“Just Me and You” Mother/Daughter Eastern 9/30

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Warning: Very long, as we had such a marvelous time I want to re-live every moment writing this! :cool1:

Finally! It’s my turn to write a trip report! After seven months of planning, it is happening to us! Let me first just say thanks to everyone on the DIS Boards for their tips and suggestions! We booked in February and I checked the boards AT LEAST twice a day! :disrocks: I love reading the trip reports and thought I would take a stab at it. I still have one suitcase left to unpack and have been doing laundry :laundy: since yesterday afternoon dreading going back to work in the morning and need a break already.

Cast of characters: Me (39) :hippie: and DD princess: Baylee (age 7 turning 8 on the cruise). A bit of background on us: I am a single mom, newly divorced; however, have been separated for quite some time. We hadn’t been on vacation for five LONG years. Baylee was at Disney World on her 3rd birthday, but doesn’t remember it. It was time for us to FINALLY do this. I have been talking for a couple years about a Disney cruise but alas, being a single mom the funds are never there. I’ve been saving forever, it seems! :bitelip:

When it was time to book, I wanted to book the Western because I really wanted to do Grand Cayman. After checking the dates, prices, etc., I thought it would be a marvelous idea to take Baylee for her 8th birthday, which is October 2. So I ended up booking the Eastern instead and I lucked out because it was the cheapest week, price wise! Well, except for it being hurricane season and all! I also booked the cheapest room, a Category 12. I was hearing stories on the boards of upgrades but didn’t hold out much hope for that. We hadn’t been having good luck lately, but as I was to find out, our luck would be changing! :wizard:

I thought we’d go down a day early and spend the day with my ex-in-laws who haven’t seen Baylee in 3 years. My ex and I have a very amicable relationship for the sake of Baylee, and his parents are no exception. I’ve always gotten along well with “the in-laws”. They live in Tampa, and said that they would love to pick us up at the airport and spend the day/evening with us and drop us off at the ship Saturday morning. I made reservations at the Doubletree Cocoa Beach and they got a room along with my ex’s sister (who Baylee adores), who also lives down there.

In June, we took a weekend and went up to the North Shore (Duluth, MN) to visit my sister and her family. My sister and I decided to go to the casino that night (I hadn’t been in a couple years). Like I said before, I am on a budget and had to save, save, save! My sister wanted to take me out because it was “divorce day”, the day it was final. The first $20 I spent DING DING DING, I hit the royal flush on a poker machine and won $1,400! :woohoo: Paid off the cruise, put some $$ down on our shipboard account and saved some for airfare! Woo hoo! Pixie dust already! pixiedust:

I waited and waited for low airfare from Minneapolis, but started getting nervous in July when prices weren’t coming down. I wanted to fly non-stop with Sun Country, but when it came time to book, they were $100 more! Yikes – I was on a budget! I would rather spend that $100 on the ship! I ended up booking with Air-Tran Airways. Non-stop on the way down and one short stop in Chicago on the way back. Then I priced airfare a week before cruising and Sun Country was $30 cheaper than I paid. :rolleyes: You just never know, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

A month out from our cruise, Baylee and I made the requisite 30-day chain. She was so excited she could spit (as was I). My favorite commercial is the Disney one where the kids “are too excited to sleep”. Mom goes to bed and asks dad if he’s awake, to which he replies, “I’m too excited to sleep.” :rotfl2: That was definitely us! I know I was driving my co-workers crazy and had a countdown at work posted in my cube LOL. They were definitely ready to get rid of me! Baylee and I scoured the DIS boards reading trip reports, looking at pictures and imagining the food we were going to eat! We both are chocoholics! I went on a diet and lost 31 pounds, knowing that I was going to gain a few back on this trip! I called Shirley at the Perfect Gift and ordered Baylee’s birthday basket (which I managed to keep a surprise) and informed her Baylee loved all things Tink :tink: just like every other little girl under 10 (and maybe over, I think). Since the cruise was her birthday present, I thought it would be nice to have a little gift waiting for her when we got there that she could “open”. :teeth:

I had been checking the cruise site daily for our room assignment (who am I kidding, I checked it daily just to look at it), and one morning it was there! We had been upgraded to a Category 9! :woohoo: A couple weeks later, we received our docs and it was there in black & white – Category 9. I actually got teary-eyed (I am such a sap as you will soon find out). More pixie dust for us! pixiedust: This was actually going to happen, wasn’t it? We were actually going to put away our cares for 7 glorious days on the Caribbean and think of no one but us! The “Just Me and You Cruise” was born! :banana:

Next up, overcoming our fear of flying, the in-laws and embarkation………………

[cmsnyder77]

Can't wait to hear your report! My DD will be 7 in January and we are going on our first cruise over Easter next yr - 7 day Western. I am also a single divorced mother and am very excited to do this with her. I haven't told her yet that we're going - she just knows we'll go "sometime".

[yazee1]

Sheila, I love reading trip reports like this one. I can't wait to read more.

[DeloreanGirl]

$1,400!!!!! That's AMAZING!!! party: WOW!!!


And, 31 pounds off! That's also amazing!!!! :cheer2:

Happy with your in-laws?! Holy cow!! :rotfl:

I can't wait to read the rest of this story, it already sounds like it's off to an incredible start!

[kimmcbee]

Keep up the good work, it was great meeting you and Baylee on the ship. She is a great girl, you are very lucky. Tell her the boys say hello.

[Marypoppinsiam]

How exciting for both of you! Can't wait to hear more about your great adventures. :thumbsup2

[tjeagle]

Good things do happen to good people! What a heartwarming opening post! popcorn::

[curlybop]

What a great start to the report! :sunny:

[dreamcometrue]

can't wait to read more!! :thumbsup2

[jrose529]

Great start! I can't wait for more.

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Thursday before I checked in, I found out that Airtran changed my flight and I was now leaving at 1:30 instead of 10:00. :furious: I was a little disappointed, as I really wanted Baylee to spend some time with Grandma & Grandpa. I also was mad because they didn’t bother calling or e-mailing me. On the other hand, we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for an early flight. All was well and I wasn’t going to let this ruin my vacation. :goodvibes

Friday morning dawned bright and early. Baylee’s Godmother was to pick us up for the airport at 9:30 and we were going to stop for breakfast. I had been done packing most of our stuff the weekend before and just had to drop in the last minute items that morning. Made it much easier! Two suitcases and one garment bag later (geez, she’s 7 – how did she become such a fashion diva?), we were ready to fly.

FLY? :scared1: You mean we have to FLY? I had forgotten about that part. Ever since I was little, I have had a fear of heights and flying. I have been a white-knuckled intoxicated passenger many times in my years (did I mention I am 39 and on the verge of the big 4-0 and a huge mid-life crisis?). What was I going to do to make sure Baylee stays calm, when I didn’t know how to calm myself down??!! How was I going to pull this one off? The last time I flew was three weeks after 9/11 and I was so scared I thought I was going to pee my pants. I took a Dramamine and hoped for the best. Baylee tends to get car sick once in a while, so I made her take a Dramamine too. I made sure I checked with the pediatrician before and he said it was a go. But mom, it’s not liquid. I couldn’t find the liquid, so please just swallow the pill. But mom, it’s not liquid. I don’t have liquid, DARLING, so please just put it in and swallow it BEFORE I PUT IT IN FOR YOU!!!! Well, that wasn’t happening so I smashed it up and put it in some orange juice and she drank it.

Did I mention Baylee did not receive the patience gene from me? She received the impatient one from her dad. I had visions of her being impatient in character lines, impatient at dinner, impatient at the airport, you get the idea. I warned her daily of “learning patience before the cruise”. Yeah, right, mom. AS IF! After 10 years with her father and one Disney cruise with her, I think I now have the impatient gene as well! :blush:

Anyway, she was excited, as she had been chatting with a couple girls around her age on the DIS boards and was excited to meet them as well. After breakfast at Perkins, we were off to the airport. Security was a breeze and the airport wasn’t very busy at all. Our plane seemed to have very few people on it. Smooth flying and we were arriving in Orlando at 5:45 STARVING! I sure miss those in-flight little meals.

Met the in-laws and went to our hotel, the Doubletree Oceanfront. Grandpa asked why I picked the hotel and I said, I don’t know, I heard they had great chocolate chip cookies. I thought he was going to run us off the road. :lmao: Well, they do have great chocolate chip cookies. We went out to eat at Beef O’ Brady’s. Baylee and Grandpa played the claw machine, we ate and went back to the hotel. Since we arrived so late, it was dark. Grandpa and Baylee took a dip in the pool and I promised her a walk on the beach in the morning before breakfast.

I was awake at the crack of dawn (which would continue throughout the trip). We all were up and ready by 8 and went down to the beach for a little while. I got some great shots of Baylee and Grandpa chasing waves. We went to breakfast at Zachary’s family restaurant, which was good. Since in-laws paid for the room and dinner, I paid for breakfast. We had to make a quick stop at Wal-Greens for Dramamine (forgot mine at Perkins) and water and then it was on to the cruise terminal.

