May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 5

[been2marceline]

I am sure there will be tons of opinions on this one...my vote would be for Wilderness Lodge! It is my favorite MK resort, although it is not a monorail resort, it is a lovely boat ride over in the am. They have a hidden Mickey hunt most days, crafts in the cubs den and beautiful grounds. Of course there are pluses to all resorts I am sure...BCV due to the great water slide, GF because it is so pretty, Contemporary because I always have wanted to stay in the hotel the "monorail" goes through!!! Such choices, good luck!

I would also have to agree with Kaylee on this. We have not stayed there since it opened (our honeymoon) but I did love the boat ride over and the rooms were very nice and quite large.

Karen

 

[been2marceline]

Like I said we really like Wilderness Lodge too . . . Hands down, that is my favorite lobby to sit in and gaze. I feel more relaxed there than any other resort we stay at.

DITTO and likewise the Grand Californian at DL. Equally relaxing and beautiful with all of the craftsman touches.

Here are the doors as you enter The Grand Californian

 

[been2marceline]

Here is the lobby looking up towards the lights:

 

[been2marceline]

And here is the fireplace, (behind the flowers):

 

[been2marceline]

Helloooo, anyone around?

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

 

[been2marceline]

All alone again...

Digga dang, digga dang...

DIS will be going down soon, and I will be going to bed shortly after!

Have a great day everyone!

Karen

 

[granmaz]

Good morning!

Going to get more dollars today. Last weekend and this some travel agencies are having a special deal - $2 to the £1! Brilliant.

Then we are going to a tropical fish shop. John got an aquarium yesterday, for his 60th birthday in a couple of weeks. We need the gravel etc toget it set up now.

Any of you have tropical fish?

See you all in your morning!

Have a good night's sleep Karen.

 

[disneylover5]

Good Morning Marilyn, 5:30am on the East Coast.

One of my dear friend's sister passed away and several of us have decided to go to the funeral. It is in Fort Washington PA. About a 3 hour drive.

On my way soon......

Talk to you later

 

[Brooklyn]

Paul, DH, has been telling me "we aren't going to run from place to place, event to event, on this vacation." I'm worried that I'll run my family ragged like we did on our first cruise. There are so many things to do and try so it's hard to say no to anthing....what to do????

I did that about the 1st 4-5 days. Then I could not keep up anymore. I know how you feel though. I tried to do EVERYTHING. In the end there were things that I missed but I am just going to try to make them a priority on the next one. If we see each other running around the ship we will just have to remind one another to slow down, he he.

Message to Brooklyn


DITTO!!

Jan

THANK YOU

Considering I can't even book a flight past April 27 right now on Alaska, I know this is ahead of the game, but.....

what airport is closest to port for return flights, is it LAX? And if we are leaving on the day of disembark. what time is a reasonable time for scheduling a flight home. There is a 547 flight Alaska offers, would that be too late or about right?

I am just paranoid about buying the tickets right now as I watched tickets for my trip back to CT this summer double in price over the last 4 days. Finally ended up buying first class tickets today as they were only 200.00 more than coach and instead of sitting in the middle away from Scott(only seats left on the plane were 4 middle seats!) I decided to pay the extra $ and sit in nice seats!

Thanks

I would wait to buy tickets. LAX I think would be your best. We have flown out of there many times. Luckily I have not run into problems like some people have there. If you have a baby stroller or someone requiring an elevator it helps a TON to get through security.

We have stayed at the GF once, and did not really like the atmosphere.

A bit too for us.

Of course if you want quick access to the MK, you can't beat it. How about the Poly? We like the Poly much better, and the access to the monorail is just as good.

Our favorite resorts (deluxe) are:

Beach Club and Old Key West (tie)
Wilderness Lodge
Polynesian

We have not yet stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We also like Port Orleans Riverside as a moderate resort.

