Way Early Roll Call For March 4, 2006 Eastern.........

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

Ariel's mom,
you said you did the magic last year? Was it the eastern?


Happy Planning all!!!
Sandi

Oooops - just saw my mistake, and I just edited it. Actually, we were on the Wonder last March. It was fun, but not long enough!!! I know what you mean, if I could stretch it out, I would.

Are you staying at the AKL again - before or after or both? We haven't decided where to stay yet. We may head straight to Cocoa Beach, but I'd rather spend Friday night on Disney property and enjoy the ambience.

Any body else?

 

[sandraB]

We thought about just going to the beach too, but decided to do one day at disney before the cruise. I have an AP from last year, and we have an old ticket from years ago, so we only need to buy the boys each a ticket.

We thought about staying at the beach after the cruise, but again, I changed my mind, and decided to do disney again. We thought maybe typhoon lagoon,and DTD.

We are not staying at the AKL again this year....would love too...but too expensive. WE are doing the Coronado and I am really looking forward to it.


You said you did the wonder after your AKL stay? You aren't from Missouri are you...I met a woman on the bus at AKL who was doing the wonder after the AKL. Her name was Cheryl.


sandi

 

[sandraB]

Hi Kristin.

Just saw from an above post...you are not Cheryl from Missouri!!

COmes from living in a small place, I think I must know everybody!!


Sandi

 

[LisaSp]

I am not sure if we will do any excursions--mainly since our kids are still fairly young so there are not too many appropriate excursions for them, and I am not sure I am comfortable leaving them on the ship.

A very close friend has a vacation property in St Thomas and will be there the same week of our cruise, so we may just meet up with her and her family and let them show us around. My parents love to shop there (they have been there before, we have not). I think we may just do the beach in St Maarten or even stay on the ship. For us, the ship is really our destination moreso than the ports (though we are looking very forward to CC).

I am shocked that DD (6.5) hasn't figured it out yet--she sees me on the DIS boards all the time but I think she is too busy looking at the moving smilies and doesn't read what I am reading about! They are going to flip out when we tell them.

 

[allcanadian]

LisaSP, we also have not told our kids about the trip. (ds-8, ds-will turn 6 on the cruise). We only plan to tell them about a week before. I hope that I can keep it a secret for that long. We are probably only going to do 1 excursion as well because our kids will love just spending the day at the beach.

 

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

You guys are so brave!! I couldn't even try to hold in a secret this big! My girls are almost as obsessed as I am. Every day, they talk about meeting the princesses. My 3 year old can't wait to wear her Cinderella dress and get her picture taken with the "real" Cinderella.

We won't do many excursions either. The boat is our excursion! When we were on the Wonder, we didn't even get off the boat in Nassau. It was the best day on board. It was so empty, we had full run of the Mickey Pool, DH and I relaxed - yes, relaxed! - by the side of the adult pool, it's probably one of my favorite memories.

Although, DH and I want to snorkel, and I'm not sure where to do that. We'd obviously have to leave the kids on board, so I'm trying to take it all into consideration.

Has anyone snorkled on CC?

SandraB: Sorry, I'm not Cheryl from Missouri! But we were probably there at the same time! I loved Boma - did you try it? I still dream of Boma, it's crazy!

 

[sandraB]

Loved Boma, especially the desserts!!

We too want to do snorkeling, but not pay thru the nose for the kids....I can just see my seven yr old deciding he doesn't like it after I pay!!

I have been researching beaches/snorkeling on our own...and have found a beach where you can just snorkel on ;your own...this is what we will do.

It is called Coki Point, and you can take a taxi there for pretty cheap.

My sister has a toddler, so this works best for us....some can snorkel, while others just stay on the beach with the kids.

I too couldn't keep a secret...I am tooo excited!

 

[RDS912]

We were booked on the June 17th sailing but just found out my wife is pregnant. Her due date is the week of the cruise, so today we rebooked on the March 4th sailing. We are in cabin 8102 with myself(Dustin), DW(Robin), DD(Sydney) and DS(Dylan). We also have three other cabins with 2 sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles.

Does anyone have a list of Disers yet?

See you all on the cruise.

 

[sandraB]

I wonder if this cruise will be sold out? I guess I was wondering about upgrades at the dock, and the chances of that???

I am counting on it being sold out, as it is in March, and somewhat peak season.

Happy planning all!!


PS, they are calling for freezing rain and ice pellets here tonight!!!!