Our first glimpse of the ship was unbelievable! :cool1: In fact, Grandma said, “I don’t know who is more excited” LOL! Pulled up to the terminal, they dropped us off and each gave Baylee some $$$ for her birthday, which of course was AWESOME, as she put it!

I had already checked in online, but had to fill out the forms again for some reason. :confused3 Oh, well, not entirely too bad. Didn’t have to stand in a long line for check-in. It was a breeze and the CM handed me two lanyards and four pins. I grabbed them and put them in our carry-on. I went over to the kids’ club registration, as I wanted to change Baylee to the lab rather than the club since she was going to be 8 in two days. THAT line was EXTREMELY long. By the time we were through that line, they were boarding. We had boarding #8 and it didn’t take long and we were on the ship by 12:00. :cheer2:

Went immediately to the Mickey pool as Baylee wanted to check out the slide. She quickly made some new friends. Neither one of us were hungry, so we sat by the Mickey Pool. Well, I sat and she swam. I grabbed a couple of sodas and called my parents and my sister and rubbed it in a little. :woohoo: It was really hot outside. At 1:30 we went down to our stateroom and was AWED! Baylee was SOOOOOO excited to see her gift basket. THANKS Shirley! Also, we had a Castaway Club gift on our bed. More pixie dust! pixiedust: I was wondering about this, since this was the first time we cruised. I looked at our KTTW cards and lanyards. Both said Castaway Club. Hmmmm……. Someone screwed up somewhere. We received an invitation to the CC party, but declined to go since I think I may have been pushing it! :rotfl2:

We didn’t have any luggage yet so decided to walk around the ship for a little while. Went back to our room and our luggage starting arriving bit by bit and was all there by 3:30. Our stateroom hostess was Nova and she was WONDERFUL! Went to the safety drill which was HOT and pretty uneventful. Headed up to deck 9 since Baylee wanted to be up front and center for the Sailaway Party. party: She had a blast. When the horn went off, we headed up to deck 10 to check out the waving CM’s with the Mickey hands. Cute! :wave2: I got a drink at the bar up there :drinking1 but it was not very good. I threw half of it away.

We had PLA dining rotation at 5:45. Went back to the room and got ready for dinner in Parrot Cay. kimmcbee from the boards and her family were our tablemates for the week. Hi Kim! Baylee says tell the boys hi! :wave2: They were a great group and quite entertaining for the week. I ordered the ribeye and Baylee and mac & cheese (which would be the habit for the week). She also ordered NOTHING for dessert. Our server was Densak and our Asst. Server was Paz. Paz was awesome, Densak not so. Densak brought Baylee a plate with NOTHING written in chocolate. She sure got a kick out of that. And of course proceeded to scrape the chocolate up with her fingers. I don’t know, maybe its just me, but those dinners were annoying for two long hours! It’s just too long with the kids in my opinion. By the end my patience had run out and so had Baylee's! :( The food was outstanding, though. While we were walking out of the restaurant, I heard my name being called and it was squirrelgirl with her DD who Baylee had been chatting with on the boards. We stopped and the girls met and we chatted a bit and off we went back to our room to change and get ready for the Welcome Aboard show. I got a kick out of Baylee though, “Mom, you didn’t pay for our food”. “I don’t have to”. “You mean it’s FREE???”. “Yeah, baby, it’s free.” She just couldn’t get over the fact all week that we didn’t have to pay for food!

We went up to the theatre and we ran into squirrelgirl again and the girls sat together for the show. The show was pretty cute. After the show, we saw Lilo in the lobby and got our picture with Donald. We were pretty exhausted and went back up to the room. We had a swan towel animal and Baylee loved that. We were prepared to sleep together in the big bed, but the couch was turned down with her blanky and stuffed animal on it and she got the biggest kick out of that and said she was going to sleep there. :Pinkbounc Big bed for me! We ordered chocolate chip cookies and milk from room service. I didn’t know it, but if you don’t specify what milk you want, they give you WHOLE milk. I haven’t drank whole milk since I was a kid. We ended up just dunking our cookies (which are OUT OF THIS WORLD) in it. It tasted like cream! :crazy2: Baylee fell asleep watching Brother Bear and I drifted off to sleep as well.

Next up, our first day at sea and formal night…………………….

[DeloreanGirl]

Two suitcases and one garment bag later (geez, she’s 7 – how did she become such a fashion diva?), we were ready to fly.

FLY? :scared1: You mean we have to FLY? I had forgotten about that part. Ever since I was little, I have had a fear of heights and flying. I have been a white-knuckled intoxicated passenger many times in my years (did I mention I am 39 and on the verge of the big 4-0 and a huge mid-life crisis?). What was I going to do to make sure Baylee stays calm, when I didn’t know how to calm myself down??!! How was I going to pull this one off? The last time I flew was three weeks after 9/11 and I was so scared I thought I was going to pee my pants. I took a Dramamine and hoped for the best. Baylee tends to get car sick once in a while, so I made her take a Dramamine too. …


From one white-knuckled flyer to another...... :hug:

[JDBlair]

I love your TR thus far. popcorn:: Congrats on being able to take this trip for the two of you. It'll be something you treasure for the rest of your lives! :cool1:

[MB MinnieGirl]

:cool1: I am LOVING your TR!! From one single mom to another I can totally relate - aren't mother/daughter cruises THE BEST!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to write. I know it's not easy trying to fit it in the schedule but it's a lot of fun reliving it! :teeth:

:wave: Kelly

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Thanks for the warm regards, guys! At lunch right now trying to fight a sore throat/cold that I think I'm getting. I am going to post a few pics of our first day to tide you over until I get to my next round tonight. I may actually post TWO days, but don't get your hopes up, :lmao:

Sunrise swimming in Cocoa Beach with Grandpa
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruise025.jpg


Goofy and Baylee - love at first site
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruise034.jpg


Baylee at the terminal
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruise035.jpg




Wandering the ship the first day
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruise045.jpg

[lindaso]

Great trip report so far. I can't wait to read the rest. I had to laugh at the guy with the pink backpack in your terminal picture :rotfl2: it's his color!!

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 2 at Sea

I was up at 6:45 this morning. I had ordered coffee and juice from room service the night before, but not until 7:30. I turned on the TV to check things out and ended up watching the end of Narnia again. :happytv: Soon she was awake. Baylee wanted to go to the Goofy pool so we went up to Topsiders and had the buffet, which I thought was just okay. Baylee had the Mickey waffles and so did I. I thought they were good. :bitelip: Headed off to the Goofy Pool and there were only a few people there. It was about 9:00am. Spent the better part of the morning there. Ran into squirrelgirls’s DD and went to the Mickey Pool with her family. The weather started getting a little stormy and lightning was around so they closed the Mickey Pool. The girls then ended up going to the lab, which was in the Stack at this time. I told Baylee I would pick her up for lunch. She wanted to know what I was going to do, and I had to report back to her what I did. :lmao: She was so worried that I wouldn’t have a good time! On a side note, I absolutely HATED picking her up and dropping her off, and was thankful that she only went a couple of times. Sometimes the lines were 15-20 minutes long! :guilty:

I ended up walking around the ship taking pictures and headed back to the room. Went and picked her up for lunch and she said the lab was fun, but didn’t really like that it was in the Stack. Went to Parrot Cay for lunch buffet, which was pretty good, but felt there weren’t a lot of selections for the kids. Caught the Mickey line on the way to our room to get our suits on. It wasn’t very long this time. Actually, I didn’t think the character lines were very long and went fast. I kept thinking to myself and said to several people that I didn’t think there were that many people on board. At the last show on Friday the cruise director, Rachel, said there were 2600.

Baylee wanted to go see if the pools were open yet, so back up to the Goofy Pool we went. This became habit and our home away from home for the week as it turned out. For some reason, she really didn’t like the lab. :confused3 Even with her friend she found onboard (who liked going to the labs) she just didn’t want to go. She is very outgoing and I was surprised at this. I think with the divorce and all, she is really worried about me having a good time and I really think that she thought I wouldn’t have a good time without her. It was totally fine, as we found our time occupied with the pool and other family things throughout the week. This was HER birthday cruise and I told her to do what she wanted to do!

