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

[kpros]

I think we'll see 600 pages and then some.

Ken--You must be worn out form constantly adding name tags, checking spelling, etc. Just reading the list posts is work. THANK YOU for the work. We are so excited to get ours and I know the name tags will really help me keep everyone straight.

Thanks - it's really not as bad as I make it sound. But doing two cruise at the same time is a real pain. I've written down names I've seen posted and then couldn't remember which cruise they came from.

But we're getting close now, so the fun will start soon!
Ken

 

[NHdisneylover]

Okay. It will be midnight in four minutes here and I ahev stayed up later than the giggling girls up stairs (sleepover in progress). I better log off and head to bed before I turn into a pumpkin. G'night all.

 

[Hoagie Pie]

Thanks for the Saratoga info. Erik, thanks for letting us know about the buses because we HATE waiting. Hadley, Rich P. is a musician/comedian. The show is good, but the adult show he does, in my opinion, is VERY funny. He has been on our last 3 cruises and is a really nice guy and we enjoy him. If he is on the ship, I would definitely recommend seeing the adult show.

 

[cupcake]

Logged on specifically to hear how it went. Do tell!!!

And another thanks to Ken for everything involved in producing hundreds of badges for just our cruise alone!!!

Finally, let's all think... WHERE WILL YOU BE TWO WEEKS FROM NOW?!?!?! It's a nice thought!

C.

 

[Hoagie Pie]

I forgot to mention that I will be thinking of everyone in Orlando tomorrow at Kissimmee's party!!! We wish we were there and have fun!!!!

 

[eller]

OK - so Mike's home from Guadalajara tomorrow night...we'll get the pirate stuff figured out this weekend I hope. Saw a Captain Hook outfit - does that still qualify or does it need to be a "Caribbean" pirate??

Mike has I Hook outfit, too! Hmm. (Can you see the wheels turning? ) Might have to do something with that.

I work at the Artist's Palette at Saratoga Springs. That is the counter service restaruant and grocery and gift shop. There's also the Turf Club, that's our sit-down restaurant. There aren't any others right there, but there's a boat that goes over to Downtown Disney and of course there's lots of places to eat over there! Also, you can get groceries delivered to your room either by ordering them online from Artist's Palette for a $5 fee. I have heard Wegoshop.com and gardengrocer.com recommended by DIS board users. The resorts will not deliver beer and wine but the shopping sites will. Connie

We've used Gardengrocer.com before. Good service, very pleased. We will use them again this trip, as we will need about two days of food when we get down there.

Well, I too am off to bed, but it's only 9 o'clock here. Big quilting day tomorrow. I want to be well rested. We will sew from 9am until 4:30pm and for the most part complete a quilt top. Great fun!

Lori

 

[cupcake]

I see we are posting at the same time! Looking forward to hearing what else you did in Chicago after we met. I hope you had a good time and that none of my directions got you lost!

C.

 

[tig82174]

Thanks for the Saratoga info. Erik, thanks for letting us know about the buses because we HATE waiting. Hadley, Rich P. is a musician/comedian. The show is good, but the adult show he does, in my opinion, is VERY funny. He has been on our last 3 cruises and is a really nice guy and we enjoy him. If he is on the ship, I would definitely recommend seeing the adult show.

If you hate waiting and you're traveling at a peak time....I have to be honest and say that the buses to Saratoga (and possibly to all/most the DVC resorts) are very slow from the parks back to the resort. I never had a terrible time wiating for a bus to get TO the parks....but literally EVERY TIME I tried to get a bus back from a park or waterpark to the resort I waited for at least 20 minutes (in fact I waited for over 40 minutes outside Blizzard Beach waterpark to get back...AAAAAARRRRRGHHHH!)


Erik

 

[Hoagie Pie]

If you hate waiting and you're traveling at a peak time....I have to be honest and say that the buses to Saratoga (and possibly to all/most the DVC resorts) are very slow from the parks back to the resort. I never had a terrible time wiating for a bus to get TO the parks....but literally EVERY TIME I tried to get a bus back from a park or waterpark to the resort I waited for at least 20 minutes (in fact I waited for over 40 minutes outside Blizzard Beach waterpark to get back...AAAAAARRRRRGHHHH!)


