March 3, 2007

[mark_story]

My kids are 6yr old boy Jared and Julia 8yrs. Also if you are keeping count my brother and sister in law are going too! So that is 6 for our party! I would love to join the group for brunch.

Hey Angela,

Welcome aboard (literally). My DS will be six at the time of the cruise - maybe we can pair the boys up in the Oceaneer Club/Lab while we lounge at a nice Palo brunch.

Mark

 

[Indea88]

Hi Angela!
Welcome! Join us in the countdown, we have some great gatherings planned!! See you on the Magic!!!

 

[ejkjmom]

Welcome Angela!!!!!

It's been awhile since I've posted.... My MIL unfortunatley lost her battle with cancer a week ago ..It has been a very sad week for us, when it comes to mother-n-laws she was the best, all my friends were jealous

She had been in the hospital for 8 weeks, the last 3 weeks or so we started staying round the clock with her, (she would have been there for us). I can't began to tell you how wonderful she was...this may give you an idea of how many peoples lives she has touched... as of today, we have wrote 209 thank-yous, and the memorials/cards are still coming.. She had her 77th birthday while in the hospital.

I see you had posted room #'s... I misplaced my sheet with our # on it, so I'm not 100% sure ...but do know that we are on deck 7.

All you mom's w/ young girls ...are your DD's into the "American Girl Dolls"? Mine both are...they are so excited, as we are planning a trip to Los Anegels to the "American Girl Place" the first of next month. they can hardly wait// as can I. WE are all ready to get away for awhile. (DH may not be too overly excited about the AG place though

 

[mommykeg]

Welcome Angela!!!!!

It's been awhile since I've posted.... My MIL unfortunatley lost her battle with cancer a week ago ..It has been a very sad week for us, when it comes to mother-n-laws she was the best, all my friends were jealous

She had been in the hospital for 8 weeks, the last 3 weeks or so we started staying round the clock with her, (she would have been there for us). I can't began to tell you how wonderful she was...this may give you an idea of how many peoples lives she has touched... as of today, we have wrote 209 thank-yous, and the memorials/cards are still coming.. She had her 77th birthday while in the hospital.

I see you had posted room #'s... I misplaced my sheet with our # on it, so I'm not 100% sure ...but do know that we are on deck 7.

All you mom's w/ young girls ...are your DD's into the "American Girl Dolls"? Mine both are...they are so excited, as we are planning a trip to Los Anegels to the "American Girl Place" the first of next month. they can hardly wait// as can I. WE are all ready to get away for awhile. (DH may not be too overly excited about the AG place though

My DD is really into American Girl dolls! She got her 1st and 2nd one for Christmas last year. I never thought she would need more than one, but I got her one of the dolls that you order to look like DD for Christmas, and my grandmother, who was always an avid doll collector, jumped on the bandwagon and got her the 2005 doll of the year, Marisol. She also got a membership to American Girl online, and she was hooked!

She was so excited about the American Girl Place coming to LA just in time for her birthday! I took her and 3 of her friends for a day at American Girl Place during the opening weekend of the theater show...we did brunch, theater, the photo studio, the doll hair salon, and shopping. It was so cool! It's a pricey venture, but great mother-daughter time!

Where are you traveling from? Just a few tips...1) do the hair salon and photo studio FIRST...the lines got REALLY long later! I saw many moms walking away with disappointed girls because they ran out of time or patience! 2) Look for the in-store special...they usually have an outfit displayed by the registers that you can't get online or in the catalog. DD got a really cute trendy dress with boots for her doll the day we were there. 3) if you can, get some of the location specific stuff for doll and/or girl...they have hats, shirts, etc. that say American Girl Place Los Angeles that can't be gotten anywhere else...they make great souvenirs! 4) The theater show was AWESOME! A great intro to every historical American Girl doll...my DD had just recently been introduced to American Girl, so she didn't know the stories behind each one, but she does now after seeing the show! Very fun, very small theater...not a bad seat in the house! Reserve online as early as possible because they usually sell out fast! (You reserve the meals ahead of time online as well, but the hair salon and photo studio are first come, first served) 5) It's a two-story showplace...if you have the time, take the time to see it all! They have lots of cute displays and museum-like showcases for each doll.

Have a great time!

