Sept 25, 2011 Wonder - Mexican Riviera

[Jennifer in MI]

We did the WBTA last year-it was fabulous, especially all those sea days. The dates didn't work for us this year, but 12 days on the Wonder is a good alternative.1:

I'm so jealous! We were originally booked on the WBTA and canceled because of the flight prices. I really want to do 14 nights!!! Maybe after the kids are out of the house . . .

This is silly but I have to share with yall cuz I know you are the only ones who might understand my excitement!

DH and I have been trying to figure out how we're going to tell our DD about the cruise as one of her birthday presents on her birthday in a couple weeks (She still doesn't know). I was trying to think of some little cruise-themed trinket I could wrap in a box... maybe stick a note in with it that explains the surprise.

So Friday night we went to the Disney Outlet store we have here in town. I LOVE going there because it gets me in the Disney mood! They get all of the cast-offs from Disneyland/WDW and sell them for 50% off or more. Usually it's their old t-shirts... Hannah Montana and stuff that's not really popular any more... but every once in a while you can find a gem. I thought maybe they'd have a Disney Cruise themed t-shirt or something I could wrap.

Well, we found these great Pirate-themed Mickey ears!! (Don't you love the hoop earring? lol)

So we bought three of them (one for each of us) and we're going to wrap those with a note that we'll be wearing these on PIRATE'S NIGHT on the ship in September! I can't wait to have her unwrap them! She's going to totally freak out.

She knows we usually try and plan some sort of vacation for September, and the last 2 Septembers we went to WDW to take advantage of their Free Dining deal... so the other day she said "are we going to go to Disney World again this year??" I said "Hmm I don't know... we've done it twice in a row now. Maybe we should try something new." She thought for a while and said "Wouldn't it be so cool to go on a Disney CRUISE??!!! They showed it on Disney Channel and it looks AWESOME!!!" She went on and on about how fun it would be. It was so hard to not say anything! I know she's going to be so excited. I can't wait!!

Thanks for listening to me ramble!

That is an AWESOME find!!!! How old is your dd? I bet she'll be SO excited. Tape her reaction!!!!

 

[Super*Mum]

This is silly but I have to share with yall cuz I know you are the only ones who might understand my excitement!

DH and I have been trying to figure out how we're going to tell our DD about the cruise as one of her birthday presents on her birthday in a couple weeks (She still doesn't know). I was trying to think of some little cruise-themed trinket I could wrap in a box... maybe stick a note in with it that explains the surprise. [...]

You are better than me! There is no way I could keep that secret so well!!! My son always knows when I have a secret trip planned... I always talk around or about things related to where we are going (I am completely obvious but I try so hard!). When I finally tell him he is thrilled and jumps for joy but always says later that he had kind of figured it out already. This trip I am making him "pay for." Which means he is doing weekly chores (for inflated wages) and putting a couple birthday twenties towards it. He already has it paid off and now is working toward paying for excursions and souvenirs. I wasn't sure how I would like this... sure, it is a good life lesson but I was worried he would eventually say, "Forget it! I don't want to vacuum... let's skip the trip." but luckily that never happened! He has worked harder and has been happy to do it! Probably will go back to the surprise trips from here on out as they are much more fun to plan (like finding cool pirate ears!) but it was a good lesson for him (age 10). I get the feeling I will book our next cruise on board and I will do my hardest to keep it a secret... though I may crawl out of my skin.

I love the pirate ears!!! Another fun thing you could do is make an old treasure map (soak paper in tea to yellow it... maybe burn the edges... safely of course) and make her hunt for the treasure chest that contains the ears. And I completely agree with Jennifer... you MUST get her reaction on tape!

 

[lostinyonkers]

This trip I am making him "pay for." Which means he is doing weekly chores (for inflated wages) and putting a couple birthday twenties towards it.....
I love the pirate ears!!! Another fun thing you could do is make an old treasure map (soak paper in tea to yellow it... maybe burn the edges... safely of course) and make her hunt for the treasure chest that contains the ears.

I love that he's earning the cruise! When we went to WDW last year, our DD had to earn her spending money. I've never gotten so much work out of her in my life! It was great! lol

The treasure map idea is so great! I love it! We actually did a "treasure hunt" to tell her about our first trip to Disney World a couple of years back but it didn't go so well (more on that below). Maybe we should re-try it! Ha!

That is an AWESOME find!!!! How old is your dd? I bet she'll be SO excited. Tape her reaction!!!!

