May 12, 2007 -- Taking the Magic to the Mediterranean -- 14 day Repo Cruise! Part 2

[Hoagie Pie]

Yes, they do say whatever they need to say to make the sale. They told Robert as he was getting a facial, "Your nose has sun damage"! We still laugh at that one too!

I do mean to clarify that we always have great experiences in the spa too! Actually, on the intake form it asks your occupation and when they see we are massage therapists, they pretty much leave us alone when it comes to the selling. I was really more expressing my wish that Disney would actually take over and run the spa themselves, rather than let Steiner make all the profits. Plus, somewhere in the back of my daydreams as I do massages in a dimly lit, quiet room all day, I dream of running the spa on one of the new Disney ships. . .

I am getting a little nervous because I am getting the "hand massage" on Monday. I have been starring at them all night to make sure nothing is wrong with my fingers! Marika - way to go! I will tell Abby and I am sure she will send a message! Welcome to the new people!!!! I am soooo tired, I must go to sleep!

 

[hksilverfox]

Ooops, sorry scoobyPOP - finger trouble. Better head to bed!

 

[txaggie94gigem]

OH6 volunteered for deck 7 and they are centrally located so that is probably good.

eller - you really are in the very back. Unless someone is using the secret staircase into the buffet they are not likely to go back that far. Anyone else want to volunteer for deck 8? If we don't get a centrally located door, maybe we can go with one aft and one forward. That might be best for deck 6 also.

Where are the deck 5 volunteers? I know there aren't very many of you but you are all close together at least. I have myself, Elizabeth, and Kelly for deck 2. I don't know where Elizabeth is located, but Kelly is centrally located. I suspect that since I'm travelling solo, I won't actually be upgraded so I'm probably going to be forward on deck 2.

I'm not making the rules (just the message boards). But my thought would be that whoever wanted to announce something would run around and update the boards - or call me and I would do it for them. An alternative might be to call each of the 5 rooms and ask them to post it.

I think what we have so far is (for the midship locations):
Deck 2 - Elizabeth (2545) - not too far off midship
Deck 5 - Debbie (5024) - not midship, but there are no deck 5 midship rooms
Deck 6 - Kathy (6568)
Deck 7 - OH 6 (7568)
Deck 8 - Erik & Jason? (8056)

We had several other volunteers if these don't work.

Should we go ahead and post this on page 143 and update as necessary? We want to make sure it makes it into the navigator.

I also plan on making a couple extras in case one gets stolen. I'll bring extra pens also.

Thanks

i will add this info to the first page as well...plan on my room for deck 2 too...i think calling all of us will be the best way and then we can post it...unless you want the exercise!!!

Hello!

Family of four here... getting ready for the May 12 2007 repo-east cruise! Very new to online discussion forums and want to learn how to sign up for onboard get-togethers and stuff that folks are organizing.

ie:
- Wendy's Tea
- Bracelet's / lanyards (what are these used for?)
- Etc.

Thx!

i have put you down for 2 adults and 2 youth bracelets...let me know if it is any different!

Good evening all. It looks like a heck of a lot of us are getting a white Eater to make up for the lack of a white Christmas. Somehow it is not really the same

This has nothing to do with the cruise, but please allow me to indulge in a moment of proud mom bragging. None of the grandparents are answering their phones and I will burst if I don't get to share soon. Last week we took Marika down to a computer testing center to take a test to see if she qualifies for the John Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. Well, we didn't expect to see the results for 3 weeks (were just looking for the DCL treat which still isn't here--but this is way better), but they were in the mailbox today and she qualified!!!! This is a really big honor (she had to take the 8th grade SCAT test even though she is only in 5th grade--and should be in 4th--and had to score above the 80th percentile as comapred to 8th graders). Now she'll get to take some really awesome online courses, and it is a great boost to the self esteem of a girl who is so often the odd one out. I am one proud mama tonight

Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled cruise programming!

i am very proud of your daughter! my 13 year old son is in the Duke University talent identification program and he will go to Texas A&M University this summer to take a class for three weeks...he took the ACT test this spring (the same test high school seniors take and he is in 7th grade)...take advantage of all this for your daughter! she will really enjoy it!!!

I believe that my post on page 143 is now being duplicated on page 1.

KEn

I am trying to duplicate everything on page 1, post 1 to help all newcomers and all of us keep things straight!!!

 

[Scott H]

Good Morning All and Happy Easter!!!!!!

I hope the Easter Bunny is good to you….and if the true intent of the day is significant to you, that you mull it over. Either way enjoy…..The bunny was good to me…

Welcome aboard to KaptainJack and crew. Head the words of those that have sailed the DIS boards before ye and navigate to Page 143,

KEWL to hear about such talented kids….congrats to them and their parents.

