*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* From Spain to Space Mountain-Taking the Magic Home

[birkner]

thanx for the welcome noel, im sure as time passes i will inundate you with
questions

could you put us down for 2 lanyards and 2 pins. how do you make donation for lanyards, i dont recall seeing that on first page??

Please send me a private message as it is the easiest way for me to keep track of who is ordering what items. I put the details in my Welcome Wagon post above but donations will be made to my PayPal account which will be the same one I use to pay for the pins.

More details on payment for pins and lanyard donations will be available soon.

I am frantically planning the last details for GD Aspen's college trip as we leave this Saturday at 7:05 AM. I may be sporadically available from March 12-26, 2011 so please do not be offended if I don't respond immediately during that time.

 

[DISNEYFAN_SD]

Great idea! Last year was end of April according to this webpage: http://www.mousesavers.com/wdwspecialevents.html

Thanks for the information

 

[DISNEYFAN_SD]

I don't think MNSSHP dates will be released until Octobers hours are release at end of this month, so maybe early-mid April?

You can work out which dates the party will be on in September though. Here is a link to September park hours: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/sep11.cfm?requesttimeout=1000

On the days when MK shuts at 7pm - that will be when MNSSHP is. Although that is not 100% guaranteed, it is unlikely to change.

I am so upset as it looks like we will miss it, we only have 3 nights in WDW after the cruise.

Thanks I will put those dates as a tenative ...

 

[birkner]

Many congratulations for booking!! Curt and I will have our two daughters with us as well... Sarah will be turning 5 the week of embarkation and Em just turned 7 months today. This will be the first cruise for the girls, first DCL for Curt and I, and definitely the first TA! We have previously done 8 cruises, but all around the Caribbean (from FL and San Juan) as well as Alaska. Glad to be branching out now!



im glad to hear someone else is braving taken a toddler, people here
think were mad taking our dd , hoping its not as bad as they making out.

I started traveling with my kids when they were 3 months old so they and all GK's are seasoned travelers. Since I was widowed with my older children when I was 29, traveling without them was not an option. I always took them and their nanny with me on business trips. It was not as common then as it is now, especially on cruise ships. I kept my kids on a leash when they were toddlers as they didn't have the safety railings they do now days.

 

[Tod&Copper]

Mmmmmm, just finished our Shrove Tuesday pancakes here.

I had bought the ingredients in for tonight but, as it was DD's 16th birthday yesterday, we have lots of birthday cake left, so might postpone it until tomorrow

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Thanks all, for the compliments!

Yummy that cake (or pie) looks delish!!! The After Eight mousse sounds devine! My DH would love that. What quantities of After 8's & whipped cream do you use?

The orig. recipe is 200 grams of A8 and 400 grams of unwhipped cream, but I do at least 1:1 if not more A8. It's very simple, really. Only risk is upfront with the heating that has to be done subtle. You melt the A8 in a pan with the unwhipped cream. I basically keep my fire as low as possible. It takes a bit longer, but never had the cream gone bad (seems to happen often?). Keep stirring the A8 round to make sure it doesn't burn while melting. Once melted; boil the cream and let it boil in for a short while. Take it off the fire and let it cool down. You can put it in the fridge overnight, for instance. Now beat it with a mixer. Takes about 5 to 8 minutes or so? Add a bit of cream fixer (sorry, don't know the english word , it's a product that makes whipped cream and other fluid products more solid) during that mixing. Stop mixing when it's the thickness you want it to be. The longer you mix, the thicker it'll become but it will keep it's many airpockets like a mousse should.

Oh, and one thing; do not taste while prepping, you'll find yourself magically loosing a lot of mousse otherwise

I can chat for Britain, but never during a show

As long as you don't mind me singing along to all the songs

As long as you don't permanently damage any ears while singing; be my guest!

Your cake looks brilliant, my BFF's son loves kermit, it would be a fantastic birthday cake for him

Thanks for the compliment. If you have the time, you could really make this yourself. If I can do it, anybody easily can. And oh what fun it is! Just super addictive.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Noel; have fun checking out college(s) with Aspen!