She'll be turning 9 on her birthday. I'll definitely tape her reaction. As I mentioned above... we actually did a "treasure hunt" when we booked our first trip to WDW and I taped the whole hunt and her reaction. It was quite a let-down!! She was 6 at the time and she didn't quite "get it" when the final thing said we were going to Disney World. I was so excited to tape this AWESOME reaction and instead I got a really confused look and silence. I think she thought we were playing some kind of game.... We had to explain to her that we were actually going to Disney World!! It took a good minute or so for it to sink in, and when it did, it was adorable... it just wasn't quite the Kodak moment I had hoped it would be ...

 

[swx72]

Ohhh! Add me, add me!!!! We just switched cruise dates today from October 9 to this one. I know it's only two weeks earlier, but I am all that much more excited because it seems soo much closer all ready.

We are: me(Denise), DH (Mike), DS 14 (Mark) and DS 11 (Drew). We participated in the FE on our last cruise and can't wait to participate again!

I've added you to my list that I'm keeping going just so that I can see it at a glance too. Do you have a cabin number for the FE?

 

[swx72]

I'm so jealous! We were originally booked on the WBTA and canceled because of the flight prices. I really want to do 14 nights!!! Maybe after the kids are out of the house . . .



That is an AWESOME find!!!! How old is your dd? I bet she'll be SO excited. Tape her reaction!!!!

I'd love to see her reaction too. My 4 year old knows nothing, but partly because she has no idea of time, but she keeps asking when we can go to Disneyland again.

 

[SoccrMom]

Thanks all for the warm welcome! We are really quite excited about this trip.

I've added you to my list that I'm keeping going just so that I can see it at a glance too. Do you have a cabin number for the FE?

The cabin number is 7610. How many people are participating as of right now? Do you have an official list (number of people/ages of kids, etc.) going? Are you going to have a cut-off date that people can add, just so that we can plan quantities easier?

Sorry for all of the questions, I am just a worry wart and want to get my FE gifts done over the summer before I have to go back to school.

 

[Super*Mum]

Ok... I have a secret. I am literally shaking with excitement and can not make eye contact with my son or I'm sure to spill the beans. (From my previous post about how I do with secrets ,you should know that I am near a coronary and suppressing the word vomit).

My DS and I are going to Kauai the week prior to the cruise! I bought the tickets a couple hours ago. I had been going back and forth about this for the last week. My mother is going with us to Kauai.. and possibly on the cruise (I put a hold on a room for her but she doesn't know yet). I am waiting until we are all in one place (my mom, my son and I) to let my DS know and sort out the details... and there are a lot of details to sort out!

One detail you all may be able to help with... particularly those who are flying in to LAX. We will be arriving back to LAX from Kauai on 9/24 late at night. I am trying to decide what to do as far as a hotel goes. Here are a couple options... does anyone have any thoughts? Is there another scenario that may be better?

- Stay at a hotel near LAX that offers a "park and fly" option and leave my car at the hotel while on the cruise ship. I could take some sort of taxi, Disney Transfer, etc. to the port.

- Take my car from LAX to a port hotel that offer a "park and cruise" option and leave my car at the hotel while cruising.

What are my fellow flyers doing for pre-cruise accommodations?

 

[LimoFam5]

So who has the pleasure of taking on the FE??? I have a couple of questions....

 

[swx72]

Thanks all for the warm welcome! We are really quite excited about this trip.



The cabin number is 7610. How many people are participating as of right now? Do you have an official list (number of people/ages of kids, etc.) going? Are you going to have a cut-off date that people can add, just so that we can plan quantities easier?

Sorry for all of the questions, I am just a worry wart and want to get my FE gifts done over the summer before I have to go back to school.

SoccrMom I'm not the official FE person but I'm new to cruising, new to Disneycruise and I'd probably call myself Obsessive compulsive when it comes to organisation so I spent a little while working my way back through all the feed and putting together my own list.

At the moment I have:

Adults x 18
Children x 19

Split over 8 cabins I think. I don't know if that is any help. A few pages back in the posts (not long) I did put my current list up. I think I've added 2 families since then (yourself included).

Sigrid

 

[swx72]

So who has the pleasure of taking on the FE??? I have a couple of questions....

I know nothing about FE but if no one else says yes I'm willing to do my homework (searching the forums) and take it on.

Sigrid

 

[SoccrMom]

So who has the pleasure of taking on the FE??? I have a couple of questions....

Not sure if I am correct, but I seem to remember your id from our last cruise. Did you happen to cruise out of Port Canaveral on the Magic in October of 2009? We were living in Arizona at the time, and it seemed like a million people from AZ were on the ship with us!

 

[LimoFam5]

Not sure if I am correct, but I seem to remember your id from our last cruise. Did you happen to cruise out of Port Canaveral on the Magic in October of 2009? We were living in Arizona at the time, and it seemed like a million people from AZ were on the ship with us!