I thought the Goofy Pool was fabulous on Sunday, as I’m a huge NFL fan and football was playing on the Jumbotron at the pool :banana: Granted, it wasn’t the Vikings but it was football. Some lady even leaned over and said to me, “I can’t believe they’re showing FOOTBALL with all these kids around”. I leaned back and whispered, “Guess what, I LOVE IT and those kids aren’t even paying attention – they are swimming!” I even had to take a picture of it to show the gang at work (I'm on the work Fantasy Football League :rolleyes: ) Speaking of the Goofy Pool, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS TO THE KIDS SWIMMING IN THE GOOFY POOL???!!! :confused3 Can they read? NO JUMPING! Ugh! This became a HUGE pet peeve of mine. I must’ve said under my breath “where is your mother?” 100 times during the week! :furious: Spent a couple hours there and headed up to Rockin Bar D for Bingo. I had heard a lot about it from the DIS boards, but frankly I was unimpressed. It was fun and all, Baylee had a good time. I thought it was way overpriced for what you got. Didn’t win anything of course.

After bingo went back to the room to get ready for formal night. We were eating in Lumiere’s and I was excited. I live in jeans and don’t get a chance to dress up very often. My co-workers saw our formal night picture and couldn’t believe it was me. I guess I clean up well! I had the baked halibut which was very good. Baylee loved the attention Paz gave her at dinner and it seemed everyone who worked there called her Princess, honey or sweetheart and she loved it. Granted, I am sure they call every other little girl that but to her it was special and I was so glad that she felt special. Baylee was looking forward to the Golden Mickey’s and wanted to wear our dressy clothes to the show, which we did. We met up with squirrelgirls's family again and watched the show. The show was good and we both had a great time. After the show, she had her picture taken with Cinderella and Minnie Mouse. :teeth:

She was exhausted and we went up to the room. It became a habit for her walking in the hallway to the room at night saying, “I wonder what the towel animal is tonight, mommy”. That first night I kinda had tears in my eyes because I am such a sap. :sad: She was having such a good time and I was so glad that I was able to do this for her. Next week, I would be the MEAN MOM again, but for this week I was much loved! We couldn’t figure out what the towel animal was that night. Baylee thought it was some kind of bird, so I agreed. I ordered cereal, toast and coffee for the morning after she fell fast asleep, for tomorrow was to be her birthday and she wanted room service breakfast. Who was I to tell her no? :cheer2: I dug out her birthday decorations, and was hoping I would run into Nova to tell her to put them up when we left! It wasn’t long before I too, fell fast asleep……..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation071.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation063.jpg

[suzannef]

Your formal picture is BEAUTIFUL. You look so happy together too :goodvibes I have an 8 year old dd too and she wore the same shirt on the day we boarded last month and she has the same blue eyes and she just donanted her hair to locks of love so has the same haircut. I'm loving reading your report!!!! :cool1:

Suzanne

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 3 at Sea and Baylee's Birthday

:bday:
I woke up at 4:45am and just could not go back to sleep. I found the “Report from the Bridge” channel, and watched that for a while. Yeah, I know, lame. But I like to see what's going on. I found it interesting how many miles we traveled and how many we had to get to a port. Also watched Golden Mickey’s again. Baylee woke up around 7 and our breakfast was delivered at 7:30. I just ordered some cold cereal, fruit and muffins. Room service brought Baylee a birthday cake! :cake: Her day was off to a great start! I had brought a “Birthday Girl” pin for her to wear all day.

She wanted to go to the Goofy Pool this morning (I’m sure you’re surprised with that one). We were there by 8:30am and the first ones in the pool! I went in with her and the crowd didn’t start coming until we were leaving at about 11:00. We loved that Playhouse Disney was on in the mornings at the Goofy Pool. I keep hearing “Oh Toodles” in my sleep! :rolleyes:

Baylee wanted to eat lunch in Lumiere’s so off we went. This was, by far, her favorite restaurant. Mine too, as I have a weakness for Beauty and the Beast. Our server was Paroaj (sp) from Thailand. He was awesome and sang happy birthday to her. She ordered chicken tenders and fries, and he cut up her chicken and started feeding her! It was so funny! She thought he was so weird! :lmao: I had the mahi mahi sandwich which was excellent! We stopped in the lobby on the way to the Buena Vista Theatre to get her pic taken with Stitch and Alice and the White Rabbit.

The plan was to see POTC 2 pirate: which she hadn’t seen before. I had, and was secretly a little worried about her because she doesn’t do too well in long movies and the first one she liked, but was scared a little. IMO, I thought POTC 2 was scarier than the first. HOWEVER, POTC is my favorite all time movie and I’ve seen it 15 times. I wanted to see POTC 2 again (number 2). We got there a little early (1:00 matinee) and got great seats. The theatre filled up very quickly (note to anyone going to shows or movies – get there early!) About an hour and a half into the movie (the part where Will Turner goes aboard the Flying Dutchman) she was scared and wanted to go. :scared:

We walked around taking pictures and going through Shutters to check out and :eek: buy our formal night picture, complete with frame and character formal picture on the other side. I am such a sucker for great pictures and vowed that would be my only picture purchase. Silly, silly me. :lmao: I was in the process of trying to talk her into going to the lab because they were making chocolate chip cookies later and doing towel animals. She didn’t want to go. We were walking to our room when we ran into squirrelgirl who was on the same floor as us. Our room was on the 2nd floor right near the midship elevators. Very convenient. Baylee asked where her DD was and she said she was in the lab making towel animals and chocolate chip cookies. She said that she would try it. Brought her up to the lab and the line was soooooo long. They were starting the towel animals while we were in line. That would leave me about two hours before I had to start getting ready for dinner. I was going to head to the adult pool! :cool1:

I went to the pool and read my book for a while, and it was so peaceful I really wish I would’ve had more time there. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I then decided to go back to the room to get ready for dinner and then head up to the lab to pick her up. I got to the lab and it was about 4:40. They weren’t done making cookies yet, so I snuck back out and told them I would be back in 20 minutes. When I went back, she was sitting off to the side holding her tummy like it hurt. She said that she paged me (must’ve been while I was in the elevator on the way up to get her – pager was in the room :rotfl2: ). I asked her if she had a good time and she said yes. You have to know my daughter. If she doesn’t like what she is doing, sometimes she does the “headache” or “tummy-ache” thing. Very dramatic. We started to leave and she panicked – I want my cookie. Sor-ry! So she made sure she had her cookie before we left. So much for the tummy-ache! That was to be her last time in the lab. Also, I asked how the towel animal thing went and she said that they didn't allow her to do it because she was late getting there! What is up with that??? We were IN LINE when they started. :sad2: That kinda ticked me off. Couldn't she sit in and watch? Oh well, on to other things.

We went back to the room to get her ready for dinner. It was at Animator’s Palate tonight and she was very excited for her birthday dinner. Nova had put the birthday decorations up and put a happy birthday sign out on our door from housekeeping. Baylee got a kick out of that! We had a knock on our door and it was squirrelgirl and DD with a gift for Baylee – how wonderful! Hi Kendall :wave2: if you’re reading this. They were just great people! We went to dinner and I had the filet mignon and Baylee had mac & cheese and fries. The smoked salmon appetizer was awesome as well. The serving team brought her a cake and sang happy birthday to her as well as our tablemates. After dinner, kimmcbee’s mom brought her to Treasure Ketch to buy her an ankle bracelet! Again, very nice people.

The show tonight was Twice Charmed. I am probably going to be flamed for this, but I thought the show was just so-so. :rolleyes: Baylee LOVED it and that’s what counts. After the show we caught Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. Cute spinoff of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. We weren’t picked (I was secretly hoping we weren’t, as I would’ve had to go up there with her – not a good thing as far as I’m concerned :scared1: ). She got her picture taken with Dopey and Snow White and we headed up to the room, as tomorrow was St. Martin and Pirate Night. We wanted to get our beauty sleep! Our towel animal was a stingray! Baylee was hungry and wanted to order pizza. We did, and it seemed like room service took extra long that night. By the time they came, Baylee had fallen fast asleep! But not before she said to me, "Mommy, this was the best birthday I ever had". You guessed it :sad:

Her birthday couldn’t have been more wonderful and there was another tear that snuck out of me while I was watching her sleep, thinking how special the day was for her and hoping she would remember it when she got older. I wanted the week to slow down – it was already almost Tuesday!

Next up St. Martin, Captain Jack and Pirate Night………..


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/disneycruise2006170.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/BayleeBirthdayAnimators.jpg

[squirrelgirl]

Hi Shelia! Of course I am reading your trip report! I am loving it!!! I am going to email you later with some pictures of the girls. To all of the folks reading this this trip report...Shelia is such an amazing Mom, and Miss Baylee is just a doll! It was so wonderful spending time with you! I am just loving reading this report...getting to see so much all over again. I just adore the picture of Baylee and the serving team celebrating her birthday. Baylee's expression is priceless!

I am so glad you are home safe and that you caught the earlier flight back home (read it in another post). I was thinking about you guys so much last Saturday. My heart was just breaking for her while we were standing in line to disembark. I want to apologize for not coming over and saying good-bye. I didn't want to make the good-byes any harder. (I am sure you folks reading this comment will understand what I mean in one of the later reports).

