October 22, 2005 Roll call

[Timon]

to Scrapperjill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most times we've been to WDW it was October. First time it was great! Crowds were low, it was hot but not too hot for the average person (ok, so I may be a little below average, I don't like heat). Second time in 2000 was still pretty good, not too crowded.

2003, well that's another story! There were millions of people from the U.K.!!!!!!!!!! We spoke to some families and they said they had a 2 week school break. I think EVERYONE from the U.K. was there boy!
We went to Blizzard BEach and went on the Summit Plummit and it took ONE HOUR to do this slide!!!!!!! It was ridiculous! We went to IOA during the week (usually very quiet) well we got there before opening, grabbed a breakfast croissant like usual and in the time it took to eat it, maybe 10 minutes...there must have been at least 5000 or more people entering the park. We were astonished!!!!!!!

I hope this October is not like that!!! Even MNSSHP was busy, even though I read how small the crowds were, we were waiting 20 minutes for Pirates, 30 for Space Mtn and we waited for 45 mins for the Fortune Tellers!!!

pdarrah,
We are staying at the Beach Club Villas in a one bedroom for 5 nights just prior to the cruise so we will thankfully have a washer & dryer. But still, when you are visiting the parks and a cruise, you need to pack lots of stuff. If it was just parks, no problem! Short and tees work great for us but with a cruise, we need two dresses, a suit with 3 dress shirts, slacks, a few pair of shoes each, ties, dressy tops and bottoms etc PLUS all the shorts/tees/swimsuits!! Plus, all the stuff we wanna bring home LOL

I don't know how you guys handle all your children's stuff on top of all of that!!!!!!!! ack!

But hey, we're going on a cruise, everything else is just gravy!

133 more days!!!

 

[GrumpyNJeepman]

Hi

Ok call me stupid but what is "MNSSHP"?

Has anyone gone on the glassbottom boat tour in Key West"? My bf's sister is doing ALOT of research on the ports of call and has a book that says that this excursion isn't very satisfactory, that the viewing areas are small and cloudy...........

We've already decided on most of the excursions we are taking and we can't wait for October to get here.

Starting my sessions with the trainer today only 15lbs to go...

GrumpyNJeepman

 

[pdarrah]

Hi GrumpyNJeepman,

MNSSHP is Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It is a "Hard ticket" event at the Magic Kingdom. The park closes to regular guests at 6pm on those nights and then the MNSSHP opens at 7pm. There are special parades and shows that are just for the party and usually the rides for the lines are much shorter than usual.

I haven't checked/updated the links in a few months, but there are a bunch of links for each port on our cruise website. (Under "Links") You might want to check out some of those sites for info about the excursions. We didn't do an excursion at Key West, so I can't comment on the glass bottom boat ....

pdarrah

 

[scrapperjill]

I haven't done the glass bottom boat...but what I've heard is pertty much what you said...not very satisfactory reviews....small space, crowded...bla bla bla...just what you mentioned.

Were not really planning any "excursions" in Key West. We had thought of renting the electric cars (there's a place where you can get a 20% discount if you mention Shirley Brown)...but I think were going to pass on that again this time...The only things we have planned on doing in Key West is going to the Hard Rock to get a drink ...Maybe the Boars Nest for lunch and maybe checking out the pub that has the gravestone in the floor .

Oh...we finally got our MNSSHP tickets yesterday...We went for Thrusday the 20th. I can't wait. I just hope the crowds are not to bad.

 

[GrumpyNJeepman]

Thanks pdarrah and scrapperjill for the info and the explanation on MNSSHP. I will check out the links regarding other excursions for the cruise.

This is my first East Coast cruise and I want to see everything....

We are thinking of just doing the Trolley Tour with Jeepmans mother, she wants to see the Hemmingway house. Then we will most likely just shop.

