*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* - From Spain to Space Mountain - Part 5

[Namsupak]

Morning everyone. Just popping in to catch up. Fun to see everyone's plans for Barcelona. I can't believe for us it's only this weekend and next weekend free. We leave on the 4th for Paris and our first time at DLP!

 

[Disneynut64]

Do we have anyone coming from Japan on our disboards. I have a big favor to ask if there is. Thanks Cindy

 

[fly4free2]

[

QUOTE=MandyGirl;42318146]
Most definitely, Jill! I picked up a little clip and small tiara at Sam Moon today

.

Oh my goodness, I LOVE Sam Moons. I used to go there every time I was in Dallas for management training. I want to go back.

Evelyn

 

[Chirpee]

Get hoho bus (with the EYE on it) (2 day ticket bought in advance on line)

We are arriving early on the Thursday morning and plan to take the HOHO bus too to get around that day. Linda, are there 2 HOHO bus companies as you mentioned the one you're taking has an EYE on it? If so, is this the better one of the 2? Thanks

 

[Pinky166]

Does anyone know how long it takes to see Sagrada Familia? We have a very short time to sightsee and are only planning on looking at a couple places. Not even sure if we will get out and go inside Sagrada Familia, but if we do, we definitely don't have time to wait in line. Sometimes if you are with a tour guide, as we will be, they can skip the lines....

I booked the Audio tour & it said it takes 1.5 hours then after you can continue exploring on your own if you want. You can also just buy a general admission ticket so I suppose it's as long or as little as you want. Hope that helps.

 

[granmaz]

Another thing to do in Barcelona. We were going to do it last year but didn't and I don't think we have time this year but I would love it. We have done the 2 WDW ones.

http://www.barcelonasegwayglides.com/

 

[Chris&Jeremy]

OK, so the planner in me is really kicking in now with only three weeks left. I plan to go to Bank of America this week to get our Euros and GBP before our economy tanks any more!

(Edit: now after what I typed below I can't figure out if I would even need any GBP - is there any need for cash in Gibraltar? The cable cars?) I think our plan here is to do the cable cars and shopping.

Here is a recap of what I think we will need money for specifically that can NOT be put on a CC off the ship. Can anyone tell me if I am missing something or if the info below is wrong?

MADEIRA DIS TOUR:
Tour (birkner): €30 each (but can be paid in advance via Paypal
Cable Car Ride (Madeira) €10 each (can this be charged or is it cash only)?
Toboggan Ride (Madeira): €12,50 each
Madeira Lunch €12 each + tip (can be charged, but cash will be faster)
Blandy's Tour €5 each (can this be charged or cash only?)

ST MAARTEN TOUR:
Tour: $45 USD can be charged on-site
Would it be good to have cash (USD) for drinks, lunch, etc here or are CCs good?

TORTOLA (JVD TOUR)
Tour: $50 USD (must be paid in cash on-site)
Drinks/meals: USD accepted here? Would it be good to have cash (USD) for drinks, lunch, etc here or are CCs good?

ONBOARD: $1 bills for room service tips

I am trying to avoid carrying cash as much as possible so am wondering where we will need cash and where we can get by using a CC.

(I actually NEVER carry cash in my daily life if I can get away with it - I'm one of those people that uses my debit card to pay for a fountain drink at the gas station!)

 

[birkner]

This implies that I wasn't drinking before. An erroneous assumption.



I was just thinking, with all of us needing to get in touch with each other for various things, are we going to have a master list of names and room numbers? Not that I'm volunteering or anything. I just wondered if that was part of what Noel is doing with the DIS Navigator.

I've got quite a few on the FE list, and we have more now that the Candy Swap list is out. Obviously, we're waiting for the GTY people to get their assignments. But with FE's alone, we have 60+ room numbers.

If we had a list, it would be easy to call and leave messages for things like the Prince & Princess Tea. (And to make prank calls, but I'm not the one who suggested that. ) It would also be useful for the "traveling magnets" - I'm assuming we can leave those on any DIS'ers door, not just those who also have magnets. (Or am I wrong about that? Could be my alcohol induced haze.)

