Oct 30 2010 7 Night Western (PART 2)

[tjbaggott]

It is a two day drive. (About a total of 24 hours on the road) We are spending the 1st night at a friends house in Tenn and then the next stopping as close to the port as we can get. We have Thursday and Friday night reserved at Country Inn and Suites at the port. The best part is we are doing a B2B so we have 14 days of Magic.


FYI several of our DISERs on the 10/23 cruise have gotten their cruise docs so we should begin to see ours in a week or so. The cruise doc is what makes this vacation real to me!

Awesome! It's a 24 hour drive for us as well. We did 16 hours straight through when driving my eldest son up to College this year, so haveing our stops set so the final leg to FL is 13 hours, I think we can manage that straight through. I'm really looking forward to the drive down. Vacation starts when we leave the driveway! So if you're other disers from the 10/23 cruise have started receiving their cruise documents, then that means WE all should start receiving ours in a the next 2 weeks? Awesome! You're right, that will make it really seem real!!

 

[dizney-cruiser]

It is a two day drive. (About a total of 24 hours on the road)

Awesome! It's a 24 hour drive for us as well.

You ladies are very brave!! I can't even stand my 9 minute ride to work!!

 

[Grandma4ever]

You ladies are very brave!! I can't even stand my 9 minute ride to work!!

I don't think I would say we are brave. Janet does all the driving, she has a control issue. We enjoy having the control over when we leave and when we stop.

I also am boycotting the airlines. That is the only business that can sell you one thing and provide you with a completely different product without even asking. I have gone from a direct flight to ones with layover without a word from the airlines. Midwest even cancled our fights about two weeks out and I heard it on our news. The only thing they have not changed is the city I fly into but I would guess that is in my future. I do not believe they should be able to change you flghts once paid for unless they talk with you and at least let you to decide what is the second best option. Getting down off the soap box.

Mind you I did not discuss all the extra fees they have tacked on so they can fool people into thinking the fares are lower. I wish they would just be up front with the cost.

 

[nenner1]

Not sure we can resist this costume for Sarah!!!

We were going to have her as Minnie but she loves Mickey (when she sees anything DCL she will yell "Cruise!" or "Mickey!")...this is way cute!!!

 

[tjbaggott]

Nenner, very cute! Very cute indeed!

As for driving, we drive because thats more affordable than flying for us. Plus, like Grama4ever said, we can control when we stop, where to stop, for how long, make a side trip IF we want. (and for us, it extends the vacation ). Now the drive home isn't as much fun, thats for sure!


I've just wasted ink on trying to print off the same disign 3 times, and a different one once. I have the sizing adjusted to fit the page, yet it keeps printing bigger, thus the frame doesn't get printed and some letters at the top or bottom get cut off, At least I didn't waste the tshirt transfer paper, just cardstock.

 

[morgansmom2000]

We fly cuz it gets us there faster and we can enjoy more time in the parks, etc. But, I get the draw of driving too.

I made Morgan's T or T bag last week.

The little pouch to the left I threw together this morning, it's holding our countdown markers in it. It is also the same fabric that lines the bag.

Here's a close up of GradysMommy's awesome embroidery!

48 days!!

 

[Pudo]

Kind of a quiet, lazy day here in NJ. It's raining which is good because we need the rain and it's a nice change of pace.

Sarah's Catholic school raises money by selling scrip (gift cards). Each family is required to buy $3,500 a year. Missy busts my chops about always wanting to "kill two birds with one stone".

I calculated our on board costs which is somewhere in the $1,800 range, not counting rebooking so I purchased a $1,000 gift card which I will use for a DCL amenity purchase. That plus the $200 OBC we already have will get us almost there hence the two birds, I add to our stateroom account and fulfill a portion of our scrip responsibilities.

Probably in the next couple of weeks I will buy another $500 or $600 so my stateroom bill will be prepaid (I hope). I don't like walking off the ship owing money, it's sad enough that we have to leave.

 

[Pudo]

We fly cuz it gets us there faster and we can enjoy more time in the parks, etc. But, I get the draw of driving too.

I made Morgan's T or T bag last week.

The little pouch to the left I threw together this morning, it's holding our countdown markers in it. It is also the same fabric that lines the bag.

Here's a close up of GradysMommy's awesome embroidery!

48 days!!

Very cool bag and pouch.

We normally fly, but have driven, taken the autotrain, and the regular Amtrak train out of Trenton. I don't like to fly, but I don't like wasting vacation days driving.

I gues it all depends on the vacation, sometimes driving is part of the vacation where what we see on the way is important, but when going to WDW it is a "get there as fast as we can" deal so flying is best.

I am always amazed to wake up in my bed in the morning and find myself standing in front of Cinderella's castle by the afternoon.

 

[morgansmom2000]

So is it like an American Express gift card that can be used anywhere? That's a great way to kill two birds with one stone!

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

We fly cuz it gets us there faster and we can enjoy more time in the parks, etc. But, I get the draw of driving too.

