SPOOKtacular Magical Cruise(now w/ pictures)

[Holly&Joesmommy]

This is my first TR, although I have read MANY-a-report, I have never attempted to write my own, ...but I will do my best to share the highlights.

CAST: Me (Kelly)
DH (Ben)
DD (Holly 9)
DS (Joseph 5)
my parents (Joe & Judy)
my sister & her friend (Charity 16 & Ashley 16)
DH Parents (Bob & Barbara)
Friends (Chris & Lacy & baby to be)

Thurs. Night/Friday Morning,...went to bed about 11:00 pm ..... :rolleyes1 .....tossed, turned, replayed all packing in my head,... :rolleyes1 tossed, turned,..." I'm too excited to sleep!" :Pinkbounc (gotta luv that commercial) anyway, I think I got about 1.5 hrs sleep, but who cares, WERE GOIN TO DISNEY!!!! :woohoo:

We arrived @ Indpls aiport @4:30 am and had a flight to Atlanta @ 5:55 ~

We made the mistake of NOT checking our bags at curbside, and the flight arrangements went down hill from there!

We went to the inside counter and just happened to get an Airtran worker that was...well :mad: lets just say she was not feel'in the same level of exceitment that we were... :Pinkbounc :confused3

it took her :hourglass FOREVER to check us.... I realize there were alot of us, but her attitude stunk! OH WELL, we adjusted, and made it to our gate just as they were boarding...NOTE,...no time for breakfast, hope they serve a snack!

THe plan was to arrive in Atlanta @ 8:00ish & meet the In-Laws then catch a plane to Orlando and arrive @ 9:35...

As we enter the plane, I asked, the first flight attendant I saw,.."do we get a snack on this flight?" I noted Her response as being a little odd, but took comfort in the fact that it came with a nod in the direction of a typical yes.

After we got in the air the attendants started down the isle with the beverage cart and just as they applied the brakes,...Captain came on the speaker and anounced for everyone to take a seat & buckle up for a bumpy ride was ahead. :rolleyes: He was not kidd'in, at one point, I actually uttered a very quick prayer OUT LOUD :goodvibes well finally we got our SO CALLED snack & beverage,...2 ginger snaps & diet coke for me....oh ok 4 ginger snaps & a diet coke for me,...the kids don't like ginger snaps. :)

I carefully explained that when we get to Atlanta we should have just enought time to grab a banna or something if we hurry.... :banana:

as I felt the rumble of my childrens tummies shaking the back of the cabin I noticed the time,.... :hourglass I began to panic it was now time to be landing and we were still fly'in!:confused: DH kept telling me to calm down, relax, which was making it worse for me, cuz he was just making me more aggitated! :furious:
we LANDED,...repeat,.. LANDED in Atlanta @ 9:15 ish (not too sure of the exact times, due to the fact that I had had NO sleep the night before and no substancial food and was STREESSED BEYOND MEASURE.)I called my MIL and she said HURRY they are holding the plane! needless to say, NO BANNAS :guilty:
ANy way as we exited the plan the attendant at the gate says "HURRY UP, they are waiting for you!" So I in FULL PANIC break out in a sprint draggin the kids, DH says "I'm not runnin, it's their fault were late,..bla bla bla..." :stir: :furious:

Finally we get on board and all is good,...sigh....we take off and here comes the beverage cart,... :wave: everybody is starving,..you guessed it,..ginger snaps again :sad2: augh! We landed about 1.5 hrs late and made our way to the Disneys Magical Express area. caught our Bus to POFQ, and We were SO ready for lunch! LUNCH,.. OH NO!!!! we have resis for Whispering Canyon Cafe' @12:05...it's 11:15.!!!.... :scared1:

I'll finish part 2 later,...we got a MAGICAL MOMENT!! :cheer2:

[disneypoor]

I can't wait to hear more about the magical moment! Keep the TR coming! We're doing the eastern for the first time over spring break, so I always love to hear every little detail! :)

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hope you will finish your report soon, looking forward to reading it.
mom x4,grandma x4

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ok, on the bus to POFQ we realize that we are NEVER :sad2: going to make our 12:05 for Whispering Canyon...check in, catch a bus, catch a boat, ...not in 40 mins. Again with the stress! (We have 12 people so it's not like they can just make room, or take us as a walk in and us sit together.) I call wdwdine and talked to a cm that was sympathetic but not much help. Her advise was to HURRY! :thumbsup2 I'll do that...

OK good news, we are the first stop on the bus route, POFQ look out here we come! :Pinkbounc

We got in line, and I got a wonderful CM named Sheila, she got us checked in but our rooms were not ready yet, I guess I must have been showing signs of stress and she asked me "what's wrong? What can I help you with?"
So I explaned that our flight was delayed IN THE AIR for an extra hour and a half or so and that now we were going to miss our 12:05 for WCC,..and we were trying to hurry but that we would never make it. she simply replied, ..."oh, don't worry, you'll make it :sunny: ".
I thought,..I know she works here and all, but we are NEVER going to get to WCC in 20 mins. :confused3

She finished with our room and got on the phone, the next thing I knew, she was talking to WCC and told them that our party would be about 5 mins late and to hold our table. :cool1: but with the morning I had, 5 more mins was not going to make much of a difference, I said thanks and tought that was the end of it. BUT NO,....she said "hold on a second, I'm working this out for you" Then she was back on the phone...on HOLD :rolleyes1... :hourglass
THe next thing I knew,...she is telling me that she got the POFQ 15 passenger van, and she is going to PERSONALLY drive us to WCC. :woohoo: I started hollering WE GOT A MAGICAL MOMENT :Pinkbounc HEY YOU GUYS WE GOT A MAGICAL MOMENT! then I paused, and as all of the other CM's were looking at us I politely asked, "can I call this a Magical moment?" :lmao: They all laughed and said of course you can.

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/36/05/DB/i3605DB76-4308-44AC-8633-4DD054EE7118.jpg
Sheila and the van

She was wonderful, and went WAY out of her way to help our family get to WCC and eased my stress level greatly! :goodvibes ( I should add here, if you haven't figured it out yet, when I plan things, and they do not go according to "THE PLAN" I get a wee bit crazy) Thankfully we got Sheila that morning...she was so fun to talk with on the way to the WCC and we were VERY thankful for our Magical Moment! :cheer2:

LUNCH ~ since we were all STARVED, most of us got the all you care to eat BBQ it was wonderful, everything, from the slaw to the BBQ...we enjoyed our visit. It was the first time for 10 of the 12 of us and it was not as funny as we thought it would be, the humor of our server came across as more rude than funny, but we ejoyed and were rude right back, which seemed to make her laugh,.... :confused3 all in all we had a great lunch. It was worth the wait and the effort,...especially if you are SUPER HUNGRY! ;)

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/D7/F1/BB/iD7F1BBF6-60EC-4BE3-AF76-DC4B0DF25A77.jpg
DS Joe & DD Holly enjoying a milkshake
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/55/BA/A7/i55BAA7B8-DEB0-485C-943C-5A155D8D1892.jpg
DH Ben tied up b/c he was too roudy and HUGE glass b/c he was too thirsty

We then got to ENJOY our boat ride & bus ride back to POFQ and then off to the pool for some R&R :cool1:

We left for MNNSHP about 5:30 pm and it was everything we had hoped it would be! We all just enjoyed it so much :wizard:
The decorations, the costumes of all the guests, the extras the MK had everywhere, the parade was FAB! The fireworks, everything was SPOOKtacular! I HOPE to ALWAYS make it back during this time of year. IT was by far one of the best MK experiences I have had. (We only ran into crowds after the 1st parade let out.) about 10:00pm our group was running on our last little bit of energy...(no sleep the night before) so we ate at Peco Bills (loved that, my 1st time there), watched the parade and called it a night. WOW we were wore out! but all for a good cause,.. it's DISNEY!!! :love:

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/1E/78/3E/i1E783EB2-F3B0-4173-8794-C16B199E9564.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/36/33/F9/i3633F955-5815-471B-8089-B399D18A1403.jpg

I hit those WONDERFUL pillows,..and it was la la land for me.

Later,...POFQ takes a Lesson from Atlanta International.... :confused3 OMG :hourglass

[Holly&Joesmommy]

I'll try to do my best to give you the details,..or at least the important ones. I'll get to the cruise soon I promise!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Since Sheila did such a great thing for you and our family, I hope youi will take a minute and write to WDW about her and what she did for you.
My son works at WDW and the bosses really take those letters seriously and when it comes time for her review it will really help her, plus sometimes they are given other rewards when they receive nice letters about their cast members.
I know she would appreciate it!!

Love reading your report, will be excited to read the rest of it soon.

mom x4,grandma x4

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Since Sheila did such a great thing for you and our family, I hope youi will take a minute and write to WDW about her and what she did for you.
My son works at WDW and the bosses really take those letters seriously and when it comes time for her review it will really help her, plus sometimes they are given other rewards when they receive nice letters about their cast members.
I know she would appreciate it!!
mom x4,grandma x4

ABSOLUTELY! I will check with my MIL she is up on those types of things, and she may have already done so, but if so it couldn't hurt to do it again.
thanks for reading, I'm enjoying remembering it all.