I didn't plan to do a master list but I probably could make one if people really want one. One of the reasons I did not plan to publish a master list is some people were very concerned about publishing their room numbers due to concerns over children's safety.

I would welcome comments and concerns to see if people really want their room numbers published in the DIS Navigator.

 

[LindaBabe]

We are arriving early on the Thursday morning and plan to take the HOHO bus too to get around that day. Linda, are there 2 HOHO bus companies as you mentioned the one you're taking has an EYE on it? If so, is this the better one of the 2? Thanks

There is more than one hoho bus company. Someone on one of the trip reports specified the bus with the eye on it. I searched them and compared the itineraries. The one with the eye appeared to have the more comprehensive itineraries, with three intersecting routes. The price difference was less than 4 Euros. When I get on the other computer, I'll post the link for you.

 

[birkner]

Good morning everyone .... I am just logging on to wish you all a happy weekend. We are away for the weekend to Nottingham in England for the WBTA 2011 Reunion Get-together, with Warren and Abby, Jan and Carl and Julie from the 2011 WBTA. Hope to take a few photos When we get back it will be less than 3 weeks to go

Hope you post some pics here and on the WBTA 2011 thread!

 

[birkner]

Hi everyone,

I have a favor to ask. Right now I'm a disorganized mess! Can you please email me your screen name, stateroom number and favorite character so that I can get my projects done? I thought I had created a spreadsheet with this information, but alas, it is nowhere to be found (guess I only thought about doing it.....).

My email is msklcassidy at hotmail dot com. Sorry to spell it out, but it does avoid those who fish to fill my inbox with spam!

Thanks,

Karen

email sent!!

 

[MandyGirl]

Mandi,

While this is all good, just keep in mind that you will be jet lagged from your trip and you might not be able to accomplish all of that in day 1. You did not seem to put in any "nap time" for when the lack of sleep and time change kick in.

Given the distance between the Gaudi stuff, it can be a lot of walking. Most of it is on the metro or near enough, but you need to factor that in with your kids. You might want to consider swapping a few on Thurs to Friday in that you will be less in a daze and it is easier to walk down Las Ramblas and could take less time then you have built in--whereas in Day 1 you might run out of time. We spent 2 hours at Sangrada Familia and about 90 minutes at the La Pedrera, one of the other Gaudi buildings that you don't have on there, but may represent how much time you need. Also the metro is convenient, but some of the stations to switch lines is a LONG walk between the two lines.

By no means am I trying to be discouraging, just know that you need to pace yourself and account for the tiredness you may encounter on day 1 and even into day 2.

Just my two cents. We saw a lot of people on our last cruise do this in Rome, these packed day agendas and they felt like they were stressed the whole time and not really "seeing" anything. My advice is that you sometimes just need to promise that you will come back again to see what you missed.

Amanda

Thanks! I have been told both ways on naps. I have been told to NOT take a nap to adjust to the new timezone better, that napping just makes jetlag recovery worse (although this is our first trip overseas WITH the kiddos). I wear the baby in a sling, so she can nap as we sightsee, and the older one is pretty much out of taking naps. I have also heard we may not be able to checkin until 3:00 for the hotel, so if arriving prior to 7:30, we have some time to kill with nowhere TO nap (unless at Parc Guell with a picnic). Maybe the things we don't see Thursday can be put into Friday. I just don't want to be zig-zagging back and forth - make everything as efficient as possible.

I now remember El Corte Ingles on Saturday morning.

Since we are in NYC the first part of the week, and literally right between Times Square and Empire State Building, I feel like that will be much more "do-able". We can easily pop back into the hotel for an afternoon nap.

I definitely don't want to be like we have with some families --- arrive, one says "what do you want to do", the other replies I don't know what do YOU want to do"... and precious time is wasted because nobody can figure out what to do (or where to eat...). That drives me crazy!!

Need to break out the map....