Well we going going to Disneyland tomorrow for the third time this week to see the fireworks. We are AP holders and try and go a couple of times a month, but with the 50th it's been REALLY crowded and we probably won't go as often durning the summer. The fireworks for the 50th are AWESOME and even though this will be our 4th time seeing them I am excited..... Disney really did a great job....... They have 50 hidden "mickeys" around the park and we found 39 before we asked for a map........

only 4 months to gooooooooo

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Wow!!!! Just spent some time catching up on the posts! Sounds like summer is in full swing for the DIS group!

Happy belated birthday Scrapperjill!!!

Timon, congrats on your bootcamp success!!!

And WELCOME to our new DIS friends!

We spent the weekend at Carolina Beach which is on the NC coast. DD and I spent Saturday at the beach while DH went scuba diving. It was his first actual ocean dive. He was so excited to go, since he didn't make his Cozumel and Grand Cayman dives on our cruise last year thanks to the hurricanes. He had a great time, saw some 8 to 9 foot sharks, and lots of other cool stuff.

Scrapperjill, I hope you had a good time on the zoo trip! I planned and put on DD's end of year party for her 2nd grade class on Thursday. It was 6 hours of complete chaos! Two of my five parent volunteers called the night before and backed out. Although all of the activities and lunch went pretty smoothly, the kids were WILD!!! It reinforced in my mind just how HARD teachers work each and every day, and how often they are under-appreciated. In my opinion teachers and professional athletes should trade salaries!

With all of this talk about booking excursions I feel like I need to get on the ball and book ours! I just can't wait! I would love to do WDW before the cruise, but I just can't pull DD out of school for that long. The principal of her school is VERY strict on attendance. If she found out that I was pulling DD out of school for a week to go on vacation she would probably call the truant officer on us! And because we own a swimming pool company, vacationing in the spring or summer is out of the question. Oh well!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Stacy

 

[scrapperjill]

Threesmiths.....we lucked out and both Alexis and Sydney have no school on Friday Oct 21...so it's only going to be an extra 2 days that they will be missing. What are you telling Kaylee's school as to why she'll be gone the week of the cruise? Last year our schools were both excited for the girls...but then again...Sydney was going as a "wish" trip not just a family vacation..I haven't even given it any thought as to what to tell them this next year. But through out the whole year they really only miss school if there not feeling well...oh and when Sydney has to go to Childrens every 2 months for check ups....When we do that we try and have Alexis stay with my parents...so she won't miss school also...but Sydney does end up missing a couple days evey 2 months for that....but we have all that explained to the school...and because its for medical needs it's excused--of course.

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Scrapperjill,

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER BREAK!!!!!

Last year I got lucky and had a great teacher. She did not report Kaylee as absent those days. We did all of the missed assignments and missed homework, plus she did an "enrichment" project that the rest of the class did not do. So it was a lot of school work, but it was well worth it! Kaylee only missed one other day of school during the year, so I didn't feel bad. So this year I'll do the same thing....tell the teacher at "meet the teacher night" that we will be gone, be very up front about it with her, and hopefully it will not become an issue. In my opinion, the benefit of the family vacation time is just as important as anything she might be learning in school that week!

Oh yeah, congrats on finding such great airfare!

Stacy

 

[GrumpyNJeepman]

Threesmiths

I did that too when we went on our first cruise about 5 years ago. It was an anniversary trip for my sister and it was in October as well. I just made arrangements with all the teachers to have the lesson plans ready and every afternoon my son would spend time doing his work on the cruise. It worked out perfectly. Although my son was a Sophmore in high school at the time he was able to finish it all before we returned to port.

I work for a school district and our last day of school is on June 24th and all the school sites are ready to close. The closer the last days gets the happier the office managers sound when they call us at the district offices.

Well we spent Sunday at Disneyland and were able to snag up front benches for the firework show. Attached are some of the pictures of the castle with fireworks and some of the new parade and of Mickey Mouse climbing the Matterhorn to raise the 50th Anniversary Flag. That was exciting to watch.

Hope everyone has a great summer..........

 

[ThreeSmiths]

GrumpyNJeepman---

Fantastic photos from Disney!!! Made me really want to be there! Thanks for sharing.

