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

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

As of tomorrow our group will be able to say that we are cruising NEXT MONTH!!!!!!! Isn't it awesome? Can you tell that I am just a little excited????

What are your plans for getting to Florida? Plane, car, bus.... is anyone else driving to Florida?

DH and I will be driving from North Carolina so we expect ~ a 10 hour drive. We plan on leaving NC at 4AM or 5AM. I am going to start off driving until I get tired (probably about 30 minutes ) and then DH will do the rest of the driving. We plan on stopping at one of our favorite restaurants in GA for lunch which would be about half way. I am actually looking forward to the drive down. We both feel as if our vacation starts as soon as we pull out of our driveway .
Soooo let's hear your "travel to Florida" plans......

I know what you mean, the second we get on the road that is vacation time!

We will both be working on the Friday, then dropping the dogs off at the kennels about 5pm. Then its about a 2.5 hour drive to Gatwick airport in London. We are going to stop at TGI Friday's on the way for wings and an oreo milkshake to get that "American" feeling started! We stay overnight at a B&B next to the airport . . . the next morning despite the fact we don't need to check in until 8.15am (at the latest) I will have us up at 5.30am (for the 10 minute drive to the terminal !!) Tony never appreciates that part! Last year we were first to check in for our flight and they had to load it on to the computer especially!!!!!! Better safe than sorry time-wise though! Plane takes off at 11.15am, and 8 or 9 hours later we should land about 3.30pm!! Then it is a matter of trying to stay up as late as possible - I usually manage about 9pm the first night (so 2am UK time) before I am uttering delirious ramblings.

I am so excited now I am thinking about all this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DevinDemi2]

Hi...

We are flying in on Thursday morning and staying at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club on international drive. We plan to go to MK on Thursday and Dsicovery Cove on Friday... We have rented a car so we will leave first thing Saturday morning.

Thanks for asking about our travel plans its getting me super excited!!

 

[Hudson5&Lennon3]

Soooo let's hear your "travel to Florida" plans......

We're leaving our house Thurs PM (sometime after school) to drive 2 hrs to Omaha and stay near the airport since we fly out at 6 AM on Friday!!! We'll land in Orlando ~12:30 PM (short layover in Houston). Car service will pick us up & take us straight to PC!!! I hope the Radisson will let us check in a little early. Then we'll need to find somewhere to eat supper--probably within walking distance since we won't have transportation. (Friday evening plans depend on the shuttle launch, though--BTW, I haven't heard back from my uncle yet...)

 

[tinkattude6]

As of tomorrow our group will be able to say that we are cruising NEXT MONTH!!!!!!! Isn't it awesome? Can you tell that I am just a little excited????

What are your plans for getting to Florida? Plane, car, bus.... is anyone else driving to Florida?

DH and I will be driving from North Carolina so we expect ~ a 10 hour drive. We plan on leaving NC at 4AM or 5AM. I am going to start off driving until I get tired (probably about 30 minutes ) and then DH will do the rest of the driving. We plan on stopping at one of our favorite restaurants in GA for lunch which would be about half way. I am actually looking forward to the drive down. We both feel as if our vacation starts as soon as we pull out of our driveway .
Soooo let's hear your "travel to Florida" plans......

Shases, We are driving but all the way from PA. I dread it,but it saves us alot of $ w/a family of five. I also feel like as soon as we leave our vacation starts. We love to stop at a few places to eat ,and shop on the way. I can't wait, i'm more excited this time and it's our fourth Disney cruise. I think it's because i can't wait to meet eveyone on the board.

 

[adedward]

Checking in for a hello and to add ourselves to the list of those driving down from NC. We are so far out on the coast that it takes us 3+ hours to reach interstate 95, so we will be on the road close to 13.5 hours. We are driving down on Friday and spending the night at the Radisson. We also are getting very excited, and can't wait to find out our room number. Some of you have mentioned seeing your invoice on the disney web site. Where do you go to see that? I can find our reservation details that give our names, room (GTY right now), etc. but don't see anything that shows on board credits, etc. Thanks.

 

[austin77]

Hello all...

Andy and Belinda - Called DVC this morning and linked our dinning - I requested the 8:00pm seating. One more thing off the checklist

Thanks so much!! I know were all going to have a blast!!!

AUSTIN??? Didn't you guys want in?

YES WE DO WANT IN!! we would like 3 please!! About the money, Were up in Canada. Would you mind if we gave you the cash when we have our 1st meeting on the ship? (It would "Less" Complicate things if we could!!)

(Sorry about the Long time to answer, Work has been holding me hostage!!!)

Cruising in ONE MONTH... UNBELIEVABLE!

We can't wait to meet you all!!

 

[tigger2002]

Did you guys see this


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2136050


Mike Super on 5-16 Magic

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[Dizneyholic]

Speaking of magic...here's a Gus & Chas fun fact for those of you who get a kick out of closeup magic. Gus is quite the magician himself! A few years back I bought him some magic classes at the Hollywood Magic Castle and he loved it so much he tried out to become a magican member and is now a member of the academy of magical arts!! He always has his cards with him so when you see us around be sure to ask him to do something for you. He'll love it!