[JDBlair]

Great start of the report! :thumbsup2

And I'm with mom x4,grandma x4! Even if the CM doesn't get an award or recognition from the company, just knowing that you did a great job and someone actually noticed says a lot and helps to encourage her to keep up the good job!! And even if someone else in your party wrote a letter of thanks, I think it'd be a double bonus to send 2! :goodvibes

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Great start of the report! :thumbsup2

And I'm with mom x4,grandma x4! Even if the CM doesn't get an award or recognition from the company, just knowing that you did a great job and someone actually noticed says a lot and helps to encourage her to keep up the good job!! And even if someone else in your party wrote a letter of thanks, I think it'd be a double bonus to send 2! :goodvibes

THanks, and I have already taken care of Sheila. Talked to POFQ & gave her a HUGE :thumbsup2 THey noted and told me that it would be given to her + put in her file. :goodvibes

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ok, to back up & give a very important detail, Friday night after MNSSHP my DH called down to the baggage office and sched. a pick-up for 8:00 am for sat. Our limo (Southern Elegance, who I might add was FAB!!!) was arriving at 8:30 am...so 8:00 gave us enough time to get to the limo as we were assured by the cm.

Sat came and everyone was so excited to get to the "MICKEY BOAT" as my DS calls it. :Pinkbounc : We were all packed & ready to go waiting for the porters to come and get our bags so we could head out to see our kool limo.

we waited & waited, : :rolleyes1 8:15 my DH calls and they tell us to go ahead and put all of the bags in one room, b/c they are on their way, so we did, left our tip on the bags,...(prob not the smartest idea..?)but some of us still had to check out and needed to go.

We all get down to the lobby and there she was :cloud9: a pretty white Excursion limo just waiting to take us to see Captain Mickey!

We all got checked out, potty breaks, and into the limo we went,...but wait...where's the luggage? :confused3 oh no,....not again, another DELAY!!!!
I'm begining to think that Atlanta Intl and POFQ are conspiring :stir: against me to throw me & my family off of my well planned sched.
You see, there is a reason why we have our limo service for 8:30 am, I have spent many-a hour :surfweb: :listen: to the dis, and I'm telling you, WE HAVE TO GO!

8:45,...no bags....9:00 NO BAGS!!! SO, DH & DFIL get out and go check w/ the baggage office again,.."oh, we are sorry,..we will check on that for you, we are sure it's on it's way"

Our limo drivers were SO PROFESSIONAL! (one of them,...(we had 2 cars) was the owner) They never bad mouthed Disney not one time over making them wait,...they stood there with such grace, and continued to assure us that everything would work out fine.

FINALLY after much complaining on my DH's part here came our bags,...9:20....1 HOUR and 20 Mins after sched. pick-up time. :furious: AUGH!!! we still have to make a store stop for water, WE'LL NEVER GET THE "COVETED #2" :sad1: we are off sched by 1.5 hours AGAIN!!!
any how, off we went.

once we were on our way, all of the frustration of being an hour & a half behind sched left, and we were just so anxious to see the ship! Here comes the bridge! :goodvibes
(keep in mind that 3 of the 12 of us have never been on a cruise)
OH LOOK,...THERE IT IS!!!! I scream! :Pinkbounc :love:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/4F/12/B4/i4F12B4D3-9452-43E5-B866-29F78447D9C2.jpg

windows roll down and camera are flashing, :woohoo:
..."were coming!"... someone yells
there is just NO way to explain the feeling you get when you see that ship.

we pull in to the lot in no time appox. 11:45, hop our of our limo, grab the luggage, tip, & hug our limo guys(ok, we were just really happy to be there hugs may have been a little over the top) and off we run to get in line.
"What # boarding pass are we going to get".....????? :bitelip:

up the escalator, and then... there he was...the man holding all of the cards, or boarding passes in this case. ??? He hands me a card,...but wait, it's turned over wrong side up, I can't see the #!!.... hurry and flip it!

sigh.... #12

that's ok,... were still going to get on. :rolleyes:

next to the lady who checks your info....we'll since I had done all of the paper work online this part was gonna be a breeze. we all take out our doc.s and uh oh, mrs smith, (that's me) I need the paper that you printed off with your signature....uh,.....I forgot to print it. :sad2:

I remembered to tell all of the other family members to print theirs, gee I even printed them off for them ,and made them sign while I watched,(control freak)...but I forgot to do mine. So she hands me a pen & I start ta write 'in, while everyone else in the family is on with the sched. process of check-in.
I finally got all of the doc taken care of, DH checked the kids into club and in NO TIME, really,... they called #12. Just as I was next to check-in in the Castaway club line, they called Family of the day to be first to step on board, and by the time I was finished with check-in they were on #'s 8-9, it went super fast. :cheer2:

"DCL would now like to welcome those holding boarding pass #12" :woohoo:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/A4/BB/CA/iA4BBCAAE-3925-43C1-BCCF-33A3E14F8A07.jpg
Mother in-law, sister Charity, & sisters friend Ashley

Everybody in for group picture, and then, the famous "DCL would like to welcome the SMITH family" :cheer2:

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/D6/D2/53/iD6D253CE-5912-4D57-AEB0-8CBA22B8E5AA.jpg
friends Chris & Lacey (1st cruise)
We all opted for Parrot Cay buffet, it was not super sunny, and we didn't feel the need to sit in the wind on a cloudy day. As we got to PC they offered for us to go to Topsiders b/c they were FULL. WHAT? yes, they were full, now we have never been this late checking in, so we had never had this prob before...what to do??? then I thought, well how long is the wait? so I asked, and I'll have you know that w/in 2 mins they were able to seat a party of 12,...THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! we were all given the special hand treatment,.. wipeies.
THe food was very good, I did not take notes on what we all ate, but I do remember that we had some super good food. I think at this point we were just so happy to be there that we would have ate just about anything. :rotfl:

off to check on our rooms, we were on deck #2 cat 9 we had a total of 5 rooms 2602 & connecting 2604, cabin steward named Rita and 2644, 2646 & connecting 2648 with cabin steward TABAH who was the Best steward our family has ever had period. My inlaws have taken 7 Disney cruises and they also agreed that TABAH is FABA! :cheer2:

(note, these last 3 rooms are aft and at the end of the hall, they are pretty noisey at night. I do not normally have trouble sleeping on board, and I have always been on deck 2 but this was our 1st time to be this far aft...I took a tylenol pm the 2nd night and that worked just fine the rest of the cruise.)

Next insert will be dinner w/ APL rotation.
the rest of my tr will prob not be so detailed as I seem to lost some memory after my FRANGIPANI :love:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

EXPLOREING
Off we go to explore the ship with our DFriends chris & Lacey, (this being their 1st cruise, we wanted to enjoy the ship through their eyes.

DH & DFIL had already arranged our Palo dinners & brunch to all be together, PLUS they hooked us up with "Private Dinning Room" both times! :teeth:
SO we were on our way to make Spa reservations, and after that we wondered the ship enjoying all of the excitement around us.
Then I cleverly arranged for us to wind up at the spa so we could take a tour....(I had to show my friends the rain forrest..)all along I wanted to see the new Villa Spas ;) and let me just say WOW! I had been saying for a year that I wanted to do one of these villa spa treatments,...but DH was NOT into it, or the $$$, so...I figured I could at least take a peek.
They were lovely I would say that my guess would be....DO IT! buget for it and DO IT!

ok,... by now it was time for our magical life boat drill. pirate:

we all put on our orange jackets, and I will say that they are better than the old ones :thumbsup2 !! This time our munster station was in AP :banana: that was nice! sat down at a table, and with in mins. we were done!

DECK PARTY

We like the deck party , but our group got spilt up and we were not able to blow our bubbles together but it was still a nice party! (MIL always brings Mickey Gloves and Bubbles,...nice added feature to the party)
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/CA/42/FE/iCA42FEC4-7B9D-4049-9D15-623F3253CDDC.jpg
Do you see my hidden Mickey?

Dinner was at 5:30...so HURRY UP it's time to eat!

Dinning rotaion APL
Now making our Palo reservations in coordination with Halloween,and Pirates Night was tough, so we missed our 1st rotaion to L, but Palo was worth it, but I am skipping ahead.

ok, dinner at AP...again I do not remember what everyone ordered, but I kept a theme of Beef most of the week, as I am not much of an adventureous eater. most everyone else in our party tried it all. :goodvibes We did have our own table and we had WONDERFUL ~ repeat ~ WONDERFUL servers!
I must say even our head server Jasper(SP?) from Italy made a noticable attempt to speak to us nightly, and he even pulled off a wonderful treat for our anniversaries. (more on that later)
our Server, was MAHENNDRA he was from, Bali, Indonesia and our assitant server was ANA & she was from Lima, Peru....WONDERFUL PEOPLE! I miss them terribly.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/32/26/78/i3226782C-8416-47D9-8C08-9615A0298F65.jpg
Mahenndra & my parents
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/12/C8/23/i12C823C1-C601-43DF-A730-E26B9A96A051.jpg
Ana taking our drink order
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/6D/29/BC/i6D29BC00-06A6-43E1-9132-10C29B357E60.jpg
Joe snoozing

Off to take the kids to club & Lab,..our children LUV CLUB!!!! :love: and so do we.

