November 5th 2011 Eastern on the Magic

[Switzert]

Thought I would post the 11pm news in Orlando. Saturday is suppose to be 75 and sunny! Dry and Clear what is forecast for the rest of the week. Hope this hypes you all up!!!! So far so good for the weekend!




We still have late seating, but we are getting fine with the idea...

 

[LovesToRun]

Ok, so here's a funny story from tonight from trick-or-treating! The kids walked all around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat. A couple people gave them those glow stick things that you can put around your wrists. Well, so after the neighborhood, we got in the car and were on our way to my parent's house to go trick-or-treat there. About half-way, my son (9 yr old) says, "uh oh!" I was driving (DH was at home). I was on the freeway, so I couldn't really look in the back seat to see what he was talking about. So, then I asked "what is "uh oh?" Then, my other son (almost 11 yr old) started laughing. I then asked what was going on!!

My oldest son said, "Ryan was playing with the glow stick and it just exploded in the back seat, and now the seat, and the sides of the car and part of the ceiling are all glowing!"

I JUST got my car detailed last week... total murphey's law!!!

So, when I got off the freeway, I was able to pull over, and oh my goodness... when I turned around, it looked like our back seat in our car was a glow in the dark disco ball!!!!! It was covered with these flourescent yellow/greenish glowing spots everywhere, and on my son's costume, and his shoes...

I had wipes in the car and wiped off his hands right away. And, I tried to wipe the spots off, but a few came off (I have leather seats on my car, so the spots on the leather came off, but the ceiling of the car is fabric and the spots did not come off, and the sides of the doors are part leather and part fabric... and the spots on the fabric did not come off.) So, I got half of the spots off... but my car is still glowing in the back seat! Oh how funny...at least I can laugh about it. I'm trying not to think about the fact I just spent money last week to totally get the inside of my car completely detailed, though! Hopefully the spots will just go away as the chemicals that is in those glow stick things just fade.

So, lesson learned... never let my kids play with glow sticks in the car!!! At least it made driving around on Halloween night fun... our car was glowing. The kids thought it was pretty cool.

Thought I would post the 11pm news in Orlando. Saturday is suppose to be 75 and sunny! Dry and Clear what is forecast for the rest of the week. Hope this hypes you all up!!!! So far so good for the weekend!

Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!



Kathy

 

[Switzert]

My oldest son said, "Ryan was playing with the glow stick and it just exploded in the back seat, and now the seat, and the sides of the car and part of the ceiling are all glowing!"

Good thing is they are non-toxic. We used to cut them open and put then on the younger soldiers when we allowed them to drink in the field like 10 years ago. I was about 25 so old.. We would do this so if they got passed out we wondered off we could see them go in the deep woods. Funny how bright those things are in pitch black.

The stains should come out but I would wipe them with leather cleaner or Windex if you have any. Shouldn't stain badly but better try to get it out anyways.

Thought I would put a hurricane update I found this morning.
From Weather.com:

Tropics Watch: Daily Map Analysis - No active tropical cyclones anywhere in the world, and no significant systems with development potential in the Atlantic or Pacific basins ATLANTIC BASIN, EASTERN and WESTERN PACIFIC - No significant systems and no new tropical cyclones expected to form for at least the next couple of days

looked up St Martin and St. Thomas.

Tues 8th right now shows only a 20% chance of rain. While Wed 9th shows 60%, but in the Caribbean that doesn't mean much.

 

[LovesToRun]

Good thing is they are non-toxic. We used to cut them open and put then on the younger soldiers when we allowed them to drink in the field like 10 years ago. I was about 25 so old.. We would do this so if they got passed out we wondered off we could see them go in the deep woods. Funny how bright those things are in pitch black.

The stains should come out but I would wipe them with leather cleaner or Windex if you have any. Shouldn't stain badly but better try to get it out anyways.

