Roll call for the 10/23/2004 Western Magic. Who's with us?

[BeanoC]

Hi everyone!

Fran, you wouldn't be getting excited would you?

Have a GREAT cruise!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day holiday. I know we will since we get to spend ours with Tim & Kamy!!


Talk to y'all soon



'Beano

 

[tchrmom]

Let's see.......tomorrow is the last day of school.
I'm going to the port on Friday afternoon.
We cruise on Sat.
No, I have NOTHING to be excited about!

I can't wait!
I'll have a konk kooler for you, Beano!
Fran

 

[skylynx]

Hi, Everyone

First off, Dana, I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. Having lost a precious dog before and also a beloved horse I've had for 17 years this year, I know what that pain feels like. Perhaps the new Georgia home will sometime soon welcome a new puppy? One never replaces the other, but it sure helps to fill that sad vacant space in your heart.

My glad news is that my divorce was finalized Monday morning so all systems are go for our June 28 wedding in Vegas and Disney World honeymoon. We're staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge so no one can hear us over the other wild beasts. We've stayed there before, and know that they have cameras on the savannah view balconies ;-)

It has been a long haul to get to this point, and so we are happily making plans for flowers and cakes and music and all those things that somehow seem so much more FUN this second time around. There's still no good news on the jobs front for either of us, but that isn't stopping us from steaming ahead. We figure the stroke of bad employment luck can't stick around forever.

Cheers to everyone....

 

[BeanoC]

BUMP!
where is everyone???

 

[pdarrah]

Hi - We are Newbies, but I love the idea of getting to know some of our fellow cruisers before we even set sail! My DH and I have cruised before but is was over 10 years ago on Carnival.

As you can see below, we are WDW fans. We have been involved with the Compuserve Florida Forum for years and have attended the Disneymania groups annual Fall meet at WDW for nearly a decade. I am feeling a little traitorous - we are skipping the meet this year so we can do the cruise and here I am posting on a new forum!

We are total newbies to DIS Forums - I haven't actually researched for a disney vacation in several years. One of the reasons we keep going back to WDW (besides that it is fun ) is that it is an "easy" vacation that doesn't require any research.

My DS (5 years old) received a copy of the DCL DVD a few months ago and as soon as he watched it, he thought we should go on "Mickey's boat". This is the year of our 15th wedding anniversary, so we will celebrate it a little late with a "special" vacation. Hopefully, DS will enjoy the kid clubs so DH & I can have 1 or 2 adult dinners together.

My name is Pamela and I am 39, my DH is Dan and will turn 38 while we are cruising. Our son is 5. We live in a far western suburb of Chicago. We have been restoring an old house for the last 14 years. We both sing in a choir. We both work full time (Dan is a software project manager and I work in my family's business.) We also garden, occasionally ballroom dance, read a lot, sell old glassware on ebay, and way too many other things.

I tend to be fairly good about keeping up with a forum when I am planning a trip, but "real life" intrudes a lot, so then I disapear for a while. I have read through this entire thread (yes, really!) and it sounds like you all have done this before - it all sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[BeanoC]

Hi Pamela !!

First of all, welcome to the DIS, and welcome to our thread!!

My wife and I also celebrate 15 years of marriage this year. As a family, this will be our 6th Disney cruise.

Some great friendships have been formed from initial meetings on these boards, and we always look forward to creating more... so welcome.

The groups we form here generally get together for the sailaway party on board, as well as a party in my family's stateroom during the cruise. Consider yourselves invited.

Please keep posting so we can get to know each other more. We can't wait to meet and/or reunite with everyone in October!! (Just be weary of 'Kamgen' and 'tarzanman'. They're WAY weird).



'Beano'

 

[abitjaded]

Hello all,

We are DH and DW and DS-11 and DS-8 when we cruise. We have done two DCL cruises before, both Eastern. We were booked for January, 2005 but my older son will be in Jr. High and not off then. So, we changed to this date. Our younger son will miss a week of school, oh, oh.

We are snorkel addicts and would love input on excursions. DH and I dove Palancar Reef many years ago, BC., but have never been to Cayman. What are the best snorkel sites on the itinerary?

