May 24, 2014 Alaskan 9 night Wonder

[sherri675]

wait, I'm confused now. I thought many of us were happy with our groups the way Nakoma set them up?

IDC what we do...but I need to know...was planning on shopping tomorrow for 34 people now Minnie is at 28...First time doing an FE and thought (without experience) that Nakoma's list was very good and more organized then I could have done!!! Thanks Nakoma!!!

Don't we all deserve to be happy with our exchange groups? Unfortunately, the few people that have spoken up about wanting to exchange with a larger group (because that is what they selected in the beginning) are getting overlooked. There were 14 cabins that wanted to exchange with "up to 100" and "the whole ship" and its only fair to them that we do what we can to make sure they are in the largest exchange group. I think we all appreciate the wonderful work that Nakoma has done!! I was also very happy with the group that I was placed in, but I can't just ignore the fact that there are others that have a legitimate concern. Let's all work together to resolve this.

pequele and mirving - Will the new FE groups work for you both?

 

[pequele]

I'm just confused how our Minnie group went from 34 people down to 21 and 11 cabins down to 8 (including our own).

It was fine in my opinion before for us it was just 2 people beyond the up to 30 people we expected and exchanging with 10 cabins was nice. Now our group is down to exchanging with 7 cabins and for us, 19 people? No, I liked it before. I'm not understanding why the people who want a bigger group just don't take on the people who add after the cutoff?

People said they wanted to give to the whole ship if they could. Well they can. Is the real issue that you also want gifts in return from the whole ship is this why they aren't happy with group size? I've bought most all of my supplies and will likely now have a ton left over seeing our group nearly halved. How is this fair if we want to talk fair? I'm getting really bummed about this whole thing now.

Sent from Stephie's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[sherri675]

I'm just confused how our Minnie group went from 34 people down to 21 and 11 cabins down to 8 (including our own).

It was fine in my opinion before for us it was just 2 people beyond the up to 30 people we expected and exchanging with 10 cabins was nice. Now our group is down to exchanging with 7 cabins and for us, 19 people? No, I liked it before. I'm not understanding why the people who want a bigger group just don't take on the people who add after the cutoff?

People said they wanted to give to the whole ship if they could. Well they can. Is the real issue that you also want gifts in return from the whole ship is this why they aren't happy with group size? I've bought most all of my supplies and will likely now have a ton left over seeing our group nearly halved. How is this fair if we want to talk fair? I'm getting really bummed about this whole thing now.

Sent from Stephie's iPhone using DISBoards

The Minnie group has 10 cabins and 28 people.

I think you may have been looking at only page one of the Master list. Take a look at page 5 which is the Minnie group. The 19 is for the number of adults only. Look to the far right for the total including the kids. Let me know if that doesn't make sense. I'm going to add the group breakdowns to my original post. I should have done that the first time around. Duh!

Sorry for the confusion! You can now sympathize with the those that were expecting to exchange with a larger group. You would have been disappointed had the numbers in your group been too low. Now that the numbers in the Minnie group are within your preferred range, are you OK with your group?

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I'm just confused how our Minnie group went from 34 people down to 21 and 11 cabins down to 8 (including our own).

It was fine in my opinion before for us it was just 2 people beyond the up to 30 people we expected and exchanging with 10 cabins was nice. Now our group is down to exchanging with 7 cabins and for us, 19 people? No, I liked it before. I'm not understanding why the people who want a bigger group just don't take on the people who add after the cutoff?

People said they wanted to give to the whole ship if they could. Well they can. Is the real issue that you also want gifts in return from the whole ship is this why they aren't happy with group size? I've bought most all of my supplies and will likely now have a ton left over seeing our group nearly halved. How is this fair if we want to talk fair? I'm getting really bummed about this whole thing now.

Sent from Stephie's iPhone using DISBoards

Not that I don't totally agree and share in your frustration with all this switching going on, I too am in Minnie and have ordered supplies and was perfectly happy with my list and my plan, but I think you need to look at page 5 of the new list again because I don't think the numbers have changed that drastically. From all I'm seeing is the number of cabins dropped from 11 to 10, and 34 people to 28. Not that big of a deal, it still would have saved me some money on my Amazon order had I known that though! Sure hope I am reading that right!

This is my first time in an FE and I have to say it is a bit more drama than I bargained for!

 

[MoonDaughter23]

Ok everyone,

I am sending out an email to the FE participants already assigned to a group with the options we are voting for and the link to vote. Please check your spam if you don't get it. I meant to send it earlier, but I accidentally deleted it and had wait for my next pocket of time to sit down and retype it. Sorry.

I know many of you expressed your vote already, but like I said before there are about 18 votes unaccounted for so this email is the only way I know of to make sure everyone is aware and that their vote gets counted as not everyone is on the DIS or does not check here everyday.