 

[ejkjmom]

My DD is really into American Girl dolls! She got her 1st and 2nd one for Christmas last year. I never thought she would need more than one, but I got her one of the dolls that you order to look like DD for Christmas, and my grandmother, who was always an avid doll collector, jumped on the bandwagon and got her the 2005 doll of the year, Marisol. She also got a membership to American Girl online, and she was hooked!

She was so excited about the American Girl Place coming to LA just in time for her birthday! I took her and 3 of her friends for a day at American Girl Place during the opening weekend of the theater show...we did brunch, theater, the photo studio, the doll hair salon, and shopping. It was so cool! It's a pricey venture, but great mother-daughter time!

Where are you traveling from? Just a few tips...1) do the hair salon and photo studio FIRST...the lines got REALLY long later! I saw many moms walking away with disappointed girls because they ran out of time or patience! 2) Look for the in-store special...they usually have an outfit displayed by the registers that you can't get online or in the catalog. DD got a really cute trendy dress with boots for her doll the day we were there. 3) if you can, get some of the location specific stuff for doll and/or girl...they have hats, shirts, etc. that say American Girl Place Los Angeles that can't be gotten anywhere else...they make great souvenirs! 4) The theater show was AWESOME! A great intro to every historical American Girl doll...my DD had just recently been introduced to American Girl, so she didn't know the stories behind each one, but she does now after seeing the show! Very fun, very small theater...not a bad seat in the house! Reserve online as early as possible because they usually sell out fast! (You reserve the meals ahead of time online as well, but the hair salon and photo studio are first come, first served) 5) It's a two-story showplace...if you have the time, take the time to see it all! They have lots of cute displays and museum-like showcases for each doll.

Have a great time!

WOW Thanks for the tips!!!!!

We are flying in from Las Vegas, on southwest for $59.00. We are meeting friends in Las Vegas for a few days and since SW had rates to good to turn down, we decided to go onto LA.. DD9 &12 have been wanting to go to the Chicago AGPL for a couple of years.. Then when LA opened up, they been asking to go there (We fly out of Denver Colo. so LA is fairly close) You must live pretty close to AGP? Do you have any tips on transportation from the Airport to the Grove area? Taxi's vs town car (I think the motel is about 11-13 miles away), how about LAX vs Burbank???

We are staying at one of the AG recomended hotels (The Orlando) that offers the AG package (139.00 which includes 2 adult breakfast buffets each day, $10.00 taxi vocher for each day, beds for the dolls and turn down service, (thought that sounded pretty good). I also ordered the AG for the day package.. so I really appreciate your tips on the doll salon & photo studio as we have plans to do both. Package includes lunch as well. We have tickets to attend the show, and are looking forward to that.

I see that your DD is 9, my DD that is 9 has the Bitty Baby and my DD that is 12 has American Girl Of Today doll... They have had them for serveral years now. DD9 is really into her baby and DD12 is really into the shopping (ha ha) so they are both WAY excited about going. There has been MUCH debate on which department we will go to first...

And yes, we do plan to take it all in, we plan to stay the whole day there if need be, we fly in LA thurs. night , do AG friday, and then fly back to Denver Sat.

If you have any more tips for us, let us know. DD's and I were excited to read your post, someone who has actually been there!!!!

 

[mark_story]

Welcome Angela!!!!!

It's been awhile since I've posted.... My MIL unfortunatley lost her battle with cancer a week ago ..It has been a very sad week for us, when it comes to mother-n-laws she was the best, all my friends were jealous

She had been in the hospital for 8 weeks, the last 3 weeks or so we started staying round the clock with her, (she would have been there for us). I can't began to tell you how wonderful she was...this may give you an idea of how many peoples lives she has touched... as of today, we have wrote 209 thank-yous, and the memorials/cards are still coming.. She had her 77th birthday while in the hospital.

I see you had posted room #'s... I misplaced my sheet with our # on it, so I'm not 100% sure ...but do know that we are on deck 7.

All you mom's w/ young girls ...are your DD's into the "American Girl Dolls"? Mine both are...they are so excited, as we are planning a trip to Los Anegels to the "American Girl Place" the first of next month. they can hardly wait// as can I. WE are all ready to get away for awhile. (DH may not be too overly excited about the AG place though

ejkjmom,

I am very sorry for your loss. I know from first-hand experience that nothing makes you feel more gorwn-up in a bad way than losing a parent (or parent-in-law). I guess the saving grace is that she is not suffering any more.