I made Morgan's T or T bag last week.



The little pouch to the left I threw together this morning, it's holding our countdown markers in it. It is also the same fabric that lines the bag.

Here's a close up of GradysMommy's awesome embroidery!

[IMG]

48 days!![/QUOTE]

Love this bag!

 

[morgansmom2000]

Love this bag!

Thanks! Morgan helped with a lot of the "inside" sewing. She's got issues with trying to sew too fast and ending up off the seam, but she's getting much better.

 

[Fastpaks]

It is a two day drive. (About a total of 24 hours on the road) We are spending the 1st night at a friends house in Tenn and then the next stopping as close to the port as we can get. We have Thursday and Friday night reserved at Country Inn and Suites at the port. The best part is we are doing a B2B so we have 14 days of Magic.


FYI several of our DISERs on the 10/23 cruise have gotten their cruise docs so we should begin to see ours in a week or so. The cruise doc is what makes this vacation real to me!

Awesome! It's a 24 hour drive for us as well. We did 16 hours straight through when driving my eldest son up to College this year, so haveing our stops set so the final leg to FL is 13 hours, I think we can manage that straight through. I'm really looking forward to the drive down. Vacation starts when we leave the driveway! So if you're other disers from the 10/23 cruise have started receiving their cruise documents, then that means WE all should start receiving ours in a the next 2 weeks? Awesome! You're right, that will make it really seem real!!

LOL I'll split the difference with both of you. We leave in 40 days. I can completely agree with once we leave the driveway. For us, it will be once we leave the football game. My son has a 12:30 game on the day we leave. We will probably go to my parents to drop off my car and dog, let the kid shower, and then drive to "holy land of fun."

My son surprised me with a choice we gave him yesterday. I had made a critical error in the checking account. As a result, we won't be bring as much cashola as I was hoping. So I asked him, "do ya want to go to a restaraunt to eat on the way down or would you be willing to may be eat at a Rest Stop and Picnic on the way down as a family."

I think it was a little unfair that I said family. Since we work different shifts, we rare eat together. So eating as a family is always the most important to him. His response, was to "picnic." It was then that I realized. That although we are driving down. We could do the trip in 16 hours from St Louis, but what is the rush. If we can chill and eat as a family, and hour hear and there is worth it.

Today, we are working on a "new countdown calendar." I ll show the pictures as we get done with it. Instead of just putting numbers on the poster board, we decided a message underneath. We had to go to Wal-mart to get stuff, poster board, stickers, markers, and a BUTTON. Yeah a button. I'm a complete sucker for my kid. He can be exetremly thoughtful of people sometimes.

We were looking for Disney stickers (this was actually not easy). Somehow, we went to check the Birthday section and came across a Mickey button that looks like a 1st place ribbon around it. What does he say? "Hey Dad, Can we buy that Ribbon button for Mickey?" I asked him again just to be sure. And he said the same thing. When I asked him why, he said it had something to do with him wanting to do something for Mickey since Mickey invited him to his house. (Thanks to someone from the Dis!)

He has been wanting to do something for Mickey for a while. I thought he forgot TBH. I swear kids are full of surprises that are just totally worth the little things they do in a BIG life.

 

[Pudo]

So is it like an American Express gift card that can be used anywhere? That's a great way to kill two birds with one stone!

The school sells gift cards for local supermarkets and major retailers including Disney. Luckily for me they now sell a $1000 denomination Disney card.

 

[Grandma4ever]

It was then that I realized. That although we are driving down. We could do the trip in 16 hours from St Louis, but what is the rush. If we can chill and eat as a family, and hour hear and there is worth it.

You are a good 4 hours closer than us. I would try to do it in one day if I was in StL.

 

[nenner1]

I've just wasted ink on trying to print off the same disign 3 times, and a different one once. I have the sizing adjusted to fit the page, yet it keeps printing bigger, thus the frame doesn't get printed and some letters at the top or bottom get cut off, At least I didn't waste the tshirt transfer paper, just cardstock.

Oh no! I'm so good at messing up those too! Always seem to get one or two every cruise!

Anyone using the logos I made posted on Pg 1 will need to resize them as they are larger than 8 x 10 - sorry but I was trying to get the highest resolution possible when making them.

We fly cuz it gets us there faster and we can enjoy more time in the parks, etc. But, I get the draw of driving too.

I made Morgan's T or T bag last week.


The little pouch to the left I threw together this morning, it's holding our countdown markers in it. It is also the same fabric that lines the bag.

Wow that bag is terriffic! You and Morgan did a wonderful job!!!

And just in case anyone is curious you don't have to bring your own ToT bag or container. I will be providing some for everyone in the ToT who needs (or just wants one -but they won't look *that* good! ).

We had to go to Wal-mart to get stuff, poster board, stickers, markers, and a BUTTON. Yeah a button. I'm a complete sucker for my kid. He can be exetremly thoughtful of people sometimes.

