May 19 - 24, 2014 San Diego to Vancouver

[RweTHEREyet]

I am so excited about this cruise and this group seems great.

I experienced my first Disney cruise on the Magic in Feb with my family and was in love. I have done other cruises and was so excited to go on Disney. I was a little worried it might not live up to my expectations but it was even better. I still look at my pictures and brings me instant happiness. I was very surprised I was able to convince my husband so quickly to book another (but we all realized it was our best vacation ever).

This cruise is pretty affordable for family of 6 and I love the 3 sea days. Plus I plan to visit Disneyland while I am in California (love California and very excited to visit again). I live in Alberta, Canada so Victoria is a quick flight home.

I wish I was more crafty but still so excited for the FE. I discovered the DISboards and FE, six weeks before my last cruise. It was so much fun to participate in the FE, my son and I had fun dropping off the gifts while trying not to get caught and really added to the Magic getting gifts left when we returned to the cabin.

Paula
-and taking DH (Jason), DS-18 (Quintin), DS-15 (Tristan), DS-9 (Hayden), DD-3 (Jaida) (ages during cruise-and it seems crazy that I have to type "18")

Welcome, Paula and family, so it seems you have caught the Disney cruise bug, welcome to the club, so glad you found us. I will get you added to the roster on the first page.

 

[Kidlette]

Kew423, I am not sure how you want to keep track of the FE folks, but I will be glad to indicate who is participating on the roster, either by just putting FE by their name, or an asterisk or something. If I need to put a link to anything regarding the FE for folks to find it easily, let me know.

You will have to list the cabin number of each participant too, otherwise people won't know where to go to deliver their gifts. You also need to set up a method where people with GTY cabins or those who upgrade cabins at the pier can advise everyone of their last minute cabin assignment or cabin change. In the past I've seen people exchange this info at a big group meet, and I've also seen the group just require that those people walk around the ship and drop a note into each and every FE telling them of the change. The only problem with the latter is that it gets confusing when multiple people change and person "A" goes to leave a note for person "B" who is also no longer there. In that situation people get skipped because there is confusion or a lack of cross over between leaving notes (each party finds that there's no where to leave a note, so nothing is left for that family). It's up to the organizer, but getting a list of everyone's cabin numbers is a must!

Just to comment on all of the Cali / Hawaii talk - I'm jealous of where everyone lives or has lived! We were both born and raised in San Diego. We've never lived in Hawaii, but I have lived in other areas around the country. I've only been to Hawaii once and it was beautiful, but I COMPLETELY understand the lack of activities for residents. To those who live in Orange County, I'm curious - how is that? We won't have any info for 6 to 8 weeks, but my husband is being considered for a position out in that area. If he takes it we will have to leave our house (probably rent it out as we couldn't sell right now) and rent an apartment. Although I don't know how I feel about moving back to an apartment - especially now that we have a 1 year old - I must admit that the draw of living by the beach and Disneyland are both VERY appealing! Not to mention where I live now is WAY WORSE than Hawaii as far as activities go, lol. (We live in the hills in Riverside where all of the dairy farms are, and there's not much else...except a senior community, lol). Anyway, we'd either move to an apartment on/near Huntington) or Newport Beach, or to Garden Grove (about 3 miles from Disneyland). The job is in Irvine, so we could live anywhere from Huntington Beach down to Anaheim, these are just the locations I've considered and looked into. Really, I think if I have to leave my house for an apartment I would demand an apartment within a mile of the beach! Anyway - what's it like and how is it living in OC? How are the schools and things? Thanks for the input!

 

[Kidlette]

Kew423, I am not sure how you want to keep track of the FE folks, but I will be glad to indicate who is participating on the roster, either by just putting FE by their name, or an asterisk or something. If I need to put a link to anything regarding the FE for folks to find it easily, let me know.

Just thought I'd also mention that the organizer is going to need to come up with a "close" date for FE participation, probably at least a month out, if not a little longer. Closing the FE list allows people to have a final count of how many people/cabins they must buy for and to get all of their goodies made and/or bought. It is also good to have some personalized info such as ages of children, genders, and favorite characters. A lot of people like to personalize their gifts, and these details help them to figure out appropriate gifts for everyone!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Thanks, Kidlette, I guess my question must have sounded as if I was heading this up and wasn't sure what to do, but Kew423 will be organizing and I just wanted to put a link to the listing that she creates. I am not sure if she has headed one up before or not, but I think she has participated in at least one. Thanks for the tips, I am sure she will find them helpful when she sets this up.

