October 17, 2009 Western

[yazee1]

Who's going? We are!! I just booked!


The growing list of our Dismeet Friends and their children (age at cruise time)

aan1701 (Alan)(34) - with Dw(37)
ajtour -with Dh, DS (5) and DS (3)
ajzwahlin - with DH, DD (11) and DD(5)
AnkaG - with brand new Dh - honeymoon
beansf - with
bourgie - with DD(13) and DD(10)
Calmpets - with DH, father & Nascarchic, 2 friends
castmember2- with dh
Dawnpatrol (Pete)- with DW, Ds (9), DS (8ish) and DD(3)
dcannon101 - with DW
DisneySprit (Tom) - with DW (Lynn)
doberlady (Debbie) -with Marty, dc(4), dc(13), dc(10)
frndofpooh -with DW, DS(12), DS(8) - DW's birthday
GOLDENTINKERBELL - DH, DS, and parents
ImagineerM (Josh)(27) -with DW Melissa(25), DM and DF
jeanneg - with dh and friends Nancy and Norm
kentgirl - with dh - dh's 50th birthday
kerickson - with dh, dd(5) and ds(3) -dh's 40th birthday, 9th anniversary
KJF - with DH, DD(7), DS (5)
lucky1 (Laura) -with DH and DD(7)
mavdav -with DS(5) and DS(3)
missusem - with DH and DD (5)
mommyto5 (Angie) -with DH, and DS(13), DD(11), DS(11), DS(9), & DD(4)
momsully - with parents and DS (10) and DS(8)
NCJenn - DH (Rob), Lauren (8) and Josh (5).
northern mickey - with DM, DF, DGF & DGM
Otimon - with DH and DD (adult)
princess jackson- 2 adults and 1 child
princessduck - with dh - 10th anniversary
shancan (Shannon) with DH(36), DS (8), DMIL and DFIL, DBIL and DSIL and their DS (6).
shortbusmom - with dh & 2 friends
strega7 - DH, DS9, Mom, Dad, and my sister.
twinsr241 - with DH, DD(7), DS(6), DS(6)
wendym (Wendy)(40) -with DM (Doreen)
yazee1 (Monica) - with DH (Warren), DS(14), DS(12), DD(8), BIL, FIL and MIL - 50th anniversary/20th anniversary

 

[frndofpooh]

We'll be there - 2 adults with DS12 and DS8!

 

[yazee1]

Hi, There,

It looks like we're going to be hanging out here for quite a while. Have you shared the good news with your kids yet? We are not going to tell them until a year before if we can manage it. My father and mother in law are going, and so are my brother and sister and law and their little ones (7, 5, 5, and 5 by cruise time) Ours will be 14, 12 and 8 by then.

We picked October 17, 2009 because it is my in-laws 50th anniversary and our 20th. How about you?

 

[frndofpooh]

Congrats on your upcoming 20th anniversary! We picked 10/17/09 for my wife's birthday (which she will celebrate on the ship), and a belated 15th anniversary for us (which we will celebrate a month before the cruise).

Our kids already know and can't wait. We went on our first cruise this summer, but it was a 4 day. We booked again while onboard and grabbed this date as soon as the 2009 dates were out. I was on the phone that morning and managed to get a secret porthole room. Now we just have to wait for 21 more months!

 

[yazee1]

Right now, 21 months doesn't seem as long as almost 2 years. LOL We could tell our sons and not regret it, but our daughter is 6 right now. If we told her about the cruise, we, nor anyone we know, wouldn't stop hearing about it for the next 21 months! Our goal is to keep this under our hat until one year before. Then, we will start making our countdown chain. Here's part of the chain we made a couple years ago.

Congratulations on getting a secret porthole room. I know from these boards that's quite a catch. Are your sons 8 and 12 now or will they be on the cruise?

 

[frndofpooh]

Our sons will be 8 and 12 at the time of the cruise (6 and 10 now). It's scary to think that they will be that old so soon! If your daughter is 6, I assume that your sons will be 12 and 14 at the time of the cruise, correct?

