November 15, 2008 7 night Western 11/15/08 11-15-08

[LauraLap]

Sure, pairing up sounds like a great idea. If we're going to just do one family each, could we not collect for the adults as well?

 

[MommyTo5]

Are you all thinking of a one-time --- or a daily --- exchange?

I thought the idea of leaving a little something for each family sounded pretty fun!

 

[izma]

It's awfully quiet around here!

The summer weather must have everyone busy...or perhaps some of you are sand-bagging. What a mess along the Mississippi!!

Angie, what do you think about the fish extenders? I think we should pair up with a family and then try to leave something every day. Then you would know the ages of the people you are bringing things for and it wouldn't be so labour intensive. It wouldn't require a whole extra suitcase for stuff for those traveling a long distance with the new luggage fee's, etc. If people want to do more that would be up to them.

That said I am open to other suggestions and up for just about anything!

Let's try and get some consensus on this and wait to hear from whoever it is that has the list of interested families (I think it's Dana?).

Just for laughs I had an interesting reservation experience I'll tell you about. When I changed my WDW reservation from a package with Park-hoppers, Disney Dining and a resort stay to Annual Passes, Disney Dining and a resort stay...Disney cancelled all of my reservations except the annual passes and refunded my credit card for the rest. Thank goodness my lovely rep at Dreams unlimited was all over it and rebooked everything very quickly. Whew!

My cruise reservations are fine! Ha!!

Les

 

[dmja716]

Hello everyone,
I hope everyone is enjoying the start of summer.

I have a list of DIS members, but I havent really kept a good list of who is participating in the Fish Extender. Sorry. I have only 5 yes's so far.

I have a yes from myself, Izma,Disneyday,Mommyto5,MommyKeg and that is it.

Can whoever else wants to do it please let me know and I will add to the list?

With the luggage restrictions I think we can find a way to keep it to a minimum. I think if we dont have a lot of participants we should still do all the families. This is just my opinion and I will go along with what everyone decides

I cant believe it is less than 5 months away. I wonder when we will receive that first package from Disney.

 

[MommyTo5]

I have a yes from myself, Izma,Disneyday,Mommyto5,MommyKeg and that is it.

Has anyone heard from mommykeg? I wonder if she's still planning on joining us... she hasn't posted to this thread since 2007.

 

[Mason3]

I just joined the DIS today. My husband, daughter (9), and I will be on the cruise. This is our first cruise, and I have lots of questions.

I see that DCL is now offering the Dolphinaris excursion and the Dolphin Encounter excursion in Cozumel. Any suggestions on which one is best?

Also, what is the fish extender?

 

[izma]

Hello!

I have a daughter who is 10 who will be on the cruise.

I am not sure about the different dolphin excursions. We have one booked at Cozumel but it is not with DCL.

This is a great place to find answers and opinions regarding all your questions!!!

A fish extender is a fabric pocket organizer that you can hang from a little fish "hook" that is outside your cabin door. You can receive notes from fellow cruisers in it as well as little gifts. It's our first cruise too, so I'm a rookie.

 

[bambilin]

Our computer crashed at home and I am actually at a friend's house right now. Didn't want anyone to think I had dropped out of site.

I have not heard from Teva as to date and time for the Meet as of yet but will update you as soon as I do.

We are in for the fish extenders and my vote is to just do one night for each family. Keeping it to the kids is fine as well. However, as usual, I will go along with the majority on this decision as well!

Hope to be back on line soon!

Lin

 

[MommyTo5]

Partners or not... that is the question!

Maybe we could simplify making a decision on the fish extenders by taking a poll... this way we can really see each other's preferences.


* If you are interested in participating in the fish extender exchange, please post ASAP and state your top 2 preferences. *

A. a single gift delivery to each participating DIS family (or simply the children in the family... everyone could decide for themselves what they'd like to give)

B. a single gift delivery to your DIS partner's family

C. a single gift delivery to your DIS partner's children only

D. nightly gift deliveries to your DIS partner's family

E. nightly gift deliveries to your DIS partner's children only


Did I include all of the choices? I can't imagine any of us would want to commit to nightly gifts to everyone - especially with the new luggage restrictions.

 

[MommyTo5]

Okay, I'll go first!

1st choice ~
A. a single gift delivery to each participating DIS family (or simply the children in the family... everyone could decide for themselves what they'd like to give)

2nd choice ~
(I can't decide!!!! LOL)
B. a single gift delivery to your DIS partner's family
OR
C. a single gift delivery to your DIS partner's children only

 

[ALawley]

Reminder to all cruisers looking at SWA for airfare. They will be opening up travel through the end of the year on Thursday, June 26 and I'm betting you can book at 12:01 CST (their corp. is in Dallas, TX) good luck all!

