October 9, 2005, Wonder

[iwynlea]

Just a quick note -- I'll catch up better tonight, but DH just called to say that our docs arrived today!

Ok, now I have to run to training for "how to be a good supervisor" LOL!

Erica

 

[auntie k]

"We are thrilled to have you....Ask anything you want - I know IWYNLEA (erica) has cruised before, so she might help the most - but I think MOMM2FOUR (lori) and Andie B and I have scoured these boards enough, we can give you a decent answer."

OOOPS!!! I forgot to mention RWALLER (rhonda) too.....I think we are the main ones keeping the thread "hot"!! ha ha....sorry if I overlooked anyone else...didn't mean to!! I just got excited someone else is joining us!!

 

[momm2four]

Karen, Hi and welcome! Looks like we have boys who are the same age. I have a 4 year old DS and a DS who will be 6 at the end of October. Are your kids planning on being in the kids' clubs? Mine are making BIG plans. If they come to the meet and greet at 3:00, maybe we can introduce them.

Mommsmom, good to see you posting! You're doing great!

Only one more day this week to work, wooo hoooo Today at school, I had to keep several kids in my room who couldn't attend the pep rally because of their behavior. Oh my goodness, that was fun Most of these were not my students, so they didn't know me that well. I had to spend the first few minutes showing them that this wasn't meant to be a pleasure cruise. Assigned a few detentions, but finally got them to sit and be quiet. I hate being that way, but I will if need be. I just kept thinking, "In one week, it'll be almost time to go", lol

Well, I'm going to run for a little. My students are playing football at 7:00, and I'd like to go watch. I also have to clean my house (YUCK) since we have a sitter coming tomorrow night.

Talk to you guys later!
Lori P.

 

[AndieB]

Looks like we have boys who are the same age. I have a 4 year old DS and a DS who will be 6 at the end of October. Are your kids planning on being in the kids' clubs? Mine are making BIG plans. If they come to the meet and greet at 3:00, maybe we can introduce them.

ktpbell, welcome, and we look forward to seeing you at the meet! I'd really like for my DS Christopher (turning 4 while we're on board) to be able to meet some other kids and maybe have some friends to play with in the club. He's the only kid in our party, but he makes friends easily. I probably worry for nothing. Maybe it's just that I'LL feel better if I know some of the kids he's playing with!

I have cruised before, although never with Disney. I'd be happy to try to answer any questions. And I agree about staying onboard in Nassau. I've been a few times, and there's nothing there I need to see again (we may jump off in the morning just for some souvenir shopping, but that's it). We have our massages booked for that day.

Question for the group - is anyone pre-paying their gratuities? I saw that in the docs, and I just can't imaging doing that. To me it sounds like you would be predicting the level of service you'd get. Am I missing some good reason to do this? Maybe it's just to not use up cash?

I am in such short-timer mode at work!! Unfortunately our firewalls don't let me access the DIS boards from work, but I have been spending a lot of time on Allearsnet, copying down stuff and sending to my Mom, who refuses to research anything on the internet. {We still don't have her docs yet!}

Okay, back to my packing list!! 3 more work days for me!!

 

[iwynlea]

Wow -- our cruise got chatty today!

Let's see.......

AuntieK -- You know, after reading everything on the massage board, I'm not sure myself anymore what to do about our massages! DH and I are talking about it this weekend...we might cancel ours and get it at home once we get back if it's cheaper, and use the remaining money for "souvin-ears". Don't let me talk you into not canceling if you're really worried about it -- this is supposed to be a stress-free vacation!

Mommsmom -- You're doing great! Don't be shy about posting!

Karen -- Welcome aboard! The more the merrier, in my opinion. I can't believe that there are three of us now with a Baylor connection! I'm so looking forward to meeting everyone on the ship...I fill the DH in every night about what we've been chatting about on here! If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask -- DH (that would be the hubby Steve ) and I have been on one other DCL (Disney Cruise Line) cruise, and although a lot has changed in 2 years, I can at least tell you what we experienced when we went. My #1 piece of advise -- don't stress! Every day you'll get a "Navigator" in your room, and it'll help you plan your day. There aren't as many activities on Nassau day as, say, the at sea day. There are some recent Navigator's posted at http://tinyurl.com/82sfy
if you want to get an idea of what to expect while on board.

