November 2 on the 4 day Wonder!

[Goldeelox9]

LOL...Thanks...Although I am a Vet. I haven't been in almost 5 years! EKK~

 

[GWNnewbies]

Karen, the F&W sounds really nice. Thanks for the link. Do you have to prebook any of it? Are the girls going to be able to go (they're 17) or is it just for adults? I really appreciate all the info and offers of assistance. This is the first family vacation for my daughter and I, and with her only having 1 year of high school left it might be our only one so I want it to be really great for her but I don't want to overplan it and have us running around like headless chickens!

 

[domiii]

The kiosks are all over WS. There is no age limit, except of course, on the alcohol, where you have to be 21. There are other programs/semiars/events. The schedule is not yet posted.

Planning is good to do as a guideline. Being flexible is a necessary thing! We have learned so much from these boards and from the allears website. We always have a game plan, but can change it at any time given the weather, wait times, group concensus, etc.

We used to always get the Birnbaum book for WDW. We have stopped getting recently, because I don't think we can learn any thing more from it. But please keep asking questions, I have a feeling there are a lot of experts in our group!!

You can also plan something special like La Nouba in DTD (Downtown Disney). Or a tour, there are several. Keys to the Kingdom is a great one. They take you behind the scenes in MK. We have done things like this to make a visit special. Once we had 25 of us in the 2 boats for the Illuminations cruise. That was a blast.

 

[Goldeelox9]

What we always do is go through the maps and pink what each person MUST see and then we work our touring schedule around that. You may also want to think about joining Tour Guide Mike. It is a web site that I have learned TONS from. I love WDW and I love helping people plan great trips so ask away!

 

[GWNnewbies]

We have a Passporter guide which we have found really helpful. I am having the girls go through and mark the things that they REALLY want to do as well as the things that they are just kinda intrigued by. I figured that way when we put everyones together we should have a good list of 'must sees' and 'see if it fits in' activities. Our main problem right now is getting everyone together to discuss it! I was upset when I heard about La Nouba being at WDW. I got tickets to see a different Cirque show that is playing in the city next to our town about 2 weeks before we decided on our vacation. I know it is always worth seeing but we decided that the money would be better spent on a different activity. Oh well.

 

[domiii]

WE are toying with getting the Pasporter. It's about the only book we haven't gotten!!

 

[kath1210]

WE are toying with getting the Pasporter. It's about the only book we haven't gotten!!

The Passporter is my favorite book! Both the WDW version and especially the cruise version. Amazon has them for a good discount.

 

[ohanaMAMA]

I have REALLY enjoyed the passporter. It has so much good info in it.. and I have read and re-read it a few times. Makes me all happy to read about the fun time we're going to have!

 

[GWNnewbies]

I wish that we had got ours back when we were first planning the trip. There is a lot of useful information in it and I really like that there are reader reviews of things as well as the opinions of the people who wrote it. I actually stumbled over here from a link on the Passporter website, so that alone was definitely worth it.
Karen what is WS?

 

[domiii]

WS = World Showcase. If you navigate these boards, there are alot of abbreviations. ToT = Tower of Terror, MK = Magic Kingdom and so on. It is usually the first initial of the attraction, park, resort, show.

 

[GWNnewbies]

Is WS a particular location in Epcot?

 

[stitchlovestink]

We live in Hagerstown, in Western Maryland. We used to live closer to Baltimore - in Hanover, which is very close to the airport.

Hi there Western Marylander. It seems like we've got quite a few Marylanders onboard this cruise. I will have my DDs w/ me (as well as my DH ) DDs will be 13 and 16 at cruise time. Actually Younger DD turns 13 the day we board ship. Makes her think this is all for her. Yeah right. Welcome aboard the thread.

Welcome aboard to GWNnewbies too. Our DD's may bump into one another in the stack.

 

[domiii]

Epcot is made up of Future World (FW) and World Showcase (WS). Future World is where most of the attractions are with Spaceship Earth (the big golf ball as we call it, in the front). There is Journey into the Imagination, Universe of Energy, Test Track, Mission to Mars, etc.

World Showcase is home to 11 countries. Each pavilion has architecture native to the country, so you get the feeling you are in that country. I have a better idea, click the link below. It is information on the Disboards for Epcot.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/ep-overview.htm

More info. It was originally designed as two separate parks. But the Imagineers pushed the two models together and voila Epcot was born!

Check out allearsnet as well.
http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ep/ep.htm

 

[kath1210]

Hi there Western Marylander. It seems like we've got quite a few Marylanders onboard this cruise. I will have my DDs w/ me (as well as my DH ) DDs will be 13 and 16 at cruise time. Actually Younger DD turns 13 the day we board ship. Makes her think this is all for her. Yeah right. Welcome aboard the thread.

Welcome aboard to GWNnewbies too. Our DD's may bump into one another in the stack.

Sounds like we have a lot of teenage girls in this group.

Maybe some of your DDs can hang out with my DD14 (she'll be almost 15 at cruise time and in 10th grade). She's a little (OK, a lot) shy when it comes to meeting new people, and I doubt my DS17 will want to hang out with her very much on the ship.

 

[domiii]

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/events/index.htm

Here is the Disboards info on F&W for any one who might be at WDW before/after the cruise. If you haven't experienced it, I highly recommend it.

 

[GWNnewbies]

Thanks Karen. Wow, that sounds really good. I'm really looking forward to trying some of those dishes. I have a picky eater with me so it will give her a chance to try something new and different. Thank you so much for the links. They really helped.
Kathy, thanks for the welcome. My girls are glad that there are alot of other teenage girls on the cruise.

 

[kath1210]

We just booked Palo dinner on Monday night at 9 p.m. and brunch on Wednesday at noon! So excited!

We've never done the brunch before.

Did any of you Castaway Club members book Palo yet?

 

[domiii]

We have dinner on the first night at 7:30 and brunch at 10:30. You will LOVE brunch. Eat a VERY VERY light breakfast that day. There is a cheese station, a salad station, a seafood station, a bread station and then you order a breakfast or a lunch entree or both!

 

[domiii]

I just reread Chelly's first post and this is quite the celebration cruise!!!

There are 2 weddings, 1 anniversary and 4 birthdays.

 

[Goldeelox9]

We booked brunch for 10"30 am too...We plan on sleeping in then pigging out! LOL