 

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

Welcome! I don't think anyone has a list going?? I haven't seen one mentioned. Sounds like a good idea.

Has anyone paid in full yet? Our dates are getting closer for reservations, and I want to make sure there are no problems if I do get up at 3am to secure some times.

Is it just me, but everytime I go to disneycruise.com, I have to re-enter my reservation number, and I can't always get in. Why doesn't it remember your reservation? It saves your excursion preferences? Why doesn't it save your actual cruise?

Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

 

[Qball]

Hi all,
I'm the one with the Dec.9th "pay in full" date. Maybe it's a travel agent internal deadline. Oh well. We haven't paid in full yet since we've invited my single older brother to come along and he hasn't decided yet. He's worried about being the third leg but we have reassured him that he won't. The only problem will be Palo. I don't think we can book Palo twice for the same meal. So I'll have to book a lunch for two and supper for two while the other adult is dining with our DD. SHe loves my brother, so it will be fun for all.

DH wants to go on excursion but which ones I don't really know. We have a list of excusions that are printed off from the sponsor of this forum. It doesn't look like we really have many choices since DD will only be 4 at the time of travel and it is not an option to do an excusion without her.

We just got our Disney cruise line planning package in the mail yesterday. Funny it took so long to get here...when we were in the planning stages back in Aug/Sept., we ordered it. SLow, eh? Anyways, it was nice to see and informative as well. DD was excited to see it and it just made us even more excited and happy that we made the right choice to do a cruise rather than fight the crowds at WDW or WDL for a week.

Since I'm rabbling...we have 1.5 days after the cruise to do whatever. I was thinking doing Seaworld for one day and potentially Gatorland or beach for the day we arrive back. I'm getting feelings of "well, we're SOOOOOO close, we should go to WDW...it would be a waste if we didnt???". The thought of fighting the crowds and traffic, tires my DH and he doestn' want to go. DD thinks she wants to go to see Pooh and friends since we told her they are not on the boat. What do you think? Can you do Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom in one day? Keep in mind, none of us care for rides much. DD is fixated on seeing Pooh and Tigger and Ariel, Flounder and Sebastien...who knows who it will be in March!!! Or is Seaworld a better choice?

 

[Qball]

I actually scribbled a list down just to see if there was someone with a child the same age as our DD but....here it is...cut and paste if you are missing or info is wrong. (Keep in mind I wrote this down quite a few weeks ago).

Screen name
name
residence
kids (at time of travel)
cabin no.

1
mariamard1
Maria
Chicago
kids?
#

2
rifgirlsmom
Wendy
Michigan
DD(3), DD(9)
#

3
Beloreteers
Christa
Colorodo
DS(4.5)
#

4
princessrule
name?
residence
DD(6), DD(4)
#

5
sdptalk
Sandi
residence
DS(11)
#

6
2princess/2prince
name
somewhere in New brunswick
DC (6 &4)
#

7
texasdisneymom
name
residence
DD(12), DS(7)
#

8
GemJoy
name
residence
DS(11), DD(9)
#

9
El Capitan
name
residence
DS(10)
#

10
SandraB
Sandi
somewhere in New Brunswick
DS(11), DS(8)
#

11
Joiski71
name
residence
DD(13), DD(6)
#

12
Ariel & Flounders mom
Kristin
Minnesota
DD(5), DD(3)
#

13
All Canadian
Shelley
Canada somewhere
kids
#

14
LisaSP
Lisa
residence
DD(7), DS(5)
#

15
MeRiVan
name
New York
DS(6), DS(3)
#

16
MoiMoi
name
San Jose
kids
#

17
Qball
Susan
Saskatoon, SK
DD(4)
2122 (I think...will double check)

18
next....

 

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

Hi all,
Can you do Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom in one day? Keep in mind, none of us care for rides much. DD is fixated on seeing Pooh and Tigger and Ariel, Flounder and Sebastien...who knows who it will be in March!!! Or is Seaworld a better choice?

Hi! I just wanted to make sure you know Ariel is not on the boat. I should say you can't meet her on the boat. I think it's because she's a "mermaid," they won't let her walk and talk around the boat like all the other princesses. You'll see her in the shows, but your DD can't meet her.

I'm so glad I discovered this before our trip last March. DD4 (at the time) would have been crushed. We made a special effort to go find her at Ariel's Grotto in MK. I never saw Flounder and Sebastian - did anyone else?