We have booked a category 9 cabin, steerage at the aft end, bad room according to Passporter, noisy. We hope to get something better as the pay deadline passes.

Carla

 

[tchrmom]

OK, we're back!

What a great cruise! Now to start that diet, AGAIN, so that we can loose all the weight we gained this week, and be ready for October! (guess I better get those clothes off the treadmill)

Golden Mickey's was better, IMHO, than Disney Dreams.
Can't wait to see you guys again!
Fran

 

[pdarrah]

Thank you BeanoC for the kind welcome. We are really looking forward to this cruise and I am now is full "research mode" and trying to learn all I can. (I haven't actually done this in several years since we have just been going to WDW for all our vacations.)

Looking through the thread, it looks like most of the kids going are older than ours. Our son (name=Darrah - same as my last name) just turned 5, so he will be 5.5 for the cruise. He is looking forward to the Oceaneers Club, but it would be nice if he could meet an online friend before we go! Oh-well, there are still nearly 5 months to go, so there is still a chance.

Thank you for the party invite! At this point I usually ask, "what can we bring?", but it is a little hard to imagine carrying appetizers in our luggage Not to mention rather silly to bring food onto a cruise ship! If there is anything we can bring, please let us know.

We haven't made any decisions yet on shore excursions. Dan & I love to snorkle and I am going to work with Darrah this summer and try to teach him. If that works out, I really want to do this at Cozumel & Grand Caymen. (Dan & I first snorkled at Cozumel over 10 years ago on a carnival cruise) It looks like a number of the excursions have age limits of 6 and up, so we may have to arrange these on our own...

We are signed up for the late seating - partly because I don't want to be rushed and partly because I am hoping for fewer kids. Our DS is very used to dining out (he goes out to lunch 2 or 3 times every week with grandma & grandpa & out to dinner with us fairly often) and may not even choose to dine with us, so taking early seating for his sake didn't make much sense. I much prefer to dine without tons of kids around. How "cool" is the color change at Animator's Palette - should we push for him to dine with us when we are there?

>>Just be weary of 'Kamgen' and 'tarzanman'. They're WAY weird<<

Way weird is OK - I have never considered us to very "normal"! How can I be "weary" of someone I haven't met yet?

That is all for now - I'll try to post occasionally so we can all get to know each other a bit.

Pamela

 

[tchrmom]

We are a "chatty" group. We usually start to pick up the pace, about 1 month before we cruise. There is always the "last one to receive docs buys the first round" contest. Beano was last, as I recall.
(tchrmom smiles because she was first last time)

We did Capt. Marvins (Stingray tour) on our own last time we went, and it was great! I think I e-mailed them ahead of time.

Welcomne....and have a great day!
Fran

 

[tarzanman]

Pamela,

I just wanted to stick up for my DW and I. We are weird of course, but so is everyone else in the group. Beano especially. I guess we are all weird. People walking around for 7 days with stupid grins on their faces and drinks in their hands. Sometimes dancing by themselves on the dance floor or doing the YMCA. We all qualify.

Can't wait to meet all the new folks. This will be Kamgen and my 7th DCL cruise. 3 4nt cruises (1 New Years), 1 3nt cruise and 2 7nt cruises (East and West). If you have questions, this is a group to ask. We have all done things Disney's way and our own.

 

[kamgen]

Hey everyone!!!
Just wanted to chime in!!

Fran- Welcome back! I am so envious...but soon I will be a FL resident, so I can hold the excitement! We loved Golden Mickeys....great show!!

Welcome all you newbies! This you will see is a great group of people who love to cruise, love Disney, and love meeting new people....and don't worry....we aren't THAT weird

Well, actually.....oh forget it, don't want to scare anyone off!

We do love to have a good time and make the most of our vacations!!! So bring it on... I am so ready!

 

[pdarrah]

Hi everyone!

