October 20th 2007 Western Magic

[Lindy Loo]

Hi Pooh bush, welcome to our thread.... great to know there will be some kids on board !

We are still waiting for the OK on the holidays from my DHs work. Ive paid the deposit on the cruise, and we cant do flights yet, as they are not all released, ( normally for schuled around 11 months before ) so we are all ready to roll, just waiting for the OK.


We have request late sitting for dinner. We are doing late this time (Oct 06) too. So will see how it goes on the 4 nighter, and then ask for early if it doesnt work out. Elouise is a "night" person, so should be ok.

Happy Easter to you all...............

 

[Poohbush]

Hi Lindy, thanks for the warm welcome!

We're doing early dining. Our oldest DD takes FOREVER to eat. We have a joke that we'll need both early & late dining just to accommodate her slow eating habits! Before we had kids, my DH & I always did late dining. It's definately less rushed, but there's just no way the kids can wait that long to do a big dinner.

Hope you get the OK to do the cruise! Sending some pixie dust your way!

 

[cntkg1]

Welcome Lindy and Pooh!!!

I posted yesterday but it seems like it dissapeared somewhere!! Glad to have you join our "little" thread. I'm sure by next October it'll grow.





Here's your Pixie Dust Lindy!! I hope your DH's vacation request is honored soon!!

Have a Happy Easter everyone!!!

Nancy & Chuck

 

[JLDSMD]

Hi everyone.

We just switched our Jan '07 Eastern to this Western cruise. We have been on 2 Easterns, besides a 3 nighter, already and wanted to try the Western.

We actually have the 10/20/07 Western booked along with the 10/25/07 3-nighter. It will all depend if DW is able to get off of work for the whole week or not for us to decide which we'll reschedule (both were rebookings on board, so we'll just move one out a little bit). DS (7 at the time of sailing) will already be off 2 days that week for teachers' convention here in WI, so we don't mind pulling him the extra 3 days. Better than the 6 or 7 days we pull him in January (we go down 2 days early that time of year).

I'm hoping DW gets off because I think the weather, at least temperature wise, will be better on a Western in Oct than in Jan. Plus, I'd rather go for the 7 nights than 3.

Jeff

 

[JLDSMD]

We have request late sitting for dinner. We are doing late this time (Oct 06) too. So will see how it goes on the 4 nighter, and then ask for early if it doesnt work out. Elouise is a "night" person, so should be ok.

Linda,

May I may a recommendation? I would book the early seating now while you can get it. By the time you sail this fall, early may fill up. If your daugher doesn't handle the late well on the 4-nighter, then you have it. It is much, much easier to switch from early to late, than vice versa.

We had early originally booked for this last January, but cancelled our trip. Later last year, we reinstated it, but had to do late seating. Luckily our Head Server, McClean, set up a special table for us to sit at during the early seating. Everything was booked for early. DS did not do well at the late seating, even though we had it for our 3-nighter just a couple months earlier.

Jeff

 

[JLDSMD]

Tina (Poohbush),

I see you have the Vero Beach resort in your signature line. Are you DVC members there?

I ask because we are going there for the first time this October. We're not DVC members, but we wanted to do something different while down in FL this year. Plus DW has always wanted to stay there.

If you are a member or have been there, how do you like it? Any tips?

Jeff

 

[cntkg1]

Welcome Jeff and family....and welcome neighbor!! We live about 20 minutes from you. We are in the Falls right off of Pilgrim Rd and Silver Spring Dr. Where in Hartland do you live?

It'll be nice to have another Wisconsinite on board!!

Nancy

 

[JLDSMD]

For Cozumel, I am torn. I would love to go to Xcaret (we were there on our honeymoon 10 years ago and loved it) but the long travel time scares me. I'm not sure yet how my kids will do on a small boat for that long. Locally, I don't know of much to do there. I may do the Cozumel Ruins as that fascinates me.

