Hey! July 30th, 2005 cruise to Mexico DISfriends!

[lwilliam]

airfare:
sorry for not getting back to you about airfare:
we booked Delta out of Phila. for $208.00 (with tax)
we leave Tuesday, July 26 and return Sat. August 7.
It is not a direct flight, though. Leave Phila., stop in
Cincinnati, arrive in LAX early in the afternoon.
Going home, leave LAX, fly to Atlanta arrive Phila. late at night.

Everyone else:
This is sounding like a very fun group. Please, someone tell me there are going to be boys around 18/19 that my son can meet. He is now worried since he won't be able to go in The Stack.

 

[LiserAnn]

lwilliam-Sorry, we have boys going but they're only going to be 7 and 3 at the time...and our group of friends coming along also have boys but they're all about the same age as mine. I'm sure your son will make friends?!?!?!?!

 

[jlawall]

No boys but 3 girls- 21, 18 and 15 yrs. old.

My girls have met great kids each year on the cruise. In fact, one of their cruise friends is coming. He will be 19 years old next summer.

I have to book my flights!

 

[lwilliam]

....are not a bad thing either (ha!ha!ha!ha!)

 

[jlawall]

Hey! I just read the posts about how I got started in life....all lies!!! What are people doing prior to the cruise???

 

[lwilliam]

Of course, 2 days at Disneyland, will be booking the
Grand Californian (sp?) because we have never been to
Disneyland and want to do it 'right'! We will arrive early
afternoon on Tuesday, July 26 in California - check in - and i thought maybe could spend some time in Disney Village (or whatever it is called) and then catch up on the time change. Of course we will want to do Disneyland on Wed., July 27, maybe on Thursday visit Hollywood, if we can find a tour (my boys want to do Universal but have been told here on the boards it is pretty far away and of course Disney wouldn't provide transportation-don't blame them!). Then, Friday Disneyland again. Of course these are the plans for 'today' - when we go to Disneyworld we never, ever keep a schedule. I hope the hotel has a laundrymat
so I can be organized for the cruise. We know of someone
staying there next week and had all kinds of questions for
her about the hotel. - Lucy

 

[LiserAnn]

Originally posted by jlawall
What are people doing prior to the cruise???

We've talked about going to Dland on Friday and staying overnight at the Disneyland Hotel...their pool has a Captain Hook theme and my son has bugged us forever to stay there so he can "play". We'll see...DH wants to scrap that idea and have more spending money on the cruise. Whichever, we're planning to be at the cruise terminal as soon as they say we can be there. We all just can't wait!!!!! 10 months...it's killing me....

 

[Albill]

as I recall.... New York was a prairie when MomMom and I was 40.....!! Good for you... it's a piece of cake..!! Right JoAnn...????
I'm lookin for the second 40 to come by....

 

[LiserAnn]

With having 2 and 6 yo boys, they keep me feeling quite zippy on my toes, but at the end of the day I must admit, they have zapped my energy!

Anyway, we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate 40 and three other families wanted to help me bring 40 on so our little party of 4 turned into a party of 16!!!!! Should be fun!

 

[jlawall]

Oh yea! We're going to have fun!

To answer the Unversal decision, we did do it about 6 years ago. It was fun but very similar to Florida.

My girls want to check out the sites in LA but I'm not sure if we should just go to DL. Any CA people have any advice? Is Rodeo Drive, etc. not to be missed?? Any other sites we should check out in that area?

JoAnn

 

[LiserAnn]

If you've never seen Rodeo Drive I guess it's neat to see. But it's not the end of the world if you don't see it. Most of the shops are so exclusive/expensive that you end up driving or walking down Rodeo without going into the stores. It just emphasizes there are some very wealthly people in the world and I ain't one of them...he he he.

There are some really beautiful beaches in Newport Beach...Crystal Cove is one of them. I'm more familiar with Orange County than LA County because I went to college there. Laguna Beach is also neat to see. Hard to say, depends on what you like to do.

 

[lwilliam]

Tell me about the Grand Californian (sp?)
We are 'newbies' to Disneyland but know every inch
of Disneyworld. Will we be happy there? Family of 4 with
children 13 and 19 (never mind our age!). Will there be
a day bed in the room (a 19 yr. old does NOT sleep with
family!!!) - we always take an aero bed along but not
this time. Will there be a laundry in the hotel for me to
use? Shall we go to a different Disney hotel for these
options?
Can you believe we are on page 4 of this thread?!!!
Lucy

 

[jlawall]

Thanks for the beach info, that's what my family enjoys most. Can you recommend a place to stay and a day beach that we could check out?

The Grand CA is the top hotel on the DL grounds. It's really nice, not as good as the Grand FLA in WDW sort of like the Wilderness Lodge in WDW. It is right on site, you can literally work into the newer park right from the hotel. The pool is nice and relaxing. DL and CA parks are much smaller and less stressful than WDW. If you are going there and want to go top shelf I recommend it!

 

[jlawall]

Our flights were booked today, yipee!!!! We are arriving on Wed, July 27th and returning home on Sat. August 6th....one step closer! Now we have to decide what to do the first 3 days!!

 

[LynnTarrant]

Hi I'm Lynn my husband Keith and I are sailing on the Magic 30th July. It will be our 2nd time aboard we sailed Western Xmas 2003. However it will be our first time to the US Western coast. We are from across the pond.
I've investigated a few flights and am going to book next weekend We will fly in the saturday before and do LA! Plans include Santa Monica, Hollwood and Universal and oh let me think I'm sure there was somewhere else we wanted to visit...LOL oh yeah Disneyland of course. When we get back we plan to drive up the coast and fly back from San Francisco. Any tips on things to do places to stay gratefully received. Looking forward to having fun with you all on board.

 

[jlawall]

Welcome Lynne and Keith....last summer we sat at dinner with a family from Liverpool! My daughter was in a wedding a few years ago in Bristol. Where are you from????

JoAnn (I'm sailing with my DH, Ken, and 3 DDs - 21, 18 and 15 and my parents)

 

[lwilliam]

Hope we can all get together next summer - let's take over
that ship with DISers!
- Lucy

 

[LynnTarrant]

Hi JoAnn and Lucy
We're from London originally and now live near Portsmouth on the South Coast. I think you might find us easier to translate compsred to our Liverpudlian countrymen!

 

[jlawall]

Hey! We managed, it was really fun dinner conversation each night!

EVERYONE, WE BROKE 300 DAYS....IT'S GETTING CLOSER!!!!

 

[lwilliam]

Under 300 days - yipppeee!
thanks, JoAnn for the countdown
we are now discussing our plans while in California
Airline is booked, cruise is booked, now waiting for SOME KIND OF DISCOUNT at the GC - we are determined to stay there.
To all the women in the group: I'm starting WW tonight - wish
me luck - want to be able to wear my cruise clothing again.