March 10, 2007 - 7 Day Western Magic

[I'mWong]

We are flying out Friday as well, but we will either get there at 10pm or midnight. We haven't purchased our tickets yet. We are still watching the prices. We are staying the night at the Hyatt in the airport and then taking the transportation on the Disney bus directly from there. We did that last year and it worked out well for us. It is not the cheapest route, but it is pretty much hassle free. Your luggage is picked up at the door of your hotel and taken directly to your cabin in the ship. You don't have to check it in at the port, that is taken care of for you.

We are actually staying a couple of days longer and going to the Magic Kingdom on Saturday and Sunday and then flying back on Monday afternoon. Is anyone else staying later?

Nothing personal, but I hope I NEVER have to be in weather that if -40 degrees! I couldn't imagine that. Had a friend in college that lived in Maine as a child and I still laugh thinking of the stories he told me about waiting for the bus in the shelters all bundled up in multiple layers. Never failed that he would have to go to the bathroom! I think the cold does that to you!

Hope everyone has a great week! Can't believe how close Christmas is!

 

[kperkins0407]

Thanks for day early travel information.

We are staying that Friday night at the Hyatt, as well. The past 2 cruises we flew out the day of. I decided on the last trip that I would never do that again. Not sure what time we are going to get there--Disney is taking care of our flights. Just looking forward to not having a 5:30 a.m. flight the morning of.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

~Kim

 

[I'mWong]

Sounds like there are going to be lots of 10 year old girls on this cruise! That should be fun! Anyone else have an 8 year old boy? My DD and DS are both so excited. We were talking about it last night and their eyes just shine when they think of it!

My cousin just got off of a 7 day RCCL cruise over Thanksgiving and she said she just thought 7 days was too much for them. For our family, we would love a 10 day or maybe even longer!

Have a great week!

 

[Suz D]

Hooray for lots of 10 year old girls! I'm getting more and more excited by the minute. We are telling our daughter on Christmas Eve and I'll be glad when the cat is out of the bag. It's been hard not talking about it around her. I'd love to plan a little something for the girls if anyone is interested.

I have a scrapbooking and stamping business and would love to bring a project for the girls to work on one afternoon on a sea day. If anyone is interested please let me know. I would donate all of the materials (I was thinking something like a picture frame or accordian scrapbook) and precut everything so that all they have to do is decorate. I thought it might be fun for them to take some pictures of the Dis girls and then put them in the frame or scrapbook.

Please let me know if you think your daughters would be interested and I'll pull something together. I'm thinking bright colors with a "beachy" theme. Depending on how many are interested I'll decide which project to do.

Suz

I've edited this to clarify. I meant for everyone to let me know if their daughters are interested. Sorry if this appeared exclusive. You can never have too many girlfriends!

 

[I'mWong]

That sounds like a great idea! I am sure my daughter would love to make one. What a thoughtful person you are!

My kids got their first email from a fellow cruiser yesterday, but had so much homework they didn't get to respond. That is on our list of things to do today! It is really going to be nice for the kid to already have someone to look forward to hanging out with.

 

[carolmp]

Well, I'm sorry to say that we have cancelled this trip. My husband picked up a strep infection in his foot October 20th, and he has been fighting it ever since. He spent 16 days in the hospital. They are basically saying that his body overreacted. It sent everything it had down to his foot to fight off the infection. Well, when everything goes down to your foot, it swells badly. His foot also blistered badly - as if it had 2nd degree burns on it. All of it healed up well except for one area, which we think is where the infection settled. The tissue under the skin didn't mesh well, it had pockets and tunnels in it, so Thanksgiving week he went in for surgery to have the area debrided, or cut away. We are now doing "vacuum assisted wound care" to speed up the healing process on his 6" x 4" open wound. He had an appointment yesterday with the wound care specialist, and she thinks he will still be using the vacuum in March. We could get around using it for the week, but he cannot go in the water. It wouldn't be much fun for him or for us, knowing that he can't do all of the things that we wanted to do. So I cancelled and rebooked for 3/8/08. If anyone has a great time and wants to come again, we'd like to meet up with you then!

On a side note, I was checking the DCL website to see if they had put my room back up (they did). But also, there are 4 SPH rooms available for this week!! So if anyone wants to change their room assignment, I'd give them a call quick!

I hope everyone has a good trip and I will be thinking of you in March. We'll get there, just not as soon as I had thought....

 

[Suz D]

carolmp...I'm so sorry about your husband's health difficulties. I'm also sorry that you've had to postpone the cruise because I'm sure you have been looking so forward to it. Next to the pain he's must be suffering, I'm sure that seems like a small price to pay (but hard nevertheless). Our family will keep yours in our thoughts and prayers. What a tough time to be having such a traumatic experience. Suz

 

[tuliene]

What a terrible reminder that our health is really the most important thing. I'll toast you guys one evening while looking at the ocean and hope you will get there in good health soon.

