*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* From Spain to Space Mountain-Taking the Magic Home

[Dgentrysim]

While they're getting sand-blasted, we'll just be getting blasted!

Sounds like a good way to pass the day!

 

[PFlamingo]

so is everyone heading to maho beach on st maarten? we havent decided what to do but i really fancy going to one of the stables where they do the beach horseback riding and you get to go into the sea with the horses. think that'd be pretty awesome

Oh, now that is tempting!! Is there any way to do both?

that sounds like the best idea i've heard in ages!! wonder if everyone will make it to dinner that night after such a drinking session.....

(side story kinda related - last 3 night cruise we did there was a tour group from the jacksonville chamber of commerce sat near us in the dining room. they were a big group that obviously liked the cruise and liked their drinks. on castaway cay they were all on serenity bay drinking the whole day. not all of them made it to dinner that night, and only about 5 or 6 made it to breakfast the following morning..... we were taking bets on how many would actually turn up...)

Amateurs.

Actually, I haven't found the drinks on DCL or CC to be all that strong. Maybe I've just built up my tolerance between college, grad school, and hanging out with Dennis. Truthfully, though, I hate "sloppy" drunks. Funny drunks, yes , sloppy drunks, no . My motto is, "if you can't hold your liquor, stick with soda." (One of my mottoes is that. My other motto is "never pay retail." Oh, and my other, other motto is "life is too short to drink cheap booze." Okay, amongst my mottoes are... (No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!) Okay, who gets the reference?)

Lol i'll be snoozing in the car back to the ship and re-charging the batteries for the sailaway cocktail

There you go!

That's my kinda girl!

 

[Goofy Adpi]

so is everyone heading to maho beach on st maarten? we havent decided what to do but i really fancy going to one of the stables where they do the beach horseback riding and you get to go into the sea with the horses. think that'd be pretty awesome

I have always wanted to do that!! If you find any information on that please let me know. I will be eternally greatful

While they're getting sand-blasted, we'll just be getting blasted!

Okay, so what exactly goes on with the planes, the fence and the sand. After seeing the pictures I understand the sand part, but why do you hang on to a fence?

that sounds like the best idea i've heard in ages!! wonder if everyone will make it to dinner that night after such a drinking session.....

(side story kinda related - last 3 night cruise we did there was a tour group from the jacksonville chamber of commerce sat near us in the dining room. they were a big group that obviously liked the cruise and liked their drinks. on castaway cay they were all on serenity bay drinking the whole day. not all of them made it to dinner that night, and only about 5 or 6 made it to breakfast the following morning..... we were taking bets on how many would actually turn up...)

I went on a Carnival 7 day cruise for spring break my second year of law school and I was lucky enough to be seated with three other pairs on spring break. Except, they were all college seniors who had just turned 21. They were there to party, and to party hard. I don't know how it worked out this way, but every night one of the "kids" (my roommate and I were a much more mature 23 ) was missing from dinner, also known as passed out in their cabin. My roommate and I started betting on who would be missing from dinner. It was quite the good time.

 

[auntlynne]

I think you hang onto to the fence because it would be the point at which the jet is closest to ground (and you) and you hang on for dear life.

WAVE PHONES

For the wave phone uninitiated: Wave Phones are portable phones, allotted 2 per cabin (3 in concierge) that allow you to call other passengers and select DCL numbers on the ship. (Can't recall if they work on Castaway Cay or near the ship when in ports). There is no charge for use, just about $250 if you lose one. All phones are set to vibrate, so you won't be hearing cell phone ringing during shows. You can also text and leave messages. There is one recharging stand per cabin, but the batteries are long-life, so this should not pose a problem (from my experience).

 

[Namsupak]

Hey Lauren, were you guys on the dream Maiden Voyage too??????

Yup we were there! We went to the picnic but missed the other meets.

 

[Tod&Copper]

Pat

Sliding doors??? James is talking to Helen about his favourite monty python film !!!

Either that or you mean THE monty python film.

Sliding doors / Gwyneth Paltrow - one of my favourite films ever

 

[auntlynne]

I've made a thread to keep all the weekly recaps in one place, as well as having the latest one at the beginning of our group thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2686641

 

[PFlamingo]

Pat

Sliding doors??? James is talking to Helen about his favourite monty python film !!!

Either that or you mean THE monty python film.

Sliding doors / Gwyneth Paltrow - one of my favourite films ever

Actually, MP's Flying Circus. When I was in high school, our local public broadcasting station showed reruns of it. My (geek) friends and (geek) I would memorize the sketches and break into them at inappropriate moments (Chemistry class) - complete with (bad) British accents. What can I say, we were an odd bunch - but we were fun!

 

[auntlynne]

...Okay, amongst my mottoes are... (No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!) Okay, who gets the reference?)