Would have made it here soon but the Malamute herd had to be fed and watered.

Looks like a cold foggy day here in Wyoming.

 

[BobandLee]

Good Morning All. Hope everyone has an enjoyable day.

Scott...just got up. Belle wanted breakfast even if I didn't.
Guess a walk is next. At the freezing mark here, but the wind has died down.

Welcome to all the new people. Can't seem to keep up with all the new names. Will have to cram with Debbie's roster before the cruise.

Had to believe that it in 5 weeks we will be at Castaway.
We are ready!

 

[Scott H]

Good Morning All. Hope everyone has an enjoyable day.

Scott...just got up. Belle wanted breakfast even if I didn't.
Guess a walk is next. At the freezing mark here, but the wind has died down.

Welcome to all the new people. Can't seem to keep up with all the new names. Will have to cram with Debbie's roster before the cruise.

Had to believe that it in 5 weeks we will be at Castaway.
We are ready!

19.5 F here, The Malamute Herd is sleeping after their feeding. No wind at all, that is very different for us here.

Oh No will there be a test on Debbies List

Having Breakfast burittos when Lynn wakes up, with a peach mango Guacamole complemented with a Mango salsa.

Got a big diner to cook up later.

Yes very ready for this trip...

 

[BobandLee]

.....And when is your Birthday Bob? Mine is shortly before too
...[/COLOR]

Deb

Well, mine is just before Peter's and the same as Linda's.
Don't ask the year.

 

[BobandLee]

19.5 F here, The Malamute Herd is sleeping after their feeding.

Oh No will there be a test on Debbies List

Having Breakfast burittos when Lynn wakes up, with a peach mango Guacamole complemented with a Mango salsa.

Got a big diner to cook up later.

The pup likes to run after she eats. That will change.

Didn't ya hear about the test?

My year to do the dinner too. Hope it is edible.

Okay, Okay! Time for the walk.

 

[gydell]

Hello all
I am thinking of going on this cruise. This year we are one Sept 8 Westrn.. I keep tossing around the idea of 2 weeks off and a Pirate trip. hum... Thinking time...

2 weeks is better than 1!

 

[gydell]

Happy Easter!

 

[tig82174]

Good morning everyone! I'll leave a pretty substantial post this morning to catch up and update

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!! (There was no easter bunny smiley so I went with "spring emoticons") We're celebrating Easter visiting with my in-laws (Jason's family) in Central New York.

I should have said this earlier in the week, too...but Happy Passover to any of our Jewish friends aboard. (I'm not even going to bother LOOKING for an emoticon for this one.....Missulalie might have found the "puking smiley" but I somehow doubt the "Israelites fleeing Egypt" smiley is as easy to locate! )

:Welcome: to the new folks....you've missed a ton of fun on this board for the past year, but better late than never and you've definitely made it in time for the excitement and planning between now and the trip!! (Actually there might be another couple joining our boards, too. Scoopypop and I both happened upon another couple on the GLBT thread, Chris & Mike are their names, who indicated they are booked on this cruise, too. We advised them to hop on over here so we'll see if they make it!)

to everyone who complimented our fish extender....it is ironic that lime green is the official color of the DisBoards and that the fabric I found to make our shirts and our message center is lime green with other tropical mickey heads on it. If I'd have known I would have bought bolts and bolts of the fabric and made lots of sourvenirs and shirts and things and sold them to Disboarders on ebay!!

:congrats: to Marika!! Hadley.....that's quite the gifted gene pool you've created there!!! You've quite a bit to be proud of in the mommy department! So congrats to Marika, for sure.......but I'll tell you truth as someone who has studied education and who does do some work with kids.....talent and intuition are only one part of the equation (an important one, for sure) but upbringing has a lot to do with it, too. So as much as we all congratulate Marika....kudos to you and your husband, too!

Scott (I think it was you).......if you can find the fabric for it, I'd certainly make you a tie.....now whether it would happen before the cruise....that might be another story!

So our bad news......it's very lucky I posted our picture of our fish extender the other night because literally an hour or two after that my laptop's hard drive completely fried and the Apple company was not able to to retrieve ANYTHING. It was covered by the warranty I purchased so they replaced it for free and fixed the computer on the spot....but that doesn't help me recover the YEARS worth of memories and pictures that were lost....and all my music files (including the High School Musical sountrack which I had purchased on iTunes!!! ) and other personal data. Needless to say it's a bit like a death in the family at this moment!! (Not to sound too overly dramatic, but just tons and tons of our memories including digital copies of pictures of every Disney trip Jason and I have ever taken together are in there! ). *sigh* Well...live and learn.....we've already bought the necessary software to start doing backups of my data (as I rebuild) to an external drive and/or to cd/dvd discs.