 

[carolmp]

Thanks for the thoughts! Like I said, we'll get there. It may just take us a while.

I'll be thinking of you on the 10th and wishing I was there!

 

[ShannonR]

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Now it's time to really get down to cruise planning! Only 10 weeks to go! We have started to really crack down on the whole "potty training" thing with our DD2. We don't want her to miss out on the little things because she is wearing a diaper. We are going shopping on Friday for some little "odds and ends" needed for the cruise and then we will get our "formal gear" in a couple of weeks. We are going to order our pirate t-shirts for pirate night and the kids got Disney crocs for Christmas. I was really wanting to buy the Disney character ones that I have heard so much about, but couldn't find them anywhere. I hope everyone is getting as excited as we are about this cruise! We are flying in on the day before the cruise, but we still don't know what time our flight is. Hopefully we will know soon, so I can plan around the school. Hope to hear from everyone soon!

 

[Marsh Family]

Hi Carolmp, i am so sorry to hear that you had to cancel, i have however heard wonderful things about VAC therapy, i hope you see improvement quick now. You are so right tuliene that our health is so important! and there will be more cruises...

Hey shannon, great to hear you went with the crocs, we got the kids ones for christmas as well, Paige DD8 can't stop wearing them, she loves them!

Hope everyone has a Happy New Years!!

Erin

 

[Marsh Family]

Before i go just wondering if anyone has been to Discovery Cove in Orlando? We have booked a day there after the cruise and are really looking forward to that too. any info?

Erin

 

[birkner]

Before i go just wondering if anyone has been to Discovery Cove in Orlando? We have booked a day there after the cruise and are really looking forward to that too. any info?"

My family thought that going to Discovery Cove was one of the best things we did on our WDW trip in March 2006. Since they only allow 100 guests per day, we never felt crowded. The lunch was also great.

To swim with the dolphins, the minimum age is 6. The Gkids loved the interaction with the dolphins and the manta rays. They also enjoyed the aviary and fish.

My DH and older GD did the Trainer for a Day which included the enhanced dolphin interaction and training encounter, the behind-the-scenes feedings at the coral reef, the feeding and care of exotic birds in the free-flight aviary, the behind-the-scenes small-mammal playtime and training session, the behind-the-scenes animal food preparation and record review and finally the behavioral training class (for the animals, not you).

Not an inexpensive option but we are all Sea World annual pass holders which gave us a bit of a savings.

Website is http://www.discoverycove.com/explore.aspx

 

[I'mWong]

The countdown has really started now. We are all really excited. Actually, we have been excited for a year now! It is nice that it is so close now.

That is funny that all of your kids got Disney Crocs for Christmas. My sister actually gave me a pair! They make my already size 11 feet look like boats, but they are cute. I am not sure if I am going to have the guts to wear them anywhere other than the pool in our backyard! I try to disguise the size of my feet, not enhance them. She gave me a man's XL, so I figured they would be too big, but they weren't! She tells me once I wear them, I will want to wear them everywhere since they are so comfortable. My kids want some, so I guess theirs is on me.

We got all of our reservations to PALO that we wanted. Anyone else going?

Let's get this thread going! Last year when we went, there were about 10-12 of us posting and by the time we got to the ship, we felt like we knew each other. Made for a fun sail away party.

Have a great day!
Laura

 

[Suz D]

Good morning everyone!

The cat is finally out of the bag and our DD (11) knows that we are crusing in March. Here's what happened...

We had been setting her up for a "big" gift and not much else for Christmas this year. She was hoping for a porcelin doll that her great grandmother had painted but not finished. She found it in my mother's closet when we were there this summer and fell in love with it. My mom made a beautiful Victorian dress and hat for the doll and brought it with her in a big bag when they came for Christmas. Katie kept saying "I know what my big present is" . I told her I was SURE she didn't but she kept on insisting with a secret little grin on her face.

I had gone to Once Upon A Child (gently used clothes) about 2 weeks ago and got her 7 summer outfits that were very "cruise-ish" (is that a word?). I wrapped them in a box that was about the size of the doll and we told her that was her big gift from us. She tried to shake it and I said "Be careful, it may be fragile". She again got that secret grin.

Well...when we opened Christmas Eve she got the doll from my parents. HMMMM, what could Dad & Mama have gotten me??? She opened the big gift and her face was so puzzled. Clothes? Summer clothes for my big gift? She was trying so hard to be grateful but I could see that she was surprised and disappointed. (I forgot to say that just the day before when she and I were sorting laundry she said, "I really wish we were on a cruise right now. Wasn't that the BEST vacation?").

I found some beautiful ornament shaped, sequin covered boxes at Dollar Tree and made a little note card that said on the front "What are you going to do with all of the summer clothes your parents gave you?" Inside it said, "Well pack them in your suitcase because you, Daddy, & Mama are going on a 7 day Disney Cruise for Spring Break! I put that note in the box and hung it on the tree. Then we told her to check the box because the rest of her gift was in there.