 

[Pinky166]

The orig. recipe is 200 grams of A8 and 400 grams of unwhipped cream, but I do at least 1:1 if not more A8. It's very simple, really. Only risk is upfront with the heating that has to be done subtle. You melt the A8 in a pan with the unwhipped cream. I basically keep my fire as low as possible. It takes a bit longer, but never had the cream gone bad (seems to happen often?). Keep stirring the A8 round to make sure it doesn't burn while melting. Once melted; boil the cream and let it boil in for a short while. Take it off the fire and let it cool down. You can put it in the fridge overnight, for instance. Now beat it with a mixer. Takes about 5 to 8 minutes or so? Add a bit of cream fixer (sorry, don't know the english word , it's a product that makes whipped cream and other fluid products more solid) during that mixing. Stop mixing when it's the thickness you want it to be. The longer you mix, the thicker it'll become but it will keep it's many airpockets like a mousse should.

Oh, and one thing; do not taste while prepping, you'll find yourself magically loosing a lot of mousse otherwise

Thanks for that, I think i'll have to give it a go.

Tasting is all part of the chefs job.

 

[LindaBabe]

That cake looks AMAZING!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

I am putting together a Welcome Wagon post for new cruisers. Anyone have any comments or things I should add to post below?

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 check this first page link 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:

02. If you are interested in the Candy Swap, please PM Jacqueline (goofieslonglostsis).

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

04. 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.

05. If you are interested in a WBTA lanyard pin, please PM Noel (birkner). See this pin link for example of the previous 2010 WBTA pin.Cost will be approximately 4,5 or 5 Euros per pin.

06. If you are interested in purchasing a WBTA t-shirt printed with a variation of the cruise meet logo, Karen (Pixie_Dust_For_Me) has kindly offered to organise this for our cruise. Price will be approximately $7 per t-shirt, and sizes range from Youth XS (size 2) to Youth XL; Adult S to Adult 4XL.

07. If you are interested in participating in a Mickey Mouse Club night, please check out this Mickey Mouse club post.

08. I am thinking of organizing the same tour I did last year in Madeira. Here is the Madeira link to 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 1:30 AM at Lumiere's. If you are interested, please PM with the number in your party.
Here is the picture from the PJ breakfast on last years WBTA.

12. Sarah (TotallyAngelic) is organizing a Gibraltar Whale Watching Expedition if you are interested in joining. Please PM Sarah with the number in your party if you are interested.

13. Mandy (MandyGirl) is organizing a Tortola Excursion of a private 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.


14. We hope to organize a Stateroom Tour of all the SR categories but we do yet have a an organizer. Stay tuned for more details!!

The Gibraltar trip is dolphin watching rather than whale watching Noel. This is a great welcome post by the way .. it will be a massive help to all the new cruisers !!

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Pajama breakfast[/URL] on September 18 at 1:30 AM at Lumiere's. If you are interested, please PM with the number in your party.
Here is the picture from the PJ breakfast on last years WBTA.

As usual; great recap for all the newbees! Just one little typo in the piece above;the time of the breakfast. At 1.30 AM we could also do a nightcap drink for those that prefer alcohol above breakkie?

 

[birkner]

Noel; have fun checking out college(s) with Aspen!

Thank you!! Yes, it will be fun but lots and lots of driving. Hope the East Coast weather is halfway decent!!

 

[birkner]

The Gibraltar trip is dolphin watching rather than whale watching Noel. This is a great welcome post by the way .. it will be a massive help to all the new cruisers !!

Your are welcome. Thanks for telling me about the tour. I made the correction right now.

 

[binkytell]

Welcome!! This is our first ever cruise as well and we are so excited!
DD Morgan (8) will be so glad to hear of another girl her age.

was wondering if there is a way maybe any children on the cruise could get to know each other, if anyone is interested, whether it be through email penpal or seperate thread for kids attached to our cruise.

my dd would really love this so she could get to know friends before they meet, as she can take a while to warm up, it would make kids club and my life a lot easier

 

[auntlynne]

Pie, cake, I never really know which is the proper form in the english language. Guess that comes from the usage of cake in the dutch language. For us cake basically is something more alike plain cupcakes, so anything that's not like that I have a hard time calling it a cake.

