~~~ May 16, 2009 ~~~ Western Magic ~~~

Hi ~ I booked the 5/16 Western a few weeks ago. Here are our "vitals"

DIS name: dznyacct
real names: Kathy & Brian
kids: Jake (19) and maybe his friend Matt (19)
from: Indiana
cabin: GTY 12 (because I'm a "frugal" Accountant, hoping for an upgrade!)
seating: late

We got a great deal on our cabin through Dreams Unlimited. My agent (shout out to Tracey :)), is working on finding the same deal for my sister, her husband, my niece and her friend. Also, I e-mailed my BIL in Colorado tempting him and his family to join us. I know his girls (6 and 8) would have as good of a time if not better than we all went to WDW 2 summers ago. Keeping my fingers crossed for some deals to come through for them!

We did this same cruise almost 5 years ago and met the most wonderful people. There is a family from California that we still keep in touch with. Hope to meet new friends on this cruise as well :)!
 
:welcome: Kathy & Brian!!! Sounds like the Cat 12 gty has been selling like hotcakes!

I just mentioned to Justin that maybe we should switch to a Cat 12 from our Cat 8 just to get a tremendously better price, but we're just not sure we can part with the porthole. :confused3 I called DCL this morning just to check prices, and I was told that they're all sold out of Cat 12 gty rooms. Shuckydarns. I'd probably end up not getting an upgrade anyway and regret not having our window. I guess I won't be saving THOUSANDS on this trip afterall. Well, I guess I can't actually say that. By rebooking onboard and rescheduling on the first booking day that 2009 dates were released, I guess I am still saving a bundle compared to what we paid two years ago when we booked 3 months out (with NO great deals going on at the time). OUCH! :eek:

Oh, I did get more good news yesterday, too! The local AAA office decided to throw in an extra $50 Disney gift card! :woohoo:
 
I just mentioned to Justin that maybe we should switch to a Cat 12 from our Cat 8 just to get a tremendously better price, but we're just not sure we can part with the porthole. :confused3 I called DCL this morning just to check prices, and I was told that they're all sold out of Cat 12 gty rooms. Shuckydarns. I'd probably end up not getting an upgrade anyway and regret not having our window. I guess I won't be saving THOUSANDS on this trip afterall. Well, I guess I can't actually say that. By rebooking onboard and rescheduling on the first booking day that 2009 dates were released, I guess I am still saving a bundle compared to what we paid two years ago when we booked 3 months out (with NO great deals going on at the time). OUCH! :eek:

I know how you feel. Assuming we get to go (which as of today is more certain since I am finally about to get paid from Medicare for tons of work I've done over the past 3 months), I'm considering trying to upgrade at the port. The deal was so sweet that I can't bear to rebook a higher category, but I'd gladly pay more at the port (up to $1000 for a balcony) as it would still be a great deal!:) We had extended balconies on our first 2 cruises and an OV on our third. An inside will be an adjustment for us, but for the price it cannot be beat!:cool1:

We'll just "suffer" inside if we need to, but one can always hope for an upgrade...:thumbsup2
 
Hi ~ I booked the 5/16 Western a few weeks ago. Here are our "vitals"

DIS name: dznyacct
real names: Kathy & Brian
kids: Jake (19) and maybe his friend Matt (19)
from: Indiana
cabin: GTY 12 (because I'm a "frugal" Accountant, hoping for an upgrade!)
seating: late

Welcome aboard, and everyone else new too!!! It sure is growing. I just passed my CPA exam so I am also a very frugal "new" accountant.

So I'm checking out excursions and I'm overwhelmed! In some ways I want to do the fun and exciting trips but then again I'd also like to do some sightseeing of the towns too. I think we have decided for sure on Palo brunch. Yum!!!
 

Hi there!
I am so excited to start planning our first family cruise!

I just do not know where to start or what excursions to plan.
:cool2:
I have purchased a Passporter and am currently scouting out
places to buy magnet paper to decorate our door!

I cannot wait to meet everyone !

Kristin
 
I have purchased a Passporter and am currently scouting out places to buy magnet paper to decorate our door!

FWIW, here's what I did. I just printed out my stuff on regular paper, laminated them, and used 3M brand MagnaTabs. They're reuseable sticky magnet squares and are probably much cheaper! I never actually priced the magnet paper, but I've always heard they're expensive.
 
That is brilliant!!
Wonderful idea, I will go shop tomorrow and get to work!!
The cruise will be here before we know it , thank goodness!

Kristin
 
Welcome Everyone!!!! :welcome:
Our little group keeps growing and growing!!!!!
 
Hello!
My name is Andy(20):cool1: , im sailing with my girlfriend of 4 years Ashley(18):hippie: .
This is our second Disney cruise. Our 1st was a 4 night on the Wonder Jan, 4th 08 with the whole family, and now were hooked! We are so excited!
 
This will be our 3rd cruise with Dissney and I have to tell you honestly, Book you dolphin experiance with the dolphin company not the cruise line. Here is the site dolphindiscoverydot com you will die when you se the price differance. As well children from 1 to 7 are FREE thats right FREE, Here is the part from there site Children from 1 to 2 years participate free of charge at the dolphin swim and from 3 to 7 years participate free just paying the admission fee to the park of $5.50 USD, always accompanied by a participant and paying adult. This promotion applies only upon client request by email or phone.