Steve

Steve,

Not sure how old your kids are, but you might want to look into Chakanaab (sp?). We went there in 2004 with our DS (4 at that time) and had a great time. It is a National Park on Cozumel, just south of the Cruise Ship docks. I don't remember what it costs to get in, but they have a nature walk, a beach, great snorkeling, swimming with the dolphins, snuba (where you walk on the bottom of the ocean with the moon helmets on) and a minigolf area. There is also one or two restaurants there.

You may want to do some checking though after last year's hurricane that was stuck over the region for 3 days. I don't know the extent of damage that was sustained on the island.

As for another beach on Cozumel, I believe there was one called San Francisco Beach, or something else with a US City name in it.

I'll see if DW still has the website she looked up stuff on before we went down to Playa in 2004. I believe the website is set up and run by a US citizen that went down there. I believe they have a snorkeling or golf related business down there. I don't recall. Anyways, it was a great wealth of information.

When I locate it, I will post a link.

Jeff

 

[JLDSMD]

Welcome Jeff and family....and welcome neighbor!! We live about 20 minutes from you. We are in the Falls right off of Pilgrim Rd and Silver Spring Dr. Where in Hartland do you live?

It'll be nice to have another Wisconsinite on board!!

Nancy

Nancy,

Thanks for the welcome. You are close. We are west of Richmond School (which is technically in Lisbon), heading toward Hartland.

We are traveling with our DS who will be 7 at the time we sail. Do you have any children traveling with you?

Jeff

 

[B9erSteve]

Jeff,
I'll look into the chakanaab place, it sounds fun. My kids are small. At cruise time they will be 6 and 3. So we won't be doing anything really challenging.

 

[cntkg1]

Nancy,

Thanks for the welcome. You are close. We are west of Richmond School (which is technically in Lisbon), heading toward Hartland.

We are traveling with our DS who will be 7 at the time we sail. Do you have any children traveling with you?

Jeff

Hi Jeff...Sorry but our kids won't be playing with yours...they are DS (25) and DD (22). and they won't be coming along either.

We have aquaintences in Lisbon. Beautiful place isn't it?

I'll be looking forward to meeting you in Oct.07.

Nancy

 

[JLDSMD]

Hi Jeff...Sorry but our kids won't be playing with yours...they are DS (25) and DD (22). and they won't be coming along either.

We have aquaintences in Lisbon. Beautiful place isn't it?

I'll be looking forward to meeting you in Oct.07.

Nancy

I don't know, he'd probably tag a long with them. They'd like that, wouldn't they?

Lisbon is a really nice. We move out here about 4 years ago and just love it (except for today since the pig farmer spread this morning, if you know what I mean. There is always one weekend in April, when the weather gets nice, like this weekend, when you have the windows open. Just happens to be around the time they prep the fields. Needless to say, the windows are closed now. )

Jeff

 

[Poohbush]

Tina (Poohbush),

I see you have the Vero Beach resort in your signature line. Are you DVC members there?

I ask because we are going there for the first time this October. We're not DVC members, but we wanted to do something different while down in FL this year. Plus DW has always wanted to stay there.

If you are a member or have been there, how do you like it? Any tips?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Yes, we have points at Vero, but it we've never been there. At the time, there was a special sale or promo that we bought into. Just wanted more points! We've since bought even more points at Wilderness. Love DVC!

Not Disney related, but we have stayed on the gulf coast, on Longboat Key. I believe it was near Sarasota. Beautiful beaches there! I much prefer the gulf side to the Atlantic side of Florida. One of these years we might get to Vero.

This will be our 2nd Western. Last time we sailed on a Western, we just fell in love with Grand Cayman. Can't wait to get back.

Hope your plans for the 7 night come through!

 

[JLDSMD]

Tina,

We've been to the gulf side once before, Clearwater Beach. We loved it there. I think the beaches and water are much nicer on that side. Other than being at the port, the only other time I was on the Atlantic side was for our honeymoon 13 years ago. We stayed in Daytona Beach. We will never go there again. Our rental car got stolen. I know we didn't go in the water up there either.