Erik

We had the same problem last year and waited close to 40 at Blizzard and at least 30 at MGM. It was frustrating and we swore we would NEVER do that again. I think since we are only there this time for about 40 hours, we are going to stick with whatever is around Saratoga and we never get bored so that won't be an issue. Cupcake - I took the trolly and went right past your work and found out the history behind your building and about the architecture. Went to soldier field, the aquarium, Sears Tower (not up) and the shops on Michigan. Had a great time. At night we went to dinner at Brazzaz and if you don't like meat, not a place for you. I also went to the movies and saw Fracture - I just love Anthony Hopkins and that other actor in there that plays the attorney, he wasn't bad either - anyway, had a great time and hope to be back again some day. Went by way too fast and hopefully our cruise won't go by in the blink of an eye. Can't wait to see you again.

 

[CACruisin']

Just checking in tonight. Goodness, you all have been busy posting today! Congrats Ken for TOP of Page 500!

All the talk about Midsummer Night Dream - DD13's Drama class was the one class I was concerned about her "making up" while we are gone on our trip since the class grade is all about participation. Her teacher has been very supportive of the trip however and will give DD13 an alternate written assignment for the time we are gone. Ironically, what the class will be doing is Shakespeare scenes, specifically Midsummer Night Dream! I don't know what the written assignment will be yet, but DD13 may be chatting with you Erik, Hadley, and Laura

 

[charwac1]

UPS had delivered them Monday.

 

[Michelle2]

Hadley - Noises Off is my favorite show of all time... I have the dvd with Christoper Reeve, John Ritter, Nicolette Sheridan, Carol Burnet, et al....I laugh so hard whenever I watch it - which is several times a year. When I need a really good laugh I put that in the dvd player...and all is right with the world . This production that Laura is decribing does sound very like the 3rd act...

That is one of my all time favorites too!! I fell in love with it as a 13 year old when my school class went to London and we saw it in the theater. I have the old vhs version, but it is on my upgrade-to-dvd list!!! And you are right, that play does sound like the third act. That play sounds HILARIOUS!

I miss 2 days (or 1 and a half) and am over 15 pages behind!!
Ok, back to reading the last few pages...almost caught up.

 

[Michelle2]

Is American Idol on? or something?
Our Patrick is "into" doctor and crime shows now......we are watching Bones, after watching Grey's Anatomy. He also likes Scrubs...so do I!

I LOVE Scrubs. My DH always laughs at me laughing so hard at it. They are so corny/crazy!

 

[NoWorriesMate]

Our Docs arrived - camel post does work!

Connie - we are spending a week at VWL before the cruise.
we are DVC members and usually save up our points and do almost a month in orlando every three years (allows us to take things slowly). we weren't scheduled to do this until next year and had planned to do the Christmas cruise and then the prices for this cruise came out... and it was just too good to say no to....

for anyone who has question on Dubai or Australia, Singapore or Malaysia for that matter we are happy to answer anything we can, preferably while lounging in a deck chair and sipping the drink of the day....

see you soon

michelle

 

[padalyn]

Erik - how was your stay at Saratoga? This will be our first time there since owning DVC and we are excited! Do they have any good restaurants or fun things to do?

I liked the Turf Club - it was quiet intimate, the food choices were limited, but of good taste, texture and quality. we were very happy with the dinner - and have returned to eat there a couple of times.

I agree that the resort is very broad in the layout.

I will never stay there again - we did when it first opened and had very bad experiences. Found it dirty, the staff unhelpful, and the appliances possessed. The dishwasher turned itself on at all kinds of times - we had to leave it open since it would do this in the middle of the night (the timer was not on either - we checked that!) The staff finally had to disconnect the power to stop it (on the last day we were there of the 15 day stay)

No worries Cayla--It came through to me. I think it came through to Erik too and he was just teasing back (could be wrong though).

Whew - thanks Hadley I am glad it was caught...didn't want good sarcasism to go to waste you know

If you hate waiting and you're traveling at a peak time....I have to be honest and say that the buses to Saratoga (and possibly to all/most the DVC resorts) are very slow from the parks back to the resort. I never had a terrible time wiating for a bus to get TO the parks....but literally EVERY TIME I tried to get a bus back from a park or waterpark to the resort I waited for at least 20 minutes (in fact I waited for over 40 minutes outside Blizzard Beach waterpark to get back...AAAAAARRRRRGHHHH!)