I called them this offer is good until april but the women told me they always extend it into May. Also look at the prices you save 100 dollars a child and 40 dollars each for adults/ The cab ride over is 10 dollars for a group of 4. for us a family of 3 going through this site saves me about 200 dollars and you get everything the same. You can stay at the park all day and go to there beach or swim n the pool. So book there .

Steve
 
I'm spending the day doing a TON of laundry so I thought I'd check out the boards for more info on fish extenders. There is a thread that had some great information not only on how to make fish extenders, but how some groups have distributed the items and what items were given/recieved.


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1219607

Various ways to distribute:

Option 1
************************************
All DIStag participants will purchase a small gift from their hometown to give to all taggers. We will receive a spread sheet made up by your's truly, at our first DISmeet (time and place still to be determined). In addition to the spread sheet you will receive some sort of magnet. The list will look something like this:

JLDSMD Jeff Cabin 1234
cntkg1 Nancy Cabin 6576
oybolshoi Brenda Cabin 6580
LindyLoo Linda Cabin 4321 etc.....

You will start with the person listed directly below your name. Deliver your "gift" and leave the magnet at the top of their cabin door. Should your "gift" be too large to fit in the 'fish mail holder', locate any Stateroom Host/ess and request they take your gift directly into the room. When someone leaves you a gift and the magnet, deliver your surprise and received magnet to the next person on your list-and so on. When you get to the last person 'participating' at the bottom of the page (LindyLoo in our example)...start at the top of the list (JLDSMD). Continue until you get to the person listed above YOUR name.

So if I've still managed to confuse you, this is the skinny of it all...

Jeff takes one of his gifts and his magnet. He tags Nancy's door with the magnet and puts his gift on the 'fish mail holder'. Now he waits until someone tags his door. (In our example LindyLoo would start with Jeff). He will take that new magnet and a new gift and tag Brenda's door. He waits again until he gets tagged and then tags Linda's door and leaves behind a gift.

So this means if we have 20 DISers who want to play tag, we will each have to bring 19 little gifts.

We have all week to play and we'd probably cut it off on Thursday. Any leftover gifts at that point can just be left on fish mail holders without tagging with the magnets.

When we played this on our other cruise the gifts were anything from personalized pencils, bumper stickers, candy, yummy hometown recipes (Yorkshire pudding mmmmm), keychains, playing cards etc.... Most were packed in gift baggies and labeled with the name of the DISer who left it behind.

It really was tons of fun (for us anyway) and we only ran into one snag. One DISer's entire family got sick and he had to bail on us halfway through the game. We all just continued on anyway without the magnets.

Basically this version is like a chain letter. Everybody starts off with the person on the list just below your name. Then, once you get your first gift you go to the next name on the list under yours and take them theirs and so on in a rotation until all names have been gifted.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Option 2:
What I'm doing for our next cruise is just making a list of participants with each person's DIS name and Cabin #. If they'd like to share the names of the people in their cabin that's great. Also, we'll include the ages of the kids if people want to share that info, too.

No suggestions have been made on what type of gifts to give. This way, each person can bring whatever they'd like.

I've been keeping everyone updated on how many DISers have contacted me so people can start planning how many items they need to bring. A week prior to sailing, the final list will be PM'd to everyone who's participating.

Then, each person can distribute their goodies whenever they'd like during the cruise. Soccermom-Cheri, with 30+ people participating, chances are pretty good that the gifts would arrive randomly throughout your cruise.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Items given/received:

we received magnets, necklaces, pens, pencils, assorted candies, stickers, Disney puzzle pieces, glow in the dark bracelets, and more. I thought maybe they would skip us, and mostly do the rooms with kids, but we got loads of stuff!!

The possibilities are endless, but some things I received were magnets, pins, postcards, local treats, pencils, candy, homemade CD's, Disney recipes....

We gave out magnets & pens that I had made especially for the cruise (we also handed out those pens at our DIS Meet - there were a plethora of them). We got as gifts - dice and beads from Vegas, pin from Oklahoma and some paper, post-it notes that said Rome-ancing the Mouse (our logo from our cruise), taffy from New York, magnets for our door, a UK flag, bottle opener from the Coliseum, more candy, shaped soap, postcards, and other gifts of that type. These were really nice to receive each day. I also got a postcard from a non-DIS neighbor who saw my magnets on my door and gave me a postcard from his native Gibraltar. I thought that was so nice, so I gave him one of our pens. All of the gifts were nice, and I especially liked the ones that represented the area where they were from, and the small gifts of the places we had been...