Spending time with you and Baylee was absolutely one of the best parts of the trip...it is so much fun to share in the fun together. Watching our daughters hug when they first met was just priceless. Maddie adores Baylee! As everyone here probably knows, seeing your child light up and watching them enjoy this great once in a lifetime experience is something we as parents will treasure forever. Shelia...it was so wonderful sharing that with you!

Talk with you soon, Kendall

[grumpydude]

I am enjoying your report. I am so glad you had a wonderful time. I am also happy that the casinos paid for your trip. I was talkling to my friend in St Paul tonight and he told me it was in the 30's. I bet you're missing that Island weather. I miss a lot of things about The Cities, but snow before Halloween is not one of them.

What cabin were you in? (if you don't mind my asking) We were 2074 and I thought mid ship was perfect. Maybe next time I will spring for a verandah.

GD

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Kendall, I also have some great pics of the girls and a cute one of Tyler feeding the stingrays. You guys are pretty amazing yourself. I felt a tear drop reading your wonderful words. Yes, disembarking was terrible. She cried at dinner the night before saying goodbye to Paz, too. (that will be later in a report, too, LOL) She is very emotional and so sensitive. Baylee talks about Maddie all the time. I did a DVD slideshow and she has watched it twice. :rolleyes:

How was your Saturday? Did you get to go to Animal Kingdom? Hope you got home okay and the kids got settled in. All Baylee talks about is going in 2008! I guess I'll have to make it happen again :love:

I will e-mail those pics to you!

Grumpydude - YES! It is freezing up here. Supposed to be in the 20's tonight for a low. We had a few flurries this morning and I thought I was going to freeze my tushie off coming home from work. Feels more like January than October. We had our winter coats on today! Far cry from the 80s and 90s we had last week in the Caribbean!

We were in room 2562. Right around the corner from Ocean Quest and the midship elevators. Half the time we took the stairs up to 3. Also, we were under Lumiere's (I think) and it was sometimes very noisy above us, especially dessert buffet night. Not so much late at night when we were in bed, though. I would take the room again.

Quick funny story - today I had to write a check for Baylee for school lunch. I asked her what her password was for lunch $$ and she said 2562. :lmao: Then she started cracking herself up. What a card!

[jrose529]

What wonderful memories Baylee will have of her birthday cruise! :goodvibes

[grumpydude]

I forgot to ask you in my earlier post...how was DD's reaction to the Super Suck-O-Matic? :rotfl2:

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Grumpydude - Too funny! In the stateroom not so bad, but in the bathrooms near the restaurants - she would get up, flush and run out because "they were so scary" I laughed every time!

I just finished reading your trip report. So sorry to hear about your loss and glad you finished the report. It was hilarious and I laughed out loud a couple times!

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 4 St. Martin and Pirate Night

We had the Sea and See Island Tour booked in St. Martin and we were to meet in the Promenade Lounge at 8:15. I had a wakeup call at 6:15, but didn’t need it because I was again awake at 5:00 :confused3 and couldn’t go back to sleep. What is it about vacations? We went up and had breakfast at Topsiders and just as we were coming out on deck, a table opened up with a great view of St. Martin. We barely got a chance to sit down when it started sprinkling a little. Just enough to make us move to a spot under the “roof”. The rain didn’t last long at all.

We were done with breakfast and off to the Promenade to meet for our excursion. I had way too much coffee, as I had to run to the ladies room quickly before we left. We docked at the pier so it was relatively painless. We met at some air-conditioned buses and away we went. I had bought Baylee her own pack of throw-away cameras and she was on her 2nd one. The tour bus driver was very knowledgeable about St. Martin and pointed out main attractions and things along the way. Baylee impressed me by saying several times, “it’s just beautiful, mommy”. So glad she appreciates things like this. :teeth: I was surprised at how run down St. Martin was in-land. Lots of hurricane damage. Our tour guide told us 5 hurricanes in the last 8 years. We pretty much drove to the other side of the island where the bus dropped us off where we would catch the “boat”. :boat:

The boat was like a semi-submarine. We got on the boat and were brought out to some rocks. There was another tour guide there who was very informative about the island and sea. Funny, she was from the U.S. Like I said before, I drank too much coffee and had to go again. There was a “bathroom” on board, but I wasn’t that desperate yet. We got out to the rocks and went “downstairs” on the boat and could look out in the sea where a diver came to feed the fish. Baylee was saying, “Mom, I’ve been waiting to do this – thank you, thank you!” We were both really enjoying it until “Mom, did you bring the Dramamine?” Uh-oh. She was a little green around the gills. :sick: We weren’t far from being back on land, so she bent over and put her head on my lap. It was pretty stifling down there and kinda claustrophobic. I got the vomit bag ready just in case. Everyone was very nice and sympathetic. We got above sea level finally, where they served punch. She just wanted her water. She started getting color back when we got back on to the bus. The bus then took us to Marigot where we would have almost an hour to shop before heading back to the ship. Keep in mind, I still haven’t gone to the bathroom. We asked the tour guide where the restrooms were and he kindly pointed in the general direction. After much confusion and a little walking, we found them. Much to my dismay, after seeing the bathrooms I decided that I should’ve went on that little boat! :eek: They were just seats with no toilet seat covers and you couldn’t put your toilet paper in the toilet! You had to put it in the garbage! UGH!

After that, we went and bought some cheap t-shirts and souvenirs and got a slushy for Baylee :drinking1 She was thoroughly enjoying herself now and the sea sickness had passed quickly. We took some pictures and it was time to get back on the bus to go back to the ship. We got back to the port and walked around in the little shops there. Didn’t buy anything and we were HOT and hungry so we got back on the ship. Baylee wanted to go to the Goofy Pool (imagine that) so we went to the room and it hadn’t been serviced yet. I didn’t care, because I didn’t have to do it! I just found it odd that it was about noon and we had left the room at about 7:00 am. We changed into our suits and ran into Nova on the way out. She reprimanded me for not having the “service room” tag up on the door knob. I had no idea I was supposed to do this to get service! She said if I put that out, we would be first. I did it the rest of the trip and it still took a while to get serviced. Oh, well.

We headed up to the Goofy pool which was not very busy at first. My back was getting sunburned and rashy from the chlorine so I tried to stay out of the sun. Geez, Sheila, you’re in the Caribbean, how the heck do you do that? :rolleyes1 I grabbed a cheeseburger from Pluto’s and she had some pizza from Pinocchio’s. Then we got into the water. We stayed there for a couple hours and it started to really get busy by mid-afternoon. We left and stopped at Goofy’s Galley (do I need more food?) and Baylee got some ice cream and I got a chicken wrap and chocolate chip cookie. Headed back up to the room to get ready for pirate night! pirate: It was still early and Baylee was waterlogged and tired and fell asleep on HER couch. Before I left home, I checked on roaming charges for my cell phone. I have none and they told me my phone would work in the USVI. I tried in St. Martin, but couldn’t get a signal. Did anyone else? I read for a while and tidied up the room. She slept for about an hour.

Baylee had her Orlando Bloom (she adores him – can’t blame her there) POTC t-shirt, denim Bermudas, eye patch and “hook” for her hand. She also had some awesome pirate earrings. The eye patch was a little too big so she didn’t want to wear it. I had a cheap “I love Jack” (well I do) POTC t-shirt I picked up at Wal Mart just for pirate night and wore my jeans. I also had a great pair of skull earrings and a fake POTC tattoo that I had gotten out of a happy meal last summer and saved for this occasion. :rolleyes:

My main goal for the evening was to get my picture taken with Captain Jack. I didn’t care where we were or what we did, I absolutely HAD to do that. :goodvibes AND I DID! I had heard the lines for him were long so we went up early and we were probably 8th in line. He was so funny. He pointed to Baylee’s Orlando shirt and said he was a shady character. She said he broke her heart LOL! We headed down to Parrot Cay for dinner and on our way stopped in the Minnie and Goofy lines. Dinner was fabulous and I had the pork shank that was awesome and Baylee had mac & cheese again with fries. She loved the bandana you get and the parade around the restaurant was awesome. The servers grabbed both her and kimmcbee's DS and they paraded all over the restaurant. I thought it was great that you can keep the bandanas and menus as souvenirs.

I think that Disney should really do something about having more to do on Pirate night. The party doesn’t start until 9:30 and we were out of dinner by 7:30. The movie showing was the Guardian, PG-13 and Baylee didn’t want to see it. She didn’t want to go to the clubs (big surprise). Cars was showing, but we had seen it before. We stopped in the Chip N Dale line, but ended up missing pirate Mickey for some reason. Why is it the party is so late, does anyone know? Anyway, went up top to take some pictures of the ship at night and ended up back in the room. Baylee watched TV for about 45 minutes and we headed up to the party.

party: The party was fantastic. Of course she wanted to be right out in front dancing and she was. :dancer: We ran into Wiggles’ family and hung out with them most of the party. Cute kids! I kept running into Wiggles and her two DD’s throughout the cruise. More nice people! Baylee had a great time with her DD’s dancing and even was on the big Jumbotron once.

