October 22, 2005 Roll call

[scrapperjill]

Welcome.... 2IcePrincesses... Our DD's are 7 and 11...reall close to your dd's ages. Actually both our girls are having birthdays this week...so by cruise time they will be 8 & 12...But still close to your girls ages...I'm sure they'd like to chat some before the cruise... (there's a kids cruise meet thread started for our cruise date...By now it's probley at the bottom of all the cruise meet pages..I think it's been awhile since any one posted to it.) Also if you had a chance to look through our posts here on this thread you probley saw we have another web site just for our cruise....thanks to Pdarrah for putting it togehter ...It has a list of whos going along with some photos....you should go over and check it out if you haven't done so yet. I think the link is in her (Pdarrah) signature...just a few posts above.

Glad to have you aboard

 

[American Scrapper]

Welcome to all of our new cruisers!! We are starting to get active again! It is nice to see the boards busy! It means we are getting closer.

Things have been pretty busy around here and not going to be slowing down anytime soon. I have been trying to plan our Disney trip in July. We will be spending the 4th of July at the Magic Kingdom. I have heard that they have the best fireworks display. I just hope that we can last the entire day at the park. So far we have a breakfast with the Characters reserved at the Beachclub, Lunch at the Sci-Fi Diner and Dinner in the Castle (of course not all on one day).

Well, hope all is well with everyone!

Kathy

 

[scrapperjill]

Sounds like your going to be busy in a good way. How many days is your trip? Jesse and I are still talking it over as to if we want to go to the world befor the cruise....I've been gathering information and prices for tickets and hotel stay...Do you have any tips to share on the best deals for tickets?...and where to get them? Oh...and get this just the other day out of the blue...my dad suggested we should go a few days befor the cruise to spend it at the world...I had just told my mom a couple hours before that we were thinking of doing just that....and she hadn't had time to tell him.

We I have to get off the boards tonight....this house is CRAZY..I need to go help Jesse tame the troops.

 

[American Scrapper]

We are going from 7/1 - 7/5 so not too bad. I will be ready to leave after the 4th. We plan to spend the entire day at Magic Kingdom because I have heard that the park fills to capacity early due to the fireworks display at night. That is great that you guys are looking to go for a few days before the cruise. We have never gone so late in the year, but I bet it is neat to see them decorated for Halloween. The new packages that they have with tickets sounds like a pretty good deal depending on what you plan on doing. I haven't really priced them yet though. We have a couple days left on our tickets from last year (now if I can only find them), but will probably have to buy some more tickets. It'll be nice to go with you parents. If I find any good deals, I will let you know.

Kathy

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Hi everyone!

Counting down the days until summer break (16)!!! I am sooooo ready for school to be out!

Welcome to all our new friends! It's exciting to watch the list grow and grow! A co-worker of mine is going to Jamaica this weekend and I am sooo envious! He keeps teasing me that five months isn't THAT long...but five days is a lot shorter!

2IcePrincesses: Welcome! I have a DD named Kaylee as well, and she will be 8 when we cruise! She has never met another Kaylee, so I know she'll be thrilled! I'm sure she would like to email your Kaylee as the trip gets closer, if you're interested. My Kaylee emailed Scrapperjill's DD before our Sept 04 cruise and they found eachother in the terminal and became fast friends for the rest of the trip. It was great, because my Kaylee can be shy and takes a while to warm up....but she felt like she already knew someone before even getting on the ship!

Well, gotta run! I hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend!

Stacy

 

[2IcePrincesses]

Thanks so much for the welcome!!

Scrapperjill: Our dd's are very close in age to your dd's. They should have a great time hanging out together! Also, I did check out the web site for our cruise.....it is GREAT! And I told my older dd about the kids cruise meet thread.....she was excited about it.

ThreeSmiths: My Kaylee met another Kaylee last year at an ice skating competition. We have met others ...but with a different spellings.
My Kaylee is also shy at first. But, I know that she would love to chat with your dd and with Scrapperjill's dd's as we get closer to sailing.

Have a great Memorial Day!