~~~~~~

It all depends on how we all want to work it. I'd be happy to keep a spreadsheet of participants and as soon as cabin numbers are confirmed add that information to the spreadsheet. I can distribute the lists to everyone at the first meet or put it in your FE on the first day.

I am SO looking forward to May! It can't come soon enough for me.

Jane
 
I'm spending the day doing a TON of laundry so I thought I'd check out the boards for more info on fish extenders. There is a thread that had some great information not only on how to make fish extenders, but how some groups have distributed the items and what items were given/recieved.

Jane

Option 2 sounds good to me :banana:
I'm not too familiar with option 1.:confused3 but whatever the group wants is fine with me.
I am soooo excited about this cruise!!!!!!
 
I'd be happy to keep a spreadsheet of participants and as soon as cabin numbers are confirmed add that information to the spreadsheet. I can distribute the lists to everyone at the first meet or put it in your FE on the first day.

I am SO looking forward to May! It can't come soon enough for me.

Jane

I'm soo glad you have some experience at this! I like Option 2 also, it seems a little less confusing and will let everyone distribute the gifts at the most convenient time for them, but I'm open to whatever the majority likes. I have so many ideas for little gifts, this will be great! :cool1:
 
I'm with Shasses and Disgirl for option 2. That would keep us from worrying about being out of the cabin all day only to find out that we "held up" the magnet and FE distributions... I also just like the idea of "spontaneous" gifts as well as having the flexibility of distribution times.

(The caveat to my opinion though is that we still aren't positive we can make this trip. So, take it for a grain of salt. Things look pretty good, but I have a "young" business that I'm a little paranoid of leaving for 9 days... And if I'm not working, I'm not making money...)
 
I am finally about to get paid from Medicare for tons of work I've done over the past 3 months
Just curious what your specialty is. I'm in the medical field, too. :goodvibes

It all depends on how we all want to work it. I'd be happy to keep a spreadsheet of participants and as soon as cabin numbers are confirmed add that information to the spreadsheet. I can distribute the lists to everyone at the first meet or put it in your FE on the first day.
I agree that Option 2 seems much easier for everyone to be able to do it on their own time.
 