Let's all do a toast to your MIL during our Palo brunch.

Mark

 

[Johnna_Story]

Welcome Angela!!!!!

It's been awhile since I've posted.... My MIL unfortunatley lost her battle with cancer a week ago ..It has been a very sad week for us, when it comes to mother-n-laws she was the best, all my friends were jealous

...

All you mom's w/ young girls ...are your DD's into the "American Girl Dolls"? Mine both are...they are so excited, as we are planning a trip to Los Anegels to the "American Girl Place" the first of next month. they can hardly wait// as can I. WE are all ready to get away for awhile. (DH may not be too overly excited about the AG place though

First - welcome Angela from the other half of the Story's! We look forward to virtually getting to know you over the next months...

Second - I add my condolences to you Brenda. I hope you know that your family will continue to be in my prayers.

Finally - I thank GOD we are not yet into American Girl dolls - just reading yours and Kim's posts makes me not want to get into that phase - ever! But knowing my girly-girl, she'll be into it before you know it. At what age does this typically start?

 

[Qball]

hi hi
I was so thankful that my DD wasn't a girly girl. She was into animals, insects of all sorts, dinosaurs, cars, stuffed animals...almost a tomboy, you might say. I have to add that I'm not a girly girl myself so it was nice. THEN all the sudden around 3 to 3.5 years of age, she was into princess, dolls, barbies...typical girly things. She still likes her animals, insects, dinos, cars, stuffed animals too but it just happened, to our dissappointment. Oh well, she's gone thru alot of phases. Because you can not get American Girl here in Canada (although my girlfriend who is a girly girl and so is her daughter sends me AG catalogues to encourage the girllyness) we don't encourage it... plus with the exchange, dute etc., they'd end up to be too expensive. We actually haven't received a catalogue since DDs interest in girly things. I suppose if she really wanted one, I'm pretty sure we'd break down and get her one for a special occassion....ahhh we love to spoil her.

 

[jldunbar]

This is our first cruise and it will be myself and my 8 year-old daughter.

We are flying in from MN the night before and staying at the Radisson - anyone else doing this? It would be great for the kids to meet before the cruise.

I have a question on booking the shore excursions and spa treatments. Repeat cruisers and those in class 1-3 get to reserve spots before us first-timers. One of the threads show that some of these cruises have up to 1000 return cruisers. Is there going to be any room left on the excursions we want to go on by the time I can book? The only one that is truly important (other than my massages I want to book is the Dolphin Encounter at St Marteen. will I be able to get it??????????

 

[Qball]

This is our first cruise and it will be myself and my 8 year-old daughter.

We are flying in from MN the night before and staying at the Radisson - anyone else doing this? It would be great for the kids to meet before the cruise.

I have a question on booking the shore excursions and spa treatments. Repeat cruisers and those in class 1-3 get to reserve spots before us first-timers. One of the threads show that some of these cruises have up to 1000 return cruisers. Is there going to be any room left on the excursions we want to go on by the time I can book? The only one that is truly important (other than my massages I want to book is the Dolphin Encounter at St Marteen. will I be able to get it??????????

Our first cruise was March 2006. I had some major computer difficulties that did not get resolved until about 4-5 days after the date we were allowed to start booking excursions, Palo, spa etc and I was still able to book things. Even being 4-5 days late, we got a Palo supper resssie, although not the greatest time slot. I booked my spa treatment onboard as they can have some pretty good onboard specials. We also put our name on a waitlist for Palo lunch (twicee) and high tea and were called for all of them....so I wouldn't worry. And excursion weren't a problem for us.

 

[alanapapa]

This is our first cruise and it will be myself and my 8 year-old daughter.

We are flying in from MN the night before and staying at the Radisson - anyone else doing this? It would be great for the kids to meet before the cruise.

I have a question on booking the shore excursions and spa treatments. Repeat cruisers and those in class 1-3 get to reserve spots before us first-timers. One of the threads show that some of these cruises have up to 1000 return cruisers. Is there going to be any room left on the excursions we want to go on by the time I can book? The only one that is truly important (other than my massages I want to book is the Dolphin Encounter at St Marteen. will I be able to get it??????????