AndieB -- We "pre-paid" our gratuities last cruise, because it was nice to be cashless. Back then (and I don't know if it works the same way now!) on the last full day we found envelopes in our stateroom and then DH and I decided how much we wanted to pay each person based on their service, attitude, etc (and we tipped everyone above the minimum suggested amount!) and then he went up to Guest Services and did the pre-pay thing so it would go onto our credit card (well, debit card). We put the receipts in the envelopes to give to the servers, stateroom host, etc. so they would know how much they were being tipped. It worked pretty well for us two years ago, and I didn't feel like I had to carry a lot of cash while we were traveling (airports, hotels before cruise, etc.)

And in other news....did I mention our docs got here today? (Can you tell I'm really excited about this?!)

And when I got home there was a nice big package outside the front door - my Fiona costume and wig have arrived! I could make a better dress myself for less, so I'm justifying the expense by telling myself that I'm paying for stress relief, not the dress itself. But I love the wig with the big braid down the back and the little green ogre ears sticking out. I'll get Steve to take a pic this weekend and give y'all a sneak peak.

AND my boss told me at 3pm today that something I've been wanting to happen since I first started 3 years ago (an expansion of the office my student assistants use) is a very real possibility - I have a meeting at 8:30am tomorrow with our Assistant Dean to discuss my idea and what I'd like to see done! Cross your fingers we can squeeze it into the budget for this summer!! It would really be an amazing thing for my staff if I can actually push this through at last!

AND Steve talked to his boss, and his boss is going to let him take all of Saturday night before the cruise off work! This is a huge thing...Steve works nights, 7pm-7am and he has zero vacation time left. He was able to take a half-day with his last hours of vacation time on that Saturday, so that he was going to get off at 1am, swing by the house to grab me, drive to Houston (3.5 hours away during the day) so that we can be at the airport in time to catch our 7:30am flight. YIKES! Now, it looks like we can drive to Houston Saturday afternoon and stay the night at a hotel near the airport so we can actually get some rest the night before the cruise!

Whew. I'm really long-winded tonight, aren't I? Sorry. I can't really talk about the vacation at work, because everyone is jealous and I don't want to rub it in.....but I know y'all totally understand!

Ok, time to get some rest before my big meeting in the morning. This weekend we're going to pack and scrub the house from top to bottom so that it'll be all clean when we leave for vacation! I'll pop in when I can!

Erica

 

[auntie k]

I'm doing the doc dance!!!

OK, actually I think it's a NOVEL....geez, I had no idea how much stuff was coming!!! It overwhelmed me last night so I just put it in my carry on bag, I'll go thru it this weekend!!!

first and foremost - good luck and pixie dust to Erica this morning...here's hoping your meeting goes well and you get what you want!! Sic em bears!

momm2four- are you off this week? If so, lucky you.....
I will work M-th next week and 1/2 a day on Friday...then it will be "pack like a maniac"!!!

ktpbell - I re-read your post and caught your children's ages...

Ok, NOW what can we chat about????

 

[AndieB]

Good news and bad news -

Good news, we got my Mom's documents today!

Bad news, I am truly an idiot. After all the drama with DH's passport gone missing, did I go and check for DS's birth certificate? Nooooo, because I had already seen it in my file folder (along with his SSN card). Tonight, when I pull it out, I see that it's not an official sealed copy. It's the carbon copy that I took home from the hospital. AAAAAaaagggghhhh!

Good thing he was born in Charlotte! We can pick one up this week.

Okay, hopefully this is my last panic attack. I did at least remember to check my passport - expires 2010, so I'm okay!

Just had to share that! Off to bed now - 5 more days!

 

[ktpbell]

Hi All. It's so much fun to read these posts to see everyone is going through the same things. I went digging for passports and birth certs and realized my passport expired in APRIL this year and I couldn't find my birth certificate (and I was born in Louisiana..EIK!) FInally found a copy of the birth cert and it says certified but looks like a copy. I will take it and the passport just in case they don't realized it's expired. You would think that if I booked this months and months ago, I could have been somewhat more organized than this. I am now starting to think about packing. I wanted to pick up extra swimsuit for the me and boys but went to Macy's here this week and they had CHRISTMAS (!!!) trees where the swimsuits were. That is about crazy. May brave Wal-mart on a Saturday (a life or death experience here) as I heard they still have some kid suits there. Hope I make it out!
And it super exciting cruise news, after reading these posts I learned there is a pirate night one night. Didn't know about that. Looked on ebay and saw all pirate stuff kinda pricey as it's close to Halloween. Then talked to friend about it who is having her son's 4th b-day this week and she said it is a pirate theme!! So they will be making pirate hats, she will give out bandanas, eye patches and pirate swords as party favors. How is that for timing?! Makes up for the Christmas trees in SEPTEMBER.


