May 11th 2008 ~ Any Double Dippers Out There?

[Mousermom]

Bibbidi,

I'm glad you are still going to be with us on the cruise.

Just checking in to see how everyone is doing.

Take care!

 

[Bibbidi]

We leave very early in the am tomorrow for our trip to Disney World. My DH has to work for one day in JAX Friday, so we are now heading down a day earlier than planned, and staying 8 nights at Disney instead of 7. Not a bad deal

I'll catch up with our thread upon our return, sometime after the 27th. Have a great week everyone!

 

[Bibbidi]

Bibbidi,

I'm glad you are still going to be with us on the cruise.

Take care!

Thanks! I was never in real danger of cancelling, since my husband won't cave, (which is a good thing in this case) - but I was having anxiety over the whole thing.

 

[CustardTart]

We leave very early in the am tomorrow for our trip to Disney World. My DH has to work for one day in JAX Friday, so we are now heading down a day earlier than planned, and staying 8 nights at Disney instead of 7. Not a bad deal

I'll catch up with our thread upon our return, sometime after the 27th. Have a great week everyone!

Have a wonderful time in WDW, Bibbidi!!! See you when you get back...

 

[wagnut65]

I just joined the boards and I see you guys are talking about the new idea of going to Castaway Cay twice. I actually experienced this on my cruise in January. It was a quick change of plans we were told at check in. They told us that they were changing the inteneiry and we didn't know what to think. Then, they broke the news that we had to suffer, two whole, long sun filled days at Castaway Cay. (please read through my sarcasam) Anyway, in short, it was wonderful and I would book a cruise with a second call to castaway cay again, even though I did the first time unknowningly.

If you would like to see some pictures from my Double Dip. Go to YouTube.com and type in Disney Cruise and click search. My video is the very first video that pops up. Yes, I was shocked too the first time I did it, lol! I hope you enjoy my video that I put together! If you have any questions about the double dip, let me know and I would love to answer them!

 

[CustardTart]

Thanks for the info, wagnut! Your video is fab - I especially love the soundtrack (Slide is one of my favourite songs...) and it was great to have a reminder of my first DCL trip back in May 2005! Did you ever book another trip?

It's a sunny day here in London and I'm about to start getting ready for an evening out with my DH.

Hope everyone's fit and well. Look forward to chatting some more soon...

 

[branv]

I must be losing my mind, can you believe I just made a spreadsheet with possible excursions/price/times? For the love of pete, if I keep this up I won't have any organizing left by July and THEN what will I do for the 10 months after that?

That being said...anyone have any ideas yet about what they'd like to do excursion wise? We didn't do any on our last trip, so I'd really like to make a go of it this time around.

I'm pretty sure we're going to do the snorkeling on our first day at Castaway Cay, but then it's a toss up whether to do the stingray excursion or the waverunner boat tour on the second day. I've never seen a stingray up close and they look super cute, but I do enjoy waverunners and would like to see the island. However, I read that the tour is pretty short and if you are someone who has spent some time on waverunners, the allowable speed might be a little dull. Plus it's a pretty short amount of time actually spent on the waverunners and pretty pricey tour at that. Hmmmmm...decisions, decisions. Any thoughts?

For you previous cruisers, did you eat at the pirate buffet? We didn't try last time b/c it was so crowded, but would like to give it a shot. Was it very hard to get near the buffet?

I just read that during the last few months they've been testing out table-service dining at the Beach Blanket Buffet on the 2nd and 3rd night? I enjoyed our dinners and our table mates, but the dinners were SOOOO long! We never got out until after 10:00 pm every night and kept missing the beginning of stuff. One night we were so tired from our long, sun-filled day we were practically falling asleep at dinner This time we scheduled early dining, but I hope they keep the full meal option at BBB open for our cruise as well. It's nice to have a choice of a long, social dinner or a quick in-and-out when a long dinner conflicts with our plans or our energy level .