Thought I would put a hurricane update I found this morning.
From Weather.com:

Tropics Watch: Daily Map Analysis - No active tropical cyclones anywhere in the world, and no significant systems with development potential in the Atlantic or Pacific basins ATLANTIC BASIN, EASTERN and WESTERN PACIFIC - No significant systems and no new tropical cyclones expected to form for at least the next couple of days

looked up St Martin and St. Thomas.

Tues 8th right now shows only a 20% chance of rain. While Wed 9th shows 60%, but in the Caribbean that doesn't mean much.

Haha!! That is funny how you used to cut those things open and put them on the younger soldiers in case they passed out! Very funny! I do have leather cleaner, so that is a good idea to use that on seats and doors in the car. I'm glad they are non-toxic! I wasn't sure... that is why I just wiped off his hands right away. I kind of assumed they were non-toxic, because if they weren't, I can't imagine why they'd market them toward kids... but I just erred on the safe side.

Ok, that is the best EVER weather forecast for possible hurricane or tropical storm activity! Very awesome!

Yah, 60% chance of rain in the Caribbean probably means like 5 - 10 minutes of "possible" rain in one particular isolated area of the island at some point in the 24 hour period. However, 60% chance of rain in Seattle.... HAHA ... that means gloomy gray clouds with down pour for about 3 - 4 hours of the day over the entire city... Oh, I can't wait to be somewhere where you really don't have to take 60% chance of rain seriously!

Oh, I'm getting excited!!!

 

[LovesToRun]

LovesToRun: Glad you may be joining us for early dining!

I heard back from my TA (she's great... she always gets back to me so fast!!), and she confirmed that Disney (for whatever reason) switched us to early dining! Interesting that happened since we didn't request to be switched! But, it's ok! Our last 2 cruises, we chose early dining, so maybe Disney saw that and assumed we prefer early dining. We actually do prefer early dining when we go to WDW before the cruise because by the time we get on the ship, we are already adjusted to the time zone, so 5:45 is 5:45 to our body. But, when we don't go to WDW beforehand and fly to MCO the day before the cruise, we are fine with late dining, because it usually takes us a few days to REALLY adjust to the east coast time zone. So, when we fly the day before the cruise, if we have 8:30 dining, 8:30 dining to us is more like 5:30 dining our body time, which is perfect! That is why we were fine with late dining this time.

But, that's ok.... we just will eat a lighter lunch so we will be hungry enough to eat at 5:45 the first few days until our bodies adjust to the time zone.

So, for everyone who has early dining, we now get to share the same dining time with you, and if it's the same dining rotation, you might see us every evening (boy, didn't you hit the jackpot! Just kidding!! ) We really are normal average "joe-shmo" people.

Take care,
Kathy

 

[2ksilverbullet]

Hmmm.... I'm now confused about the dining!! I jsut emailed my TA, and I should hear back from her tomorrow, and things should be cleared up. But, when we made our reservation, they only had late dining available, so we just took that. But, we never requested to be changed to early dining.... we were fine just staying at late dining. But, now all this discussion about dining here, I went online to see where it says which dining we have, and when I logged on and got on our reservation for this cruise, it says we have main dining! Hmmm.... Interesting! I never got an email or any notice that we had been switched, nor had we requested to be switched, but our reservation that my TA sent to us months ago says late dining.

So, we MAY have early dining now... if we do, that is not what we've been thinking or expecting, but it's ok. We'll be fine with early dining.... only thing is it'll be hard the first couple days because we'll be on West Coast time at first, and so 5:45 will seem like 2:45 PM! This just means we'll eat a very light lunch!!

Anyway, Tanya, if you go online to your reservation on the Disney Cruise website, log on to your reservation. Once you log on, it'll say something like, "only 4 days until you set sail", and below that will be "view details of my reservation." Click on that, and it'll bring you to all the details (everyone in your party, your stateroom, etc., and it'll say there if you have main or late dining). So, look there and see what it says.

Well.... I guess we are now early dining now! What an unexpected change!

Kathy

Thanks for the tip, we got bumped from 2nd to main dining as well!

I just went through some paperwork I printed a couple months ago and found it referenced as main dining there as well (I never knew it was on there to begin with). I guess my TA didn't communicate that to us...