 

[mrobin023]

I too have been trying to avoid the drama. My vote is to keep things as they are. We have all been waiting for the final lists to come out to begin our shopping and/or crafting, and now that we have been doing that for the last week a few of you want to change thing up?! Tink's group would drop by 4 staterooms and 9 people. Not a large difference, but a definite inconvenience to those of us who began our planning/shopping when our list came out. I believe that the instructions were written in perfectly understandable English that you would not know how many you would be exchanging with until March 1st. I think it is a reasonable solution to take volunteers into the Lost Boys group. The Mickey people could exchange with the new additions and if there are people in the other two groups who want the option, or find that they have the means to make and transport more they could also ask to be included in the Lost Boys group.

 

[pequele]

The Minnie group has 10 cabins and 28 people. I think you may have been looking at only page one of the Master list. Take a look at page 5 which is the Minnie group. The 19 is for the number of adults only. Look to the far right for the total including the kids. Let me know if that doesn't make sense. I'm going to add the group breakdowns to my original post. I should have done that the first time around. Duh! Sorry for the confusion! You can now sympathize with the those that were expecting to exchange with a larger group. You would have been disappointed had the numbers in your group been too low. Now that the numbers in the Minnie group are within your preferred range, are you OK with your group?

Not that I don't totally agree and share in your frustration with all this switching going on, I too am in Minnie and have ordered supplies and was perfectly happy with my list and my plan, but I think you need to look at page 5 of the new list again because I don't think the numbers have changed that drastically. From all I'm seeing is the number of cabins dropped from 11 to 10, and 34 people to 28. Not that big of a deal, it still would have saved me some money on my Amazon order had I known that though! Sure hope I am reading that right! This is my first time in an FE and I have to say it is a bit more drama than I bargained for!

Ahhh I see now. It wasn't moving on my phone from page one. I will have to look more when I get a chance (at work shhhh).

But still confused why the late comers being added to Mickey group isn't what grows the Mickey group's size?

Sent from Stephie's iPhone using DISBoards

 

[mirving]

pequele and mirving - Will the new FE groups work for you both?

Yes that works for me...I dont want alot as its my first time and too many is intimidating...Id just like a final number. I started planning my FE a month ago and waited anxiously for the numbers so I could start shopping...now the numbers have changed. Granted they changed lower but now I dont want to go shop and next week have the number changed again (this time higher so). I appreciate all the work everone has done...just would like a final number that wont change

 

[tripletsontherun]

Just to make sure I am clear. Does this mean we have the option to volunteer to have our name in two groups? I love that option if possible. I was really hoping to exchange with a large group if possible. In one of the options it looked like Tinkerbell group was larger so I assume my concussion is just giving me a hard time understanding them. Can you tell me which of the options puts me in the largest group if I am currently in the Tinkerbell group? Sorry for being so confused.

Sorry I've been missing everybody. I didn't run away. As I said before I just have a jam packed week and this is my first moment to get back. I'm doing this from my phone at my daughter's track meet so please forgive typos.

Everyone has valid points for switching or not switching. What I am not seeing is are there more than just the 3 who personally told me they were very disappointed plus the one who said she was a bit dissappointed (I'm not putting names because I don't want to sound accusatory. I just want to help)? That makes 4 total. If that's all there is I think those of us who are willing to volunteer to switch from our current group to Mickey seems like the most compromising and least disruptive option. Then the 4 in Mickey can stay in Mickey plus be in another group plus exchange with the 3 new families (so far) in the Lost Boys and have more people to exchange with overall. Then the other groups don't really change size by much just people. And many people will be happy. Not all, but many. If it's all of Mickey that's disappointed or if more than the 4 who have personally told me then we have a bigger problem.

CORRECTION: There are 5 people. Not 4. I missed someone when I counted earlier. Not sure if 5 volunteers are possible, but I'll keep it on the table a little longer to see if there are any takers.

CORRECTION 2: We gained one more volunteer

Volunteers to go to Mickey and let the 5 people be in two groups (+ Lost Boys if you chose)
-MoonDaughter23
-ArizonaRita
-RweTHEREyet
-Sherri675
-(looking for 1 more volunteer)

As far as splitting groups, forgive me but I'm just not grasping the calculations from trying to read on my phone. I trust that it would work out correctly, I just don't compute. So if it ends up being a split those of you who are working it out will have to do it for me because I will screw it up and upset someone else.

Here are the votes I counted. If you had more than one idea I counted each one. If someone else voted while I was typing this out on my phone it is completely unintentional that I missed you. Feel free to let me know if I miscounted or just flat out have something wrong.