We LOVED the Poly. The rooms were great and the location was perfect!! With the monorail at the hotel, the boat firectly to the MK and the being able to walk to the transportation center it was great! My biggest complain about the AK is its distance from everything! I HATE though buses, especially in the busy months. If you are going to do epcot or MK I would stay at a more centrally located hotel.

The pool was also a lot of fun there and you can walk to the GF to use there pool if you wanted to.

Not really - mostly people are getting teams together to help the cost be lower. Anyone can buy gifts on their own as well. For people that want to join a "team" I am helping organizing a team for each day. We have about 6 days covered so far. We don't have to have each day covered, although that would be fun. The days to pick from are May 11, May 12, May 15, May 17-18, May 20-24. Let me know what day you would like and we will rally some volunteers to join you. Once you get your team, you can discuss budget.

Ok, sounds good. Thanks! I guess our group will take the 12th.

 

[txSleepingBeauty]

I finally have a computer again!!! yay!!! we killed the harddrive on our mini, (thankfully a week before the warranty ran out) and just got the darn thing back....

so, how's everyone been? what have I missed? anything important??

btw, I went to see Jerry Seinfeld last night-absolutely hilarious!

 

[gydell]

Talking about airports - we are planning on spending a few days at DL after the cruise. Do they have transportation to the airport? Which airport is the best to fly out of?

 

[gydell]

Sorry - computer acting up.

 

[Brooklyn]

Talking about airports - we are planning on spending a few days at DL after the cruise. Do they have transportation to the airport? Which airport is the best to fly out of?

LAX will take you about 40 minutes to get to from DL. That is without a huge amount of traffic. There is also SNA (Orange County). It is a lot closer but can cost more to fly ou of there. There is also ONT (Ontario). That would be my airport of choice. That would take about 40 mins from DL too.

I am not sure if the DL hotels have airport transportation. I think you might have to use an outside company.

 

[lillygator]

morning all - we are back very EARLY!

We left around 6pm to get to Port Charlotte (Punta Gorda) by 6:45.....well with the rain and the fact we haven't had any in so long the roads were slick! We ran into two very very bad accidents.....so bad they had to cut the tops off! We didn't get to the hotel and restaurant until 7:45!!
Everyone was already eating, but it was a very nice place which on Friday nights has a seafood buffet or we could order from the menu. We had the entire section and with 12 managers and their families we took up quite a bit of space.

We ate and left to head back to the room, we got in the room and there was a Spongebob TV and SB DVD player (as gifts) for the girls. A brand new Bud light cooler, a case of bud, a case of bud light, a case of coke and diest coke, a large beach bag filled to the brim with flip flops, hair bows, sunscreen, etc....it was VERY NICE and thoughtful. We were told to meet in a conferance room and there they gave away more prizes and John won a Sony DVD player. They gave away gas grills, Best Buy gc, etc. All was donated by vendors.

All excursions were cancelled today due to Tropical Storm (maybe now a hurricane I haven't checked) Barry. Which worked out well. They will do the deep sea fishing next Sunday and maybe my mom can watch the girls and I can go too!

The new "big cheese" from Minn was there with his wife as well. I think DH's boss threw a few too many back (open bar) and made an fool of himself in front of his new boss.

All in all it was a fun night but I am glad we are home and can rest today and tomorrow.

So now on to catch up on the DIS!

 

[birkner]

All caught up finally with the DIS board. Too much to comment on so I will just try to stay current.

We are staying at the Dolphin in December to collect points. If I were to stay in WDW hotel, I think I would choose the Poly although I do love the GF.

As for Owen Wilson, I think just because you are famous doesn't mean you can't have private time. I have flown many times with famous people. Some are nice, some are private and some are downright nasty. Just because you happen to be on a plane with them doesn't mean they don't have the same rights to privacy as any individual.

Samantha is all packed up, condo cleaned and she is on her way north. John and I spent the day with her yesterday before she drove to Los Angeles to spend the weekend with her friend who is doing an internship there. She is picking up another friend from USC and they will be driving home on Monday.'