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Kathy,

I forgot to answer your question.
We flew Contential this time. 1st time with that airlines and it was really so much more comfortable for a long flight. Hope we get the same plane going back.

Off to Mk this morning.

Sunny and warm the rest of the week, so all looks good for the out door party on the ship as we leave port on saturday,

Later all,

MK is calling my name!!

Kathy

 

[clj1410]

Happy Tuesday everyone

Kathy, thanks for sharing your Glow in the dark car story, it started my day off with a laugh

Kathy (GMA) glad to hear that it is nice a warm in Florida, can't wait to get there. Sounds like we could be in for nice weather all week

Tanya, I got my pedi done yesterday too Its a shame my toes will be covered up until Friday!

Have a MAGICAL day everyone!

Claire

 

[flygrl]

Thanks Kathy for the info, we are second seating... I asked before to be changed but we are not... Awe well, we will make do I am sure

I know Claire, wish we can were open toe shoes now.... In 3 more days we can!

Hope everyone had a great halloween, we did. Almost got the packing done, and we are on schedule.

Happy Tuesday!
Tanya

 

[rob_jen]

Hi All,

A few more days.

We will start packing tonight (I hope). Since its a surprise for the kids (they do not know they are going anywhere) we have not been able to pack. Schools have been closed the past 2 days (no power form the storm) and hopefully they will have power tomorrow or they will miss 2 weeks of school. We will pack the suitcases in the attic for now.

Can't wait to hit the beach on Friday and do some swimming.

 

[LovesToRun]

Kathy,

I forgot to answer your question.
We flew Contential this time. 1st time with that airlines and it was really so much more comfortable for a long flight. Hope we get the same plane going back.

Off to Mk this morning.

Sunny and warm the rest of the week, so all looks good for the out door party on the ship as we leave port on saturday,

Later all,

MK is calling my name!!

Kathy

Kathy, it's so great to hear from you!!! I still can't believe you are at WDW. Bummer it rained yesterday... but the fact it was stilll 70 degrees somehow doesn't make the rain seem so bad! Glad the forecast is supposed to be nice the rest of the week.

I haven't been on Continental in a long time, but I have heard it's a good airline. Man, speaking of airlines, have you all heard about that Jet Blue plane that sat on the tarmac for 8 hours (I forget which state) during that big snow storm & power outages many of you got? Man, can you imagine? Sooooo glad that wasn't any of you trying to get out on your vacation! Let's hope there are no snow storms, blizzards, power outages, etc. etc between now and Saturday when many of us are flying... we don't want anyone stuck not able to get out!

Have fun at MK!! Oh, you mentioned your favorite rides in your previous post. You mentioned Haunted Mansion. Which park is that in? Is that the same thing as Tower of Terror? Oh my goodness.... I went on Tower of Terror for the first time (and 100% positively absolutely the last time EVER) in April when we went to Disneyland. Oh man, I was CERTAIN not only did my heart stop on that ride, but I truly think I met Jesus and saw lots of pretty stars as well on that ride!

That was the absolutely scariest ride I've ever been on and I will never ever go on Tower of Terror again!! My 9 year old son convinced me to go, and so I went... He loved the ride! Me... never again! So, if this is the ride you are speaking to you, well you are one tough cookie!!

My two favorite rides (when it's warm) is Splash Mountain and Kali River Rapids!! I also love that ride at Epcot where it's a rocket ship, and there is an "easy ride option" and a "fast ride option". I forget the name of that ride. I LOVE that ride! We like the fast option.

I have this awesome picture of the 4 of us on Splash Mountain... I'll have to post it here. It's hysterical!

Thanks for the tip, we got bumped from 2nd to main dining as well!

I just went through some paperwork I printed a couple months ago and found it referenced as main dining there as well (I never knew it was on there to begin with). I guess my TA didn't communicate that to us...

Interesting you got bumped! Did you request early dining? I still am puzzled why we got bumped without requesting early dining, but like I said, we are totally fine with early dining, so it's no big deal. Maybe Disney kind of thinks of it as like an "upgrade". I think most people prefer early dining, so maybe they bumped us thinking it would be a pleasant surprise to us.