I won’t give it away but the ending was spectacular and the fireworks were great. When the fireworks were over, Baylee was tired and wanted to go back to the room. It was 10:30 by then and we had to be in the theatre at 6:30 the next day for U.S. immigration, then an 8:00 excursion in St. Thomas. :crazy2: Yuck! What is up with these times? We passed by the POTC buffet and I wanted to stop and get some desserts to bring back to the room (can't imagine why) but Baylee wouldn’t hear of it. She wanted to go to bed now! Off to the room we went. Our towel animal was a monkey hanging from a hanger. Peter Pan was on TV and I think I might’ve fallen asleep before her that night, but only by a few minutes…………

Next up St. Thomas...........


My favorite pic of the entire cruise :blush:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/CaptainJackSparrow.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation136.jpg

St. Martin
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation142.jpg

[Amlee]

Loving this report!

To answer a few of your questions.

St Martin isn't part of the USVI. It's a French/Dutch island. That is why your cell wouldn't work.

The reason pirate night is so late, is for those who have late dinner can also take part in the show. The latest dinner doesn't start until 8:30, even then it's a rush for them to make the show at 9:30.

[Jillpie]

I have been looking forward to your reports every night this week!! I love it..the kids go to bed about 9 and I settle in to hear about your next day on the Magic. Lovin it!!!!

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Jillpie you are too sweet. I enjoy writing it so I can re-live the MAGIC :thumbsup2 I hope to have it finished this weekend. I have been fighting a sore throat/cold since I got back and haven't even totally finished unpacking. My house is a PIGSTYE and will be needing an overhaul for DD's birthday party next weekend. Having 6 girls at my apartment for a slumber party! :scared1:

[Jillpie]

Oh, I hope you're feeling better! But don't clean the house, finish the report first :teeth: . Seriously, get some rest and have a great weekend!

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 5 St. Thomas

Wow was this week flying! Hard to believe we only had a couple days left :guilty: , but we were going to make the most of it!

I had called for a wakeup call at 5:45 :scared1: Hey I'm on vacation here! We had to be in the theatre for INS at 6:30. They finally strolled in going on 7:00. The whole process is relatively painless. They have coffee and muffins/rolls for you. From there we headed to Parrot Cay for the breakfast buffet. I checked my cell phone and I had a signal! I checked my messages (this is the only phone I have – I don’t have a land phone) and had a birthday one for Baylee from Grandma & Grandpa and another one for her from her daddy. That made her day. I decided not to call my mom yet, as it was only 6:00am in Minnesota, :rolleyes1

We headed up top to take the requisite photos of St. Thomas. It really is a beautiful island. Then we headed to Studio Sea and our 8:00 excursion. Today we were doing Coral World and Mountain Top. Left the ship and went to our “meeting place” where we boarded some open air safari buses. The tour guide was great and explained that they drove on the “wrong” side of the road, but that we would be okay. :rotfl2: The tour of the island was great. He explained that we would go to Mountain Top first, then on to Coral World. On the way to Mountain Top, we were on some very windy roads and kept climbing and climbing. Keep in mind I am afraid of heights. WOW! What spectacular views, but I started getting antsy and wanted to be away from the road on walking on dry land. :confused3 We got to Mountain Top, which is a little shop area and “look out” over the islands, including St. John. Beautiful view! The shop owners were not pushy at all. We bought a couple souvenirs and got back on the bus and headed to Coral World. Going down was much better than going up. :thumbsup2

I had to laugh at this older couple behind me. They must’ve been by themselves with no kids. She was telling her husband that she would wait until they got to the Bahamas and do the rest of her shopping. He told her that we weren’t going to the Bahamas, only Castaway Cay. She said, surprisingly, We aren’t? I thought we stopped in Nassau!! No honey, remember I told you about Disney's priviate island? You mean we're not going to Nassau?? :lmao: They kinda got into a little spat behind us and Baylee was rolling her eyes. I had to chuckle! We got to Coral World and IMHO it was just okay. It seemed a little run down for the price. We walked around and looked at the fish. You couldn’t see any sharks because they were hiding. Iguana Alley was very cool. It was very hot and sticky. Baylee started to get whiny because she was so hot. We ended up going to one of the inside exhibits and sitting because there was air conditioning in there. We were to be there only an hour and a half, but to me, it seemed too long. Soon our time was up and we got back on the bus to go back to the ship. Some people got off for the tram and some shopping. I asked Baylee if she wanted to do some shopping and she said no, she would rather go to lunch and the Goofy Pool. Hmmmm…… ;)

We got back on the ship and went to the room, suited up and headed out. She wanted to eat in Lumiere’s again. The service and food were great. Did I mention that squirrelgirl’s DD got Baylee addicted to Shirley Temples? She drank them all week, and they even made their own at the drink station! Anyway, she had TWO at lunch and I called my mom.

Baylee’s conversation with Grandma:

Baylee: Hi Grandma!
Grandma: Hi pumpkin – where are you?
Baylee: Lumiere’s!
Me: She wants to know WHERE you are
Baylee: But Mom, we ARE at Lumiere’s

:lmao: she did end up telling her we were in St. Thomas, eventually. We went up to the Goofy Pool and it was pretty empty. We stayed there a couple hours and I really wanted to do a couple loads of laundry, :laundy: so went back to the room. Baylee immediately fell asleep :faint: and I did two loads of laundry. The laundry room was pretty busy. She slept for about an hour and a half. We had decided to skip the dining room tonight and go to Topsiders for dinner. There were a bunch of characters scheduled for pics during the normal TWO HOUR dining time and she didn’t want to miss them. We decided to do some “character chasing” that night. Plus, we really didn’t feel like dressing for dinner that night. We chased some characters down for photo ops and actually ran into Pocahontas and Belle (in the blue dress) in the hall and they both stopped for pictures. Baylee had brought an autograph book, but forgot it in the room several times so we just gave up on the autographs. We brought pillowcases to sign anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. I had dropped them off at guest services Saturday night and they were to be delivered to our room Friday night. I wanted to get my pic with Pluto pluto: because he’s always been my favorite. He stepped on my foot! The picture is so funny because it looks like I’m trying to get away from him. OUCH! :scared: Did that hurt! We headed on up to dinner after that. Actually, on our way to dinner we realized Baylee lost her dolphin bracelet that she bought in St. Martin yesterday somewhere on the ship today. UGH! So we filed a claim with Guest Services. We’ll see if it shows up.

I had forgotten that Topsiders’ menu was the same as in the dining room. Lucky for me, they were having porterhouse. Baylee got pizza and fries, and the server had to order the fries from another dining room. The porterhouse was SUPERB! It was so big and it was done the way I asked. I was impressed. They also had salad bar instead of just soup or salad, which was a nice change. There were several people there, but it wasn’t crowded at all. We had a table for two and it was really nice. However, if I did this again, I would probably skip Parrot Cay as opposed to Lumiere’s.

We left with full tummies and headed out to do some more character chasing. Baylee really wanted to try swimming in the Goofy Pool at night, so we went up there to check it out. There was hardly anyone in the pool, so we went down and got our suits on. By the time we got back up there, the pools were closing due to lightning. Baylee was so disappointed! :( Now what? We decided to head down and change and see what was going on. There was a “High School Musical” party in the Promenade that I was trying to talk her into doing. She said no, so we decided to try the Gary DeLena show. We were passing through the Promenade to just “check out” the party and squirrelgirl and DH were there. They said DD had been there, but left to go to the lab. It wasn’t long before Baylee was in the mix of the party and singing away. :rockband: She is quite the entertainer! The party was supposed to last until 8:30, so squirrelgirl’s DH went up to the lab to get DD and they came back down and the party was over! It was disappointing, as it was only 8:00! Their DD wanted to go back to the lab but Baylee didn’t want to go, so her and I headed to the show.

I thought Gary DeLena was hilarious. :lmao: Baylee was laughing hysterically! After the show, there were a couple more character lines to stand in. I think she was on a mission to get everyone’s picture. We did end up missing only Daisy Duck, Max and Terk by the end of the cruise. We hit Mickey’s Mates and Treasure Ketch. Baylee had her own $$ to spend and picked out the Mickey Mouse Captain plush toy ::MickeyMo and a small Pluto pluto: . We then strolled through Shutters. I loved our Captain Jack picture and put it aside, thinking I MIGHT purchase that one. We were exhausted at that point AGAIN and decided to head up to the room. Our towel animal was an elephant and Nova put my sunglasses on it and it was cute. Can’t remember what was on TV as we both were sound asleep before our heads hit the pillow.