 

[MandyGirl]

That's one big reason why we're doing the hoho bus - so if we don't have the energy to HO, it won't matter. But my OTHER goal is to keep us awake until bedtime.

That was my original plan... so we could rest when needed... but Curt's uncle thought we could manage metro (and Curt though we could save money)

If we arrive and are just exhausted, it is my Plan B. Ask a tired hubby with two cranky kids, and $$$ won't be an issue then

 

[poohluv2u]

People after my own heart..lol My DS19 likes to say, under his breath, "passive aggressive much, Mom?"

This is from the post I made earlier today stating that they were taking private reservations as Disney did not book the entire ship. Our families are going on the same tour. You can find more information on it at http://www.madeirapirateboat.com/ if you are interested.

Nickole

Thanks for posting this, we are thinking of doing this too. One question we have is; where does the ship leave from, is it the same port the Magic docks in?

 

[PFlamingo]

OK, so the planner in me is really kicking in now with only three weeks left. I plan to go to Bank of America this week to get our Euros and GBP before our economy tanks any more!

(Edit: now after what I typed below I can't figure out if I would even need any GBP - is there any need for cash in Gibraltar? The cable cars?) I think our plan here is to do the cable cars and shopping.

I am trying to avoid carrying cash as much as possible so am wondering where we will need cash and where we can get by using a CC.

(I actually NEVER carry cash in my daily life if I can get away with it - I'm one of those people that uses my debit card to pay for a fountain drink at the gas station!)

I do that too, except it's my Disney Visa and I pay it off at the end of the month. I love to rack up those reward points - and use their money for a month.

We're planning to do the cable cars, nature preserve, WWII tunnels, Europa Point, and shopping. I think we'll take the buses to save on taxis. So I'm figuring 100-150 GBP for the two of us. I'll pay for whatever we buy at Morrison's with a combination of cash and CC, thus zeroing out my GBP.

I'm having more trouble figuring out what we'll need for Euros. We're more likely to eat at small local places that may not take cc's, so that's a bit of a puzzler.

I didn't plan to do a master list but I probably could make one if people really want one. One of the reasons I did not plan to publish a master list is some people were very concerned about publishing their room numbers due to concerns over children's safety.

I would welcome comments and concerns to see if people really want their room numbers published in the DIS Navigator.

The security thing did occur to me. We'll have 60+ room numbers from the FE list, and a few more from the candy swap, so that will probably be enough to pass the magnets around. We can always exchange numbers on board if we think we'll need to get in touch with each other.

We're okay with it either way.

 

[birkner]

I'm joining this thread, bear with me, I'm new to this posts and all.

Welcome aboard!! We are Noel and John and this will be our 5th cruise on DCL. Our last cruise was the 2010 WBTA so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask or PM me.

Please tell us about yourself and your family. There are some events that are closed or are full but here is a rundown.

My DH John and I have created a website for you view other cruisers and sign in with your information. WBTA Website
If you want to add your picture to the website, you can send it to us at nbirkner@yahoo.com
Please check this first page of the thread to orient yourself about the cruise, DIS members on the cruise and all the activities planned.
To help you with all the activities that are planned, here is some information to help you decide if you want to participate:

01. If you are interested in participating in the Fish Extender Exchange (FE), please PM Pat (PFlamingo) with the following details:
Send her your stateroom number, Disboard name, first name of each person in the stateroom, realtionship to you (DH, DW, DD, DS, etc) ages and gender of children. You can cut and paste the format below.
Stateroom #:
Disname:
First name:
Age:
Disname:
First name:
Age:
Cutoff date for joining the FE is August 1, 2011.

