MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[BearFan]

Robin,
I just want to wish you and your family strength and love to deal with this as a family. My Dad lost a complete right leg to cancer in 1996. It's amazing what you do in order to get through. My Mom is epileptic among having other medical issues and ended up also in a different hospital at the same time because of stressed induced seizures. Not the best of times by any means but you get through it all somehow and you're a better person for it all.
Peace to you and yours,
Lisa Marie

 

[nzdisneymom]

We spent $10 for our ornament for the ornament exchange.

 

[corinnak]

Sounds good on the ornament exchange - it's good to have a ballpark.

 

[ShannonR]

I love the t-shirts! I will take one of each, please! I am going to end up getting gray because white gets dirty too fast! It is too bad it wasn't offered in red or green, but I can understand why.

I think we may have spent a little more on our ornament, but it was because it was hand painted and a novelty piece. I think $10 is a great price, though! I just saw this ornament and HAD TO HAVE IT!!!

It is raining her in South Texas. How is the weather in your areas? I am ready for fall because it means the start of the holidays! (and yes, I count Halloween as part of the "holiday season" ). All the stores have their Halloween, Thanksgiving and some Christmas already out!! It's GREAT! I am a HUGE holiday baker and everyone around me gains at least 10 pounds because of the baking I do. I can't wait!

Robin, out thoughts and prayers remain with you!!

Shannon

 

[nzdisneymom]

We were able to have the house opened up all day today -- there was a nice breeze with a hint of cool in the air - it was so great to get the house aired out, and I was lucky that I was able to work from home today so that made it possible.

The kids are asking when we're going on our next Disney cruise -- I diverted them by talking about our trip to Disneyland in June for N's 13th birthday - and we'll get to take part in the "free on your birthday" promotion for him!

 

[hinsok1]

Hi everyone - It is so fun to come home from work and log on to hear from all of you . . .of course I am not getting anything done once I get home oh well.

Love the t-shirt site!!! Thank you everyone who helped bring that together. I can't wait to order . . .

Cindy - not sure yet if I will bring the laptop to get online . . . depends on how much luggage we bring . . . each trip I have good intentions of writting in a journal, but never do it after the second day . . . I wonder if it would be better if I had a computer to type it in versus writing? Have any of the rest of you had better luck with a computer versus paper?

Corrina - We are taking the Disney Bus from the Hyatt. Part of me would like to rent a car and go over Friday afternoon right away, but my in-laws want to wait for the rest of the family to arrive, so the Hyatt it is.

Thunderstorms in Minnesota today . . . good night to stay in side on the message boards!! Need to get cleaning though . .. got talked into a At Home America party Thursday night so I have 11 friends coming over to see this stuff . . . and no desire to clean . . . I'd rather talk with you guys . . .

Have a great night.

Kim

 

[alikat99]

Hey everyone!!

Good job on the cafe' press shop. It looks great, but now i need to decide what I want!!!

 

[alikat99]

**********************************************
Attention Dolphin Encounter excursion participants:
**********************************************

I have contacted Dolphin Discovery and here is their answer to me.
--------------------------------------------------------------​

Dear Ms. Rodgers,

Thanks for Contact us!

In response to your inquire, certainly I will be more than happy to help you with your reservation and apply a 10% discount we have up to this moment as a promotion for groups!. If you are planning to book your spaces and pay separately (for example per family) there will be no problem and for me to put you all together first of all we will need to put a name to your group that may be “Amy Rodgers Group”.

Secondly, I am sending you a Reservation Form (attached) which you will be able to open, fill out completely, save it and send it back to me as an attachment by replying to this e-mail. In this form you will find out that you will need to include the credit card information you want to use to pay the reservation, therefore we can do this in 2 ways:
1. You can send me as many Reservation Forms as many credit cards you would like to use to pay the group showing the exact number of persons you want to pay in each of them and in this case I need you to include in each form the group name to identify them. In the moment I receive all the Reservation Forms I will proceed to make the reservation for your group. Or…
2. You can send me just one Reservation Form including a list of the credit cards you would like to use to pay the reservation showing the amount to charge to each credit card. This is usually the best and fastest way to do a group reservation and be able to guarantee all the spaces together.

I would like to remember you that the Encounter program is our basic one including 15 minutes orientation & 30 minutes in the water, and this program was created for the best comfort of our clients, specially the little ones since most of the time once you are into the water you will remains in a submerged platform standing up and our trainer will instruct the dolphin to approach to all of you so you are able to experiment the best sensations by touching, pelting and kissing it, becoming your best friend. The dolphin will also do very smart tricks in front of all of you to show you its intelligence and graceful!.

Following you will find the breakdown of the price you will need to pay including our 10% discount valid up to this moment for reservations made no later than September 30th, 2008.
***Ok, so their email totally messed up this formatting, because they had a table. So, here's the breakdown***
Adults: $70.90 total
Children: $58.60 total


ü The price includes taxes
ü The price includes 10% discount over the regular rate
ü The price includes the admission to the Chankanaab Park


I would like to inform you as well that as per policy the Encounter platforms are for up to 20 participants together at the same time in the water. Since you are 22 participants including the babies, my question is if you would like to be split in 2 groups or if you would like to be all together in the same platform. If you prefer the last option please let me know so I can get a “special authorization” from the manager of the location as soon as possible.

I am attaching a PDF file containing more information about our programs and certainly I will be more than happy to help you with your reservations, and in order to do it, I have attached a Word document containing a generic Reservation Form that you will be able to fill out in your computer with all the information and send it to me via e-mail as an attachment as well. As soon as I get it I will work on your request and if the spaces are available I will confirm you back by e-mail previous charge.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, how do you guys want to proceed?? Should I compile all the cards on one form, and fax Dolphin Discovery, or have separate forms for each family faxed in?? Either way is fine with me!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Amy - it sounds like sending them all in together would be the best way to do it. And they need it by Sept. 30th?