Next up Day 5 at Sea and Semi-Formal Night

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation194.jpg

Gorgeous view from Mountan Top
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation170.jpg

Iguana Alley at Coral World
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation186.jpg

[LindaBabe]

Loving your trip report! Thank you for writing.

[Jillpie]

Honestly, this is such a fantastic trip report :) , I can't tell you how much I enjoy it every night. Your details, I don't know how you do it. We did so much every day on the Magic, I could never remember the things you do. So well done. I don't want it to end. Please tell me it won't end, ok? Can't wait for tomorrow :yay: .

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Jillpie, I kept a journal and wrote in it every night except Friday, so when it gets to that point, I hope I remember, but it was Castaway Cay, so should be easy. Probably won't get to day six until tomorrow, sorry. Been doing some fall cleaning today. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

[kimmcbee]

Sheila,
I am loving your trip report. Making me wish we were back on the ship.. Guess I need to count down till we go back. Walter and I are talking about Alaska in May, will wait and see. Finished all the pictures finally today, shoud be able to go to Sams and pick up on Wend. all 670 of them. Have a great weekend.
\Kim

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 6 at Sea

Today was our Character Breakfast at Parrot Cay at 8:15. Baylee was excited. It was cute for her, but It was just alright for me. I do have to give a big Kudos to Disney. They have "character herding" down to a science! :lmao: Professional photos only with Mickey and Minnie as far as I remember. I think I had to take pics of Goofy, Pluto and Chip N Dale myself. We had all the characters except Mickey and it took FOREVER for Mickey to come it seemed. At last he came and I also got my pic with him.

There were lots of goings on up by the Goofy pool and Baylee wanted her hair braided so it was up to the pool for us. Probably the last time, so we were going to make the most of it. :sunny: I was starting to feel sad at this point because there was only one more day left, but I didn't want her to know I was feeling sad. :guilty: We got up to the hair braiding stand at 9:40. It opened at 10:00. There was another mom there with her little girl and they had been waiting in line an hour. 10:00 came and the lady said we needed appointments! :sad2: The other mom didn't know that either and I felt sorry for her as she had waited a long time. She was kinda ornery about it, too. I felt bad for the braider. We made our appointment for 2:30 and off we went to swim for a while.

In looking at the trusty, dusty Navigator, it showed all three princesses in the atrium at 11:30. It also showed them together, so I assumed that it meant you could get your picture taken with all three at the same time. We had already had them all individually and Baylee thought this would be SWEET! So down to the room to change and up to the lobby by 11:00. The line was already growing! We stood in line for a 1/2 hour. When the princesses finally arrived, the CM announced that there would be three lines for individual pictures! :furious: Baylee was so disappointed! So we left the line and went up to Princess Minnie. While were in line there, we heard the princess CM say that we could ask and have our picture taken with all three at once. UGH! Baylee didn't want to stand in another line, so after Minnie we were hungry AGAIN and AGAIN Baylee wanted to eat at Lumiere's. So we did :blush: Who's running this show again?

There was a lot going on at the Goofy pool so we went back up there. On the way? we stopped at the magic show guy's secret presentation in Rockin Bar D. Sorry, don't remember his name. He was pretty funny. Then went on up to the pool. We watched a guy make an ice sculpture, very cool, and a little bartender bit too. Nemo was playing on the big screen and all was good. We were looking forward to the towel animal presentation, but had hair braiding at 2:30 and didn't want to run there and then run back so we just stayed. It got really crowded because the Mickey Pool was closed to do an ACCIDENT. It was weird, too, because by the end of the week, the paint started peeling off the Goofy pool. Probably from us as we had been in it so much. :rolleyes1 They really should make that pool bigger and make the stage smaller. I mean really, they only use it for the Sail Away and Pirate Night. The other times its really not being used! Baylee got her hair braided at 2:30 and was a real trooper. It was so cute! :) We stayed at the Goofy pool for a while longer after that and headed up to get ready for dinner, as it was semi-formal and LOBSTER night :woohoo:

We were in Animator's Palate tonight and on the way to dinner got Baylee's picture taken with Formal Chip n' Dale. The lobster was good, but I thought small. kimmcbee had two and I wish I would've known you could order two! I just didn't want to wait forever for another one! We also both had the warm chocolate lava cake. YUM! Our server told us about the dessert buffet at 11:15 in Lumiere's, so I thought maybe we could make it up there, but that was a big maybe. He said there was something like 60 different desserts! After dinner we went down and changed and planned to go to Disney Dreams and had time to kill. We ran into squirrelgirl's DH and DS coming out of Studio Sea who said squirrelgirl and DD were in there for Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer. We joined them and again I secretly hoped they wouldn't pick us. I know, I know, BAD MOM. I got my wish and much to the girls' dismay, we didn't get picked ;)

Went up to see Disney Dreams with squirrelgirl's DD. Cute show, but I thought it was a bit sappy, even for me. The girls loved it. Since Baylee hadn't gone to the lab since Monday, she really didn't want to do the graduation, so we didn't go. However, squirrelgirl's DH met us in the hall and said he was going up to get the cap and shirt because their DD didn't go either. So we went up to the lab and they gave us the shirts and caps anyway. I thought that was very cool. :p

We went off to the room because I wanted to start packing :sad2: so I wouldn't have to deal with it on Castaway Cay day. I didn't want anything to invade our special last day. We were very excited! Our towel animal was a rabbit, and we ordered more chocolate chip cookies and milk. Baylee laid in bed and watched RV for the thousandth time I swear! She fell asleep and then I remembered about the dessert buffet! It was 11:00. Do you know how I remembered? Above us all I heard was chairs and tables scraping across the floor! I would've liked to go up to just take pictures of the spread, but really didn't feel comfortable leaving Baylee in the room so I just went to sleep.

Up next, Castaway Cay, feeding the sting rays and our final day in paradise!

Semi-Formal Baylee
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/BayleeSemiFormal.jpg

Character Breakfast
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation220.jpg

Hair Braiding
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation225.jpg

[Jillpie]

Sheila, I feel like I know you and Baylee now. Her hair came out just perfect. Don't worry, you didn't miss much at the dessert buffet, if I had to do it over I probably wouldn't do it, its just too late to eat that stuff. Oh no, its Castaway Cay day, that means this is almost over. nooooooo. Okay, give it to me, I can take it. :cloud9:

[misseulalie]

Day 6 at Sea
Hair Braiding
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation225.jpg


I see someone got some sun!!!! :goodvibes

[grumpydude]

We got to Coral World and IMHO it was just okay. It seemed a little run down for the price.
I am soooo glad we did not do this after reading your report. We were seriously thinking about it because Mr. KIA likes aquarium type things. I though the "UP THE HILL SKYRIDE OF THRILLS" was disappointing enough...I could not imagine had we taken the 1/2 hour ride there only to be disappointed.

The best thing about St Thomas...Cheap Rum.

I would've liked to go up to just take pictures of the spread, but really didn't feel comfortable leaving Baylee in the room so I just went to sleep.
I don't think you missed much. We went to Palo's that night and we were so full from dinner it was hard to look at let alone eat any of those treats. Plus it was crowded...we only got three or four good pictures of it.

Other than that...lovin' your report.

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Jillpie, I know, the week went so fast. I wish I was back there. My co-worker is there now on the double-dip!

Missie- yes, she got some sun Bad mom that I am, but geez, how many coats of sunscreen do you really need???!! I guess 5 or 6 because I KNOW I did 3 or 4.

kimmcbee - thanks so much for the pictures you sent me. 670??? WOW! I thought I was bad with 300+! I did a DVD slideshow and am showing everyone. Everyone ooooh's and ahhhhhhh's as well they should! Alaska in May? I'm jealous!

Grumpydude, Baylee did like Coralworld for about the first 20 minutes, then it was I'M TOO HOT, I'M TIRED, CAN WE GO YET??? You know the drill.

Regarding the dessert buffet, why the heck do they have it so late at night? I can't imagine eating that late! Only when I'm three sheets and its 2 am do I eat that late, and then its REAL food like chips and Taco Bell :lmao:, not dessert! And let me tell ya, that's not very often :smokin:

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Day 7 Castaway Cay

We slept in a little (if you can call 7-ish sleeping in) as we knew we wouldn't be allowed off the ship until after 9:00. Our server the night before told us that Topsiders would be really busy, so we decided to just have some cereal and fruit in the room. What a view Castaway Cay was from the porthole. Once he turned the ship around and backed in, I couldn't stop staring. I found my camera and took a picture of it through the porthole. When we left, I couldn't find my camera case. I just had it! We went up top to take pictures and headed down to be one of the first in line to get off. Wouldn’t you know at the last minute, “Mom, I have to go potty”. Back to the room, then back down to the much longer line, thank you.

What was I thinking? I wanted to get my pic taken with Captain Jack in front of the Flying Dutchman! Oh well, as it turned out we didn't see a character all day until we were getting back on the ship and Lilo was getting off. We stayed at the beach the entire day.