Pooh and Tigger are very available also at the MK if you do priority seating at Ice Palace. It was fun.

You probably could do both MK and AK, depending on just how much you really want to do. You wouldn't want to miss the Safari ride at AK, but that's all I really know about AK - we were there years ago, when it just opened up.

Anyway, good luck deciding! I agree - the lines and the crowds stress me out!

Kristin

 

[sandraB]

We too have a few days after the cruise. We plan on a day at Typhoon Lagoon, because they were closed on our last trip, and the boys are really wanting to go there.

I think we are going to stay at the hotel pool the first day off the ship (Sat) and just relax. Maybe DTD that night. THen TL on Sunday, and back to the Great White North on Monday.


We are doing one day at MK, the day before the cruise. I can't imagine not doing anytime at the MK.....it is Disney to me. AK is really great too....my kids loved it last year. If you don't want to do two parks in one day, or pay for two parks, you could just do dinner at the AKL, and see the animals on the savannah. BOma is really yummy...and the AKL is amazing!


I am a bit biased to Disney, so we aren't doing SeaWorld, but I have heard it is really great.....

Happy Planning! Sandi

 

[sandraB]

Just thought I would bump our little thread!

 

[Ariel&Flounder'sMom]

I'm here! Gearing up for the holiday! Wondering what it would be like to be onboard the Magic right now? How cool would that be?

I'm still searching for airfare - to fly direct is still way too high for a family of 4. I wish we had that set in stone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[sandraB]

I forgot this week is American Thanksgiving...ours is in October.

Where are you flying from? The southwest fares are out now for march...have you checked them out? We are flying from New Hampshire, direct flights for 541 US, taxes in, for four!! I am pretty pleased with those fares...even if we do have to drive for 6-7hrs! (we always fly out of maine anyway, so it is only adding a couple of hours....to fly out of Canada would run us around 2000)

Happy planning!

 

[Qball]

Hi guys.I'm here too.
Thanks for the DWD tips. Since my last post, I think I've convinced DH that we have to go to WDW and do MK and AK. I was told that we could be off the boat as early as 7am (if we want) and as late as 9am. So by the time we get to MK it might be 11 or noon and stay there till 9pm...and do Seaworld the next day since it will probably be less hectic, before WE head back to the great white north.

Also since my last post, my brother finally decided that he'd join us (we added him to our room today). Hey Sandra, do you fly directly from NB into the States or do you have a Canadian stop somewhere? We have a killer flight (probably due to flying airmiles with Westjet)...so we go from Saskatoon, to Calgary to Toronto then to Orlando. Because we are flying with airmiles, me and DD have an overnight in TOronto (that's where my bro lives) and DH travels the same trek but later on a red-eye flight and we meet up in TO and all fly down together.

Maybe my brother will meet some single nice girl on the cruise???????

 

[sandraB]

Qball,

We are flying out of the states, it saves us tons of money, (and gives me an excuse to go shopping in the states!)

We fly on Thursday, so are leaving wed after school and staying in a hotel on wed night b/c our flight is at 7am. The good thing is that we are in Orlando by 10am!

On the way back we leave orlando at 7am, but are back in NH by 10am, so we can drive home that day, and avoid another hotel.

I like doing my shopping in states before I hit orlando, so we don't waste anytime shopping during the vacation. Last year it worked well that way.

I find anytime you fly out of canada, you have to go thru toronto, so for us it is like backtracking, and takes twice as long!


Anyway, I can't believe it is only 3 months away.....I feel like I have been planning this forever......(gee it's only been since last march!)

A friend of mine is going on the magic in 3 weeks...I am sooo jealous! She got her cruise docs yesterday! I can't wait to hear how her trip is!

take care all!

sandi

 

[Qball]

Sandi,
We're leaving Orlando on Monday at 7am as well...might see you at the airport. I've heard that flying out of the states is cheaper but for us to do that it'd be a very long drive in the middle of winter and who kknows what you're going to run into in terms of snow and blizzards. If we had to pay for our flights it would run somewhere in the 2600 dollar mark for three of us plus our cruise and because we only booked our cruise at the end of october, we weren't exactly paying the cheaper prices.

I can't imagine planning this a year in advance. I'm itching to go already. We actually told our TA that XXX dollars was our budget, when do we go. And she came back with October/November of 2006. We were like "no way we can wait that long". So we asked about Feb/March and here we are....our xmas bonuses better be good