Then on to the evenings show ~ variety tonight.. and very good. we enjoyed it and then we all were so tired, one stroll around deck 10, a stop off at deck 9 beverage station, and to pick up a snack for the kids, then to club & lab, and NIGHTY NIGHT :cloud9: ok, it wasn't so much sweet dreams, as it was toss & turn due to the noise, but hey who cares, it's a good excuse to get up and see the sun rise right?....well maybe not. :sad2:

next installment will be sunrise :sunny: no,....is the sun going to rise :rolleyes1 ?

[kritter]

Great report wish we were still onboard!!!!!!!!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Great report wish we were still onboard!!!!!!!!

Thanks,..and you can say that again!! I sure do miss,........EVERYTHING! :goodvibes

[msaseifert]

I LOVE reading these reports - thanks so much for sharing!!!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

I LOVE reading these reports - thanks so much for sharing!!!

I love sharing,...I should have done this for every trip, it just keeps everything fresh in my mind, and makes me feel like I'm still enjoying our trip.

[JDBlair]

THanks, and I have already taken care of Sheila. Talked to POFQ & gave her a HUGE :thumbsup2 THey noted and told me that it would be given to her + put in her file. :goodvibes

Good job! I'm very proud of you!! :goodvibes

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ok, sat night, everyone was sound asleep except for me,...to much noise,..excitement,...I don't know, but I toss & turned all night. Finally 5:00 am came, and I thought that I was safe in saying,.."ok, I'm not going to get any sleep, so just use this as your excuse to see a sunrise for the 1st time in your life!" I got up and rattled around the room :tiptoe: trying NOT to wake the kids & DH. no worries, all slept like rocks. Grabbed the camera and off I went to check out deck 10.

SUNRISE ~
If I can get it figured out, I'll post my lovely sunrise pics later.
I wondered up to 10 very quiet ship @ 5:50 am. me and about 6 other non-sleeping shipmates waited,... and waited,.... :rolleyes1
Finally I saw my DIL's and then, we saw it. The beautiful sunrise I had stayed up all night to watch for... :rotfl2: yea, we saw about a sliver of yellow between many massive clouds! I kept waiting thinkin that any min the coulds would move and then I could snap a FAB pic. :rolleyes: not happenin.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/CA/09/C0/iCA09C0B3-DDF2-4523-BA9B-989B88E07EE1.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/A4/7B/D4/iA47BD44A-74C0-4CF4-BE5C-711B69A944F2.jpg
SO, me & the (SHOCKED to see ME that early) DIL's went to check out the MUCH TALKED about Cove Cafe'. yes, it was very nice especially that early.
Then it was off to get the family up for our Character breakfast.

CHARACTER BREAKFAST

This is my least favorite character meal, it just all happens so fast, (I understand why) but then I am so consumed with taking pics of my children that I can't enjoy the food. I have to remember this meal is NOT for me, and that makes it all worth it.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/10/C9/FD/i10C9FDA1-FA9E-4852-92AB-525F4EB3DB7C.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/0C/92/74/i0C9274A6-B2E7-4AEC-8D3C-BDA0A215B5E1.jpg

DH takes the children to club & I am off to grab a chairs on deck 10 for me Lacey & mom and catch some of that :sunny: that I might add is SHINNING BRIGHTLY NOW!

I love to turn my chair and watch the water go by.....ahhhh that is SO relaxing.

DINNER: Parrot Cay & Picture Attemps

Again our service was wonderful. I can't remember what we ate :goodvibes.
Our DS(5) fell asleep before dinner came, so we woke him at dessert time and that worked out well for him. He ate his dinner, got a :mickeybar and finished all by the time we were ready to go. Then it was off to club for him, he still wants no part of the shows, "I just want to go to CLUB!" :bounce:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/6D/0A/BD/i6D0ABD4C-E05B-40C5-BCE4-570ECD39FA4E.jpg

(another important note I need to add here. This week my DH & myself were celebrating our 12th anniversary. I ONLY asked that he coordinate his clothes with the rest of the famliies so I could get good family pics. You see his idea of a good time is to embarrass his family by drawing attention to himself with his clothing, always the :clown: )

down to get pic taken before our 5:30 dinner. ( I might add that this is a bit tough due to the fact that I wanted the lifestyles background and they are not always open by 5:30pm so then after dinner, the children are a wreck. :duck: So a TIP, check your navigators carefully if you are trying to PLAN picture backgrounds.) my poor family :lmao: we attempted to get these pics everynight, and everynight something would go wrong. By the end of the cruise I had to bribe my children to smile and constantly remind my DH that this was his gift to me. :rotfl: We finally got a couple of good ones, but it didn't happen until FRIDAY! :rotfl2:

GOLDEN MICKEYS

Another GREAT performance! I can't say enough about the shows. They're the BEST :thumbsup2

Again with our nightly deck 10 stroll and then to deck 9 to get the kids a snack,...stop by the club drag our DS out kickin & screamin(not really but it felt that way sometimes) and off to bed. AND I TOOK THE TYLENOL PM ! :cloud9:

Monday @ Sea again....yea!
Did I mention that I REALLY like the Eastern itenerary? Well I really like it! LUV the days at sea all in a row, especially when there is plenty of sunshine!

This day was no different than yesterday except we ate breakfast in L. That was nice. Met another great server,...forgive me I can't remember his name.

took the kids to the pool, then back to club, and SUN for MOM :woohoo: I met my mom & Lacey on 10, in our normal spot, watching the ocean roll by.

Trick or Treat DIS STYLE!

There will be NO topping this ToT for our family! WOW! it was so nice. DS was OF COURSE in club and would not come out, but DD or "Mulan" was with us and we had a fab time. TONS of candy,& VERY WELL ORGANIZED. Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a great memory. We didn't even think about doing the DCL ToT....no need. ( I have to say it was a special feeling everytime our group would pass some poor souls in the hall who were not a part, and were wondering "how did we miss out on that?" We would just sympathize and say it's our dis group, sorry. :disrocks:

Oh I did leave out an important event, Sunday morning (I think?) Holly did The Mickey 500 race. (vegies made into race cars) she DD 9 made it to the finales, but then lost to a better vegi driver. She really enjoys that time w/ her DH & Dgrandfathers. :grouphug:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F9/6B/2F/iF96B2FCF-B6BD-44A5-95EC-FEB5038D864F.jpg
I think the adults have more fun than the kids...vegi racecar

next I'll share Monday night & our Palo dinner in the private dinning room.

[Holly&Joesmommy]

JDBLAIR ~ Inoticed that your family will be taking you 1st Dcruise in 10 more months! WooHoo! Are you going east or west?

[kritter]

So glad that your daughter enjoyed the TOT...I was shocked at how much candy they got.....

[Holly&Joesmommy]

yes, everyone out did themselves. it was lovely.

[MrsJobba1]

Thankyou, I am really enjoying your trip report. I wish I was back on the magic. :goodvibes

[Mickey'sfriend]

Thanks so much for your awesome trip report!! Can't wait to hear more! :surfweb:

[sejejoemmiev]

[QUOTE=Holly&Joesmommy]ok, to back up & give a very important detail, Friday night after MNSSHP

What is MNSSHP ? :confused3 TIA!

[kritter]

[QUOTE=Holly&Joesmommy]ok, to back up & give a very important detail, Friday night after MNSSHP

What is MNSSHP ? :confused3 TIA!
Mickeys NOt so Scarey Halloween party it takes place at Magic Kingdom!!!!!!!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

just have time for a quick post,I'm leaving for Ohio in the morning, but I didn't want to leave monday unfinished.

Dinner was for 6:00 pm so we got the kids some grub, and took them to,...(do I even need to say the word?) CLUB! :rotfl2:


We arrived got our hand treatment, and were taken to the private dinning room. Now I should add, that anyone can reserve this room, you just need to have a party of 8 to 12, so we qualified. :woohoo:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F4/DB/D8/iF4DBD87E-A338-4A9D-9E1D-A1E6A4444CE3.jpg

Our server was Gemma, she was from England, delightful young lady. She shared alot with us about life on board as a crew member, and took my Dh's humor VERY WELL!
You see earlier that day if you'll remember we had our DIS tot, DD Holly came back from tot with a very nice ROACH! FAKE of course.

As I mentioned before DH is a :joker: so as soon as he saw this, you know what he HAD to do don't you? ......... YES HE DID!

