September 30, 2012 - "To San Francisco and Beyond"

[stsomewhere]

Debating about FE. I know the cut off is tomorrow.

We did not do it on our Alaska cruise(8/11) since I was burnt out from the all exchanges I did on the Eastbound Transatlantic (5/11).

I was in a candy exchange, FE, postcard, and recipe exchange. It got to be a chore delivering all the goodies.

This will be my 5th Disney cruise and my mom's first Disney cruise. This is our first mother/daughter trip.

My mom's name is Denise.

 

[erk711]

I took this picture last week and thought everyone would enjoy.

Welcome to the PACIFIC COAST!

Beautiful!!

 

[Seamama]

ETA: I wanted to let all the first timers know that the dessert in the case at Cove Cafe are free. You just help yourself. Sometimes in the evening 7ish? they have cheese, crackers, olives in there.

Thanks! One of the things I'm most excited about is all the good food, LOL!

 

[Seamama]

I was in a candy exchange, FE, postcard, and recipe exchange. It got to be a chore delivering all the goodies.

That sounds intense! This is our first cruise and we're just doing the FE (not Secret Mickey). You should join us... I think it won't be too hard since we're not too big of a group (just 26 staterooms right now). I signed up mostly b/c I thought my kids would get a thrill out of getting little surprises delivered to our door. And I thought they'd enjoy making 'secret' deliveries.

I think I need a game plan for my deliveries, though... like a map of all the staterooms marked off so we don't waste time running back and forth and all around, etc. Do people have advice for that? Like where do I get a map, LOL?

 

[wenuwish]

I think I need a game plan for my deliveries, though... like a map of all the staterooms marked off so we don't waste time running back and forth and all around, etc. Do people have advice for that? Like where do I get a map, LOL?

I'm not sure how it was given to us, but I'm pretty sure we had a map on our last 2 cruises. It's probably in your stateroom when you arrive. The ship has many signs and things to help you out though, you shouldn't get too lost! Of course the best way to spot the cabins once you're in the right area is to look for the Fish Extenders and then check the room number to make sure it's the right one.

We had a lot of fun running around the ship handing out gifts late at night in January. Someone had put sombrero Mickey ear magnets on the doors of every cabin participating so it became a game of spot the Mickey ears! Very helpful.

 

[Picket Fence]

That sounds intense! This is our first cruise and we're just doing the FE (not Secret Mickey). You should join us... I think it won't be too hard since we're not too big of a group (just 26 staterooms right now). I signed up mostly b/c I thought my kids would get a thrill out of getting little surprises delivered to our door. And I thought they'd enjoy making 'secret' deliveries.

I think I need a game plan for my deliveries, though... like a map of all the staterooms marked off so we don't waste time running back and forth and all around, etc. Do people have advice for that? Like where do I get a map, LOL?

On our last cruise my husband and I started at the bottom of the ship and worked our way up, marking each room off of our list... It did not take us long at and was fun to roam the ship in the middle of the night ;-)... This time we will have to try and be sneaky during the day; Our little girl is not a night owl.

We are getting so excited .

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

On our last cruise my husband and I started at the bottom of the ship and worked our way up, marking each room off of our list... It did not take us long at and was fun to roam the ship in the middle of the night ;-)... This time we will have to try and be sneaky during the day; Our little girl is not a night owl.

We are getting so excited .

We did the same thing. It was the best way to work off all the good food!

 

[Lady Boadicea]

Very nice picture Hollywood Glitter! I wish we had gone to the beach today. We went to Disneyland and it was a little to hot out for me.

 

[Meganyvemarie]

I was just wondering how dressed up everyone is going to be on formal night? Ive worn short dresses in the past but I was thinking about wearing a long one this year. Any thoughts on long or short dresses?

 

[stsomewhere]

Question about FE.

If we join, I will be bringing FE gifts and I am going to have my mom bring her own FE gifts.

Would it be possible for each of us to get on the FE list? That way we each can have our own FE gifts to take home.

I have done this in the past for another family. ( a mom/son plus grandma in one cabin. The people who gave one gift per cabin gave one for mom/son and another gift for grandma.) Does that make sense?

I am going to try and get in touch with my mom later today. She is out of town.

Thanks,
Christi

 

[Hollywood Glitter]

Question about FE.

If we join, I will be bringing FE gifts and I am going to have my mom bring her own FE gifts.

Would it be possible for each of us to get on the FE list? That way we each can have our own FE gifts to take home.

I have done this in the past for another family. ( a mom/son plus grandma in one cabin. The people who gave one gift per cabin gave one for mom/son and another gift for grandma.) Does that make sense?

I am going to try and get in touch with my mom later today. She is out of town.

Thanks,
Christi

I can do that. I usually gift according to family and not specifically stateroom.
Any current FE list people have a similar situation?

 

[Seamama]

I have no problem w/ that.... I was planning to do one for each kid and if no kids in the room, then one for the couple. But if it's two separate adults (adult sisters, friends, mother/daughter) then I'm happy to do so two separate adult items. That's my plan for now, at least. It depends on how detailed the list is... and how creative I can get and keep w/in budget

Question about FE.