I don't think the TA's are alerted that the dining was changed... it sounds like your TA wasn't, and my TA wasn't. I had to email my TA and ask her. She said when she looked at my confirmation she had in her system, it said late dining, but when she logged onto the Disney site forTA's to look at our reservation, she said it said main dining, and she said Disney's site is the accurate one. But, they never sent her an email alerting her of the change, so she had no way of knowing about the change until I mentioned it to her. So, that is probably why your TA never communicated to you.... he/she probably didn't know.

 

[LovesToRun]

Hi All,

A few more days.

We will start packing tonight (I hope). Since its a surprise for the kids (they do not know they are going anywhere) we have not been able to pack. Schools have been closed the past 2 days (no power form the storm) and hopefully they will have power tomorrow or they will miss 2 weeks of school. We will pack the suitcases in the attic for now.

Can't wait to hit the beach on Friday and do some swimming.

How exciting!!!!! Your kids are going to be SO surprised!!! I did this to my kids and DH in April and suprised all of them and flew them to Disneyland for a 3 day weekend. Boy, that was hard to pull off, but I did it! My DH knew something was up because he had to take Friday off of work, but he didn't know what we were doing... but the kids had NO idea until I picked them up from school early and we were driving to the airport. It was SOOOO great to see their reactions.

Oh, we've been hearing about the power outages here!!! Crazy! I'm sorry you are one of those without power. It's too bad this didn't all happen next week... so then the kids wouldn't even be missing school since school was cancelled. Hopefully everything (power-wise) goes back to normal before you leave, so you can leave your house knowing it's all back in working order.

Kathy

 

[LovesToRun]

Here is my favorite ride at WDW (and Disneyland), and I just LOVE this picture of the 4 of us. I love my boy's faces... We usually don't buy these pictures at the rides, but this one was so good, we had to buy it!! I laugh every time I see it!

The boys love this ride, too, but the look on their faces is priceless, I think! Then there is DH, the only one who was like "woo hoo" and had the guts to take his hands off the handle... the risk taker in the family. Though I love this ride, it's this one spot where they snap the photo that freaks me out every single time, and I still to this day cannot take my hands off the handle!

The family in front of us cracks me up, too! They all look terrified!

What a fun ride, though!!! This was the trip where DH had a broken foot, and so he got a wheel chair for WDW because trying to do WDW on crutches is virtually impossible. So, since he was in a wheel chair, they gave us a "disabled persons" pass which got us pretty much to the front of all the lines! So, that ended up being the blessing that came out of DH breaking his foot the DAY before we left for WDW! We went in July of 2009, so total high season with LONG lines, and the longest we waited in any line was like 7 minutes... so because of us being able to get to the front of all the lines, we went on Splash mountain like 7 or 8 times.... and each time, I still screamed at that big drop where they take your picture!

 

[2ksilverbullet]

Interesting you got bumped! Did you request early dining? I still am puzzled why we got bumped without requesting early dining, but like I said, we are totally fine with early dining, so it's no big deal. Maybe Disney kind of thinks of it as like an "upgrade". I think most people prefer early dining, so maybe they bumped us thinking it would be a pleasant surprise to us.

I don't think the TA's are alerted that the dining was changed... it sounds like your TA wasn't, and my TA wasn't. I had to email my TA and ask her. She said when she looked at my confirmation she had in her system, it said late dining, but when she logged onto the Disney site forTA's to look at our reservation, she said it said main dining, and she said Disney's site is the accurate one. But, they never sent her an email alerting her of the change, so she had no way of knowing about the change until I mentioned it to her. So, that is probably why your TA never communicated to you.... he/she probably didn't know.

We did request it so I'm glad that it worked out. My TA put in the request and I also mentioned it to Disney's customer service when I requested a refrigerator (for my sons meds). Just glad we're on for earlier, now we can get the kids to bed at a reasonable time. The earlier they go to bed the earlier I get to start my evenings! haa haa haa haa....