I'm sure that all the school district employees have a countdown calendar somewhere in their desks! Tuesday afternoon when I was picking DD up from her last day of school, they were playing Handel's Messiah (Hallelujah) over the loud speakers to be heard throughout the courtyard! I laughed so hard! I'm sure it was more for the staff than the kids, but everyone got a kick out of it.

I had intentions last year of having DD read for 30 minutes and write a page in her journal about what she did for each day of the cruise. However the days were so packed with activities, that after dinner she was too tired to do anything except crash out. So that didn't work. I justified it by telling myself that I really push her to excel in her schoolwork the rest of the year, and it is her vacation too, so she deserves a break as well.

Oh yeah, I can't believe it is hurricane season again already. I watched it so closely last fall that I feel like the last season just ended! Blah!

 

[scrapperjill]

Threesmiths..."In my opinion, the benefit of the family vacation time is just as important as anything she might be learning in school that week!" I totally agree with that...I also think the things they learn while on vacation....out weigh what they may learn durring that week. Look at this last years trip...Hurricanes, tropical storms, weather patterns....not to mentions things like changing time zones, using diffrent currency, visiting so many diffrent places....seeing how others lived...seeing some distruction from mother nature....the list goes on...

I don't think we'll have any problems.. here with the girls schools...I can't imagine we would. I know some students who miss day after day...for no reason...and nothing happens. So I can't see them making a fuss over them missing 7 days pre-planned. I just hope the teachers will get work together...or have the girls do some sort of special project to make up for some of the work.

We only have 3 more days before summer break...yep..the girls have their last day of school on Monday??? I've never known of a school to have the last day on a monday..and better yet...they get out at 11am. So they only have school for 2-3 hours....Go Figure.

 

[2IcePrincesses]

Threesmiths and ScrapperJill: I agree that they will learn so much by going on a family vacation. There is so much to learn when you visit different countrys and the memories that they will have spending time with their families is so important.
I homeschool both my girls and we will be doing a little bit of extra work before we leave. I'm thinking of bring a journal and having my dd9 do a little bit of journal writing each day.

GrumpyNJeepman: Thanks for sending me the pictures. We had such a great time on Sunday....the fireworks were awesome!!!!! We can't wait to go back ...let us know when you are planning to go! I found out the fireworks cost disney 18,000.00 a night!!! WOW!

 

[pdarrah]

This cruise will be our first time taking DS6 out of public school. Last year he was in Kindergarden at a montessori school and it was no problem. I plan on discussing it with his new first grade teacher as soon as the school year starts. My feeling is that vacationing as a family and spending time together is just as important to my child's developement as school. Hopefully, they will be able to give us work he can do ahead of time or on the trip - if not, we will work with him to make it up when we get back. So far, he is advanced for his age/grade so I'm not really worried about it. They haven't given me ANY information about school policy, schedules, or anything else so I am not going to feel too guilty about it. I took him in and got him registered this spring - I would have thought there would have been some sort of "welcome package" with info on this type of stuff. When I asked they looked at me like I was nuts and said we'd get all the info we need at the start of the school year.

Scrapperjill - last week the parents here with kids in the public schools were all complaining - the last day of school was last Wednesday and they had to be there for 1 hour. I guess they do this every year and everyone seems to feel like they are making it as inconvenient as possible for the parents! It is too long to just sit and wait at the school, but not long enough to go anywhere or do anything! They don't seem to run bus service for that last day from what I was hearing, so all the parents had to arrange to get their kids to and from school for the 1-hour day.

pdarrah

 

[GrumpyNJeepman]

2IcePrincesses- Your welcome and if try and print them and they don't come out right let us know and we will print them for you or send you a CD. I know someone that used to be an Imangineer for Disney and he saw one of the pictures and had me send it to him so that he could give it to his friend that has worked for Disney since 1955. Also one of my friends at work knows one of the girls that plays Tinkerbell at Disneyland. Wow I didn't realize it cost that much for fireworks.....

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

Hi guys!

I have not posted her since the first page, thought I would stop by and say hi!