DH was giving her his order, and had put the ROACH under his menu so when he handed it to her, she saw it. :eek:

BUT, being the clever young women that she is, she quickly replied, "oh, :rolleyes: not another one!" :rotfl2: Took the wind right out of his sails! :lmao: it was histerical. Of course, neither one of our moms were laughing... :sad2: after that she was one of the gang. She told us that her boyfriend was a joker as well, and this was not the first time she had seem one of these lovely bugs. We were very fortunate to have her again later in the week for brunch.

OK, the food. Well I believe that I eat more in Palo than I do in any other dinning room on the ship. I love it all. I will admitt that I am not one for super fancy food, I like to know what I am eating, and I do not stray to far from what I know; However, I will try more in Palo than any where else...don't ask me why,... :confused3 maybe b/c I haven't had anything there that I didn't like yet.

Again I have to say that I do not remember too much of what we all ate, but I do remember that we LOVE the dips that come with the bread. ( I did try the olives, they are good but strong) .
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/BF/BD/E4/iBFBDE4DC-6BB0-4050-8256-820B3204302C.jpg
I love the white one!

- PIZZA, out of this world!
WE had several different kinds, blue cheese and Tomato I think?...BBQ Chicken w/ spinich??? and something with Olives I think...? sorry bad memory, and no picture to remind me,...I think we gobbled them down before anyone of us got a shap shot.
I had some form of steak, w/ some form of spinich on the side it was delicious.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/DB/45/23/iDB452369-8BA3-4AFB-926D-877E24FD34ED.jpg
DH had the Lamb and it was VERY YUMMY. 1st time I had ever tried lamb, and I am glad I did, prob wont like it anywhere else, but I sure do like Palos :goodvibes
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/5A/7E/37/i5A7E37DC-4D66-449A-8FF1-418CA5A7015D.jpg

And then for the BEST part of it all :love:
The Chocolate Souffle :Pinkbounc
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/C5/04/E2/iC504E271-8515-45BC-BAA4-2852BDF805E5.jpg
this picture was taken before the sauce was added.
I know you think that once you've had a Choc. souffle, you had them all, but NOT SO! In my experience, THis one... :cool1: takes the cake :rotfl: it is so good.

well were all stuffed and on with the routine, see a SUPER show, stroll deck 10, stop of @ deck 9, grab the kids from club, and night night :cloud9:

The show was Twice Charmed, it was very nice. We truely enjoyed it.
SUPER DAY! It can't get much better than this. Family, Friends, sunshine, Food, and the mouse :thumbsup2

Next post I'll share our day in St. Martin, Shopping, the ocean, and a nice warm hug from a shop owner. :grouphug:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

I just spent an hour posting on St. Martin, and I Lost it!!!! :badpc: :badpc:

I have no more time right now, sorry I'll try to post something later. augh! :furious:

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

here, let me help..... :badpc:

look forward to it later!!!! :sunny:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Ok, we'll try this again. I have tried for the last 2 days to figure out how to post my pictures, :confused3 ....augh, anyone know where I can get "Posting Pictures for Dummies"? :rotfl:

I'll keep trying but I am about to lose it :crazy: Thanks "PANS" for your :badpc: assistance w/ my frustration.


St. Martin

We all slept in a little later on this day, except for my In laws, they were out by 8:00 I think to catch one of the tours for St. M.

I called everyone else and we all had breakfast and meet about 10:00 am to go & explore. It was a lovely day, beautiful sunshine, warm, but beautiful. :sunny:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/35/54/D6/i3554D62A-5B6F-4E81-8828-314269A18BB6.jpg
I was leading the pack & we agreed to walk and not take the water taxi,....BAD IDEA!!! (ok, here is the deal, it is fine to walk,...GOING!..., after a long day of shopping, and beach, maybe one should RE-THINK walking.)(pay the $5 and ride) We really did not know exactly how far it would be, and the books I read seemed to lead me to believe that it was just off the ship,...there is SOME shopping just off the ship but we wanted to go into town, so the watertaxi would be my suggestion, unless you are an experienced walker. enough of that.

A lovely islander lady offered for us to follow her, she was not talkitive, just going the same direction, and kept the first few aggressive islanders away from us. My mom thought that she was just doing it for the tip, but she didn't even stop when we arrived to the shopping area, she just pointed and said,..."you want to go that way,...NOT this way!" and kept walking. ( her tone came w/ the knowledge that we did not want to go that way for our own safety...?) We hollered thankyou's and she waved. :wave: This made a great first impression.

Shopping
We walked a good ways into town, it is easy to find your way around. Some of the shops on the alleyways, or backstreets, were MUCH more aggressive. While we were about to go into the store DEL SOLE a lady stepped infront of us and said "same things in my store 1/2 the price,..come w/ me." We told her we would be there in a min. after we looked here, and that is what we did.
On our way back to her store there were a total of 3 store in this alleyway. All of us split up and went into the first 2. (hers was one of these 2) BUT, it did not sit well w/ the 3rd shop owner, she wanted us to come to here store NOW!!! :furious: She was so aggressive that we did not want to go, and we didn't, although we did have to listen to her yell at us. Really, we all found things in the other 2 stores and we didn't even need to shop anymore.

While we were finishing up in one of the stores my sisters friend, Ashley became very ill. :faint: my mom saw her, as she was paying for something she just collapsed. Mom & dad ran to her, and so did the store owner to catch her. Dad( a Pastor) immediately prayed for her and the owner grabbed a stool for her to sit on, and ran out side to hale a taxi. Ashely was back w/ us in just seconds, but she couldn't see, or hear very well. We prayed again, and she drank some water, in about 3-4 mins she was weak , & had nausea but could see and hear again. SO, we all (including the store owner) walked Ashley & dad to the taxi and they went back to the ship. The store owner stopped my mom and me and gave us BIG HUGS, told us to take care and come see her if we needed anything. :grouphug: This was very sweet, she was a lovely lady. (2nd nice islander :goodvibes )

( I will add here, that the same thing has happened to my sister,...Dr's say TOO MUCH CAFFINNE and not enough healthy food and rest :confused3 ) Ashely went back, rested & ate, cut out the caffine, and was fine the rest of the trip. :thumbsup2

BEACH TIME

We had done some homework on the beaches here and made the choice to try Little Bay. I will say it was convenient to the ship,..ie our littel walk, but it was not the prettiest beach. :sad2: Chris said the sand reminded him of oatmeal....ditto. :rolleyes: it was thick w/ crushed seashells, and brownish gray. oh well at least it was sunny right!
We paid $18 for 6 chairs and 3 umbrellas. :confused3 NO idea if we got ripped off or not, but that is what we paid.
( :offtopic: my ds 5 just came in and asked me what I was doing, I told him writing about our disney trip and as I am typing he pointed to this smile :furious: and asked me..."mommy is he mad b/c he wants to go to club?) :rotfl2: I have to tell you that on more than one occasion Joe (ds) pitched a fit b/c it was time to leave club, or he wanted to go to club. ok back to the topic.
We sat down, some went into the water, a couple of us lounged on the chairs and enjoyed the sun& shade. We meet a nice couple who were sitting beside us. They both worked on RCL. They saw our Castaway Club bags and started asking us questions about DCL. We talked alot about the differences, and they both said that they thought it would be really great to work on the DCL. ( OF COURSE I thought to myself, it's the BEST) :goodvibes IMHO
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/71/5E/78/i715E786A-CBE3-4CD8-9C0D-EAD8FFCFCC2B.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/77/8F/F9/i778FF9AA-E404-4F89-BBC3-4297CA16F31E.jpg

BACK TO SHIP
after a few hours we began to get hungry ( Since Lacey is expecting a baby we wanted to eat and eat on ship, so off we went on our LONG walk back. :hourglass
We got to Topsiders just as they had closed... :sad2: so we ended up eating by the pool. that's ok,..all of the food is great. and dinner is not that far away.

Later, I'll share our Pirates in the Carribbean Party.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/4E/6B/72/i4E6B7216-ACF0-4F9F-896E-62C282F506A9.jpg
A sample of Tabbahs skills!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

I figured it out!!! :woohoo: It's only taken me a couple of weeks but hey,..I did it! :thumbsup2 TR now comes complete with pictures. :happytv:

[curlybop]

I'm hungry now, after looking at those Palo photos! :teeth: Great report, keep on going!

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

love seeing pics from our cruise!!!!

my DH is in one - so funny! We had the same dining rotation and we must have been sittting near each other! :wizard:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

love seeing pics from our cruise!!!!

my DH is in one - so funny! We had the same dining rotation and we must have been sittting near each other! :wizard:

That is too funny,...which one is he in? We sat at table # 59

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

the character breakfast with Pluto - he is silhouetted in front of the porthole window.

[Holly&Joesmommy]

the character breakfast with Pluto - he is silhouetted in front of the porthole window.

cool. :thumbsup2 I have always wanted a window table...did you enjoy it? And did you have table mates?
I guess b/c we always have our extened families w/ us we never get those tables. Once we were in the corner in every D. Rm. yuck

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

it was nice - we missed it at AP. There was just the three of us! :sunny:

[nluvwithmickey]

Can I say what a terrific job you are doing on your Trip report? Absolutely wonderful.