I have never been to a chat room/forum before so this is fun.

Erica, good luck with the job and your travel plans. It is great you can have a relaxing night before.

Lora, thanks for starting this and hanging in there. It's very interesting. I don't know how you do it with 4 boys. 2 have me on the go all day.

AndieB, I'd love our boys to meet. My 4 year old can be shy and it would be nice to introduce him to someone. He is much better with his brother around but I think they will put them in seperate groups and my older one would actually like that as he is not fond of his little brother following him everywhere.

AuntieK, thanks for the summary of everyone. (a few posts back) I feel like a new neighbor that moved in and that helped to be organized.

Off for a busy Sat. Guess I need to actually think of packing now.
Wish me luck and keep passing on advise. I'm going to check out the page for the Navigators now.

 

[ktpbell]

Whoops.....Forgot to ask before. WHat is up with the massages? Are they supossed to be good in Castaway Cay or bad? I booked one for the day at sea day on the ship. Do I want to keep it? Do I want to switch to the beach day? Just checking.
ps. HUGE thanks for the navigator link. That was so interesting. Now I'm late for wal-mart and it will be even crazier but I couldn't peel myself away from the computer.

 

[AndieB]

ktpbell, sounds like we're having the same Saturday! I hit the Wal-Mart superstore this morning - it wasn't too crowded. I filled up on travel size stuff, and have been having a great time packing today while DS watches the Disney planning DVD (we're doing 3 days at WDW before the cruise).

Luckily, I have a built-in shopper for me in Florida for those summer items that aren't available anymore here - my Mom (who's cruising with us) lives just north of Orlando - she's picking up beach shoes for DS, stuff like that. Very handy!

Let's plan to introduce the boys at our DIS meet (I'd better scroll back and find the place and time, and write it down!). Mine (Christopher) is already asking about who he'll play with on the ship (I've been telling him about the kids club).

5 more days till we leave! I don't know how I'm going to get through 2 more work days!

 

[1disneymomof2]

I just found this forum. Had no idea this site existed. How fun!!
We will be with you! Tom and Rene'- parents of 2+ yr. old, Jack and 9 mo. old Jesse. I am so excited. I've been reading every review and info page I can find!
We are in cabin 2118. My brother and my sister-in-law are cruising with us too. This will be their 3 DC, but it's our first. Can't wait.
See you all next week! Yipppeeee!

Rene'

 

[momm2four]

Welcome Rene'!! I'm so excited that I will actually "know" some people on the cruise before I get there.

I can't type much this morning b/c I'm already late for Sunday School, so I've gotta' run. Just wanted to say welcome and ONLY SEVEN DAYS TILL WE CRUISE!!!

Lori P.

 

[auntie k]

Wow - our thread was busy this weekend!! I miss having my computer at home! (but not the internet bill! lol)

WELCOME RENA'! Thrilled to have you join us!!!

Since some of you are leaving early & some are new ...let me state one more time....
would love for everyone to join us on DECK 10 - midship at 3:00 on Sunday!!
It won't take more than 15-20 minutes for us to say hello, put a face with a name and introduce all the kiddies (& hubbies!)......that way we won't feel like we are on a ship with all strangers!

Erica - we are waiting to hear about your meeting...how did it go???

 

[momm2four]

Okay...where is everyone? Busy packing? I'm sitting at school, waiting for my students to finish their 5 minute warm-up and wanted to say HI, so I snuck on here for a minute.

I found a huge suitcase at Target yesterday marked from $80 to $40, and then they had 1/2 off of that, so I got it for $19.99. I love it!

Only four more work days!!!


Lori P.

 

[auntie k]

Lori - good for you on the suitcase find! I've decided I didn't get big enough! lol!

ktpbell - on the massages - the people that do them on the ship are the same ones that will do them at Castaway Cay I believe. We don't know if they are good or not...there is a "bad massages" thread on the main cruise line forum....that indicates alot of people are less than happy....I think Erica (IWYNLEA) and I have decided to roll the dice and find out....I just thought a massage in an open air cabana on the beach sounded divine!

Ok, well as some of you know, my drama has not been with passport or birth certificates but with my son's digital camera. I lost it, looked for two weeks and decided it was long gone. He wanted to take it to Talledega,AL (sp?) this weekend to a NASCAR race, so I went and bought him another one and the memory card & case. And wouldn't you know I FOUND it yesterday while packing!!! Oh well, looks Like I now have a new camera for the trip!!! woo hoo!!!