We headed to the family beach. :beach: Baylee was so excited because this was what she had been waiting for all week. We grabbed a spot under an umbrella and were in the water in no time. It was clear and warm. I couldn't believe how beautiful and blue it was. We were right in front of the Jungle Jim thingy there and it was 9 feet deep out there. Baylee isn't really a strong swimmer, so I made her wear a life vest. Ran into squirrelgirl's family and the girls played in the water. We had an 11:00 stingray feeding, as did squirrelgirl. I finally ran into Disneydmbnut and her DD. Baylee had talked to her DD a few times online and FINALLY they met up at the beach.

We went to feed the stingrays and I thought it was a blast. She was a little mad at me because I made her wear at t-shirt over her suit. I was freaking out that she would get burnt. I was already killing her, as I must've put three coats of sunscreen on her head already that day! They give a little schmeel at the beginning and Baylee surprised me by getting right up there and feeding them as the stingrays as they swam at our feet. Truly amazing. Then it was time just to snorkel among the stingrays and the water got a little deeper and she totally freaked out. She didn't want them down by her feet anymore! But you just fed them with all of them swimming at your feet! UGH! So I brought her out to shore as I "snorkeled" in the shallow water taking pictures of the stingrays with my trusty throw-away underwater camera. :sunny:

Time was up with the stingrays and we headed in. On our way, we stopped at Cookie's BBQ. I hadn't heard good things about it, but I'm glad we got there when we did because boy did that line get long fast! I thought the food was good. I had BBQ ribs and a big cheeseburger. I thought the potato salad was fantastic. Didn't like the corn on the cob, but I'm a big butter eater and couldn't find any Chocolate chip cookies (geez, how many did we have that week :blush: ?) were outstanding as usual, if not a little melted. We ate and went back to the beach. I sat with squirrelgirl's family and I just can't say enough what nice people they were. The kids played in the water and buried my feet. We noticed that the water wasn't as deep out by the jungle jim thingy (what IS that thing called? :rolleyes1 ) and it was closed - maybe because it was so shallow? I started feeling the heat and was getting a headache :headache: so we decided to head back to the ship It was about 2:30-3-ish. There's only so much of hot sun and sand I can take in a day. We stopped at She Sells Sea Shells and bought a couple t-shirts for us and a couple souvenirs for some back home.

Got back on the ship and ran into Nova and gave her her tip and headed to the showers for both of us with all the sand in our hair (and other parts not mentioning :lmao: ). I really didn't feel like going to dinner and if it wasn't for the fact it was the last night and kimmcbee's oldest DS was celebrating his birthday, we would've gone up to the buffet. But we got dressed (not very dressy, either) and went up to AGAIN Parrot Cay. At this point in the cruise, I was sick of this restaurant. Baylee was a little cranky, probably because she was so tired and a day outside in the sun did her in. I don't remember what I had for dinner, either, that night. Gave Densak and Paz their tips and couldn't find the AWOL head server still, so he missed getting a tip from us because he never did show up. Anyway, when we were done eating I was waiting for my dessert and low and behold I look over and Baylee fell asleep right at the table. They brought out birthday cake for kimmcbee's DS and she woke up. Baylee was getting sad because she knew it was the last time she would see Paz and they both got emotional. :sad: She made me cry, for heaven's sake! She gave Baylee her e-mail address and told her she would keep her in her heart. :lovestruc . Actually, she wrote it down as she had lost her voice the night before. I didn't feel like having any more dessert so we left.

We were planning on going to the final show, and on our way stopped in Shutter's. Well, I had good intentions of sticking to my guns and only buying the ONE picture/frame that I bought. I saw the semi-formal of Baylee and HAD to have it. Grabbed the Captain Jack one, another of us on her birthday at Animator's, the Mickey character breakfast and brought them up to the counter and told them I had already bought an 8 x 10 in the frame, what kind of deal would they give me? He told me to pick out another 5 x 7 and he would charge me the $84.95 and give me a $19.99 refund on the other picture. I could live with that. My advice to others - don't go to Shutters on the last night! There were people sitting out in the hall looking at their pictures it was so crowded! :crowded:

We went to the show and it was just so - so. Gary DeLena and the magic guy were there and they were great. At the end of the show, the power went out on that side of the ship for some reason and they couldn't finish the show as they wanted to. But they did all come back out and say their goodbyes! After the show we headed to Mickey's Mates for a couple more souvenirs. Another place to avoid Friday night! Baylee was still a little upset and tired so we went back to the room to finish packing and snuggle in for the last night on OUR ship.

Our towel animal was a cobra, fitting for our moods it seemed. I finished packing and Baylee cried and cried. :sad: My heart was bleeding for her and if I could've booked onboard, I would've. But financially it is not possible for me right now. I did promise her; however, we would be doing this again hopefully in 2008. That cheered her up a bit. She fell asleep and I took a shower. I had all the bags out in the hallway making sure to leave clean clothes for in the morning :rolleyes1 . It was after 11 and there was a knock on my door. It was Nova with our pillowcases! I had forgotten all about them! My suitcases were outside already, so I had to shove it in my carryon for now. I forgot this part. I think my camera got sand in it at Castaway Cay. Remember I couldn't find my camera case? Well, I threw my camera into my beach bag and now it doesn't work. Hasn't since we left Castaway Cay. Thanks, kimmcbee for taking pics at dinner of the sleeping beauty for me

I settled in to bed and thought about the pager for the kids clubs. I decided I would just leave it in the room for them to pick up. Well at about 11:30 the pager went off. :scared1: Scared the daylights out of me! I checked it and it was a reminder to turn in your beeper before 12:00. Well, I was in my jammies, my kid was sleeping and wouldn't you know I packed my KTTW cards. DUH :crazy: I called the lab and she was very nice and offered to come and pick it up because they would charge me $150 if it wasn't brought back!! What is that policy? Whey can't we just leave it in the room???!! Anyhoo, she came down and picked it up. Very nice of her to do that!

I had a hard time sleeping that night I think because I kept thinking of our magical time we had. I eventually did fall asleep, but was awake off and on watching that *(&^% Report From the Bridge channel :lmao:

Up Next, debarkation, the journey home and final thoughts


Friday's pictures:

Feeding the stingrays
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyVacation2011.jpg

Squirrelgirl's DD and Baylee
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyVacation2016.jpg


Snoozin' at the table
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/disneycruise2006793.jpg

[grumpydude]

Only when I'm three sheets and its 2 am do I eat that late, and then its REAL food,
like EMBERS (are they still out in Minnesnowda) or White Castle. I remember doing a Castle Run years ago. At last count, there were 11 in the Twin Cities Metro area, the contest was to eat 10 at each location. I made it through all 11. The first to blow chunks lost. By the way there was a three beer minimum between each stop and it was either Schmidt or Schells from New Ulm. Ahhh those were the days.

Makes for a fun night but not so much the next morning.

GD

[pgfour]

Sheila,

LOVE the trip report! :thumbsup2 It's absolutely awesome!

We (DH, DD5 & me) leave for the Eastern at the end of November, so this makes me more anxious! I'm hoping my DD has as magical a cruise as your DD! (And her braids came our great!)

Can't wait to read the rest!

Cheri

P.S. Also loved the bit about your Royal Flush that paid for the cruise. :cool1:

[pgfour]

I see you posted more while I was typing my first reply!! I'll read it bright & early in the a.m.!! :thumbsup2

Can't wait!

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Debarkation, the journey home and my final thoughts
We were up in the morning and headed to Parrot Cay for breakfast at 6:45. Both of us still in a mood. :guilty: There was a lady in line wondering why there was a line, as it was late seating and it should've already been open. I said, uh, no, this is early seating. She argued with me about it and I started panicking thinking we missed breakfast because we were early seating! When they opened the doors Baylee went up to one of the servers and asked and he said yes, this is early seating. I don't know what happened to her as we left. I wanted to do an I TOLD YOU SO, but didn't see her after that. ;)

Again, Baylee and Paz were emotional. Breakfast was a little mumbo-jumbo'd as Densak had to get to immigration because he was leaving as well. There were a couple other servers who screwed all of our meals up, but we figured it out and it was pretty painless. Also, as I mentioned, I packed our KTTW cards :blush: and kimmcbee's DH informed me we would need them to get off the ship! Where was I when they mentioned this? I was the first one to mumble under my breath when someone didn't have it in line in port to get back on the ship! I ran to guest services to get a couple more and she assured me I wasn't the only one! Back to breakfast, we finished eating and said our goodbyes to kimmcbee and her family and Paz and headed out the door. We had a 2:30 flight so we weren't in a hurry at all. Plus, I had a layover in Chicago for two hours and we weren't due in to Minneapolis until 7:30. It was going to be a long day!