TABAH....isn't he the greatest? We had him as our stateroom host and we just wanted to bring him back home with us. So sweet and attentive. I'm glad I,m not the only one who enjoyed his great work.

Keep up the good work, I love reading all about your cruise.

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Can I say what a terrific job you are doing on your Trip report? Absolutely wonderful.

TABAH....isn't he the greatest? We had him as our stateroom host and we just wanted to bring him back home with us. So sweet and attentive. I'm glad I,m not the only one who enjoyed his great work.

Keep up the good work, I love reading all about your cruise.

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I am having a blast doing this TR. It's just SO time consumming. It's taking me forever to get it done but at least were to the middle of the week. :thumbsup2

Tabah is SUPER SWEET, and always has a giggle/laugh. :goodvibes No other cabin host has made such the impression on me.

"PANS" how wonderful that you had your own table! I know that it is nice to meet others, but it is also nice to just spend the time w/ you own family. I know you enjoyed the time w/ your daughter.

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

we did - but we were also looking forward to the possibility of sitting with others - had a good experience once on another cruise. We don't usually take the initiative to meet others - but it is nice when the situation gives us a little "push"!!!

We did meet a family next to us at dinner - they sat at a table with us at Topsiders after embarkation...we got talking - and then that night found they were at the table next to us - so that was nice!!!! :sunny:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Well as you saw in the last post, Tabbah was already in the Pirate mood! pirate:
We got back from our day at St. Martin and in my in-laws room there sat this pirate. Now,... my dad(inlaw) thought that there was a man sitting on his sofa :rotfl2: This was a TOWEL ANIMAL to Rival ALL OTHER towel animals!
If you look closely you can see the remote control in his hand :happytv:
Tabbah had put my sons costume on this towel man, and dads parrot & remote on the mans arms...it was GREAT :cool1: I told you in the first post that Tabbah is Faba! :goodvibes

Now it was time for dinner at AP, we all arrived out of costume, and my father inlaw was ready to make us "WALK the PLANK" pirate: He was in FULL Pirate costume, and looked great I might add. My son & daughter and mother inlaw wore their costumes but the rest of us were a bunch of party poopers :sad2:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/88/72/78/i887278EB-906D-41F8-B384-559347A54ACB.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/C8/E3/7D/iC8E37D14-82F5-4E18-BAA1-9A6D8EE8ABB0.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/2D/14/BA/i2D14BAAF-AB39-4983-AF71-C7CF3B1C9C3C.jpg

Dinner was alot of fun, and the girls, (sister & Friend) tried the escargot (sp?)
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/AF/42/F8/iAF42F818-08E4-4A42-888A-FFE9B7EFE0EA.jpg
good thing they don't read the dis boards! They wouldn't care for this pic :rotfl2:
After dinner we took both of the kids to club,...and fooled around on decks 9& 10 for what seemed like hours....BUT, we had GOOD seats for the party! :teeth:

We were on deck 10 by the railing (still cant tell you if we were port or starboard... :confused3 ) we were on the side w/the fireworks any way great view. DH went down to see if the kids wanted to come up for the party, ...but NO neither one wanted to leave. I was kinda sad, b/c I know they would have enjoyed it, but they were enjoying the club.

After watching the dancing and the fireworks, we went to check out the buffet (like we needed another bite) and there it all was looking so pretty as if to say " Please take me and eat me I'm looking for a nice tummy to rest in". :sad2:
so...whacha gonna do??? Yep, your gonna get in line, and eat it.
We found us a nice place, on the back of the ship (on the topsiders deck) to sit,...don't think we were supposed to be back there though,..it had been blocked off during the show due to the fireworks display, but not now,workers were putting the chairs back..so we made our way in and had a nice quiet snack.

Off to bed for all the good pirates. We picked up the kids, and yes, again they needed a snack, so we orderd them room service, and off to la la land we went. Early morning on Wed....CUSTOMS! YUCK!
DON'T YOU MISS THAT ROCKING MOTION! I want to go back NOW! :Pinkbounc

NEXT: St. Thomas, a Frangipani, and ANOTHER MAGICAL MOMENT!

[discruiselovers97]

This is a FABULOUS trip report! I am really enjoying it! Keep the report(and the pictures) coming!

[Madisonznana]

What a great report. I am looking forward to more! :surfweb:

[vital]

I'll be on this cruise in 2007! I love reading your report. I have been to St Thomas and St Martin before so I know what you mean about the shops on St Martin.

Love the report! pirate:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Since this was our first time on the Eastern cruise, we had never had the pleasure of attending the much anticipated magical customs gathering.
(can you do detect the small hint of sarcasim in my typing) :rolleyes:

Since DH, DFIL, and DH's Friend were all sched for a morning snorkle excursion
we found out that ALL of us had to attend the 1st session. Everyone in the room must attend at the same time.
Now I was still half asleep, b/c I do not function with out first having my DIET COKE
I had not made my way up to deck 9 yet,..so, I really am not 100% sure what time it was,..I'm thinkin 6:30??? Maybe some of you who had to/ I mean GOT to attend this magical session will remeber better than I do.

Ok so we all make our way down to the Walt D. TH. and filed in, found our seats, and waited, for what seemed like 30 mins or so. I noticed that my parents came in while we were STILL waiting,..and they were coming for the next group session. Now I do not know if this is how it is supposed to be or not?
I thought that they would have the 1st group out and then they would start w/ the 2nd, but we all ended up in the WDT together in the end, I can see the reason behind the sched/stagering groups, it makes for a more orderly fashion, so maybe that was how it was supposed to go... either way, it was NOT HORRIBLE or anything, you just sit and wait.
Ok, here come the guys/gals in uniforms, w/in no time, we were up and getting our stuff checked. NO PROBS HERE, we're all done!

OFF TO BREAKFAST
Sorry I can't remember for the life of me where we ate,..or even if we ate together? :scratchin keep in mind, I still haven't had a diet coke! so everything is pretty fuzzy. I'm guess'in L. ?
DH, DFIL & Dfriend Chris all leave for their snorkle, MIL goes to relax, my Dparents leave for some shopping, the girls go to catch some rays and I take the kids to club b/c Dfriend Lacey and myself have an appt in the VISTA SPA for our "Frangipani" :woohoo:

VISTA SPA & ANOTHER MAGICAL MOMENT!!

Lacey and I arrive early for our treatment & to fill out the forms. Just the atmosphere in there alone is enough to relax you.
Now my DSIL gets this treatment on every cruise, and assured me that I would enjoy it.
I could barely pronounce the name let alone know what it intailed. All we knew was that it was some sort of Hot Oil treatment for the scalp and hair , and a massage for the head..
"May we help you" ..."yes we are here for our auuh hot oil scalp treatment...auuh Fran....!" "oh, ok" she says.

So I asked for the name of it for the 3rd time,..(the 1st 2 times I asked while we were making the appointments)"uuhmm Could you please tell me...what is the name of this treatment?" ( in a lovely sweddish accent, the reply came) "certainly,...it a "FRANGIPANI". "oh yes, thankyou" I replied...still clueless.
ok,..thats Fran-gees-panty.. :lmao: ..."auh NO!...FRANGIPANI" ohhh, ok Fran-gee-pan-nee. YES! :cheer2: what an idiot. I tried.

We have a seat and with in a few mins Claudia and forgive me (I had a couple of diet cokes at breakfast, can't blame it on that) but I still can't remember the guys name who gave Lacey her FRANGIPANTIES. :lmao:

On a serious note, they both introduced themselves, asked us a few more questions, mainly about Lacey(2 months prego)turns out you can't have the special Frangipani oil if you are expecting :worried: But they assured us that it would still be worth it and they would use an oil that did not have aroma in it but that she would still be able to smell mine. As we stand to leave and follow them we are expecting to go into the Salon, (that is where the Frangi's are given),...Claudia turns to us and says we have a special treat for you today. :listen:

When ever the VILLA SPA's are open we like to use them, so we are going to give you guys your FRANGIPANIES in a VILLA SPA room! AHHHH! YYYYES! :Pinkbounc SWEET! :woohoo: Our 2nd MAGICAL MOMENT!
( a little history here) When we booked this cruise I wanted to book a Villa Spa rm, I think I may have already mentioned that in a earlier post, but CLAUDIA was our Tour Guide When we visited the spa on sat,...hmmm wonder if she remebered....? Doubt it, but it still makes me & Lacey feel very special. :goodvibes
Off we went into the VS rm and wow was it nice. Relaxing music, and aromas, water fountains, and a view of St. Thomas.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/0B/7E/91/i0B7E91A8-A415-496E-934C-7FA0D573D9D6.jpg

We got to lay on the 2 SUPER PLUSH memory foam beds, and
have our Hot oil treatments, plus a massage that went from our forehead, to top of our head, and all the way down to our shoulders. Back up and then our temples, ears, neck and the front of shoulders. :love: ALL while enjoying the VS rm. They were so gentle yet strong. Why can't DH figure out how to give a Frangipani,....?