PS I like to tease him and call him The Great Gusdini!!

 

[Disgirl83]

I LOVE you ideas! Sounds great to me. Are you planning on making the nav or do you want help? Either way is totally fine with me.

I'm beginning to put some things together but if you don't mind I may use you as my "proof reader" closer to time. I'm a horrible speller and don't want to make any embarrasing mistakes, lol!

Since I pretty much have my food already picked out for each dinner, I'm hoping they stay the same!

I should really be doing this. I'm one of those people at restaurants that takes forever to choose but always seem to get the same thing. Maybe I can at least have a game plan.

What are your plans for getting to Florida? Plane, car, bus.... is anyone else driving to Florida?

DH (Jason) and I will be leaving early Friday morning and driving to St. Augustine, FL. Since we are in southern WV that's just a little over 10 hours. We'll spend Friday evening walking the streets of St. Augustine. Then on Saturday morning we'll drive to the port (I think it's about an hour and a half). We are looking forward to driving too! The past few times we've flown, but when I was little we ALWAYS drove since my mom had this preconceived idea that she would be terrified by airplanes. (Although once we finally got her on a place to Las Vegas she loves flying now). Usually DH is the designated driver but since it is such a long haul I'd say we'll switch off at least once or twice. (I just don't want to drive through Jacksonville - ugh, too congested - or at least the last few times we were through there). We sure hope construction isn't too bad.

 

[Disgirl83]

Me again, I didn't post everything on my mind the first time around so here's a little more.

As far as the FKLP excursion what do we have in mind? Are we wanting to meet at a specific time and walk around to a few different stores for tasting OR do we just want to pic a specific time for a specific store? Just wondering so I can add this to our mini-navigator.

 

[NoodlesMom]

I love the disboards but I’ll occasionally jump over to cruise critic to see what’s going on. Actually I went there first when I booked the cruise to find a cruise meet for this cruise but there was nothing. Luckily I found DisBoards. Anyway, I came across this post.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=956470

This person is looking for us but they don't know the website. I tried to help them out by telling them to do a Google search for Disney Cruise Boards but cruise critic deleted it! Hopefully they will find their way to us.

Also, we are driving from houston. It's a 15 hour drive and we plan on leaving on Thursday. We will stay over in Jacksonville and drive the rest of the way Friday morning. We really enjoy the road trip. We drove to WDW in 2007 and Destin, FL in 2008.

 

[shasess]

I love the disboards but I’ll occasionally jump over to cruise critic to see what’s going on. Actually I went there first when I booked the cruise to find a cruise meet for this cruise but there was nothing. Luckily I found DisBoards. Anyway, I came across this post.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=956470

This person is looking for us but they don't know the website. I tried to help them out by telling them to do a Google search for Disney Cruise Boards but cruise critic deleted it! Hopefully they will find their way to us.

Oh No!!! Poor thing! I just want to yell and say "over here, over here!!!

 

[Faith&Hope]

I love the disboards but I’ll occasionally jump over to cruise critic to see what’s going on. Actually I went there first when I booked the cruise to find a cruise meet for this cruise but there was nothing. Luckily I found DisBoards. Anyway, I came across this post.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=956470

This person is looking for us but they don't know the website. I tried to help them out by telling them to do a Google search for Disney Cruise Boards but cruise critic deleted it! Hopefully they will find their way to us.

Guess what?!?! I just looked her up and realized that you can't PM on cruise critic so asked her to be my friend (like on facebook). I just realized that she is actually on our board now!! She checked in a few days ago and is on page 1! Yeah....she found us!! Congrats!!

 

[ottermouse]

We are driving to Port Canaveral the night before from Panama City, FL. It is only about a seven hour drive but we want to get there the night before so we can get to the terminal early on the 16th. Next Month we are on the voyage.

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Mati- GREAT point. We will be at port early so that would be a good place as well. Mom & I keep saying that we will be at port BY 10am even if we have to leave everyone else behind!

I think thats a great idea. We'll probably be there early too - as I'm sure that we will be too excited to sleep late.

Someone mentioned that they were going to make a Navigator for our cruise...
I have been using this excel sheet that I copied from another cruise meet thread. It may help with the details for your Navigator. I copied all the information from the most recent Navigators that I have (which is January) so I'm hoping that this info in accurate. It may need to be changed once the new Navigators come out.

Very cool spreadsheet!

Hi Jane! Blizzards from Dairy Queen are like Blizzards that some McDonalds have. Our McDonalds (but not all of them) have oreo, snickers and M&M. Check your local McD's!

I was lucky to book our airfare! I was sharing with Mati that I've been holding out because it was running us almost $2000 for the 4 of us. THe only airlines that go straight through is American Airlines and Delta. I lucked out and got all 4 tickets for $244 each! Yeah! I saved $1000! Just by luck because the next day (like 10 hours after I booked), they went back up to $455!

Kym

Congratulations on the savings!!!

