- highs in the upper 70s to low 80s. What a treat!

I like the idea of the family business cards. I'll make some for us.

We'll probably do some of the "tastings." I'm not supposed to drink because of some of the meds I take, but a couple of sips shouldn't hurt. I've always wanted to try a chocolate martini!

Good luck to all of us making ressies tonight!
Tenya

 

[xsjackson]

My family is e-mailing through me and I have been a lousy e-mailing. My school year has started and I am overwhelmed.

under xsjackson please add

Jim (74)
Ginny, Matt (12), Emma (10), Natalie (8), Nolan (6)
Nancy, Zane (15)
Katie & Kevin, Lydia (7), Asha (5)

It is a first cruise for my sister's Ginny and kids, and Katie and husband and kids.

We are all on board - fish hangers are done! Younger kids are making things to go into fish hangers, We are all in for the ornamenent exchange!!!

Hey everyone!!! I've had a few free moments and went through my PMs and added all the new families that have PMd me onto our first page.

Also, i was thinking that I could add other things to that first page too, like any meets that we schedule, once we figure out t-shirts - that info, the ornament exchange and who's coordinating it, those types of things. So, if you are "heading up" any of those types of things, PM me, and I'll add them to the first post!!!

 

[xsjackson]

We did this for our servers and host for our last cruise. I went and boaught small packages of Seattle's Best Chocolates - kinda a gift from our home to yours. Happy holidays

Are any of you thinking about bringing a little holiday gift for your stateroom host and/or servers for Christmas day? I know not everyone celebrates Christmas, but I'm sure no one would be offended with a gift. I was just thinking that these folks are hard at work and away from their families without the option to go home to be with them for the holidays while we're all with our families and not having to work and enjoying the holidays with our families.

So I was thinking that I'd like to bring something for them to give to them on Thursday. But now I need ideas!

And yes, I'll host the embarkation day meet. Unless there are objections, let's set it to start at 3 p.m. in the Promenade Lounge on the side away from the computers/internet cafe area (so if you're coming from Parrot Cay (aft), you'll go the length of the lounge to find us, and if you're coming from the Atrium (midship), you'll get to us first when you enter the Promenade Lounge area). For first-time-cruisers, you can find the Promenade Lounge on Deck 3, between midship and aft. It's set up so that it's not a separate room - it's like you're walking through that area and you see there is a bar area - that's where we'll be. There are loads of chairs and tables; we'll just gather over there and plan to be there til nearly time for the safety drill. Feel free to "come and go" as you and your family need to.

 

[xsjackson]

in 2006 my husband and I did tasting - scotch, martini. really enjoyed it. We will be trying tonight to get reservations for Palos and my husbands diving. We usually do waverunners in CC. I don't want our first timers to miss out on the first rotation, pirate night or formal nght so booking Palos is tricky

 

[nzdisneymom]

We got our ornament for the Ornament Exchange today!

 

[PalatkaCruisers]

Amy - DH and I were talking at lunch about the Dolphin Encounter and we are a definite GO. So we'll be three adults (since Nathan is 12) and one child (since Zachary will be 11). Let us know what we need to do for paying for it, etc. I was a bit afraid he would want to do the ruins or something but since we went to Cancun on our honeymoon (16 1/2 yrs ago), we saw some ruins then, and we know the kids won't be interested, so this vacation's theme will be "fun in the sun."


Here are the DISers that I don't have cabin numbers for. If you want your cabin number included in the spreadsheet, either PM me or post it here and I'll add you. If you're not planning to participate in the Fish Extender exchange, you can still provide your cabin number as I know some folks are likely bringing something for everyone anyway, so we'll need to know where to drop things off



psharrock
SnowWhite2
SnowWhite2 - parents
njmom23grls
Kborn
MrsMunchie
Lynne Y.
stillwater / cataworm
Love Eeyore
xsjackson (5+ cabins?? Susan, share with us which ones may want to participate or not)
AZ Pirates
dee47
BearFan
MOQu
HFC1969
Im_A_Princess
CorinnaK
xmascruise04 (3+ cabins)
bigedwin
RAC
dbxazd
dbxazd's friends
DisneyCamper
MOQu
Lizdisdog
PalatkaCruisers

We will be staying in Cabin 7008. We have always stayed on Deck 5 so this will be a new experiance this time. My wife says she will be using the stocking made from our 10-day Christmas cruise two years ago outside the cabin for this trip. We are studing the available excursions for this trip and hope to come up with our list for tonights mad dash!! Good luck everyone. Two years ago it was the Pirates cruise in St. Lucia everyone was trying to reserve with lots of disappointed people.