Guys, you should have seen her eyes! It was so exciting and she was beside herself with joy! It's so nice to be able to talk about it openly and plan, plan, plan. We've been talking constantly about what we're going to do for shore excursions etc. Now I've just got to save enough so that we can re-book onboard as I KNOW we will want to.


I'm going to do a couple of posts updating some cruise info in case I lost anyone with my long drawn out story. Can't wait to meet all of you. Suz

 

[Suz D]

I'm still hoping that some of your girls (8-13) will want to do the scrapbooking project with Katie and I. It will have a red/black/yellow "Disney" theme and we'll do some stamping and decorating with stickers etc.

Our Hobby Lobby runs their stickers 1/2 price quite often and I'd like to pick some up. I am hoping to get an idea of about how many girls might be interested. I would say that we could take as long as an hour to finish this, but only if the girls are very chatty and do a lot of embellishing. I'd say that they could be finished in about 1/2 hour if you are concerned about time.

Again, I will provide the supplies from my stash with a few purchased stickers so this isn't something that I would like payment for. I really enjoy doing kids classes (I take craft projects to my daughter's class about every other month) and have so many supplies that I'm glad to provide them free of charge.

Please let me know if you think any of your daughters would be interested (and their ages) so that I can begin planning. We're so looking forward to this memory-making trip!

Suz

 

[Suz D]

Let's post what we've got scheduled for activities and see if anyone is doing the same things.

Here's what we've got so far...

Key West-explore on our own
Day at Sea-scrapbook on the deck
Grand Cayman-explore on our own, swim on the boat
Cozumel-jungle hike
Day at Sea-Palo brunch
Castaway Cay-bike, snorkle, tube rental

Is anyone else doing the jungle hike?

Suz

 

[ShannonR]

Just got home from work (we did 15 c-sections last night) and couldn't resist looking at the boards before going to bed. Everyone wants to have the New Year's baby (the hospital I work at it has had the first baby for the past two years now) so it is super busy at work. I just started a 6 night stretch yesterday and look forward to next Thursday (my next day off). We all went cruise shopping yesterday and bought little odds and ends, some new clothes and two brand new sets of luggage. We couldn't help ourselves!! We are so excited. Morgan (DD13) made a countdown for the kitchen door that requires the kids taking down a numbered "mickey ear" that she made and colored. Morgan just took down number 69 (we leave on the 9th for Florida) and she was SO excited. I also got myself a pair of the Disney crocs for myself and wore them to work last night. Bad call on my part! My feet were KILLING me by morning time. Back to my rockers tonight! Oh well, they sure are cute! Has anyone booked their shore excursions yet? We are only booking one with DCL. We are doing the rest on our own on account of Melissa only being two and in diapers (although I am holding out hope that she will be potty trained by March! )

 

[I'mWong]

SuzD that sounds like a wonderful reveal. I know your daughter was thrilled! I kinda wish we had kept it a secret. Would have been a fun Christmas gift, but we rebooked on board and the kids were right there with us. I am sure Sarah will be thrilled to join the girls in the cropping craft. We might have our Palo brunch booked for that day, however. We booked for that first sea day, but I can't remember the time. We will have to see if there is a conflict. Plan on her, though. We haven't made any plans for shore excursions yet. I think we are going to stay on our own other than Cozumel. We are probably going to do the jungle jeep trip there. We did that last year in Costa Maya and it was the highlight of our trip. So much fun! Don't know if I will book through Disney or an independent group. Price is quite a bit cheaper on our own, but kinda like the confidence you have with Disney.

Shannon, I am surprised to hear that the crocs hurt your feet. People swear by their comfort. I haven't ever worn them myself. I am ordering them for the kids and maybe even my hasband today. He said he would never wear them other than to the pool, but what the heck. I don't miss those potty training days at all. My son was programmed for 5:00 every day, and if we weren't on the ball, we would have a mess to clean up! It didn't take many misses to make sure we were paying attention. I am always excited to see the first born baby on the news. It makes for a nice way to start the new year. we haven't started getting anything cruise yet, but we have been looking at new luggage. We have the Disney luggage now, but it really isn't that well made. We went to San Marcos to the Samsonite outlet, and they have some new luggage that makes a complete 360 spin. They are great! Really easy to move.

Hope everyone is having a great night!

Happy New Year!! Celebrate the arrival safely. Will be lots of wild ones on the road tomorrow night!

 

[Suz D]

Is anyone going to WDW before our cruise? If so, where are you staying? Anyone planning on the Pirates and Princesses night at MK? We are debating going as we arrive on the 8th at around noon and would love to go to MK but don't want to pay $70+ for one day at MK. It's around $40.00 for the evening. We've already got ressies at Chef M's for dinner.

We are going to spend Friday at Epcot and we're staying at Pop Century.

Suz