02. If people are interested in being in the same area as other DIS'ers to send Dan (Cliffy97) a PM with Lead Passenger name, your booking number and if you are Early or Late seating. Dan was told by Disney today that this is all they need to put folks together. . Linked Dining

03. If you are interested in the Candy Swap, please PM Christina(Just love Eeyore ).

04. If you are interested in Secret Mickey Exchange, please PM Karen (karentan).

05. If you are interest in getting a WBTA lanyard, please PM Noel (birkner). See this lanyard link for example of the previous 2010 WBTA lanyard. Hopefully, a group of DISers will volunteer to underwrite the lanyards as they did last year so they will be free to the rest of the DISers. We already have several people offering to be part of the lanyard underwriting group. If you wish to join, please send Noel (Birkner) a PM. If we get enough members, the cost should be $10 or less per member.

06. If you are interested in a WBTA lanyard pin,please PM Noel (birkner). See the lanyard link above for example of the previous 2010 WBTA pin. Cost will be 5 Euros per pin. Payment is to be made by June 30, 2011 to birkner@needinfo.com on PayPal. Contact Noel (birkner) if you have more questions about pins. * Just a quick note on Lanyard pins. I have ordered a couple extra pins so if you want a pin, pls PM me, first come, first served until the pins are all sold.

07. If you are interested in participating in a Mickey Mouse Club night, please check out this Mickey Mouse club post. Plans are to do this event on Monday September 19 at both early and late seating dinners. We will all wear our Mickey Mouse shirts and ears!!

08. I am organizing two tours in Madeira. West we did last year and also one for East Madeira. Here is the a PDF file that gives more information about the 2010 tour. If you are interested, please send Noel (birkner) a PM.

09. We are also going to do a Champagne Girls meet. The Champagne Girls event originated on the WBPC cruise in 2008. Women get together dressed in pink to drink champagne or non alcoholic bubbly and chat. Pictures of the first meet are in this post and pictures from the last WBTA are in this post. Please PM (Clare)Pinky166 to add you name to the list.

10. If you would like to join in the Scrapbooking Exchange, please PM Clare (Pinky166) with your name and room number. The idea is to give your fellow exchangers some scrapbooking embellishments for use in your scrapbooks after you return home! For more info check this post.

11 Join us for a Pajama breakfast on September 18 at 10:00 AM at Lumiere's. We will meet outside Lumiere's at 9:50 AM to take group pictures. If you are interested, please PM Mandy (MandyGirl) with the number in your party.
Here is the picture from the PJ breakfast on last years WBTA.

12. Mandy (MandyGirl) is organizing a Tortola Excursion of a group rate day sail on a power catamaran to Jost VanDyke with Tortola Charters. Please PM Mandy with the number in your party if you are interested in being added to the standby list of this full excursion.

13. Squitty (Michelle) is organizing private Mixology and Mojito tastings. If you are interested, send her a PM for details.

14. Karen (Pixie Dust For Me!)is organizing stateroom tours, but we can't do it without you! PM me with your stateroom assignment and room number and we will tour as many staterooms as possible. It would be great to get one in every category!
When: Definitely on a sea day....stay tuned for which day!
Time: TBD
Where: You will be given a list of participating stateroom numbers and categories the day after we embark (to account for all those upgrades, don't you know )
Refreshments: Optional per discretion of stateroom participant.

15. If you want a designed DIS tee shirt for this cruise, follow the instruction in this post. DIS Tee shirt

16. Cliffy 97 (Dan and Bruce) are organizing a typical English pub crawl on Friday, September 16 from 1:00PM until 5:00PM. We can then restart after dinner.
Those who were interested will in one of the bars for ( Traditionally a half pint pounded, I would suggest a drink of your choice) and then visit (Crawl) every other bar on the ship at least once.
As we do not have to worry about anything closing or how we are getting home, I would imagine we can spend 20-30 min at each location versus the 5-10 min you have on the monopoly pub crawl in London.

Tee Shirt Order Site
More details on the pub crawl here: Pub Crawl

If you are located outside of the USA and want a t-shirt, please PM Chris&Jeremy and he will send you the artwork so you can have your own shirt printed locally.

17. If anyone wants to organize a postcard exchange, please feel free to start one. What we did las year is bring a postcard from where we lived and left in each other's FE. It is best to limit the number of participants no more than 25 as cost and weight to bring become an issue.