After our MAGICAL spa treatment, ( which I might add will never be the same, if we have to have it in the SALON) we went back to our rooms to wash the oil out of our hair and then up to our favorite spot on deck 10 :love: to enjoy the beautiful day! AND,...What a beautiful day it was! :sunny:

Lacey and I enjoyed watching the Crew practice safety drills, but TIP,...
It appears that while there is a safety drill even the Soda Fountain(aka Diet Coke Machine) is closed. THey make an announcement that while the drill is happening, the cruise staff will close some areas,...they also mean the DIET COKE machine, be prepared!

After an hour or so I grabbed the kids from club to enjoy the EMPTY pools
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/BA/CC/EA/iBACCEA22-0D93-4758-B7ED-8EDE851777B6.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/4C/71/05/i4C710520-6AFB-4DB8-A0B1-DB99E8CE8163.jpg

and then on to lunch and I do remember where that was, it was in L. The food was FAB that day! We had made plans for everyone to meet at L when the guys got back form the snorkle, have lunch, and then go out to St. Thomas for the Sky Ride to Paradise Point.

St. Thomas & SKY RIDE to PP
we walked just a little ways to the Sky Ride, walked up the stairs and got right on.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/A5/61/3F/iA5613F05-48F2-45AD-99AA-171FDB79599C.jpg

My mom was very worried about the ride, epsecially after we read that if the power goes out just remain calm, it will only take about 15 mins. to get it back on. WHAT?!!!
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/CB/49/CE/iCB49CEED-C076-46A6-AA9C-8F4A6702A00F.jpg
Mom very scared!

We all managed to arrive at the top safely. These pictures do not do it justice, but maybe you can get an idea of how beautiful it was up there.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/FF/51/8E/iFF518E30-04AE-4C77-AD39-48ACCB5E950E.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/A0/9D/3C/iA09D3C4A-F20B-4DA7-BA07-2BD1BAE6362A.jpg

At the top of the point there is some shopping and a few small bars/ places to eat,... we enjoyed the shopping. ;) As you exit the tram you are on a deck that will take you to the shopping area or up a ways to a look out, it was very nice.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/AE/66/EF/iAE66EF42-D501-42F4-830F-35BEC75AC9E3.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/34/79/32/i34793276-D1FF-432F-9CF0-060B4926D8FC.jpg
When we left there was a long line to catch one of the 3 trams back down, so I would give another TIP here:
Do NOT wait until it is close to time to be back onboard to catch your tram back down. There were other people from other cruiselines worried about making it back on time.
When we arrived at the top, there was no line for the return,...we were up there about an hour or so, and that line filled up very fast.

Back down to look around at some of the shops by the port, back on board to get ready for dinner, and pictures and off we went, leaving St. Thomas. :wave:

I had the BEST day, but I would like to explore ST.T a little more the next time.

NEXT: I'll share Dinner at PC and....Do We HAVE HAVE to have Mickey in the picture?

[discruiselovers97]

I am absolutely loving your report!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

thanks, .. I absolutely loved being there.

[LITTLEKID58]

Your TR report is great.. love reading it.

Liz

[Holly&Joesmommy]

thankyou Liz, It's fun to write.

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Back to the ship from St.Thomas,...

I went down to do a little laundry while the family layed around and watched a Disney movie on the TV. I ended up doing laundry about 3 times total, 3rd time was just for Castaway clothes. I never had 1 problem getting a machine in the Laundry RM :thumbsup2
please allow me to digress for a moment~
( I was so proud of myself, thinking that I did not over pack. 4 bags total for 4people. OK,.."I" did not overpack,..HOWEVER, I packed enough clothes for everyone else to clothe a small country! What was thinking?? I knew better,..but still thought the the kids would need all of that stuff. augh
I'm back on topic now, just needed to vent that.

Picture Time

Well being that this is the 5th night and I have yet to get my family picture for one reason or another, I begin to beg DH to please where something that will match the rest of us,..."I really want to get one of the Lifestyles pictures done in our mickey t-shirts". Well a Mickey T-shirt was a little too much to ask, but he did compromise and try to match in color,..hey at this point I'll take what ever I can get.

Off we go to be 1st in line for the Lifestyles and according to the navigator they will start @ 5:30...yes this is dinner time, but if we are 1st in line then we can still make it to PC w/in a reasonable amount of time.
Little did I know,...it would not take anytime at all.

We arrive we are like the 3rd family in line,... we are right behind another DIS family "pansmermaidzlagoon" we got to do the DISToT w/ them they were in our group. So we talked for just a few mins and the next thing I knew,...WE WERE IN LINE FOR A CHARACTER PICTURE! :confused3 augh!
This had already happened once this week,..not again! I double check the navigator, and sure enough,...I AM IN THE CORRECT PLACE,....MICKEY HAS GOT TO GO!

I leave the family in line and run to the front desk and ask the CM what is going on? She calls the picture people, and we all work it out that the "NAVIGATOR" is wrong AGAIN! augh! This evening Sorcerer Mickey will be appearing in the Lifestyles area. I have to have theses pictures done! The CM reminds me politely that MICKEY is the BOSS he's not movin.
I force a smile and go back to the line.

( I'm sure you are prob wondering what the BIG deal is,...wouldn't I want the famous mouse in my family pic to add to the memory of our trip,...NO, not in this picture.
The reason being that this is going to be our christmas picture, and I was having trouble invisioning the Sorcerer hat on the same card as baby in a manager...? petty I know, just not what I wanted.)
By now we are next,...so I ask "can we have our picture w/o mickey?" "uh, no, you can come back @ 10:00." well no, that wont work for us , not after dinner and a :mickeybar. So we went on and got our family picture taken w/ the BIG Cheese, they turned out very nice....I just bought new christmas cards. :)

Parrot Cay

On we went to dinner, since this was really a character shot, it only took a min so we were not even late for dinner. We arrived to find another lovely dinner. I can't remember what we ate, but I do remember that we enjoyed our servers. :thumbsup2 Again they were great, they entertained us very well:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/FE/7D/99/iFE7D99F5-64F8-416B-ABB7-23A6B6ED279B.jpg
DH in with a Minnie Mouse bow
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/9F/F3/25/i9FF3257F-5470-4BDE-BF51-FDD214A689C0.jpg
Our server Mahendra doing some magic for us.

After dinner we did our normal routine...club, a Fantastic show, a trip around decks 9 &10, pick up the kids, and off to bed.

Next: Our Last day @ Sea,..Brunch,...and did you see the kitchen???

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Let me just start by saying,...again,.. " I LOVE AT SEA DAYS!" :love:

We had reservations for brunch at Palo so we slept in, got the kids some room service and then off to club they went. ( I would like to add here that we did actually have alot of family time, even though our children were in club alot)

My sister and Ashley found themselves some chairs and started soaking up the beautiful sunshine while the rest of us went to Palo. This was the 1st brunch for 6 of the 8 of us, so we were very anxious. :banana: I had read so much about DO NOT MISS BRUNCH,..so I made sure we went this time.
BOY, am I glad we did!

We arrived, got our hand treatment and off we went into our private room.
on our way to the room, this is what we see....
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/7A/B2/C7/i7AB2C79B-475B-4BD1-8227-FE51398F76EB.jpg
OH boy, I can't wait to get to dessert! :woohoo:

Gemma came in and offered us our complimentary drink, and then off we went on the small tour of all the food stations.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/EC/3A/57/iEC3A57F9-414F-4328-9048-D93A690A0CF2.jpg

We loaded up our plates, and had a great time!
Side note ~
There is a cheese they serve called Boursien...we all thought it was FAB! So I asked Gemma more about it, she went and got the original box that it comes in and told me what to ask for. I came home and looked at all of the stores in my area,...NO BOURSIN :sad2: My MIL did the same...no BOURSIN.
TODAY,... I thougth I would take one more look due to the Holidays,....and
I FOUND IT!! :woohoo:
IT's not cheap I tell you, but who cares, I feel like I'm back on board the Magic, eating my cheese and crackers at Palo. :cloud9:

After we stuffed our selves we all rolled out onto the deck for some lounge time. ( well actually I think the guys went to the gym,...but the ladied lounged in the sun :goodvibes we're on vacation)

DH got the kids from club, they ate at the pool area and played, until 3:00,..then back to the club b/c we had a Kitchen Galley tour.

GALLEY TOUR
We had a tour last year, but there were a few more in our party, so we were able to take our own tour if we would wait and go last. So that was what we did. It was great. Tons of info,..and very enjoyable.
Well this year we forgot about that small detail, when we got in there,...it was the biggest waste of time. I was so sorry for our friends, and everyone around us, b/c you could not hear a word the tour guide was saying. :listen: People were not talking,...it was just that there were waaaay to many people in the group and there was no way to hear unless you were right up front. BUMMER :rolleyes:

TIP: I would suggest that if you take a galley tour, please ask for the LAST tour. Maybe your odds of a smaller group will be better.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/CF/5B/C6/iCF5BC673-F3C4-4553-8447-6B1090F4CE9F.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/12/81/1D/i12811D33-21C2-4A0D-A5E8-6EC0A5A54AE0.jpg

after the tour it was time to get ready for dinner,...TONIGHT was going to be our special night!
Tonight we celebrate our 12th anniversary, and friends
Chris & Lacey's 3rd. :goodvibes and in my favorite place...Lumiers.