Another question -- do you have paypal? If so, would you rather we paypal you our costs instead of sending you a bunch of credit-card numbers?

 

[Diana Lyn]

Amy - it sounds like sending them all in together would be the best way to do it. And they need it by Sept. 30th?

Another question -- do you have paypal? If so, would you rather we paypal you our costs instead of sending you a bunch of credit-card numbers?

Great work Amy!! This is awesome and so so so exciting!!! I love dolphins. I really hope the girls don't freak but it's going to be a suck it up kiddos, this is the ONE thing Mommy wants to do!!

Paypal is a great idea. We can just add the whatever percent in so you do have to eat the credit card fee. Of course, I can probably just HAND you the money on Saturday.

 

[perdy1234]

Hey just wondering if there will be any other Canadians joining us on this sailing. We are from Saskatchewan and it is starting to get cold here and they are talking snow for next week So we are really looking forward to heading for sunny florida!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hey just wondering if there will be any other Canadians joining us on this sailing. We are from Saskatchewan and it is starting to get cold here and they are talking snow for next week So we are really looking forward to heading for sunny florida!

I don't think I saw anyone else from Canada among our group - I was going to ask if you were when I saw the sask. part of your email address. We have two groups from the United Kingdom.

Today is Zachary's 11th birthday. I went to Walmart to get him a card this morning, and 1 1/2 hours later came out with a cart load of stuff - among which are some "slide" sandals for the boys and Gary for the trip. That way they won't have to put their shoes on all the time - they can just put their sandals on, especially for Castaway Cay.

 

[dbxazd]

Has anyone done any spa treatments on previous Disney Cruises? Recommendations? DH and I want to do something nice for each other as our Christmas gifts to each other on the boat - but don't want the private verandah room (too much $$$) - so I'm looking for what's good (since it's hard to discern from the brief descriptions on the web page).

Thanks all!

Robin

Here in Maryland - it's about 75 degrees with a wind.....and absolutely gorgeous today!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Robin - I've done the massage before (the well-being one) and it was fine, but since I can get a good massage at home for about 2/3 of the cost, I skip the massages - although I was looking at one of the fitness center things where they do some body analysis.

 

[Diana Lyn]

Has anyone done any spa treatments on previous Disney Cruises? Recommendations? DH and I want to do something nice for each other as our Christmas gifts to each other on the boat - but don't want the private verandah room (too much $$$) - so I'm looking for what's good (since it's hard to discern from the brief descriptions on the web page).

Thanks all!

Robin

Here in Maryland - it's about 75 degrees with a wind.....and absolutely gorgeous today!!

I always make a spa appointment when I cruise. When we cruised in February, I was able to convince Bruce to come along with me. We did the Well Being Couples Massage, the one on the ship, I don't think I could do the open air ones on the island--too hot and sticky for me to relax. I recommend that one. The stone therapy massage is great too.

If you ever get to the Spa at Saratoga Springs, the Maple Brown Sugar Body Scrub with massage is incredible!! I think it's my favorite treatment of all time...but only if you like to be wrapped up like a baked potato in foil.

Now, Bruce is hooked and he asked me to book the Spa Villa for Couples this trip. I'm pretty excited!!

 

[ShannonR]

Sounds good Amy! I think Paypal is a great idea! Let us know if that is the way to go and when we need to pay by.

It is still raining here in Texas. I work tonight and then have another 6 nights off. Only, on these days off, I have to run around around with ny best friend for last minute quinceneara things. It is October 11th and she still has some last minute details to see to. This is just like a wedding! All the flowers, the dress, the limo, the reception, etc...at the same price of a wedding too! Good thing she only has one daughter!

I am going to order our t-shirts this week. I am going to get a combination of items. I have ordered from cafe press before and LOVE their quality of sweatshirts!

I can't seem to get DH away from the news channels with all this financial crisis going on! What do you all think about it? We certainly have a mess on out hands.

Shannon

 

[ShannonR]

Here's a question: we have bought and plan to bring Christmas lights to hang in out staterooms. How do we string them up? I know no nails and/or tacks, so how do we secure them to the walls doors? I know there is probably some trick that I am not thinking of?

Shannon

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Amy paypal is fine with me to pay for the dolphin encounter. Just let me know when you need it by.

It is cold here. We skipped fall and went straight to winter. No rain though and we desprately need it. Well rain and gas. All of our gas stations are completely out. Makes going to work hard when you have no gas. The locla community colleges have actually had to shut down.

Lissa

 

[gardengirlco]

Here's a question: we have bought and plan to bring Christmas lights to hang in out staterooms. How do we string them up? I know no nails and/or tacks, so how do we secure them to the walls doors? I know there is probably some trick that I am not thinking of?

Shannon

I have little suction cups that stick to windows and have a special slot in the suction part for sliding lights into. Here's a visual aid:

http://www.martells.co.uk/shop/inde...y=&PHPSESSID=58d7d47c859da297cdb5c03ca9101395

While that's a UK site, I know I bought mine locally, most likely at Wal-Mart. Another option is just suction cups with hooks on them like these:

http://www.bronners.com/1013657.html

 

[alikat99]

Ok, so I'm totally fine if people want to Paypal me the money and then I can just pay for the whole dolphin excursion.

If you're paying by credit card with Paypal, I checked and the charges are 2.9% + 0.30 per transaction. So, here's what I figured out:

Adults would be about $73.50 and children about $61.00. And remember, children 5 & under are free. If you want to send me Paypal, please send me a PM, and I'll send you back my Paypal account. AND, please make sure to put how many people in your group, along with names, and ages. And, please put your DISid too.

This is getting SO exciting!!!