Her ML320 was so full she had to buy a car carrier for the top!!

More later on the graduation saga when we get home and recover!!

 

[fourmcds]

How did you put a constellation on your cake?

Jan

It was just a very simple cake top....the baker did it with frosting. Nothing fancy but it worked for us.

 

[fourmcds]

Kim's opinion when I discussed this with her was SNA (Orange County). I have never been, and this is taking Kim's word for it, but I trust her implicity. LAX is not too far, but it is much busier - although you may be able to get a better fare.
.

Kaylee - LAX is 21 miles away...Sunday's there shouldn't be traffic so you should be at the airport within 30 minutes, but it is a very busy airport.
SNA (John Wayne) is 35 miles away which on a Sunday should take about 45 minutes but it's a much smaller airport and thus will be less busy.
QUOTE]

Thanks for the airport ideas. I will compare the 2 and see what is the best when they do release ticket prices. I do know how crazy LAX and traffic can be.

morning all - we are back very EARLY!

We left around 6pm to get to Port Charlotte (Punta Gorda) by 6:45.....well with the rain and the fact we haven't had any in so long the roads were slick! We ran into two very very bad accidents.....so bad they had to cut the tops off! We didn't get to the hotel and restaurant until 7:45!!
Everyone was already eating, but it was a very nice place which on Friday nights has a seafood buffet or we could order from the menu. We had the entire section and with 12 managers and their families we took up quite a bit of space.

We ate and left to head back to the room, we got in the room and there was a Spongebob TV and SB DVD player (as gifts) for the girls. A brand new Bud light cooler, a case of bud, a case of bud light, a case of coke and diest coke, a large beach bag filled to the brim with flip flops, hair bows, sunscreen, etc....it was VERY NICE and thoughtful. We were told to meet in a conferance room and there they gave away more prizes and John won a Sony DVD player. They gave away gas grills, Best Buy gc, etc. All was donated by vendors.

All excursions were cancelled today due to Tropical Storm (maybe now a hurricane I haven't checked) Barry. Which worked out well. They will do the deep sea fishing next Sunday and maybe my mom can watch the girls and I can go too!

The new "big cheese" from Minn was there with his wife as well. I think DH's boss threw a few too many back (open bar) and made an fool of himself in front of his new boss.

All in all it was a fun night but I am glad we are home and can rest today and tomorrow.

So now on to catch up on the DIS!

Wow....sounds like the company treats you guys great! Enjoy the rain, I know how much you guys need it down there.

 

[LiserAnn]

It was just a very simple cake top....the baker did it with frosting. Nothing fancy but it worked for us.

We didn't do the bride/groom on top of ours either...we had flowers, very simple.

 

[TiggersPal]

I've been trying to catch up and really have been enjoying everyone's posts. Brooklyn - can you add me to the "gift team" that you just started? I had PM's CALMOM about adding me to the other team, but I guess we have a new team started since that post? Just pm me and let me know what I should be doing to help!

WELCOME to all new folks, I've since forgotten your names (I was on a conference call this morning with our peeps from our SURF N TURF trip in 12/07!!!!) IS IT TIME TO PACK YET?

Anyone got big plans this weekend? I'm going shopping I think, I would like a few new kitchen items to start cooking again. My DH told me last night that he's actually like a home cooked meal! (poor baby). I do feel bad for him, I haven't actually been cooking for him like I was in the near past. I sure have a bunch of recipes to try!!! I just love those cooking shows. If someone had told me I'd EVER say that 9 years ago, I would have said "your on crack".

I guess we all change and grow eh? I would love to take a cooking class sometime too... maybe I'll check that out and sign up over the summer!

Everyone have a great day.

 

[woody73]

. . . Anyone got big plans this weekend?

We went for a walk at the beach this morning. (We're training for the Disneyland Half Marathon.) Tonight is a Jackson Browne benefit concert.

Woody