Well we are not from AZ but we were on the Oct. 2009 Eastern Carib cruise.....we did St Croix, St Thomas and CC.....

 

[SoccrMom]

Well we are not from AZ but we were on the Oct. 2009 Eastern Carib cruise.....we did St Croix, St Thomas and CC.....

Pretty sure that was the same cruise. I thought that you seemed familiar! I am excited to see a familiar name on the cruise again. We had a great time that time and I am sure that this one will be even better!

 

[SoccrMom]

I know nothing about FE but if no one else says yes I'm willing to do my homework (searching the forums) and take it on.

Sigrid

I say go for it . Of course, I would love to help you out with anything you need (I would volunteer to take it on, but I tried that on the last cruise, then started back to school, got overwhelmed right before the cruise and had to pass it on to someone else).

My biggest suggestion: a date in which no one new can add to the list. This makes it much easier for those of us who are making homemade FE gifts to plan for how much we need.

 

[SoccrMom]

I guess I have a lot to say tonight I am been planning like crazy today to have myself feel prepared. Does anyone have any idea about the dining rotation and what nights are what (Formal night, semi-formal, pirate night)?

 

[swx72]

I say go for it . Of course, I would love to help you out with anything you need (I would volunteer to take it on, but I tried that on the last cruise, then started back to school, got overwhelmed right before the cruise and had to pass it on to someone else).

My biggest suggestion: a date in which no one new can add to the list. This makes it much easier for those of us who are making homemade FE gifts to plan for how much we need.

OK I'll check through my list and try to get it posted in the next day or so. Then we'll work out a cut-off date. I will also go back through the board and see who was doing it as I don't want to step on anyone's toes.

Sigrid

 

[swx72]

Soccrmom I'm confused by your countdown as it is giving far less time than the rest of ours. Are you still on September 25th cruise with us or have you changed?

 

[SoccrMom]

Soccrmom I'm confused by your countdown as it is giving far less time than the rest of ours. Are you still on September 25th cruise with us or have you changed?

Nope, definitely on the September 25 cruise. I did change from another date, but apparently I am just an idiot and can't figure out how to type the correct date in the ticker-maker.

 

[swx72]

I say go for it . Of course, I would love to help you out with anything you need (I would volunteer to take it on, but I tried that on the last cruise, then started back to school, got overwhelmed right before the cruise and had to pass it on to someone else).

My biggest suggestion: a date in which no one new can add to the list. This makes it much easier for those of us who are making homemade FE gifts to plan for how much we need.

OK so this is my list as it stands today:


M4 Travels: Michael & Marc

Super*Mum: AD (Heather) & DS (Slater, 10) - FE Awaiting Cabin No

Yukongirl123: Janice & DS (Trevor) - FE Awaiting Cabin No

Kawigirl: Tracy, DMom (JoAnn) & DD (Stephanie - FE Cabin 7122

Mikmouse: 2 x AD

PrincessBelle39: 2 x AD; 2 x DD (9 & 6)

Jennifer_in_MI: Steve & Jennifer, DS x 3 (Sam 15, Andrew 13 & William 11), DD (Margaret 5) - Cabins 6620 & 6622 Are you doing FE?

Johngar: 2 x AD

LimoFam5: 2 x AD; 2 x DD (Carly 6 & Maile 5) - FE Awaiting Cabin No

Wideeyedwonder: 2 x AD (Greg & Sheri); 3 x DD (Rebekah 13, JoJo, 9 & Olivia 9) - FE Cabin No 8092

Mamacrumbcake: 2 x AD (Karen & John), 2 x DD (Madeline 13, Tina 11) - FE Awaiting Cabin No

Australiankaren: 2 x AD (Karen & Tony) - Cabin No: 6580

Luvbnmom: 2 x AD; DS (1); DD (4); DMom & DDad

DVC_Corry's: 2 x AD; Baby

Swx72 (Me): 2 x AD (Sigrid & John); DD (Kirsten 4) - FE Cabin No: 6632

Aussiefan: 2 x AD (Cathy & David); 2 x DD (Brittany 14, Sarah 11) - FE Cabin No: 7562

Lostinyonkers: 2 x AD; DD (9)

RJLechner: 2 x AD

SoccrMom: 2 x AD; 2 x DS (Mark 14, Drew 11) - FE Cabin No: 7610

Please let me know if I have missed anyone. I think we need to set cut-off for the FE to be 2 weeks' before which would make it 09/11/11 for that reason alone I hope people don't mind but I'm going to make it a day earlier so cut off is: 09/10/11.

 

[RJLechner]

Thanks for taking this on. I thought I would give you updated information for us...RJLechner is Robert and Cheryl and we'll be in 6566.

We are so excited to participate in FE. We have been on 3 other DCL but this will be our first with FE.