The MAGIC is Back!!! ~ WBTA 2014 ~ Come & join the fun!

[JessicasMom]

Hi Jessicamom
I'm glad you had a wonderful birthday.

 

[MagicMe]

I am on this cruise as well.

Welcome aboard!!!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

So I suppose I should introduce ourselves .....

We are Sarah and Tony from Prestatyn in North Wales .... we live in a lovely seaside town in between Chester and the Snowdonia National Park.

I am a community midwife and my husband Tony works in the hospital in patient transfer / portering. He mainly works in the mortuary, so I won't go into details. Previously Tony was in electronic warfare in the Royal Navy and I worked for Princess Cruises. We have been married for 10 years although it will be nearly 12 by the time we do this cruise.

We have a 1930s house which we are continually renovating and that eats a lot of our income at the moment. Still have a long way to go but hopefully this year I will finally get a craft room / office, and we will finish our living room.
We both love to travel and explore new places and we both love Disney. This will be our 4th DCL cruise and our 3rd DCL WBTA. We also love the theme parks and have had many trips to both WDW and Disneyland Paris.

Our family may be joining us on this cruise .... at the moment it is all up in the air for many reasons, but I have booked a few cabins just in case. If they all decide to come ... we will have:

Our son: Stephen (24 at time of cruise ) Recently graduated with degree in Sports Science ... about to embark on a football coaching programme in USA which he is very excited about. He lives and breathes football and Arsenal football team in particular.

Our daughter: Louise ( 23 at time of cruise ) Works as a health care support worker in the local acute medical unit. Loves Disney.

Our daughter: Taryn ( 23 at time of cruise ) Recently graduated with degree in Illustration and dreams of being a character concept artist with Disney. She did the Disney International Programme a couple of years back and hopes to get on an internship with Disney Studios in the next few years. She is currently setting up a website, doing illustrative commissions and working on her portfolio. She is about to start work as a clothing adviser in the about to open local Tesco store and she helps out in a gallery which promotes local artists. She loves Disney.

Our son: Danny ( 20 at time of cruise ) Currently studying for a degree in Animation and Game Art. Loves animating, art and gaming.

My Mum: Denise ( probably wouldn't like me to give her age but she is a young at heart over 70 ish retired lady ) Mum is hoping to come but it will take a lot for her to spend 2 weeks away from dog Maisey, a chesapeake bay retriever. She has done a lot of travelling and cruises and with different lines with my Dad before he died. I keep telling her she will enjoy it as there are lots of people she can talk "dogs" with on this cruise.

Danny's girlfriend: Steph ( 19 at time of cruising ) Currently studying Game Design at College.

Taryn's friend Kayleigh

Mum's friend Barbara ...a retired dance teacher.

So there could be 10 of us .... I don't expect to know for sure until probably the PIF date.

 

[liesbeth1012]

Saved for the link to the Weekly Recap of DisBoard Posts

Here it is:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3069464

Thank you for the weekly recap. Great job.

Please can I ask a question about linked dining as I'm still not sure of how It's going to be set up this time.
Is it going to be linked so everyone is sitting in the same area ONLY
OR
Linked in same area AND the people you request to have on your table if you have a preference

I saw some answers already. I suppose we make our own table and then Susan can get our group to the same diner rotation.
I know there are tables of 4, 8 and 10.
But on the Hawaii cruise we ended with a group of 14. (I think that is to big)

 

[Pinky166]

I'm excited about going on my first Disney cruise! I've been on other cruises and avoided Disney cruises because I thought there would be too many little ones to distract me (or make me wish my grandkids would be with me). But, this cruise is turning out to be highly anticipated as 5 WDW friends I met thru WDW Celebrations activities will be sailing together on this cruise. Yay!
We plan to start at Disneyland Euro prior to catching up with the Magic in Barcelona.
Any tips on transportation from Paris and/or travel insurance recommendations?

Welcome aboard.

You have mail with my Pinterest link.