Welcome Jennifer and Catilyn,
DCL keeps a number of spots open for people to make the ressies at the port after boarding, so let's all hope you can get your excursion .

We are planning on flying in either Thursday redeye or sometime Friday and spending the night in PC, either at the Raddison or the Residence I think. I agree that we should try to meet Friday evening, maybe for dinner?? Mark & Johnna are you guys game? Kim1 and Kim2?

 

[mommykeg]

Welcome Jennifer and Catilyn,
DCL keeps a number of spots open for people to make the ressies at the port after boarding, so let's all hope you can get your excursion .

We are planning on flying in either Thursday redeye or sometime Friday and spending the night in PC, either at the Raddison or the Residence I think. I agree that we should try to meet Friday evening, maybe for dinner?? Mark & Johnna are you guys game? Kim1 and Kim2?

Right now, we are booked to stay at the MCO Hyatt and taking either a towncar, limo, or DCL bus to the port Saturday morning. All are booked, but all are cancellable...so if we end up in PC Friday night, we'd love to join you!

Maybe it's the first grade teacher in me, but Kim1 and Kim2 has a certain Dr. Seuss sound to it! (You know, Thing1 and Thing2 from The Cat In The Hat?!!?)

 

[alanapapa]

Maybe it's the first grade teacher in me, but Kim1 and Kim2 has a certain Dr. Seuss sound to it! (You know, Thing1 and Thing2 from The Cat In The Hat?!!?)

Well is there anything wrong with paraphrasing Mr Geisel?

 

[Johnna_Story]

Welcome Jennifer and Caitlyn! We are staying at the Radisson on Thurs and Fri before the cruise. Dinner sounds like a great idea. If everyone will have a car, I'd love to recommend Grills - it's near the port and they have outdoor and indoor seating (although it was raining when we were there last year ) and you can see ships sailing past if you're there at the right time. If not, we can eat at the Radisson - their food is pretty good.

As for your ressies for excursions Jennifer - you should not have a problem; as others have said, they only allow about 1/2 the ressies to be booked on line and save the rest for onboard. However, I would suggest you get to the port early so you can get to the excursion desk (or wherever) as soon after boarding as possible to book the dolphin excursion so you can ensure you get a spot. But I really don't think you'll have a problem.

Welcome again!

 

[mark_story]

I'd like to correct my sincere but slightly clueless wife. We will not be staying at the Radisson Resort by the Port (like we did last year and enjoyed it, except for the torrential downpours). We will be staying at the new Marriott Residence Inn at the Beach, which I think is very, very close to the Resort by the Port.

As for the online reservations, they were new last year and I learned a lot via trial by fire. First of all, yes, the Castaway Club (repeat cruisers) get to make their shore excursions and online reservations 90 before the sailing date, whereas first time cruisers make their ressies at the 75-day mark. Both are contingent upon making sure that your balance is paid in full (I paid mine off about 2 weeks' prior, just to make sure that the Disney computers had a record of this).

Here's what I know: despite what Disney tells you, for Type A personalities like myself, you can book at the 90-day point at midnight -NOT EASTERN STANDARD TIME as I was repeatedly told, but at PACIFIC STANDARD TIME. That makes a big difference for us, living on the East Coast. I stayed up till midnight to make the reservations, only to find out on my own that I couldn't make them until 3:00am. That's a lot for an early riser like me, so I went to bed pretty ticked off and got up around 5:00am and made Flounder's Reef, excursion and Palo reservations with no problems at all.

What I was told is that Disney holds back about 50 percent of their activities so that you can book when you get on board. Especially for those interested in Flounder's Reef or Palo (both of which fill up fast), as soon as you board the boat, make a beeline for the both to make your ressies. The last two times we have sailed with them, they make all dining arrangements and changes in Rockin Bar D, which I think is on Deck 3.

But no matter where we stay, it would be great to meet for dinner the night before and place faces to logins.

Mark

 

[jldunbar]

It sounds like people are spread around at multiple hotels. I picked the Radisson because the pool looked the best for my daughter.

Since I am not familiar with the area - someone make the decision on where/when to meet for dinner on Friday and I will be there - it sounds like many of us will be!