 

[iwynlea]

Just a quick note -- my meeting went really well, thanks for asking! Jim (our Asst. Dean) is going to put it forward to the Dean, and if Frank (the Dean) approves, then it'll go into the summer maintenance budget which gets approved by the Regents I think in late October. Jim said it would probably only be $4000-$5000 to do what I want to do, which sounds like a lot of $$ to me, but he said is relatively small in comparison to a lot of projects, so it has a good chance of being funded. We'll see -- I've got my fingers crossed! Even if the project doesn't make it this year, at least it's on the radar for the future, so that's a step forward, and I'll be content to at least have moved it that much!

DH and I spent all day yesterday running errands and tying up loose ends before the trip. I have to work all day Friday, but at least this is the last week. I got all excited this morning when I realized I can count the days left before vacation on my hand. Every little milestone counts!

Welcome Rene'! Oh, goody, I just love meeting more Disney people! My DH thinks I'm nuts...and maybe I am...but I just love chatting with y'all and I really cannot wait to meet in person!

Oooh, before I forget...you can do a hold mail online now - you don't have to go to the postoffice in person anymore! If you're interested, go to www.usps.com and there's three sort of blue block in the center of the screen - the 3ed one is for "Receiving Your Mail" and in there is a link to "Hold Mail" which you can fill out and voila! Don't forget to stop your newspapers, too!

Ok, back to work!

Erica

 

[momm2four]

AuntieK That's the way it goes. The best way to find something that you lost is to buy a replacement. I'm glad you found it though, as now you have your own digital camera.

My "problem" is that I can't find my Disney Rewards card, which means I have to go to Downtown Disney to get a new one, call Bankone to put a hold on the old one and transfer the balance to the new one. All for a mere $48. However, I was counting on this towards our room balance at POR, so I guess I'll do it.

Erica, glad your meeting sounded promising. I am finding it VERY hard to concentrate on work this week. Our principal told us today that we have to come up with a final for our second nine weeks at the beginning of the quarter, which means I have to have mine before I leave (Due on the 14th) That means I have to map out what I'll be doing the next 9 weeks before I leave. I'm like, "I don't even want to think about tomorrow, let alone 10 weeks from now," lol.

Well, my kids are crawling all over me (literally), so I'm going to go before I sceam. Talk to you all later!

Lori P.

 

[AndieB]

I can barely stand it, I'm so excited! I am also getting some "what's going to go wrong here while I'm gone?" panic attacks, but they'll go away as soon as we get on the plane. <- I love this guy - looks like he's saying "SEEE YA!" which is how I feel!

I picked up Christopher's birth certificate today; we are "officially" all set!

Today, for the first time, DH asks what we're going to do at Disney World. I told him not to worry, DS and I have it all figured out! He knows the Disney Planning DVD by heart. Actually, we have just the basics covered:

Thursday afternoon: get acclimated, ride monorail, spend some time in MK.

Friday: MK all day long (maybe hit MGM if we've done what we want)

Saturday: Epcot (again, maybe some MGM, or maybe back to MK if DS is bored with Epcot, but I don't think he will be)

Nights are "play it by ear"

DS isn't into big sit-down meals, I think we will save the money and have those on the ship where 1) it's included! and 2) DS can go to the kid club if he wants, or hang out with his Grammy.

Sunday morning: transfer to ship!

I've already reviewed with DS which rides we won't be going on (too scary, for big kids, etc.) and he agrees. Nice to have that worked out before we leave.

Well, good night, all. Gotta get to bed soon so I can be alert and really pay attention at work tomorrow!

 

[momm2four]

Okay, Andie, I'm officially jealous (lol) I hope you guys have a wonderful time this week. I'll be thinking of you on Thursday and Friday while I'm teaching math. ( <--- this is what I'll look like, but this is what I'll be thinking about -----> ) That's okay, I'll see you on SUNDAY!!!!!!

Lori P.

 

[1disneymomof2]

Maybe this has already been discussed earlier, but I'm new here and was wondering...

Who is dressing up for the Pirate Party besides us?? We gathered our costumes today. I mentioned it to my DH and I couldn't believe he was into it! So I ran to the costume store before he could change his mind.

I got him one of those bandanas with the long black wig attached. It looks great on him, but then we put it on our 2 year old and about died laughing. He's a real blondie with blue eyes, so to put a long black pirate wig on him was hysterical. He won't keep it on though- bummer!

Too excited for all of this!

Rene'