Here are the margarita cupcakes with fresh raspberry buttercream. (See previous post about my sickness for staging pictures of objects! )

I originally found the cake recipe on Pinterest, but when I went back today to grab it to share, the source of the Pin blocked it to the general public.

The good news is that after I made this margarita cupcake recipe, I did make a comment on my Pin about the recipe stating that for the liquid, I used 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup tequila, 1/2 cup skim milk. So if you can adapt that to your favorite white/vanilla cake recipe, you should be good!

I had my own favorite Raspberry Buttercream recipe, which is as follows:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 pound powdered sugar

As for the Kahlua Buttercrean, here's the source I used for those. I cannot attest to the cake recipe mentioned here, only the buttercream, which I've made twice now. I did add a smidge of salt to it as well so it wasn't quite so sweet.

WARNING: If you like Kahlua, you may find yourself eating it with a spoon!

Kahlua Buttercream: http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/05/12/chocolate-kahlua-cupcakes/

I got your mail.

They look awesome!!!!!! I could eat one of those right now......did you find a way of mailing them to the UK?

The Kahlua frosting is pretty much the same as an Ameretto one I made a while back, unfortunately the recipe made a little too much so I had to eat it from the bowl with a spoon.

I would be happy to tell the story but I'm afraid it would lose something in the translation without Ed acting out the part of the ape, and his pitiful expression as it took his candy maybe onboard ship?


We cruised last year on the Fantasy on a family reunion cruise of 44 people, and Disney made it so easy for us. They seated us close together at dinner, and didn't even blink when we all sat with different people, at different tables every night. Wave phones became our best friends on that cruise. Someone in the group had laminated a list of everyone's room & wave numbers, so we could be in touch easily. Somewhere you asked about Palo's for brunch without the private dining room, they can accommodate that!

I think we need to hear this story with Ed's ape impression over dinner one night.

44????? Wow, That's crazy!!!! I bet you all had an amazing time.

PM'ed you both with my Pinterest page. Hope you'll do the same!

Kimberly, do you have a recipe for lemon frosting? I am making a white cake with lemon frosting this Thursday for my book club. I was thinking a lemon buttercream or something??

Claire, Naughty cupcakes? This brings to mind a very interesting use of frosting......

PM sent.

I better say nothing......don't want to be banned!

 

[Ginamarie]

They definitely make tables bigger than 10, since our group alone was that large. We are 13 this year and I'm sure will be at one table (actually 2-3 tables pushed together, bu you know what I mean). On EBTA we had some tables that were easily 18-20 too.

 

[saratogagirl]

Hi Everyone

I'm just catching up on this weeks chat. I really need to try and catch up during the week as well. I've just signed up with Sarah for the Hard Rock, and I think Ian ants to do the rum tasting with Mark Champken, so I will pm about that.

Loving the idea of a book exchange.

Claire has updated the tequila list, so if I've made and mistakes please let me know. Hoping that some more join up, looking forward to sharing margaritas with the group.

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Hi everyone - I know we are supposed to introduce ourselves but I've been resisting because well....I'm so boring.

My name is Holly and I'll be 61 at the time of this cruise. This really is my dream cruise, and the one I've been waiting for. (and not very patiently I might add)

Some of you may recall my discussing ASL previously on this thread. I am not deaf, but I am steadily losing hearing because of Meniere's Disease. Most of you will never have heard of this. It's an ear disorder that results in vertigo, drop attacks, and hearing loss. I had surgery (basically brain surgery) two years ago to stop the drop attacks and vertigo. They did find out I had a brain in there at least. Didn't say it works....

I'm doing much better although I do have some balance issues, so if you see me walking crookedly I have an excuse I can readily use.

Anyway, enough of that. I love cruising. It's the best vacation in my book. I am excited to see new places and sail again on the Magic as she is the first ship I ever sailed on. I am looking forward to meeting you all!

 

[Beauty & the Best]

Great! I'll send mine to you as well!