 

[CustardTart]

Hey branv! Nice to see ya even tho' I can't believe you made a spreadsheet, you crazy lady! No wait, I'm the crazy lady who spent all this morning working out which West Coast hotels we were going to spend our DVC points at in August 2008...

It's all part of being a OEPD, I'm afraid...

But enough of such hand-wringing - excursion-wise, I'm hoping DD will consent to a tandem parasail on Castaway Cay. DH wants to do it in September so we'll have to see if I actually like it before commiting...

 

[CustardTart]

PS: branv, I gotta tell you, I lurve your avatar! I have a very similar photo from our last WDW vacation - Pleakley is my fave character out of Lilo & Stitch...

 

[branv]

Thanks, though he was crazy cold to cling onto that night! I did try to fling myself against him in a passionate embrace but about froze my knickers. So instead we have a very proper, friendly photo.

You can do the parasailing tandem?? Ooooooh, now that's a thought! Do you know what the *cough* weight limit is? I keep trying to talk DH into doing parasailing but he has in mind all these horror stories of people that do daring things in countries without proper safety regulations (he's convinced people who rent scooters in foreign ports have unconcious suicidal tendencies). I keep reminding him that since it's on Castaway Cay, it's DISNEY, and they have enough lawyers quadruple checking every single thing they do to make stuff safe and sterile.

Today we went to Six Flags/Fiesta Texas theme park, and ugh...once you go Disney, everything else fades to grey in comparison. The entire drive home I couldn't stop reminiscing about Magic Kingdom You can't even compare the cleanliness, crowd control, staging and service. In fact, for a moment today, I honestly thought I was going to have to leap over the counter and throttle an evil food cashier. The whole line of customers rumbled with the threat of mutiny. If you're determined to give the absolutely worst service possible, it's probably safest to simply play stupid rather than top it off with a nasty attitude. Without a doubt, my worst day at WDW beats my best day at 6-Flags.

Though it was a perfect day for going to the parks!! Temperature about 78 degrees/F, very little humidity, slight breeze, fluffy clouds. Central Texas can be very similar to Florida temp, I hope Bibbidi is enjoying the same kind of weather we are and I sure hope we have this kind of weather this time next year.

 

[CustardTart]

...You can do the parasailing tandem?? Ooooooh, now that's a thought! Do you know what the *cough* weight limit is? I keep trying to talk DH into doing parasailing but he has in mind all these horror stories of people that do daring things in countries without proper safety regulations (he's convinced people who rent scooters in foreign ports have unconcious suicidal tendencies). I keep reminding him that since it's on Castaway Cay, it's DISNEY, and they have enough lawyers quadruple checking every single thing they do to make stuff safe and sterile...

According to my PassPorter, guests must be 90 - 350lbs and tandem parasailing is possible if you're both under the max weight combined - HTH! I don't think your DH should worry too much - as you say, this is Disney! I've decided to just go ahead and do it with DH in September - we get to book our excursions, Palo and spa stuff in a mere 19 days! Very exciting...

 

[branv]

At first I failed to read that you are speaking about your September cruise. I was like, "Oh @#$ did they change the rules? Do we now book at 350 days out instead of 90?? Wait, maybe she's in the Walt Disney Suite and gets to do super early booking...ooooh, if that's the case I must remember to suck up to her!"

Thanks for the info! I most certainly will try to work on DH and the parasailing. I guess we all have our phobias (you should have seen me with the pin-head sized spider I encountered this morning) But he will succumb to my wiles, oh yes..he will

I finally got my confirmation letter yesterday with that adorable Mickey postcard. Which was so cute I was required to make a planner binder just so the postcard could be my binder cover. In my defense, it's a sound way to prevent myself (though probably temporarily) from buying the Passporter DCL deluxe book just because it has nifty planner pockets. Though my cunning plan to save money by simply printing out the reams of free information online will probably be thwarted by the $50 worth of ink toner I'll have to buy.