We got out into the lobby and immediately it was chaos. Someone said they were letting off at 7:30, some said 7:45. It was going on 8 I think when they finally let us off. We were in line and squirrelgirl's DD came over to say goodbye and Baylee just gushed :sad: She was so sad to leave her new friend! We got out into Customs and found our luggage and not a porter to be found. Saw squirrelgirl's family and it came again. Baylee walked through customs crying. It was so sad. I was on a mission to find a porter, though. FINALLY! Here he comes and he's a Viking fan! The only Minnesotan we met on the trip was the porter on our way out :lmao:

The line was so long for customs, but he told me to "bud" in front of these people in line. I was too chicken, so he did it for us. This part was very slick. He brought our suitcases to the bus, got us on the bus and we were on our way. We were at the airport by 9:00am. It was a piece of cake! Our busdriver was very entertaining, too. But now the hard part. Waiting at the airport for five hours. UGH! :(

We got in line at Air Tran and got up to check in by 9:15. I told her when our flight was and she frowned at me. I said, YES, I KNOW! She said how would you like the 10:00am non-stop flight? I said, I LOVE YOU can we make it through security? She said YES, If you hurry! I AM SO THERE! Of course, "Mom, I have to go potty". We threw our bags at the guy, ran to the bathroom and literally ran through the terminal. Security was painless and we ran again. We made it with 10 minutes to spare :woohoo: I hurried and called my "pick up man" and he said he'd meet us there! So more pixie dust pixiedust: at the end of the trip for us.

Once on the plane, it was almost empty so Baylee curled up kitty-corner from me and took a nice long nap. There was a guy up in 1st class with some type of medical emergency and they asked if anyone onboard was trained medically. UGH! I thought all this way and we're gonna have to land and hour and a half into the flight! But, the powers that be knew we were on that flight and sent pixie dust his way and he was fine the rest of the way. However, I did have a little 2 year old behind me who kept kicking my seat which is unfortunate. When Baylee woke up she kept turning around giving the evil eye to this poor little girl. It was too funny. We also brought our last chocolate chip cookie so she had it at snack time on the plane.

We landed at 12:30 to a beautiful fall weekend in Minnesota. Of course, Baylee has been doing nothing but talk about the trip. She JUST took her braids out last night and is still missing her new friends. My camera STILL doesn't work, will have to take it in.

My final thoughts and would/wouldn't do again:

1) Don't bring a beach towel. Never used the one we brought as there were so many around by the pool. Wasted space.
2) Didn't use the over the door shoe holder. I suppose with just 2 people, we didn't get cluttered at all.
3) Didn't use my video camera. I was too busy taking still shots. Don't know if I would bring it next time.
4) Brought WAY too many clothes that we didn't wear. Will plan better next time! Spent days in our suits in shorts, no need for other clothes during the day. What was I thinking?
5) May do on our own stuff in ports next time if I get up enough nerve. St. Martin was okay, but didn't like Coral World. Loved the stingrays at Castaway Cay though.
6) Will spend a couple extra days at the beginning of the trip for theme parks and one extra day at the end just to relax and unwind. Saturday just seemed so rushed.
7) Loved that we brought our own bottled water, as at the end of the trip there were some getting sick.
8) Even though they came through for me at the end, would not fly Air Tran again. Changing flights around at the last minute really ticked me off. Will fly Sun Country next time and wait for airfare to go down!
9) I was kinda disappointed in the kids club offerings, just MHO. DD didn't like them and maybe its just me and if she would've went, what would I have done the whole time? Who knows what next time will bring? She will be a couple years older.
10) Loved the Perfect Gift - thanks, Shirley, for making Baylee's journey start off on the right foot!
11) Will eat maybe another night at Topsiders - long dinners really too long!
12) Will try to make Palo brunch as I've heard nothing but fantastic things about it. Sorry I missed it this time around.

Well, that's it folks. Thanks for letting me share our magical journey. I have a DVD slideshow if someone can let me know how I share it with you guys, that would be great. Photobucket doesn't seem to want to upload my .mpg file for some reason!

See ya real soon! :wave:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/bayleesmom/DisneyCruiseVacation046.jpg

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Grumpydude - for us it was FLAMEBURGER out in Columbia Heights or any Denny's would do. Never did the White Castles but yes, we still have a couple two three here. Not as many as back then. Brings back memories, though :lmao:

pgfour - I hope you and your family do have a magical vacation. I know a few people didn't have a good time on this trip and am sorry they didn't. I guess I don't sweat the small stuff and we just went with the flow, so to speak. Hoping you do a trip report too! Your vacation is what you make of it!

Like I said before, I don't really have anything to compare it to so I guess I am an easy pleaser. What was important was that Baylee had a great time and that's what mattered the most to me. Did I have a great time, too? You bet, and like I said in my report, I wouldn't have changed anything in the world.

[cmsnyder77]

Thanks for sharing this report with us. I can't wait to share this special experience with my DD in a few months!

[MagicMe]

Thanks for sharing your great trip! We've sailed the Wonder twice and loved it! Looking to 2008 for a 7-day on the Magic. Can't wait for the sail dates to come out!!!

[Jillpie]

Well now its really over :guilty: . But thanks a million for taking the time to relive your fantastic trip with us!!!!! Loved every minute of it. Now be sure to print the whole thing out and put in your photo album. Thanks again!!!!!

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Jillpie - great idea - I never thought of that! :thumbsup2

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

[4 mickey]

Well i'm sad for the both of you now that this wonderfuld trip is over .
It's so nice that from reading your trip report that your daughter seems to have appreciate so much this trip that she would even cry the last night .
In my opinion too many children don't quite appreciate the either nice cruise or wdw their parent ( s ) offers them but your little girl really did :banana:
What a beautyfuld daughter you have and those eyes she'll for sure break guy's heart later in life , she look really nice with the hair braids .
It goes way too fast doesn't it , I really wish for you two another mother daughter trip in the near future as I know that it will be memories forever :goodvibes
Your trip report was quite nice too read thanks :blush:

[TahoeMom]

Thanks for such a great TR! I still can't believe I never ran into you on the ship since I "knew" you from the boards - we were even on the same stingray excursion (11am) and it never occurred to me to look around - oh well! We also had the same servers although at different seatings!

I have to agree with you about the kids' clubs - my children were not impressed and only went twice each.

I am so glad Baylee had such a great birthday vacation - it is so neat when your children really appreciate the things we do for them!

Kathie

[bdink921]

Great TR Sheila--thanks so much for sharing!!!! :)

[pgfour]

pgfour - I hope you and your family do have a magical vacation. I know a few people didn't have a good time on this trip and am sorry they didn't. I guess I don't sweat the small stuff and we just went with the flow, so to speak. Hoping you do a trip report too! Your vacation is what you make of it!

Like I said before, I don't really have anything to compare it to so I guess I am an easy pleaser. What was important was that Baylee had a great time and that's what mattered the most to me. Did I have a great time, too? You bet, and like I said in my report, I wouldn't have changed anything in the world.

Thanks for the good wishes! We also try to go into vacations with realistic expectaions -- there will be lines and possible delays, there will be the occasional rude person, and a disappointment or two. But, we also know we're in a new place seeing new things and just having the chance to be together as a family -- THAT is magical!!!! :thumbsup2 (Sorry to sound like a sap!)

As other posters have mentioned, it was also great to hear that your daughter was so appreciative of the trip! Makes everything worthwhile!! :goodvibes

Thanks again for sharing your experience! :thumbsup2

Cheri

[miztigg]

im so glad you guys had such a "magic"ical time were going on the western 12/2 my son 11th bday will be on the ship i hope he has as much of a awesome bday as bayee did loved your trip report :thumbsup2

[joksten2000]

Remember seeing your birthday stuff on your door that we passed everyday. We were in 2598 had the big family picture and Disney Charactors on the door. Recognized you and your DD right away from the pics you posted. So glad you had a great cruise.

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

jokesten - we passed your door several times as well - almost left a note, but never had anything on me! Great door magnets!

[joksten2000]

Did you notice that the kids were taking the Welcome Home Magnets from all the doors, one night I found 10 of them on a door down the hall, the next day they got them again and I couldn't find them. Lucky I stashed the other one I had. :cool1:

[twinx4]

Hi

Your trip sounds so exciting I can't wait to hear more. I am also a single parent and looking forward to planning my first cruise. How did you get an upgrade, did you have to request it, or did disney upgrade you automatically. Is it better for me to book a Category 12 and wait for an upgrade. :rolleyes:

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Twinx4 - I booked a 12, and got an automatic upgrade by Disney. What happens, according to DU, is that the cheaper cabins sell easier, so those that are in the 11 and 12 categories sometimes get upgraded to higher categories to open up more cheaper categories for other folks to buy closer to sail date.

This doesn't always happen, so imagine my excitement when it DID happen for us! I will definitely book a 12 next time and cross my fingers. However, I know we would've been happy in a 12 as well. We were hardly ever in our room anyway!