We chose Vero because DW has always wanted to go to one of the Disney resort properties. If the water isn't nice, we'll spend our time at the pool. DS will love the slide.

I think DVC should have put their resort on the other side. Even though it probably sells out often, I bet it would be very hard, if not impossible, to get a non-DVC reservation there if it was on the Gulf.

We're looking forward to the Western. DW's schedule at work usually doesn't allow us to go on the Western in January (our usual vacation month). We don't want to go to close to Christmas, and the other time falls over into February. She can't take off in February. So we've been on two easterns the past 2 January's and had a 3rd set up for 2007. But when I saw an SPH available for the 10/27/07 cruise, I snatched it and told DW to work on getting off. We'll go to either St. Thomas or Jamaica now in Jan '07.

We are really looking forward to Grand Caymen. We're hoping DS will be interested in swimming with the stingrays. He loves to snorkel, but he's afraid of the stingrays.

We've been to Cozumel a couple of times while staying in Playa del Carmen and will just head to one of the beaches (along with Pancho's Backyard for a bite to eat). We've never been to Key West, but will probably take one of the short tours to see the area. We'll probably get back on the boat early and enjoy the pools while they're hopefully empty.

Jeff

 

[JLDSMD]

Hey, we fell to page 3! And that was within 3 days.

Here's a bump to get us to page one.

 

[Poohbush]

Hi everyone,

Is anyone planning on staying pre or post cruise in the area? We'll probably fly late Friday and stay at the MCO Hyatt (love that hotel) and catch the Disney bus over to the pier. Then we'll probably use some DVC points and stay at a resort for 2 nights after the cruise. Since our kids are little, we'll stay on the monorail. We love the Poly, but thinking of trying the GF.

Hard to believe it's 18 months away! Hard to believe we're even planning a trip this early!

 

[JLDSMD]

Poohbush,

We'll be coming down the night before as well. We usually go down 2 nights before when we go in January due to weather, but last October we did the night before and it worked out fine. We stayed down near port (can't remember the hotel). We arrived late and drove straight out.

We will probably stay the night after the cruise in WDW. Not sure how late we plan on flying out on Sunday though, so we may hit a water park that day as well. We figure we can get to the parks by 10:00 a.m. on Saturday after disembarkment.

We under the 550 day mark. Man that seems like a lot, but it will be here before we know it.

Jeff

 

[cntkg1]

Pooh...

On our first cruise we stayed at the Hyatt too. How convenient, huh? I was second guessing our choice of hotels until another DISer put us at ease. Yes, it was expensive...(we paid $175.00/night with AAA discount) but well worth it.

We took the DCL transfer and believe it or not, 3 of us DISers were the first ones on the first bus out. We were bantering back and forth for months as to who would be first. We took a picture with all three of us on the steps of the bus!! I still laugh at the thought of that picture.

We also stayed at the Hyatt on the Saturday after the cruise. We got out of Orlando the day before Wilma hit. We layed down at 7:00 pm and fell sound asleep. Didn't wake up until 8:00 am the next morning. Guess we needed our sleep after the cruise.

We're thinking about staying at the Hyatt again next year but not sure yet.

Talk to ya later,
Nancy

 

[B9erSteve]

I'm planning on staying at the Hyatt the night before as well. I looked online at the pics of the place and was really impressed.

 

[Lindy Loo]

Hi everyone, looks like the pixie dust worked and DHs work has 99% oked his holiday, sooooooooooooooo I really think we will be joining you. We wont know for SURE until Jan/Feb 07,however 99% is pretty good to me!!

and weve booked flights with Virgin and we are staying at the Disney All Star movies and the Royal Pacific for 9 nights before the cruise, we are then staying 1 night on the Sat 28th somewhere else, not sure yet, then we fly back on Sun 29th. We are doing MNSSHP this year, so if we like it, which im sure we will, we plan to do it again in 07!

We do the 4 night Wonder THIS Oct, cant wait, first disney cruise !!!