Jan 3, 2004 Magic Cruise

[disneygal58]

HAPPY 190 DAYS!

LVTravel,
We were at Magic Kingdom/EPCOT yesterday and were amazed by the crowds. I thought the projected attendance was going to be down since they were offering 7 nights for the price of 4 during the balance of the summer! I hope you enjoyed your brief time in the World.
MissouriDisneyFans,
How exciting - a three week vacation and your first home!

We're still dealing with fleas, but the sun is out and I was offered the job in Melbourne (less than a half hour from Port Canaveral). So, life is looking up.

Have a good weekend - to those of you that work traditional hours (my weekend actually begins on Tuesday),
Dawn Hope

 

[JTORREY]

Hi All!! This is my first post and my first Disney cruise. Just found this board a couple of days ago. Will be there on Jan. 3, 2004 with my DH, DD 15 and DS 4. Any teens out there? DD is wondering if there will be enough to do. Looking forward to getting away from everyday life for a while. Happy sailing!!

 

[disneygal58]

JTORREY,
Welcome! My daughters are 18 and 19, a bit older than yours. Rest assured there will be many others. There is nothing like a Disney Cruise - we tried a 3 night during DCL's inaugural year and have been addicted ever since.

I look forward to getting to you a bit before our sailing,
Dawn Hope

 

[LVTravel]

DisneyGal 58, I am writing this from my hotel room in Jacksonville 2 days after the amazing 1 day in WDW. Had a great time there and the crowd wasn't too bad. Most lines were about an hour long but my DGS wanted to go on Star Tours for the first time and we walked right on. No line at all.

JTORREY There will be plenty for you DD & DS to do on the cruise as well as your DH also.

Did the Soft opening of Diamond Horseshoe. Was not impressed. The female singer (can't think of her name) was good but unless you are really into country and/or line dancing it just doesn't do it for me to see Goofy, Woody, Jessie, and (ouch, I can't think of Woody's horse's name) ..... trying to teach a lot of kids how to line dance. Mostly it was mingling with the kids and they were having a good time in the middle of the dance floor.

Was wondering if anyone out there knows anyone who drives around in a grey minivan with black outlines of Mickey and Minnie on the back windows. Female driver. Couldn't get the tags. They are so much M & M fans since they also had many M & M on the dash. Saw the van at the entrance to Downtown Disney on Wednesday nite.

Got to go now. See ya all on the 3rd of January (at least in the line to get on the ship) at a big DIS meet.

 

[disneygal58]

HAPPY 4th OF JULY,
I hope you have a safe and festive holiday! Just 26 weeks until we prepare to sail.
I am accepting a job in Melbourne - less than a half hour to the Port and will begin working there in a week and a half. Next week I am searching for a temporary rental to act as home while I am researching neighborhoods - any pixie dust blown my way will be appreciated.
Till Next Time,
Dawn Hope

 

[Jeanny]

Good luck Dawn Hope in your search.... you should ask Shirley for help with the neighborhood search. I'm sure she'd be able to help!!


Have a safe holiday
Jeanny

 

[LVTravel]

Brack Welcome to the cruise. I see that this is your third on the Magic. Great. Do you have the same cabin for the Back-to-Back cruises? This is my 3rd DCL cruise but only the 1st on the Magic. Obviously the other two cruises were on the Wonder. We had fun then and we WILL have fun in the future.

disneygal58 How's looking for the new house? I've tried to send some pixie dust on to you in Fla. but it keeps getting blown back my way. If I am not mistaken, you should have started the new job now. Hope it is everything and more than you looked for in the change.

 

[disneygal58]

HELLO ALL!
If I am correct, this is our 150 day countdown! I finally moved into the rental two days ago (thanks for all of the pixie dust, LVTravel and well wishes, Jeanny) and this is my first chance to get to the computer. I have been at the new job for three weeks, am in the process of helping to pack up DD Meagan for Western Colorado State and unpacking our lives here on the East Coast (yeah) of Florida. The best part of all of this is - each Sunday morning I can hop on A1A (a mile from our new "home") and travel the half hour to get a glimpse of the Wonder.(The ocean view isn't too shabby either). Heaven.
I hope this finds everyone well and if there is anything that I can do for you at this end, don't hesitate to ask.