I had a trip to Disney World in May, so I was busy trip planning for that, but now I am in FULL swing planning this trip!

Our party consist of me, 37 and my DH 41, we have no children! This is our second Disney cruise, first was on the Wonder and we have also sailed on NCL, Carnival and Costa cruise lines.

My parents, this is a present from Dh and I for my mother's birthday (which was back in March) but I could not do early in the year, so hear we are! This will be the third cruise for them and the first on Disney.

My brother, his wife and my nephew who is 7 years old. I know this is the first Disney cruise for them, not sure if SIL has ever cruised and my brother's first cruise for sure.

We are planning away, know what to do in Cayman's, undecieded for Cozumel and Key West!

 

[pdarrah]

Hi Everyone (welcome back SCDizneyDawn)

Just wanted to remind everyone that there is a "Kids of the October 22 Magic" thread. (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=783780)

Some of the kids are posting, but we need a few more to get the conversation going! Now that school is out, lets see if we can get the kids to get to know each other.

My DS6 can't write that well yet, so I typed for him while he dictated. (The hardest part was NOT correcting his phrasing and grammer! I figured it should sound like him...) He keeps asking me if there are going to be any other kids his age. Last year he made friends with a DIS girl and they had a great time at the club and we even did an excursion together.

Also, if anyone would like to be added to the cruise website "Who's Going" page, just let me know. I know there is plenty of time before the cruise, but it is so much easier to look through the list rather than try to re-read all the posts to find out who all is going on the cruise!

pdarrah

 

[joemuseum]

Hi... Wanda and Michael here.....we are going to be on the Magic on this cruise!!!

We booked this cruise (our second Disney cruise and second cruise anywhere) on the Magic during an Eastern Caribean cruise in October '04.

We met 2 wonderful people on our previous cruise and we are all hoping to all dine together again on this cruise as well. We both booked our next cruise on board in '04 and by chance, booked the same exact cruise for '05. They were great dining companions last time and we are so happy to be seeing them again!


I have one question. Does anyone have a suggestion for the Cozumel excursion???

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Welcome joemuseum!

Maybe you have already done this, but you can call DCL (or your travel agent) and have your dining reservations linked to your friends'. You just need their reservation number to do so. That way you'll definitely be dining together again!

As far as Cozumel excursions, I can't help you there. We did not get to stop in Cozumel last year due to hurricanes. But we (DD and I) had booked the dolphin/sea lion swim and plan to try for it again this year. DH had booked the scuba dive, and will try for that again this year.

Stacy

 

[scrapperjill]

Welcome...joemuseum!

Threesmiths is right on the money...with linking reservations with others...Theesmiths, AmericanScrapper and our family all have our reservations linked...we all cruised together in Sept 04 and had a blast. And all the linking does is group you all together so you get the same seating and table at dinner....oh I think it would also be a + if you both requeted the same dinning time (Late vs Early) ...I'm not sure how they'd work it if you each asked for diffrent times.

 

[pdarrah]

Welcome Joemuseum.

If you are interested, you might want to take a look at our cruise website - www.bwdarrah.com/dcl. The "Who's Going" page has a bit of info on many of us. If you would like to be included, just let me know.

In Cozumel, we went snorkeling last year with Eagle Ray Divers (www.eagleraydivers.com) and it was GREAT! We are doing it again this year.

Linking your dining reservations with Disney works great. Last year we linked with a DIS couple we met on our meet thread and had a wonderful time with them. Actually, I'm hoping to maybe link up with some others from this thread. We are a group of 5 and we LIKE dining with others. I'm afraid if we don't link dining, that DCL will just put us at a table alone. We are a close family and get along great, but part of the fun of cruising is meeting other people. We can eat as a group of 5 anytime! I have heard that some meet threads have actually linked everyone on the same seating (one setup for Early and another for Late) so that they are all seated in the same rotation and same part of the dining room! Although this sounds like fun, it probably takes a lot of organizing! Anyway, if any of you others would like to link up with us (Late seating - DW40, DH39, DS6, DF65 & DM63) let me know!

pdarrah