* One big group - 1
* Don't change - 9
* Split Tinker Bell and combine with Mickey - 3
* Change all three groups to an equal amount of staterooms in each or 50/50 - 3
* Will go either way - 2
* Commented but no vote - 1

What do we think?

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Yes that works for me...I dont want alot as its my first time and too many is intimidating...Id just like a final number. I started planning my FE a month ago and waited anxiously for the numbers so I could start shopping...now the numbers have changed. Granted they changed lower but now I dont want to go shop and next week have the number changed again (this time higher so). I appreciate all the work everone has done...just would like a final number that wont change

I think that final number will be coming soon, and I don't think anyone wants this to happen any faster than MoonDaughter.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

I posted on the FB page, but I am posting here as well for anyone not on FB:

I used to be a Disney Store CM and I have thousands (yes, thousands) of pins. I just lost interest and don't trade any more. If any of the kids (or adults for that matter) in my FE group (proably the Tinkerbell Group, when all is said and one) are into Pin Trading, I would gladly dig thru my many tubs of pins and see if I could find something they collect. Most are still on the cards. If parents will let me know what their kids collect, I will see what all I can find. I have a lot of CM exclusives and LE pins from way back.

If you are interested, if you would please leave me info to identify your cabin-a DIS name or Cabin no., etc. so that I will get everything to the right cabin--I don't want to be guessing here. I have seen requests to meet and trade, but I will not be bringing pins to trade, just pins for FE gifts, sorry.

Some have sent me a "message" on FB, but since I am on this cruise and the Alaska one that follows, it makes it tough to figure out which cabin on which sailing I should deliver to.

 

[Frodo UK]

Shame this thread now seems to be fixated on FE issues rather than the Alaska cruise. As we are coming from the UK, we decided for baggage reasons that we would pass on FE exchange this time.

 

[sherri675]

Just to make sure I am clear. Does this mean we have the option to volunteer to have our name in two groups? I love that option if possible. I was really hoping to exchange with a large group if possible. In one of the options it looked like Tinkerbell group was larger so I assume my concussion is just giving me a hard time understanding them. Can you tell me which of the options puts me in the largest group if I am currently in the Tinkerbell group? Sorry for being so confused.

MoonDaughter sent out a new email early this morning to all of the FE people requesting each person vote between four options. Did you see the email? I'm not sure about the other options because they were a bit too confusing for me to understand and I couldn't visualize what the final numbers would be, but my suggestion (click here for more details) was option #2 and it would make the Mickey group the largest group with 19 staterooms and 57 people. Keep in mind there are still those late signups that you can also request to exchange with. There are four late sign-ups so far that I am aware of (Disboard names: McCallum, Dad's Royals, Canadian Polar Bear, and DZNYFAM).

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Shame this thread now seems to be fixated on FE issues rather than the Alaska cruise. As we are coming from the UK, we decided for baggage reasons that we would pass on FE exchange this time.

I'm kind of sad as well... Every time I see a new post on here I get excited and then when it's only more FE info/squabbling I get sad. Has anyone heard which days are what yet? Are the first time cruisers looking forward to booking their excursions in a few days (if booking through disney)? It looks like there are no brunch times currently available for Palo but LOTS of dinner times still available. It's been a few years since we've done palo dinner and I'm really looking forward to the soufflé!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Shame this thread now seems to be fixated on FE issues rather than the Alaska cruise. As we are coming from the UK, we decided for baggage reasons that we would pass on FE exchange this time.

We're not doing FE either. I'm figuring once the FE is sorted out, we will all start talking about other things since we are getting really close now!

 

[sweetlovin']

Shame this thread now seems to be fixated on FE issues rather than the Alaska cruise. As we are coming from the UK, we decided for baggage reasons that we would pass on FE exchange this time.

We're not doing FE either. I'm figuring once the FE is sorted out, we will all start talking about other things since we are getting really close now!

Add me to the list of non FE peeps. I have never done one because I am not crafty, organized, or anything. I am signed up for a different cruise because the organizer signed me up..but that is the only one I am doing and even that seems like too much work.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Shame this thread now seems to be fixated on FE issues rather than the Alaska cruise. As we are coming from the UK, we decided for baggage reasons that we would pass on FE exchange this time.

Sorry, Frodo, but things should get back to regularly scheduled programming shortly.

 

[Maleficent59]

For those who haven't booked flights, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Westjet allows one free check-in bag. Factoring luggage fees into flight cost, it turned out that this was good option for us. Hope this helps someone.

 

[Frodo UK]

Sorry, Frodo, but things should get back to regularly scheduled programming shortly.

Sure they will and this is not meant as any criticism of MoonDaughter23 who has been very brave to take on the FE arrangements

 

[hamm1207]

Well, we're having more warm weather here in Anchorage (high of 30ish today). Hopefully this is a taste of what our weather will be like in May!