Take care and keep the countdown alive,
Dawn Hope

 

[LVTravel]

Disneygal58, I am so glad that you found a place to stay for your new job. Are you still looking for a more permanent home to replace your rental? Hope your new 3 week old job is going great. I don't believe you stated earlier, but with your DD going off to college are there any more little Hopes around the house? Our only son (the DS with the two DGC & his DW) moved out a number of years ago to start his own family. Was so lonely that we ended up taking over my mother's house and she now lives with us (86 years young and counting and she is the 4th generation in our group on this cruise).

I have booked our airfare for the 7 of us to arrive the day before at Orlando airport, reserved two suites at the Embassy suites at the airport (free booze the night before sailing works great for my DW. One cruise she got soooo sick she didn't drink any more for the first 5 nights of the cruise. Cheapest bar bill I have ever had on a cruise.) Then a free, full cooked to order breakfast before getting in our shuttle van to arrive at the ship at 11:45 AM. Just in time to wait to check in and board.

Planning has been fun but I CAN'T WAIT FOR JANUARY!!!!!!!

 

[Jeanny]

Hey Dawn~ glad you're settling in and hope our pixie dust continues to help.

LVT, we're thinking of staying at the Hyatt the night before... Right now, we're looking at taking an 8pm flight out of Boston... and arriving around 11pm, walking over to the Hyatt and getting up early on Saturday for the DCL bus. Where are the Embassy Suites? I'll have to get Dave's site out again... I figured on staying at the Hyatt for convenience.

Once SWA comes out with their January schedules and prices, our plans may change... I'd much rather fly out of Providence, but right now, they don't have any direct flights... used to be tons, now I guess SWA is the only one flying direct.

 

[LVTravel]

Jeanny,

The Embassy Suites is about 1 mile from the airport and they provide a courtesy shuttle from the airport to the hotel. We arrive at 12:53 PM from our flight

I am not using the DCL transport but have booked with Basik Shuttle. I realize that we will miss out on the fun of the DCL shuttle however. (With my fireman's discount am paying $25.00 per person RT, door to ship and ship to airport.) Pick up at the hotel at 11:15. (oops my previous post said I would arrive at the ship at 11:45. They better drive fast. Guess we will be getting there about 12:15. Oh, well, the ship will still be serving food.)

The main reason we stay at the Embassy Suites is that we have Hilton Honors points and the stay doesn't cost anything for us. Coming from Maryland in January, I definately want to be in Florida at least 1 day before the cruise. If the planes are grounded, I still have time to drive there.

Come on January!

 

[Jeanny]

I know what you mean about arriving the day before, although I wouldn't be able to drive in one day... Last year when we were leaving from PVD the day before Thanksgiving for WDW, we left in the middle of a snowstorm... delay, deice, delay, deice again...and again.
So this January, I'm not going to take any chance with Mother Nature.

We're using the DCL transportation, I wanted to get a towncar, but my daughter wants to go on the bus.. she said it's fun and you get to watch the video... she went in Feb 2002, but is letting me totally plan this cruise!!

 

[disneygal58]

Hello,
Fortunately I do have one daughter left at home. She's 18 and is taking this year in between high school and college to work full time and figure out what she wants to major in next year. When she was in the first grade, she stated that the two of us would always live together and one day become little old ladies pushing each other's wheelchairs around - I have reminded her of this promise. She doesn't think it would hold up in court. Having been a single mom since they were quite small, I am not looking forward to the empty nest days.
The DCL bus is fun to experience. Still, in the end it doesn't matter how you get there. We've stayed at the Radisson at the Port. It's a fine hotel with a view of the ship. Of course, Embassy Suites are great properties. Will you spend any time at the "World" prior to cruise day?