This one was filled with a layer of strawberrys and a layer of after eight mousse. It was yummy.

And the English seem to call all desserts pudding.

 

[debg]

I am putting together a Welcome Wagon post for new cruisers. Anyone have any comments or things I should add to post below?

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.

What I'd really like to know is the dining schedule... when's formal night, semi-formal night, pirate night... which nights are normal rotational... was the rotation the standard where you switched to the next restaurant each night or did you repeat some evenings (like on the western itinerary)?

Also, how easy/hard was it to get a 2nd Palo brunch reservation? I know we can only book one ahead of time and would need to try for the 2nd once onboard, but if the odds are minimal we surely wouldn't break our necks getting there early.

Thanks in advance!

debg

 

[MandyGirl]

im glad to hear someone else is braving taken a toddler, people here
think were mad taking our dd , hoping its not as bad as they making out.

Yep! We get the same reaction. However, when Em was 2 months old and Sarah was 3 years old, I was flying with just me and the girls out of state... alone... juggling getting them through TSA security with zero help and handling the car seat, stroller, and rental car. Having a baby has not slowed us down, even with two! Curt will be flying standby from New York to Barcelona (he's an airline employee, so that's why we're doing that - to actually use his flight benefits for once --- he'll know if he's on the flight 30 minutes before it leaves, or he is looking for another flight), so there is the very real possibility I will be doing the flight alone with the girls since we have tickets. In coach. But we will be fine. I'm going to already have Curt sign the papers for me to take the girls out of the country by myself in case he doesn't make the flight. I feel certain he will make it to BCN before the cruise leaves since we are going a few days early, but still being prepared to take the cruise without him if he doesn't.... then DCL also has the signed papers as well for me to travel with children without him. (I don't think my parents have thought of that possibility!! That will really freak them out!)

We'll have a practice run in July though - I'm taking the girls on a church mission trip out of state for a week while Curt has to work. And next week home to see my family. Have kids, will still travel!

I am putting together a Welcome Wagon post for new cruisers. Anyone have any comments or things I should add to post below?


11 Join us for a Pajama breakfast on September 18 at 1:30 AM at Lumiere's. If you are interested, please PM with the number in your party.
Here is the picture from the PJ breakfast on last years WBTA.

Hi Noel! Thanks for doing this! You may want to add my name on #11 for the Pajama Party and correct the date. I think we have 10:00 AM on the front page, so meet at 9:50 AM for pics outside the restaurant.

Noel; have fun checking out college(s) with Aspen!

DITTO!

 

[cliffy97]

Noel -

Can you add something in about dining. If people are interested in being in the same area as other DIS'ers to send me a PM with Lead Passanger name and booking Reference and Early or Late.

I got a response for Disney today that this is all they need to put us together.

Thanks !

Dan

 

[birkner]

I am putting together a Welcome Wagon post for new cruisers. Anyone have any comments or things I should add to post below?

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.

What I'd really like to know is the dining schedule... when's formal night, semi-formal night, pirate night... which nights are normal rotational... was the rotation the standard where you switched to the next restaurant each night or did you repeat some evenings (like on the western itinerary)?

Also, how easy/hard was it to get a 2nd Palo brunch reservation? I know we can only book one ahead of time and would need to try for the 2nd once onboard, but if the odds are minimal we surely wouldn't break our necks getting there early.

Thanks in advance!

debg

Here is a copy of the DIS Navigator that was made on our last cruise which should answer all your dining questions and perhaps give you an idea of what DIS activities we had on the last WBTA

WBTA DIS NAVIGATOR

On the last WBTA, I heard people once on board were able to make a second brunch reservation.

 

[birkner]

Hi Noel! Thanks for doing this! You may want to add my name on #11 for the Pajama Party and correct the date. I think we have 10:00 AM on the front page, so meet at 9:50 AM for pics outside the restaurant.

DITTO!

Done!!