 

[scrapperjill]

Well I'm not sure what I did....but some how I've got one of our good friends and her family to book the cruise also. Jesse was just saying how funny it is that we can plan a gathering here in town...and have hardly anyone show...but we go off and book a cruise and make plans to travel from the West coast to the East coast...and end up having 7 other people from town go along also....making our final travel group from Washington to Orlando a whopping... ELEVEN Now we need to start looking for airfare....I was searching the web last night and found AA had some flights for $208 pp/rt (with connections)...What do you guys think of connecting flights? The non stop flights are close to $500 ...so it's a BIG diffrence. I think I'll go to AAA on Tuesday..and see what they can come up with.

 

[pdarrah]

I've been watching flights also and so far the "cutoff" for the good fares is always Oct28! I am checking daily hoping it will get extended out a little further. Usually, we can get the best rates when SouthWest extends their dates (they are currently only booking up through Oct 28).

We just got home from our trip to Nashville on Thursday evening and are starting to get a little caught up around here. If the weekend was just another day or two longer I might actually get the house cleaned!

pdarrah

 

[Timon]

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the new posters, looks like we will have a few DISers onboard!

Haven't checked in in awhile...busy here too, I am taking a Web Design Certificate Program at Mount Royal College, every day from 9-4pm until June 30th. After that I will be working at home and learning even more on my own.
I plan on redesigning my two websites in my spare time as well, so while I am wishing for October to hurry up and get here I think I will be getting a lot done over the next 5 months.

I just finished Oprah's Bootcamp program! I lost about 15 pounds, which is less than what I had hoped for but it was a great start and has given me the motivation to keep going! My goal is to lose another 20 pounds before we leave for Florida on October 12th! It's been tough but I really want to get in shape for Disney!!! Plus this time, I am going to order TWO plates of my favourite dessert from the cruise, the Amaretto Cheesecake! And load up on those chocolate croissants!!! SO, I better start losing now!!

Hope everyone has a great summer!


Kathy, have a great time in Disney! You are very brave, I don't think I could handle the heat and the crowds!! Whew

Oh and I just wanted to add that airfare from Calgary right now is about $750-$850 right now!!!!!! I am crossing my fingers that the prices drop soon!!!

 

[GrumpyNJeepman]

Hi Everyone,

Just joined this morning and thought I would jump right into the postings.

We are traveling with my bf's family, which includes 2IcePrincesses.

We've already decided on the different excursions we're going on. I think my BF is looking forward to the Tropical Jeep Tour on Cozumel the most. Is/Has anyone taking this tour before?

Timons: Congrats on the weight loss. I am starting to go to a trainer to lose 15-20 lbs before the cruise because I hear the desserts are out of this world and I want to try everything.

Everyone seems to be talking about airfare and we booked ours rt nonstop for about $250 with American Airlines back in February......

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Weekend

Grumpy

 

[scrapperjill]

Welcome....

Well I finally booked the airfare...We found some flights for $208pp/rt I don't think I'll find a much better deal than that. I know last year when we were looking it was close to $500pp/rt...of course I can't beleive the diffrences between airlines...I found fares this weekend anyware from the $208-498... Of course we grabed the $208 with American as soon as we found it. Has anyone flown on American? I'm trying to think and I don't think we have ever used them.

GrumpyNJeepman...We haven't done the jeep thing in Cozumel...but I know my other half was looking at it...he's a big jeeper (or at least want to be )...and well he thought it would be a blast. We were looking into the buggies on Cozumel instead of the jeeps...I don't remember why but I know there was a reason. Just yesterday we were talking and I think were leaning on doing some snorkling in Cozumel instead..

I'm heading off today to AAA to book our WDW protion....and hopefully get MNSSHP tickets also.

 

[pdarrah]

Welcome to all the "new" folks! If you haven't been there yet, you might want to check out our cruise website (the address is in my signature below.) If you would like to be added to the "Who's Going" page, just email the info to me, or PM or post here. (Even if you have posted details of your group in a message here, I won't put it onto the website without you telling me to go ahead.) If you would like to include a photo - just email whatever you have and I'll get it on there.

My DH, me and our DS went on the exact same cruise last year - same week, same itinerary - except that hurricane Ivan messed up Grand Cayman beforehand and we were rerouted to Costa Maya. We had so much fun in Cozumel (snorkeling) that we decided to do the same route again and hope we make it to Grand Cayman this time. DS wants to go to Stingray City.