Last year's EBTA started with the them "No one expects the Spanish Reposition." Couldn't figure it out even after watching the Monty Python clip. Now, the clip is humorous.

 

[auntlynne]

Wow, plane spotting looks amazing. That is definitely going on my list of things to do

Can I ask...is there free WIFI on the cruise or should I just leave laptop at home?

Also, do you have to pay for water on board?

WiFi is no way free. 75 cents/minute or 100 min for $50 or some more packages (can't remember). However, the biggest issue is that it is sloooowww.

Is there a cast member around in the teen group? If so I may be able to arrange something. I'm sure she will be fine after a few days and got her bearings.

There seemed to be two CMs working with the teens - usually one male and one female. Probably not a large crowd of kids onboard our cruise, as most schools will be back in session - should allow for them to keep an eye on your daughter (although I think they kept pretty good contact with all the kids).

Thanks for that thread! My DH is very sensitive to perfumes and strong smelling lotions: hates anything that resembles "aromatherapy." Can anyone remember how pungent or sweet smelling the oils, lotions, mud, salts are? This sounds like fun...

On boarding day, the Spa has an open house wherein they showcase their treatments - and often have discounts for those who have gone through (fill out the prize drawing card); on our 5-night cruise recently, we received several envelopes with offers of discounted treatments.

I just checked out all the Dis 2011 Magic discussion groups and only one has 3 threads. Here we are getting ready to start our 3rd one.....so that must mean we are a very chatty group! I think that says a lot for this group! Keep it going fellow cruisers!

There's a previous PC cruise that is on about thread 15 - they just can't stop talking.

so is everyone heading to maho beach on st maarten? we havent decided what to do but i really fancy going to one of the stables where they do the beach horseback riding and you get to go into the sea with the horses. think that'd be pretty awesome

The current schedule (winter) has most of the Tuesday flights 1-5pm. We are in St Maarten from 7:15-5:30 (or so). If you could do a morning ride, you could end the day laughing at Maho beach.

...Lynne, we stayed at the Hilton Diagonal Mar last summer and were able to do the cruise check-in there. Disney had a separate table set up in the lobby with 2 CMs who basically did all of the check-in right there. We received all of our boarding stuff and they took our individual "pre-cruise" photo for your KTTW card at that time. (Ugh, that was one a bad photo, in fact she had to take mine twice ...we had just gotten in from our 9-hour overnight flight. We looked frightful! ) We also received our Castaway Club lanyards.
When we got to the port on sailing day, we went straight into the line for group photos and then boarded the Magic! It made the boarding process so much easier.

Thank you - that is both great details and good news. So only stopping at the port check-in to see if any upgrades are available? Any idea of how early they were at the hotel for check-in?

 

[3canadianslovedisney]

did you have a good trip leanne?

Actually I did, but DH worked the whole time. I got some good "English" visiting in. The little town we live in has very little English speakers so it's alway fun to go to fellow English speaking homes. This morning at 2:00 am DD woke me up with a high fever and coughing and sniffles, so I think it will be a quiet week at home this week.

OMG Disney Store Barcelona..... I didn't know that one !!! Been to the Paris and Rome ones, but did not for one minute think about there being one in Barca

I won't manage on the WBTA as we are flying straight in and going to the port.

Will check it out when I am there in June - must remember my DVC card for my 10% discount

Thanks Leanne

So lucky to have DVC discount. That is something I'm hoping to look into on the cruise, I think I saw somewhere that they do have info on the cruise for DVC, is that correct?

We are so hoping our flight is not delayed from Kiev to London, so we don't miss our flight to Barcelona. The store closes as 10:00 pm and we are scheduled to land at 7:30 pm.

just to warn you though, they dont really stock anything different from the UK disney stores plus the exchange rate makes it more expensive than buying the same thing from the UK

I found that with the store in Paris, too. They don't have as good sales as they have in the store in Canada. I've gotten t-shirts as cheap as 3 dollars in Canada, but didn't see anything that good in Paris.

Oh dear! I am embarrased to say how many we took on the FOUR night Dream Maiden Voyage..........over 2500!

BTW if anyone wants to see any of my Dream MV pics (or my ugly mug) then i've just finished my trip report (link in my sig) but don't feel obliged too as it's long with tons of pics!

Finished your TR last week before we went away. You have some great pics and great TR! I definitely want to go on a cruise at some point on the Dream!

I'm hoping to take tonnes of pics as well. I think that's a given!

Same here. For the MV of the Dream and the 3 days we did at WDW in January DH ended up with nearly 3,000 pics. Digital makes it so easy now to take as many as you want. I remember the days when I had my 110 mm camera with the 10 pack of flash bulbs and I had to be super selective what I used flash for

Definitely, digital ROCKS!