 

[airtime247]

On past cruises, I edited a deck map of the ship and colored in the cabins of people participating in the FE. This made it easy for me to see where the cabins were in relation to each other so we didn't have do do any backtracking or having to walk forward to aft on every deck. I will be doing this again and will be happy to share it with anyone who might find it useful. Maybe we can put a link to it on the "Official" FE list?

I agree that it is very helpful to have at the very least ages and genders of the kids in each cabin on the FE list as some people like to gear their gifts to the kids. Twin teenage boys may not get much excitement from a roll of Tinkerbell stickers!

-steve

 

[Kidlette]

Thanks, Kidlette, I guess my question must have sounded as if I was heading this up and wasn't sure what to do, but Kew423 will be organizing and I just wanted to put a link to the listing that she creates. I am not sure if she has headed one up before or not, but I think she has participated in at least one. Thanks for the tips, I am sure she will find them helpful when she sets this up.

No worries, it just sounded like there was some confusion so I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in!

By the way - take Steve up on that map, it's GREAT!

 

[Kidlette]

A friend of mine and Steve's (someone we both met on the last Disney Cruise we did together) made this for us. Feel free to use it for something if you'd like, or not . . . doesn't matter to me! Anyway, it's here if you want it

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Oh, I love it. This will definitely be on my cabin door. Thank you so much for sharing with the rest of us. I am not creative enough to do something like this, so I do appreciate those that share.

Would anyone like to tell this technology challenged old person how to get it into their signature? I have saved the image to my desktop, but I don't know if I need to put it into something Photobucket or not or if the size would need to be changed.

Update, copying to Photobucket and then pasting the img code worked, but it was too big. Now to figure out how to make the image smaller. I got it. Probably should go a little smaller, but I think this is not too bad.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Happy Easter to everyone.

Easter usually signifies Spring is here in my part of the world, but it is a cool, rainy day here today, not conducive to egg hunts, or outdoor photos of people in their Sunday best that we usually see in my neighborhood. I hope everyone has a good day. I know mine will be spent with family enjoying a nice meal later today.

 

[Kidlette]

Oh, I love it. This will definitely be on my cabin door. Thank you so much for sharing with the rest of us. I am not creative enough to do something like this, so I do appreciate those that share.

Would anyone like to tell this technology challenged old person how to get it into their signature? I have saved the image to my desktop, but I don't know if I need to put it into something Photobucket or not or if the size would need to be changed.

Update, copying to Photobucket and then pasting the img code worked, but it was too big. Now to figure out how to make the image smaller. I got it. Probably should go a little smaller, but I think this is not too bad.

My pleasure! I've made the group logo for a couple of sailings in the past but I don't really feel up to it this time. Do we want to come up with an official group name and logo for this cruise? Any graphic designers in our group who want to help with that? I'll start thinking of some name options and let you know what I come up with. In the past I've also made a free google website to house all of our group info (ask Steve how that was), but again, I don't feel up to it. I will look at the old page though and see if there are any useful pages I can link from that site. I don't know - this group is pretty active and could be fun. Let me ponder that one, maybe I'll do it again. (HAHA - I've always wanted to use that emoticon and never had a reason to - YAY!)

We are not religious, but just like Christmas, we "kind of" celebrate. For us, today is about making our daughter smile. Unfortunately, Lorelai is sick We're hoping she gets better by Wednesday as we're supposed to meet Steve and his FABULOUS family at Disneyland! Not to mention I hate seeing my little girl sick I hope you feel better soon baby - mommy loves you!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

My pleasure! I've made the group logo for a couple of sailings in the past but I don't really feel up to it this time. Do we want to come up with an official group name and logo for this cruise? Any graphic designers in our group who want to help with that? I'll start thinking of some name options and let you know what I come up with. In the past I've also made a free google website to house all of our group info (ask Steve how that was), but again, I don't feel up to it. I will look at the old page though and see if there are any useful pages I can link from that site. I don't know - this group is pretty active and could be fun. Let me ponder that one, maybe I'll do it again. (HAHA - I've always wanted to use that emoticon and never had a reason to - YAY!)

We are not religious, but just like Christmas, we "kind of" celebrate. For us, today is about making our daughter smile. Unfortunately, Lorelai is sick We're hoping she gets better by Wednesday as we're supposed to meet Steve and his FABULOUS family at Disneyland! Not to mention I hate seeing my little girl sick I hope you feel better soon baby - mommy loves you!