Here's my favorite lemon buttercream recipe. I am a huge fan of Meyer lemons, and it works wonderfully with those as well!!

Lemon Buttercream
4 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 cups powdered confectioners’ sugar
1 ½ tsp. lemon juice
1-2 Tbs. milk

Thanks Kimberly! It is really sweet of you to help me out. I will definitely use this recipe. Question: Do you think I should double or triple the recipe to ice a 2 layer cake? 4 tbsp of butter doesn't seem like a lot, I feel like I usually use around 1 cup.
Also, what are your thoughts on using a lemon curd for the filling? Do you think it would be too much?

I better say nothing......don't want to be banned!

LOL, I just had to make the joke. My friend's bachelorette party is coming up in 2 weeks, maybe we should make some naughty cupcakes for that.

Hi everyone - I know we are supposed to introduce ourselves but I've been resisting because well....I'm so boring.

My name is Holly and I'll be 61 at the time of this cruise. This really is my dream cruise, and the one I've been waiting for. (and not very patiently I might add)

Some of you may recall my discussing ASL previously on this thread. I am not deaf, but I am steadily losing hearing because of Meniere's Disease. Most of you will never have heard of this. It's an ear disorder that results in vertigo, drop attacks, and hearing loss. I had surgery (basically brain surgery) two years ago to stop the drop attacks and vertigo. They did find out I had a brain in there at least. Didn't say it works....

I'm doing much better although I do have some balance issues, so if you see me walking crookedly I have an excuse I can readily use.

Anyway, enough of that. I love cruising. It's the best vacation in my book. I am excited to see new places and sail again on the Magic as she is the first ship I ever sailed on. I am looking forward to meeting you all!

Hi Holly,
I don't think your intro is boring at all! Glad you are onboard.

 

[Jen24]

Here's our introduction. Afraid I am not as clever a writer as some of have been but here we are.
I go by Jen or Jennifer (63 at time of cruise, yikes where does the time go?!) and my DH Marc (62 at time of cruise, yes, I married a younger man). We will have been married 33 years.I am a retired marriage and family therapist and Marc owns his own management consulting company. Our 2 daughters are grown and since mom and dad aren't footing the bill they won't be on this cruise. Boy, are they unhappy

We now live in NC and love it here. I have lived in 5 states and Marc 4 but I think we have found home.

We both love Disney. Marc started going to Disneyland in 1960 and my first trip was in 1967. Too many trips to count. As a family we have been mostly to WDW and are able to make at least one trip a year now. Our first cruise was on the Magic EBTA 2010 (nothing like testing out cruising with 14 days, ) We fell in love and have since done 3 other Disney cruises. Our 5th cruise will be the Fantasy NYE this Dec. We will be Gold for WBTA!

We made dear friends on the EBTA who we have cruised with since and are excited they are also on this cruise.

The hardest thing about this cruise will be leaving our 2 "babies". golden retrievers who will be 2 at the time.

Look forward to meeting new friends and being on the sea with Mickey!

 

[Pinky166]

LOL, I just had to make the joke. My friend's bachelorette party is coming up in 2 weeks, maybe we should make some naughty cupcakes for that.

They would be great.

 

[DISNEYFAN_SD]

DH and I were wondering if anyone would be interested in pin trading? We could set up a time and date once all of the tastings and ect have been determined.

 

[Lisa]

I bet a pin trading session would be popular.

In case with all the postings, you didn't see the announcement, we are going to have a beer tasting hosted by my DH, Roy. (he isn't on the boards, so I am coordinating it for him). If you are interested in joining in on the fun, please pm with your name, your DISboard name, and your stateroom number.

Yesterday we sampled Hooke Chocolate Truffle Stout. It was good, the chocolate flavor was more pronounced as one got toward the end of the drink.