 

[karentan]

I've never really seen anyone wasted on DCL

oh, the jacksonville lot were definately wasted!!!

Same thing here....usually just end up falling asleep. Husband says I'm a cheap date.

last cruise we were on late seating, and by the time we finished a 2 and a bit hour dinner, we had a walk around for maybe half hour and then were ready for bed. long gone are the days where we used to be out all night clubbing....

Oh, now that is tempting!! Is there any way to do both

I have always wanted to do that!! If you find any information on that please let me know. I will be eternally greatful

i'd love to go see maho beach too, so thinking maybe an early morning ride, before it gets too hot, then hop over to maho beach afterwards. we're not really sit on the beach all day kind of people, so not sure what else there is to do on the island.
there seems to be two stables doing this on the island:
http://www.baysideridingclub.com/ website has been under construction for a while
http://www.stmaartencruiseexcursions.com/StMaartenHorsebackRiding.htm#Reservation

I've made a thread to keep all the weekly recaps in one place, as well as having the latest one at the beginning of our group thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2686641

great idea, i've put a link for this in the first post of the new thread

I found that with the store in Paris, too. They don't have as good sales as they have in the store in Canada. I've gotten t-shirts as cheap as 3 dollars in Canada, but didn't see anything that good in Paris.

i keep hearing about all the cool USA sales they have

 

[Pinky166]

I've made a thread to keep all the weekly recaps in one place, as well as having the latest one at the beginning of our group thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2686641

That's a great idea.

Actually I did, but DH worked the whole time. I got some good "English" visiting in. The little town we live in has very little English speakers so it's alway fun to go to fellow English speaking homes. This morning at 2:00 am DD woke me up with a high fever and coughing and sniffles, so I think it will be a quiet week at home this week.

Finished your TR last week before we went away. You have some great pics and great TR! I definitely want to go on a cruise at some point on the Dream!

Glad you had a nice time,hope your DD is feeling better soon.

Thanks for reading my TR, I enjoyed writing it.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

i'd love to go see maho beach too, so thinking maybe an early morning ride, before it gets too hot, then hop over to maho beach afterwards. we're not really sit on the beach all day kind of people, so not sure what else there is to do on the island.
there seems to be two stables doing this on the island:
http://www.baysideridingclub.com/ website has been under construction for a while
http://www.stmaartencruiseexcursions.com/StMaartenHorsebackRiding.htm#Reservation

I looked at this but was a bit put out by the photos showing people riding without safety headgear. I don't want to be a killjoy but personally I wouldn't ride without it here, so why should it be any different over there. Also would your insurance be valid if you weren't wearing it and an accident happened.
That said it does look an amazing experience.

Thanks for reading my TR, I enjoyed writing it.

Your trip report was fabulous .. and some of the best photographs I have ever seen. Check it out everybody

 

[Pinky166]

Your trip report was fabulous .. and some of the best photographs I have ever seen. Check it out everybody

Aww thanks Sarah.

 

[PFlamingo]

OMG!!! I found this while I was perusing one of the horseback riding sites. Now I'm seriously tempted!! Harley in Paradise


Of course, I haven't ridden in years (my "bike" - Yamaha, not a Harley - was laid up with mechanical problems, then was stolen last year ), but I've always wanted to try a Harley. Not sure about Dennis, though. I have visions of him sitting behind me going the entire time.


Well, it's supposed to rain most of the day here, and I should use the time to clean up the house. But I think I'll sit back with a cup of coffee and read Claire's TR.

 

[melonz]

Hi Melonz,
Just wanted to drop you a little note. My daughter has special needs also (Asperger's) and has been on cruises with Disney both as a pre-teen and as a teenager. The staff was wonderful both times. There aren't really any planned activities or planned supervision for the teens, but the staff was able to help my daughter get oriented the first couple of days - after that she hung out with the teens wherever they went or she would just choose to lay by the pool, see a movie, etc. by herself. She had a GREAT time, and we were very comfortable with her being "on her own" there.
(Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions....love to help!)

Thanks for the info there! It sounds brill. I'm hoping it will give Paris a bit of independance in a safe environment

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

OK, decided to see what opinions are on here. As mentioned months ago or so I stumbled upon several perfect FE gifts, I dare say. I got them in an arrangements of color. Not going to spill the beans here, so it's a bit funny to try and explain why I'm caught in between 2 options. Anyway, I realize the color of the gifts can have a big influence. Everybody has favorite colors, some colors suit some folks better than others. I could just drop off the FE-gifts but find it kind off a shame to think some might not get the color they would've preffered eventhough that could've been possible.

So, option 2 I considered was handing out "coupons", giving a big fat hint on them and have participants meet me somewhere in public at an appointed place and time to pick their favorit color and design. But then again, there will be no moment in those 14 days where everybody will not have somewhere else they'ld want to go with all the fun going on.