 

[NC2WDW]

Speaking of rides. Kathy (LTR): I'm with you. Never have I been a huge fan of Tower of Terror but when DS was tall enough to ride Christmas 2010, I went for it. Boy was I mad that I did that. He of course, LOVED it. DH videotaped us on the ride and took some still shots and put them onto a DVD, shared them with the whole family, and could you imagine what your body/face looks like when you are on that ride? I was apalled that he did that! Also, they changed the ride sequence right before we went, so it was much scarier!

 

[scottjm]

About half-way, my son (9 yr old) says, "uh oh!"

Kathy,

I am glad you laughed about it because it made me not feel bad laughing about it as I read this! I know just what you experienced, although not in the car. I have been with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and they are just magnets for trouble with those sticks.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi all,
Kathy,
I must admit I have never been dumb enough to ride the Tower of Terror My family all loves it. Once while living here Peter went on it about 30 times in a row.
You were thinking of Mission Space at Epcot. Never done that one either.

I have a bit of a yellow streak for certain rides.

Back from MK and my feet are tired. Had a great day.
Cloudy, windy but nice and warm.

Kathy

 

[Mulanrocks]

WOW these last couple of days have been CRAZY! Turns out i wanted to get being sick over with before cruise so i spent saturday with sore throat and fever. That did not stop me from cleaning and packing though! With lots of help from DH and his friend we got almost the entire list of things to do done! Since Monday was halloween it was crazy at work getting the girls already for everything, plus normal monday mess from the weekend. And my bosses had misplaced their camera so i had to unpack mine for halloween night. After work i had to run out and get my flu shot (ugh my arm is killing me today) and pick up wrinkle relaxer (thank heavens for everybody here for reminding me). We never get any trick or treaters at our house so spent halloween taking care of sick DH (he got it from me).
Checked online reservations today to make sure we still had second seating dinning since several ppl posted they had been changed (we did YAY). Then checked excursions only to freak a bit cause they were all messed up. Luckily after 30 min and 2 phone calls all was fixed and everyone is now listed where they are supposed to be. FE gifts are almost done, finishing them tonight! DH and are pretty much packed 3 suitcases and a backpack (extra suitcase is for waters and stuff we buy in florida and is currently packed with stuff for my sisters house.) By packed i mean everything is piled in the bags but not quite organized and finalized yet, i need to finish FE's and Print door signs and then it'll be done. Then crossed two more things off my list which brings it down to only 9 things left to take care of before we leave on thursday. Most of those are just reminders for me anyway like check in for flight on thursday while girls nap....so i'm feeling way more ready and 20 times more excited. I have decided that there is a time conspiracy right now, time is stretching itself out as long as possible before i leave and then it will speed up as soon as i'm on vacation so it comes out even on the other end.

Everyone at disney i am supremely jealous of you right now! GMA kathy i love haunted mansion! Kathy ltr: i hate tower or terror too, i'm not much for being dropped straight down.
rob_jen: It must be both hard and so much fun surprising your kids! So sorry about your weather . Hope it improves!

YAY to having fantastic weather on our vacation! Now i'm thinking i may have over packed. Right now i'm off to type up a couple of lists and cross two more things off my list!

 

[LovesToRun]

So, it seems like in the past few days a lot of people here have found out in one way or another that their dining time has changed. It seems like before all these changes, the majority of the people on this cruise meet were Late Dining.

So, now I'm curious who has which dining... I can't keep track.

So, we now have Main (early) Dining....

What is everyone else (and you may want to check your cruise reservation online to see if you've been switched even if you didn't request a change because we did not request our dining time to be changed, but just "magically" it was unbeknownst to me or my TA. I would not have seen this if Tanya hadn't asked how to find out which dining you have! If it hadn't been for that, I am sure I wouldn't have found out we had been switched to early dining until we got on the ship).

-Kathy

 

[LovesToRun]

Kathy,

I am glad you laughed about it because it made me not feel bad laughing about it as I read this! I know just what you experienced, although not in the car. I have been with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and they are just magnets for trouble with those sticks.