Erik

Got you beat - I waited 90 minutes at Wilderness Lodge to go to Animal Kingdom one day - I called 4 times to find out where the busses were...they couldn't figure out why the drivers were skipping that stop. They finally sent a van for me! I got a private ride to Animal Kingdom, and told to call when I was ready to head back to VWL - they picked me up. I was annoyed about the 90 minutes, but they made good.

 

[Michelle2]

Got you beat - I waited 90 minutes at Wilderness Lodge to go to Animal Kingdom one day - I called 4 times to find out where the busses were...they couldn't figure out why the drivers were skipping that stop. They finally sent a van for me! I got a private ride to Animal Kingdom, and told to call when I was ready to head back to VWL - they picked me up. I was annoyed about the 90 minutes, but they made good.

Wow, 90 minutes! Now I know why I never use their buses, not that I haven't gotten frustrated with the monorail at times too.

About the posts about Rich Purpura, it sounded like they knew who was onboard. Is there a listing of what entertainers are going to be on our cruise, or do we have to wait until we are on it??

 

[Scoobypop]

Hadley...I have ONLY played Puck that way, really. In my favorite production of Midsummer I did when i was a senior in High School (AAAGES ago! ) and we distilled entire show into a one act play that was just over an hour long and used it as a competition piece (there used to be one act play competitions in Maine where I graduated from High School...do they still do things like that?). Our set had swings, a "high bar" and a mini trampoline in it so that we could bounce all over the place and hang on bars and things. Actually I'm often reminded of that show whenever we watch the monkey sequence in Festival of the Lion King at the Animal Kingdom (except we were a little less crazy...but a similar idea).


Erik


(Oh and tell Rio he's back at the top of my list......I can remember a number of my childhood halloween costumes: Puck, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Jen the Gelfling (from The Dark Crystal) and one year I was one of the Littles.......I had a thing for tights and/or pointy ears!! )

We also had one act play competitions, back in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and the surrounding areas. Often you would see, if it wasn't a one act play, they would compact a two act into one, such as you described. One year we went to State, but didn't win.

I fell in love with Noises Off in college, and also love the movie!

Laura, thanks for the laughs and can't wait to see more reviews.

Those of you who get to go on this vacation early, I'm so envious! It's still two weeks from today for us before we leave. After this work day, Rob was saying he doesn't know if it's just because we're so excited, or if it's because work is really sucky, but we are READY for a nice long get away from work vacation!

 

[hksilverfox]

Our Docs arrived - camel post does work!

Connie - we are spending a week at VWL before the cruise.
we are DVC members and usually save up our points and do almost a month in orlando every three years (allows us to take things slowly). we weren't scheduled to do this until next year and had planned to do the Christmas cruise and then the prices for this cruise came out... and it was just too good to say no to....

for anyone who has question on Dubai or Australia, Singapore or Malaysia for that matter we are happy to answer anything we can, preferably while lounging in a deck chair and sipping the drink of the day....

see you soon

michelle

Hi Michelle,
Will look forward to a chat on board - have been to Dubai a few times and am heading off to Sydney this week. Will go Sydney-Hong Kong-Vancouver-Dallas-Orlando in three days! Will spend the first few days on board trying to get over the jet lag but with endless sky, sea and a tall cold one for company it will be tough going - not!
Greg

 

[hksilverfox]

HKSilverfox - Disney Quest is next to Cirque by Pleasure Island. It is 5 stories of video games, virtual reality games and a whole bunch of fun. You pay one price to get in and you can play all day. There is a Pirate virtual reality ride which is KEWL! and tons of other fun things. They also have a ride where you fight space aliens not to mention the Cheesecake Factory with killer chili cheese fries. I forget how much it cost to get in, but I think it is $27 (might have gone up though).

Thanks Hoagie! Think I will forget to mention this to DD until we are on board! She loves the computer games especially beating Dad!

 

[gismo1554]

One catch about using an ATM card that I've heard is that the European ATM machines are setup for a 4 digit pin. So if you pin isn't four digit, it may not work. Can anyone else verify this info?

Ken

Sorry been away for two days so trying to catch up so appologies if this is already answered somewhere elese. I assume that the rest of Europe uses the same system as the UK which is a 4 digit pin so yes it would need to have one as the ATM machines ask for 4 digits.