 

[kshabare]

Okay, I think I'm Kim2. We never fly in the night before although every year we have regrets about it - only when we talk about the meets. We book our own air and take the DCL transfers. Listen - I know it's always a snowy-risk but I'm not willing to put in the extra $$ for it. So, we take the risk and fly in for 10:30 am on that Saturday. We've never had a problem before - even with the year they had to do scheduled maintenance BEFORE WE COULD LEAVE!

I will guarantee this - my butt will be at that pool after I've gotten on that ship and had my cold melon soup. It's a ritual and I find it!

By the way - we'll be in the PC lobby until they let us board anyway. Last year we all had our little Mickey name tags on (made from the Home Depot paint swatches) and we had a ball picking everyone out in the crowd. It was a hoot!!

DM(DisneyMom) Jennifer and Caitlyn - WELCOME - I sent you an email....

Kim

 

[jldunbar]

Okay, I think I'm Kim2. We never fly in the night before although every year we have regrets about it - only when we talk about the meets. We book our own air and take the DCL transfers. Listen - I know it's always a snowy-risk but I'm not willing to put in the extra $$ for it. So, we take the risk and fly in for 10:30 am on that Saturday. We've never had a problem before - even with the year they had to do scheduled maintenance BEFORE WE COULD LEAVE!

I will guarantee this - my butt will be at that pool after I've gotten on that ship and had my cold melon soup. It's a ritual and I find it!

By the way - we'll be in the PC lobby until they let us board anyway. Last year we all had our little Mickey name tags on (made from the Home Depot paint swatches) and we had a ball picking everyone out in the crowd. It was a hoot!!

DM(DisneyMom) Jennifer and Caitlyn - WELCOME - I send you an email....

Kim

You are braver than I!

Coming from Minnesota, I would never risk flying in on the same day as the cruise during the "snowy" season. You can get up at 5am to a beautiful morning and by 6am it is a blizzard with all transportation at a stand still.

I hate having my daughter miss another day of school, but I am too Type-A personality to risk it.

 

[ejkjmom]

DM (Jennifer) I see you found us Welcome!!!! (I'm the one who replied to your original post)

I want to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers since lossing my MIL.
The girls and I are leaving for DesMoines IA in the morning (about a 9 hour drive ) to take our Aunt & Uncle back home, they have been here since May 9th. Ron (DH) is in Denver COLO at the Mile High Nationals. Any DH Drag Racing fans?

I'm new at this ressie thing myself... Our first cruise was a 3 day, so we didn't book any extras, not even Palo's, so we are really looking forward to Palo's this time around!!! I haven't even begun to look at what is offered at our ports yet.

We too, are looking forward to getting to know our fellow cruisers. Not for sure where we are staying fri night. At first I thought we would be flying in late, so I found a room close to the airport, but since then, southwest came out with a NS flight that leaves in the a.m. for ALOT cheaper!!!! SO we might be getting in early on fri... We'll just have to wait to see what flights they offer for March... Have any of you flown on Southwest before? In two weeks we will be flying SW for the first time, so I guess I will see what it is all about.I know that they don't assign seats. Seems like that might be alittle hetic, but maybe not?

 

[Johnna_Story]

We too, are looking forward to getting to know our fellow cruisers. Not for sure where we are staying fri night. At first I thought we would be flying in late, so I found a room close to the airport, but since then, southwest came out with a NS flight that leaves in the a.m. for ALOT cheaper!!!! SO we might be getting in early on fri... We'll just have to wait to see what flights they offer for March... Have any of you flown on Southwest before? In two weeks we will be flying SW for the first time, so I guess I will see what it is all about.I know that they don't assign seats. Seems like that might be alittle hetic, but maybe not?

The best tip about Southwest is to print your boarding pass before you leave home! I think you can print it after 12:00 am (midnight) of the day you leave. That will give you your boarding group and letter A boards first, B second, etc. It's not as crazy at it seems - it works really well. And I don't recall off the top of my head how old your kids are, but I'm pretty sure they still have priority boarding for those with small kids

It used to be different - in the early days of SW, I think you just boarded in whatever order you got in line. Then they did the groups but you got your letter when you got to the airport. Now they do this so you don't have to get there a zillion hours before you board to ensure group A.