Just curious what your specialty is. I'm in the medical field, too. :goodvibes


I'm a cosmetic and general surgeon. I just finished my training last August and began my practice in September. Several "turf" battles began when I arrived in town (despite them knowing I was coming for 10 months):scared1:. As a result, I couldn't even advertise my cosmetic surgery practice until November 6! It's been a slow ride in this economy (and being new in town), but we are starting to pick up now!:yay: To somewhat support myself, I've been doing general surgery as well (which I'm boarded in) which is where the Medicare funds come into play. The end result is that things are getting better by the day, but I'm just nervous about "rocking the boat" so to speak!

Lilly: I'm sorry I didn't respond last night! I had just turned my computer off right as you posted (I saw it on my blackberry!). I promise I'm not anti-social (just ask my husband)!
 
This will be our 3rd cruise with Dissney and I have to tell you honestly, Book you dolphin experiance with the dolphin company not the cruise line. Here is the site dolphindiscoverydot com you will die when you se the price differance. As well children from 1 to 7 are FREE thats right FREE, Here is the part from there site Children from 1 to 2 years participate free of charge at the dolphin swim and from 3 to 7 years participate free just paying the admission fee to the park of $5.50 USD, always accompanied by a participant and paying adult. This promotion applies only upon client request by email or phone.
I called them this offer is good until april but the women told me they always extend it into May. Also look at the prices you save 100 dollars a child and 40 dollars each for adults/ The cab ride over is 10 dollars for a group of 4. for us a family of 3 going through this site saves me about 200 dollars and you get everything the same. You can stay at the park all day and go to there beach or swim n the pool. So book there .

Steve
Thanks for the info! That was one of very few excursions we are considering, but the prices were higher than a "tightwad" like me wanted to pay. :laughing: Great news!

I'm a cosmetic and general surgeon. I just finished my training last August and began my practice in September. Several "turf" battles began when I arrived in town (despite them knowing I was coming for 10 months):scared1:. As a result, I couldn't even advertise my cosmetic surgery practice until November 6! It's been a slow ride in this economy (and being new in town), but we are starting to pick up now!:yay: To somewhat support myself, I've been doing general surgery as well (which I'm boarded in) which is where the Medicare funds come into play. The end result is that things are getting better by the day, but I'm just nervous about "rocking the boat" so to speak!
Cool! :thumbsup2 Before I developed a latex allergy & decided to start my medical transcription business 11 years ago, I used to assist in surgeries with one of the doctors that I worked for, and we did some cosmetics. She is an ophthalmologist, so we did a lot of blepharoplasties & ptosis repairs, in addition to the standard cataracts, strabismus, etc. I really LOVED it, but...well, things don't always work out like you plan. I do truly enjoy what I do now, too, but there's just something about holding a scalpel. ;) Anyway, those "turf" wars can be kinda rough to deal with! I remember that when Dr. G first started, too. You'd think the "established" ones would remember how it was for them when they were first out of residency and trying to get their practice going. :sad2:

Hello!
My name is Andy(20):cool1: , im sailing with my girlfriend of 4 years Ashley(18):hippie: .
This is our second Disney cruise. Our 1st was a 4 night on the Wonder Jan, 4th 08 with the whole family, and now were hooked! We are so excited!
:welcome: Andy & Ashley!! It's good to have some young cruisers with us, too! I updated you on post #1.
 
Hi everyone,

It's official. We're going on a cruise. I just made the final payment for the cruise today!!!! :yay: I switched my ressie to DU to get the $100 OBC and then paid it off. :goodvibes I'm very interested in doing a fish extender. Do most people make their own or do people buy these? I know how to knit and crochet, but I can't sew, so I'm not sure a knitted fish extender would be as sturdy to hold gifts... at least not anything I can make. Anyone have any suggestions. Also I never gave my details when I posted for the first time. My name is Phil (DH - 23). My DW (Kelly - 25) and my DS (Michael - 1.5) and have a Cat 12 - GTY and late seating for dinner. We are wait-listed for early seating. I am considering upgrading at the port if i don't get upgraded automatically (I really want a window). Anyway, I hope to meet everybody on the cruise!!! :)
 

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