Well, once again, I am not that creative, but I am crafty--can take an idea and expand on it some, so that is why I decided to keep up with the roster and any information/links needed on the first page, so hopefully there are some other creative folks on here that can step up.

 

[airtime247]

Happy Easter everyone! Jessica, I hope Lorelei feels better quickly. It is so hard to see them sick at that age. Emma's fever is pretty much gone but she is lethargic today. We were up a lot last night and I think she is still trying to recover. She had fun with her little egg hunt this morning followed by brunch but is taking a nap right now.

I want to post the ears pic in my profile too. I can write up instructions on how to do it but i'm on the app version on my tablet and am not sure how to do it here. I will need to wait until I get back on my computer next week. One thing is the pic will have to be posted online somewhere and then you embed the link into your signature. I can do this part and put the link in the instructions.

Your site worked out great last time Jessica! I wish I was creative enouh to pull it off.

-steve

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Since our sailing is a 5-nighter, do you think it is pretty safe to think that we will follow other 5-night sailings as far as what nights the formal, semi-formal nights are? Just thinking ahead and trying to figure out potential nights for Palo, etc.

 

[taaren]

A friend of mine and Steve's (someone we both met on the last Disney Cruise we did together) made this for us. Feel free to use it for something if you'd like, or not . . . doesn't matter to me! Anyway, it's here if you want it

That's pretty cool! Did you previously do a repositioning cruise? I thought maybe with S.D./S.F in there maybe you did a Pixar cruise, and that's what this was made for, then I realized the Pixar ones didnt' go to Vancouver.

Since our sailing is a 5-nighter, do you think it is pretty safe to think that we will follow other 5-night sailings as far as what nights the formal, semi-formal nights are? Just thinking ahead and trying to figure out potential nights for Palo, etc.

I'm trying to remember what they had on our last 5 nighter in 2011. I should go check the thread from the meet group. I don't think it follows the normal pattern since Repos are their own animal.

 

[taaren]

Taaren, just let me know when/if you are ready for me to add you.

We're definitely going now. Apparently with a party of at least 14, I've been informed by my local family that has adopted me and my Disney loving ways. Even if the DH doesn't go, DS7 and I will have plenty of other options for roommates ...

We're another NorCal DVC family. I lived most of my life in the Bay Area but now live about 5 hours north so what most people call northern California, we now call central! We are still down there to visit often as we have family in Martinez and Mountain View and friends scattered about the east and south bay.

You'll be in my neck of the woods then Steve, I work in Martinez and live about 10 minutes north of there in Cordelia.
Its funny that I consider this NorCal, but you're right there's a lot more to California further north of here, its just not as citified ... my college roommate spent the better part of a decade in Eureka, so when I went to go visit her (and get my Samoa Cookhouse bread) I was always reminded that in some ways that's the _real_ NorCal. Though I don't like to think of here as Central Cal since that's more the coastal area and Fresno ...

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Great, I will add you to the roster. I am going to put you and Ds7, so you let me know if you wish to change that in any way, ok?

Well, I went to add you and it seems I had already put you on the list, with DH and DS. Let me know if I need to remove DH.

 

[Kidlette]

Since our sailing is a 5-nighter, do you think it is pretty safe to think that we will follow other 5-night sailings as far as what nights the formal, semi-formal nights are? Just thinking ahead and trying to figure out potential nights for Palo, etc.

The current dining pattern on 5 night is: casual, formal, pirate, casual, casual
The Disney cast member said that there's no way to know if it will change or not, so we'll have to wait for the official release to know for sure. BUT, it is likely it will stay the same. She also said that the "official release" of information is about 6 months prior to sailing, but, they usually have that info more like a year in advance. So - she expects it will be available in a couple of months.

Anyway, it's nothing concrete - but I hope it helps!

 

[Huney]

Which is better for Palo? I want to do brunch, but see that people are always trying to get dinner reservations. Is it easier to get a brunch reservation?

 

[Kidlette]

Which is better for Palo? I want to do brunch, but see that people are always trying to get dinner reservations. Is it easier to get a brunch reservation?

Why not do both? Pre-booking allows you 1 of each. Personally though, I MUCH prefer brunch - it's AMAZING! Ryan prefers dinner though (probably because of the chocolate souffle, lol). They are both worth it and you should do both if you can. If you are choosing to only do 1 though, I vote brunch!

 

[Huney]

Lol, my dh is named Ryan too. I should see if I can find a menu...that would help me decide.