So far interested Beer Tasting parties are:

(Lisa' DH) Roy Daniel, ipa's, lighter beers for drinking, dark beers for tasting
Annichan (annichan) and Christian, #6128, preference dark bier
Rick Sims, #2011, light beers
Jerry Wiese, (DVC Nuts) #7564, hoppy or IPA beers
Ginamarie Palmieri and Joshua Marcik, #7068
Richard Powell (babydiver), 36011
Ken (disdel) and Debbie Cordo, #7134
Karyn Pitegno,(karrit2000)and Christi Klingman, #7570, dark beers
Leonard Pihlak (disney_leonard), #2142


Looking forward to the Magical Fun.

 

[Pinky166]

Loving everyone's intros.


We are: me - Claire, 39 at time of cruise! and my hubby Lee who will be 40 ....don't really know why i'm laughing as i'm not far behind! We have been together for what seems like forever....ooh that rhymes! It will be almost 23 years by the time of the cruise, married for 13. We live in Hertfordshire, which is in the South East of England. We don't have any kids, just two furbabies who get spoilt rotten! They are two crazy Boxers, Stamford my 7.5yo little man and Bailey my 4.5yo Princess. They are so much fun and both completely crazy....

We both work for the same company who manage government projects, building and maintaining schools, hospitals, housing estates etc. Lee is IT, whereas I am Human Resources/Secretarial. Thankfully I work from home the majority of the time and Lee is office based...so we don't throttle each other.

We took our first trip to WDW in 2000, which was also my first ever time flying...so nothing like taking the plunge and flying 9 hours!!! Thankfully I loved it! We both love to travel and have had great holidays in many places around the world but I always have to return home to WDW as often as possible. We took our first cruise in 2009, a 4 night on the Wonder, loved it so much we booked the Dream Maiden Voyage whilst onboard, again made another booking onboard which we transferred to the WBTA 2011. I am so glad we did as we made so many friends and am looking forward to doing this cruise with so many of them. We are also cruising twice this year with our wonderful friends Mary & Stevie, a Med cruise in June and also a 7 night on the Fantasy in November, which will complete the four ships for us. It will also be our 5th cruise and make us gold.

Anyway that's us! Thanks if you made it to the end without nodding off......who's next?

 

[GA-yaya]

Hi Everyone! Guess it's time to introduce ourselves...

My name is Peggy (50) and my DH is Roger (51). Did I really just say 50??? I've been saying 39 for so long. We've been together for 31 years and married for 27. We have a son, 24, and daughter, 20, who are both in college and will not be traveling with us on this cruise. (They were both quite disappointed.)

Roger is a Director of Supply Chain Consulting - which means he travels a LOT with his job! That's the secret to our happy marriage. I am a Dentist with my practice limited to Orthodontics. Great fun working with/torturing teenagers.

We spent our honeymoon at DisneyWorld. It was the first time we both had been to Epcot. What a great time we had. My first visit to Disneyworld was when I was 9 and the Magic Kingdom has just opened - it was magical! Since we have been married we have gone to WDW about every 2 years...our "kids" continue to ask when we are going back next.

We enjoy traveling as much as possible, and we spend a lot of time in New Orleans. Our plan is to retire back to New Orleans - if Roger had his way we would already be retired there and he would be tending bar!

We are looking forward to seeing everyone again on this cruise - the 2011 WTBA was the most fun we ever had on a cruise, and it was because we got to hang out with such wonderful/fun/crazy people! Good to see you all again!

 

[MedicGoofy]

I guess I will introduce myself now, I'm not frequently on the DIS posting (I have log in issues) but will let you all know who I am.

Hi I'm Jenn. I'm going to be celebrating my 35th birthday on board for this cruise, and I couldn't be happier I live in Niagara Falls, Canada.....have spent my whole life here.