Take care,
Dawn

 

[LVTravel]

disneygal58,

Sorry to say that my DS & DD-I-L can't take any more than one week off from work to go. Also, the grandkids need to get back to school since they will also miss the 1st week back from Xmas vacation.

I would have liked to use the DCL bus but finances at this time do not permit the increased cost (I'm paying for the entire trip for all 7 of us, including airfare.) We did discuss coming down a day or two early to visit Mickey but since the kids couldn't get away, I guess the DW & I will have to come down later in the spring. Maybe we can all get together then at WDW for a mini-DIS meet.

Until later - "May all your wishes come true!"

 

[Jeanny]

Well, Southwest finally listed the airfares & schedules for January, so we booked our airfare last night.

We're flying out of Providence Friday afternoon (Jan 2) and get into Orlando around 7:50 p.m. Airfare was $210 each, not a bad price. I checked Boston-it's been $205, but if we left from BOS, we'd have to drive up there and pay their parking fee's. At least in Providence, it's a quick bus ride from Foxboro or we could drive down & leave the car in their lot, A LOT cheaper than BOS.

As I posted before, I'm not taking any chances with Mother Nature... I was going to book through DU, but they can't guarantee a non stop flight (which Southwest is the only non stop airline out of PVD now) and they couldn't guarantee the times or the airline I wanted, we'd be at their mercy.

And now instead of staying at the Hyatt at the airport, Jacqui wants to find out info about Residence Inn, she has rewards there, and uses them in her office, so she may be able to arrange some sort of deal. I know it's off site from the airport, but only a short shuttle.

It's getting closer every day!!!

 

[sandiedvc]

Howdy y'all! We will be joining you on the cruise-- DH, DD (20), DD (18) and I. We are using our DVC points for the cruise and so are getting two inside staterooms. We went on a 4 day cruise a couple of years ago and were all crammed into a deluxe inside! This time we determined that we would need two bathrooms more than a verandah!

We are really looking forward to this cruise. We bought the girls fancy eating dresses already. They were great prices, but now I am worried that the girls will freeze to death in those sleeveless things! Oh, well if that is all there is to worry about than life is good!

Kathy

 

[LVTravel]

Jeanny, Glad you made your airline reservations. Not a bad price at all. Are you still using the DCL bus to the terminal or have you made other arrangements? Yes, it is getting close.....



sandiedvc (Kathy), Welcome to the group. I was going to make a smart remark about what does the dress eat but I thought better of it. (Have them take a wrap to the restaurant to cover their shoulders if they get cold. The restaurants can get cool.)

Just think

Only

 

[Jeanny]

LVT~ as of right now, yes, we are still using DCL transportation. Jacqui still wants to see the video, her 2nd cruise, my first ever.... She didn't have a chance to find out anything about Residence Inn today, but we have a little bit of time to make arrangements... We'll probably just take their shuttle back and forth to the airport and hook up with DCL early Saturday morning!!

welcome Sandiedvc!! You'll learn A LOT here.

 

[brack]

LVTRAVEL: yes we have the same cabin for both cruises. They tell me that we do not have to leave the ship before the second cruise. I am looking forward to being on the ship with hardly anyone else on board.
We are so looking forward to these cruises. It is almost all we talk about with our friends. Hope to meet you and the others that post on this board.

 

[LVTravel]

brack , glad you are able to stay in the same cabin. Saves on having to transport luggage. I guess they will check you in on both cruises when you check in for the first one. Since I've never been able to take the time for 14 days on a boat, I really don't know how they do it.

I'll bet that it will really be interesting to be on there without any others other than CMs. At least you will have the run of the ship.

It's a little early to plan a DIS meet on board but I have already warned my wife that people are going to be walking up to her and introducing themselves especially if we do get the shirts done for the cruise (from one of the first posts this thread).

Will January ever get here?