 

[dmja716]

my vote is A

just for the kids is fine to save room.
This is my vote based on less than 10 of us doing the exchange.

 

[coastiewifern]

I tried to book swa this morning and no luck on Nov reservations yet. Hopefully tomorrow.
As for the extenders I would like to participate. I like option E the best just because the kids would get something nightly which would be fun. Otherwise I like option A doing the kids only.

 

[ALawley]

According to their website the airfare through Jan. 9, 2009 should post today between 10:00 and 10:30 am, it's 10:09 and so far no air posting, but I'm watching.

We were visiting the World last week and I got to take a head over to Port Canavaral for a look at the Wonder while the ship was in dock for turnaround, even got to visit the Walt Disney Suite...OMG,that is the way to travel, it was absolutely amazing, but what impressed me most was the equal attention to detail and plusing the cast members were doing for the Cat. 11 all the way up to Walt & Roy's suites. 4.5 months and counting!

 

[coastiewifern]

Their reservations are up now but it was like $320 or something per ticket. That is a real bummer. That is really going to cut into the excursion budget. Boy just a while back it was $100 less per ticket. Should we just book now? Is it going to get any better? Some of the time slots were already unavailable.......

 

[MommyTo5]

I went ahead and booked with SWA... with the price of fuel on the rise, I really don't want to take any chances. If you book now and the price does go down, you can rebook at the new price and receive a credit towards a future flight within a year. There is no charge to rebook and you can do it online. I'll be praying for a better sale price or DING fare at some point - and I'll be checking daily!

The airfare prices are really unbelievable right now. I just paid $2392 just for our airfare ... that's $299 per ticket (x 8) which is nearly double the highest RT price we've ever paid to fly to Orlando and we fly SWA nearly exclusively. I certainly did not plan or budget for this.

 

[MommyTo5]

Their reservations are up now but it was like $320 or something per ticket. That is a real bummer. That is really going to cut into the excursion budget. Boy just a while back it was $100 less per ticket. Should we just book now? Is it going to get any better? Some of the time slots were already unavailable.......

Yikes! I was just playing around with some flight dates and noticed the Sunday mid-day return flight that I booked (on a Wanna Get Away fare) just an hour ago has now increased by $16 a ticket!!!!! I'm so glad I booked when I did... for our family, that would have been another $128 (plus whatever the taxes are on that amount).

I would book now!!!

 

[bambilin]

That would work best for me. Obvioulsly count us in if I didn't already say so!

Thanks!

Still no computer back at home, hubby really did it this time!! LOL
Jumping on during my break at work!

 

[ALawley]

Was online this morning when the dates switched to Jan. 9, I jumped on it and found it most difficult to find the deals for Thanksgiving week! I was disappointed as well by the prices! It was a comical actually, as I was trying to book for 4 families on 2 computers, total of 10 guests, but like ya'll, I just took what I could get. Overall we just paid around 330.00 per person avg. Had to adjust 2 families travel dates, b t now they get to join us for Mickey's Verry Merry Christmas party!

I so agree, airfare is expected to increase and the air industry is a bit shaky right now; continental is expected to begin laying off employees by Sept! SWA is a solid air provider and it is not likely we will see them add fuel charges or baggage charges....we will keep our fingers crossed!

But we are all booked and it feels so official now! We all have our before/after vacations on the books and we are getting ready!

 

[izma]

Okay, I'll go first!

1st choice ~
A. a single gift delivery to each participating DIS family (or simply the children in the family... everyone could decide for themselves what they'd like to give)

2nd choice ~
(I can't decide!!!! LOL)
B. a single gift delivery to your DIS partner's family
OR
C. a single gift delivery to your DIS partner's children only

This is my vote also! I'm with Dana, basing choice A on around 10 families.

I booked airfare from here in February I think. We paid around $500pp taxes in...from here, this is a a pretty good deal. So we are paying around $2000 for 4. GRRRRRRRR!!!!!

We are heading to the lake for July but I will be home occasionally to check emails etc., So if I am off the radar for awhile, that's why. I am also heading to Vegas for a week and hope to get to the Disney store to look for extender goodies and fun stuff for the kids!

If you don't hear from me regarding the final decision on extenders or other such things, I'll go with the group majority. I generally agree with Angie and Dana if you need a guideline...!

Les