So cruisers, do you use anything for motion on the cruise? I used a patch last time. Unlike some people, I had no problems with it at all Bless modern science. That and Ginger pills. The first night we had about 8-10 foot swells, which just me and one other girl at our table felt. Thanks to my pretty little patch, I was just a little wobbly-headed only on the first night, almost like having a mild buzz. But my tablemate hadn't taken anything so, well, she didn't eat much. She and I were the table's wave gauge...whenever both of us clutched the table they knew we'd rolled through a big one. Though I'm glad she was there, at first I thought my balance problem had to do with it being my first time in heels in forever. I'm still not sure DH would have believed me that we were rocking if I hadn't pointed out that if it wasn't waves than some supernatural power was causing the water in his glass to move from side to side. He's got an inner ear of steel that man.

I really enjoyed the waves from our cabin. We were on the 1st deck, and every night it was like being lightly rocked to sleep.

 

[CustardTart]

...Wait, maybe she's in the Walt Disney Suite and gets to do super early booking...ooooh, if that's the case I must remember to suck up to her!"...

OMG I wish!!! But what the hey, you can suck up to me anyway!

TBH I don't think I'm the kind of person who would ever get her hands on a Cat. 1 suite - don't you have promise your first-born and say a secret password before they'll even put you on a waiting-list??? Sadly, I'm just not that focused! Maybe one day, when DH retires, I can put him in charge of procurring the Walt (or even the Roy, I'm not fussy) - I can't think of a better post-work hobby...

I can honestly say the whole motion-sickness thing never affected me at all. Actually it never occured to me that it might be an issue. I wasn't exactly like "We cruise on a ship?!! On the sea??!! Who knew!!?" but not far off, so it was just as well I suffered no ill-effects...

 

[alecsmom]

Hey guys - just checking in and wanted to let you know what had been going on with me lately. We had some big unexpected expenses come up recently and my husband and I talked about it - and thought it would be best on our finances to just go ahead and cancel this cruise. Of course I was heartbroken - but decided to send my TA an e-mail and just ask her to cancel - kinda like ripping off a band-aid - just do it and get it over with. I was SO SAD when I sent the e-mail.

That was Friday. Hadn't heard from her all day on Friday or Saturday, even checked my reservation online and our status was still "booked" hmmmmmmm - then my husband and I were on a date night Saturday night - and were discussing it again - and talked it over and over and both of us said well what the heck - we should just keep the reservation and work really hard to save for it - and decided we could make it work - and definitely wanted our son to experience the whole magic of Disney experience. So I went home Saturday night - sent another e-mail to my TA - "if it's not too late please don't cancel!!!" and felt so much better. She sent me an e-mail yesterday - saying she had been out for a couple of days - at Disney of course! and she got both my messages at the same time - and our cruise is NOT cancelled - and was so glad we were still going. I think it was just meant to be.

Soooooo, still looking forward to meeting everybody next May!!!

 

[CustardTart]

...thought it would be best on our finances to just go ahead and cancel this cruise. Of course I was heartbroken - but decided to send my TA an e-mail and just ask her to cancel...then my husband and I were on a date night Saturday night - and were discussing it again - and talked it over and over and both of us said well what the heck - we should just keep the reservation and work really hard to save for it - and decided we could make it work - and definitely wanted our son to experience the whole magic of Disney experience...sent another e-mail to my TA - "if it's not too late please don't cancel!!!"...she got both my messages at the same time - and our cruise is NOT cancelled... I think it was just meant to be...

Look's like Fate's intervened there! Glad you're still with us!

 

[alecsmom]

I wholeheartedly agree!!!

 

[alecsmom]

Hey branv - whereabouts in "Austin-ish" are you? We live in San Antonio. and I smiled when I read what you said about Fiesta Texas - I know exactly what you mean - when we went to WDW - I thought i was in another world!!!! Nothing would ever compare. BUT for now, we have the season passes for Fiesta Texas - my 4 year old loves it - absolutely can't wait till he experiences Disney!!