Last year, the Who's Going page turned out to be very useful. Since many of us had all seen photos of each other, we were able to recognize other DISers at the terminal - we ran into at least half of the other DISers before even boarding the ship. (Actually, we were in line next to a lurker who recognized us from the photo and it was fun talking with them while we waited.) Several of us printed the Who's Going page out before leaving home and that made it easier to contact people on board since we had their room number. (A few people who were uncomfortable having their room number on the web, gave it via PM or email to several people.) Since we don't usually have a DISers last name, it would be hard to reach our new friends on board. I also made DIS name tags for everyone who was on the list.

Also, a few of us who had the same seating for dinner hooked up and had a table together at dinner which was a blast. (Although the truly strange part was that the couple we arranged to dine with ended up being from a town only 10 miles from our home and we have been able to continue our friendship after the cruise!)

Anyway, all that is just to encourage everyone to send in their info! If there is any you are uncomfortable about including - that is fine, just send whatever you like and I'll get the site updated.

pdarrah

 

[pdarrah]

Hi ScrapperJill - you must have been posting while I was typing my last post!

I am still watching airfare ... oh well, hopefully I'll be able to book it soon.

You've probably said already, but when are you going to MNSSHP? We are going to go on the Thursday night before our cruise. Hopefully, we will get an Illuminations cruise for Friday night. I have the date on my calendar for getting up early and calling!

We LOVED the snorkeling in Cozumel - so much that we have already booked with EagleRayDivers to do it again! If you haven't chosen where/what you are doing yet, you might want to check them out (www.eagleraydivers.com).

pdarrah

 

[scrapperjill]

Thanks I will check them out...We were not sure where to go and hadn't really taken the time to look into it yet. Were going to try for Thursday at MHSSHP also . Maybe we'll see you around. I went today and booked the WDW package for 10/19-22 at the POP (2day base tickets) with the meal plan...have you or anyone else done the meal plan before? If so was it worth it. I can see how it could be a BIG savings....but I guess alot depends on how/where you eat and how much you eat and how offten. We didn't book the MNSSHP yet...because I didn't know we needed to pay for those 100% at the time of booking...I was planning on just adding them into the package cost. Actually my parents and my family was ready to pay now...but our friend who just booked....I didn't have her $$$ and she was stuck at work...so I didn't want to take the risk of booking us...and having the tickets sold out by the time they were able to get the tickets... I think I can call and get them though...But then again...I'm thinking if I go through AAA it's a little cheeper....than calling myself.

 

[pdarrah]

Hi ScrapperJill,

We haven't ever had the meal plan. Since we have annual passes (Yes, we are nuts - but we get 3 trips per year out of them (spring-fall-spring on one and fall-spring-fall on the next)) we can't do any packages. I don't think we would anyway since we just don't eat that much in a trip. We usually have a very light breakfast - maybe a granola bar or something like that in the room or pick up a muffin from a stand. We then usually have either a light lunch and a full dinner or a big lunch and a light dinner. Often the "light" meal of the day is fast food and we'll split 2 meals among the 3 of us. The "full" meal might be a sitdown, but not everyday - if it isn't we'll go to one of the nicer fast food places (i.e. food court at Port Orleans, Tangerine Cafe at Morocco, etc.) Basically, I don't think we would eat enough to make the food plan work for us. However, as AP holders we can get the DDE (Disney Dining Experience) card at a discount price which gets us 20% discounts off a lot of our food and that has been worthwhile. We saved more than it cost just on our trip in April and we will be able to use it again in October and next spring.

I don't think that the Thursday MNSSHPs usually sell out - at least not way in advance like this. Did you know that Disney lets you book dinner reservations at either Liberty Tree Tavern or Tony's Town Square restaurant when you buy your MNSSHP tickets? We got a 5:35pm reservation at Liberty Tree so we'll be eating while they clear the guests from the park before the party starts (if you have party tickets, you can stay in the park but they herd everyone into Tomorrowland unless you are dining)

Are you all going to dress up for the MNSSHP? DS6 wants us all to dress as Pirates for Pirate Night on the cruise, so we are thinking of wearing Pirate costumes to the MNSSHP also. That way we at least get 2 uses of the costumes and its more worthwhile taking up packing space for them! DS has his costume from last year, but we're going to have to come up with costumes for the rest of us. My DM is really good sewing stuff (she made DS's costume), but I don't know if she wants to make 4 costumes!

pdarrah

 

[Timon]

We also are going to MNSSHP the Thursday before the cruise. It was so much fun last time, I can't wait to go again, I just love the atmosphere! We also were thinking of the double dipping of Pirate Costumes (mnsshp & cruise) but we're not sure yet, we may not have room in our suitcases as we will be gone for 18 days total.


scrapperjill,
We've flown American before and we loved it. They have TONS of leg room, we were so comfy. I am sure you will enjoy your flight!