We were looking for Disney stickers (this was actually not easy). Somehow, we went to check the Birthday section and came across a Mickey button that looks like a 1st place ribbon around it. What does he say? "Hey Dad, Can we buy that Ribbon button for Mickey?" I asked him again just to be sure. And he said the same thing. When I asked him why, he said it had something to do with him wanting to do something for Mickey since Mickey invited him to his house. (Thanks to someone from the Dis!)

He has been wanting to do something for Mickey for a while. I thought he forgot TBH. I swear kids are full of surprises that are just totally worth the little things they do in a BIG life.

That is awesome!!!

 

[tjbaggott]

Oh no! I'm so good at messing up those too! Always seem to get one or two every cruise!

Anyone using the logos I made posted on Pg 1 will need to resize them as they are larger than 8 x 10 - sorry but I was trying to get the highest resolution possible when making them.



Wow that bag is terriffic! You and Morgan did a wonderful job!!!

And just in case anyone is curious you don't have to bring your own ToT bag or container. I will be providing some for everyone in the ToT who needs (or just wants one -but they won't look *that* good! ).



That is awesome!!!

Nenner, I'm using your "The Not So Scary Halloween Cruise" Graphic. I wanted one big one for our stateroom door, and then make two t-shirts out of them for Martyn and myself. If I can make them small enough, thats the one I may use for the teeny T-shirts for FE gifts for the few babies on our FE list (if you don't mind), as a momento of the cruise. I really wasn't sure what else to do for the babies, but would like to do something! I resized it and it finally did print out with all but the black frame showing, so I guess I'll make do with that. I thought the black frame would be nice for the t-shirt transfers. I'll have to play with it for the baby shirts, if I do those.

As for driving, are you planning on doing the 16 hours straight through then? That I found rough on our trip to Thunder Bay. But then thats because I don't sleep well at night in a moving vehicle, at all, especially when it's raining. During the day time I sleep very well. The 13 we'll do from Sheri's to Orlando, should go very smoothly, and this time I think we'll be able to cross into Florida during daytime hours which means for the 1st time ever, we can stop for our Free Fresh Squeezed OJ that I've heard about. Do they still do that?

Think I'll take a drive over to Costco now, for that box of Yummies I told you I'd bring for the TOT. I'm sure they have them there now. I've been meaning to get over there all week, but it never happened. I think I'll get two boxes, as I found it great last fall, having little goody bags with a note, to give to CM's that just did something extra special. That went over very well, then, and I'm sure it will this time too.

 

[morgansmom2000]

The school sells gift cards for local supermarkets and major retailers including Disney. Luckily for me they now sell a $1000 denomination Disney card.

Well, that's just perfect then!

 

[nenner1]

Nenner, I'm using your "The Not So Scary Halloween Cruise" Graphic. I wanted one big one for our stateroom door, and then make two t-shirts out of them for Martyn and myself. If I can make them small enough, thats the one I may use for the teeny T-shirts for FE gifts for the few babies on our FE list (if you don't mind), as a momento of the cruise. I really wasn't sure what else to do for the babies, but would like to do something! I resized it and it finally did print out with all but the black frame showing, so I guess I'll make do with that. I thought the black frame would be nice for the t-shirt transfers. I'll have to play with it for the baby shirts, if I do those.

Should I try to resize and post a resized version for everyone to use? I don't think I'll have a problem doing it in PS.. the only thing is since they are square that will make them appx 8.5 x 8.5 to fit on a standard letter transfer.

Here, I resized it, hope this helps! It came out to 8.5 x 7.2.

Hopefully it comes out OK- I just noticed the pixel count is only 120/inch. That is a little lower than I would have liked (I have learned a lot since I amde that graphic a year or so ago). Has anyone made shirts with the logo already?

 

[nenner1]

If I can make them small enough, thats the one I may use for the teeny T-shirts for FE gifts for the few babies on our FE list (if you don't mind), as a momento of the cruise. I really wasn't sure what else to do for the babies, but would like to do something! I resized it and it finally did print out with all but the black frame showing, so I guess I'll make do with that. I thought the black frame would be nice for the t-shirt transfers. I'll have to play with it for the baby shirts, if I do those.

I think that is a wonderful idea! If you need me to resize it again, just let me know what size you would like it for the little shirts!

 

[tjbaggott]

I think that is a wonderful idea! If you need me to resize it again, just let me know what size you would like it for the little shirts!

Thanks nenner, I can resize them fore the little shirts. I'll play around with printing them on regualar paper, till they come out with the Black border included.

I just got back from Costco, went to just get those boxes of yummies (by the way they are 120 or 125 count), and the yummies were ALL I planned to get. But they had fabulous boys 2pc snowsuits for the price of just a jacket at Walmart, so I picked up one for DS13, and then some Gr. 8 work books for him too, to try and help boost his English mark, then a huge bag of oranges, that were so big and delicious looking! As always, I came out with much more than I planned. But all is good. Now to hide those two boxes of treats till our trip. I think they'll go straight into a suitcase (right now they are still in the van!).