18. If you are interested in joining us for a farewell lunch, contact Claire (Pinky166) to be added to the list.
Come & join us for a farewell DIS lunch on the last sea day. Thursday 22nd Sept at 12.15pm, we are not sure which of the three rotational restaurants will be open on that day, should there be more than one open I have put them in order of preference - 1st Lumiere's, 2nd Parrot Cay or 3rd Animator's Palate.
Please make sure you check your Navigator that morning to see which restaurant is open for lunch as I won't be able to tell you in advance.
Please PM me if you'd like to join us and I will add you to the list, then once onboard notify the restaurant so they can seat us together at some large tables.

19. Hard Rock Cafe Meet. Some of us are hoping to meet up for drinks/a meal the evening of Friday 9th September at 6:30 PM at the Hard Rock Cafe on Placa Catalunya and is being organized by Sarah (Totally Angelic). Please send her a PM if you want to join in the fun!

20. Jane (We'reAliens) is organizing a Book Exchange. The idea is that a large bag will be hung on handrail outside stateroom 7120 available for anyone to borrow and, of course, donate books.

21. Jill (TxMermaid1) is organizing a dive in Tortola. Here is the info on the dive trip for Tortola Group leader led by Jill Bouska, PADI Master Scuba Diver Instructor. Tortola Dive
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41602319&postcount=2002)

22. Nancy (Lionessa) wants to know if anyone interested or know about The Dolphin Royal Swim on Tortola? She is looking at booking it directly and would be very happy to share a taxi (minivan) with others who are interested. If you book ahead of time directly with the company you receive a discount. The Dolphin Royal Swim is for adults & children age 8+. ($149.00 adult) ($129.00 child) For the two, the total would be 278.00- discount= 208.00 US There are 4 shows as possibilities: 10am, noon, 2pm, 4pm. Since the ship leaves at 3:45, she doesn't think the last 2 are good possibilities. Please PM her for details and more information.

23. Nancy (Lionessa) is organizing a HealthErcise group which will begin now (you can join anytime) precruise each day until we sail off. Then after we sail off, it doesn't stop there! On-board each day,we meet at a pre-arranged time to exercise together either on Deck 4 or the gym. During this time we support each other day after day until the end of the cruise with our goal of staying healthy with exercise while enjoying our meals and snacks.

You can exercise any amount of days you wish when we are cruising---one day, four days, or all the days. We will discuss what times and where (indoor or outdoor) are best to meet for exercise once we sail. Please PM her if you need more details and to join.

 

[birkner]

Dennis and I were discussing how much money we should get in Euros and GBPs, and I started wondering aloud about something. He said, "How will you find out about that?" and I said, "I'll ask on the DIS. They'll know." So here it is.

If we have "leftover" Euros and GBPs, is there any real disadvantage to applying them to our on-board account - like, lousy exchange rates?

When I checked with my bank about buying foreign currency, they said they'll only buy it back in units of $250! They also charge a fee to buy it in the first place, which totally sucks b/c I've had accounts there for ages. So I was thinking, if we don't spend it all at the European ports and Barca, and we can't sell it back to the bank, we might as well spend it on the ship. Thoughts?

This is precisely why I suggest buying your currency at Travelex. See site for details. I understand you can also use AAA who uses Travelex

 

[birkner]

OK, so the planner in me is really kicking in now with only three weeks left. I plan to go to Bank of America this week to get our Euros and GBP before our economy tanks any more!

(Edit: now after what I typed below I can't figure out if I would even need any GBP - is there any need for cash in Gibraltar? The cable cars?) I think our plan here is to do the cable cars and shopping.

Here is a recap of what I think we will need money for specifically that can NOT be put on a CC off the ship. Can anyone tell me if I am missing something or if the info below is wrong?

MADEIRA DIS TOUR:
Tour (birkner): €30 each (but can be paid in advance via Paypal
Cable Car Ride (Madeira) €10 each (can this be charged or is it cash only)?
Toboggan Ride (Madeira): €12,50 each
Madeira Lunch €12 each + tip (can be charged, but cash will be faster)
Blandy's Tour €5 each (can this be charged or cash only?)