How did your kids like the Oceaneers' Club and Lab on your prior cruises? Ours loved them! By the last day, they wanted to spend almost the whole day there, other than a little pre-planned family time. For the next cruise, our older son will be at the upper end of the Lab, and our younger son will have just turned 8, so he'll be on the lower end of the Lab.

 

[yazee1]

Yes, Our oldest will be 14 on the cruise (a month shy of 15), and middle ds will be 12-1/2. They absolutely love the Lab but for different reasons. Younger ds likes the activities (except anything dancing or singing) but LOVES the electronic games. (Until this past Christmas, we didn't have electronic games in the house.) Older ds is more social and likes the organized games, karaoke, sports, parties, etc. One night, on our last cruise, dh and I were so tired and just wanted to go to sleep but we had to wait up for older ds who was at a Lab splash/pizza party on deck 9.

Lab overnight camp would have been heaven on earth for oldest ds. I am almost afraid the Stack won't live up to the same expectations since it seems like more of a hanging out place with less structure. Maybe, by the time we go, that will appeal to him more. I imagine there's a very good reason why the Stack is that way. DCL must know what teenagers like, I know I don't.

The first time we cruised, younger ds was a couple month short of Lab age, so we enrolled him in the Club. That lasted less than an afternoon. He has a more retiring personality than most little boys. He thought the little kids were bonkers and the noise rankled him terribly. He asked us to take him to the Lab. It was love at first sight. LOL

DD was only 4 the first trip, so she was fine with the Club but in small doses. The second trip, when she was six, she got a lot more out of it. I don't remember her begging to go to the Club, but she always had a good time and never paged us to come and get her. I guess she'll be old enough for the Lab this time around. That's going to be weird for us.

Off topic: Last night, we had company and we served Key Lime pie. It was almost as good as the Key Lime pie we ate in Key West on the cruise in '06, but eating it in Western Maryland on a frigid January evening just isn't the right setting. Know what I mean?

I might change my ticker. I like how precise your countdown is compared to mine.

 

[frndofpooh]

Your younger DS sounds a lot like our older DS. He likes "cool" activities, but nothing involving anything that could possibly be associated with princesses. He also is a big fan of the electronic games. Like you, we held out for a long time before getting a video game system last Christmas (when he was 9), and we keep pretty strict control of when he can play. As a result, he was always happy to go to the Lab for free time so he could play their games.

I know what you mean about the Key lime pie. We've never been to Key West, but we've had enough Key lime pie to know when there are real Key limes in it. It's pretty hard to find up here. By the way, where in Maryland are you from?

 

[A fat english gent]

Wow this is a small "meet" we too are looking into this cruise,were as now booked onto the 10/24/09 but may well end up having to move to this one...

Am Chris my DW is Hazel and we'll be traveling with three of our "kids" Jess 25,Rosie 15 and her twin brother Ryan...

 

[yazee1]

Your younger DS sounds a lot like our older DS. He likes "cool" activities, but nothing involving anything that could possibly be associated with princesses. By the way, where in Maryland are you from?

Please don't be misled into thinking my son (or sons for that matter) like "cool" things. He's just anti-social. . Seriously, younger ds is just one of those kids who is just as happy reading a book or playing with Legos as he is playing with a friend. He can be very uncool when he's playing with his sister or brother or telling himself stories out loud behind closed doors. He's the kind of kid other moms want their sons to be friends with because he's not rowdy.

We live in Frederick County. Not to be confused with Frederick County, VA which a friend of mine did and had the hardest time finding our address on the map when she wanted to come visit. We have friends near Harrisonburg, VA. Is that near you?


Hi, Chris. Yes, we're a small meet for now, not even enough to use this icon. If you don't mind my asking, what makes you say you'll probably be changing from the 24th to the 17th? Ideally, we would be sailing on the 10th. My inlaws' 50th anniversary, which is the main reason for this cruise date is on the 16th. We all agreed we didn't like the itinerary on that cruise though. So, we'll celebrate their anniversary on the 17th instead.