On a good note, however, the trip portion with my parents is coming together nicely. We were kind of afraid that after Disney's wedding announcement on Friday that my parents would decide they wouldn't come with us (a long and complicated story but if you want to hear it PM me or ask me aboard while we're lounging by the pool sometime....will make for an interesting conversation! ). That isn't the case, however, and they're very excited about the trip and last night we even booked Cirque tickets ----my parents have never seen a Cirque show live so we got GREAT La Nouba tickets (dead center of the row, dead center section, row D...so 4 rows up from the stage.....I've seen La Nouba 4 times before but NEVER gotten seats that good!). So that is all exciting and my parents are making lists of shows they want to see and rides they want to experience.....although neither of my my parents are on the small side and my mother does have some mobility issues (she has a neurological issues with her knee that gives her trouble....so I think we're going to rent her a wheelchair in the parks so she won't have to walk for extended periods).....so I'm hopiong they won't be kept off of too many rides.

There's one other piece of exciting news (for me, at least)....there is the SLIGHTEST of chances that Jason and I might be bringing along a stow-away (well not literally, but we'll call her taht! )----my delightful 9 year old niece, Tavi (short for Octavia)!! Nothing is set in stone but a few stars & planets may be aligning to make it possible for us to have her for this cruise which would be a dream come true for me!!!

Ok this post is grotesquely long.....I'll close.

Have a great weekend!!!


Erik

 

[eller]

Happy Easter All! It looks like it's going to be an okay day here. No sun, but no rain either, which will help with the egg hunt after church. It's much nicer to have the egg hunt at the park rather than in the sanctuary (?). It might even get up to 60F today. Friday was sooooo nice. It hit 80 something with sun. It was down right hot! I love hot!

Have a great day everyone. And for the person trying to decide to come with us. All I can say is that I'm so excited that sometimes I just have to jump up and down!

Lori

 

[eller]

.....although neither of my my parents are on the small side and my mother does have some mobility issues (she has a neurological issues with her knee that gives her trouble....so I think we're going to rent her a wheelchair in the parks so she won't have to walk for extended periods).....so I'm hopiong they won't be kept off of too many rides.


Erik

You might consider having a wheelchair for your whole time. Are you staying concierge at AKL? If so, they might be able to help you out with one at no cost. If not, Walker Mobility(.com I think) rents by the day and delivers and picks-up from your resort. I know this because I had to rent one for DH's Mom. She had hurt her heal and walking was an issue.

It sounds like a wonderful time with your parents! I wish I could talk mine into coming along on a Disney vacation, but they are on the minds of we've done that, we don't need to do it agian. Can you believe that!

Lori

 

[Scott H]

Erik, Bummer on the Hard Drive Crash.... I can only imagine... We had a media disk from a camera crash, but to loose all you did, Sorry to hear. Not telling ya anything new but a couple of backup options are the best idea, external and CD/DVD.

Also there are other places besides Apple that may be able to recover the data from your hard drive. Might not be cheap but might be worth some research. You hard drive might need to be pulled apart and rebuilt. If I hear of any such service I will let ya know.

Worry not I wil not request a tie before the cruise, maybe after...

 

[misseulalie]

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!! Happy Sunday! (to our non-celebrating friends!)

Not to sound like a downer , but is anyone else now fretting about the captain driving the ship into rocks when we dock in the Canary Islands? Isn't the terrain similar to Santorini?

I was up thinking about that last night....

Sorry to be a party pooper

 

[tig82174]

You might consider having a wheelchair for your whole time. Are you staying concierge at AKL? If so, they might be able to help you out with one at no cost. If not, Walker Mobility(.com I think) rents by the day and delivers and picks-up from your resort. I know this because I had to rent one for DH's Mom. She had hurt her heal and walking was an issue.

It sounds like a wonderful time with your parents! I wish I could talk mine into coming along on a Disney vacation, but they are on the minds of we've done that, we don't need to do it agian. Can you believe that!