Our DS5 (Darrah) decided last night that he had to watch the DCL DVD again. This is the first time he has seen it since we booked the cruise. Wow! He is really excited

We are still a long way out, but he watched the section on dining and told us that "you guys (DH & I) can eat at those places - I am going to eat with the kids!" At this point in time, it doesn't sound like he is planning to spend much time with us - isn't this supposed to wait until his tweens?

I have a question for those of you who have had kids at the clubs before. My DS5 is planning on bringing his halloween costume because he is being a pirate this year and he is going on a ship ... therefore he needs his pirate outfit. (5 year old logic) If I give in on this, is it going to be just extra baggage, or will he actually have a chance to wear it and not be out of place? If there isn't anything at the clubs, it occured to me that he might be able to wear it on formal night - sort of like the little girls wearing their princess outfits. He is planning on being a "fancy" pirate like Captain Hook - not a "messy" pirate like the Pirates of the Carribean ride. Any thoughts on this? I'd like to keep the bagage down, but I don't want to tell him no and then get "I told you I needed it" all week!

Thanks,

Pamela

 

[tchrmom]

pdarrah.......

We just returned from the 5/28 eastern cruise. One day, they actually had a "Pirates and Princesses" party for the kids. I saw several bays in pirate costumes, and wondered how they knew to bring one. Not sure if they will do this again on the western, but, it's worth a shot to bring the costume!
Hope this helps!
Fran

 

[DMoss3377]

Hi everyone...

Welcome Pamela! Will be looking forward to meeting you and all the new people.

Well, today is moving day. We finally get to move in to our house today!

Two months living like gypsies is about to end.

After we're all settled, we'll be in full planning mode...all we keep talking about is how we're soooooo ready for this cruise. The last couple months have been very stressful. Time for some R&R, and a BBC, maybe a couple Dac's, beer sounds good too...and most importantly...some LAUGHS!!! Which we're sure to get as long as Beano, Kamgen and Tarzanman are around!

Miss you guys! Hope the move is going well Kam&Tarzan.

Gotta get movin...

 

[abitjaded]

Pamela,

There is a pirates "thing" for the kids in the clubs, I think for your guy's age group. DS 7 did it last year, they actually do a whole dress-up, tieing on bandannas and drawing mustaches. He could wear his stuff for that, but they do have costumes for them to loan. I say let the little guy wear it for formal or semi-formal night, too. I think it would be a hoot. My DS bought a captain's hat in St Thomas and wears it whenever we get near water, it got him lots of salutes on the ship from the crew. But I do know what you mean about luggage. Several times we have dressed up for MNSSHP and it takes up a whole suitcase! Zorro and fireman hats are a little tough to pack! And with all the formal stuff taking up another suitcase, and the snorkel gear and...

DMoss, congrats on the new house, but I still cannot find stuff from moving after several years!

Carla

 

[pdarrah]

Hi tchrmom and abitjaded,

Thank you for your thoughts on the pirate costume. I think we'll plan to bring it. I better tell grandma to make it with lighter materials than she usually does for halloween stuff! (Here near Chicago, it can snow on Halloween and is almost always cold.) He can always wear a turtleneck under it when he trick-or-treats back at home.

We are going to have far more luggage than usual for this trip! We usually manage to pack in 2 medium sized suitcases and 1 carryon. For this, we're probably going to need another suitcase just for snorkle gear and halloween costume. Not to mention a garment bag for DH's tux and my dresses. (I haven't taken a dress to WDW in at least a decade!) Oh well, at least DS5 is getting big enough we don't have to bring a stroller...

Pamela

 

[tchrmom]

Page two? This can't be!

BUMP!
Fran

 

[tarzanman]

Good move Fran! Second page is terrible.

DMOSS,

The move is not progressing the way we would like but we are hanging in there. We just need our house to sell and then we can get out of here. I am moving down 2 weeks from today. Kamgen is staying in MI a while longer.

I hope that your move went well. I am keeping my fingers crossed about ours.

Later.

 

[BeanoC]

Hi everyone,

I hope y'all had a good Father's Day weekend. I did, but I ate too much! Oh well, what else is knew.


4 months from today, we leave for the cruise. I hope they have some food on that ship.



'Beano'