Rick

 

[xsjackson]

we took that Pirate cruise too on 2006! Don't know what I want to do this time.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

So is everyone ready for tonight. Just went through and saved everything to our favorites list. The first thing i'm booking is tea and bruch at Palo. WE did not get to do those on our first cruise so they are a priority for this one.

Lissa

 

[tinksmom]

I look forward to hearing how everyone does tonight. Good luck again!
tenya

 

[ShannonR]

We are finally at 90 days, my friends!!!!

DH can't wait for 11pm (Texas time, you know). Since we don't do PALO or the spa, it's just the port excursions we have to do.

Tenya, I sent you a PM with Morgan's information on it and I will set her up for the wild side on CC day #2. She will gladly go if she knows that she will have someone to go with. She is quite the follower, never a leader.

Good luck everyone and I hope Cindy and Amy are having a great time!!

Shannon

 

[Diana Lyn]

I'm ready---I think!

I'm going for the Couples Spa Villa, Palo Brunch and the Island Tour for GC. It's only 9:20 and my eyes are heavy and I'm fading fast. I just may have to set the alarm for 11:55 and keep the laptop next to the bed.

Good luck everyone! Once everything is booked, it's full speed ahead and we'll be cruising in no time!!

 

[Diana Lyn]

Speaking of planning---

Do we want to come up with a design for a group shirt?

I can set up a shop with Cafepress like I've done for a previous cruise. For an idea of what it can offer/pricing check out http://www.cafepress.com/ssmc06 There's no markup whatsoever (I don't make anything) and they always run little sales like free shipping or X% off.

The only catch is we can't use a copyrighted image ie:Mickey head but we can use a photo of the ship and photoshop words on it or Christmas stuff.

What do you all think? Someone come up with a design, I'll do the rest!

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Diana I'll have a design up tomorrow afternoon. Is it midnight yet I'm struggling to stay awake. I sure hope the system does not crash like last time that about gave me a heart attack. Good luck everyone!

Lissa

 

[nzdisneymom]

25 minutes til midnight! Good luck everyone who is wanting to get Palo. I had a brief moment where I thought I'd try to get a dinner for us, but then I was reading on the main board about tipping and when I thought about how much more to tip the Palo server in addition to already paying the $15/person charge, well, that put it out of my range for what I wanted to spend.

I found the perfect thing today for our FE gifts - only I couldn't get enough of them at once, so I'll either order them when I get home or figure out something else.

And we found that WDW is out of Mickey pasta for sale -- we were wanting to pick some up for one of Nathan's teachers, but they are out property-wide and don't know when they'll get some back in.

 

[alikat99]

Diana is helping to keep me awake on IM. Otherwise, I'd be out cold, becuase I'm exhausted after spending the day at WDW!!! We didn't get home until about 10pm, and I've been struggling to stay awake ever since.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Ok Everyone time to WAKE UP and look alive we've got 10 minutes to go. Cindy and Amy hope you are having a wonderful time at WDW. We thought about doing dinner at Palo but decided to stick just to tea and brunch. Don't want to miss dinner in the dining room. Now I'm off to the DCL site.

Lissa

 

[xsjackson]

I can't stay awake and I only have to make it until 9pm here. I could never make it if I lived on the eastcoast. Use to have to get up at 4am when 1st reservations were 7am eastern time!

 

[nzdisneymom]

We've had a great time -- the boys are asleep and DH is about ready to sleep -- but I want to just double-check that we'll be able to get our ressie stuff done online at midnight - just a moment away!