ST MAARTEN TOUR:
Tour: $45 USD can be charged on-site
Would it be good to have cash (USD) for drinks, lunch, etc here or are CCs good?

TORTOLA (JVD TOUR)
Tour: $50 USD (must be paid in cash on-site)
Drinks/meals: USD accepted here? Would it be good to have cash (USD) for drinks, lunch, etc here or are CCs good?

ONBOARD: $1 bills for room service tips

I am trying to avoid carrying cash as much as possible so am wondering where we will need cash and where we can get by using a CC.

(I actually NEVER carry cash in my daily life if I can get away with it - I'm one of those people that uses my debit card to pay for a fountain drink at the gas station!)

re: Madeira tour questions, if I remember correctly on both the Cable car and at Blandy's we used a credit card. I have sent an email to double check to Eusébia at Daniel Taxi today.

A quick reminder, if you prepay the tour, be sure to have some Euros to tip driver or buy souvenirs at those small places who do not take credit cards.

 

[TxMermaid1]

Most definitely, Jill! I picked up a little clip and small tiara at Sam Moon today. And I think you saw her with her hair in a ponytail. When I try fixing it right after it is washed, it is manageable. (Like a MUST DO on Sunday mornings before church. Can't wash it the night before.) Love her color and ringlets, but if that hair is dry, no comb will go through it.

We will turn her into the most beautiful princess! After all that won't take much as she is already beautiful!

I live about a mile from Sam Moons... so I have lots of sparkle hair bling...lol

At the port, IF any upgrades remain available does anyone have any experience on the discounts offered or the additional fees to upgrade from oh, lets say and OUTSIDE GTY to a verandah?

Thanks for any info you that have experience may be able to share.

If you booked a GTY it is usually a very restricted reservation, not allowing for any upgrades at port. The only possible upgrades are "usually" if DCL upgrades you when they give you your cabin #....

Well, I guess that leaves me to dance around, sprinkle magic dust on everyone (it's not pixie dust, after all) and sing "Bibbity Bobbity Boo" - off key.

I have a visual of this
But someone has to sprinkle Fairy Godmother magic...

I have been catching up on all the post as I have been very busy with one thing and another. I am sorry if this has already been answered but I must of missed it if it has. Does the invitation for the Princess and Prince tea party get delivered to your state room? I know that the RSVP needs to returned to the gift shop but I was just curious to how we got the invite.

Hope you all have a good day

Yes.. the invite will be at your room.

 

[middleofamerica]

MADEIRA DIS TOUR:
Tour (birkner): €30 each (but can be paid in advance via Paypal
Cable Car Ride (Madeira) €10 each (can this be charged or is it cash only)?
Toboggan Ride (Madeira): €12,50 each
Madeira Lunch €12 each + tip (can be charged, but cash will be faster)
Blandy's Tour €5 each (can this be charged or cash only?)

ST MAARTEN TOUR:
Tour: $45 USD can be charged on-site
Would it be good to have cash (USD) for drinks, lunch, etc here or are CCs good?

TORTOLA (JVD TOUR)
Tour: $50 USD (must be paid in cash on-site)
Drinks/meals: USD accepted here? Would it be good to have cash (USD) for drinks, lunch, etc here or are CCs good?

ONBOARD: $1 bills for room service tips

I am trying to avoid carrying cash as much as possible so am wondering where we will need cash and where we can get by using a CC.

(I actually NEVER carry cash in my daily life if I can get away with it - I'm one of those people that uses my debit card to pay for a fountain drink at the gas station!)

We also never carry cash, but when we were in St Maarten on our last DCL cruise, we really wished we had cash to pay with. I think they used the credit card machines where they swiped it with the carbon copy. We plan to pay with cash in places like that from now on! I've heard people have had identity theft problems there, luckily we didn't, but it really made us uncomfortable!