ATTENTION ABOUT DINING!!
Make sure you ALL check your dining requests when linking up for dining.
Lysney & Cinda, I just checked and they said we had linked reservations, BUT my dining still had me as a private party of 2. We would have our own table and not be seated with you guys!! PHEW! That would have been horrible.
I also put in a 2nd request for the 6 PM dining of APLLAPL. Keep your fingers crossed.

As for the GTY #12, I found out that in 2 weeks, we SHOULD see our 2 numbers!! She said they are usually 30 days out and we only have 15 days until the 30 day mark. I'm sooo impatient!

Belinda & Andy - I'm going to PM you all our confirmation numbers in case you want to call and confirm as well.

I have a question for you repeat cruisers - how often are cabins upgraded upon check-in? I was just wondering if there might be a lot of last minute updates or changes to rooms (for the FE list).

I've starting looking through some info today. I'm not sure how detailed we want to get on the meets since there are so many options. My first thought (based on what I've seen some other cruise groups do and the info Val posted) is to maybe hand out our mini navigators at the first official meet at 3:00 pm in the Promenade Lounge. I thought of putting something together using the wonderful file Jane has already put together so we will have a list of all the cruisers including the FE info. I though I would also use the ship layout and mark everyone's room for easy FE finding. We would also include a few other meets like a designated location to meet for the Adventures Away Party, Pirates in the Caribbean Party, and Castaway Cay for those that would be interested. Also maybe put a time for Cove Cafe on sea days (2 or 3??). Let me know what you all think or what you would like to see! I'm all ears.

I was going to put together a FE list, but if it will be included in yours I'll hold off.

I found out at work that I'm not going to be able to go to the conference at the end of April at the Boardwalk Resort But.... I got it rescheduled for the end of June at the Beach & Yacht Club I guess I can't be too upset about that. I'm pretty excited about using spending some time at the Beach Club's pool!

Actually I like the Beach & Yacht Club better (you'll be able to use Stormalong Bay and you are SO much closer to Beaches & Cream and EPCOT). The Boardwalk Resort is cool, but the hallways can be miles long at the end of a day.

Well I am off for now, I am planning on doing the Disney in home celebration this weekend (from the Mickey Moms club) and have to get things ready. I will let you all know how it goes (and hopefully also post some pics if you all want, when Its over)

Hope everyone is having a good day Be back on later

I've seen a couple of mentions on the boards about this, but want to hear all about it!

As it turns out... the Paypal fee for the wristbands would be less than the current 42 cent postage rate... It should be around 6 cents per wristband! So unless you have as big a family as ours, it would be slightly cheaper to use Paypal, not to mention easier.

Bob and I are celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary this year. Please add us to the list.

Our whole family has also been changed to main dining.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JorDan!

Carole

Sounds like PayPal is the way to go! Just let us know exactly how much.

I've updated your anniversary (Congratulations!!!) and the dining.

Happy Birthday JorDan!!!

What are your plans for getting to Florida? Plane, car, bus.... is anyone else driving to Florida?
Soooo let's hear your "travel to Florida" plans......

We'll be leaving in 38 days!!! I consider our vacation starting as soon as I pick up the rental car that we'll be using to get to the airport on Friday. Our flight is at 6:00am so we'll leave home around 4:30am (YIKES) drop off the rental at the airport (so much cheaper than parking or getting a car service). We'll arrive in Orlando at 4:12pm!!!

 

[texfinn]

It's been a busy day but thought I would pop in quickly just to say "HAPPY Birthday JorDan!!!!!!!" I hope you had a wonderful day!!!!

Tomorrow should be easier since I wfh and hopefully I can catch up. Will also post some food porn from our dinner out tonight (if you are into that sort of thing) along with a fabulous view of the sunset (who said Texas was flat?).

Hope you guys are all doing well! Good Night!

 

[lillygator]

hi all --------------!

we are in FL, so that Friday, we will head over to pc around noon. Check in and go eat and get the PARTY started!

 

[lillygator]

anyone who did the hotdeal with the hotel - did they ever deduct the money??

 

[indigodisney]

I must say I love the countdowns - love it!!

Our vacation starts on May 13th when we head to the airport and then are in Port Orleans - Riverside for a few days before the cruise.

so exciting!!

Happy Birthday JorDan!!

Good night everyone

 

[SpeedFigure]

HI everyone and Thank you for the birthday wishes!!!!
I had a great day, included shopping and lunch at the CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!! But we had a jerk for our server and he didn't do anything special for me. (Usually if you say it's your birthday you get a free piece of cheesecake and they decorate the plate, put a candle on it and sing). We got nothing AND charged for our cheesecake. RUDE!!
I got a new camera for my birthday! WOO HOO!!!!!
I'm sooooo excited to have it in time for the cruise. So I'll be taking lots of photo's!

As for arriving in FL, we'll be flying. Can't imagine a car ride from Utah! UGH!!
We are planning on trying to take the first shuttle out to the port. It leaves at 10AM and takes around an hour maybe. So save us a spot in line! jk!
Can't wait for tomorrow so we can say NEXT month we cruise!