 

[A fat english gent]

Simply down to school holidays that's all,however we too disliked the ports of call on the Western cruise,they all look like the middle east to me......We sailed a B&B on the Magic last October and had a great time and met some wonderful people along the way too (not sure they'd say the same about us,ok i mean me.. )and were also on the REPO back to Florida in August....

Take care

Chris

 

[yazee1]

Simply down to school holidays that's all,however we too disliked the ports of call on the Western cruise,they all look like the middle east to me...

Chris

Sorry, Chris, my careless grammar has led you to believe we didn't like the Western ports of call, but in fact, it was the Eastern Caribbean ports of call that we weren't interested in. Shopping and beaches don't interest us. More importantly, we didn't like the idea of 3 "at-sea" days. Dh has a one track mind when it comes to Disney Cruises. Ports of call mean opportunities to take a small boat offshore in order to go snorkeling or diving. It doesn't matter much to him what the scenery is like onshore unless it's something really spectacular.

Are your twins 15 now, or will they be 15 on the cruise?

 

[A fat english gent]

Horses for courses and each to their own we say, and whatever floats your boat (pardon the pun),the twins will be 15 at the time of the cruise.....

 

[frndofpooh]

We live in Frederick County. Not to be confused with Frederick County, VA which a friend of mine did and had the hardest time finding our address on the map when she wanted to come visit. We have friends near Harrisonburg, VA. Is that near you?

Harrisonburg is about an hour away from us. Coincidentally, I was in Harrisonburg today for work. Even more coincidentally, I'll be in Frederick on Saturday for a visit to a family member who lives in Buckeystown. I guess it really is a small world after all!

 

[yazee1]

Chris, How did your twins feel about the Stack versus the Lab? What kind of school holidays are celebrated in England in October?

FrndPooh, we've lived in Frederick county for about 15 years and Buckeystown is proabably the only place in Frederick county I don't know anyone. LOL. In my defense, there aren't that many people in Buckeystown. Or maybe, there used to not be. That end of the county has developed quite a bit. I hope you enjoy your visit.

 

[A fat english gent]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you....

They really didn't much care for the clubs this time as they felt a little out of place,too old for the "kids" and too young for the older end so they tended to hang out with a small group of kids who used the pools and watched the shows (or watch Harry potter 47 times or "play" in our whirl pool bath).As for the holidays they only get 1 week in October but were allowed by law over here to take the kids out of school to suit us for a further 2 weeks,this year were coming for the REPO in August and we'll be in the states for 28/29 days and they'll only miss the first couple of school in September....

 

[yazee1]

Chris - That's what I expected - a window of time when some kids will be too young for the Stack and too old for the Lab. It's impossible to know almost two years in advance if this will be the case with my oldest son. Would you say your twins still had a good time? Were they let down?

FrndofPooh, how was your visit to Buckeystown?

 

[frndofpooh]

FrndofPooh, how was your visit to Buckeystown?

We had a good time in Buckeystown, but we were only there for for the day. You were right when you said it had grown. We hadn't been there in about 4-5 years, and it's much more developed than it was last time we were there.


Chris, I haven't formally welcomed you to our little group. It looks like it's just the three of us, but maybe we'll grow over the next 20+ months!

 

[yazee1]

It is 1 year 8 months and 16 days until we leave home for the cruise . It seems like eternity, and it makes me laugh when I think about our first cruise and how we thought the time between booking and going seemed terriblely long. Consider that we booked in late January for a cruise in the beginning of April.

The second cruise, we booked while onboard the first one. Wait time 17 months. The hardest part of that was keeping it from the kids until a year before. Of course, the kids don't know about this cruise either. Dh and I will try to keep it a secret for the next 8 months. As it is, my daughter keeps coming over to me while I'm typing and I keep reducing the window so she won't read what I'm typing.

I predict that by March 1st, our group will have doubled.

 

[A fat english gent]

Chris - That's what I expected - a window of time when some kids will be too young for the Stack and too old for the Lab. It's impossible to know almost two years in advance if this will be the case with my oldest son. Would you say your twins still had a good time? Were they let down?

FrndofPooh, how was your visit to Buckeystown?

They Had a great time on the boat,however they and their friends made their own fun mostly AWAY from the clubs....