 

[branv]

Alecsmom, so glad you decided to stay onboard (pun intended). I know what you mean about expenses, last time we cruised DH's car broke down 3 months ahead of time and the repair bill was $1800 I thought to myself, "ok, I think the universe is trying to tell me something." But it all worked out in the end, as I know it will for you.

When I convinced DH to sign up for the cruise, I buttered the deal by saying I would earn the money for half of the cost. I know I didn't need to, he's such a softy, but I figure if I can do that, it will be easier to convince him to add on a few extra WDW days I just graduated a week ago from Texas State (yes, I know, I'm 33 and trying to make a career change...I was the oldest person in all my classes ), and I'm banking on the hope that I'll find a job before then. Fingers crossed. Worst case scenario I can pick up the dough by doing some temp'ing or, dunno, selling plasma?

But, aside from looking for a job, the Budget Board on Dis has taught me some good ways to make extra money or stretch a dime. Thanks to that board, I learned how to earn some secret money towards DH's surprise bday present. I made like $500 doing online surveys over 8 months. I highly recommend it. And just think, there's always tax returns in February

We live in Kyle. We moved here about 3 years ago from Austin. Kyle is a cute and booming little town, and I enjoyed growing up in Dallas and living for a while in Houston, but I think Austin is my one true love. We probably should have just stayed in Austin for the amount of gas money we spend driving back and forth I'm still adjusting. Not to mention, being ten miles from the closest grocery store just FREAKS me out! Though we're getting an HEB in 2 weeks...who knew one day I'd be so excited by a grocery store. On the plus side we ARE just nine miles from the outlet malls.

BTW: have you ridden that ride at Fiesta Tx that works on the same premise as the Tower of Terror but you sit in a chair type seat, staring out over the world with your feet hanging down? Now I LOVE ToT, love roller coasters (even the hanging ones), but there is just something about having to sit in some tiny little chair, staring way out over the horizon that scared the snot out of me! DH though I was shrieking in delight, but it was sheer terror. Never again, never again.
I think ToT is manageable b/c you're in the dark and can't see how high up your rear is hanging, and roller coasters go too fast to think about it. This ride makes you hang up there thinking about how stupid you are to be sitting there.

I have to say Fiesta has just about the best theming I've seen outside of WDW. I grew up going to Six Flags in Arlington, and while it may have more roller coasters, it's ugly in comparison to Fiesta.

 

[alecsmom]

Branv - thanks for the kind words. I know what you mean about thinking the universe is trying to tell you something. Good idea - I will head over to the Budget Board and do some research!

BTW, Congrats on getting your degree! That is awesome! Best of luck with your job search.

I think you are talking about the Scream - and heck no I haven't gotten on it. I think at 37 i'm too old for that. Ha ha. But I also loved the Tower of Terror - absolutely loved it - you're right for some reason there is a big difference. Standing on the ground by the Scream, you can also look up at all the idiots about to plummet down to the ground and be thankful you're not one of them!!

You know, every summer when I was growing up we planned a trip to Six Flags Arlington - highlight of my whole summer. Then when i was 15 - we went to Disneyland in California - man did my world change!! Next month we're taking a little road trip so we can take my son and my nephews to Six Flags Arlington - they've never been - just for a change of pace, haven't been there in years, interested in what it looks like these days. I agree that Fiesta Texas is nicely themed, for what it's worth.

 

[branv]

I had not been at Six Flags over Texas in like 6 years before I went back with my sister and niece for fright fest last year. I think when Astroworld closed they bought a bunch of their little rides like scramblers, etc. I used to know that park like the back of my hand, but I kept coming around a corner and going, "whoaa! Where did that come from?!" I finally rode the newest coaster, the Titan. HOLY COW!! Now that is a ride! It's got the largest drop of any coaster, but the ride is the smoothest I've ever been on. I highly recommend giving it a try

One thing about other theme parks that really makes you miss Disney is the staging of the waiting areas. Half the time you're just standing in the hot sun staring at the back of someone's head. Disney really knows how to work a crowd

I really want to go to Disneyland, you know, see where it all started Though I hear the teeny castle is always a shock.