If we join, I will be bringing FE gifts and I am going to have my mom bring her own FE gifts.

Would it be possible for each of us to get on the FE list? That way we each can have our own FE gifts to take home.

I have done this in the past for another family. ( a mom/son plus grandma in one cabin. The people who gave one gift per cabin gave one for mom/son and another gift for grandma.) Does that make sense?

I am going to try and get in touch with my mom later today. She is out of town.

Thanks,
Christi

 

[Seamama]

To keep w/in budget, I promised myself I wasn't going to buy anything new 'just for the cruise'. So I'm left w/ what I have, which is knee length dresses. Plus, hubby is only wearing a suit (not tux) and at that he may not even bring the jacket (unless folks here tell me he'll be horribly out of place w/out it??) So yeah, I guess we're doing more cocktail-style fancy...

I was just wondering how dressed up everyone is going to be on formal night? Ive worn short dresses in the past but I was thinking about wearing a long one this year. Any thoughts on long or short dresses?

 

[Seamama]

Thanks! And thanks, also, Picket Fence and Hollywood Glitter. Sounds like it's not as logistically complicated as I thought, that's good!

I'm not sure how it was given to us, but I'm pretty sure we had a map on our last 2 cruises. It's probably in your stateroom when you arrive. The ship has many signs and things to help you out though, you shouldn't get too lost! Of course the best way to spot the cabins once you're in the right area is to look for the Fish Extenders and then check the room number to make sure it's the right one.

We had a lot of fun running around the ship handing out gifts late at night in January. Someone had put sombrero Mickey ear magnets on the doors of every cabin participating so it became a game of spot the Mickey ears! Very helpful.

 

[2 princess 3 princes]

Nice Nemo/Dory reference. Are you doing OK with the added numbers of folks?

No Problem!

 

[2 princess 3 princes]

I think I need a game plan for my deliveries, though... like a map of all the staterooms marked off so we don't waste time running back and forth and all around, etc. Do people have advice for that? Like where do I get a map, LOL?[/QUOTE]

There are several sites where you can upload a deck plan of the ships. I found even just googling "Disney Wonder Deck Plan" Then you can plan your attack so to speak

 

[Princess Kaye]

To keep w/in budget, I promised myself I wasn't going to buy anything new 'just for the cruise'. So I'm left w/ what I have, which is knee length dresses. Plus, hubby is only wearing a suit (not tux) and at that he may not even bring the jacket (unless folks here tell me he'll be horribly out of place w/out it??) So yeah, I guess we're doing more cocktail-style fancy...

He will not be out of place. My husband and myself hate to dress up. I have just a pants outfit I usually take and believe me lots of people will not be dressed up. Hope this helps.

 

[adnil530]

I think I need a game plan for my deliveries, though... like a map of all the staterooms marked off so we don't waste time running back and forth and all around, etc. Do people have advice for that? Like where do I get a map, LOL?

Here is how I organize our delivery of FE gifts. I have everything that goes into one stateroom in one big zip lock bag. I put them in stateroom number order. I try to do 2 decks at a time. Decks 1&2, 5&6, 7&8. I start at one end of the deck and go around the entire deck, looking at all the door decorations. When I come to a FE, I look on my list and if they are on the FE list, I take the gifts out and put them in the FE. It takes about 1/2 hour for us to do this and seeing all the door decorations is certainly entertaining for us. Breaking it up for when I have a free 30 minutes makes it very manageable.

Sometimes people do have a FE outside of their cabin as part of their decorations. For whatever reasons, they decided not to join the FE gift exchange or may not even be a part of the disboards. Just double check your list.

Sometimes someone doesn't have a FE outside of their door but they are on your list. Things happen and rooms get changed or I've heard of people accidentally leaving their FE behind. I double check the room number and if the room number looks to be correct, I leave it on the door knob.

Sorry, but I don't recall what the plan is for room changes on this cruise. I'm involved in too many FE gift exchanges right now to keep it straight.

Linda

 

[CasaMartinez]

I was just wondering how dressed up everyone is going to be on formal night? Ive worn short dresses in the past but I was thinking about wearing a long one this year. Any thoughts on long or short dresses?

I wear a floor length dress for formal night but I think most wear knee length. Our family enjoys dressing up.

 

[Disney-ite]

Hello FE participants...

Here we are at the last day to sign up...I can't believe how quickly the
time has gone by.

A lot of great ideas have been posted in the past couple days about the FE gifts...

On our last cruise we also put the gifts in a separate bag per cabin with
the stateroom #'s on them and then put them in large ziplock bags by deck. We delivered by decks starting from the bottom up. It was very fun to see
how the doors were decorated and the many different fish extenders. I also took my camera and took pictures of all the decorated doors...so many creative people!

There is a great map of the Disney Wonder Deck Plan here on the DIS...highlight ships above and on the drop down menu click on deck plans. I printed out the
decks where there were participants on and brought that with us. It worked out great!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Deb