Lori

My mom really can walk fine....and actually she reports that she can shop for hours and hours if she has a shopping cart to lean on or can at least sit down from time to time to rest (my father...who is often dragged to these stores and malls for hours on end confirms this as truth! ). My mother actually was thinking if she had a cane or a collapsing walker she'd be fine but my father suggested she get a wheelchair because it's "safer" just in case the walking turns out to be more than she can handle AND she likes to carry a large purse with her (which my father is forced to carry often ) so we can just put a bag on the back of the chair like people do with their strollers. Honestly I've never seen my mother use a wheelchair and she gets around on her feet just fine.....she doesn't like to do stairs and slows a bit when she has to, but I think the desire to get a chair is really more of a "better safe than sorry" deal. So we were thyinking of renting a "length of stay" wheelchair in the parks. I read that you can go to guest services or the wheelchair and stroller rental place the first day and pre-pay a slightly reduced rate ($8/day instead of $10) for the whole time you're going to be in the parks then each day you show up at any of the 4 main parks with your receipt and you get a chair. We thought this would work best for us because it alleviates the need to be putting a wheelchair in and out of a rental car or taking it on the Disney buses and boats....and since our primary concern is the days in teh parks. Around the resort and even in downtown disney I think she'll be fine.

I definitely appreciate the feedback, though.....do others who have had to use wheelchairs in teh parks have a sense of what approach might be best? (we are NOT staying in concierge at AKL (although i wish we were but that was just TOO exhorbitant a use of our points! ) but I do know that I read that AKL has wheelchairs you can rent for the length of your stay and you leave a large deposit on your room charge that is refunded when you return the chair.....so we could possibly do that but then we'd be responsible for getting the chair to and from parks and aonto and off of trasnportation and all that good stuff.)


Erik

 

[mickey squared]

Happy Easter Everyone - My kids will be finding out about this trip shortly via the Easter egg hunt so then they will be able to participate in the kids emails. My 9 yr old, Sophia is the most apprehensive about the kids club, so maybe if she "meets" other kids beforehand she'll be more eager. She is very shy and artsy and usually feels sort of left out.(My boys have autism and we usually bring their aides with us on our trips).This time we're only bringing their nanny and uncle, keeping it in the family!

As far as airfare goes, anybody else flying Aerlingus? Of course, the flight we booked has dropped considerably and since we bought 8 tickets, could have been more espresso martinis on board, but they don't credit you back after payment. That's okay, can't wait to sail away!!

 

[KaptainJack]

Hello Everyone!

Four more people happy to join you on the May 12 repo east cruise! We are a family of four (son age 10 and daughter age 4 and parents age 43 and 42) from Toronto Canada. First Disney cruise and first cruise period for me and the kids.

As a newbie cruise-goer, I'm really grateful for forums such as these to help answer questions and learn fun facts before we set sail!

I love the secret Mickey idea and would like to take part in a Wendy's Tea. Our whole family hopes there is some pirate fun on board, too.

Looking forward to the fun and in the meantime, trying to figure out how all the online forums and signups work!

Cynthia

 

[KaptainJack]

Can anyone confirm when we will see the full moon on our cruise? I think it's the first Wednesday when we are out at sea. Is that right? What's it like?

 

[padalyn]

My mom really can walk fine....and actually she reports that she can shop for hours and hours if she has a shopping cart to lean on or can at least sit down from time to time to rest (my father...who is often dragged to these stores and malls for hours on end confirms this as truth! ). My mother actually was thinking if she had a cane or a collapsing walker she'd be fine but my father suggested she get a wheelchair because it's "safer" just in case the walking turns out to be more than she can handle AND she likes to carry a large purse with her (which my father is forced to carry often ) so we can just put a bag on the back of the chair like people do with their strollers. Honestly I've never seen my mother use a wheelchair and she gets around on her feet just fine.....she doesn't like to do stairs and slows a bit when she has to, but I think the desire to get a chair is really more of a "better safe than sorry" deal. So we were thyinking of renting a "length of stay" wheelchair in the parks. I read that you can go to guest services or the wheelchair and stroller rental place the first day and pre-pay a slightly reduced rate ($8/day instead of $10) for the whole time you're going to be in the parks then each day you show up at any of the 4 main parks with your receipt and you get a chair. We thought this would work best for us because it alleviates the need to be putting a wheelchair in and out of a rental car or taking it on the Disney buses and boats....and since our primary concern is the days in teh parks. Around the resort and even in downtown disney I think she'll be fine.

I definitely appreciate the feedback, though.....do others who have had to use wheelchairs in teh parks have a sense of what approach might be best? (we are NOT staying in concierge at AKL (although i wish we were but that was just TOO exhorbitant a use of our points! ) but I do know that I read that AKL has wheelchairs you can rent for the length of your stay and you leave a large deposit on your room charge that is refunded when you return the chair.....so we could possibly do that but then we'd be responsible for getting the chair to and from parks and aonto and off of trasnportation and all that good stuff.)


Erik

Erik - youare DVC right??? wheelchair (basic version) is free to you...check into it. The motorized ones have a discount....