I have just recently come to love cruising. I did the Alaskian cruise through HAL with my parents this past summer and completely fell in love with the cruising style vacation. I just recently got off the Magic, 8 nt Bahama cruise, and that sealed the deal. I am in LOVE with DCL and cruising. I have 3 more cruises in the works. Feb '14, my mom and me are cruising the Fantasty (have been waiting to do this!!!), and then my family also wants to take a cruise together in Feb '15. As well, I am beyond excited that I have this cruise booked. It's looking to be quite the adventure

I have been working in the medical field for about 15 years now. I started working in Long Term Care (geriatrics) 15 years ago as a nurse. Geriatrics are where my heart are. I love working with elderly, and working specifically with mental health in geriatrics. As well, just after I started nursing, I made a major career change and became a Paramedic. As much as I love working in LTC, working out on the road everyday, being my own boss, is amazing. I never know what I will come into, one minute saving a life, another bringing life into this world.

I have been visiting WDW since I was a kid. We tended to go every couple of years when I was younger, but now that I am working and older, I try to go every year. Florida is my home away from home, as my grandparents vacationed there for 6 months every year. I love coming back there.

It's just me at home, and my 5yr old golden retriever. She is my baby girl. Very attached. I'm not sure how she will manage with me gone for almost 3 weeks, but she does love staying at Grandma and Grandpa's while I go to work.

I also have a crazy obsession with Pinterest....killed my last phone bill on it with networking.

I am looking forward to meeting you all and getting to know you

Jenn

 

[TotallyAngelic]

I live in Niagara Falls, Canada.....have spent my whole life here.

You really don't imagine that people actually live in such amazing locations .... your home is on my bucket list ....

 

[bound2travel]

Kristi.......make that 3 bottles!!!!

It's been 7 years since I tasted it. Couldn't find anywhere that sells it over here. I sooo want some. Glad that someone else likes it as well.

Kristi

 

[bound2travel]

Problem is none of us really know at this point what will or will not be in the cabins. One of the rumors of the extended dry dock is a complete overhaul of the cabins. New furniture? New bed? Just new linens? Virtual portholes?

We can discuss cabins based on past cruising history but we won't really know anything for sure until Fall.

I saw a post on the main board by someone who figured out the "mystery" of what mattresses are on the Fantasy. He mentioned something about those mattresses being on the classic ships as the retrofits occur. So it sounds like the twin beds are going away and queen beds are here to stay.

 

[gpb_1]

OK here goes ….

We are Giles (46 by the time we set of from Barcelona), Lorraine (DW, will be 49 but clinging to her current age of 47), and Ryan (DS, who will be 20 by then). Lorraine and I recently had our 20th wedding anniversary whilst on a cruise round the Red Sea visiting Jordan and Egypt, and had our vows renewed by the Captain on the bridge whilst in port on a perfect Egyptian spring evening.

I am a computer consultant, specialising in OSS systems (very boring but basically means I work on the computers that monitor very large computer networks for banks, telecoms companies etc). Lorraine is an analyst for a telecoms company, and is slowly but surely reducing the number of days she works for them. Ryan is a trainee accountant working for a small local firm, they are helping put him through his qualifications whilst he gets practical experience of the job.

We live in Northampton, England - probably most famous for being where Princess Diana's family home is, and where she is buried. We are all keen rugby fans, and are season ticket holders at Northampton Saints. Lorraine is very much a cat person, and Ripley (our 11 year old long haired tabby, named after the dolphin we swam with at Discovery Cove) is her constant shadow, if she's not actually sat on her knee. Ryan has many hobbies, including being a Flight Sergeant with the Air Cadets and kick boxing. I pretty much like anything with an engine (sports cars, motorbikes, planes) plus I have to try really hard not to but everything with an Apple logo on it.

This cruise will probably be my tenth Disney cruise (unless we give in and book a 4 day Med cruise this summer). Lorraine is already planning a 7 day Med cruise this summer with her sister and niece, so it may well be her 11th (or 12th).

We are really happy to see some familiar faces on this cruise - especially some that we've done two WBTAs with already (actually met on 2007 WBTA) and now count as very close friends, even though the we are separated by the Atlantic Ocean.