 

[scrapperjill]

Thanks for letting me know about the dinner reservation...I had no idea. I had heard a blurb about being able to get into MK at 4pm if you had party tickets...and sticking around Tomarrowland until 7pm... But I didn't know you could make reservations when you get your tickets. Thanks

Do you know what time the parks close in October? They are not listed yet...And are crouds BAD??

We are also thinking about doing the pirate thing at MNSSHP...for the same reasons...no need to pack more stuff. However both of our girls have princess dresses that they wore last year on the cruise so who knows they may want to wear those again...while they still fit. I thought I'd start looking around for Pirate items and thing to put together our costumes..if we decided to go with that.

I have a busy day ahead of me tomarrow...in a moment of temporary insanity...I signed up to chaprone on a field trip to the Seattle zoo for my daughers 6th grade class...So I get to ride the school bus for 3 hours to Seattle...then chase around a group of 6th graders all day...followed by another 3 hour bus ride home.... Oh what fun...And to top it all off...I'm doing it all on my birthday

 

[pdarrah]

Happy Birthday Scrapperjill!

That doesn't sound like a particularly fun way to celebrate!

WDW isn't usually too crowded in October - the exception is the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot on the weekends. Since a lot of locals attend that, it can get pretty crowded on Saturday and Sunday.

Park hours won't be out for a while yet - they usually close fairly early since it is the "off season". I am remembering something like 6pm or 7pm for MK, 7pm for MGM and as early as 5pm for AK. Epcot, of course, is open until Illuminations at 9pm, but they usually close the front half at 7pm.

pdarrah

 

[pdarrah]

Hi Again Scrapperjill! I just ran into a bunch of info on the meal plan at the AllEarsNet website. The link is http://allearsnet.com/pl/mywdining.htm. It sounds like it works out for a lot of folks - maybe we are odd in not wanting to eat a lot of sit-down meals! I just looked at my notes from April and over the 6 days we were there we only ate 3 sitdown meals and that was plenty.

Hi Timon! I am also a little concerned about packing the costumes (we are "only" going to be gone for 11 days!) but if I have to, we'll add another suitcase. Last year we had a carryon, a "small" suitcase, a "large" suitcase and a garment bag. Oh yeah - and a duffle bag for the snorkeling equipment. We overpacked for DS5 - I expected him to get messy and need at least 2 sets of clothes per day which didn't happen. I think I brought home 6 or 7 totally unused outfits for him! DH and I did fairly well - we only brought home a couple of unused items each. My parents claim that they usually have a carryon, 1 suitcase and a garment bag for a cruise (but they want to put their snorkeling stuff in our duffle!) All that adds up to 2 carryons, 3 suitcases, 2 garment bags and 1 duffle for 5 people and I believe DCL would actually allow us to have 5 carryons and 10 checked bags! Therefore, although DH would object, I can certainly add another suitcase for our costumes if I have too!

With an 18 day trip, are you going to do laundry at some point or pack for the whole thing? I am debating the laundry question since we are going to WDW for 2 days before the cruise and 2 days after the cruise this time. Last you we did a cruise only trip.

This will be our first MNSSHP, but we have been to the MVMCP many times. It has been years since I last dressed up for Halloween and I am looking forward to it!

pdarrah

 

[American Scrapper]

Boy, everyone is really starting to plan for October!

Congrats Timon on your weightloss!

Great News Scrapperjill! That is really a good price for airfare and how exciting to be going to Disney for a few days before hand. It sounds like alot of people will be there on Thursday. I am still waiting for our school schedule to be released before we make final arrangements. I would like to get in either Thursday night or Friday morning.

Grumpynjeepman, we will probably do the dune buggy's at Cozumel. We planned on doing them last year but ended up not making it to Cozumel because of the hurricanes. My DS & DH were really looking forward to it. It also has a beach stop and some snorkeling.

Happy Birthday Scrapperjill!!

Kathy