Next: our anniversary SURPRISE!

[MrsJobba1]

I cant wait to find out about your surprise :goodvibes

[luv2boys]

Waitng to hear about the suprise!!!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Well our 5th night was SEMI-formal,...and to DH that means casual. :rolleyes:
We still had not seen our picture w/ Mickey w/ the lifestyle background, so I asked Dh would you wear this shirt & tie...? The reply came back w/ a FIRM.... aah NO. :confused3 so I tell myself :rolleyes1 "Now I must keep calm...don't sweat it, we can work this out." DON"T start a fight,...just adapt,...." "ok,..." I say " but we have to match b/c we still aren't sure if we have "the picture". DH replies w/ "this is what I'm wearing." :furious: augh.

OK, ...so now I have to go thru all of the clothes and make 3 other people match him. :rolleyes2 SO I do a super fast run thru of the clothes and find us all items that at least blend. (remember at the beginning of my trip I mentioned to you that I don't do so well when my plans get messed up...I can say with all assurance that in this case,...I handled it like a CHAMP! :angel: ) We got ready for our semi foraml picture I adapted and not 1 fight,...(don't expect that everytime :rotfl: ) and off we went to give it another shot. (by the way it also turned out well. :goodvibes)

DINNER at Lumieres

Now I would like to remind you that this is our 1st evening dinner here b/c we had our Palo resies on the 1st rotaion to L. Although we did most breakfast's and lunch here b/c it is my favorite :love: I still had not had my TRUE experience in L. yet. I was so ready for it!

We came in and it was the night for:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/DF/8D/E2/iDF8DE287-69A3-4351-92A8-4AEBE0F2D006.jpg

We so enjoyed ourselves,...everything we ate was great, and as of course our service was FAB.
It came time for dessert, and I knew that we would get a pretty cake becasue it was our 12th Anniversary,and Chris & Laceys 3rd,...Disney does a very nice cake.

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F1/80/D4/iF180D4F5-A491-4682-A6D4-4D865D311B5F.jpg
....but THERE WAS MORE. ( Don't scroll down to the next picture, you'll spoil the surprise)


Now Don't get TOO excited,.. I didn't get a diamond in my claims or anything like that,...but We did get a nice treat that I really wanted.


See our DH's told us that they had been trying to plan a little surprise for us all week. (the first 2 attempts failed,...not due to any fault of their own,..DCL kept forgetting to do it,..but NOT tonight they had talked to the RIGHT guy.)

This is where our wonderful head server comes in...you may not see them much, but they can get just about anything done for you. I know I know... :rolleyes1 get to it already right? ok, ok,...here goes.


The whole section of servers come out and sing to us Happy anniversary to you,...BUT in the tune of Happy Birthday w/ a VERY thick accent...sounded something like this.
" Happy Ahh (pause)- Versery tuuu yuu,..
Happy Ahh - Versery tu tu,
Happy Ahhh-Versery to YUUUUUUUUU,
Happy Ahh-versery tu yu!" :dance3:

Very sweet,...we loved it. They sat down the cake, and then,................


ahhhhh,....MY FAVORITE !!!!! PALO's CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE for everyone! :woohoo: ( I told you I LOVE that suff!)
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/C3/A0/E2/iC3A0E287-065E-4EAB-9E5D-7879CFC1B445.jpg
I couldn't have been any happier. OK, a new diamond in the claims may have topped the CHOC Souffle ...but it would have been close. ;)

DH had told our head server that 2 times Palo had botched the plan, so he took care of it,...and he personally went to Palo and got us C. S. for the whole table. It was great. (plus we had a WHOLE cake to eat....we were stuffed, but I was not about to let any of that souffle go to waste. :thumbsup2

DFIL with our servers; A job well done!
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/5C/38/57/i5C3857E5-D9D5-4526-A26D-2D0D147B7EF2.jpg

Then we were off to take DS joe to club, DD Holly wanted to see the show, Disney Dreams.
This is prob my favorite of all the shows.... "FAITH TRUST and PIXIE DUST"
I just love the storyline.
Oh,.. what can I say, ANOTHER MAGICAL day! pixiedust:
We stroll around the deck again and pick up DS,...grab a snack, and it was sweet dreams for the Smith family :cloud9:

NEXT: Castaway Cay,... and,...what is that stuff floating in the water? :eek:

[Madisonznana]

What a wonderful surprise!!! There is one Head Waiter that deserved his $1 a day!!!
Great report. :thumbsup2

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ABSOLUTELY! He was attentive too!

[JDBlair]

JDBLAIR ~ Inoticed that your family will be taking you 1st Dcruise in 10 more months! WooHoo! Are you going east or west?

Hi! We're going Eastern. But I have no hopes about one direction or the other because I understand weather will ultimately determine!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

yes,...you are correct,...I hope you have SUPER WONDERFUL WEATHER! This was my 1st time to go east and I LOVED it! I have taken the west 5 times(not all DCL) and I love them both. ANY DISNEY CRUISE will do!

[JDBlair]

I am enjoying your TR's! I was able to catch up today!! Whoo hoo!!! :thumbsup2

[JDBlair]

yes,...you are correct,...I hope you have SUPER WONDERFUL WEATHER! This was my 1st time to go east and I LOVED it! I have taken the west 5 times(not all DCL) and I love them both. ANY DISNEY CRUISE will do!

I really don't care if they sail out to the middle of nowhere and drop anchor there. The draw for me is not the islands but the cruise itself and being with my husband and kids. Oh! And good weather! Thank you for the good wishes!! :woohoo:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

The whole family is SUPER excited to get to castaway,..beside the obvious reasons,..last year on our western cruise Captain Tom was not able to dock :sad1: He tried 3 or 4 times, but we ended up sitting in the middle of the Ocean for the day. SO,.. we were very anxious to get to CC.

We all wanted to watch the ship dock, so we grabbed a quick bite at topsiders, and then headed outside to watch us back in to the dock/port. We noticed that the sun was hidding, it was very overcast, but I thought it may burn off, and we could still get some good sushine.

http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F5/E4/EA/iF5E4EA2A-9576-47D5-A062-FBE19ADA8990.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/18/68/C8/i1868C87A-4B51-4C16-BF4A-C50E05E9C463.jpg

It was awesome to see the ship sitting there from "P of the C". Everyone was taking pictures and ohhh's and aaahhh's were coming from all directions. http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/8C/7C/22/i8C7C2245-EB90-43A9-8364-162DB59F2081.jpg

As soon as we could we ran back to our rooms to check on my mom,...she had gotten sick the night before during the show, not sure why??? We were in hopes that she was gonna be able to get off at CC and enjoy the day.
She said she would be out later, just needed to take it easy...in other words, "I can't keep up w/ THE PLAN" so we agreed, and all grabbed our castaway club bags(GREAT TREAT,..thanks DCL) and headed for the exit. We walked right off,..grabbed our towels, and off we went.

WELCOME TO CASTAWAYCAY
OF COURSE,.. I had a plan. :teeth:

Part 1 of the plan:
1). snap a few pictures
2). get the kids to club first( so we could snorkle before the sand gets stirred up and so they could explore)
3). take the tram to SERENITY BAY ...ahhhhhhhhhh! ( Ben & I have never made it to SB b/c we always kept the kids w/ us,
4). Grab some chairs
5). pick up the rental equipment
6). ENJOY!! :cool1:

Serinity Bay
Still no sun,... :sad2: it's warm, and the water is not TOO cold,...but no need for sunscreen. ( I know having fair skin & red hair, you should always use the spf, but I'm telling you, there was NO sun,..I did not apply SPF and I did NOT burn :confused3 )
There weren't very many people over here at all, at least not first thing in the morning. It was very peaceful.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/C2/B1/A6/iC2B1A698-85E0-470B-84DA-A1923C868AA5.jpg

we all floated out to sea, to see if we could find any sea creatures,...after about 30 mins,.. I was finished.
I think when I heard several people including a couple in my family scream " AHHHH, A STINGRAY!" (so much for the serenity...) you could hear them a mile away.

2 women on 1 see thru tube,(not a pretty sight) and there was a sting ray coming near them in a wave, ... so they scream ,and started peddling their feet like the flintstones! :rotfl2: 1 girl made the choice to bail off the tube, leaving the other to flail about until she tipped over backwards. It was histerical to watch :happytv: But to realize that there could be one by me,...well not so funny.
I had to make a choice. Something about living things swimming by my feet creaps me out. :eek: So I made my way back to the beach,....and what is that brown stuff on the bottom of the ocean floor ? yuck I needed water shoes!