But, this thread comes to the rescue again. While typing this, I had a . I guess I could ask participants their favorite color before the cruise, perhaps even added by the color they least like. Design is another thing, so that will be a bit of a gamble but perhaps could be sorted out amongst eachother if need be.

I know, it all sounds fishy. But I'm not going to spill the beans, sorry. I'm just so but running into these gifts and know they will be a big hit with some of you that I'm kinda like an enthousiastic child in a toystore hyper wanting to make sure the right color and design hits the right persons.

What do the FE participants think? Other than finally deciding that I'm mental. That is no news at all. Would you prefer just being totally surprised, making your own pic or telling a preferred color and be done with it?



Disneystores in Europe. Hmm. I've found them to be..... lacking when you have seen the US ones. Items, price, it's all just not up to par IMHO. I'm spending no money there, have decided to safe it for aboard, at WDW and while hitting some of the malls while in Orlando.


Aldi? Never hit it in the US, but it's a basic principle; cheaper groceries made possible by having a store in a B-location, dressing the shop up only upto the very basics, having most items not on shelves but in boxes, offering only own brands and less options per product (so basically one type of rice instead of 35 etc.) The final product will differ per country, just like all brands and just the basic grocery and department store principle. Aldi NL? We've got a great one just down the road. Very spacious (can be quite different here at Aldi's), bright store. I don't care about the base-offering. Quite a few of their products are just very good, yummie etc. At the moment not all is cheaper anymore, since we've been having grocerystore-wars here (stores undermine eachothers prices...... ) But hey; Aldi has certain products nobody else has that are just my thing. Or the specials they've got. Great offerings on desktops, laptops, basically anything you can imagine. Either the product is great and if not; the service is great. No discussion, money back, even after long times and without a receipt.

With a grocerystore love, one should really do a roadtrip in Europe. It is amazing to see al the differences per brand and per country within the same brand. For instance, we've got nothing alike the big departmentstores like Wallmart etc. where you can basically find everything. We divide things, so grocerystores basically do just that. Perhaps a small assortment of household items and that's it most of the times. AH XL is the biggest we've got around here (aren't that much around), which is a type of grocerystore with more grocery options (for instance instead of 10 types of rice, now 35 types) and a bit bigger assortment non-grocery. But nowhere near close to the stores like Wallmart, Hypermarchées in France etc. One thing that also stands out is our fruit and vegetable section. Comparing storesizes, this department is a lot bigger in our stores and varied than it is in most countries I've been in. More affordable also.

Like many on here I love to hit stores abroad. Just love the difference, trying new products etc.

 

[melonz]

Wow, everyone! We were out of town for two days and it's taken me half the day to catch up.



Welcome aboard. We are Leanne, DH Ken, DD Morgan (9) and DM Dorothy and DF Ted. We are also staying at the Barcelona City Novotel. Our flight is getting in a bit later however we are hoping to get to the Carrefour and Disney store before they close.

Hi Leanne, thanks for the welcome . We land at 7pm, what time do you get there? What time does the Carrefour close? Is this the place where you can buy alcohol quite cheaply?

My DS Ethan is 10 so I'm glad there's someone there his own age

 

[TotallyAngelic]

OK, decided to see what opinions are on here. As mentioned months ago or so I stumbled upon several perfect FE gifts, I dare say. I got them in an arrangements of color. Not going to spill the beans here, so it's a bit funny to try and explain why I'm caught in between 2 options. Anyway, I realize the color of the gifts can have a big influence. Everybody has favorite colors, some colors suit some folks better than others. I could just drop off the FE-gifts but find it kind off a shame to think some might not get the color they would've preffered eventhough that could've been possible.

So, option 2 I considered was handing out "coupons", giving a big fat hint on them and have participants meet me somewhere in public at an appointed place and time to pick their favorit color and design. But then again, there will be no moment in those 14 days where everybody will not have somewhere else they'ld want to go with all the fun going on.

But, this thread comes to the rescue again. While typing this, I had a . I guess I could ask participants their favorite color before the cruise, perhaps even added by the color they least like. Design is another thing, so that will be a bit of a gamble but perhaps could be sorted out amongst eachother if need be.

I know, it all sounds fishy. But I'm not going to spill the beans, sorry. I'm just so but running into these gifts and know they will be a big hit with some of you that I'm kinda like an enthousiastic child in a toystore hyper wanting to make sure the right color and design hits the right persons.

What do the FE participants think? Other than finally deciding that I'm mental. That is no news at all. Would you prefer just being totally surprised, making your own pic or telling a preferred color and be done with it?

Sounds very intriguing ..... I would be happy to have a total surprise, but if it is easier for you to get us to choose colours I am happy to do that too. Whatever is best for you in other words !!