Oh yah.... I did laugh about it! It was one of those situations where when I SAW all the glow in the dark splattered spots all over the back of my car, I felt like I should be mad about it, but really, I just wanted to laugh because it really WAS funny! I kind of felt like John Travolta should have just popped out of nowhere doing his famous Stayin' Alive dance from Saturday Night Fever since my car literally looked like a big disco ball! I guess life is just too short to be mad about things like that.

Hi all,
Kathy,
I must admit I have never been dumb enough to ride the Tower of Terror My family all loves it. Once while living here Peter went on it about 30 times in a row.
You were thinking of Mission Space at Epcot. Never done that one either.

I have a bit of a yellow streak for certain rides.

Back from MK and my feet are tired. Had a great day.
Cloudy, windy but nice and warm.

Kathy

Yes, you were smart, Kathy! I was not smart.... when my 9 year old (8 years old at the time) asked me to go with him on the Tower of Terror, he had been on it before, and he told me it really wasn't that scary. Yah Right! So, I believed him! It was horrifying to me!

Oh yes, Mission Space! I love that ride... See, I can handle the really fast rides like that, but it's the free fall in the pitch black dark with things making weird sounds around you that you can't see that absolutely FREAK me out. Actually, I don't like any ride that is pitch black... like Space Mountain at Disneyland. No Way... did that ONCE and will never do it again! But, I remember my first time on Mission Space, I actually laughed out loud really hard the first half of the ride because I just thought it was hysterical how literally you feel like you are experiencing G Force speeds, and I just for some reason really thought it was funny! So, I was hooked on that ride every since! I didn't get to go on that ride when we were at WDW last time because of my injured back. So, next time we go, whenever that is, I'll for sure do that ride!

Glad you are having such a good time at WDW!!

WOW these last couple of days have been CRAZY! Turns out i wanted to get being sick over with before cruise so i spent saturday with sore throat and fever. That did not stop me from cleaning and packing though! With lots of help from DH and his friend we got almost the entire list of things to do done! Since Monday was halloween it was crazy at work getting the girls already for everything, plus normal monday mess from the weekend. And my bosses had misplaced their camera so i had to unpack mine for halloween night. After work i had to run out and get my flu shot (ugh my arm is killing me today) and pick up wrinkle relaxer (thank heavens for everybody here for reminding me). We never get any trick or treaters at our house so spent halloween taking care of sick DH (he got it from me).
Checked online reservations today to make sure we still had second seating dinning since several ppl posted they had been changed (we did YAY). Then checked excursions only to freak a bit cause they were all messed up. Luckily after 30 min and 2 phone calls all was fixed and everyone is now listed where they are supposed to be. FE gifts are almost done, finishing them tonight! DH and are pretty much packed 3 suitcases and a backpack (extra suitcase is for waters and stuff we buy in florida and is currently packed with stuff for my sisters house.) By packed i mean everything is piled in the bags but not quite organized and finalized yet, i need to finish FE's and Print door signs and then it'll be done. Then crossed two more things off my list which brings it down to only 9 things left to take care of before we leave on thursday. Most of those are just reminders for me anyway like check in for flight on thursday while girls nap....so i'm feeling way more ready and 20 times more excited. I have decided that there is a time conspiracy right now, time is stretching itself out as long as possible before i leave and then it will speed up as soon as i'm on vacation so it comes out even on the other end.

Everyone at disney i am supremely jealous of you right now! GMA kathy i love haunted mansion! Kathy ltr: i hate tower or terror too, i'm not much for being dropped straight down.
rob_jen: It must be both hard and so much fun surprising your kids! So sorry about your weather . Hope it improves!

YAY to having fantastic weather on our vacation! Now i'm thinking i may have over packed. Right now i'm off to type up a couple of lists and cross two more things off my list!

Glad things are coming together for you, and you hopefully are no longer sick! Hopefully you can get your excursions figured out! Are they Disney excursions, or private excursions you booked?