I pulled my chair down to the water, and just watched everyone else truely enjoy themselves.
They saw a few things, but not as much as they would have liked to see.
Oh well, it was still wonderful.
After a few hours we were hungry and wanted to try the AIR BBQ on Serenity bay before we picked up the kids, so we all showered off, and cleaned up a bit and went to get some lunch.

TIP: KEEP YOUR TOWELS! We made a mistake of drying off w/ our towels and then returning them at Serenity bay,....aaaahhh, there are no more towels anywhere. So, when we went to the family beach, we had no towels. :guilty:

LUNCH ~ AIR BBQ
this was a small buffet area with picnic tables, surrounded by tress, and shrubs, it was lovely. It looked like most of the same foods served at cookies. We all loaded up, and picked a table, and ate while we watched the sand crabs walk around. IT was VERY GOOD, we enjoyed it!
took the tram back to pick up the kids, and then off to finish the rest of the TO DO LIST . ;)

7). pick up the kids
8). get them some lunch ( this had already been taken care of,..they ate w/ the club & lab)
9).get Hollys hair braided
10) play at the family beach

DH took Joe to the beach, and I took Holly to get her hair done. We walked right up, no wait at all, and the lady was very nice. I think it took us about
20-30 mins to get it all done and off we went to meet everyone else at the beach.

My mom and dad had finally made it to CC, they were headed out to serenity bay,..my sister and her friend were headed out on a banana boat ride.

FAMILY BEACH :beach:

WOW is it ever packed out over there! :crowded:
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F7/19/DF/iF719DF9C-BCB3-4601-90C3-DA838D2A1541.jpg

Let me back up and tell you about my son's first experience in the Ocean.
He would never get in the ocean prior to this day,..so he did not know what to expect. (DH didn't think to fill him in on one important detail,...DONT DRINK THE OCEAN WATER SON!)
Joe runs down, gets in the water, and the first thing he does is take a mouthful of water and SWALLOW:crazy2:
The next thing you know Joe has puked in the ocean, and all of his NON -digested lunch was floating around him and his dad! YUCK! :eek:
Joe tells me,..mommy I got sick don't drink the water! :sad2:

After we were all played out, we made our way back to the ship,...we took a few more pictures,
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/11/5E/77/i115E77D4-3CBB-4AC9-AD44-BB342F1B77E8.jpg

and then on to the room for a nap for the kids, and :laundy: for me.


Again no prob getting a washer or dryer. We waved and said our goodbyes from our window as we pulled out of port. :wave:
very nice day,...even without alot of sun. :lovestruc

Next : last chance for a picture, and our last dinner on the Magic :sad1:
and WOE,...did you see those waves????

[discruiselovers97]

Something about living things swimming by my feet creaps me out. :eek:
Can you blame anyone?? The fact that SB isn't inclosed just freaks me out! :scared1:

[Holly&Joesmommy]

you got it! I tried, I just can't do it. I was even on a float/tube being pulled around by DH, and after I got in water about 4.5 ft deep, I couldn't take it anymore. (I'm just a scardycat )

[Holly&Joesmommy]

We were all rested up from our big day at CC. it was time to get packing.

Now, this time, I tried a different approach,...I packed a little on Thurs (at sea) and then finished most of it BEFORE fridays dinner. MUCH BETTER :thumbsup2
I got this suggestion here on the dis, and it worked really well. I was not SUPER fond of starting a day early,..i.e. realizing that the magic was about to end, but it did help alot. Every other time I've waited until Fri evening, just before dinner, and then have to rush after dinner to finish ,and rush to get to the show. This time the new plan worked like a charm.

We were ready for dinner, and of course our LAST FAMILY PICTURE,.. everyone was :banana: about that!

On to dinner,... I am sorry but I am ALWAYS :sad1: on the last night.
This time I think it may have been extra sad b/c we enjoyed our servers so much.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/69/29/E0/i6929E095-3624-4DF1-901A-CB2226F4F70C.jpg
Even the Friday Night Menu is sad.

If you look closely, you can see Holly hugging Ana, ...so sweet :goodvibes
They are at the end of the table.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/B5/1C/85/iB51C854D-0840-482C-AB34-315AAFA5B5AD.jpg

My FIL got Holly a world map from AAA and on thelast night she took it everywhere with her, and had all of the CM's she came in contact with sign it. WHAT A TREASURE! She took it to school, and sunday school when we got home, and now were are having it framed for her room.

Again a great dinner, we tipped and hugged, and said our goodbyes.

Then it was off to set the luggage out.

We sat our luggage out, and hunted down Tabbah to thank him for a job well done :thumbsup2

Tabbah & my husbands parents Bob & Barbara
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/97/10/55/i97105590-E87D-40DE-B67B-AD6AA09E3EDB.jpg

Off we went to see the LAST SHOW " Remember the Magic" I LOVE THIS SHOW!

ok, I know, I say that about all of them, but really...ok, really I love them all. :teeth:

We got there a little early, chated with cm Doug and then it was time....TO : remember the magic :goodvibes

The show was great, super, fab,... :thumbsup2 I waved :wave2: to all of the characters,...and when it was over, I found myself :sad: no really,... I was crying.
I sat there and watched my family enjoy themselves so much, and I thought "we'll never have this very moment back",...and I just cried. :sad: DH was just :confused3 :sad2: . He doesn't understand.

I dried my eyes, and we went for ONE LAST stroll around the deck.

WOW, the waves were already pretty tough, and the Captain said it was going to get worse... :Pinkbounc I am one of the weird ones, I like rough seas. We walked to the front of deck 10 WOOO MAMA, DH had to hold on to me,...it was so WINDY! :tilt:

After enjoying the view we made our way down to club to pickup Joe and Holly and say goodbye to all of the cm's there,...then on to the lobby to the farewell party.
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/3B/4A/C7/i3B4AC79E-DE36-4B80-8C35-B5A582297345.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/2F/AD/80/i2FAD8071-9748-4EE0-B33D-0D755DF8206C.jpg
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/AE/C2/BA/iAEC2BA21-554F-4FDA-AB18-2C992AAA70D8.jpg

Time for our LAST nights sleep on these WONDERFUL pillows.
(it's amazing, the difference in the feel of the room when it is empty as you're arriving, and when it is empty when you're leaving,..) sigh.........
Ok I'm back now

After a couple hours of sleep, the Tylenol was not working,..."what is going on?" I asked DH....WOW this ship is really rockin!
Several times I thought that we may not get to port back at PC b/c of the rough seas...it was crazy!
We both rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, every few mins the hangers would slide down the closet, and then back again...augh! Try 'n to sleep here,..toss and turn some more.

Finally I get up and shove all of the hanger to one end,..(obviously I was not totally awake, as I should have TAKEN THEM OUT! and I didn't even think to look out the window at the water/waves. duh.) again with the hangers! augh..
The whole night I was worried Joe would fall off the top bunk. :worried:

We got our LAST wake up call from Mickey, and made our way up to topsiders.

We sat and enjoyed our last few mins on the ship...sigh again
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/A4/5B/2B/iA45B2B85-1BC7-421D-8EDD-A6F5331319CD.jpg
Chris & Lacey very sad to leave.
My dad says,.."hey did you guys take a look out your window last night?"
auuh no,..." You could see the waves they were nearly reaching our windows!" WHAT???? and I missed it,...I was up, but NO,...Couldn't think about looking! :sad2: I 'm guess'n that would have been an awesome sight!

,...and then it was off to pick up our carry-ons and get off so the next SUPER EXCITED group could enjoy the magic.

See ya real soon!
http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/F9/25/F4/iF925F481-B02C-463B-89C3-4C802A0128AC.jpg

[discruiselovers97]

The last day is ALWAYS the saddest! I loved the report!

[JDBlair]

Great report. I enjoyed it!!!

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Thanks guys for coming w/ me on my trip report journey,...it was so nice to "REMEMBER THE MAGIC" again and share it with you. :goodvibes

The only problem with giving a TR is that I am sad all over again,... :confused3 Guess I"ll have to find someone elses TR :surfweb: popcorn:: to make me feel better. :sunny:

Thanks again!
Kelly

[JDBlair]

Thanks guys for coming w/ me on my trip report journey,...it was so nice to "REMEMBER THE MAGIC" again and share it with you. :goodvibes

The only problem with giving a TR is that I am sad all over again,... :confused3 Guess I"ll have to find someone elses TR :surfweb: popcorn:: to make me feel better. :sunny:

Thanks again!
Kelly

I haven't yet been on the DCL to be sad about my TR ending. However, I do get sad when a good TR is over and then I just have to hope I can find another good one to get lost in! So, I know what you're saying!

[Disney owl]

great photos thanks for sharing

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Disney Owl,

Thanks and it was my pleasure.

[tjeagle]

Lovin' your report! I'm about halfway through and already dreading the end! :thumbsup2

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Thanks Jackie,... enjoy! :sunny: