The Incredibles' Disney Magic Cruise 11/4/06 [THE END, FINALLY!! posted 7/2] [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

lindaso

11-16-2006, 12:13 AM

Fri 11/3…our travel day, Part 1

I wake up bright and early. There’s so much to be done. First is get the kids ready for school. Yes, they’re going to school for an hour and a half. We are doing our part in the name of state funding. Actually, Christine has gotten a district letter warning of excessive absences in the past and she’s determined not to get another one (SAHM’s are funny that way).

It’s nice to only pack the lunchboxes with a morning snack and not have to worry about lunch. Get them to the bus stop, all the while Steph is singing “I’m going on vacation, I rock, oh yeah, I rock”. The other kids were not amused.

As soon as the bus pulls out, we load up the dog’s crate in the minivan and we’re off to the doggy sitter. Shenzi (named for the Whoopi Goldberg hyena in the Lion King – big mistake picking that name!!) is a 5 ½ month old Rhodesian Ridgeback. This is the first dog I’ve had since I was 9. I don’t know too much about dogs. Like when you’re going away for 9 days and your family can’t dogsit your dog, you need to make arrangements. Such arrangements include finding out that regular kennels won’t take a 5 month old puppy. They need all kinds of kennel shots…who ever heard of bordatella? Certainly not me. Anyway, my MIL’s co-worker’s daughter runs a doggy day care. Yes, people actually hire her to care for their dogs while they’re at work. MIL pulls in a favor and the daughter agrees to watch Shenzi at her house for the week. SCORE!!

We watch Shenzi play with dog sitter’s dogs. She seems very happy. We walk out and Shenzi gives a little cry. Dog sitter assures me she’ll be fine. I reply that I’ve dropped 3 kids at preschool for the first time, I’ve heard that cry before. I seem tough as nails but I get in the car and break down. Yup, just like the 1st day of preschool.

We get back home and quickly load our 7 bags into the car. It’s already time to pick up the kids. I get to the attendance office and there’s Christine with Kyle and Alyssa. She tried to get Tommy but Fort Knox Elementary school would not release him from his classroom until I got there. We round up the kids and we’re ready. As we’re pulling out of FKE, Keith asks if we have directions to Avistar? Of course I do, Keith, you are vacationing with obsessive-vacation planner, didn’t you know?

We arrive at Avistar and wait a short while for a shuttle. We now have 9 people, 6 suitcases, 2 rolling duffles, 2 garment bags, 3 backpacks and a princess suitcase. We get to JetBlue where the curbside check-in guys are falling over each other trying to get to us first. They tag our luggage with an MCO tag and we say a little prayer to the airline gods that they actually arrive there.

We go up to security where I’m told the 2 unopened water bottles in my backpack cannot come through the security line. However, I can purchase those same 2 unopened water bottles for $3 each as soon as I walk another 30 feet through the metal detectors. I chug as much water as possible and throw the rest away.

We wait on the security line behind a mom and toddler in a stroller. That’s when it hits me. This is our very first family vacation with no stroller!! How could I have missed the opportunity to celebrate such an occasion? So, I chose to celebrate it right there in line behind the lady with the toddler in the stroller. She was as amused as the kids at the bus stop.

We get through the line with no one beeping, get 18 shoes back on and proceed to our gate. We girls go in search of lunch. For $43, a family of 5 is fed at the airport. I do not purchase a water for myself out of principle. JetBlue allows us to preboard and we arrive at our seats. We reserved a whole row with 3 seats behind. Chuck had asked me how we’re sitting and I told him we’d figure it out on the plane. Kyle jumps in the window seat of the row behind with Tommy sitting next to him. Keith goes to sit next to the boys when Kevin lets out a howl “IWANNASITNEXTTOTOMMYAHHHHHIWANNASITNEXTTOTOMMY”. Keith jumps up like a tack’s in his butt and he lets Kevin sitnexttoTommy. I give Chuck the look that says, “see? Told you we’d figure it out.”

While waiting for boarding to end, the plane’s electricity kicks off…twice. We are now delayed b/c they want to look into why the electricity keeps going out. OK, yeah, could you check on that for us? About 20 minutes pass and we get the green light for takeoff. We level off in the air and a loud buzzing noise starts coming from the outside of the plane. Christine and I look at each other in complete panic. I utter a few “ohmygods” and she comments about how at least the whole family is together. I really don’t get that. I don’t think the rest of our family will be comforted by the fact we were all wiped out at the same time. Chuck gives me a patronizing pat on my arm and eventually the noise stops.

The girls busy themselves with homework while the boys alternate between playing their DS’s and watching Nickelodeon. I read a scrapbooking magazine and wait for Dr. Phil to come on at 3:00. It’s the one they’ve been advertising where the little girls says “they touched my pee pee”. Chuck, Christine and I all watch it and we’re all convinced the scumbag father is lying. After Dr. Phil I flip through the channels and find Little House on the Prairie on Hallmark channel. It’s the one where Nellie fakes paralysis after falling off the horse named Bunny. Gotta love JetBlue…when else do you get to watch old reruns of Little House?

We arrive into a cold, rainy, dreary Orlando. Hey, who ordered this weather? We make the obligatory bathroom stop, ride the monorail (which amuses the kids to no end) and run right into the Disney Store to buy Stephanie a new lanyard. [Trip report explanation: For those not part of the 11/4 cruise meet thread, we lost Stephanie’s lanyard a few months ago. I didn’t make a big deal over it. I wasn’t even planning to pin trade b/c of this fact. Well, Steph had other ideas just days before the cruise. Those other ideas included a completely inconsolable 9 year old hysterically sobbing over the loss of her pins (even though they had been lost for months, go figure). More to come on this topic in future installments. Back to our regularly scheduled trip report].

By the time we get down to the luggage carousel, our flight’s luggage is already making its way around the belt. This sends Chuck into panic mode. You can’t tell this mode just by looking at him. I know this mode because I’ve been married to him for 11 years. The New Yorker in him trusts no one. Surely someone out there will steal our suitcase full of underwear b/c we’re not at the carousel the second the buzzer rings. He fights through the crowd and positions himself just in time to start rescuing our bags from the circle of crime. He shoots me a look and I smile pleasantly.

The two guys gather our bags. Chuck grabs a porter but Keith just hooks his suitcases together and throws the garment bag over his shoulder…showoff!! We head off to Budget to get the cars. Yes, that would be the FULL-SIZE car I reserved. Now, let’s review…2 adults, 3 children, 3 49 lb. Suitcases, a 47 lb. Rolling duffle, a 42 lb. garment bag, the kids rolling suitcase and my LL Bean backpack. Yeah, OK.

Next up: Fri. 11/3 Part 2 – you said a full-size car? Whose garment bag is this? And the fight, every family vacation needs a good fight.

Minniespal

11-16-2006, 08:32 AM

Excellent ~ Looking forward to reading more :)

jsfein

11-16-2006, 08:45 AM

Great entry ... let's hear about the fight.

mom x4,grandma x4

11-16-2006, 09:18 AM

Great report so far, keep it coming.

mom x4,grandma x4

LITTLEKID58

11-16-2006, 09:48 AM

Cannot wait for the rest.....

:cool1: :cool1:

pklein09

11-16-2006, 12:01 PM

popcorn::

We managed to avoid any fights, but the kids really tested me......

--Michelle

princessdaisy

11-16-2006, 01:36 PM

Great report :thumbsup2 can't wait to hear more!!

lindaso

11-16-2006, 11:47 PM

Fri 11/3…our travel day, Part 2

We follow the porter over to Budget. He is walking extremely fast. We get to the little kiosk for the special people who filled out the special form for the special club. I have my card in the passporter and ask Christine if she has her fastbreak card. She says “what fastbreak card?” “Didn’t you sign up for the fastbreak card?” She says yes but it’s not called that and she doesn’t have a card. “Fastbreak, fastpass, fastclub, whatever it’s called…you told me you signed up for it” as I’m thinking of the long line of weary travelers we just left in the dust back at the terminal.

She gets out her passporter and pulls out numerous pieces of paper. Peeking over her head we both see the number right where it says “fastbreak.” Aha…I had the right name all along and she is officially a member of the special club which means no line for us. Well, except for the 4 people ahead of us at the special kiosk (making Mr. Porterman very edgy). The guys do the paperwork for the cars as we both made the reservations in their names. I don’t drive in Florida if I can avoid it. I’m a speeding ticket magnet in the sunshine state.

Both families head toward our cars which are parked a few rows from each other. The kids pile in (with Tommy in the middle so we don’t have to hear Kevin’s screech again). Chuck and I work on getting the luggage in the trunk. We manage to fit 2 suitcases, the rolling duffle, the garment bag and the princess suitcase in the trunk of the Ford Taurus…not bad. I wedge the backpack on the floor in front of Kevin. So we’re left standing and staring at a rather large 49 lb. suitcase. There’s only one thing left to do. I give my husband a determined look to assure him that I can do it.

I set the seat all the way back and Chuck lifts the 49 lb. suitcase on top of me in the front seat. I manage to wedge a corner of it in between my legs so the weight is not resting on my lap. I hold the top of it away from my face and settle in for the 45 minute ride. I can see nothing but suitcase unless I look out the side window. Then the giggles start. I couldn’t stop them. This had to be the most ridiculous sight and I could not stop laughing. Then the kids ask from the back seat “what’s so funny?” That set me off even more.

We set out of our parking spot and Chuck drives over to the row he thinks the “Boots” are. [Trip report explanation: Our traveling buddies will now be referred to as the Boots family. It’s not their real name…it is the mispronounced name they became upon embarkation.] Their car is not there. They must have left to come drive to us. We drive around the corner looking for a moving Ford Taurus that could be them. Picture ring-around-the-rosie with cars. Chuck tires of this pretty quickly and parks at the end of the row to wait. I look out the back and see them turning out of another row but going the opposite way. I yell for him to honk but they don’t hear us.

Chuck drives over to the exit so we can see if they drive out of the parking lot. I’m pretty sure they won’t leave considering I had the mapquest directions to the hotel. While we’re sitting there we notice a Taurus pulling over 2 rows away. It’s Keith! He’s talking on his cell phone and getting out to look in the trunk. Chuck runs over to see what’s going on (I would have done it but I was stuck under something heavy). Turns out Keith took someone else’s garment bag off the carousel and that someone else has their bag. Same exact bag, same exact lime green luggage tag attached to the same exact spot on the bag. Keith runs back to the terminal for the exchange and we wait in the garage. We get the story when he returns close to 30 minutes later: The lady noticed that it wasn’t her bag. JetBlue tells her to fill out a claim form. As a self-proclaimed pushy New Yorker, she tells them to call the number on the bag. They get Christine’s brother on the phone who just got to their house to feed the dogs. He gives them Keith’s cell phone # and they track him down while we’re playing ring-around-the-rosie in the garage. You just can’t make this stuff up.

We all load back into our full-size cars, re-situate the 49 lb. suitcase on my lap and we’re finally off to the Residence Inn. The drive is uneventful, the kids don’t fight in the car (miracles can happen) but they do complain that they’re hungry. We arrive out front of the Residence and Keith starts unloading his luggage. Chuck and I have one of those silent conversations b/c we usually leave everyone and everything in the car when checking in to a hotel. We don’t usually move anything until we get our room #. It’s a good system but now we’re traveling with another family so…I suggest he unload the bags. Problem #1.

Stephanie and I walk in to the Residence and we’re not 2 feet into the hotel when I see a familiar face I know from an emailed picture. I smile at this young girl and say, “I know you”. She looks at me with that leery stranger face and I say “you’re Cheyenne, right? This is Stephanie.” The leery stranger face relaxes into a big smile. Another girl runs up and it’s Rebecca. I take 2 more steps and meet Teresa, Ken, Cathe and Michael who look all nice and comfy in the lobby chairs. Well, they certainly were easy to find!! We start talking but then I remember I’m here to check in to a hotel. I turn to do that and the rest of my crew walk in.

We get all checked in and the guys ask the front desk lady where’s a good place to eat. She whips out a map and recommends a restaurant. I’m thinking no way but I don’t say anything at that moment. Problem #2.

We tear the girls away from their impromptu meeting to go see the rooms. We have rooms 208 and 209 but unfortunately they’re not really next to each other. This means that 5 kids are running down the hall to each other’s rooms, pounding on the doors and slamming them over and over again. They were literally bouncing off the walls. Problem #3.

We need to get them food, calm them down and get them to bed all within the next hour. Chuck is off to move the car into a parking spot so I call Christine to see what she wants to do for food. We both agree that there’s no way these kids can sit in a restaurant after sitting the entire day. It will have to be fast food. Problem #4.

Chuck comes back and heads straight to the bathroom. The kids are still wild and it needs to stop. I tell him through the bathroom door that I’m going to get food. He can’t hear me with the fan on. I open the door a bit to speak to him and he slams it shut. [He will deny this small detail but hey, it’s my trip report]. Problem #5.

I look in the little folder and only see one room card. I need to go get another one at the front desk. I grab Christine and the girls follow us cause they want to see Chey and Rebecca in the lobby. We get extra cards made up, chat a bit more with the nice DIS folks but I have to cut it short again b/c I need to get the car keys and some food. Stephanie begs to stay in the lobby while I run back to the room and I have one of those indecisive mommy moments. Would I normally let my 9 year old stay in a hotel lobby without me? No. Is she with people I know? Well...sort of, kind of, not really since I really only know these people on the internet. The DIS moms clearly see my indecision and assure me she’ll be OK. It’s a further stretch for Christine…she doesn’t even have an internet relationship but she lets Alyssa stay too.

I get back to the room and Chuck wants to know what’s going on. I’m still miffed over the door slamming thing which did or did not happen so I tell him I’m going to Wendy’s to get food. He wants to know when we decided that and I tell him I decided that. The kids are bouncing off the walls and he’s crazy if he thinks they can sit in a restaurant. He says something like how do I even know where to go to get food. Problem # last straw.

Christine and I go back down to the lobby, now I’m pissed off something fierce. Again we see the nice DIS folks and I try to hide my pissed offedness. The girls still want to stay but there’s no way we’re letting them stay in the lobby while we leave the premises so we force them to come with us, under extreme protests. We drive through Wendy’s and we all know what always happens at the drive thru. You always get f@*#*ed at the drive thru.

We get back to the Residence for our delicious fast food meal at 8:45 at night. We unload the food and of course they forgot fries. Whose fries? Chuck’s fries. Figures. I quickly rearrange kids meals and divvy out fries to everyone. The boys finish and start throwing the kids meal Snoopys up against the ceiling. The girls join in and it’s absolute bedlam in the room with Snoopy flying every which way. I haven’t even looked at Chuck since I came back and you can cut the tension with a knife.

The meal is over, the Boots go back to their room and we’re left alone. We “discuss” the night’s events and get our points across. We work it out but I’m still a tiny bit pissed off. We get the kids in PJ’s and ready for bed. We need to take the motion sickness medication before bed...he the patch and me the Bonine. He looks at me with puppy dog eyes and holds out the prescription bottle. It makes me laugh enough to agree to figure out how to get this thing behind his ear!

We have to turn the lights out so the kids will calm down and go to sleep. Chuck falls asleep first and I’m left sitting in the dark. I can’t fall asleep, the Wendy’s is sitting in my stomach and I’m thinking about what needs to happen tomorrow to get ready for the port. Kevin starts coughing at 2:30 am. He has asthma that sometimes flares up at night when he’s laying down. We were so anxious to get the kids to bed that we skipped his nebulizer treatment. The coughing wakes Chuck up and we listen to the kid cough off and on for 20 minutes when I make the call to nebulize him. This never goes well in the middle of the night as he spends the first 10 minutes crying b/c he has to sit up. We get him calmed down and into a normal breathing pattern to go back to sleep.

Chuck and I lay there in the dark and start to talk again. The mood between us lightens and he tells me how much he’s looking forward to the cruise. Yeah, right!! But it was an attempt and I see the humor in it all. I finally fall asleep somewhere around 3:45. I jump out of bed 2 ½ hours later to get ready for the Disney Magic! The day is finally here!

Babs417

11-17-2006, 12:16 AM

Oh my this is way to good I just love reading your report. Can we all relate to this. :thumbsup2 :sunny: ;) :goodvibes :)

love2travel

11-17-2006, 07:37 AM

All this and you looked relatively calm when we saw you in the lobby!!! :thumbsup2 I'm enjoying this so much!

Teresa

martinacris

11-17-2006, 08:43 AM

Linda....I just want to tell you that your story is being read here in ITALY. I used to work on board cruise ships before getting married and moving to Italy...I'm planning a Disneyland Paris trip this Dec. but since ship life is in my bblood...I'm always reading the Disney Cruise board. Maybe someday I'll be able to take my DDs.... Congratulations for such a wonderful reposrt...I can't wait to keep reading !!

Ciao from ITALIA !!

LITTLEKID58

11-17-2006, 09:04 AM

OH my... :rotfl2: what a great report.

lindaso

11-17-2006, 01:51 PM

Thanks everyone for hanging with me so far. I love writing trip reports (can you tell?), almost as much as the vacation itself. I'm hoping to get us on the ship by the end of the weekend :thumbsup2 . I should be done by Christmas! :santa:

Stinasmom

11-18-2006, 05:45 PM

I am enjoying your frank, honest report. All us DIS families can relate to every trial you've endured so far, and are looking forward to your report on the rewards (the cruise!). :boat:
Traveling is stressful even when you are on your way to the Happiest Ship On Earth! :goodvibes

Holly&Joesmommy

11-18-2006, 08:40 PM

great report! popcorn::
I too have had the bathroom door slammed/or not slammed on me.... :confused3
I can soooooooo relate, thanks for sharing, can't wait to read more.

lindaso

11-19-2006, 09:25 PM

Sat. 11/4…The Terminal

We all get up the next morning very excited about what’s to come. Even Chuck seems happy as he puts on his matching navy blue Disney t-shirt. We get the Boots and go down to breakfast about 8:00 or so. We get to the lobby and the place is packed. The breakfast line is long and all inside tables are taken.

We find 2 tables outside and go in shifts to get food. I grab 3 plates and wait for the buffet gridlock to subside. We come to realize that the waffle maker is in the middle of the line causing the gridlock. I pause to consider buffet line etiquette and decide that since I’m not interested in waffles, I can cut directly to the eggs where no one is standing. I load up the 3 plates with eggs and sausage and go back to the table. Kevin immediately whines that he won’t eat any of that. I stuff some eggs in my mouth and head back up to the line that is even longer this time.

I see Christine over at a cereal table that I hadn’t noticed before. I head over to get Kevin some cereal and fruit. I place a bowl underneath the Fruit Loops machine and pull the handle. Yikes, the handle comes right off into my hand! Christine shrieks, “you broke it, what’d you do?” I try to hush her before people notice and try to shove the handle back in now realizing I was supposed to turn it and not pull it. We start to giggle while the Fruit Loops are spilling all over the table but I maintain enough composure to pop the thing back in, get my Fruit Loops and get the heck out of there.

We finish breakfast while the kids run around the basketball court. Teresa, Ken and Rebecca come join us in their matching orange t-shirts. Teresa is carrying Rebecca’s American Girl Doll and getting stares from every girl under the age of 13. We chat a while and Chuck and Keith leave to go to the store. Chuck needs a book to read and we want to find some beach toys for the kids. It is soon time to go back to the rooms and get ready for the port.

I walk into the Boots’ room and see the tiny little bag Christine is carrying on board. I feel immense bag envy as I was planning to bring the big rolling duffle with us. I suddenly decide I can pack everything into my backpack and go back to get that done. I take out the DCL-issued green luggage tags and screw the first one up by not paying attention to the section that says, “peel here only”. Of course I peeled the whole darn thing! I manage to correctly tag all our bags and head back to Christine to brag about my progress. She is sitting filling out the forms for the Bahamas. I mention that I didn’t fill them out b/c we’re not going to the Bahamas. She looks up and enlightens me that Castaway Cay is in the Bahamas. “Oh.”

Back to the room to fill out 5 forms for the Bahamas. The guys come back with 5 shiny red beach buckets…score! They start loading our freshly tagged bags into the car. It’s almost time to go!!

We check out and get everyone in the car at about 10:00. We drive over the bridge and see the Magic. Oh my God, there it is!! I’ve read so many descriptions about how exciting it is to see the ship from the car and let me tell you…it’s an awesome sight! The kids spot Goofy cleaning the ship, which they absolutely love. We wait in line to turn into the parking lot and the efficient Disney employee tells us exactly which umbrella to drive to. The umbrella lady finds our name on the list and gives us directions to drive up to the curb. We get the luggage unloaded and a porter takes it from us. I don’t say the same luggage prayer as the airport b/c I have complete faith in Disney.

The guys get back in to return the cars to Budget and the rest of us enter the terminal. We go through security without beeping and head up the escalator and are handed a boarding card #4.

We see the 2 check-in lines that say “1st time cruisers” and “Castaway Cay members” and we part company. The kids take off and I start to yell for them but Christine yells from her privileged line that she can see them.

I settle in to wait and in front of me I see a little girl with a Mickey paint chip pinned to her shirt. I laugh to myself…it’s not hard to find DIS people at all. I ask her if her name is Alison and I meet another one of Stephanie’s email pals. I call Stephanie over, introduce them and the girls go off to join the other DIS “DD’s”. Nancy and I chat while the line moves quickly. I get called over for check-in and begin the process. Our reservation is split in 2 for the 2 rooms so the CM does everything twice. She looks at her computer and frowns, then looks up and asks if I’ve cruised with them before.

I hesitate and consider lying for a brief moment. I know from checking in online that our ressies are linked to the Boots and the system considers us return cruisers. But I’m standing in the line for 1st time cruisers and it’s apparent I have no idea what I’m doing so I say “no, the system just thinks we’ve cruised before.” She tells me she’ll have to take the Castaway Cay Club off our KTTW cards. Officially banished with the commoners…bummer!

Steph comes over and asks for my camera to take pictures of the Magic model. What I didn’t realize at the time was the model actually looks like a doll house on the opposite side. All those terminal pictures on the DIS and I never saw one of the doll house side. That’s the side Steph chose to take pictures of (and if I can figure out how to get pics in a trip report, I’ll show you!).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB040004.jpg

We finish checking in for the 2nd room and I get our cards. The CM informs me to go to the line by the snack bar to check the kids in for the club. Christine and I both finish checking in at the same time and she comes running over saying “look at this, we all got lanyards…with pins!” I shake my head regretting that I didn’t lie…they were NICE!!

The guys arrive just then with perfect timing. They get boarding card #7 and Chuck wonders if he can sell it to someone with a higher number. (We wind up giving it to an older couple holding #9.) We gather the kids and head over to the kids club line. This line takes longer than the check-in line or maybe it just seems that way with Kevin saying over and over “I’m not going in the kids’ club.”

It’s our turn next and the CM looks up our ressie and asks for Stephanie first. She puts the wristband on her and I’m surprised at how big and bulky it is. She tells Steph that with that wristband she’s entitled to the buffet with the free ice cream. Tommy is next and I see the “not happy” look coming over Kevin’s face. Kyle comes over and I start in with how cool the “spy bracelets” are. Tommy & Kyle are all over that and immediately start talking into them and using them to shoot laser beams. Perfect. Now it’s Kevin’s turn.

The CM asks me about his milk sensitivity. I forgot I wrote that on his reservation. I tell her milk products can make his asthma flare up. She tells me to discuss it with the counselors if he will be eating meals with the kids club. Yeah, fat chance.

I then take a deep breath and say happily to Kevin “now it's your turn for a cool spy bracelet.” Kevin says “No”. I say “aw, come on, don’t you wanna be a spy too?” Kevin says “NO” a bit louder. The CM pipes in and tells him he won’t be able to go to the buffet with the free ice cream. Uh-oh, not good, abort abort…did we not just discuss the milk thing 5 seconds ago? “I CAN’T HAB ISHE PEAM!” he tells her rather emphatically. [In addition to the milk/asthma thing, Kevin has a slight speech problem]. The CM thankfully doesn’t understand a word he says and suggests putting the bracelet on his ankle. He refuses that too so she says to just talk to the counselors on board to work something out. [Here's a picture of Kevin from the cruise that sums him up perfectly]:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB080154.jpg

While this is all going on, Steph is over with Christine getting a new bracelet b/c hers is already too tight after 3 minutes. I think we now have everybody checked in and properly tagged…well, except for Kevin of course.

Chuck leans over and says “Oh there’s Jason on line”. “Huh?…Who?” I answer. “You know, Jason from the DIS Boards. I met him on the shuttle. Come on, I’ll introduce you.” I stare at him. “You met Jason?…Huh?…on the what?”

So the same person who has been making fun of me for talking to people online is now going to introduce ME to a DIS’er? I’m still shaking my head as we walk over to meet Jason who is on line waiting to ID his kids. He offers me trading pins for Stephanie and I thank him and tell him I’ll find him if we need them.

This reminds me that the last thing I need to do is call Lisa’s (disneylover5’s) cell phone. She responded to my DIS plea for help after Stephanie’s pin breakdown and offered me trader pins. I place the call to our very own Mickey fairy and she waves to me from the check-in line. Steph and I go over and Lisa gives us a Ziploc filled with pins…WOW!! Steph is thrilled to death and is ready to trade!! Thank you Mickey Fairy!!

The girls go back to hang out with their new friends. Alyssa is a little miffed to find out that kids 10 and older don’t need to wear bracelets. She asks Christine to move her up but Christine reminds her she just turned 9 3 months ago. Steph doesn’t seem bothered by it thankfully.

We wait around the terminal listening to Kevin complain that he’s hungry. We watch people get in line to see Mickey. We ask the boys if they’re interested and they all say no. The beauty of many trips to WDW!! We listen to Kevin complain he’s hungry a few more times. When is boarding?

After hearing how he wants chicken fingers about 20 more times, they finally announce boarding for #’s 1 & 2. Before we know it they call #’s 3 & 4 and we’re off. We pick a line and it moves quickly. Everyone is smiling, everyone is excited…it’s time to start our cruise!!

Next up...our 1st day on board, life preserver hell, come sail away, tossing cookies

Stinasmom

11-19-2006, 10:25 PM

Thanks for the latest installment ... this is fun! I love hearing the details, things I haven't read elsewhere, like the model of the ship being open like a dollhouse on the other side. And it is interesting to know that 10 & over don't have to wear the kids club bracelets.
Been there done that with those silly waffle makers at hotels! Why bother when the waffles won't come out with ears! :earsboy:

looking forward to more!

pklein09

11-20-2006, 06:26 AM

I'm so bummed!!! I only looked at ONE side of the model ship ....the other side looks soooo cool!!! Thanks for the pic!

plutospup

11-20-2006, 08:11 AM

I love your TR! The story about the luggage sounds familiar. Nothing like driving with a car FULL of suitcases, etc. Can't wait for the next installment!

curlybop

11-20-2006, 11:55 AM

What a great report so far. I am really enjoying every minute of it. :thumbsup2

discruiselovers97

11-20-2006, 12:38 PM

I am loving it! Keep it coming!

LITTLEKID58

11-20-2006, 02:29 PM

Great TR report.... cannot wait for the rest.

ldeninge

11-20-2006, 10:13 PM

Pre-trip

The kids want to have a sleepover? You’ll be spending 7 nights sleeping over on the cruise.
Shopping at Target? Hey, look at these cool Pirate t-shirts for the cruise.
Arguing with Keith at Little League? I’m spending 7 days with him on the cruise.
We have a chance to get a puppy over the summer? She’ll be 5 months when we cruise.
The boys have the same 1st grade teacher? Now we have to tell her they’re both missing school for the cruise.

It was like being pregnant and considering life with the new baby. The guys definitely didn’t get it.
:lmao:
That's how I feel planning our cruise right now - everywhere I go, everything I do it's factored in! I'm only going to be gone for a week, but it's a major focus to get my life IN ORDER! :rolleyes:

Keep up the great report!

lindaso

11-21-2006, 10:50 PM

Sat. 11/4...we're on board, come sail away

We go through our first card scan and pick a line for pictures…our first of many Shutters pictures. I’m determined to get a decent shot to use for my Christmas cards. I will not leave this ship without a good Christmas card picture!!

We take one of the 5 of us and then one with just the kids. Notice the look of fear on Chuck's face:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/embarkation2.jpg

The Boots went before us and waited before they boarded the ship. Keith whispers their name to the CM and she botches it. They botch our name too but we’re laughing too hard at them to notice.

The first order of business is to get the Boots a Palo brunch. I got mine but Christine forgot to book hers before the online ones were taken. We stand around for a second and I say I think we have to go to Rockin Bar D. She shakes her head and says she made the ressie right at Palo 2 years ago. I tell her I don’t think that’s the policy anymore and she counters with “OK, so where is Rockin Bar D?” As I’m standing there thinking “uuuummmm”, I see a lightning streak of orange go by. I focus my eyes and see Teresa with a fierce look of determination on her face. I yell out “Palo?” but she's IN THE ZONE and can’t hear me. So in pure Amazing Race fashion, I point and yell “FOLLOW HER!”

The streak of orange leads us right into Rockin Bar D, which was really just around the corner. Christine goes in and gets her ressie while the rest of us wait outside and sit in the big portholes. Kevin is asking for chicken fingers a bit louder now that he’s actually on the ship. I break out my camera and try to take one of those shadowed porthole pictures that I see on the DIS boards. Unfortunately we don’t have Mickey ears and I didn’t exactly get myself centered so it’s not very good. (We never did get back to take another one).

Christine rejoins us, successful in her quest for Palo and we proceed up the elevators to deck 9. The kids fight over who will press the buttons and who will stand next to the glass in the elevator (a theme that replayed itself over and over and over again for the next 7 days). We arrive at Deck 9 and walk towards Topsiders. We see the Goofy and Mickey pools on the way. I can’t believe we’re actually here!!

We go through the buffet line at Topsiders and I find plenty of things to fill my plate but the tray I’m holding for Kevin has just one roll. Uh-oh...no chicken fingers at the buffet. We follow the Boots to a table outside and I whisper to Chuck that somewhere out by the pool is a place that has chicken fingers. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s out there! He leaves to go find the one and only thing that will make the noise stop.

It’s very windy up here and I find myself eating my own hair. Yuck! I have to hold my hair with every bite, wishing I had thrown a scrunchy in my pocket. Chuck arrives with 2 orders of chicken fingers and the noise does indeed stop. Christine jumps up to take pictures of everyone and this is what we have:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB040011.jpg

I see someone walk by with a plate full of shrimp and I remember reading about that…but I didn’t see it on the buffet. I go in search of shrimp and eventually find it to the left side of the buffet. It’s not in the center of the two lines but it is off to the left after the line. I load up a plate, save a spot for cocktail sauce and I’m good to go. Back to the table to get to work peeling them, seeing the shells through the strands of my own thick hair. Boy it’s windy up here!!

We finish our lunch with the kids having chocolate cake for dessert. I skip dessert and keep eating shrimp! We eventually finish and make our way to the Mickey Pool and find chaises. Tommy looks up at the slide and says “Wow, that’s a big slide!” It doesn’t take him long to get the courage to try and he absolutely loves it. Here he is getting off the slide. And no, he's not the naked kid at the Mickey Pool you may have read about...he just needs to adjust his suit a bit!! You can also see the bulky kid's club wristband here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB040012.jpg

Kevin won’t go near the slide but he enjoys swimming in the pool. Nancy comes over and we chat while the kids are in the pool. Kevin wants me to stay on the side and watch him and it’s a good thing because a big kid comes over and dunks him right under the water! I’m stunned. It’s not an accident…the kid put his two hands on Kevin’s shoulder, jumped up and pushed him under. Kevin doesn’t scream but comes up a bit stunned. I’m left there yelling “Excuse me, excuse me…can you NOT do that to him?” The kid eventually hears me and leaves him alone.

Chuck and I take turns watching the kids in the pool and sitting on the chaise. It’s getting more and more crowded as the minutes pass. Christine and Keith go check out the bar at the adult pool. They return and take a turn watching the kids so we can go check it out.

Chuck and I leave the Mickey pool area, which is crowded and full of screaming kids. We walk past the Goofy pool, which is crowded and full of screaming kids. We walk over the threshold into the adult pool area and hear…nothing. Aahhh, that’s what I’m talking about!! We go up to the bar and order 2 pina coladas. The lady bartender mixes it and just before she hands it to us, the man bartender comes over and adds another shot of rum right on the top. That’s what I’m talking about!! We give them our KTTW card, Chuck comes up with one of our room #’s, we sign our first charge and walk s-l-o-w-l-y back to the kids at the Mickey Pool.

Christine and Keith leave to go check out the room. We sit and enjoy our drinks. I look at my watch and see that it’s 3:10. I ask the kids if they want to go to the Goofy pool and I get a unanimous “Nahh.” So much for the DIS meet. We stay until about 3:30 and gather the kids to go back to the room, which we haven’t even seen yet!

We make our way down the aft elevators (or lifts for those on cruise-speak) and our rooms are only 2 doors away from the elevators. There is a horrible sewage smell out in the hallway and I pray that it goes away (which it does once we set sail). We enter room 2624 and look around. It seems pretty small so we open up room 2622. The kids run between the 2 rooms and Kevin shuts the door behind him. Uh-oh…did we just lock ourselves out? I’m having flashbacks of last year’s Girl Scout overnight where not only did we lock ourselves out but an engineer had to come break through the deadbolt. No problems this time…Chuck has Stephanie’s KTTW card in his pocket. We put Tommy’s pool shoes in between the doors to keep them from slamming shut. The note inside says Elsa is our stateroom hostess so I plan to ask Elsa for doorstops as soon as we meet her.

We have one bag so far so I try to unpack as much as I can. We put our door signs out and they look cute. I have to admit that the first time I go into the bathroom and close the door it feels like I’m in an airplane bathroom. (Needless to say, the room (and bathroom) felt bigger as the week went on. The only problem we had was the foot of the bed where we kept running into each other, causing one person to back up. We needed a traffic light!)

It’s soon time to get ready for the drill. We find the life preservers in the closet and wonder how many pounds 32 kgs are. We have no idea if Stephanie is over or under 32 kgs. She tries on both and is more comfortable in the adult one. As expected, Kevin has a fit when we try to put the life preserver on him. We tell him he has to wear it and we listen to him cry all the way to Animator’s Palate.

Once seated, he eventually stops crying. Now I realize that I don’t have my camera for the obligatory life jacket picture. I look around for Christine who goes nowhere without her camera but I don’t see them. The CM calls our room # and we raise our hands. She then goes on to read a page full of instructions that we can’t hear. We are dismissed and I rip the jacket off of Kevin as fast as I can.

Back down to the room where we meet the Boots who yell at us for missing the drill. Huh? Turns out we were not at the same muster station even though our rooms are right next to each other. They are happy to find out we are not in trouble for missing the drill.

The luggage is coming fast and furious now with a bang on the door every few seconds. There’s no time to unpack b/c now it’s time for the sail-away party. Back up to deck 9 we go. It’s pretty crowded but we find a spot next to the platform. The music is blasting and everybody’s dancing…except for Kevin. He’s crying with his fingers in his ears. We try to get him dancing but he won’t let go of those ears.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB040035.jpg

We do the Hey Baby oooh aaaah, the cha cha slide, the upside down bouncing off the ceiling and have loads of fun…except for Kevin. We also play our first game of Hidden Friends. It’s like Hidden Mickey but it involves trying to find Cheyenne and Rebecca instead of mouse ears. Chuck thinks he saw them on the big screen so Stephanie and Alyssa try to wiggle their way through the crowd to reach them. They don’t get very far and give up and come back.

Alyssa gets tired of dancing and stands there with her arms folded. A CM sneaks up behind her, mimicking her folded arms and frown and she doesn’t see him for the longest time. She stands there long enough for me to get a picture of it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB040030.jpg

I ask my crew if they want to go up to deck 10 and I get another unanimous “nahh”. So I don’t get to see the waving or us moving through the channel. But we are having fun right on deck 9. The ship is moving and we’re on our way. We’re already making fun of Chuck asking him if he’s going to throw up. It’s been 5 whole minutes!

It didn’t take much longer...

Holly&Joesmommy

11-22-2006, 09:44 AM

Your TR is going great! I like how you write,...very detailed, :thumbsup2

I am a sucker for detail. We just came back from the Eastern 11/4/06,.. I am still writing my TR.

I noticed Alyssas T-shirt the one in the picture of her & CM Doug ( who is great by the way we made friends w/ him on our western in 04, and got to see him again in 06 nice guy),.. my 9yr DD has the same shirt ...and, I wanted the matching t-shirts you guys have inyour embarktion picture,..but they did not have any Mens sizes left when I found them. :sad2: I TOO insisted on the CHRISTMAS picture....and we worked on it every night! :goodvibes
I like the way you think,.. must be why I am enjoying your TR.
Keep it coming, can't wait for more.

lindaso

11-22-2006, 09:58 PM

Sat. Nov. 4th cont… what kind of water? Tossing of the cookies.

We make our way back to the room after the sail-away party. The ship is already rocking pretty good but I figure we just have to get used to it. Back at the room, I have time to unpack for all of 15 minutes before it’s time to get ready for dinner. When exactly do you unpack on this cruise? I haven’t had a free moment all day!!

We’re still missing one bag and I’m wondering if it’s back on the curb at Port Canaveral. Maybe I should have said that luggage prayer after all. Luckily, I listened to the advice on the boards and packed something for everyone in each suitcase. Well, Chuck’s stuff is all in one suitcase but that made it to the room.

We all change for dinner and make it out into the hallway where we wait for Christine to finish up. Our last suitcase is delivered while we’re standing there. We have a 5:45 dinner at Parrot Cay and we make it there closer to 6:00. We give them our tickets and they lead us to table 49. The kids grab seats at one end with Kevin sitting next to Tommy of course. But he winds up at the other end of the table from me and I don’t have the energy to make everybody move. The restaurant is rocking back and forth feeding my now-growing migraine. I keep stealing glances at my husband who is growing sweatier by the minute.

We sit down and meet our server for the week…Glenn from the Philippines. He welcomes us and explains how the meals will work but between his strong accent and the loud restaurant, none of us could understand him very well. So we all do that smile and nod thing and pretend to understand him. He introduces us to his assistant, Melroy from India. Melroy introduces us to the wine package, which we decline. None of us are wine drinkers. We struggle to hear him too…either they’re talking too low or it’s just a noisy restaurant. Then Melroy offers an Evian package, explaining the whole thing and ending with “or you can just have ship water.” Keith tries to be funny and says “what kind of water? Sh*t water?”

We start laughing and Melroy just stares at him. Uh-oh, I guess that wasn’t funny? Glenn chimes in and asks if anyone has any food allergies and Christine reminds me that my son has dietary restrictions. Glenn goes and gets Ronald our head server. I try to explain to Ronald that Kevin has a sensitivity to milk, it’s not an allergy but that we monitor it day by day. If we find he’s coughing a lot, he won’t be having any Mickey Bars. Ronald starts listing what recipes have milk and I stop him, saying that the child will eat chicken fingers at every meal for the next 7 days. He frowns and says there’s milk in the batter. I tell him I’m sure he’ll be OK with that as I’m thinking that if they refuse to serve him chicken fingers, the boy will starve.

We order our meal and I tell Glenn I want “ship” water. We all get another good laugh over that but Glenn doesn’t smile. They definitely don’t like the water joke! I order the Spice Island Chicken wings and the Caribbean Roast Chicken. We make small talk while we watch the restaurant sway…back and forth and back and forth. Food…that’s it, once our food comes, we’ll feel better (I hope!).

The appetizers come and the chicken wings are really good. I polish them off and consider asking for more but it’s just the first night so I need to pace myself. The kids’ food comes and I regret not having Kevin next to me cause Chuck and I have to jump up every two minutes to cut his chicken and pour more ketchup. The kids finish quickly and our main course hasn’t arrived yet. We encourage them to be quiet by coloring their menus. Kevin gets cranky and eventually comes over and whispers that he has to pee. I suggest that Chuck take him. I’m thinking it might help get his mind off the fact that the restaurant is swaying. Ohhhh, big mistake.

Our main course arrives while they’re in the bathroom. I take 2 bites of my chicken before they arrive back. They’re 2 very good bites and they wind up being my only 2 bites. I know as soon as I see him. I can tell by the bloodshot look in his eyes. Apparently the tiny closed-off smelly bathroom stall rocking back and forth is way worse than a big dining room rocking back and forth. Who knew?

He takes a big drink and tries to eat. Meanwhile Kevin gets a whiff of something and starts crying that he’s going to throw up. He starts to gag, I hold a napkin under him and run him out of the restaurant. I take him into the bathroom but he doesn’t need to toss anything. I guess he just needed to try out what he learned on his previous bathroom break.

We go back and Chuck has finished his meal true to his pre-cruise word. He told me no matter how many times he throws up, he’s getting his money’s worth in food. Kevin will only sit on my lap now and I don’t feel like having any more chicken. Time for dessert! The only thing that speaks to me on the menu is the ice cream sundae. Another big mistake. Kevin, who is sitting on my lap, now has ice cream sitting right in front of him. He begs me for some, my headache is getting worse and I just want to get out of there. Ronald sees the commotion and offers to bring rice ice cream. OK, let’s try that.

Everyone is done with their dessert and the rice ice cream is taking a long time. We all really want to leave, we’ve been in this restaurant forever. Glenn finally comes with the rice ice cream…plain ice cream in a regular bowl with no chocolate sauce. Of course that’s not what Kevin had in mind and lets everyone know. I’ve now had enough of whiny 4 year old whose 50 pounds have been on my lap for 25 minutes (maybe that’s why the suitcase in the car didn’t bother me much?). But Chuck finds his second wind and calls Melroy over to ask him for a sundae dish and chocolate sauce. I just want to leave but we wait to see if that will make a difference. Melroy comes back with said ice cream in a sundae dish with chocolate sauce. Kevin takes one bit and says “yuuuuck”.

It’s now officially time to leave. Glenn gives us instructions for tomorrow night and I can already understand his accent much better. Keith still doesn’t understand a word he says and I enjoy watching him try to understand. He turns his head so his ear faces toward Glenn and he furrows his brow in deep concentration. (This became our favorite past time at dinner over the course of the cruise. Glenn would leave and we’d all look at Keith to see if he understood.)

Overall, it wasn’t the most successful dinner. In addition to the bathroom trips, we didn’t feel a connection with our servers. They didn’t have much of a sense of humor but we’ll see how the rest of the week goes. It’s so late now that we just go to the Walt Disney Theatre and get ready for the show. The kids pick seats in the front row to the right facing the stage. Chuck tries to convince them to pick seats in the middle but they want the front row.

We settle in behind them and talk. Chuck and I discuss whether the heavy stage curtains should be swaying from side to side. We discuss the state of the Magic’s ship stabilizers and whether they actually exist. We talk for a few more minutes and he excuses himself back to the bathroom to continue the bulimic cruise plan.

The theatre starts to fill up and the girls play another game of Hidden Friends. I don’t recall if they find Chey and Rebecca tonight. The show starts and the magician comes on. I know others weren’t too impressed with his show but I don’t get out much so it was pretty good to me. The kids enjoy it. Then Gary DeLena comes on and he rocks the house. Peeeensylvaaaaniaaaaaaa!!! Pink Pajamas, penguins on the bottom. Pink Pajamas, penguins on the bottom. You know Gary’s good cause even Kevin is cracking up. We all enjoy the New Jersey references, especially since they’re sarcastic and we New Yorkers always enjoy Jersey sarcasm!

The show ends and we head towards the kids clubs. I take the boys in the club while Christine takes the girls to the lab. I go in and talk enthusiastically about how much fun it will be to hang out in here. Kevin replies that he’s not going in the kids club. We find the back room that has some computer games and Tommy plays a little Spongebob. Kyle keeps asking how come the slide is closed. I tell him we’ll make sure he comes back when it’s open. The girls come back and say the lab was so crowded they couldn’t even get in. The club is pretty crowded too so we decide to leave and see it tomorrow.

Back to the room to get the kids in bed. It’s been a long day. We walk through the deck 2 hallway and I get slammed into the wall. Yup, ship’s still swaying. We walk into the stateroom and see the beds turned down, our first towel animal, lots of yummy chocolate and our navigator for tomorrow. Elsa put doorstoppers in the doors without our even asking. I knew then she’d be great. She guessed as to which beds we wanted made up but unfortunately she guessed wrong. The kids are going to sleep in 2622 so we need the ceiling bed down in that room and back up in our room. I press the stateroom button on the phone and someone comes by within minutes to fix the beds. He couldn’t have been nicer.

We get the kids in pj’s (the whole time singing pink pajamas, penguins on the bottom). Kevin does his nebulizer in bed and I’m glad I threw the extension cord in the suitcase cause there’s no outlet near the bed. They all enjoy watching the Disney movie on TV as he does his treatment. I hear Chuck christening the stateroom bathroom and I wonder if he’s going to hit every toilet on the ship. It’s lights out for the kids and the 3 of them fall asleep instantly. It’s nice having the 2 rooms so we can keep the light on in our room while they fall asleep.

I spend the rest of the night unpacking. I’m determined to get these suitcases under the bed to keep the room from seeming even smaller. Chuck takes a Bonine hoping that will help. He tells me he’s thinking about getting off in Key West. I reply that I want to watch the Giant game tomorrow.

He says, “no, I’m getting off at Key West.”

“What? Like leaving?

“Yeah, I can’t take a whole week of this.”

OK…remain calm…I tell him I don’t think it will be like this the whole time. It’s just a rough patch of weather right now and it will ease up soon. I have no idea what I’m talking about but I feel like I’m talking someone down from the ledge.

He says he can’t take much more of this. He goes to sleep hoping he makes it through the night without his new porcelain best friend. I finish unpacking, trying to avoid hitting his feet hanging off the end of the bed every time I walk past.

I finish all but one bag and call it a night after taking another Bonine for myself. I fall into bed and fall asleep instantly. I slept like a dream the entire night.

Next up…adventures in shaving, where is the internet café?, who needs Key West when it’s football Sunday

spsneman

11-22-2006, 10:31 PM

Just got home from Florida yesterday (Nov 21st) We were on the same cruise and I had the same problem with nausea. (with the wind that morning, I figured we were bound to hit some rough seas) Was fine until we were sitting at our dinner seating at 5:30 at Animators Palate. (basically when the boat left port :goodvibes ) Could feel the ship swaying and my steak did not have any taste whatsoever. Excused myself from the table and barely made it back to our stateroom. Figured I would go up on deck and get some fresh air. Big mistake. Deck 9 was vacant due to the high winds and the motion was definitely stronger there. Luckily I had something with me as I did not make it back to the room fast enough this time around. Ran into our hostess and she advised just to lay flat on the bed and that should help. Said I would definitely try that as I did not want to have to go through a week of this and ruin the entire trip for my family. Wanted to have a quick bath first and good thing for the sink in the split bathtub area is all I can say. Laid down and within 15 mins felt much better. Soon after my DH bought out daughter back to the room who was also not feeling so well. Then 30 mins later our son. I gave them the same advice I was given and they were fine within no time and we all fell asleep hoping the winds would die down for our jet ski excursion at Key West. And thats a whole other story.....

DiaLady

11-23-2006, 01:43 AM

lindaso -

Thanks for sharing!! Can't wait to read the rest!

Oh and by the way, I thought we were the only folks to argue on vacation . . .LOL. Best thing that could have happened on our Western Magic last year was me being seasick for two days. It was the best of times (for DH); it was the worst of times (me!). But DH really enjoyed getting a lay of the land. I love it when he takes charge!

Only 49 days for us . . . Oh and thanks for the reminder about the extension cord. I think after Thanksgiving & the state FIRST LEGO competition, I'm going to download that spreadsheet list again and decide what to bring. Was there anything else you thought was important to bring from home?

Oh and I loved your t-shirts. I've been thinking about doing that for our Jan cruise. Where did you get them?

Have a super Thanksgiving!

Theresa 8-)

jsfein

11-23-2006, 08:48 AM

He told me no matter how many times he throws up, he’s getting his money’s worth in food.

I knew I liked Chuck. I'm made from the same mold (but thankfully didn't suffer any sea sickness).

lindaso

11-23-2006, 11:51 AM

Was there anything else you thought was important to bring from home?

Oh and I loved your t-shirts. I've been thinking about doing that for our Jan cruise. Where did you get them?

Have a super Thanksgiving!

Theresa 8-)

I got the shirts on clearance at Disney shopping...or Disney Direct (or whatever they are calling their website these days. I can't keep track of these things, I still use the name Price Club!).

The extension cord was definitely used. I also brought my own hair dryer but that had to be plugged in by the desk mirror. I found the over the door shoe holder very useful for everything besides shoes. I brought a travel alarm clock but the hands didn't light up enough so I just used the glow on my Timex wristwatch. I need to have a waterproof/resistant watch for pools/beach.

The beach buckets were nice to have and we didn't have to pay too much for them. That's all I can think of at the moment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

love2travel

11-23-2006, 12:22 PM

Happy Thanksgiving Linda!

lindaso

11-23-2006, 12:54 PM

Happy Thanksgiving Linda!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your "orange" family. Enjoy the day!

t&m+5

11-23-2006, 09:44 PM

loving it! Please don't wait too long to finish :thumbsup2

lindaso

11-24-2006, 12:34 AM

Sunday Nov. 5…bathroom adventures, internet café adventures, football Sunday

I wake up at 6:30 and immediately appreciate the fact that Kevin stayed in bed all night. There are not many nights where he doesn’t come and snuggle between us (and kick us in his sleep). I figure that I should start to get ready before everyone else wakes up. Time to try out the shower.

I contemplate the shower curtain in the bathroom. You see, I have a problem with hotel showers. I never know if the curtain should be outside or inside of the tub and have flooded many a floor picking the wrong way. I figure out how to get the water on, adjust the temperature and push the lever for the showerhead. Swooooshhhh, oh crap, the showerhead is pointing right at me...the bathroom floor is already soaked. I quickly close the curtain and reach in to adjust the showerhead. It moves right back to where it started. So I get in to adjust it from the tub. I push it as far as it will go and it finally stays put in the middle of the tub.

I decide to keep the shower curtain inside the tub…we’ll see what happens. Just then I realize I jumped in the shower without my razor. Let’s think about this…the razor is in my makeup bag which is in a compartment of the over-the-door shoe holder which just so happens to be on the outside of this bathroom door and may be within reach. I reach out of the shower, open the door, lean over and grab my makeup bag (trying not to flood the floor even more or get my make-up wet). I find a razor and put the bag back. Crash! Uh-oh, I didn’t zip it all the way and something smashed on the floor.

Hold the razor in my hand and contemplate what I’m about to do. The shower is making sudden and unexpected dips due to the rough seas and I am about to put a RAZOR BLADE to my SKIN. How come I never read about this particular problem on the DIS? I take a deep breath and get through it without making a bloody mess.

Turn the water off and pull back the curtain for the moment of truth. D*mn, the towel mat is soaked, I did it again! I lay down another towel and try to soak up as much water as I can. I guess next time I’ll try the curtain on the outside.

Open the door to survey the damage…my blush smashed but the mirror didn’t break and there’s still half of it intact. Could have been worse.

Chuck gets up and gets sick. Lovely. He takes a Bonine and I have a silent talk with King Triton as I watch the whitecap waves outside our porthole. OK Dude, work with me here. I’ve waited two years for this trip, spent an unbelievable amount of money and told my husband that we would have the best family vacation ever. You are ruining it for me and now he’s going to leave. You need to calm the seas down. I’m sorry I didn’t buy the Little Mermaid DVD, I am, but Steph is past the princess stage and my boys wouldn’t be caught dead watching a princess movie. But I’m still a big fan and you’re making a comeback with Steph with Ashley Tisdale’s “Kiss the Girl” video. So please calm things down for me, please.

I finish with King Triton and help the now-awake kids find clothes. We leave for breakfast and knock on the Boots’ door. Elsa is in the hallway and tells us that they left already. We finally meet her and I thank her for the doorstoppers. She is extremely nice.

We head up to Topsiders for our first breakfast on board. Steph goes crazy over the Krispy Kremes while Tommy goes crazy over the McDonald’s style hash browns. I go in search of the omelet station and find it in the same place I found the shrimp from the previous day. I love this omelet station because you don’t have to stand there while they cook your omelet. They take your order and give you one of the table numbers and they come find you where you’re sitting stuffing yourself with the rest of your breakfast.

Kevin eats some grapes and a bagel and he’s happy. Chuck feels the Bonine kick in and he enjoys breakfast as well. We pick an inside table so no one has to eat hair. Yeah, we’re doing much better at this meal!

We finish up and head straight to the Buena Vista Theatre for Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest. We pick seats in the back row and Chuck and Steph head up to deck 9 to get some drinks for the movie. I sit in my seat and smash my knees into the seat in front of me. I look around the theatre and realize that there is way more leg room in every other row other than the one we picked. There is no way Chuck’s legs will even fit in the back row. The boys and I climb over the seat and get comfortable.

They come back with drinks in hand and we are ready for the pirates! We haven’t seen this movie yet because we were saving it for the cruise. It is very cool seeing this movie on board the Magic. Kevin gets a little scared in the middle but he just buries his head in my lap. There is a teenage guy sitting behind us watching with a little girl. This guy is a huge Capt. Jack fan and says every Jack line a second before Jack says it on the screen. It gets really annoying and I can’t hold back turning around to look at him…I waited as long as I could. The little girl notices and has enough sense to smack him the next time he does it.

The movie ends about noon and we meet up with the Boots at the rooms. We discuss the afternoon plans. I’m watching the Giant game in Diversions. I would love for Chuck to continue his family vacation and watch it with me. The Bonine is working, he hasn’t blessed a toilet since he woke up and he says he wants to watch the game. Yeah!! He doesn’t talk about leaving so I keep my mouth shut! (Hard for me to do as you can imagine!)

We work out who is going where, who is taking who where and who is responsible for who.

Keith and Christine are going to walk around Key West. I take Steph and Alyssa to the lab for Improv Games and Free Time. The boys can’t be checked in to the club until they transition back from lunch at 1:15 so they all go up to deck 9 for food. I need to find the internet café and sign up for the internet package. This has to be done by 1:00 kickoff because we need to check our starters for fantasy football.

I head up to deck 3 and look for signs for the internet café. They point toward the Promenade lounge so I walk through and wind up at the lobby. I walk through the nightclub area (find Diversions for later) but don’t see the internet café. Back out to the lobby and I see the signs pointing in the other direction. Walk past the Promenade lounge again, look up and see the sign for the Promenade lounge and wind up back at the aft elevators. Where the heck is this place??

I walk toward the Promenade lounge, AGAIN see the sign saying Promenade lounge and wind up in the lobby where the signs for the internet café are pointing in the direction I just came from. Holy cow, I really can’t find it and it’s getting close to 1:00! I go up to a CM standing in the lobby and say “where is the internet café? I’m having the hardest time finding it.” He starts to tell me and then decides he will show me. He leads me past the Promenade lounge and points out the computers sitting right UNDER the sign saying Promenade Lounge. OMG, I feel like a moron. Every time I walked past these computers, I was looking UP at the sign and never saw them. I thank the nice CM and tell him that I’m an idiot and he just smiles and wishes me a nice day. In my defense, there is no sign saying internet cafe…it says Promenade lounge, causing me to look up every single time I walked past b/c I was looking for a sign saying Internet café. Weak defense I know, I admit to being a moron.

Having now found the computers, I follow the directions to sign up for the unlimited package. It takes a couple of tries to remember my room # (I am really losing it!!) but I manage to get on. I open internet explorer and nothing happens. I wait a few minutes and nothing happens. It’s really getting close to 1:00 now and I need to check our starters. I sign on to another computer, same thing. Someone gets up to leave and I grab their computer. This one works! Go right into our fantasy league’s website and get set for the weekend’s games. I can’t resist checking my email while I’m here so I get that done too.

Back up to deck 9 where I find the crew finishing lunch. Keith and Christine head out for Key West and leave us their walkie talkies. I take Tommy and Kyle to Animator’s Palate for Animation with the club. Kevin won’t go to the club so he and Chuck go down to the room to get his gameboy so he will be entertained during the Giant game.

I head over to Diversions after dropping off the boys. That’s not hard to find, you just need to follow the smell of chicken wings. I walk in and see the Giant game on the big screen. I grab a table right in front of Jason and Spanky (who I didn’t know was Spanky at the time but now I can give him a name). I start to watch the game but it’s way too blurry. I ask Jason if the TV looks blurry, he looks at me funny while saying “no” and I mumble that I’m used to watching football in high definition. He becomes the second person in the past half hour to think I’m a moron.

I try to tough it out but I’m just sitting too close to the TV so I move over to the only open table on the side of the room. Chuck and Kevin come in and we hit the food table. I’m disappointed b/c the wings are barbeque instead of Buffalo but I enjoy them anyway. I also have 2 plates of nachos, which are outstanding. Chuck is feeling better now that the ship is docked and there is football. He has a hotdog and sucks it up by buying a coke from the bar. (Stuff like that is hard for us “frugal” (read “cheap”) people to pay for something that can be had for free up on deck 9.) But hey, it’s vacation!

Kevin is happily playing his gameboy. The Giants are winning. Chuck gets the bartender to put the Chiefs game on the TV in front of us so he can watch Larry Johnson, his fantasy RB. From our seats, we can see 5 different games in the room. This cruising thing is pretty good after all!! Who needs Key West?

Up Next…the party’s over, “the pools are closed”, EEWW BOYS, EEWW BOYS, EEWW BOYS!!

t&m+5

11-24-2006, 11:04 AM

lindaso

11-24-2006, 12:28 PM

We feel your pain!! Our 4 1/2 son does the same thing - we are praying that when he gets married he will move into his wife's bed and out of ours!!!

I'm afraid he may just invite his wife in too! :rolleyes:

mom2grace

11-24-2006, 10:43 PM

This TR is SO GREAT that I am swaying as I read it! I haven't been on a ship since February! WOW! Thanks!

lindaso

11-27-2006, 12:20 AM

Sun. Nov. 5th, continued…

At halftime I run up to deck 9 to get some drinks b/c it was hurting me to buy soda from the bar. This is actually the first time I’ve stepped outside all day…it’s humid and unbelievably windy. I get my favorite drink station concoction…half unsweetened iced tea and half lemonade, yumm!!

I’m all decked out with a walkie clipped to one pocket and the Boots’ pager on the other. I’m walking balancing 3 drinks in my hands when Chuck pipes in on the walkie that Steph paged us and wants to be picked up. I’m almost back at Diversions so I just keep walking, not having anywhere to put down 3 drinks. He keeps talking, saying:

“Lin, are you there?”

“Steph wants to be picked up”

“Can you hear me?”

“Lin…are you there?

And there I am walking and answering him in the air because I have no free hands to press the talk button, “yeah, I can hear you, I just can’t answer you.”

He says again, “can you hear me?”

Again I feel the need to speak out loud, can’t explain why…“I can hear you, I’m almost there, stop talking to me and wait a second”

Then comes, “aw, this thing’s a piece of sh*t!”

Now I’m walking in to Diversions when he says this so I’m cracking up and he sees me and my predicament and gives me this sheepish grin now realizing I’ve been laughing at him the whole time.

So it’s back up to the Lab to see what Stephanie wants. She comes over and tells me she’s hungry. Oh, yeah, it’s 2:30 and the child hasn’t eaten since breakfast. I look over at Alyssa who looks a bit sad so I ask her if she’s hungry. She says yes and jumps up.

I wait to get them checked out. In front of me is a woman checking out someone else’s child. I hear her say, “well, I don’t know her password, her mother didn’t tell me.”

Oh crap! “Psst Alyssa!! What’s your password?” said as inconspicuously as possible so we don’t get caught. Alyssa whispers it to me and I say it proudly and knowingly 5 seconds later.

The girls and I hurry back to Diversions cause halftime is clearly over and I’m missing the game. They load their plates with hot dogs…they really are hungry! Of course they don’t want to go back to the Lab when they’re done eating so I send them over to the foosball table where they entertain themselves and Kevin for quite some time.

Keith and Christine meet us in Diversions just as the game is ending. He’s gushing about the chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick and how we have to get off the ship and get some. Still having wings and nachos fighting in my belly, I pass.

Feeling a little mommy guilt for ditching the kids, Christine and I ask them if they want to go swimming. The 3 of them say yes and the girls pipe in with “do we have to get the boys?” Too bad girls, we have to at least give them the option.

So we all head up to the club to ask the boys. It feels weird that the CM just lets us in to find them…I’m so used to Fort Knox Elementary where you never have access to your child! It’s now free time and we find them in groups on the floor making a project with foam stickers. I’m surprised to see Tommy and Kyle in different groups.

I kneel down and say, “Tom, do you want to leave to go swimming?” He yells “YEAH!!” Just then a little boy in his group looks up at me with the sweetest and widest eyes and says, “No, you can’t go swimming. My mom said all the pools are closed.”

I have to look away because I’m starting to laugh and I feel so tempted to say “no honey, that’s just what your mommy told you to get you in here.” Of course I can’t actually say that so I just keep looking the other way. By the time I turn back, he’s refocused on his project so I grab Tommy and get the heck out of there before he can ask any questions!

Up to the Mickey Pool. I can’t recall if we got chaises that day or not. The guys eventually get Daddy guilt and leave Diversions and come find us at the pool.

They swim for about an hour until it’s time to get ready for dinner. Tonight is Lumiere’s.

We make sure Kevin is seated next to us (or Chuck in this case) so we can cut his chicken. We see Glenn and Melroy again, hoping for a better meal. Looking at the menu we’re excited because there’s shrimp! Tommy is happy and orders it from the adult menu. We also order the escargot for the table b/c Keith and I want to try it.

We are feeling a little more friendliness from Glenn but Melroy is still not happy. Chuck has to ask for a coke refill every time his glass is empty and we get the sense that Melroy is bothered to get it. Glenn seems to be trying but there’s just something missing.

Glenn brings the escargot to the table and Chuck is the first one to dig in. I’m shocked by this as he’s never told me he’s eaten snails before. He reminds me that he has to go to fru-fru dinners with clients and, besides, they taste like clams. Keith and I try one and agree they do taste like clams, albeit very salty ones. Christine won’t try one no matter how many chicken sounds we make.

For the main course I have the beef tenderloin, which is cooked perfectly. Chuck isn’t as happy with his but it winds up being my best meal of the week. Steph also ordered the tenderloin from the adult menu so 2 out of my 3 kids ate “real” food tonight. Kevin of course ordered chicken fingers and is breaking off the ends of each French fry and only eating the middle. Weird. We have to ask for ketchup again tonight and for some reason it takes a long time for them to track it down. I don’t know…it seems to me that when you serve French fries to 5 children, the ketchup should be automatic…especially since they used it the night before.

For dessert I tried the crème brulee since I’ve never had it before. After many viewings of High School Musical, I thought we should find out if we like it. The answer is no, nobody liked it, but now we’ve tried it! Tommy is the only one not to order dessert and he did not receive a plate with nothing. He would have loved that. I’m getting really disappointed…we are not having a magical dining experience.

We get out of Lumiere’s a lot faster tonight. Tommy and Kyle want to go to the club to make cookies so I take them up there. I will meet the rest of the crew at Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer. I get the boys to the club and the line is really long. We wait a long time and it looks like they’ve already started. I ask the CM is they can still get in to make cookies and make the 8:30 show and she said the project takes an hour. That puts us past 8:30 and we’re nowhere near the desk for check-in. I ask the boys if they’d rather make cookies or see Gary and they both shout “GARY”. Gary it is.

The 3 of us go down to Studio Seas and find the crew at Mousketeer...not an empty seat in the house. Our number doesn’t get picked but it’s just as well as I seem to get every big money question wrong. That’s what I get for playing Harry Potter Scene It instead of Disney Scene It.

The ship has left Key West and has started rocking and rolling again. Hopefully Chuck has enough Bonine in his system…he’s stuck now that he didn’t get off at Key West!

After the show we head over to the theatre for a full 45 minutes of Gary Delena. Another great show, again he gets Kevin laughing. Our favorite song is the one about the soccer dad getting kicked out and sent to the parking lot...not that we have personal experience, we've just witnessed it! The kids love it when Gary plays “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea…” and they got to shout “you know what.”

We play another game of Hidden Friends and tonight Steph is successful and runs over to her friends. I call after her to find out if they are going to the Girls’ Chill in the Lab. You see, the Girls’ chill and the High School Musical Family Dance party are happening at the same time and is causing a bit of distress in decision making. She finds out that they are indeed going to the chill so the decision is made. She will see them there. They tell Steph to wear her pj’s…good tip.

We go back to the room to get the boys ready for bed. Another spectacular job by Elsa, the room is spotless, our towel animals are adorable and the chocolate is plentiful. Steph finds suitable pj’s for public viewing, ie. T-shirt and volleyball shorts. Alyssa decides she wants to go too so we leave to get them checked-in.

After dropping the girls off, Christine and I head to Shutters to find our embarkation photo. We look at the Christmas card selections and pick up the form showing the packages. We head back to the rooms to find Keith gone and Kyle sleeping next to Tommy & Kevin. Chuck carries him back to his room as Kyle wakes up noisily at 6 am so leaving him there is not an option.

I write some notes for my trip report (yup, I take notes for this…my problem is I only have notes through Tuesday…I may have to make something up after that!). Christine and I meet in the hall after 11 to go pick up the girls. We peek in and see them making tiaras. The place reeks of nail polish. They don’t look ready to leave so we go out and sit on the stairs. We’re sitting and chatting and all of a sudden we hear 30 preteen voices shouting, “EWWWW BOY, EWWW BOY, EWWW BOY!!!!” Hilarious.

We watch a poor unsuspecting father go through the doorway to pick up his daughter and right on cue “EWWWW BOY, EWWW BOY, EWWW BOY!!!” The guy walks out beet red. Now this is entertainment!

We go back in at 11:20, the lab boys are back and are complaining about the nail polish smell…it is strong! Alyssa is ready to go but Steph isn’t sure. Again the CM’s invite me in to talk to her. She wants to stay with Chey and Rebecca but it is getting late. The girls come over to say hi and I ask them if they’re staying. They both say their parents should be coming for them soon so Steph decides to leave.

We take the midship elevators, which is still her favorite thing to do. We walk past Ocean Quest and peek in to see what it looks like. We meet the nicest CM who tells us about it and encourages us to come back for family time (which we never got around too). It looks really cool.

It’s really late now and we’ve had a busy day. But tomorrow we can sleep in. I soon realize this is the biggest difference between the cruise and Disney World. No sleeping in at the World. The cruise is a lot more relaxing.

Up next…B11, BE11, formal night h*ll, all dressed up and no where to go

pppiglet

11-27-2006, 12:42 AM

Great report!

discruiselovers97

11-27-2006, 11:05 PM

Loving It!!!

lindaso

11-28-2006, 09:29 PM

Monday Nov. 6th...B11, B-E-11, Formal night prep

We all slept in this morning. While I love the thought of watching the sunrise up on deck 10, I love that I’m actually sleeping on this vacation even more. The bed is super comfy and Kevin is actually sleeping in his own bed and…here’s the biggie…not coughing at all! There just might be a Mickey Bar in the child’s future! :mickeybar

We make it up to Topsiders for breakfast. I really love breakfast here. I indulge in a Krispy Kreme jelly since they closed our KK this year and I just have to have one. Definitely not fresh but good enough. I have another omelet that I don’t have to stand around and wait for (can you tell I really like that?) Oh and Stephanie has confirmed that the scrambled eggs are indeed gross (and I hadn’t told her anything about them, she said it all on her own).

We go over the plan for the morning. The Boots have Palo brunch so we need to coordinate all 5 kids. You see, Christine and I agreed months before that we would do Palo brunch separately as couples. This way, if one of the kids got sick or had a problem, brunch would not be disturbed. Hey, I take my title of obsessive vacation planner seriously. Plus I’ll let you in on a little secret…I knew Kevin wouldn’t go in the club and I really really wanted to go to Palo for brunch! But I know Christine was on to me cause one time she teased me about “who’s going to watch Kevin?”

It turns out that my services are needed after all as Alyssa is not in the best mood and doesn’t want to go to the kids club which is meeting on the Sports Deck. I sense an epic mother-daughter power struggle arising so I intervene with the suggestion of Bingo. Both Alyssa and Stephanie like that idea so Bingo it is. Now I won’t feel as guilty dumping my kids on her come Thursday.

The boys (including Chuck) want to go see Cars. Steph has no interest in seeing it b/c it’s “boring in the middle.” So we say goodbye to Keith and Christine and the rest of us split off by gender.

We arrive at the Promenade Lounge and get one of the last tables with a view of the number board. My view is blocked but the girls can see it. I discover that Bingo is a bit expensive so I buy a 6 pack to split among the 3 of us. We’ll each play 2 cards which means we have to move these huge circular chairs as close to each other as possible. I wind up following the numbers sideways.

The girls are excited when I tell them they get to keep the money if they win. Nothing like giving gambling dreams to 9 year old girls. They talk about all the American Girl Stuff they can buy with their winnings. Here they are posing for my Bingo scrapbook page (and yes I kept the cards for my page!):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB060038.jpg

[Lisa, if you're reading this, you can see Steph wearing your pins :thanks: ]

Melanie starts the game and I learn the DCL bingo clichés. When B11 is called, everyone shouts B-11, B-E-11 while making touchdown gestures. I sit there thinking how lame my life is because I now know bingo clichés from 3 different locations. Play bingo at Woodloch Pines and you’ll hear I22…I’ve got a 2,2! Play bingo in my neighborhood and you’ll hear all the women whoop it up at 069. I’ve got to get a life!

Bingo gets a little exciting when I only have one # left on the second game. Steph begs me to let her stand for me…sure honey, have at it! She’s all smiles as she’s standing there and stomps her foot every time my winning # is not called. After one such foot stomp we hear “BINGO” from across the room…aww, it’s not meant to be.

We continue through the rest of the games. Alyssa got to stand once but other than that, we just lent our luck out as all the winners were sitting directly next to us on all sides. Oh well, it was fun and I’m glad we did it.

The girls still don’t want to go with the kids club to the sports deck so we hang around waiting for Cars to end. We sign on to the computer to check scores from the weekend. Tommy’s football team won but the girls’ softball team’s scores aren’t posted on the website. There’s still no word about the dog so I send a quick email to my MIL to find out how Shenzi is doing. Trust me, you feel the need to do these things after paying $90 for internet access.

We head toward the gift shop where we browse and do some pin trading. Finally it’s time to meet the boys at the theatre. The plan is to get them fed and to flubber as early as possible. They don’t want to miss this one. Up to deck 9 for chicken fingers and hot dogs. Kyle picks at his food and asks for chocolate cake. “Uh…OK”. Off I go into Topsiders for chocolate cake. The other kids finish and go for the ice cream station. Kyle asks if he can have ice cream too. “Uh…OK.” Hey, I’m not his mother!

I try very hard to convince Kevin to go make flubber with the boys:

“It’s just like the science center”
“You won’t have any to play with and they will”
“You can sit right next to Tommy.”

He’s not having any of it and I get a “I’m not going in the club” in return. Can’t say I didn’t try.

I leave with Tommy & Kyle b/c I want them signed in before the line gets too long. I’m figuring if the cookie line was long, this one will be longer. I got there just in time.

We are third in line to get checked in. By the time I leave, the line is snaking out around the hallway. While I’m waiting, the grandma in line behind me asks why it’s so crowded. I tell her they’re making flubber and it’s very popular. She asks what time they’ll let them in and I take out my navigator to check the actual “flubber prep” time. She points at the navigator and says, “oh it’s in there? I thought that was the TV guide!” Uh, no…definitely not a DIS’er. :rotfl2:

Kevin wants to pin trade so while I’m signing the boys in, Chuck takes Kevin and the girls toward the gift shop. In the lobby they see Mickey Mouse so they wait on line for a picture. The girls get their pictures taken but Kevin won’t get his. I meet them just in time to take my own shots. Here’s one of Steph with the head cheese:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB060039.jpg

After Kevin pin trades, we go back to the room and meet up with Keith and Christine in the deck 2 hallway where they gush about how great brunch was. I fill her in on what we’ve been doing and I confess to feeding her son chocolate for lunch. Seeing as how Kyle is now in the kids club, she shrugs and says “not my problem.”

Christine then tells me about the free pins at the gift shop. Huh? What free pins? I never read about any free pins. Apparently you get free pins as long as you ask for them at the gift shop. So back to the gift shop we go. And yes, they handed me 4 free pins, 2 for each room. Cool! The prelude area is set up for the Golden Mickeys so we take some pictures with the Mickey statues.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB060043.jpg

We spend the rest of the afternoon just hanging around the room. Stephanie doesn’t want to go to the kids club, now having free time in Ocean Quest. Kevin does his “homework” and Steph writes in her journal. I take trip report notes and Chuck takes a nap.

Before I know it, it’s time to get ready for formal night. I enter the bathroom and contemplate the shower curtain. Today I’ll try it out of the tub since in the tub didn’t work yesterday.

Well, apparently out of the tub works even less. There’s lots of water on the floor, lots and lots of water. Three towels worth of water.

I take care of my own hair drying and straightening so that’s out of the way for later. I get Kevin in the bathtub and he’s happy to play in there for a while. Keith knocks and offers to take Steph up to the arcade. I wanted her to shower now but I feel bad she’s been hanging around the room so I say yes.

Christine and I go get the boys to get them ready for formal night. We are both starting to feel the stress of what’s to come. Pictures!! We must get good pictures!!

Keith brings Steph back from the arcade and I get her going in the shower. She asks me to fix the shower curtain. Oh honey, if you only knew! I leave it IN the tub. She complains that it’s pushing against her so I leave the bottom in and fan out the rest.

I return to our room where Chuck is still sleeping. It’s after 4:00 and I wanted to be ready for pictures at 5:00. The “left to do” list:

Linda makeup
Linda dressed
Linda jewelry
Steph hair dried
Steph dressed
Tommy bath
Tommy dressed
Kevin dressed
Chuck…who knows? Definitely dressed cause he’s not napping in his suit. Shower? Shave? I have no idea

I feel the stress level rising. We’ve done nothing substantial all afternoon and here we are running late. How did this happen? I look over at my sleeping husband.

“Can you get up now?”

No response.

Louder this time: “I NEED HELP…CAN YOU PLEASE GET UP NOW.”

Snort, grunt, jump out of bed. The man knows the sound of his wife panicking and I believe he knows it’s not pleasant.

He takes charge of Tommy in the bath while I blow dry Stephanie’s hair. Why didn’t I get her showered sooner? It takes FOREVER to dry her long hair.

Chuck finishes Tommy’s bath and goes to get in the shower himself while the boys are still in their underwear. I’m still with Steph and the hairdryer. Only 1 thing on the above list has been completed in the last 15 minutes.

“What are you doing? You’re going to take a shower…NOW?”

Chuck, understanding that now is not the time for argument, returns to get the boys dressed. He foregoes his shower, shaves and gets dressed.

Steph’s hair is dry enough so I get myself ready. I remember to get the jewelry out of the safe. [Let’s break for a DCL tip: I got this tip from an email that cheysdad sent me. The room safe will work on any magnetic strip. It doesn’t have to be your KTTW card. We used a TGI Fridays card and hid it in the room. This way both people can get into the safe if the other person is not there with their KTTW card. Thanks Michael!]

The 5 of us are finally ready by 5:15. Behind schedule but not too bad. Christine isn’t ready yet so we head out by the elevators to wait. My kids look sharp in their dress up clothes. I need to get a picture!

I tell them to line up but Kevin doesn’t want to. He’s complaining his neck hurts, he’s complaining his shoes hurt.

“C’mon Kev, I just want to get one picture.”

“No”

“Kevin, let’s go. I need to take a picture.”

“No”

And then I said it. It just flew out of my mouth without me controlling it.

“You know, I don’t ask for much. I ask for one thing and you can’t even do it. All I want is one picture of my kids dressed up. Thanks a lot.”

Chuck sensing the world coming to an end jumps on board and coaxes Kevin with a “c’mon Kev, one picture, do it for Mommy.” Yup, just call me the Gipper.

Kevin gets closer:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB060053.jpg

And finally cooperates:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB060055.jpg

(Sorry, I've been too busy to work on red-eye)

We head to the lobby to get some pictures. Can it get worse? Yup, it definitely can get worse.

Next up: Picture frenzy, Animator’s Palate, all dressed up with nowhere to go

Babs417

11-28-2006, 11:03 PM

Good looking family :thumbsup2 :sunny: ;) :goodvibes :)

jsfein

11-29-2006, 06:19 AM

Christine then tells me about the free pins at the gift shop. Huh? What free pins? I never read about any free pins. Apparently you get free pins as long as you ask for them at the gift shop. So back to the gift shop we go. And yes, they handed me 4 free pins, 2 for each room. Cool!

FREE PINS!!! I didn't know about FREE PINS. How could I have missed such an important tip on DIS???? Great installment, by the way.

pklein09

11-29-2006, 06:31 AM

FREE PINS!!! I didn't know about FREE PINS. How could I have missed such an important tip on DIS???? Great installment, by the way.

The first time I went into the store, they asked if I received my pins and lanyard. What, another free lanyard? Not just one free lanyard, they gave me 2 because we had 2 staterooms. They were keeping a list in a notebook on which rooms had received them. The CM was nice enought to search through the lanyards and get me ones with different pins. :thumbsup2 I told my mom, and she got hers. After that, I think I was asked everytime I was in there if I had received my pins. (I was in there a lot with 3 of my 4 kids!)

jsfein

11-29-2006, 06:53 AM

The first time I went into the store, they asked if I received my pins and lanyard. What, another free lanyard? Not just one free lanyard, they gave me 2 because we had 2 staterooms. They were keeping a list in a notebook on which rooms had received them. The CM was nice enought to search through the lanyards and get me ones with different pins. :thumbsup2 I told my mom, and she got hers. After that, I think I was asked everytime I was in there if I had received my pins. (I was in there a lot with 3 of my 4 kids!)

WOW. My kids pin traded in the shops everyday and the CMs even knew their names (as my kids have Castmember name plates on their lanyards). Not once we were told about free pins or lanyards. Guess they didn't like us much.

lindaso

11-29-2006, 08:34 AM

Yes, they did come with lanyards, I forgot about that part. I was getting that confused with later in the week when I found out about the buy 4 pins and get a certain DCL pin for $1.

Jason, don't feel too bad, I had been there twice that day and no one said anything either. I'm not sure how Christine found out about it.

Ocean Breeze

11-29-2006, 10:06 AM

[
And then I said it. It just flew out of my mouth without me controlling it.

“You know, I don’t ask for much. I ask for one thing and you can’t even do it. All I want is one picture of my kids dressed up. Thanks a lot.”

So you use that line too! LOL :rotfl:

I am really enjoying your report. I also like that it comes in installments. Something fun to read every day or so. Thanks!

cheysdad

11-29-2006, 01:18 PM

"The room safe will work on any magnetic strip. It doesn’t have to be your KTTW card. We used a TGI Fridays card and hid it in the room. This way both people can get into the safe if the other person is not there with their KTTW card. Thanks Michael!]"

You are welcome. Great trip report but i have one burning question.

Do you think you will ever be able to get Chuck back on the ship?

Sorry but I do not know how to properly capture text from a different post.

lindaso

11-29-2006, 03:34 PM

You are welcome. Great trip report but i have one burning question.

Do you think you will ever be able to get Chuck back on the ship?

Sorry but I do not know how to properly capture text from a different post.

Hmmm...can't answer that just yet. You'll have to keep reading ;).

To capture text, click on the quote button at the bottom right of the post. Scroll down and start typing after you see the [/quote] symbol.

love2travel

11-29-2006, 03:51 PM

Linda, you have me cracking up :rotfl2:, keep on going!!!

missj1975

11-29-2006, 04:18 PM

Great Report so far :)

pppiglet

11-29-2006, 06:33 PM

I was told always use a different card than your KTTW card or even in hotels don't use your room card. Room stewards can get into your safe that way. Use any other card with a magnetic strip.

Your pictures of the kids came out great! Can't wait to hear the rest of your report.

disneylover5

11-29-2006, 07:31 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB060038.jpg

[Lisa, if you're reading this, you can see Steph wearing your pins :thanks: ]

You are so welcome!! We had so much fun trading pins! I think it is a great to keep something forever!! I think we have almost 2,000 keepers now...one day they will go to my grand-children....or we will sell them on ebay to pay for the next cruise!!

mruhaak

11-30-2006, 11:00 AM

lindaso

11-30-2006, 11:42 AM

I didn't know anything about this whole "pin collecting" thing... but now you have me intrigued. You just have to ask to get free pins and a lanyard?

I have my own little Kevin. His name is Alex. Isn't motherhood grand. :rolleyes:

Just kidding.

Pin collecting is a fun way to remember your trips. We have pins from Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, their favorite rides, the resorts we've stayed in, their favorite characters, and now DCL. That's why it was so sad when Stephanie lost her lanyard...it represented so much about her.

If things work the same way as our cruise, each person will get a Castaway Club lanyard (the adult size) with 2 identical pins (one to keep and one to trade) when you check in at the terminal. And you can get another lanyard with 2 pins (Mickey, Donald or Chip & Dale in an airplane) in the gift shop...one per room.

You can trade pins with any CM wearing a lanyard. What people typically do is buy a bunch of junky trader pins and trade for better ones on vacation. You can find deals on disneyshopping or ebay. They just have to say Disney on the back.

And as far as our "spirited" children go...Kevin is getting a bum rap in my trip report but he really is a sweety. He says this trip was "the best vacation ever." Go figure. So there is hope for you :thumbsup2

lindaso

12-01-2006, 12:28 AM

Good looking family :thumbsup2 :sunny: ;) :goodvibes :)

Thank you! I was very excited about them being dressed up.

Your pictures of the kids came out great! Can't wait to hear the rest of your report.

Thank you. I need to work on red-eye and cropping but better to keep writing before I forget too much.

mruhaak

12-01-2006, 11:11 AM

And as far as our "spirited" children go...Kevin is getting a bum rap in my trip report but he really is a sweety. He says this trip was "the best vacation ever." Go figure. So there is hope for you :thumbsup2

Oh believe me I understand! Maybe "spirited" children grow up to be wonderful outgoing adults?! I was too shy and reserved as a child!

Thanks for the pin information! I've been wondering about that! Look forward to hearing the rest of your report!

lindaso

12-02-2006, 01:14 AM

Monday Nov. 6th, continued…Formal night

We head up the stairs towards the lobby. We enter the area and it’s total chaos. There are people everywhere. I take a quick scan for the white background but I don’t see it. I walk the whole lobby and it’s not there. I ask a CM at guest services and she calls over to Shutters and tells me tonight is the only night they don’t have the white background…it’s considered casual. Well, shoot, that’s the background I wanted with their black dress clothes.

OK, plan B…what else is here? We see the line for a picture with the captain but the goal is Christmas card so that line doesn’t make sense. I see the moonlight/railing background but the line is huge. So we settle on the line with the Mickey statue.

While on line, Kevin starts crying that his shoes hurt. Then he cries that his neck hurts. Then he cries that he’s thirsty. Can I cry too? I look around at the families in line around us and it seems that every family has at least one member crying. This is fun!! :banana:

They come around with free drinks (which I didn’t know were free the first time they were offered) and I grab 2 Shirley Temples for the 3 of them to share. At least now the thirsty cry has stopped.

It’s finally our turn. We take some shots with all 5 of us. The photographer works hard to get Kevin to smile. Not really a smile, but not a frown:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/shuttersformal.jpg

Then Chuck and I move out so he can take some shots of just the kids. Just then I realize that I meant to cut off the clunky kids’ club wristbands…too late for that now. Tommy has long sleeves and the photographer positions Steph with her hands over her wristband. Can you make out the little tear on Kevin’s bottom eyelid?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/shuttersformalkids.jpg

We’re done with the Mickey statue line at about 5:45. Tonight is Animator’s Palate and we don’t want to be late. There’s no time to wait in another line so we go off to dinner. The Boots are still in line and will meet us there.

We get seated but our servers ignore us. Chuck gets upset and calls Melroy over to get us some drinks. Chuck’s patience with our servers is wearing thin.

The Boots arrive and Melroy comes over to take their drink order. Christine says “oh, I’d love to have that drink they made this morning at Palo.” Melroy immediately shakes his head no. Keith pipes up and tells him he hasn’t even heard what it is yet. Uh oh, looks like Keith’s patience is wearing thin too. Keith explains to Melroy the drink is simply a pina colada with Bailey’s and tells him the ratios to make it. Melroy frowns and says he’ll see what he can do.

I decide to try a Miami Vice, thinking that it’s definitely time for a real drink! Glenn takes our order…tonight I have smoked salmon appetizer (good), butternut squash soup (didn’t care for it), and Filet mignon (good but not as good as Lumiere’s).

When it’s Tommy’s turn to order, he says “shrimp” (since he had it the night before). Glenn shakes his head and says “no, there’s no shrimp.” Tommy shrugs and orders chicken fingers. I got upset later when I realize there’s shrimp with the filet. Tommy eats some of our’s. Why did Glenn tell him there was no shrimp?

Melroy comes by to say they can’t make Christine’s drink. Keith bites his tongue and Christine orders a Miami Vice, which doesn’t come for a VERY long time. We notice that Glenn and Melroy have one other table, which is full of adults. We try to figure out what the problem is…maybe the other table is ordering more drinks, ie. worth more tips?

Kevin almost spills his water but I catch it before we’re both soaked. Yikes, I need to save these clothes for the white background! So when Melroy comes by the next time, I ask him for a covered cup for “him, him and her”, pointing to my 3 kids. He looks very confused, like he’s never heard of such a thing. Is this a Disney Cruise? I can’t possibly be the first parent to ask for a cover!! Chuck speaks up and points to another table…"see those kids over there with the covers on their drinks? We want those.” Melroy comes back with 4 covered cups for Kevin, Alyssa, Kyle and Tommy. Can we say “laugh to keep from crying?” Yup, that’s definitely the point I’m at. In fact, the drinks are kicking in and I’m getting quite giggly, thank you very much!

The meals come and both our servers walk away without giving us ketchup…again. Chuck calls them back over to ask for ketchup. Glenn comes back with ketchup in a dish and individually spoons it out to the kids and walks away with the dish. I start to giggle really hard now cause I know what’s coming next. You see, Chuck eats ketchup with his steak and now he has to call Glenn over AGAIN to ask for ketchup for himself. I try to hide my face in my napkin so they can’t see me laughing.

The show keeps the kids entertained but the rest of us just don’t feel the spirit. I wonder if we would have appreciated it more with a more magical dining experience? Christine reminisces about how great their servers were on the Wonder.

We order the chocolate and peanut butter pie with milk. Glenn brings the pie quickly but the milk doesn’t come until we’re almost done. Glenn partially redeems himself by bringing Kevin a huge bowl of marachino cherries. That’s one way to make him forget he's dressed up.

After dinner, we head back towards the lobby and take another set of pictures on the gray background. Then it’s right over to the Walt Disney theatre for the Golden Mickey’s. The kids get the seats in the front on the right side again. Keith goes and buys popcorn at the snack bar. Ugh, I can’t look at food right now. Chuck and I discuss the difference in the curtains. They’re not moving tonight and he’s feeling fine as long as the Bonine is running through his blood stream. We discuss the ear patch and conclude it’s a glorified band-aid.

The show starts with the interviews on the big screen. Steph recognizes Rebecca (Suzymouse’s DD) and starts bouncing in her chair saying “I know her!!” Then the whole theatre sings Happy Birthday to Rebecca…very cool! Then Lisa’s duo comes on the screen and entertains the crowd. My favorite part is hearing that the dress came from LIMITED 2, said with a little fabric flair.

The awards show starts and we all really enjoy it. I especially enjoy the part when Ursula’s legs lurch toward the audience and Kyle, sitting right on the end, jumps up and hurls himself over 4 seats towards his parents. Tommy loves the Mulan segment with the bo sticks…"hey mom, they’re doing karate!"

After the show, we head back through the crowd to the room. Steph begs to take the midship elevators but we just walk down the stairs. We say goodnight to the Boots and go inside our rooms.

The boys get undressed but Steph is just moping around the room. “Please, please can we go to the Golden Mickey’s After Party, please, pretty please?”

I stop to look at my daughter. I take a real good look. There she is in her dress, looking absolutely beautiful and soooo NOT ready to go to bed. She is literally all dressed up with nowhere to go. If she knew the saying, she’d be shouting “the night is still young!” I take pity on her and seeing as how she hasn’t had any meltdowns so far, I agree…to the Golden Mickey After Party!!

Tommy pipes in that he wants to go too, but he’s already undressed. He also begs with the pretty pleases and he quickly gets his dress clothes back on. Kevin and Chuck are in for the night so it’s just the 3 of us partying out on the town.

We knock on the Boots’ door but the kids are already in bed. Up to Studio Seas where the After Party is already hopping. We join in on the dance floor and I’m proud to say I know all the words to “Getcha Head in the Game.” I’m also proud a few minutes later when Jason knows all the words to “Summer Lovin” after he gets the microphone stuck in his face. I have a geriatric moment when the DJ plays “Thriller” and none of the kids even recognize the song. All in all, a great After Party and I’m glad I got talked into it.

After the party, we head toward the midship elevators and I see the photographers are still set up in the lobby. Having forgotten my camera when we left the room, I decide we need to capture this memory of our special night out. The night I got a glimpse into my daughter’s future. She most definitely will not be staying in on Saturday night.

We wait on a very short line for the railing background. I take some shots with them but I liked this one the best:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/shuttersrailing.jpg

We head back to the room and get them in bed. As I’m tucking her in, Steph hugs me and thanks me for letting her go to the party. She may become a party girl but right now she’s still my baby, sleeping with her stuffed dolphin.

I get a second wind and decide that it’s been 3 nights…time to try room service. I order a Mickey bar and a cookie and Chuck orders a personal pizza. They come within 10 minutes and I thoroughly enjoy both. The cookie is outstanding. We will definitely be ordering more of those. Much better than the cookies at Topsiders. Chuck’s pizza is just OK, but he manages to eat it. We watch a wicked thunderstorm through the porthole window and enjoy the view of the ocean every time the sky lights up. Yup, that Bonine is still flowing nicely through a certain someone's veins.

Now that I’ve had my late-night snack, sleep will not be had for a while so I head up to the internet café and surf a bit. I do a quick search on Glenn & Melroy but I don’t find much. I find an email from my MIL that Shenzi is doing well and having fun.

Time to call it a night. Tomorrow is Grand Cayman. Chuck is happy land is in his near future.

Up Next…"I don’t wanna go to Stingray City", rain rain go away, hair braiding

Holly&Joesmommy

12-02-2006, 01:04 PM

your TR is great, and I am so happy for you and your daughter, (and son) ...that extra time w/ her will be such a wonderful memory :thumbsup2

It's not very often, w/ such busy lives, that we have the chance to just STOP, and say "OK, honey, lets go"..... sigh..... I'm feelin the MGAIC :wizard: sigh.....
That's what it's all about.

SHEW! that was really mushy... :teeth:
ok, I'm back from LAA LAA Land, please hurry w/ your next installment :Pinkbounc

discruiselovers97

12-02-2006, 03:04 PM

I am really loving it!

sejejoemmiev

12-02-2006, 11:50 PM

Great trip report! I am really enjoying it. I can't believe what bad service you were getting with your dining team, even after day # 3. I'm starting to get worried that I may get them on our trip. What makes them sound even worse is that it seems like they didn't have any personality. I hope things improved over the next few days and if not that you mentioned it in your feedback on the ship. We had an unbelievable server on the Wonder 12/2004. He was funny and great with the kids. He always anticipated our needs. I was looking forward to that again on our next trip. I hope we get so lucky!

Destinydaddy

12-03-2006, 01:14 AM

Let your husban know this is the best thing he will ever do for his family. I'm going on our 16th Disney Cruise in the last sixteen years. My wonderful wife say's it better then counceling! We started with three day cruise found out it was way to short, then we went and did four four day cruises and then slid to the seven and have not stopped since. going again 12/9/06. The double dip!

tjeagle

12-03-2006, 08:07 AM

I love your report! I have read some awesome "daddy" reports recently (thanks boys) but am loving a report from a "mommy" point of veiw! I am half way through but have to run out the door (I am already 30 minutes late!!) LOVE IT!! :thumbsup2

tubachick

12-03-2006, 01:00 PM

I Love your Report!!!

popcorn::

can't wait for land-fall

lindaso

12-03-2006, 01:42 PM

Tuesday Nov. 7th…Grand Cayman

Some background info: Over the past 2 years, I spent many hours researching the ports and excursions available to us. When it came to Grand Cayman, I kept reading about Stingray City. The first time I mentioned it to the kids, I got a look of mild interest from Stephanie, a look of doubt from Tommy and from Kevin I got “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” He felt so strongly about it that any time the cruise came up as a topic of conversation, he’d say “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” We could be talking about the food and he’d say “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” Chuck and I were discussing how we were going to pay for the cruise and Kevin said “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.” Steph would say “I got an email from Cheyenne” and Kevin would say “I don’t wanna go to Stingray City.”

OK, so Kevin doesn’t want to go to Stingray City…got it. But what really made me forego the whole idea was that Tommy didn’t want to and Steph didn’t seem to want to. And when you get right down to it…do I really want packs of creepy crawlies squirming around and touching me while wearing a bathing suit? Not really. So it was decided long before the Steve Irwin incident…no Stingray City for the Incredible family.

What did we want to do in Grand Cayman? We just wanted to go to the beach. What about the Boots? They were planning Stingray City until Steve Irwin. Alyssa read about what happened and said “no way.” So they too will join us at the beach. End of background info.

We wake up Tuesday morning and the skies look overcast. We take our time in the morning, which is so nice. No excursion meeting time, no rush for tender tickets, just a nice leisurely breakfast. We get suits on, lotion everyone up, pack towels in the Castaway Club bags (yes, they put those in our rooms and there was no way I was going to confess to not being a CC member) and went out to the movie theatre for tender tickets holding our 5 shiny new red buckets.

We walk through the back of the theatre and they hand us each a ticket. No line, no waiting. As we are following the people in front of us to wherever we need to go, Keith realizes he doesn’t have the kids’ KTTW cards on him. So we wait while he runs back to the room. Alyssa didn’t get enough sleep last night and is not a happy camper. She complains about the wait. Christine is very patient with her.

Keith makes it back but now we lost our tender crowd and don’t know where to go. We head down to deck one and see signs to where we need to go. We go through the little security area and walk on to the tender boat. We head up to the top so we can see the view. Uh-oh, it’s drizzling up here. We decide to tough it out since it’s only slightly drizzling. The water below us is the most beautiful deep blue I’ve ever seen. Alyssa complains about sitting in the rain. She says how stupid we are for going to the beach when it’s raining. Christine moves away from her to sit next to me. I’m happy it’s her kid and not one of mine.

The tender boat is ready to move and we push away from the Magic. Just then, as if it was waiting for us to start moving, the skies open up and it starts to pour. Not just any rain but a pelting rain, the kind that hurts when it hits you. We are instantly soaked. Everyone on the top deck scrambles for the stairs to the shelter below, including us. We make it to the covered area of the boat and look at ourselves…there we are sopping wet with our shiny new red buckets. We look completely ridiculous. We all laugh about what a great beach day it is.

Except Alyssa is not laughing. She starts in on Christine again…"Oh good call Mom, great beach day." She keeps it up over and over again. I try to make a joke out of it and tell Christine she is “all powerful mom” to be able to control the weather. The Boots are having their own family moment b/c apparently Keith not having the KTTW cards was Christine’s fault too. Ahh, the joys of traveling together…they witnessed our moment at the Residence and now we are witnessing theirs. I am very impressed with Christine as she did not throw Alyssa overboard. There is no where to move away from her since we’re packed liked sardines so we just listen to it. Eventually Keith tells her to knock it off and she sulks quietly.

We make it to shore and I’m pretty sure Chuck wants to kiss the ground but doesn’t b/c the ground is soaked. We walk through the receiving line of taxi drivers looking for fares. There we are with our towels and our buckets looking like absolute suckers. We hear one lady cab driver say “oh no, it’s not raining at the beach.” I am hopeful but the guys just laugh at me…of course she’s going to say that. We stop to regroup after the receiving line and one driver comes over to tell us he can fit us in his van.

Now we aren’t really sure where we want to go. I didn’t realize I needed a specific name of a beach. I knew we wanted 7 mile beach but that was it. Keith read in the Disney literature about a certain part of the beach so he tells the driver. Carlos (the driver) tells us we don’t want to go there. The guys are afraid we’re gonna get ripped off so they tell him that yes, that is the beach we want. I’m staying out of this since I have no clue where to go. Shame shame on me, obsessive vacation planner!

We load into a van with another family from the Magic. It doesn’t look like there are seats for me and Kevin until Carlos pulls down 2 jump seats. I sit behind Kevin and drape my arms over him like a human seat belt. Chuck sits up front. The other family doesn’t know what beach either so they follow us. Carlos drives up to this one resort, saying the whole time “I have a better beach for you.” We get out and Carlos goes up to the lady asking her how much. It’s still raining and we’re feeling rather silly. She quotes us some outrageous price per person and the guys say no. Carlos again says he has a better beach and they agree to go to Carlos’ beach.

We pile back in the van and drive back in the opposite direction until we come to Royal Palm Beach. Carlos asks what time to come back for us and we tell him 2:00. It’s now 11:00. It’s not raining anymore and the sun peeks through the clouds. We walk on the beach, pay $5 for chaises and get settled.

It’s extremely hot and it doesn’t take long until we’re all in the water. The water is beautiful and very calm. Even Kevin is enjoying the water, although he wants to swim with me and I’d like some time on that chaise. The sun is out in full force and the rain is becoming a distant memory. Christine takes the opportunity for payback…"yeah Alyss, we should have stayed on the ship, it’s a terrible day for the beach."

Kevin agrees to let me sit on the chaise for a while. I test out the super zoom on my Olympus:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB070093.jpg

I also get this one of the boys in the water:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB0700912.jpg

I packed some cereal from Topsiders and Kevin munches on that. Steph starts to complain that she’s hungry and the cereal’s not cutting it. I convince Chuck to get some food for her. We didn’t want to have to buy food in the 3 hours we’re here but she didn’t eat too much for breakfast. The food is rather expensive and Steph gets the lecture on our family’s vacation policy…when it’s time to eat, you have to eat.

Chuck tells us he ran into Carlos while waiting for the food and we discuss how much Carlos’ kickback is for bringing cruisers to this particular beach. We wonder if the lady at the other beach is his sister. Oh well, we don’t feel cheated b/c it’s a pretty good beach. The bathrooms are clean, there’s a bar and food and the chaises were only $5. All in all, a great beach day.

It’s almost 2:00 so we get ready to go. Carlos arranged for someone else to take us back. On the way back, we pass a Del Sol store. I forgot to mention in previous installments that Christine had shopped in Del Sol in Key West and bought Steph a ring and the boys iguana key chains. For those like me who never heard of this store, it’s all stuff that looks white but turns color out in the sun. Think Animator’s Palate but with stuff. Anyway, someone accidentally stepped on her ring and it broke that morning.

Seeing that the store is so close to the tender, I agree to take Steph there while Chuck takes the boys back. Kyle wants to swim so he goes back with Chuck. The rest of the Boots will come with us to the store. There’s a scary moment as Christine can’t find the KTTW cards. She and Keith have words again until they are found hiding underneath the cardboard bottom of the Castaway Club bag.

So the 5 of us walk over to Del Sol and look around. Of course Steph convinces me to buy her a dolphin necklace in addition to a new ring. Can you say sucker? The cashier gives us free rings that the boys love. Boys are so much easier than girls when it comes to stuff!

We walk back and wait for the tender. There’s a bridal party waiting and we all have fun watching the bride in her wedding gown and listening to them talk about their day. We make it back to the Magic and head straight up to deck 9. Unlike Jason & Michael, we did not make hair braiding appointments during the sail-away party. Tomorrow is dolphin day and we want the girls to have braided hair for the pictures. We find the hair braiding lady and ask about appointments. She tells us she only has appointments at 9:00 tonight. We’ll have to take them.

We rework the schedule and decide that we’ll see the early show, go to dinner at Topsiders and then do the hair braiding. It’s not like we’ll miss our servers. Plus it’s Parrot Cay tonight and the same menu will be served at Topsiders anyway. We head over to the Mickey Pool to tell the guys the new plan.

Alyssa is still in a mood and doesn’t want to swim so Christine takes her back to the room. I try a wrap at Goofy’s Galley but it’s not so good so I eat more fruit. I haven’t mentioned it yet but I fell in love with the fruit at Goofy’s Galley. I never ate so much fruit in my life, it was very yummy. I wound up getting a huge plate every night before dinner so the kids could munch while we got ready. I just forgot to write about it until now.

Anyway, Chuck takes Kevin back to the room as they’ve both had enough sun. Keith is watching the boys in the Mickey Pool so I take Steph around for Hidden Friends. Not only do we find Rebecca and Cheyenne but we find their parents chatting at a table. Finally! A chance to sit and chat with them.

It’s soon time to leave the pool and get clean. I order some room service cookies to take to the show as a snack. I enter the bathroom and once again contemplate my arch nemisis...the shower curtain. I decide "in the tub" but fanned out like Steph had it the day before. The problem is that little pools of water form on the curtain where it's fanned out by the tub. I try to empty it in the tub but I lose hold of it and the water spills all over the floor. :rolleyes:

We leave for the Walt Disney theatre for the early show. On our way we see Donald with no line so the kids jump in for a picture. All except you know who (and I'm not talking about Voldemort!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB0701112.jpg

Our front row seats are taken so we sit a few rows back. I introduce the rest of my party to the room service cookies and they’re a big hit. Even Christine tries one. The lady sitting in front of the kids asks about them. We have an extra cookie so we offer it to her. She loves it too. I think those cookies and the fruit were my favorite foods on the ship.

We all enjoy Twice Charmed. The shows on board are unbelievably good. By the time it’s over, we are all really hungry. We make our way up to Topsiders. It’s nice to be in shorts for dinner.

Up next…good servers do exist, a new use for digital cameras, Moms night out…WHERE?

PrincessFAN2006

12-03-2006, 05:11 PM

Great TR can't wait to read more. Your family takes great photos!!!

Kim

love2travel

12-03-2006, 07:10 PM

Your report is great Linda! Keep going!

Ct_TiggerFan

12-03-2006, 09:46 PM

Love your trip reports

It brings back some memory's from our first cruise.

Thanks

Babs417

12-03-2006, 10:14 PM

I could use a cookie right now :thumbsup2 :sunny: ;) :goodvibes :) and a big glass of milk

mruhaak

12-04-2006, 02:21 PM

Love the Voldemort reference... as I'm a huge HP fan.

Bummer that you had such poor servers. My DH has little patience with poor service so that would be bad if it happens to us.

I've been to Grand Cayman twice and have done Stingray twice. It is a really neat experience BUT... I think you made the best choice for your age kids and since they weren't into it. The times I did it there were quite large waves and since I'm not very tall I had a hard time holding my own, I can't imagine wrangling kids too.

Holly&Joesmommy

12-04-2006, 05:12 PM

Your camera takes great great pictures :thumbsup2
Can't wait to read what happens next. popcorn::

lindaso

12-05-2006, 09:04 PM

Great TR can't wait to read more. Your family takes great photos!!!Thank you. I did get some great shots and some not-so-great shots too! That will come later.

Love the Voldemort reference... as I'm a huge HP fan.Hey, a "spirited" son and a HP fan!?! pixiedust: Too bad you don't live closer, we could hang out!

I could use a cookie right now and a big glass of milk
Mmmm cookie! Milk would be good but you better not ask Melroy to get it for you. :teeth:

Love your trip reports. It brings back some memory's from our first cruise.I felt pretty clueless many times! :scratchin

Your report is great Linda! Keep going!Hey Teresa, thanks for sticking with it. I'm out of notes so I hope I can finish this thing properly.

Your camera takes great great pictures. Can't wait to read what happens next. I would have had better beach shots but I forgot about the humidity factor and many of my shots came out hazy. But they look cool in their own way too.

Let your husban know this is the best thing he will ever do for his family. I'm going on our 16th Disney Cruise in the last sixteen years. My wonderful wife say's it better then counceling! We started with three day cruise found out it was way to short, then we went and did four four day cruises and then slid to the seven and have not stopped since. Going again 12/9/06. The double dip!Wow, 16 cruises in 16 years!! Now you did it the normal way, started out slow with a 3 day. Not me, nope, I just jumped right in!!

I Love your Report!!! can't wait for land-fall Yup, land-fall was definitely someone's favorite part of the vacation.

I am really loving it!Aw, thank you. It's nice to hear that people are actually reading this thing! I do tend to get a bit long-winded :rolleyes1.

Great trip report! I am really enjoying it. I can't believe what bad service you were getting with your dining team, even after day # 3. I'm starting to get worried that I may get them on our trip. What makes them sound even worse is that it seems like they didn't have any personality. I hope things improved over the next few days and if not that you mentioned it in your feedback on the ship. We had an unbelievable server on the Wonder 12/2004. He was funny and great with the kids. He always anticipated our needs. I was looking forward to that again on our next trip. I hope we get so lucky!I still have more to write about Glenn & Melroy. It was disappointing but we still had a fantastic time.

I love your report! I have read some awesome "daddy" reports recently (thanks boys) but am loving a report from a "mommy" point of veiw! I am half way through but have to run out the door (I am already 30 minutes late!!) LOVE IT!! The guys around here have been doing a great job. But we mommies experience things just a tad different!!

OK, so can you tell I'm happy I figured out how to quote multiple people in one post?? :woohoo:

mruhaak

12-06-2006, 10:35 AM

Hey, a "spirited" son and a HP fan!?! pixiedust: Too bad you don't live closer, we could hang out!

I've just been listening to books 5 & 6 on my IPOD the past few weeks. While commuting to work and at work while working on a project that doesn't require a lot of brain power. So it's ironic you mention it!

Yes... bit of a jaunt from New York from here! Too bad! We could let our spirited children terrorize each other! :rotfl:

lindaso

12-06-2006, 02:30 PM

Tuesday Nov. 7th cont…a new use for digital cameras, Moms’ night out…WHERE?

We get seated at Topsiders at the biggest table they have. It’s a little tight but we make it work. Our servers here are very friendly and ask all kinds of questions about where we’re from, if we’re related, which kids belong to who, etc. I can’t remember what I ate here and looking at the menus on *****************, I don’t think we got the Master Chef menu b/c it doesn’t look at all familiar. But whatever we ate, it was as good as the regular restaurants.

The kids can tell the difference between here and the fancier restaurants as they are loud and generally misbehaved. Maybe dressing them in pants makes a difference? I reach my breaking point and raise my voice saying there will be no hair braiding or arcade for anyone if they don’t knock it off right now. I didn’t really mean to include the Boots children in my threat but it came out that way. Kyle believes me and straightens up right alongside my kids.

Kevin orders his usual chicken fingers which now makes the 8th meal in a row (not including breakfast). Up to this point, they’ve been served with just French fries. But here in Topsiders, they add a section of mixed vegetables. They place the plate in front of Kevin and he exclaims rather loudly…“WHAT are those?!?!?”, pointing to the vegetables and acting like he’s never seen such a thing in his life. I take a good ribbing b/c my son doesn’t know what vegetables are.

What we notice while eating in Topsiders is the attentiveness of our servers. They offer to cut Tommy’s chicken fingers. The ketchup is left on the table. And the biggie…they bring Chuck another coke before he finishes the old one. Plus they are smiling and just plain friendly. It’s a nice change of pace. Here are our crazy boys during dinner:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB070117.jpg

We finish our meal and head over to the hair braiding station. The boys (and men) run right into the arcade. Every trip to the arcade is an enigma for me. There are video games in the club, there are video games in the lab, there are video games on the computer I paid $90 for, there are video games at Ocean Quest family time, AND there are video games in our stateroom. Why oh why must we pay $30 per card to play video games in this arcade?

But I have to keep my mouth shut b/c we rearranged everyone’s whole evening just so 2 girls can get their hair braided for a dolphin swim that only 2 girls are doing. The boys aren’t getting anything so I try to ignore the $30 arcade card.

Here are the big boys having fun in the arcade:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB070124.jpg

The girls take one last look through the braid book and tell the ladies which ones they want. Alyssa is going for the side-parted one and Steph is going for the triangle-looking one. They sit down in their chairs but the table is in between them and they can’t see each other getting braided. They both keep asking all kinds of questions about the other…how many does she have done so far, what does it look like, is she crying, is she almost done, etc.

Christine comes up with a great idea. She takes a picture of Alyssa to show Stephanie. I jump in and we both take all kinds of weird angles of their heads so the other can see it. I know the hair braiding ladies think we’re nuts. We’re both glad the guys aren’t here to make fun of us. Gotta love digital cameras! Here's one that's gotta hurt:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB070125.jpg

Alyssa’s hair is done first and I don’t get a chance to ask Christine about the tip. Steph’s total is around $20 so I tip $5. We take some normal pictures and I finally get a chance to ask her about it. She says she tipped $10 and I immediately feel like a cheapskate. I feel horrible that I didn’t tip the same amount as her. Why didn’t we talk about this beforehand? I continue to feel bad until Keith gets wind of our conversation and asks Christine how much she tipped. He chews her out for tipping too much and I immediately feel better!!

The final result:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB070128.jpg

It’s about 9:30 and time to start thinking about bed. Christine insists on bed for Alyssa based on her morning attitude. I ask Steph if she wants to go to the camp out in the club. She doesn’t know if her DIS friends are going and I offer to wait there to see if they come. But she’s not so interested so we call it a night.

Christine and I plan to get the kids in bed and go out somewhere. Chuck wants to watch the DaVinci Code on TV so he’s fine with staying back with the kids. I get them all ready for bed, nebulize Kevin (who is doing beautifully on this vacation and hasn’t coughed once), and run out the door. FREEDOM!!!

Where should we go? What should we do? Do we go to Rockin’ Bar D? Or perhaps Sessions? Both are great choices but first we must check Shutters for our pictures of Formal night. Did I get a good enough picture for a Christmas card? What package do I need to buy? Do I need to dress everyone in their clothes from yesterday? How much is all this going to cost? These questions need my immediate attention.

We arrive at Shutters and gather all of our pictures, including the embarkation ones, the picture they took at Lumiere’s, and the character pictures. Boy, there are a lot of photos here. I start to flip through them but I just can’t get a grasp on what I have. I need to see them side-by-side b/c there are too many similar ones of the same pose. I need somewhere to spread out. I need a place to sit and really look at them carefully.

I walk around Shutters and find a spot right next to the door by the CM’s desk. There’s enough room and it’s not in the path of anyone walking by. Now sitting on the floor in Shutters seems perfectly natural to me, but apparently it’s not normal. Every CM who walks by us laughs and asks if we’re comfortable. We smile and say yes.

There is one CM in particular that keeps commenting to us. She asks if she can get us some pillows. She asks if she can get us some drinks. Her comments to us are funny but laced with sarcasm…we love her! Her name is Bahar and she becomes one of the best memories of our cruise.

Christine and I are going through each other’s photos b/c it’s easier to be objective with someone else’s family pictures. I pick through her shots and tell her which ones I like. Now, Christine has a thing about pictures of herself. She’ll make an entire scrapbook and not include one single picture of herself. I at least will throw one of myself in every few pages just to show I exist.

Christine is specifically occupied with her chin. She sees a double chin in every picture. Let me tell you…it doesn’t exist, but she sees it and hates every picture that she’s in. We argue over it, we laugh over it, I tackle her before she throws a perfectly good picture into the slot of doom. Bahar is enjoying the entertainment.

Christine says to me “I wonder if they can photoshop our pictures.”

“What part do you want photoshopped?” I ask.

“Do you think they can photoshop my double chin into a single chin?”

“I don’t know, let’s ask Bahar.” I say.

We call Bahar over and Christine says, “can you photoshop our pictures?”

Bahar says, “oh sure, we have time to photoshop everyone’s pictures.”

Christine says, “no, seriously, can you photoshop my picture?”

Bahar kneels down to see what Christine is talking about.

Christine asks hopefully, “can you fix my double chin?”

Bahar answers with a perfectly straight face, “I am not a surgeon” and walks away.

It’s a good thing I’m already on the floor b/c I would have fallen down. You know ROFLMAO? Well, we are doing that literally on the floor of Shutters. We are now getting stares from other cruisers standing there looking at their pictures.

We compose ourselves enough to look through my pictures. Christine picks out 2 horrible ones where someone has their eyes closed. She tries to convince me to put them in the slot of doom b/c I’ll never buy them and there are better ones of the same pose. Of course she’s right, I know she’s right, but putting them down that slot is just so FINAL. I can’t bring myself to do it. We have a Dr. Phil moment where she convinces me to empower myself in this decision-making process and I get up and put my 2 horrible eyes-closed pictures down the slot of doom. I did it! The world did not end b/c I threw out a picture!

I come dancing back to our spot, very proud of myself. Even Bahar congratulates me but points out that I still have about 15 pictures in my pile and it’s only Tuesday. She’s such a smartass, I just love her!!

It’s getting late but we don’t notice. We’re having too much fun. How long have we been on the floor of Shutters? I ask a CM what time they close and get a “don’t worry about it” in response. So we go back to our pictures. Christine spreads out her gray background pictures and starts talking frames and where in her house to hang them. Yes, we have a disease.

We notice the Shutters CM’s putting the big boards on top of the picture holders. Again we ask what time they close and again they say don’t worry. I don’t have a navigator so I can’t look for myself. Please tell us what time you close. It finally dawns on us that they will not kick us out and we better leave on our own (duh!). All the boards are covered up so we can’t even put our pictures back.

Bahar convinces us to buy the ones we still have left and exchange them when we come back. Oh great, now I can bring them back to the room and obsess over them there! She tells us we better come back and see her and next time she’ll have cushions and drinks for us. We say goodbye to our new Shutters friends and thank them for the fun evening.

So…our moms’ night out is spent at Shutters. Pathetic? Absolutely! But we had a blast! We laughed hard and made a new friend. While walking back to the room, Christine says “so, do you think they can really photoshop our pictures?” We start the giggles again b/c I have no idea. Neither of us could tell if Bahar was serious or kidding. We’ll have to find out tomorrow.

It’s a bit embarrassing telling Chuck that we spent the whole night in Shutters. My husband just smiles and shakes his head. I tell him all about our new friend. He thinks Christine and I are having more fun than the kids. I think we are too!!

Up next…swimming with the jellies, er dolphins; NOOOO, there are pish in the water; yo ho yo ho a pirate night for me

Ski-and-Sea

12-06-2006, 03:03 PM

That was brilliant.

I think we all feel the same way about "letting" go of our unwanted photos in the trash can at Shutters.

Its like you can hear the photos call out to you......"don't leave me, don't send me away.......come back to meeeeee.......

Its just as scary as flushing the toilet in our staterooms.

plutospup

12-06-2006, 07:10 PM

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Could you hear the echo of the pictures screaming as they fell into the deep abyss? I know I did! :rotfl:

tjeagle

12-06-2006, 08:12 PM

Okay...me again...but I need to tell you, I love your report! I feel like it could be me and my best friend living these experiences!
Keep it coming! :thanks:

lindaso

12-06-2006, 11:05 PM

Good to know I'm not alone in my fear of the slot of doom. More to come on the "SOD" in future installments!

pklein09

12-07-2006, 06:56 AM

So very funny!!!! I could see myself on the floor of Shutters doing the same thing!

Looking forward to more....

FrazzledDad

12-07-2006, 12:45 PM

The wife and I are loving your TR so far. Can't wait for more.

tubachick

12-07-2006, 03:06 PM

enjoying the TR. popcorn::

kjblovesdisney

12-08-2006, 12:04 PM

This is a great trip report and I am enjoying it so much.

mruhaak

12-11-2006, 02:45 PM

Anxious for more!

What... are you busy with christmas or something?

popcorn::

lindaso

12-11-2006, 03:54 PM

Anxious for more!

What... are you busy with christmas or something?

popcorn::

Ding ding ding!! That and Tommy's 7th b-day where I had the bright idea to make iron-on transfer t-shirts for 15 kids.

I'll try my best to keep writing this week. Thanks for hanging in there!

mruhaak

12-11-2006, 09:57 PM

Ding ding ding!! That and Tommy's 7th b-day where I had the bright idea to make iron-on transfer t-shirts for 15 kids.

I'll try my best to keep writing this week. Thanks for hanging in there!

You are a glutton for punishment!!

lindaso

12-12-2006, 07:52 AM

Wednesday Nov. 8th…Chankanaab

Turning the clocks back an hour is one of Chuck’s favorite days of the year. He loves that he gets to do it on DCL. After the start he had to this cruise, if that makes him happy, I’ll go with it! I try not to mention that we have to move them ahead the very next night. Why not let him enjoy his moment?

We wake up on Wednesday a little earlier due to the extra hour. Today is the day…the day Stephanie has been waiting for! A little background on my daughter…she is dolphin obsessed. She sleeps with a stuffed dolphin, she has a dolphin room complete with bedding, curtains, posters and tchotchkes, dolphin earrings and since yesterday, a dolphin necklace. I did her dolphin room for her 8th birthday. It used to be a pink Disney Princess room. They grow up so fast.

Of course I had spent many hours researching our dolphin options. I booked the royal swim through shoretrips. I don’t want to just “encounter” the dolphins, I want to be right there with them. The minimum age is 8 so the boys are too young to participate. I booked the 2 girls with 2 adults. Which 2 adults? The 2 most adventurous adults…me and Keith.

We pack our beach bags again this morning. We head up to Topsiders for our daily breakfast buffet where each Incredible child is instructed to eat now or forever hold your hunger. We meet up with the Boots and head off the ship. It’s nice to just walk off onto a pier and not have to ride a tender boat.

The first thing we notice when we get on the pier is how hot it is. It’s sunny but it’s a scorcher. We make it to a section that looks like a mall and immediately get bombarded by taxi drivers. Our red buckets give us away again. Chuck, feeling more confident after our Grand Cayman experience, picks an English speaking taxi driver and negotiates a fare to Chankanaab. The driver makes a face and says “why do you want to go there?” Chuck answers “dolphin swim” and the taxi driver nods and opens the door.

We pile in the van and head out through some side streets. I’m happy they drive on the right side of the road since it freaked me out a little in Grand Cayman. I kept thinking we were going to crash. This is a much more comfortable cab ride. Chankanaab is further than I expected but we pay less for the taxi than Grand Cayman.

We arrive at Chankanaab and are greeted by a man whose purpose is to show us the map and explain the park. We listen and try to figure out where and if there is a beach. I had read so many conflicting reports, I didn’t know what to believe. Mr. Greeter Man says there’s a beach so we are hopeful. He walks us over to the admission area and I whip out my coupon (happy that I remembered to bring it). It gives us $2 off adults and $1 off the kids. We pay our 90-something dollars for the 9 of us and receive our bracelets. Uh oh, another bracelet. Mr. Greeter Man helps everyone on with theirs and approaches Kevin. He screams and Mr. Greeter Man jumps back and says he doesn’t have to wear it.

We enter the park and check in at the dolphin desk. I tell them we have a 12:00 royal swim and I exhale noticeably after seeing my name on their checklist. Thank you shoretrips! I fill out some paperwork, give them my voucher, and they instruct us to be back at the desk a few minutes before 12.

There are a few groups out there and we see the dolphins jumping out of the water. Wow!! It looks really cool from all the way back here. I can’t wait to see what it looks like up close!

We walk to the left in the direction that Mr. Greeter Man showed us. We walk over a construction area but it’s only a few steps before we’re on the sand. We pass the kiddie beach and head over to the beach area. We dump our stuff on some chaises that sit under tiki umbrellas and check out the water. The beach is sandy but there’s a retaining wall separating the sand and the water. You have to walk down moss covered rock stairs to get into the water. Here’s a picture of the retaining wall. The stairs you can see here are easier to navigate than the stairs in the water:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise053.jpg

It’s close to 100 degrees and there’s water so I’m game. I hold on tight to the railing so I don’t slip and swim out a bit. The water is a bit rough but it’s refreshing. We have a little over an hour to kill so the guys go rent snorkeling gear. They get 2 sets each and Chuck tries to get Stephanie ready to snorkel.

Well, it seems that today is Stephanie’s day for meltdown. She’s whining and complaining and just plain miserable. I know Keith and Christine take pleasure in the fact that it’s our turn. But unlike Christine from the day before, I have little patience for it. I pull her aside and tell her that we are here for her, today is her Super Bowl and she better snap out of it. She lets Chuck get the snorkel gear on and works her way over to the steps. She’s not comfortable in the mask but at least she’s not whining.

Looking back, I realize that it’s meltdown Wednesday. I didn’t realize it at the time but Stephanie always melts down on Wednesday of vacation week. We always do Epcot on Wednesday and I thought it was Epcot’s fault. Apparently I owe Epcot an apology.

She and Chuck get in the water but I see them stop every few seconds to adjust her mask. Keith and Alyssa get in and Alyssa picks up snorkeling right away. Tommy wants to swim so I grab some speedo goggles for him and we navigate the steps. Here we are enjoying the water:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise136.jpg

It’s getting hotter by the minute and I want Kevin to cool off in the water too. Unfortunately, he put two and two together and realized we are snorkeling to see fish. I invite him to swim and get a “nooo, there are pish in the water.”

“Come on Kev, you need to cool off. The fish won’t hurt you.”

“NOOO, I’m not shwimming with pish!!”

“You can’t go the whole day without getting wet. It’s too hot.”

“NOOOOOOO”

He’s all red and sweaty and I really want him to cool down. So I ignore his opinion, pick his 50 lb. body up and carry him down the moss-covered steps praying that I don’t slip b/c if he gets scraped against the rocks I’ll never hear the end of it. I dunk his shoulders and quickly get him out of the pish-infested waters. He’s screaming and Christine is chuckling at me. I’m such a bad mother.

Steph and Chuck come out a few minutes later and she’s unsuccessfully trying to hold back tears. She says she’s having trouble breathing through the snorkel. Chuck now hears Kevin who is still screaming on the chaise and gives me one of those “why are we doing this?” looks.

I try to explain to Stephanie that she has to bite down on the little tabs and breathe through her mouth. She says she can’t and opens her mouth to show me. Her tooth and gums are all bloody. Another loose tooth! This child loses teeth in the most bizarre places…it would be just like her to lose it during the dolphin swim. She once lost a tooth in the middle of Goofy’s Barnstormer and I thought it was a pebble and almost tossed it off the ride. Her most recent tooth was in centerfield in the middle of a game. She came in after the inning with blood all over her uniform.

So bloody mouth takes a break from snorkeling. Meanwhile, Kyle is now out snorkeling with Keith and doing really well. Tommy just wants to swim with the Speedo goggles so I get the snorkel gear on to swim with him. I take one step in the flippers and almost land on my face. I manage to make it to the ledge without falling. But now I’m at the same rocks I had trouble navigating before. And now I have an extra 12 inches on the ends of my feet. I grab hold of the railing, take a step and loose my footing. I’m a menace in these flippers! Thank God I had a good hold on that railing!!

I let go of the railing and push off the rocks with my flippered feet. Tommy comes and joins me and we snorkel as best we can with him coming up for air every 10 seconds. Before I know it, it’s time to come in and head over to the dolphins. We leave our stuff on the beach and arrive at the desk at 12:00.

They tell us to have a seat. We watch the other groups out in the water. The boys ooh and aah every time a dolphin jumps out. We discuss whether Christine should sneak out onto the pier for pictures. We wait some more. They tell us they are waiting for a trainer. We chat with another family from the Magic waiting for the same swim. Finally at about 12:45, our trainer comes over.

We say goodbye to the rest of our crew and the four of us follow the group. We are lead into a room with benches to watch a video with safety instructions. The trainer asks Alyssa how old she is but he doesn’t ask Steph. Alyssa makes a face at Stephanie and we all laugh. Alyssa is actually 7 weeks older but you’d never know by looking at them.

We finish our video, get our group letter, and walk out toward the life jacket area. They hand me the same size life jacket as Stephanie…a size small, woohoo!! I can’t remember the last time I wore a size small in anything!! Christine pops out with her camera and snaps our picture (have I mentioned her kids call her the paparazzi? Now I know why). Chuck and the boys sit in the heat on the bench. Christine and I really can’t bear the thought of not getting pictures so she walks with us pretending like she’s supposed to be there. It works!! No one kicks her out.

We arrive at our little tank area. It’s time…we’re swimming with the dolphins!!

Up next…the royal swim (with Christine’s pictures), more Chankanaab adventures, yo ho yo ho, a pirate night for me

ashman

12-12-2006, 09:59 AM

Another great installment. Thanks For sharing! Can't wait to see the dolphin pics!

becca_n_wa

12-12-2006, 11:17 AM

I did find your trip report!

Cool so far, cant wait for the rest and those pics also!

mruhaak

12-12-2006, 12:39 PM

I think Chanakaab looks good from what I can see in your photos. I was there in January 2005 (pre hurricane).

Losing a tooth on vacation! That's fun!

discruiselovers97

12-12-2006, 09:08 PM

Poor Alissa! That is my daughter exactly! She is 14 for petes sake and they kept asking her what she was doing in the stack! She was like umm going in? They would question her and then finally they made this cute card that she put in her key to the world holder!

lindaso

12-14-2006, 12:11 AM

Wednesday Nov. 8th, continued…The Royal Swim

We follow our group to the roped off area which is now our own personal fish tank. We walk down the steps into the water. I had read so many reports about the grate you have to stand on. We stand on it barefoot and have no problems at all. The current is a bit strong and I find myself holding on to the fence behind me so I don’t float out beyond the grate. The water is so deep that our weight doesn’t really rest on the grate at all, so no feet boo boos for us.

Our trainer introduces us to our dolphins, Mussa and Regina. Here they are courtesy of Christine who acts like she’s supposed to be standing there on the dock with her camera:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise158.jpg

And here’s a close-up:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise171.jpg

I can’t remember our trainer’s name so I’ll just refer to him as Trainer. Trainer explains how we should put our hands together to get our kiss. You can see that I’m a very good student as I’m practicing while he’s talking:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise146.jpg

It’s a bit unsettling as we’re standing there with our hands in position b/c I can’t see which person the dolphin is going to. I get a little shock when it’s my turn as the dolphin is suddenly RIGHT THERE in front of me. I kiss her and then forget to turn toward the photographer. Apparently they call my name a few times and it finally dawns on me to look over. Here’s my dolphin kiss:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise147.jpg

Trainer instructs me to swim out for my hug. I swim out and turn around to face the other swimmers as well as the photographer on the dock. Trainer says to put my arms out with my palms up. Again, before I know it, the dolphin swims right up and is in my arms. They’re quiet and hard to see so they constantly take me by surprise. I smile for my picture and then Trainer says to prepare for the foot push. Before I swim away, I look at Keith and confirm that that’s the belly one. My brain is not working and I can’t remember any of the instructions!!

I swim out to the middle of the tank and get ready. I’m supposed to float on my belly with my feet pointing down toward the bottom of the water. It’s really freaky floating in the middle of the water knowing that 2 dolphins are suddenly going to push you as hard as they can. I’m floating there trying my best to see the dolphins swimming past me. I don’t see them at all. Out of nowhere, I feel their pressure on my feet and I’m suddenly flying through the air like Superman. I yell a “WOOO” like I’m on a rollercoaster…what a feeling!! I fly all the way to the end of the tank where Mussa and Regina let me go and I fall into the water like from a diving board.

All I can say is AWESOME!! That right there was worth all the money I paid for the royal swim. That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my whole life! Unfortunately Christine’s battery died right before my foot push so she was changing them while I was flying through the air. So I don’t have a picture of my Superman impression to show you. But it’s just as well b/c I don’t love the thought of posting a picture of myself in a bathing suit on the internet!!

After me, Trainer calls for Stephanie. She gets her kiss and swims out for her hug. Here’s my baby girl at one of the happiest moments of her life:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise149.jpg

Trainer tells Stephanie to prepare for the dorsal pull. He reminds her to stand straight in the water with her hands out to her sides like a T. When she feels their fins, she is to grab hold of them. I’m so glad Trainer is reviewing the instructions b/c many of us are having trouble remembering the details from the instruction video. I admit to being nervous watching my daughter out there all by herself. I now understand why 8 is the minimum age for this swim.

Mussa and Regina swim by and Steph successfully grabs their fins and gets a nice ride through the tank. It’s like tubing without the boat. The dolphins are really fast! Here’s Steph during her dorsal pull:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise150.jpg

The current in the water is pretty strong and we are all holding the fence when it’s not our turn. When Trainer calls for Alyssa’s kiss, he instructs Keith to hold her life vest so she doesn’t float away:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise151.jpg

Alyssa swims out for her hug and Trainer says prepare for foot push. Alyssa does great and Christine gets the greatest picture of Alyssa coming out of the water:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise154.jpg

Keith and the other swimmers get their turns. The last guy called is a bit weird as he keeps kissing the dolphin over and over. The photographer is yelling for him to look over but he won’t put his cheek to her mouth. He just keeps kissing the dolphin again and again and again. I didn’t know whether to laugh or tell him to get a room. Trainer gets him to stop eventually and we get to move on with the program.

Everyone has had their first turn and Trainer starts calling people out to do their remaining ride. I get called for my dorsal pull. This is it…my last turn. I remember the T and wait for Mussa and Regina. I feel their fins against my palms and close my hands around them and get my ride. It’s basically a ride full of water in your face. Fun but nothing like the foot push! Here’s my water-in-the-face ride:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise161.jpg

When it’s Stephanie’s turn for the foot push, she doesn’t get very high into the air and winds up falling on top of the dolphins!! Trainer has her go back and try again and instructs her not to bend her knees. He didn’t tell anyone else that, I guess we all just kept our legs straight instinctively. Here’s Stephanie’s flying through the air:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise165.jpg

Here’s a picture of Keith doing his dorsal pull. You can see just how much water gets thrown in your face:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise167.jpg

While everyone is standing at the grate, Trainer tells us to stand at the end of the grate with our arms out and our palms down. It’s pretty hard to keep our balance but before we know it, the dolphins are swimming right under our hands and we get to pet them. It’s amazing how fast and quiet they swim, even right in front of us! Their skin doesn’t feel rubbery, it feels more like smooth plastic.

Everyone has had both rides except for the blond girl. She refuses to do the foot push. She’s freaked out by how high you go and how you get dumped into the water at the end. Her boyfriend tries to talk her into it but she won’t budge. I seriously consider asking if I can have her turn but I don’t because I don’t want to seem tacky. What a waste!!

I think the program is over at this point so I’m pleasantly surprised when Trainer tells everyone to swim out and line up in the middle of the tank. He instructs us to put our hand straight up in the air. This signals the dolphins to come straight up out of the water:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise168.jpg

Again Trainer tells us to pet the dolphins. We got so many swim-by pettings, we just kept doing it over and over. Trainer gets cute and tells us to move our hands in the water. Mussa and Regina splash us back:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise175.jpg

Trainer tells us to put our arms up in the air and spin around in the water. Before we know it, Mussa and Regina are copying the spin right in front of us:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise178.jpg

Then Trainer gives the dolphins a command and they swim around the tank at full speed and suddenly jump way out of the water and dive back in. WOW!! I didn’t realize we would get a performance like this. It’s unbelievably cool. It’s like being in the tank at a Sea World show!

We get a few more swim-by pettings. On the second to last swim-by, one of the dolphins jams my thumb. I thought I had imagined it but Steph noticed and said the dolphin came at my hand. It hurt for a few minutes but then went away. I really don’t know why that happened. But it doesn’t stop me from putting my hands out for the last swim-by.

It’s time to say goodbye to our dolphins. Here they are saying goodbye:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise182.jpg

We leave our tank and follow the group back to the front. Chuck and the boys are still on the bench, looking incredibly hot. They come with us to return the life vests and see the video. We get seated in another room with benches and someone comes in to check the spelling on our names. It only takes a few minutes and we relive the whole royal swim on the TV in front of us. I’m back from laa-laa land and the whole time I’m wondering just how much this video costs.

After the video, we are instructed to go to the gift shop (naturally) to view our photographs. The magic ends here as the photos and video are insanely expensive and Chuck, having sat in the heat with 3 boys, wants to get back to the beach. There are tons of pictures and the girl quotes us $120 for all pictures plus the video. The video itself is $50 and the individual pictures are $15 or $20. Chuck just laughs at her. Not good…I’m now feeling very discouraged. Christine starts going through the shots she has but it’s hard to tell how good they are. It’s very crowded, Stephanie wants everything in the store, the boys are starting to wander off…we need to get out of here!!

Chuck tries to haggle over the pictures but they won’t budge. It doesn’t seem like they’re allowed to do that. I decide to buy one picture of Stephanie’s hug b/c it’s straight on and Christine’s is a profile. I forego the picture of myself doing the foot push (the bathing suit thing again). The Boots buy the DVD and some pictures and we get out of there.

We make it out of the gift shop unscathed (barely) and walk back to our stuff on the beach. The kids munch on the cereal I had packed from Topsiders. The granola is suddenly very popular. We buy some soda and do some more swimming/snorkeling. Kevin still refuses to go into the water with the “pish”. I’ve tortured him enough for one day so I forego dunking him again. Christine finds some native creatures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise186.jpg

And another creature:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise193.jpg

I get the snorkel gear on and go out without kids. Steph’s tooth still hurts and she doesn’t want to go with me. I’m just grateful she didn’t lose the thing in the dolphin tank. I swim all the way out where Keith showed me and saw a good amount of fish. It’s nice and relaxing just floating out there by myself.

It’s been about an hour and a half since the gift shop and we want to get back to the ship. Neither of us want to spend money on food here. But Keith wants to stay and has just ordered nachos. We tell them that we’ll just take separate cabs back but unfortunately for Keith, Christine wants to go back too. Chuck tries to mediate a solution between the two of them and I have to poke him and mumble for him to stay out of it.

Of course Christine wins and Keith and their kids scarf down their nachos and we pack up. It's a bit uncomfortable for us cheapskates when Steph asks for some of their nachos. Keith shares with her and I feel incredibly guilty.

We walk out of Chankanaab and there are numerous cabs waiting to take cruisers back and we have no problem finding a van to fit all of us. We make it back to the pier area and split from the Boots who want to do some shopping.

We just want to get back to the ship and find food. We make it back on board and order room service. We enjoy relaxing in the room until it’s time to clean up for dinner.

Up Next: yo ho, yo ho, a pirate night for me

pklein09

12-14-2006, 06:46 AM

The dolphin excursion looks sooooooooooo neat!!!! Thanks for all the pictures!!!

jsfein

12-14-2006, 09:24 AM

The dolphin swim looked like it was great. The prices for the DVD/photos may have sounded high, but weren't too bad compared to the $75 I shelled out for a CD of the photos of our visit to Stingray City. Ouch.

love2travel

12-14-2006, 02:11 PM

Linda, those pictures are incredible. What kind of camera do you have?
It looks like you guys had a great time!

mruhaak

12-14-2006, 02:51 PM

Your dolphin photos are great!

That last one of Kevin is adorable. I'd get that one framed if I were you!

We didn't do the dolphin swim at Chanakaab, but you make me wish I had. I just laid on the beach, drank margaritas and had a GOOD time. (No kids that trip!)

lindaso

12-14-2006, 03:26 PM

Linda, those pictures are incredible. What kind of camera do you have?
It looks like you guys had a great time!

The dolphin shots were on Christine's camera which is a Sony Cybershot. I believe it's the DSC-H2 but I'm not positive. I have an Olympus Camedia C-765.

We are very lucky they didn't shoo her away from the pier!

lindaso

12-14-2006, 03:43 PM

I just laid on the beach, drank margaritas and had a GOOD time. (No kids that trip!)

Yup, I gotta get me one of those kinds of cruises! :banana:

Holly&Joesmommy

12-15-2006, 11:58 AM

Linda,

Great job again!!! Love the detail. My family went swimming w/ the Dolphins too, but like Kevin I don't like to swim w/ the "pish" :goodvibes so I didn't go.
I never really got a good discription of what actually took place. Your coverage was great, thanks!
Kelly

plutospup

12-15-2006, 08:03 PM

Wow! It looks and sounds like a wonderful time! I wonder if DD9 would enjoy swimming with the dolphins, or just be spooked by them? Anyway, thanks for a great installment of your TR.

lindaso

12-15-2006, 11:26 PM

Wednesday Nov. 8th cont., yo ho, yo ho, a pirate night for me

After enjoying our room service mid-afternoon lunch, we start to clean up. Today is the first day I truly appreciate having 2 showers. It’s just nice not to have an assembly line for getting clean. I make a conscious decision not to fight with the shower curtain anymore. If I flood the bathroom, so be it. I’ve reached a new level of zen…the ship is docked and I can shave without fear. Life is good. Me and my new attitude only flood the bathroom one towel worth today!

Dressing is easy again tonight as everyone has their designated pirate t-shirts. All the kids have matching glow-in-the-dark ones from Target and the adults have POC shirts from the Disney Store. Keith decides to be a party pooper and wears his shirt from Del Sol. He just couldn’t bring himself to wear Johnny Depp.

I rifle through the desk and come up with the pirate accessories I found at Dollar Tree months ago. My kids each have an eye patch, a sword, an earring and some treasure money. Tommy has a light up sword that he saved up for at Chuck E. Cheese so Kevin claims the extra sword. Tommy also has a pirate beeny-hat that he got in a Happy Meal ages ago. Kevin won’t wear the eye patch (this surprises you?) so now I have something to wear too. Steph and I put on the clip-on earrings and they hurt like h*ll. Chuck tries to wear one and takes it off right away. Steph manages to keep hers on as she claims her ear went numb and she can’t feel the earring anymore. I decide to save my ear and will put this torture device on when it’s time for pictures.

While straightening my hair at the desk, I happen to notice the beautiful sunset out of our porthole. Here again is my Olympus on super zoom:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB080139.jpg

Tonight’s dinner is Lumiere’s. I’m feeling a little apprehensive to see our servers after blowing them off the night before. We did have a good reason to skip but I feel bad that we didn’t have a chance to tell them we weren’t coming. We run into Dopey in the hallway and the kids (well, 4 of them) want a picture. Every single character photo we have this week is from running into characters on the way to somewhere else:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB080142.jpg

We find our table at Lumiere’s and say hello to Glenn and Melroy. Glenn asks if we went to Palo the night before and I apologize that we weren’t there and explain about the hair braiding. He smiles and says not to worry about it. Melroy comes over just as we’re sitting down and has drinks for the kids…without us asking! Covered cups for Tommy, Kevin, Kyle and Alyssa. Not perfect but definitely an improvement.

Everyone is in a very good mood and we start tying our bandanas on our heads. Christine and I take our camera idea from the day before a step further and use them as mirrors for our bandanas. Who needs a real mirror when there’s a digital camera at hand?

Melroy explains that tonight’s drink special is a fruity sangria, 2 for 1. We’re in such a good mood we agree to try it. He brings them out and none of us like it. Why we ordered them is beyond me…none of us drink wine. I think we just wanted to make Melroy happy!! But Keith still manages to drink his and he eventually moves on to Christine’s. Glenn brings Kevin and Kyle a bowl full of strawberries since they had one earlier in the week. Our servers are really trying tonight! I guess not showing up to dinner had an impact? We didn’t do it to make a statement but something is different tonight. Kevin doesn’t touch the strawberries but Kyle digs into his.

Much to the kids delight, tonight’s kids’ menu has mozzarella sticks… their favorite! Mozzarella sticks are always a problem to me b/c technically Kevin should not eat them. We manage to substitute soy milk and soy ice cream but mozzarella sticks just have no real substitute. He begs me to have some and I say yes. Cruising really agrees with this child. He hasn’t coughed once, no runny nose, no congestion whatsoever. And he’s sleeping through the night (in his own bed!). Plus while still fried, at least it’s something other than chicken fingers. I tell Glenn that Kevin will order mozzarella sticks. Glenn frowns and shakes his head no. “It is cheese,” he tells me. “Yes, thanks, I know but he’s doing fine and I think he can handle them.” Glenn looks worried and says he has to ask Ronald, the head server. “OK, send him over if he’d like to talk to me,” I smile as friendly as I can.

Glenn comes back and says Ronald says it’s OK. I chuckle to myself, so glad that Ronald is allowing my son to eat cheese. I never once used the word “allergy” with them. I said from the beginning that we monitor it daily, so I’m glad I don’t have to fight for his right to eat cheese.

During dinner we take some pictures of our pirates. Here’s Kyle and Tommy enjoying their toys:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB080148.jpg

And here’s Kevin saying “I won’t go in the kid’s club, you can’t make me!”:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB080151.jpg

Tonight I order the Buccaneer’s sun-ripened pineapple. The coconut covered banana is very interesting and very good. I think I also had the spicy vegetable gumbo soup but I’m not positive. I also don’t really remember my entrée although I think it was grilled shrimp and seared scallops. That’s what I get for not finishing my trip report notes in a timely manner!! But Christine and I love the treasure map menus and take good care not to ruin them for our scrapbooks.

Melroy comes by to see if we’d like another drink. Chuck, Christine and I don’t feel like drinking but Keith orders one. Melroy brings it out and Keith accidentally knocks it off the table after one sip. Oops! We tease him about the sangria but it’s really an accident, he’s not drunk. Melroy brings him another one. At the end of the meal, Keith is disappointed that Melroy charged him for the spilled drink. Although he doesn’t charge us for the sangrias, Keith still feels that a nicer waiter wouldn’t have charged him for a spilled drink. He doesn’t make a stink and pays the tab.

For dessert I order the Lost Banana treasure which is the banana flambee. My SIL makes this and I love it. Glenn tells me the flambee has already happened. I order it anyway. It’s good but not as good as my SIL’s. Maybe it would have been better if I had it hot off the pan. The kids have Mickey Bars and Glenn brings Kevin another huge bowl of maraschino cherries.

Another long meal is finally done. Glenn comes by and tells us that our character breakfast is tomorrow morning at 8:15. That would be a.m. Let’s consider this for a moment, shall we?

1. The breakfast is scheduled for 8:15 a.m.
2. My family hasn’t seen 8:15 a.m. all week.
3. We have to turn the clocks ahead tonight so it’s really at 7:15 a.m.
4. Tonight is a late-night Pirate deck party.
5. I’ve never read a good review of the character breakfast on any trip report.
6. We’ve done more character breakfasts in the past 3 years than most people do in a lifetime.

I smile at Glenn and tell him I don’t think we’ll be there. He’s mortified at the idea. “Oh no, you have to go, it’s really wonderful for the children.” Yes, I’m thinking, wonderful when they don’t get enough sleep and I have to listen to them whine, fight, and complain all day b/c they’re exhausted. I smile again and tell him “we’ll see.” Yeah, “we’ll see” what time they get up in the morning. I also tell Glenn that I promised Kevin a Mickey Bar if he doesn’t cough so if he needs to clear that with Ronald beforehand, please do. He says he will.

We leave Lumiere’s with our pirate paraphernalia and head over to the picture line. While we’d like a Captain Jack picture, it’s not worth waiting in line. So we head over to the white background. We wait for 2 or 3 families to go before our turn. We have a really fun time taking these shots. It’s so much more enjoyable than formal night…no tears!

Here’s the family one (I wish I knew why Kevin keeps putting those swords to his neck, it's funny and creepy all at the same time!):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/pirate.jpg

And the one of the kids:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/piratekids2.jpg

After we’re done, we head over to the Walt Disney Theatre for the movie PremEAR of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. My kids haven’t seen the first 2 movies but it doesn’t matter. Since it’s a movie, we grab seats towards the back instead of our usual front row to the side. Immediately Stephanie and Kyle start complaining that they can’t see. I tell them they’ll be able to see once it starts. Unfortunately that’s not the case and when the lights go out we have to do some quick rearranging. The movie is OK, glad I “prepaid” to see it and didn’t bring everyone out to the theatre for it. [I think I was in Christmas denial…I spent so much energy preparing for the cruise, Christmas just wasn’t on my radar (a fact I’ve paid for dearly this past month!!)].

Kyle falls asleep about 2 minutes into the movie. When the credits roll at the end and everyone claps, he wakes up, starts clapping and says, “that was the best movie I’ve ever seen!!” We get a good laugh over that.

We make our way back to our rooms on deck 2. We are surprised by the best towel animal of the week. Elsa put Steph’s Minnie ears headband on it. In the Boots’ room, she used Alyssa’s American Girl Doll’s sandals. Too Cute:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB080153.jpg

The Boots kids are exhausted and aren’t making it to the pirate deck party. What about my party kids? Of course Stephanie wants to go. Tommy wants to go too but Kevin says he wants to go to sleep. I offer to stay back with Kevin so Chuck can do the pirate party. It’s only fair…I went out the past 2 nights and got to do the dolphin swim. He hasn’t done anything except puke.

I get Kevin into PJ’s and snap the picture I posted on page 2 of this report. It’s worth repeating now that you’ve all gotten to know him:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB080154.jpg

Just as I’m getting the nebulizer ready, my crew comes back in. Tommy changed his mind and wants to go to sleep. Chuck thinks he got a little freaked out by how crowded it was. So looks like it’s a daddy/daughter night out. Tommy gets changed and the two boys snuggle in bed watching a movie while Kevin does his breathing.

I tuck Kevin in and he falls asleep while I’m tucking in Tommy. I sit in our room and write some trip report notes. I enjoy the solitude (something I’ve learned to appreciate when I get it). Before I know it, I hear the fireworks outside. I run to the porthole and I can see them right outside the window. I run in to see if Tommy’s still awake. He isn’t but I’ve woken him up in the process. He climbs down and we watch them together through the porthole. Even though we’re not at the party, it feels special to enjoy the fireworks together through the porthole. Maybe cause it’s just the two of us in the quiet of our room…it’s so peaceful. The fireworks are over before we know it and Tommy asks if he can go back to sleep. My sweet boy! I kiss him goodnight and thank him for spending pirate night with me.

It’s not long after that that Chuck and Steph come back. They had a really good time and did lots of dancing. A Shutter’s photographer snapped this picture of them, which I just love:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/piratenight2.jpg

It’s been a long day and I try to get my party girl wound down for bed. She wants to go to the character breakfast, which is now only 8 hours away with the time change. I give her the same “we’ll see” I gave Glenn. I'm hoping she sleeps more than 8 hours! I know for a fact that I’m not going but the Boots kids get up early so maybe they’ll go.

It’s been another long fun day. The ship is moving again and Chuck goes for his Bonine fix. He definitely enjoys port days more than sea days! But he really enjoyed pirate night and I know he’s starting to get the hang of this cruising thing. I wonder if I can talk him into doing this again?

Up Next…character breakfast? Naahhh! Palo Brunch? Oh yeaaahhhh!!!

Madisonznana

12-16-2006, 02:58 AM

I am so enjoying your report Linda!!! I just found it tonight and I can't wait for more. Thanks for sharing your trip.

tjeagle

12-16-2006, 08:22 AM

I was so excited to see you added a new post :surfweb: Really enjoying your report!

LITTLEKID58

12-16-2006, 08:28 AM

I am enjoying your report.......thank you so much for sharing.

Disney owl

12-16-2006, 06:51 PM

thanks for sharing

love2travel

12-29-2006, 04:12 PM

Hi Linda, Hope you and your family had a great holiday and I wish you all the best in 2007, now finish your trip report!!! LOL!!!

mruhaak

12-29-2006, 04:50 PM

I laughed out loud at the picture of Kevin with swords to his neck... and I'm at work! :rotfl:
Your pirate night pictures turned out great!!!

My youngest, Jackson (7 mos.) has been nebulizing as of late. It's nothing serious. But I can relate to the process. We're thinking of dressing him up as Captain Jack for our cruise. He'll be 19 months.

Looking forward to more!

kandyk

12-29-2006, 07:10 PM

Keep the TR coming!!! :banana:

lindaso

12-29-2006, 10:03 PM

Hi Linda, Hope you and your family had a great holiday and I wish you all the best in 2007, now finish your trip report!!! LOL!!!

Thank you Teresa, we had a very nice holiday. Hope you had a good one as well. We wish you and the family happiness and health in the new year...especially the first & second week of November (lucky stiff!!!).

As far as the trip report? Yes, I will finish it. Things have calmed down here quite a bit. Although I am in the middle of building a 6 foot K'NEX Screamin' Serpent roller coaster. Why do I do these things to myself? I can't even blame Santa cause I bought it myself (great deal at AC Moore!!).

To all still hanging in there with me...thank you. I will finish. I will.

Now if I could just figure out what happened to my mickey & minnie ears in my signature?

pklein09

12-31-2006, 11:46 AM

Now if I could just figure out what happened to my mickey & minnie ears in my signature?

Same thing happened to me.....they discontinued those smilies when the did the upgrade over Christmas (at least I think that's what happened). I went into my signature and picked different smilies, and they worked.

Happy New Year!!!

becca_n_wa

01-01-2007, 02:56 PM

Although I am in the middle of building a 6 foot K'NEX Screamin' Serpent roller coaster. Why do I do these things to myself? I can't even blame Santa cause I bought it myself (great deal at AC Moore!!).

?

I was "cracking up" when I read this! I also bought this for my 9 yr old... He alone worked on it and had it finished in about an hour!
I had a heart attack!!!!! :scared: It was in the middle of the hall going to our MAIN BATHROOM (the one people use when they visit):scared1:

lindaso

01-01-2007, 06:53 PM

I was "cracking up" when I read this! I also bought this for my 9 yr old... He alone worked on it and had it finished in about an hour!
I had a heart attack!!!!! :scared: It was in the middle of the hall going to our MAIN BATHROOM (the one people use when they visit):scared1:

An hour?? No way!! Wow...you have a future engineer on your hands. We had to clear out a whole section in our living room just to make room for this thing. We'll see which gets done first...the roller coaster or the trip report :scared1:

becca_n_wa

01-01-2007, 08:50 PM

lindaso

01-02-2007, 10:09 AM

BAd thing is- he has to do it all over again. We are moving...:sad1:

By the way, loved the report and thanks for the info on the dolphin swim. I do have to ask, is the encounter worth it? I remember you did the royal but I know my DD 6 will not do the push off, ect... I was just wondering if you guys saw or knew of anyone who just did the encounter. Thanks!

I remember researching the DCL encounter and thinking it was very expensive for what you got. But...it is still very cool to be so close and to pet them so I guess it's an individual decision. The kids have to be at least 8 to do the Royal Swim. I know there's been a lot of discussion on the regular board so maybe do a search?

Happy planning!

aquamarinedreams

01-02-2007, 03:27 PM

lindaso

01-02-2007, 08:19 PM

Hi Linda,
I really loved reading your report. I'm new to the board so I got to read all 8 pages of this thread throughout the day, it has taken me forever but its like a good book I don't want to put down! lol
I LOVE your details that you included. Not ever having gone onto a Disney Cruise before I don't really know what to expect and this has helped a lot.
So thank you and I can't wait until you finish your report!
Jen

Hi Jen, welcome to the DIS :welcome:

Thanks for reading. I love writing trip reports but I've gotten really side-tracked with this one. I'm in the middle of Palo Brunch and I hope to post it soon.

lindaso

01-02-2007, 11:21 PM

Thursday Nov. 9th…adventures in breakfast

I slept pretty soundly again that night. This cruising vacation is the best sleeping vacation I’ve ever had. I get up to go to the bathroom and Steph meets me on my way back to bed. “Can I go to the character breakfast?” she asks. I sigh in disbelief…how many hours has she slept? I check the clock and it’s 8:10. I walk out the door with full bedhead to see if the Boots have left yet. They’re still here and they agree to take Steph. Alyssa dances around the room and Kyle asks if Tommy can come. I tell him he’s still sleeping. I walk back into my dark cave of a room where Steph is already dressed and ready to go. Wow…that was fast! She’s out the door with barely a goodbye and I’m not back in bed for more than a minute before Tommy walks in.

Uh oh, I need to act fast. “Do you want to go to the character breakfast?” “YEAH!” comes the answer back at me. For the second time in the last 2 minutes, I walk into the bright hallway with my bedhead hairdo. They are still here! I ask if they can wait a few more minutes for Tommy and Kyle answers with a resounding “OH YEAH!” and starts his version of room dancing.

I go back to my cave (again), find Tommy some clothes and shove him out the door. I climb back into bed and listen to the silence. Well, except for Chuck’s snoring. Silence is relative, ya know. I doze on and off for the next 45 minutes or so. Kevin is still sleeping…in the other room…by himself. Have I mentioned I love cruising?

I eventually move myself out of bed and into the shower. As I have all week, I assess the seas with razor in hand and notice that it’s smooooth sailing. I have a little fight with the shower head as it doesn’t want to stay where I put it. If I wasn’t in relaxing vacation mode, it really would tick me off. But what’s the worst thing that’ll happen? I’ll flood the bathroom? Yeah, OK.

I dry my hair over by the desk and Chuck starts to stir. I inform him that 2 of his children are at the character breakfast and he grunts an acknowledgment. Kevin is still fast asleep. I wonder if I’ll have to wake him up. We have Palo brunch at 10:30…surely he’ll be up by then.

I get all ready for brunch, Chuck gets all ready for brunch and Kevin is still sleeping. I snap his picture as proof that he’s actually still sleeping at 10:07:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB090159.jpg

At 10:10, we decide to wake him up. I need to have him ready for the Boots who will be watching him. He wakes up in a fine mood and we get him dressed. He confirms that he’s spending the morning with Christine and Keith and says, “good, cause I don’t wanna go in the kids club.” Oh really?

We hear them before we see them…4 kids screeching in the hallway. Apparently I threw a KTTW card at Steph before she left b/c before I know it, the 4 screechers are in the room. The reason for the noise is that Stephanie lost her tooth on the stairs just seconds before. Yup, add DCL to the list of non-mundane places the child has lost a tooth. I hope the tooth fairy remembers her out here on the open seas! Kevin is thrilled to see everyone and we hear bits and pieces about the character breakfast. The kids had fun but the parents say it was just OK. Christine is happy she has pictures. I’m so glad to be traveling with my scrapbooking paparazzi friend. She got these shots of my kids while I slept:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise218.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise208.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise204.jpg

And my favorite one...the action shot:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise214.jpg

After breakfast, they went straight to the arcade where apparently there was an intense air hockey game between Tommy and Alyssa. Both have extremely competitive personalities and she was afraid that it wouldn’t end pleasantly. Fortunately it ended without bloodshed. Glad I missed it!!

Here are the competitors in action:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise225.jpg

We look over the navigators and inform the boys about Detective School. To my surprise, Tommy says he doesn’t want to go. What’s up with that? Kyle wants to go so eventually we convince Tommy that it’ll be fun. The girls’ club is having Captain’s Corner and they’re not at all interested in meeting the captain so to mirror our Monday activity, Christine agrees to bring them to Bingo. We give her my KTTW card so she can charge the Bingo cards to our account, say goodbye to the kids, and hightail it up to Palo where we are about 5 minutes late.

We find our way to Palo where they are just starting to seat people. We are led past 2 trays of champagne in fancy glasses and the host explains the two different choices of complimentary champagne (or in cruise-speak, that would be "prepaid"). We both choose the one that has the fruit-something added to it. Neither of us really like champagne so we figure we have a better chance of drinking it if it’s sweeter.

We are seated at a window table for 2. The view is beautiful. The sun is shining, the seas are glistening, the Bonine is working…it’s the perfect day. I’m so glad we chose Palo for brunch so we can enjoy the view.

We try the champagne and we both hate it. So much for the fruit-something. It reminds me of the sangria from last night. It sounds good in theory, but it tastes the same as usual. Oh well, I don’t feel like drinking at 10:30 anyway.

Our server comes over after a very short time. I believe her name is Louise [or was it Lorraine? I don’t have notes and it’s been almost 2 months…shame shame on the trip reporter!]. Anyway, she has blond hair and a British accent and is extremely nice. She escorts us over to the buffet tables to explain what everything is. The first table is seafood and I tell her that’s all I need to see. There’s shrimp (already peeled of course, not like at Topsiders), crab legs, oysters, caviar, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can’t remember. She then leads us over to the bread table where she explains the process of the bread with the whipped cream and the jelly. It doesn’t do much for me but Chuck’s mouth is doing the Homer Simpson.

We walk past the ledge by the kitchen and she explains the hot food we can order. Oh, they are going to have to roll us out of here! Then it’s over to the dessert table where she explains that everything is sample size so you can have a taste of everything. I chuckle to myself…yeah, cause a full size dessert would have really stopped us from tasting everything!!

She leaves us at the table and tells us to help ourselves. Woohoo! We head straight for the seafood and I load up on shrimp and crablegs. The shrimp looks interesting at the buffet. They are folded over with the tail wedged between the front part so they can stand up on the plate. Chuck, who spent part of high school working in the kitchen of a country club, is very intrigued by the presentation. I nod and pretend I’m interested too as I dig in to my 3rd shrimp.

That’s when it happened. We look out the window and there he is. Mr. Beer Belly wearing a bathing suit with no shirt stops at the railing right outside our window. OK, Mr. Beer Belly, move along now. Don’t you know there is fine dining going on in here? I’m trying to gorge myself and I don’t need a visual reminder of what I’ll look like when I’m done! He stands there for the longest time, having no clue that we are right inside the window, admiring him as he admires the sea.

We laugh and secretly thank him for not wearing a Speedo. Eventually he moves on and we continue our meal. We make our way over to the bread table where I find the sticky buns under the cover. They are hot, gooey and heavenly. They become my very favorite thing to eat at Palo brunch. That’s right, out of everything here, I fell in love with the sticky buns!!

Louise comes over and we order some hot food. I order eggs benedict and Chuck orders some seafood thing that he saw someone else have. We also order some pizza…half sausage and half tomato I believe.

We have a conversation with Louise about working on DCL. She explains the 6-7 months on, 2 months off. Chuck asks if she gets to enjoy the ports at all and she says they do but she tends to stay away from the beaches b/c she doesn’t want to be tired for her shift. We are both amazed at the dedication and the hours these employees work. I ask about sick days and she says they must see the doctor and have a note to miss a shift. Chuck asks about seeing her family on the holidays and she says that in 2 years, her vacation should work out so that she’s home for Christmas. These people really work their butts off!! I could never do it.

All of our hot food is very good although I’m not blown away by the eggs benedict. They are just good. The pizza is outstanding. I wish I was hungrier cause I’d like to try some more. Chuck enjoys his fish, which doesn’t taste anything like fish. I’m definitely running out of steam and getting full. We head over to the dessert table where surprisingly, nothing jumps out at me. I try a chocolate pudding-looking thing that is pretty good. I decide to skip the rest of the desserts and head back over for another warm gooey sticky bun…mmmmmm!!

We finish up and pay the bill. We have a discussion on how much to tip. Again, it would have been helpful to discuss this in advance with the Boots, just to get their opinion. We decide to leave a $20 tip so the total comes to $40. As we’re leaving I see Nancy at another table and go over to say hi. The girls haven’t really seen each other all week. She says Alison loves the kids club and has spent a lot of time there. Well, that could explain it then, Stephanie hasn’t spent much time there at all. She mentions that Alison is going to the lava flow activity that afternoon. I must not be reading my navigator thoroughly enough b/c I never saw that one, it sounds cool. We say goodbye and Chuck and I waddle out of Palo in search of our family.

Up Next…"I can make a swan!", semi-formal graduation, Moms' night out II…you know where!!

discruiselovers97

01-03-2007, 10:20 AM

Keep it coming!

mruhaak

01-03-2007, 11:43 AM

I can't believe there is no picture of the beer belly guy...

:rolleyes:

lindaso

01-03-2007, 03:35 PM

I can't believe there is no picture of the beer belly guy...

:rolleyes:

Hehe, I had my camera too. Guess I'm not a true paparazzi!! I was too busy stuffing my face to think about photos!

off to neverland

01-04-2007, 09:24 PM

This is the best cruise trip report I've read! Thanks so much for sharing; you are a wonderful writer!!! I can't wait to read the next installment.

lindaso

01-05-2007, 10:24 AM

This is the best cruise trip report I've read! Thanks so much for sharing; you are a wonderful writer!!! I can't wait to read the next installment.

Thank you! That is very nice of you to say. I'm hoping to get the next installment up shortly.

DisVillainFan

01-05-2007, 11:48 AM

lindaso

01-05-2007, 12:05 PM

Sorry Linda but I stood there giving you my best side for at least five minute, the least you could have done was snap a picture, I don't do Speedos, they chafe.:rotfl: :rotfl: :eek: :crazy2: LOL..LOL

BWAAAHAAAAHAAA :lmao: Don't worry, if it had been you, I would have named you personally for all the DIS to know!!!

And...how do you know Speedos chafe?

love2travel

01-05-2007, 01:59 PM

Some people will say anything to get attention. :lmao:

ashman

01-11-2007, 02:26 PM

I can't wait for your next installment! I miss your wit and commentary! Plus I need you to be my muse for my report!:confused3 Looking forward to the rest thanks for all you have shared sofar!:woohoo:

lindaso

01-11-2007, 04:37 PM

Thursday Nov. 9th cont...“I can make a swan”, semi-formal graduation

As we leave Palo it occurs to me that now would be a good time for the walkie talkies. Of course we do not have a walkie talkie nor do the Boots have a walkie talkie. Why exactly did we pack these things? They’ve been used once all week. And now we are faced with the entire ship to search for our children and our friends. Having a navigator on hand would be nice since it may help figure out where some of them might be but as usual, I’m without one.

A little trip report diversion here…everyone talks about having a handy dandy KTTW cardholder for their cruise. I would have liked a handy dandy navigator holder. Most of the time when I needed a navigator, I found I had left it somewhere. Very annoying! End of trip report diversion.

We head out of Palo and check the first possible place for our family…the Mickey Pool. We scan the pool, the chaises and the tables but there’s no sign of them. We head toward the second possible place to find the 5 kids and 2 adults of our group…the arcade. Nope, not in here. We don’t see them and surprisingly, we can’t hear them.

I need to change out of my skirt and shoes for this massive hunt so I suggest heading back to the room to do so. Perhaps they’re there? The long walk through the deck 2 hallway feels very good after my big meal of shrimp and sticky buns. As we approach the aft elevator area from the hallway, I hear a familiar sound. The sound of Kyle screeching…we found them!!! They are heading to the rooms to find bathing suits.

I am greeted with hugs by my little man who says he had fun with Christine and Keith. I ask Tommy how Detective School was and I get a shrug and a “good” while he hands me a paper with fingerprints and a drawing. The rest of them enjoyed bingo although they had to come back to the room to change into PJ’s as none of us realized it was “Pajama Bingo”. No money or prizes won, oh well!!

I observe the girls and can tell that something is not right. I ask Steph is she’s OK and she says she is. Alyssa is not in the best mood. I know that the child requires a lot of sleep and even though she skipped the pirate party, it doesn’t look like she got enough. Poor Christine!!

I tell Steph I ran into Alison’s mom at Palo and she said Alison is going to Lava Flow this afternoon where you can make a volcano. How cool is that? She seems mildly interested but not overly excited. We’ll see what the afternoon brings. Everyone changes into bathing suits and we head up to deck 9. We get our kids some lunch of chicken fingers and hot dogs and the sight of more food makes me queasy. Chuck picks at their fries and I’m amazed…how do guys do that?

The kids swim and go on the slide. It’s crowded but not crazy. With perfect timing, 2 people leave their chaises right when we’re cleaning up the food for lunch. Score!! One of us stays on the side of the pool near Kevin so he doesn’t get dumped again by a big kid. He still won’t try the slide but Tommy keeps going back for more.

Alyssa is still in a mood and is sulking on the chaise. I really want Steph to go to lava flow and do something besides hang around and get herself in the same mood. She’s still not sure about going to the activity and I ask her why not. Finally she reveals to me that she wants to go to towel folding. Ahhhhh…why didn’t you say so?? Someone has being reading the navigator!!

I check the times and see that she can do both. Towel folding ends at 2:30 and Lava Flow starts at 2:30…no problem. It’s about 1:30 now. Alyssa’s bad mood is rubbing off on her parents and they start to snap at each other. Knowing that Steph didn’t sleep much last night and that we are dangerously close to the same interactions, I suggest we leave for towel folding now (even though it doesn’t start for half an hour). Chuck, who is reading my mind, is in agreement. I ask Alyssa if she wants to come and she shakes her head no.

Steph and I walk around for a bit and take some pictures. This is one of the best shots that day:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB090161.jpg

We head down to Rockin’ Bar D for some towel folding lessons. We pick a table near the dance floor and someone comes over and hands us 2 towels. The CM conducting the lesson enters and hands out copies of towel animal instructions. At first glance, it looks absolutely impossible.

The CM begins with the swan. The key, she says, is to tuck it under your chin while you are folding it tight. Ahhhhh, that makes all the difference!! I imitate her and voila…a swan!! I made a swan!! The lady sitting at the table next to us is impressed. Hooray for me…I can make a swan!! OK, so it doesn’t take much to make me happy, I admit it.

Now on to the more complicated animals. The CM demonstrates the elephant and the monkey but she’s going too fast and talking too softly and I can’t follow her. There’s not enough room at the table so Steph and I join the others spread out on the dance floor. We get some help and eventually make something sort of resembling a dog.

Before we know it, the lesson is over and we are left with our instruction sheets and told to practice and ask our stateroom hosts and hostesses if we need more guidance. I’m just happy I can make a swan!

We leave towel folding and head up to the lab…Steph agrees to attend Lava Flow. I tell her if she doesn’t like it to page me and I’ll pick her up. I sign her in, she gets her soap squirt and settles in at a table.

I head back up to the Mickey Pool where Kevin is relaxing on a chaise playing his gameboy. Is that a vacation or what?!?! Tommy is still in the pool with 90 year old looking hands. I grab a pool towel and demonstrate my new swan skill and everyone is duly impressed. Chuck takes the opportunity to comment that I could work as a stateroom hostess, but oh yeah, that involves cleaning! Hardy har har!!

The mood between the Boots has deteriorated since I’ve been gone and now Keith is insisting to Christine that the kids go in the clubs so they can have some alone time. I have a feeling it’s the clubs or serious injury for someone. We call Tommy out of the pool and ask him if he wants to go in the club with Kyle. He says no. What’s up with my kids? They haven’t been to the kids’ clubs for 2 days and now no one wants to go. Tommy claims it’s boring, that all they do is play hide and seek. It’s right at this moment when I realize that he may be too old for his group. But there’s no point in trying to move him up now, it’s Thursday and the last day he’ll be in there.

I suggest he go and give it one more try and being such an agreeable personality, he says OK. We head downstairs to change out of wet bathing suits. Alyssa who never swam and is dry is taken directly to the lab from the Mickey Pool. Christine and I walk the boys to the club and she vents about how her family is driving her crazy. We walk back the long way…through Shutters!! We yell hi to Bahar who’s helping someone and she asks if we’re coming tonight. When we say yes, she says she’ll have drinks and pillows waiting for us! We find our pirate pictures from the night before. They came out great!! Now there’s some decisions to be made tonight!

Christine and I discuss how we’re supposed to get the kids ready for semi-formal night AND get them to Celebrate the Journey. They need baths and showers and we need time to get them ready. She needs to keep her kids away from their father for a little bit of time so she’s going to leave them in there. I decide that I’ll pick mine up before the rehearsal, get them cleaned up and send them to the graduation in their dinner clothes. I just don’t see any other way to make it work. Seeing as how this will probably be our first and last Disney Cruise, they must participate in Celebrate the Journey, it just can’t be missed.

I get back to the room where Chuck is watching TV in one room and Kevin is watching TV and doing his handwriting homework in the other. Both are completely content so I head out for some alone time. I head up to the adult pool, the pool I haven’t seen since the first day. I find a chaise and contemplate going in the hot tub. But the thought of having to take another shower and doing my hair again before dinner keeps me from trying it. I wish I had brought my ipod with me cause it’s kind of boring. I close my eyes for a few minutes and enjoy the sun.

Eventually I remember that the Cove Café has computers so I leave my chaise and head in there. The pull of email checking is just too strong. I spend some time checking my usual websites until it’s time to pick up the kids and get them ready. I head to the lab first to get Steph. It takes a while to get the child checked out. Again, I don’t have my navigator and this proves to be a mistake when I try to get Tommy.

We head over to the club, walk in and see a line up of boys to the left. I check my watch, it’s 3 minutes to 4:00. Tommy is in this line. I ask the CM if I can check him out and get a “no, we’re in transition right now.” Hmmm….my carefully thought out plans are about to be derailed. They can’t be derailed! It pays to be a fast talking New Yorker:

“But you haven’t left yet and I need to get him ready for dinner and I’ll have him back to you in plenty of time for the graduation. Can’t you just sign him out to me now, they’re still here. There’s no way I’ll have him ready in time for pictures and dinner if you don’t let me clean him up now.”

The CM stares at me for a moment and then walks over for the electronic doohickey to scan his bracelet. Done!! Whew, that was close. If this had been Fort Knox Elementary, I would have been foiled, but thankfully it’s Disney Cruise Line!!!

Back to the room for a quick bath and semi-formal clothes. The boys don’t want to wear their jackets tonight and I let them go without since the formal night pictures are acceptable. I can use them as a Christmas card if I have too. I’ve sent out worse in the past! But tonight is my last chance to get pictures of them on the white background so I’m still a little anxious.

I get Steph set up in the shower and take Tommy down to Rockin’ Bar D where his group is having rehearsal. We walk in and only see a handful of kids. As I’m leaving him, the line up of kids from upstairs make their way into the room. Wow, that took a looonnngg time. I got him bathed, dressed and back before they even got here!! Now I’m really glad that CM released him to me b/c I would have been p.o’d if he had made me wait all that time to get him from Rockin’ Bar D!!!

Back up to the room to help Steph with her hair. We get it from sopping wet to semi-damp and head out the door. I get her signed in to the lab and head back to the room to pick up the rest of my family. All this walking has certainly made up for Palo brunch!

Chuck has Kevin almost ready to go but Kevin is crying and complaining about his shirt. I look and see that Chuck put the long sleeve shirt on him. Oops, he’s supposed to wear the short sleeve one from the Children’s Place…the one that’s big on him and won’t hurt his neck. After all, it is “semi-formal,” making a short sleeve button down perfectly acceptable. Kevin is much happier in the bigger shirt and out the door we go towards the Walt Disney Theatre.

We arrive while the last of the Final Jackpot Bingo is finishing up. We watch as 3 numbers are called and then hear a Bingo. A lady from New Jersey (of course!) who’s celebrating her birthday wins the final prize. Bingo clears out and anxious parents clamor for seats. It stops short of “full-contact seat claiming” but it’s close. We settle into seats in the middle about 8 rows back.

We look out in the audience for the Boots but we don’t see them anywhere. The show starts and it takes us forever to find our kids on stage. Chuck spots Stephanie first but I still can’t see her. With all these kids wearing the same gray shirt and hat, it’s really hard to spot your kid. Finally, just as I spot Steph, Chuck finds Tommy and I start searching for him. He’s easier to find since he’s clearly the tallest kid in his area.

Steph is at the back of her group near the 10-12’s so her tallness doesn’t stand out as much as Tommy being in the middle of the 5-7’s. Mickey and Minnie come out. I can’t remember too much of the ceremony as I keep losing them and have to find them all over again plus I’m trying to take pictures of course. Eventually we find Kyle on stage too so we know Keith and Christine are in here somewhere.

Olympus Super Zoom doesn’t work that great indoors. These are the best shots I got:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB090171.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB090174.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB090179.jpg

The kids are ushered out of the theatre and we follow a thousand parents all going to the same place. We split up with me getting Steph and Chuck getting Tommy. I weave in and out of traffic since Kevin is with Chuck. It's like trying to get out of the parking lot after a concert. I get to the lab ahead of most of the crowd. There are lots of CM’s signing out kids so it doesn’t take too long. Stepping into the hallway, we're surprised to find the rest of our group waiting for us, including the boys.

Christine and Keith were sitting in the back of the theatre and were the very first parents in the club for sign-out. They had a brief discussion about whether to get Tommy and Christine decided they better get him or we’d never make it to dinner on time. Good call b/c the line for the club was around the corner by the time Chuck even got there! Alyssa didn't do the graduation so there was no need to check her out.

It’s now 5:45, just in time for dinner. Tonight is Animator’s Palate with lobster!! I haven’t eaten since Palo brunch so I’m ready to do some damage. This is the dinner I’ve been waiting for, the meal I’ve been talking about for 2 years. I can eat lobster all night long!

Up next…"that’s all you got?", Moms’ Night out II…you know where!

luciloo

01-16-2007, 06:45 AM

Just finished reading all 9 pages, i am loving this report. can't wait for more

kevinsmom

01-19-2007, 11:58 AM

lovin your report!! so detailed and informative!! thank you! :thumbsup2

lindaso

01-19-2007, 02:06 PM

Just finished reading all 9 pages, i am loving this report. can't wait for more

lovin your report!! so detailed and informative!! thank you!

Thank you both very much. I'm sorry this is taking so long. I never imagined I'd still be writing this thing at this point. But life with 3 kids has a funny way of taking over, ya know? :laundy: I stand by my original pledge to finish. Maybe this weekend I can work on getting another part up.

JoiseyMom

01-25-2007, 06:49 PM

Geez..how can you do this to me!! I have been reading this report over the past two days, with any free time I have, and now..nothing :(. I need more!! Please?? Pretty please?? Come on, I have 4 kids (granted 2 are adults), they aren't that much work (yeah right).

I have to say, I blame you and Jason, I am looking to book the Jersey Week cruise this year!! DH was Disney'd out and said now more WDW (DS5 has been there 5 times), so I have been able to convince him that the DCL doesn't count :)!!!

A great report btw!!!

scottishwee35

01-26-2007, 09:33 AM

lindaso

01-27-2007, 12:59 AM

Thursday Nov. 9th cont…"that’s all you got?"

Everyone is dressed for dinner except for Kyle. Deciding to stick together, we all head down to deck 2 and wait while Kyle gets his semi-formal attire on. We encourage our 3 to use the facilities (otherwise known as the potty…at what point will I stop using this term?) so dinner is not interrupted. I’m taking lobster night very seriously…I do not want to be disturbed!

We now have everyone appropriately dressed and we take the stairs for Animator’s Palate. I steal a glance towards my husband who is looking very content. I smile and say, “so, you like this cruising thing now?” He smiles and nods, saying, “yeah, it’s not so bad.” Keith laughs and asks “enough to go on another cruise?” Chuck, still smiling, answers, “don’t be crazy.”

Well, not what I wished I would hear but all is not lost yet. The man is smiling, the man is joking, the man is about to eat all-you-can-eat lobster! And most importantly, the man has not tossed cookies for 3 whole days! Surely I can convince him to do this again.

I take a quick moment to daydream about the rebooking desk. I push away all responsible adult thoughts concerning a certain $1250 and I imagine myself planning another cruise vacation. I’m sure I can convince him; he’s having fun! But even in the short amount of time it takes to walk into Animator’s Palate, I know deep in my heart that rebooking has absolutely nothing to do with Chuck. Those darn responsible adult thoughts keep intruding my daydream, making me acknowledge reality…we just can’t leave that amount of money with Disney. It’s just not the right time for us. I sigh inwardly and vow to make the best of my remaining time on THIS vacation.

We settle in to our table at Animator’s while we’re greeted by our servers. Glenn asks how we enjoyed our sea day and we make some small talk. Melroy brings the kids their usual drinks, in covered cups for everyone except Stephanie. We all watch for Alyssa’s reaction and she doesn’t disappoint. She sighs and rolls her eyes at Stephanie and then she looks at us and shrugs. Sorry kid.

We look at the menu and I encourage Stephanie to get the fettuccine with Chicken. I try to convince her it’s just like the Weight Watcher’s Smart Ones meal that I buy. She likes to pick at the chicken fettuccine one while I’m eating it. It’s painful enough when you’re trying to lose weight and you’re eating these tiny little microwave meals. But when your daughter comes along wanting to pick at the itty bitty amount of food you have in front of you? Picture a lion growling over the kill. Yup, that’s me doing Weight Watchers.

Now’s her chance to get a full plate of it, all to herself. She agrees as long as she can have it without the peppers and the mushrooms. We tell Glenn and he nods. Done! I of course order the lobster tail and tell Glenn right then that I’m going to want more than one. He’s happy I mentioned it now, saying that it’s easier for him if we order it from the get-go. Kyle can’t decide what he wants for dinner so he orders macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers. Chuck and I laugh over this seeing as how the only thing we recall the child eating all week was the chocolate cake I fed him for lunch on Monday.

The food comes and Christine takes a picture of Kyle with his 2 meals. He takes 2 bites of the mac and cheese after being told 100 times to eat. I swear I don’t know how this kid survives. Tommy finishes his chicken fingers for him. I dig in to my lobster tail and I’m disappointed. It’s tough and chewy. Bummer!! I still manage to finish it and Glenn comes by with my second plate. I’m surprised to see a whole second plate with the green beans and rice too. I really just want the lobster tail. Oh well. I try that one and it’s cooked a whole lot better, not nearly as tough as the first one. I finish that one off and notice that I’m getting full. I remember the chocolate lava cake on the menu and decide that I’m done.

Glenn comes by to see if anyone wants another serving and I decline. Keith is incredulous. He stares at me. I shrug at him. Then he starts in…

“THAT’S ALL YOU GOT?!?!”

“What happened to ‘I can eat lobster all night long’”?

“You’ve been talking about lobster for 2 years and you’re stopping now?”

“Oh, you won’t believe the amount of lobster I can eat” said in a high-pitched voice.

He’s relentless. I have no explanation.

He goes on some more and I take it knowing that I talked the talked but didn’t walk. What can I say? The lobster just isn’t that good to keep going. If it had been good, I probably would have kept going. The second serving was better but not great. And I must have chocolate lava cake. And I’ll probably partake in some room service cookies before the night is through. After all, the cruise is almost over and I need more room service cookies.

I try to explain this to my traveling companion who is now being smacked by his wife with a “shut up already”. Thanks Chris. Chuck is quietly staying out of it knowing nothing can be gained by commenting on his wife’s food.

We all order chocolate lava cake and the kids get yet another Mickey Bar. Kevin asks if he can have one and I tell him tomorrow if he doesn’t cough. He gets another bowl of maraschino cherries (I think I’ve spelled that word 3 different ways in this report). We order milk with dessert and Glenn brings it out. We notice that Glenn is hustling and working his butt off this whole meal but Melroy hasn’t been around much at all. Glenn has definitely grown on us but Melroy is still the pits. Glenn doesn’t have much personality but the service is improved from earlier in the week. He’s been picking up Melroy’s slack.

We enjoy the chocolate lava cake. It is very very yummy. We leave Animator’s Palate sufficiently stuffed. Thankfully there were no spills or accidents on semi-formal clothes and we’re now ready to hit the picture lines…again! Last chance for a Christmas card picture! We are moms on a mission.

Up next…Moms’ Night Out II…you know where

lindaso

01-27-2007, 01:10 AM

lindaso

01-27-2007, 01:14 AM

Hi Lindaso

My daughter (7) and I were looking at your photographs. We think that all of these photos are beautiful also we thought the pirate photos look :thumbsup2

Pity that there will be no pirates for us on Medi. Cruise. never mind many thanks for showing us the pictures.

Scottishwee35:thumbsup2

No pirates on the Medi cruise? Does it matter that it's not the Caribbean? That's too bad, it was really fun. I'm sure you'll have a blast anyway. BTW, I would love to travel to Scotland some day. Ever since I read the Diana Gabaldon series, I love Scotland!!

ssnyder

01-27-2007, 12:52 PM

No pirates on the Medi cruise? Does it matter that it's not the Caribbean? That's too bad, it was really fun.
I believe there will be pirates on the Med cruises. We just got a packet in the mail from Disney. We are on the eastbound repo, but the information we received looks like it is for the repos and the med cruises also. It says specifically that there will be both a Pirates in the Caribbean dinner AND the party.

FutureSailor

02-03-2007, 12:53 PM

More?

lindaso

02-03-2007, 11:46 PM

I will do my best to get another installment of this never-ending story written today. I’m literally stuck in bed with a sick kid. Kevin has a double ear infection along with a fever and will not let me leave his side. Never mind that there are piles of laundry, no food in the fridge, dog hair in the kitchen and shattered glass in the basement (doesn’t everyone have their daughter practice fastpitch with a panel of glass nearby? No? Well, apparently I do). So, here I sit watching Nickelodeon for hours on end. After my 4th episode of Fairly Odd Parents, it dawns on me that with a handy dandy laptop, I can write more trip report. Yes, the trip report from back in early November. Does anyone really care anymore? Probably not but here goes anyway.

Thursday Nov. 9th cont…drunks eating chocolate

We leave Animator’s Palate and head towards the pictures. This is it, our last chance to get our Christmas card shot. I think I’m calm about it since I already have decent pictures but once we get to the lobby, my picture-obsessed personality takes over. Christine and I feed off each other and it’s kind of scary, actually. The line at the white background is pretty long and we moms start getting antsy. We need these pictures but we also need to get to Disney Dreams. We had passed the moonlight background on the way over and it wasn’t as crowded as this line. Chuck offers to wait in the white background line while I take the kids over to the moonlight background. “But what about you being in the picture?” I ask. Nope, he shakes his head, “kids only, I’m done.”

Well, OK then, sounds like a plan. We and the Boots head past Lumiere’s over to the moonlight background. Christine is still hoping for a good family shot so Keith is not off the hook yet. The line is long here too, much longer than when we passed it 5 minutes ago. Oh well, might as well wait. The kids are generally well-behaved and the wait is not so bad. We are next in line when Christine notices the kids club bracelets. We will not make the same mistake again, they must come off for these semi-formal pictures! Since tomorrow is Castaway Cay, they are officially done with the clubs. Keith whips out a pocketknife and starts cutting bracelets. Wow Keith, how MacGyverish of you! Chuck is not the pocketknife type so it always surprises me when a guy wears one. He and Christine have a conversation about the microchip thingies and I swear I hear Keith say they don’t need them anymore as he heads toward the garbage. I’m not so sure so I slip our 2 microchips in my pocket.

The family in front of us is taking every picture configuration possible. It’s like an SAT question from hell…there are 6 family members in total, how many different picture configurations can a Shutters photographer take?

1. The basic family of 4
2. The basic family of 4 with 2 grandparents
3. The 2 kids together (they weren’t even kids, they were early 20’s…will I still be like this when my kids are in their 20’s?)
4. The daughter with the mom
5. The daughter and mom with the grandmother
6. The son with the father
7. The son and the father with the grandfather
8. The 2 kids with the grandparents

We think this is the end but now the mother wants one of each kid individually. Oh for the love of pete! The girls are watching this and come up with the idea that they want their pictures taken together. I’m thinking of Chuck standing by himself back at the white background…he’s got to be getting close to the front of that line. For the hundredth time this cruise, the walkie talkies would have been useful here.

It’s finally our turn and my kids go up for their shot. Kevin attempts to smile for the first time all week and after 2 or 3 quick shots, we’re done. I’m ready to head back to the other line but the girls beg and plead for a picture. Well…it’s not as bad as the people in front of us and it’s not often you get a professional picture with your friend, so…OK but make it quick.

Here are our cruise girls:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/cruisefriends.jpg

The girls get their shot and of course the boys want a picture together too. We push them forward and get a quick shot of the 5 kids together. Kevin is smiling in his own way for this one too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/cruisekids.jpg

I gather my group and jog back to Chuck and the white background while the Boots take a quick family picture. We are in overdrive.

We arrive at the white background to find Chuck with only one family in front of him. The kids take their shoes off (a rule on the white background) and the Boots arrive with plenty of time. It’s this point that I start to feel bad about our little supermarket line trick. I’m sure the people behind us did not bargain for two families. I vow to make it as quick as possible and tell myself that Chuck did wait there, they must have realized people were coming.

The photographer arranges my kids on the mat, takes 3 quick shots and we’re done. Kevin tries to smile for these pictures too. What a difference from the tear-streaked pictures from Monday’s formal night. Keith refuses to take another family shot so it’s just Kyle and Alyssa on the mat. Christine really wants Kyle to smile nicely so I jump behind the photographer and dance around like the crazy woman I am. The kids start cracking up and Mr. Shutter’s photographer snaps the picture at the perfect time. We’re done taking pictures! Off to Disney Dreams!

We arrive at the theatre just as they’re letting people in. The kids immediately head towards “our seats” on the side in the front. Chuck is now resigned to sitting in these seats but at least now, at the end of the week, he has stopped trying to convince the kids there are better seats available.

We settle in and wait for the show to start. Steph sees her friends across the way and goes over for a visit. She comes back asking if she can sit with them and I say OK. But she returns after a few minutes b/c her end seat on our side is better than the 5th or 6th seat on their side.

Contrary to Chuck’s opinion, these really are great seats for Disney Dreams. The bed in the show gets moved over right in front of us and we’re sooo close to the actors, we can see the sweat on Peter Pan’s face. Yes, we are close! These seats again prove to be fabulous as the bubbles come at the end and the kids just can’t help themselves and start popping them one by one. No way we are going to get them to remain seated with all these bubbles floating around so we just try to keep them from making too much noise while they’re popping.

We all really love Disney Dreams. It is my favorite show of the week. There’s nothing in life that can’t be fixed with a little faith, trust and pixie dust. (I should have remembered this on our trip home! Yes, that would be foreshadowing!! I should get to writing that sometime this summer!)

After the show, we head back to the room. It’s been another long day for these kids. Tomorrow is Castaway Cay and we want everyone refreshed. Besides, Christine and I have big plans for tonight, big plans. We plan to meet out in the hallway in a few minutes.

Chuck and I get the kids in PJ’s, all the while listening to them ask for chocolate chip cookies. OK, fine, I knew there would be cookies sometime tonight. Steph calls for cookies and milk and Chuck orders a BLT to get his money’s worth or something like that. There’s nothing like room service:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB090184.jpg

I kiss everyone goodnight, grab my brown folder and my KTTW card and out the door I go. Knock on room 2620 where all is quiet inside. Apparently I’m the only nutty mother allowing her children huge cookies at 10:30 pm. Christine has folder in hand and we take care of our first order of business…the kids’ clubs.

We hand in our beepers and the CM asks for the bracelet chip thingies. I hand mine over but Christine doesn’t have hers. I tell her I thought Keith threw them out. She has no idea what he did with them. I remind her of the conversation in the picture line and how he went right to the garbage can. She asks the CM what happens if you don’t have the bracelet thingies and the CM says it’s $25 each. Christine is horrified and says she has to go back to the room. The CM offers her the phone and she calls Keith who thankfully put them in his pocket. I could have sworn he threw them out! The CM says she can hand them back tomorrow.

We ask about getting t-shirts for the 2 kids who weren’t at graduation and the CM asks if we can come back tomorrow b/c the person in charge is not there. OK, we’ll have to remember tomorrow to make it here at some point.

After this, we head to our primary destination…Shutters (oh, like you’re surprised!).

First order of business is to collect our pictures still on display, mostly our pirate night pictures. We look around for the pictures taken tonight but we don’t see them anywhere. We walk over to our spot by the desk and the door and say hi to Bahar who is working behind the desk.

She squeals when she sees us. She immediately asks us what we want to drink. Huh? Really, you don’t have to get us drinks. No, she insists…she is getting us a drink and she’ll choose it if we don’t tell her. She apologizes for not having cushions out for us, she was not able to find any for us. We tell her it’s quite all right, we don’t need cushions, we just need our spot on the floor. She is so excited to see us!! We’re laughing before we even sit down.

She asks us one more time what we’d like to drink but I’m torn over ordering something b/c I can’t be sure if it’s on the house or on her tab. I really don’t want her to have to pay for it but I can’t think of a tactful way of asking. So we just keep smiling and telling her we don’t need a drink.

We ask if tonight’s pictures are ready and she tells us not yet. She’ll let us know when they are. We settle in on the floor and get to work. I absolutely love our pirate pictures. They are so much better than the formal ones. For the first time, I wonder aloud if I should use a pirate picture for my Christmas card. Christine says, “why not?” and I wonder some more. They really are the best pictures and it would be fun, it would be original and it wouldn’t be something I could do again.

Just as I’m pondering this, a waiter appears balancing a tray with a napkin draped over his arm.

“I have some drinks for you ladies on behalf of the staff here at Shutters.”

We scramble to our feet to take our drinks from the waiter, our faces red and the Shutters CM’s laughing at us. We thank him and Bahar and she says “I hope you like Coke, you could have just told me what you wanted.”

We sit back down with our Cokes and carefully place them away from our precious pictures. Now I haven’t had a coke in years. I rarely drink soda and hardly ever drink coke but I drank my Shutter’s coke. And it made my punchy. And giggly. And wired!!

We sort through lots of photos and I’m ready for the slot of doom. I don’t have the same anxiety I had on Tuesday. I’m a new confident Disney cruiser. As I get to my feet for the slot of doom across the way, Bahar points out that there is a slot right next to where we’re sitting. It’s built in underneath the display boards and I never noticed it. She tells me to put all our pictures in there. I tell her I didn’t even notice it was there and she says no one does, it will be our own personal slot of doom!

A Shutters CM comes out of the back room with a whole stack of pictures. “Are those the pictures from tonight?” we ask. Yes he nods. “Can we look through them?” No he shakes. We have to wait for them to go up on the board. Bummer.

We look through our pictures some more while the stack of pictures just sits on the desk. They’re calling to me. If I could see our shots from tonight, I could make some definitive decisions. I get up and go over to the stack. I ask Bahar if I can look through them to see if our pictures are there. She says “go ahead”. Yeah!!! I feel like a little kid who got a “no” from one parent and a “yes” from the other. The yes wins!!

I’m very careful to not get my fingerprints all over the photos. I leaf through them but our pictures are not there. These are the early ones, taken before dinner. Bummer.

Bahar sits down with us to look at our pictures. Christine complains some more about her double chin and asks again about photoshopping. Bahar still avoids the question instead focusing Christine on how to pose her head during the shot. She tells us she will be on Castaway Cay tomorrow, doing the photos alongside the ship and she will work with us to get single chins.

We’re done a lot quicker tonight. We really just sort through the obviously bad pictures. We can’t make any real decisions until we see the shots from tonight. Bahar updates our cards and sends us off with our cokes and thoughts of single chins. We are both feeling the affects of the sugar, caffeine and bedtime and are very giggly.

As we leave Shutters I realize that the chocolate fountain buffet is happening right this minute. We should go!! We laugh about how the guys are stuck in the room with the kids while we’re going to a chocolate fountain. For some reason, this sends us into near hysterics by the time we reach Lumiere’s and the chocolate fountain.

With cokes and pictures in hand, we reach the table. We have no hands to take a plate. We laugh some more. Not seeing the waiters there, I grab a pre-selected plate of goodies and head to the nearest table. Apparently I was not supposed to do this b/c a waiter swoops down on me telling me we can’t sit there. I jump up like the seat is on fire, sending Christine into more fits of laughter. This sets me off and we’re both hysterically laughing in the middle of Lumiere’s.

The waiter escorts us over to another waiter and he gives the guy a look and a nod toward us. The second waiter gives us this glance that Christine and I both read exactly the same…they think we’re drunk!! This makes us laugh even more. We follow the second waiter who hands us off to a third waiter. For crying out loud, it’s an empty restaurant and we just want to eat chocolate!! The third waiter takes us clear across the restaurant and seats us at a table that has chocolate stains all over it. Apparently he thinks the 2 drunk ladies are too sloshed to notice the dirty tablecloth…of course setting us off on even more hysterics.

We eat our chocolate covered marshmallows and bananas but decide not to go back for more. Too far away and we’re much too punchy. We grab our folders, leave our coke glasses and head out of the restaurant with every eye on us. We make our way back to our rooms and I say goodnight to my “drunk” friend and try to wind down enough to fall asleep. Chuck is fast asleep which is just as well cause I start to feel bad that he missed the chocolate. I consider packing up a bit but all the suitcases are under the beds that have sleeping bodies on them. Big mistake.

Up next…Castaway Cay and the worst beach picture ever taken!

pppiglet

02-04-2007, 12:02 AM

Your pictures came out great! Thanks for another update!

kevinsmom

02-04-2007, 06:25 AM

love your report and really nice pics!! but what are those bracelet things? they have to be returned???

love2travel

02-04-2007, 09:02 AM

I knew you had a "wild" side Linda :rotfl2:, I'm sorry I didn't get to see it!!!

Can't wait to read more!!!

ldeninge

02-04-2007, 03:27 PM

what are those bracelet things? they have to be returned???

When we cruised Jan 07, the bracelets were no longer the bulky 'GPS locator' bracelets. They were just a simple 'hospital ID band' type. So DD actually wore hers home and then we cut it off. The only thing we had to return was the pager.

ldeninge

02-04-2007, 03:28 PM

plutospup

02-04-2007, 04:03 PM

Does anyone really care anymore? Probably not but here goes anyway.

You bet we care! Thanks for another great installment.

BTW...Your very own "Slot of Doom"! What an honor!

discruiselovers97

02-04-2007, 05:38 PM

I think that the types of bracelets the kids have to wear vary. When we went last July 06 the machine wasn't working so the kids got the hospital ones! My son has to have a hospital one due to his allergies and sometimes the bulky bracelets make him have problems. So lucky us the big bulky wristlet machine was broken!

praisehisname

02-06-2007, 02:04 PM

I'm loving your trip report; thanks! But I want to see the picture on the white background... Please???

Denise

love2travel

02-17-2007, 09:09 PM

Linda, where are you??? Come back, finish your trip report.

lindaso

02-19-2007, 07:21 PM

I'm still here. I am working on Castaway Cay. I can't believe it's almost March and I'm still writing this trip report...how did that happen?

PaulDavid's mom

02-19-2007, 07:39 PM

Oh we're waiting!

zweihund

02-20-2007, 05:02 PM

Linda, I am really enjoying this trip report....it lets me know the shape of vacations to come, once we have kids! Now hurry up and get it finished :rolleyes1

carole88

02-20-2007, 08:11 PM

Hey Linda! Love your trip report! Can't wait for the rest of it. We are originally from Long Island too. What town are you from?

lindaso

02-22-2007, 09:11 AM

Linda, I am really enjoying this trip report....it lets me know the shape of vacations to come, once we have kids! Now hurry up and get it finished :rolleyes1

It was the drunk/chocolate headline that attracted you, huh? I feel like a celebrity is here reading this!! You need to treasure the vacations before kids. It's a whole different ballgame afterwards!! :crazy2:

Hey Linda! Love your trip report! Can't wait for the rest of it. We are originally from Long Island too. What town are you from?

Hi fellow Long Islander! I sent you a PM.

To all who are still following this...I will stop apologizing for the delay, it's getting really lame. Hopefully I can get a chance to finish Castaway and the trip home. I must write the trip home or I will never forgive myself!

zweihund

02-22-2007, 03:37 PM

It was the drunk/chocolate headline that attracted you, huh?

Am I THAT transparent???? :rotfl2:

lindaso

02-28-2007, 11:37 PM

Friday November 10th…Castaway Cay and the worst beach picture ever taken

We wake up a bit earlier today than the rest of the week. There’s only one chance for Castaway Cay and today’s the day! We dress in bathing suits with cover-ups and t-shirts and pack the Castaway Club mesh beach bags that we’re really not supposed to have because we’re not real Castaway Club members.

We leave everything in the room and head up to Topsiders. We knock on the Boots’ door but there’s no answer. Topsiders is not too crowded and we have our last real breakfast of the cruise. How did this happen? How did it get to be Friday already?

For the first time all week, I realize that Topsiders has sticky buns. They are not as yummy as Palo but they do the trick and I stuff myself silly. You’d think since I’m wearing a bathing suit at the moment I could show some restraint, but it’s my last breakfast and I’m making it count!

Again we advise our children that now is the time to eat and we don’t know what time we’re having lunch. I grab some cereal boxes for the beach b/c knowing my kids, ie. Stephanie and Kevin, they will be hungry as soon as we settle on the beach.

We meet up with the Boots who are dining outside in the sunshine. We haven’t eaten outside since that first lunch where hair was the main course. We hear some mumbling over the loudspeaker and notice we are no longer moving. Chuck, who is still taking Bonine religiously, says a little prayer of thanks for the docking. I grab my camera and Steph and I head outside for our first look at Castaway Cay.

Steph is excited to see the Flying Dutchman. Not because she is a huge POTC fan but b/c it’s a live movie prop and that’s just very cool. Here’s our version of the same picture you’ve seen over and over and over again:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100185.jpg

I also snap this one of the landscape:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100186.jpg

We finish up breakfast and notice the huge line at the buffet. Topsiders is now packed! The line is all the way past the elevators and I’m so happy we got up here when we did. We head back down to the room for our bags, the bathroom and to lotion whatever skin that wasn’t lotioned before breakfast. Christine comes in to tell us they will be a few more minutes. Since we’re waiting, Steph wants to see the pictures I got last night at Shutters so out comes the brown folder (like she needed to twist my arm to look at our pictures!). Again I bring up the possibility of using a pirate picture for the Christmas card. My usually conservative husband agrees it would be a fun thing to do. What? Really? I thought I would have to convince him…the man is in true vacation mode!!

I begin to wonder aloud about what to write on the card. Something like “Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirates’ Christmas for us”? Chuck looks up and says, “what about Yo Ho Ho Ho?” BRILLIANT!! Oh yeah, it’s definitely the pirate picture now, I love that!! Of course I still have to decide which pirate picture to use but I have hours to make that decision.

The Boots are now ready and we head down the stairs to debark the Magic. They swipe our cards and we’re on our way. We walk a few steps and see Bahar, right where she said she’d be. We girls have a big giggle as we say hello and introduce our families. It seems strange to introduce her…she’s been such an important part of our cruise and the guys have no idea who she is!

Bahar takes each family’s picture with the Magic in the background, all the while coaching Christine on how to position her chin. After the family shots, Bahar instructs me and Christine to get in the shot, just the 2 of us. We pretend we’re models and raise our chins with big cheesy smiles. Here is Bahar’s effort at making us moms look good (and no, this is not the worst beach picture ever taken!):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/singlechinmagic.jpg

Bahar told us later that she planned to do more with us but there was another family waiting behind us and she didn’t want to make them wait too long. It’s just as well b/c I don’t think the 7 other members of our party were willing to wait much longer. As silly as Bahar was with us all week, she was always very professional with everyone else!

Here is my family’s picture on Castaway (nope, this isn’t it either):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/magicfamily2.jpg

There is a tram waiting as we walk up so we decide to jump on. Riding a tram is just so Disney, how can we pass it up? We do miss some of the scenery and picture opportunities but we don’t have to listen to the kids complain about walking so it’s well worth it. And Chuck loves hearing “lower your head and watch your step” and repeats it endlessly over the next hour. The tram put him into major Disney World withdrawal.

We follow the Boots along the beach since they’ve been to Castaway before. Keith wants to get close to the water playground so we walk. It’s already crowded at the first part of the beach and none of us mind walking down where there are less people. We make it to the playground area where it’s still relatively empty.

We grab chaise lounges and line them up together. I grab a regular chair and set it next to my chaise for my stuff. I love having a chair for my bag and camera. This just doesn’t happen at home. When you go to the beach at home, you’re carrying too much stuff for your bag to have a chair. To me, this is the ultimate luxury and I’m going to enjoy it!!

We get settled and decide we should get snorkel gear before it gets too crowded. Keith also wants to get a floatie. We soon realize that the place to get these things is all the way down at the end of the beach we just came from. Oops. The guys head out to get the gear.

The kids want to swim to the water playground and check it out. All except Kevin of course who still won’t swim with “pish” [I’m happy to report that with this trip report being almost 4 months old, Kevin is now saying “fish” properly with an “f”. Yeah, Kevin!!]

Christine tries the water, lets out a shriek and heads back to her chaise. Guess I’m going out to the water playground with the kids!! She says she’ll keep an eye on Kevin. I don’t really mind going but of course I take the opportunity to make fun of her.

The water is a bit cold but we get used to it right away. The swim out to the water playground is not that far but it does get deep and Kyle soon bails and heads back toward his mom. Tommy and the girls climb up while I stay in the water watching them. I can’t figure out if I’m allowed on the structure so I just stay put in the water. Tommy tries to move along the rope but he can’t hold his weight and winds up jumping in. Steph doesn’t even try and happily jumps off the side into the water. I can so empathize with my kids…they didn’t get their body type solely from their dad. I remember being at River Country when I was 10 and wanting to do the rope but not even getting one hand off before falling in. I understand completely!

Keith and Kyle soon join us. Kyle climbs up but won’t jump in. He tries the rope but won’t let go. Alyssa tries the rope and makes it halfway across before falling in. She’s determined to make it and keeps trying until she does. Her reward is sore red hands…not blistered but close. Here’s our crew waiting their turn. Tommy looks determined but he soon jumps in the water:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise248.jpg

We make it back to shore where Chuck is ready to go snorkeling. He convinces Steph to go with him. Let me explain something I haven’t really mentioned up to this point. I was a little obsessed with finding the underwater Mickey statue. I think this is pretty normal among us 1st time cruiser/DIS board readers. You have this one chance to go to Castaway and see something Disney-related that you can’t see anywhere else. I kept talking about it all week, about how we needed to find it. Chuck understands my obsessions so he asked the snorkel gear guy where it was. Not very adventurous I admit, but Chuck knew that I (and subsequently he) would not rest on the beach until we found it.

So anyway…he is armed with directions to head for the white bobbing buoy in this particular section. We get Steph set up with her gear and again, she is happier now that her tooth is not taking up space against the mouthpiece. The blowup life vest thing looks a bit ridiculous but these Disney people are very strict about you wearing it (as we all found out as the day progressed). Keith and Alyssa join them in their quest. Here’s my snorkeler ready to find Mickey:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100188.jpg

The boys get busy playing in the sand. Kevin still won’t go in the water and it’s getting hot. I’m concerned about him once again but I decide not to dunk him just yet. Here is the beginning attempt at a castle:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100187.jpg

And my sun boy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100195.jpg

Christine takes the opportunity to go out on the floatie and relax a bit. I did take a picture of her but I won’t post it since I like living. I enjoy my time on the chaise and take in the beach. It really is beautiful. The sand is not like the sand at home. It’s not hot on your feet at all. And it forms for sandcastles at every point of the beach, not just near the water. It really is the perfect sand.

Christine comes back in and offers up the floatie. It’s too good to resist so back in the water I go. I close my eyes and float out really far. I can hear the calypso music coming from another part of the beach. I’m lost in my thoughts, thoroughly and utterly relaxed. I can’t hear the screeching on the beach, I can only hear the Caribbean music playing off in the distance. Now THIS is the life!! I can get real used to this!! Then, as if he were standing right next to me, I hear a little voice in my ear yelling “MOMMY”. I look back toward the beach and there’s Tommy waving his arms and jumping up and down. That’s so weird…I can’t hear anything from the beach but when my son yells my name, I hear it loud and clear all the way out here. Motherhood is amazing! And motherhood also means not relaxing on a floatie out in the middle of paradise…big sigh!

I paddle in where I can hear him better. He wants to come on with me. I motion for him to swim out and I manage to pull him on the floatie without dumping us both in the water. We lay there for a while, until I hear my chaise calling my name. Hey, I have miracle ears out here in the water!! I pretend I’m trying to push Tommy off the float. He pushes back and I fall in the water, much to his delight. After I get back to my chaise, Tommy has his own type of fun with the floatie:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100201.jpg

When I get to shore, Kevin starts complaining about this boy who’s been hanging around near us. He says the kid keeps knocking down the sand castles. I take the only approach I have at the moment. I ask the little boy his name. He says Dylan in a scared sort of way like I’m gonna yell at him. I say, “Kevin, this is Dylan, Dylan, this is Kevin, why don’t you guys play together?” I leave them to ponder that while I go back to my chaise. Refereeing with strangers is definitely not on my agenda today.

Kevin gives Dylan a few minutes but decides a new friend is not on his agenda so he joins me by the chaises. Here’s a four year old version of relaxing on Castaway Cay:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100198.jpg

Chuck tells me about their snorkeling adventure. It took Steph a few minutes to get the hang of breathing but eventually she got it. They swam all the way over to the snorkeling area and saw a lot of fish. They followed the guy’s directions and found the Mickey statue without any trouble. Then, a fellow snorkeler asked Chuck if he would go underwater and take a picture of him with the Mickey statue. Chuck agreed and took the camera from him. Then the guy took off his blow up vest and immediately got yelled at by the lifeguard. Snorkel guy ignored the lifeguard and dove down. Chuck hesitated for a second and then went underwater to quickly take the picture. I wonder if it came out.

We soon decide it’s time to eat lunch. We head over to the lunch pavilion, which is not too far away. It’s a bit disorganized as I try to take food from one area but a CM tells me to go over to another area. OK, but why can’t I take this food? We get settled at a table and I get back up to get some drinks. Steph had gotten a drink with the Boots but she didn’t get a straw. The Boots all had straws. I look around the drink station but I don’t see any straws. I ask the CM standing there and he tells me there are no straws on Castaway Cay. I tell him my friend just got straws here 2 minutes ago. He explains why there are no straws on Castaway Cay. OK, I understand the concept but why does half of my table have straws? He tells me they didn’t get them here.

I get back and tell the straw story and Keith says there was a whole box of them right next to the drink station. He gets up to look but they’re gone. The whole thing is just kinda weird! Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but weird.

Anyway, lunch is just OK for me. Chuck loves this lunch and thinks everything is phenomenal. But it just isn’t all that for me. I think my big hangup is with the burgers having onions on them. You can’t just take them off cause the onion taste still lingers. The ribs are good and my boys eat them, giving their systems something other than chicken fingers to digest. The soft-serve cookie dough ice cream is really good. I have to have a cone even though I’m thoroughly stuffed from lunch. The chocolate chip cookies here look good but they are NOT as good as room service. The one I tried just wasn’t that fresh. But Chuck raves about the CC lunch being the best meal all week (besides Palo) so I’m happy that he enjoyed it so much.

After lunch, we make a quick bathroom stop and head back to the beach. It’s time to get my butt off the chaise and go find Mickey.

Next up…more Castaway Cay, Shutters Part III, and when exactly do you pack to go home from this cruise?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot…before I leave this current installment of the trip report that never ends, I must show you the worst beach picture ever taken. You see, the Shutters photographers walk the beach taking beautiful water horizon shots of all the guests. I know this because I saw them all displayed at Shutters. Beautiful shot after beautiful shot. Then I found our picture. It’s not the photographer’s fault; he tried his best. But no one could convince Kevin to put his feet in the pish-infested waters of Castaway Cay. And this is what you have when that happens:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/worstbeachpicture.jpg

pppiglet

03-01-2007, 12:24 AM

Your pictures are so colorful! Thanks for another update!

Madisonznana

03-01-2007, 12:59 PM

I loved this installment Linda. Can you please share what time you guys went to Topsiders that you missed the crowds before going to CC? Planning for May!!:woohoo:
Thanks!

love2travel

03-01-2007, 04:21 PM

Great report Linda, I love re-living it.
Can't wait to hear more.

lindaso

03-01-2007, 05:03 PM

I loved this installment Linda. Can you please share what time you guys went to Topsiders that you missed the crowds before going to CC? Planning for May!!:woohoo:
Thanks!

The picture of the Flying Dutchman was taken at 8:40 am and we left shortly after that and saw the line. We probably got up there a little after 8:00. Hope that helps. :thumbsup2

Madisonznana

03-01-2007, 06:28 PM

The picture of the Flying Dutchman was taken at 8:40 am and we left shortly after that and saw the line. We probably got up there a little after 8:00. Hope that helps. :thumbsup2

It's going in my notebook!!! Thank you!

Belle1997

03-01-2007, 09:35 PM

Just want to say how much I enjoyed your trip report. You have such a great sense of humour. And you had me giggling along with you Shutters and chocolate fountain blog.

Thanks for sharing . Lots of fun :)

mruhaak

03-03-2007, 02:38 PM

Linda-
I've been kinda busy and I had no idea your report was still going!! Good job hanging in there!!!

nlm

03-06-2007, 01:36 PM

Linda,

I'm loving your trip report. Even though we didn't get a chance to hang out very much, it seems like we were in the same areas around the same time.

Again I bring up the possibility of using a pirate picture for the Christmas card.

Too funny - we used a pirate picture of Alison and Andrea for our xmas cards. It came out great - but I wish I had thought of the very funny Yo Ho Ho Ho.

Chuck tells me about their snorkeling adventure. It took Steph a few minutes to get the hang of breathing but eventually she got it. They swam all the way over to the snorkeling area and saw a lot of fish. They followed the guy’s directions and found the Mickey statue without any trouble. Then, a fellow snorkeler asked Chuck if he would go underwater and take a picture of him with the Mickey statue. Chuck agreed and took the camera from him. Then the guy took off his blow up vest and immediately got yelled at by the lifeguard. Snorkel guy ignored the lifeguard and dove down. Chuck hesitated for a second and then went underwater to quickly take the picture. I wonder if it came out.

Um, the picture came out great. Yes, that was my bonehead husband who got screamed at by the lifeguards. LOL! Like I said earlier - we seemed to be at the same places at the same time but didn't always run into each other.

Alison had snorkle gear too, but, like Kevin, wasn't too happy swimming with the fishes. She went out with my husband but went into a panic when she saw a grouper sized fish, so my husband brought her out of the water. Intead, she hung out in the kids club and was very happy to go on scavenger hunts across the island with them.

The soft-serve cookie dough ice cream is really good. I have to have a cone even though I’m thoroughly stuffed from lunch.

Mmmmm, soft serve cookie dough ice cream. Next cruise I'm skipping lunch and just eating this!

Speaking of next cruise - have you talked Chuck into another one? We booked on the ship and are taking one during spring break 2008. I saw a few from our cruise were doing the t-giving 2008 cruise. I'd love to do that, but it was too much of a thrash taking Alison out of school. She gave us a hard time doing her assigned homework during the cruise and then her grades dropped after we got back - I think she developed a cruise-a-tude! Anyway, we decided we'd have to stick to school breaks from now on, so we booked spring break.

Nancy
(changed my screen name from nlmcbride to nlm)

lindaso

03-07-2007, 07:49 PM

Um, the picture came out great. Yes, that was my bonehead husband who got screamed at by the lifeguards. LOL! Like I said earlier - we seemed to be at the same places at the same time but didn't always run into each other.

I can't believe that was your husband! That's just too weird. Well, I'm glad the picture came out. Chuck is not the best photographer...but maybe that's on dry land!

Speaking of next cruise - have you talked Chuck into another one? We booked on the ship and are taking one during spring break 2008. I saw a few from our cruise were doing the t-giving 2008 cruise. I'd love to do that, but it was too much of a thrash taking Alison out of school. She gave us a hard time doing her assigned homework during the cruise and then her grades dropped after we got back - I think she developed a cruise-a-tude! Anyway, we decided we'd have to stick to school breaks from now on, so we booked spring break.

Another cruise for us? I guess I can answer that question once I finish the trip report. But our next big vacation is spring break 2008. Are we living parallel lives? Our break is April 21st to 25th. We can only go away in April when spring break is after tax season. When is your spring break?

Cruise-a-tude? I like that!! We seemed to adjust back to school OK but my kids did a fair amount of work during the week.

deaner

03-11-2007, 07:13 PM

I just love your trip report. You are hysterical. I was telling my DH about some of your adventures.

keep it coming, we are still following you!

Deaner :rotfl2:

disneydance

03-12-2007, 01:13 AM

great job love the report

nlm

03-13-2007, 09:12 AM

I can't believe that was your husband! That's just too weird. Well, I'm glad the picture came out. Chuck is not the best photographer...but maybe that's on dry land!

I told my husband that Chuck took the picture and he just laughed. Then he remembered seeing a young girl with the person who took the picture and I told him that was your daughter - one of the girls who Alison emailed with before the cruise.

Another cruise for us? I guess I can answer that question once I finish the trip report. But our next big vacation is spring break 2008. Are we living parallel lives? Our break is April 21st to 25th. We can only go away in April when spring break is after tax season. When is your spring break?

Fairfax County's spring break is 3/17/2008 - 3/23/2008, so I guess we'll miss you. I've posted on the meet for our cruise, but there isn't any traffic there at all. I think all the prolific posters are going on a repositioning cruise and/or the t-giving double dip!

Cruise-a-tude? I like that!! We seemed to adjust back to school OK but my kids did a fair amount of work during the week.

Alison did a lot of work during the week, but it was like pulling teeth! She didn't want to do her work because she saw her sister playing while she had to do school work. She a real 50/50 kind of girl - gets it from her father! So, cruising during spring or summer breaks is the only answer for us.

Looking forward to the end of your trip report!

Nancy

JDBlair

03-16-2007, 02:14 PM

Subscribing because one of the people on my meet thread suggested this. Can't wait to have the time to read it!!

LovableGluttons

03-17-2007, 12:28 PM

tamim

03-18-2007, 11:31 AM

Madisonznana

03-18-2007, 02:37 PM

Great trip report!

I didn't know we needed snorkeling vests. My kids and I were yelled at by the CC lifeguard when we ventured out without vests. LOL

So embarassing!

We're so used to snorkeling without vests.

I have a question....I bought my DGD a sorta, kinda wet suit, although not made of that fabric, it is just the looks. It has short sleeves and shorts bottom, but what I am trying to get at is, it has floating type material inside that goes around the stomach/side/back. I bought it purposely for her to snorkel. Do you think that would be okay?
I just re-read this, I hope some one understands!:rotfl2:
Karen

lindaso

03-18-2007, 03:15 PM

I have a question....I bought my DGD a sorta, kinda wet suit, although not made of that fabric, it is just the looks. It has short sleeves and shorts bottom, but what I am trying to get at is, it has floating type material inside that goes around the stomach/side/back. I bought it purposely for her to snorkel. Do you think that would be okay?
I just re-read this, I hope some one understands!:rotfl2:
Karen

The way I understand the rule, if you have a snorkel mask on, you need a vest on. You can go out in the bay area with speedo goggles and see the fish without a vest. But once you have a mask on, the vest must be on (even in the beach area).

lindaso

03-18-2007, 03:16 PM

What a great report. Your notes must be fantastic for you to keep writing your installments! :thumbsup2 Love reports from real families with real melt downs. Always nice to know our family is not alone with vacation stress!:rotfl2:
Keep up the great writing.:yay:

See, that's the thing...I have no notes past Tuesday. It's all memory, pictures, and navigators helping at this point! And yes, vacation stress is a specialty of ours. Real family with real meltdowns...that would be us!!

amyintexas

03-18-2007, 03:35 PM

This report is the greatest! I got off the Wonder on Thursday (today is Sunday), and was just toolin' around on the boards when I found your TR. Today I have sat in my husband's big, comfy, leather chair for the better part of five hours reading your adventures. I have to say that I did get up to eat and to continue my 5000 loads of laundry!:laundy: Oh, and to shoo away a wasp that was attracted to my DD10's bike.

I am hooked on this thread. I can't wait for the rest! Now, I have to go find something productive to do with the rest of my day...:rolleyes:

Madisonznana

03-18-2007, 04:15 PM

See, that's the thing...I have no notes past Tuesday. It's all memory, pictures, and navigators helping at this point! And yes, vacation stress is a specialty of ours. Real family with real meltdowns...that would be us!!

Thanks Linda, So you think it is more the vest to see rather than the floating device?
k

ibela

03-19-2007, 08:42 AM

lindaso

03-19-2007, 09:14 AM

I came across this TR and love it! Can't wait to see how it ends . . .

Quick question - we were thinking about renting a car too, how do you get back to the airport? Does Disney offer a 1-way transfer or did you take some other means?

We arranged for a 10 passenger van (Happy Limo) to take us from the port to the airport but it didn't turn out exactly as planned (in a good way...I recommend using them). Sheesh, I need to put trip writing on my calendar and lock myself in a room!!

love2travel

03-24-2007, 04:17 PM

Come back Linda, we are all waiting.

lindaso

03-24-2007, 11:21 PM

I'm still here. Here's some more. I'm getting there, the end is in sight!! :banana: :woohoo:

Friday November 10th, cont…My sand castle is better than yours

We make it back to our spot after lunch and the boys get busy making more sand castles. It’s time for me to find the Mickey statue I’ve been obsessing about for months. I get myself ready with the snorkel gear and feel ridiculous wearing the blow up life vest that I can’t imagine will actually save someone’s life if they are actually drowning.

I invite the kids to go with me but I get no takers. I invite Christine and she actually considers it (she’s not really a water person). Keith helps convince her and she gets the gear on (including the ridiculous blow up lift vest that I can’t imagine will actually save someone’s life if they are actually drowning). Keith eyes the kids who are all playing nicely in the sand, looks at Chuck and says that maybe he’ll go too. Chuck who is most definitely attached to his chaise tells Keith to go ahead and he’ll watch the kids.

So while we wait for him to get ready, a man walks by and tells me that the best place to see fish is right underneath the water playground. OK, we’ll check it out.

We make our way out into the water and head over to the playground to see what the guy was talking about. Oh my God, he was right!! There are gazillions of fish hanging out between the wooden poles and the netting of the playground. I have a strong urge to yell “SWIM DOWN” at them.

We swim over to the snorkel area underneath all the ropes. I’m happy that Keith is here since he knows where he’s going and I don’t. I feel a bit 3rd wheelish with the 2 of them holding hands so I go off ahead a bit. We see a fish every now and then and there are some areas where we see a whole bunch at once. We make our way over to the white floating buoy and Keith points to where Mickey is.

I feel a great peace seeing the underwater Mickey…another thing to check off the list. Why must I obsess over these things? Mickey is cool and I’m glad I saw him but life wouldn’t have ended if I missed it. We swim around a bit more and see some more random fish and eventually head back toward the beach. I get used to the flippers and swim without using my arms. Now if I had some gillyweed, I could get rid of the snorkel.

We are quite a distance from our camp but eventually we make it back. I get to the shallow water and take off the ridiculous blow up life vest that I can’t imagine will actually save someone’s life if they are actually drowning. Just as I’m walking on the sand, a boy walks up to Tommy and Kyle. He stops and says, “my sand castle is better than this one” in a very matter of fact way. Tommy looks up at Kyle and says “why does everybody keep walking by and saying that?” He’s not angry, he’s just pondering the obvious. It strikes me as so funny! I guess our red buckets aren’t as fancy as the buckets sold on Castaway Cay and apparently many kids felt the need to point that out! Yeah, but we have the last laugh cause we spent WAY less on beach toys than their parents NA NA NA NA NAAAAAAAAA!

So, this little boy, after hearing Tommy’s response, tries to backtrack by saying “but your castle is nice too” as he walks away. I wonder if the kid wanted to play and just went about it in the wrong way?

I go for one last dip in the water and take Tommy out to see the fish underneath the playground. He’s wearing his pool goggles and I’m wearing the snorkel mask. We don’t get very far into the water before a lifeguard whistles at us to put on the ridiculous blow up life vests that I can’t imagine will actually save someone’s life if they are actually drowning. Tommy is excited to see all the fish without having to deal with the snorkel mask and breathing tube.

Afterwards, all 5 kids play nicely together in the sand with no fighting. The 4 adults relax on our chaises and enjoy the sun. Honestly, it doesn’t get any better than this. No one is whining, no one is crying, no one is complaining. It’s truly a magical day here on Castaway Cay.

Here’s our crew proving that miracles can happen:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise271.jpg

The crowd starts to thin out as people head back to the ship. I consider all the work I have to do with packing and Shutters but I put it out of my mind and enjoy every possible second of paradise. This has been one of the best beach days our family has ever had.

Here’s another good one of “pish-boy”:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100217.jpg

A Castaway Cay worker comes around and tells us when the lagoon closes. [trip report confession…I can’t for the life of me remember what time he told us. It was unusual, like 3:45 or something. It was earlier than I expected.]

Here’s a shot I took that afternoon. I don’t know why I took this shot. What did I do before digital cameras?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB100219.jpg

We get the very last minutes in before it’s time to pack up and head back to the ship. It’s then that Chuck tells me he wants to buy souvenirs for his family. I sigh, wishing that we could put an end to this family souvenir thing. Why exactly does his family need a souvenir from a vacation they haven’t been on? I know we don’t need any more t-shirts from vacations that they’ve been on. Really, the only time it makes sense to me is when you buy your kids souvenirs from a trip you took without them (they look forward to it and it alleviates your guilt!) But I know I won’t get anywhere with my philosophical position so I watch as he heads into the gift shop.

He picks out 4 beach towels at $20 a pop and when he asks me which one I like best for us, I ignore the fact that it’s another $20 and pick out my favorite for the pool this summer.

The area around the gift shop is really crowded but we get through it soon enough. We grab another shuttle back to the ship and arrive just in time to wait on a huge line to embark the Magic. Normally, a line like this would make me crazy but I really don’t mind it since it means we took extra time on the beach. I really wanted to get every minute possible out of Castaway Cay and I feel I accomplished that.

While waiting on line, we can tell which girls got their hair braided on Castaway Cay. It looks more like Alyssa’s hair from their last cruise. There really is a huge difference between ship braids and Castaway braids. The braids on the ship are much bigger, hurt less, and cost less. But the braids on Castaway Cay look so much nicer. I wonder what we would have decided if we realized the difference beforehand?

Christine and I discuss our plan for the next few hours. It’s now 4:45 and we have to clean everyone up for dinner, finish up with Shutters and PACK to go home. We also have to stop by the kids club and pick up t-shirts for Kevin and Alyssa. I know there’s no way I’m making the show tonight. I’m not even sure I’m making it to dinner tonight.

We eventually decide that we should skip dinner and the show and get our stuff done. Neither of us have any desire to say goodbye to our servers. The guys can give them the tips and be done with it. The longer we wait on the line, the more antsy we become about our pictures. We still need to see the shots from last night's semi-formal night. We still don't know for sure what shot we're using for our Christmas cards and Christine wants Bahar to finally answer her about photoshop!

We finally make it back onto the ship and start the process of getting everyone clean. Again, having 2 bathrooms is very helpful in this regard. We put the debarkation discussion on the TV but I don’t really pay close attention to it. I peruse through the papers Elsa left on the bed but I don’t really read them carefully. We get the suitcases out from under the beds and I start separating the things we need for tomorrow. Right now all I know for sure is that those suitcases need to be in the hallway by 11:00!

Christine knocks on the door to tell me that Keith doesn’t want her to miss dinner. Chuck didn’t really give an opinion when I told him but Christine doesn’t want to start a fight so we decide to go to dinner and we’ll skip the show.

We make our way into our 3rd dinner at Parrot Cay. I am happy we decided to come…it is, after all, our last dinner on the ship. Glenn greets us and Melroy brings the kids’ drinks…in covered cups for everyone except Stephanie. I can’t resist, it’s our last night. I smile as big as I can at Melroy and ask him “how old are these kids?” I have to ask cause there’s no way he knows Stephanie is younger than Alyssa. No way does he know the ages of the kids he’s been serving all week!

The kids smile big at Melroy as they wait to hear his answer. He gives me the very first smirk of the entire week as he says, “I’ll be right back.” “Oh no you don’t, don’t go checking the computer,” I tell him as he smiles, knowing he’s busted. Yup, the very first smile from the man the entire week!

My boys get their very last order of chicken fingers of the vacation. We convince Steph to get the steak from the adult menu, which she really likes. I’m in a seafood mood and have the seafood medley appetizer and the seafood linguine pasta. Both of them are really good. We watch the parade the servers participate in and don’t really feel excited about it. It’s sad watching the other tables cheer for their servers with love in their eyes. We give a slight cheer for Glenn but that’s all we can muster. We don’t feel the need to take pictures with them.

I have the chocolate decadence for dessert and Kevin has his first Mickey Bar of the cruise. The guys give Glenn our envelopes and decide to be open and honest with him. Keith asks him how long he’s been working with Melroy and Glenn says this was their first shift together. Chuck tells him that Melroy is dragging him down and he should find someone else. Glenn agrees and says he’s tried to motivate Melroy but he’s just not motivated or happy to be working on the ship. Both guys tell Glenn he should dump Melroy as soon as he can and Glenn sadly nods his head saying he will be able to in 2 more weeks.

Glenn explains the process of breakfast in the morning and names the ungodly hour we’re expected to be back at Parrot Cay. Like the character breakfast, I already know there’s no way we’re making it. We have plenty of time to kill before our flight and we’re in no rush to leave the ship.

We say goodbye to our servers for the last time, reluctantly give Melroy our envelope and make our way out of Parrot Cay. The guys will take the kids to the show while we moms take care of all the things that moms take care of in the last few hours of the last night of the cruise.

Christine and I head straight to the lab where they hand us 2 t-shirts for our absentee graduates. Then it’s back to the staterooms to collect our brown Shutters envelopes. It’s time to see Bahar!!

Up next…"Oh great, not more scrapbookers"; it’s 10:45, do you know where your family is?

discruiselovers97

03-24-2007, 11:57 PM

It just hit me...This report is going to be over soon! It is so weird, when I find a really good trip report I can't wait to read it all as soon as possible but then it is so good that at the end I am sad it will be over. Well I can't wait for the rest. Good last post!

Madisonznana

03-25-2007, 12:06 AM

Missed you Linda! Another fine installment!:woohoo:
Karen

zweihund

03-25-2007, 07:24 AM

:goodvibes
I'm so glad you're still here! Great installment by the way. I can't wait for the next one.

love2travel

03-25-2007, 08:15 AM

Another installment that we enjoyed! :)

deaner

03-27-2007, 04:00 PM

You are doing a fantastic job! :goodvibes We are all patiently waiting by for the next addition!!
You should do standup!:lmao: :rotfl2:

mruhaak

03-28-2007, 10:27 AM

Linda-
I keep hoping for gillyweed too...:goodvibes
I bet you're looking forward to July this year just like I am!

You've done a great job with your report! It feels like you've been cruising for months!! Wouldn't it be nice if that was true huh!
Melanie

nlm

03-28-2007, 12:32 PM

While waiting on line, we can tell which girls got their hair braided on Castaway Cay. It looks more like Alyssa’s hair from their last cruise. There really is a huge difference between ship braids and Castaway braids. The braids on the ship are much bigger, hurt less, and cost less. But the braids on Castaway Cay look so much nicer. I wonder what we would have decided if we realized the difference beforehand?

We waited to get the braids done until we got on Castaway Cay because we also heard they look better and last longer. Alison got the headband style and they gave her 26 tiny cornrows because her hair is so thick. Oh, and she had tears rolling down her face the whole time because they made them so tight! Yes, they lasted a long time and looked great, but they weren't able to get them until the last full day of our cruise and they were expensive. I'm pretty sure that Alison would have rather had less cornrows earlier in the cruise - and our wallet would have appreciated it as well!

NHdisneylover

03-30-2007, 10:43 AM

I am enjoying your report. I haev been waiting patiently for the next installment. Now, I have decided to bug you for it instead!:)

About the sandcastle comments: Do you still have your CC activites sheet? Was there a sandcastle building contest that afternoon? There was whne we were there last September. Anything built along the family beach was considered an entry. Perhaps the little boy thought you were comptenig and your family had just missed that a contest was going on? We totally missed it until we comented on a really nice castle and the perosn told us they wnated to win.

lindaso

03-30-2007, 11:18 AM

You are doing a fantastic job! :goodvibes We are all patiently waiting by for the next addition!!
You should do standup!:lmao: :rotfl2:

No standup for me...public speaking is NOT for me!! I'll take Word and a keyboard any day!!

I bet you're looking forward to July this year just like I am!

July will be very exciting this year. We are debating buying 2 books so Steph and I don't have to fight over who gets their hands on it first. And I've already been informed by my lovely daughter that I better not plan Kevin's b-day party on the 7th b/c I'll be at the movies with her for OoTP.

About the sandcastle comments: Do you still have your CC activites sheet? Was there a sandcastle building contest that afternoon? There was whne we were there last September. Anything built along the family beach was considered an entry. Perhaps the little boy thought you were comptenig and your family had just missed that a contest was going on? We totally missed it until we comented on a really nice castle and the perosn told us they wnated to win.

It's very possible there was a contest. I didn't have the navigator on the beach (big suprise!!) so I'm not sure. That would make sense on why many kids commented to the boys. In hindsight, it's a good thing we didn't know about the contest b/c Chuck and Keith would have gotten into making one and the kids would have fought!!

VacationKicks

03-30-2007, 07:33 PM

I just found this trip report and it is great! I've been reading it on and off all day. My dh keeps asking what I am doing, I just respond, "Research for our cruise." and it buys me more time to read.

But now I've caught up and have to wait with everyone else for the next installment.

Only 15 days until our first Disney Cruise!:banana:

love2travel

04-06-2007, 04:10 PM

Linda, come back, please!

deaner

04-09-2007, 09:19 PM

Linda....we are patiently waiting....:rolleyes1 :furious: :yo-yo: :drinking: :tongue: :wave: for your next edition.....

PLEASE....come back.....:cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

nlm

04-25-2007, 11:15 AM

Linda - come back! We're all waiting for the finale! popcorn::

lindaso

04-25-2007, 12:46 PM

I know, it's been a month and that's really pathetic. I will try to make time to finish. I promised I would finish and I will. The new ships might be done by then though :rolleyes1

ashman

04-25-2007, 02:04 PM

I know, it's been a month and that's really pathetic. I will try to make time to finish. I promised I would finish and I will. The new ships might be done by then though :rolleyes1

Well you can just finish this TR from the internet cafe aboard the new ship! :goodvibes

Don't it stink when life gets in the way of a good trip report?

love2travel

04-25-2007, 10:11 PM

I know, it's been a month and that's really pathetic. I will try to make time to finish. I promised I would finish and I will. The new ships might be done by then though :rolleyes1

Hey Linda, have you convinced Chuck to go on another cruise yet? He has to give it another try.:) Hope all is well!

anewmac

05-01-2007, 02:04 AM

I have been reading the last few nights. Great writing cant wait to hear how the ending is! :)

ILUVEVERYTHINGDISNEY

05-03-2007, 08:43 AM

Great Trip Report.

I just started reading this yesterday and couldnt put it down. The pictures of your kids are wonderful. Your kids are beautiful! Enjoy them. Kevin is soo cute. He is like my jacob who just turned 9. Our first cruise is in August and my husband, Mike, is like your Chuch. He is hesitant on going on the cruise becuase he is afraid of getting sea sickness. Everyone raved about the patch and I was surpirsed that your patches didnt do a thing. I will have to have back up for the patch. Did you husband have any side effects from the Bonine?

Thanks for the trip report and please hurry and finish. This report is like I am living it through your eyes. Its Well written!
::MinnieMo

bellalyssa

05-03-2007, 12:55 PM

Just wanted to pipe in and say you have a big fan in me, too! I have jotted down a lot of your tips...get the free pins, hit breakfast at 8:00, don't get the braids at CC, "Yo Ho Ho Ho" (our trip is end of Nov, so I was planning on a Christmas card pic too!), fish under the water playground...:yay:

discruiselovers97

05-07-2007, 12:15 PM

Please come back Linda!!! I can't wait for the rest!

lindaso

05-07-2007, 01:52 PM

Ahhhhhhh THE GUILT!!!:eek: I can't take it!!! I said I was done making excuses so I can't even say anything. :confused3 If it's any consolation, I've not allowed myself to plan Spring of 2008 until I finish this report. Needless to say, I've got no ressies and no plan!!

needAcruise

05-08-2007, 03:25 PM

I am waiting for the next installment of this saga!

Will Kevin finally set foot in the Kids Club?
Will Chuck be converted to a repeat Disney Cruiser?
Will Linda decide which pictures to buy and send the rest to the Slot of Doom?

Stay tuned! :happytv:

robertgp124

05-26-2007, 01:47 PM

This trip report is the best trip report I've ever read! Thank you - and I can't wait for you to finish it.

lindaso

05-28-2007, 02:54 PM

Are the new ships done yet? Here is the rest of Friday. Only one more day to go and I can plan my next vacation!!

Friday November 10th, cont…”oh no, not more scrapbookers”, it’s 10:30 pm, do you know where your family is?

Christine and I make our way into Shutters and the place is packed. You can’t even move. Immediately I’m thinking, “oh no, we’re never going to get everything done” but we soon realize that most of the people here are on line for late seating at Animator’s Palate. As soon as they open the doors for dinner, the place clears out and it’s basically empty. The whole ship is either at dinner or the show and there are only a few stragglers in Shutters.

We find our semi-formal pictures from the night before. The white background one is just OK. Tommy’s head is leaning the wrong way and the white shirts the boys have on blends into the background. The shots of my kids with the moonlight background are not good at all. We also find our pictures from a few hours ago on the beach. I find “the worst beach picture ever taken” along with the shots of the boys together and the girls together. These are all 6x8 size. Well, at least I finally have them all and can make some definitive decisions.

I don't believe I've posted this one yet so here it is:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/semiformal.jpg

Christine’s pictures from last night came out great. The shot of her kids where I went behind the photographer and made a fool of myself came out awesome. Both kids have real natural smiles and look really good. The shots of all 5 of them together also came out really good. Time to get to work.

We make our way to our spot on the floor and say hi to Bahar. She comments on our photo session from this morning and we show her the results. She’s pleased with how they came out but wished she could have done more with us.

We get comfortable on the floor. The first order of business is to pick the Christmas card shot. Since the semi-formal shots aren’t that good, I’m definitely going with a pirate picture and the “yo ho ho ho”. But…which shot? The one of all 5 of us or the one with just the kids? I haven’t sent out a family card since Tommy was a baby. The one of the kids is really cute but the family one is so unique. Plus, Kevin has the swords to his neck, which you just don’t find on too many Christmas cards.

I don’t know what to do. Christine is not much help. She never sends family shots b/c she hates every picture that she’s in. Bahar comes over to see what we’re up to. I hold up my two pirate shots and ask, “which one for my Christmas card?” Without hesitation, she points to the family shot and says with complete bewilderment, “it’s a card from the whole family, why wouldn’t you have the whole family in it?” Well, good question, that’s just what we do most of the time. Bahar cannot comprehend sending a Christmas card picture of kids only.

Since I have no reasonable answer for her, I pick the family shot. I mentally go through my mailing list and imagine people’s reaction to Chuck dressed up as a pirate. This is going to be fun!

Now it’s time for Christine’s Christmas card decision. I tell her in no uncertain terms that it has to be the white background shot with the kids laughing. She’s not sure. I tell her she’s crazy, it’s by far the best shot. She takes a good hard look at it. Then she notices it…I was really hoping she wasn’t going to notice it.

She sighs and says, “you can tell Kyle is wearing a clip-on tie.” You see, Kyle’s black clip-on tie was ever so slightly overlapping the collar of his shirt. So, what do I say to my neurotic friend? I say the stupidest thing possible:

“I knew you were going to make a big deal out of that!!” I yell at her.

“So you noticed it too!! That’s it, I can’t use this picture,” she says as she tosses it back on the pile.

Oh crap, why did I say that! Of course I noticed it but I notice these things because I’m sick. Nobody else in their right mind would even see it!

I try to tell her she’s being ridiculous but she’s convinced her whole mailing list will notice a slightly-skewed clip-on tie. The picture is now ruined for her because that’s all she’ll be able to see when she looks at it.

I look at Bahar, who has been surprisingly quiet through this conversation. I think she’s in shock.

She calmy asks Christine what other picture she is considering. Christine flips through her stack and comes up with the 2nd best picture, one that doesn’t even compare. Bahar reaches for the 2 photos and tells Christine the tie shot is much better.

Christine continues to shake her head. Bahar will not give up. It feels so good to have an ally in this! Bahar gets up and heads over to her co-workers behind the desk. She asks each one “which one for a Christmas card?” and every CM points to the tie shot. She then goes to the next cruiser in line and asks “which one for a Christmas card?” Cruiser points to the tie shot.

She goes to the next person in line and he looks at us on the floor and says “weren’t you two in here the other night?” Well yes, yes we were. “Have you spent your entire cruise in here?” he wants to know. OK buddy, just answer the question and move on!!

He points to the tie shot. Bahar finishes polling the entire room and comes back to Christine and tells her it’s the tie shot. But my friend still won’t budge, she’s still shaking her head. Oh for crying out loud!!

I try one last attempt and ask Bahar, “is it possible to photoshop the collar over the tie?” Bahar, who seems as desperate as me to convince Christine, walks it over to her co-worker and asks if he can photoshop it. He says he can, just leave the shot with him and he’ll do it tonight.

We confirm that he can photoshop the 8x10 and print the cards with the new image before we debark tomorrow. Hallelujah, she agrees to the tie shot!!

But now the all-elusive photoshop question has finally been answered! Christine doesn’t miss a beat and picks up her family portrait and asks if they can photoshop her double chin. Bahar fills out additional paperwork for the photoshopping of the double chin. Bahar informs us that all this will be ready by 7 am tomorrow morning. It becomes very clear that the Shutter’s staff doesn’t sleep the last night of the cruise. And they do this every week!

It is getting more crowded in Shutters and it’s getting late. We still need to decide on packages and what we’re taking home. I have a good amount of 8x10’s but not too many 6x8’s. We just didn’t take that many character photos. Plus I still have to fill out the paperwork for my cards.

I go up to the desk and wait behind a few cruisers. When it’s my turn, Bahar is helping someone else and I get a different Shutters CM. I tell him I want to order the pirate card but I’d love to see one in real life first. Is there a sample laying around that I can see? He tells me there isn’t, just what’s on the sheet. But the picture on the sheet is so small, you can’t really see the details. I’m concerned about the font. He insists there are no printed cards that I can see.

He hands me the form to fill out for ordering cards just as Bahar finishes with her customer. She comes over and shoos the other CM away from me. I lean in so he can’t hear me. “Bahar, it’s 9:00 on the last night of the cruise, are you telling me there are no other printed pirate cards waiting to be picked up?”

She opens up the cabinets and produces a stack of pirate cards waiting to be picked up. Thank you!! The card is very cute (my picture is way better of course!) but the font is all wrong for the theme. This card was printed with an arial font and it just doesn't look right. I ask Bahar if I can have the pirate font that’s on the sheet and she says to mark it on the order form.

There’s one last thing to discuss now that I’m filling out the order form. The shot is off-center to the left and the card has a red ribbon running through the picture on the right side. I want the family centered and the ribbon to be next to my head. Bahar is confused as to what I’m asking so I say “if I were scrapbooking this shot, I’d crop it right here” as I karate chop the picture with my hand to demonstrate.

The man who is standing next in line exclaims rather loudly, “oh no, not more scrapbookers!!”

Bahar looks at him and moves me over to the side where the counter raises on hinges for the CM’s to walk through. My photos are spread out on the counter and the CM’s begin ducking underneath the counter to get by. I feel bad and offer to move but they all say to stay, it’s no big deal. Christine has joined me at the counter with her photos as it’s apparent that Bahar is not helping anyone else until we leave. It’s getting crowded, but more importantly, it’s getting late. We still have to pack!

Just then, we see the guys and the kids enter Shutters…oh crap, the show is over and we’re still here (and we’re not done!). Christine is trying to hide behind me so Keith doesn’t see her. There’s nowhere for me to go so I just try to manage a smile. I’m a bit stressed so I’m sure it doesn’t look good. Chuck reads my expression and hurries the kids through before they notice us. Keith looks a little perturbed and I start feeling really guilty. No wonder Christine is hiding behind me…sheesh, how does Keith do that?

Bahar is still trying to understand what I’m saying about cropping so I turn my attention back to her. “So you want the picture cropped right here” as she takes a red sharpie and draws a line top to bottom on my photo. “Nooooo, you just drew on my picture!!!” I say in a stunned laugh. “Oh, we’ll just print you another one tonight,” she answers. She’s getting punchy just as we’re getting stressed.

Christine and I go through the rest of our pictures standing at the side of the counter. I don’t have enough 6x8’s for the package I’ve already purchased. Bahar takes out a calculator and informs me I’ll get a $12 credit if I just take the pictures I have in front of me. Well, that’s not much of a savings. For the package, I am entitled to 4 more 6x8’s. I tell Bahar that it’s not worth $12 and too bad I put all my shots in the slot of doom. She grins at me and hands me a ring of keys.

“I knew we would get to this point,” she tells me as she selects the magic key to open up our own personal slot of doom. I head over to the S of D, unlock it and see all of our discarded pictures from the last 2 days!

“I told them not to empty that one, that you’d be needing those pictures,” Bahar says.

I’m speechless. What a wonderful gesture. I love this woman!! So I retrieve “the worst beach picture ever taken” along with some more beach shots and I have a complete package. Believe me, it was worth $12 to have “TWBPET” to share in this trip report.

We’re pretty much done here. Bahar tells us to come back at 7 am to pick up our cards and our reprinted photos, including the photoshopped ones. I’m so glad to get out of Shutters, the place is a madhouse. Again, I think about how it’s not possible for the Shutters CM’s to sleep tonight.

Christine and I make our way down to the rooms. No sign of the guys and the kids. Time to start “packing” which in this case is defined as throwing as much stuff into 6 bags as fast as I can. I go through all the drawers, the bathrooms, the closets, the desktop…these rooms seemed really small when we first came in but now we have stuff in every nook and cranny possible!

I separate the stuff we’ll need for tomorrow but I can’t make it fit into the backpack, which I need to pack for the plane. So we’ll just have to carry the rolling duffle around with us in the morning. I check the clock, it’s 10:30 and still no sign of my family. These bags need to be out in the hallway by 11:00 and Kevin still has to do his nebulizer. After all, the kid ate ice cream tonight! That alone takes about 15 minutes…we are cutting it close, where are they??

I leave the room to go find them. For the hundredth time, the walkie talkies would have been helpful here. I go up to deck 9 and scan the Mickey pool…no family. I walk to the game room…no family. Now I’m convinced I missed them while I walked up here and they are back in the room waiting for me. So back down I go. Except they’re not there when I get there. Now I’m getting pissed. Why the h*ll does he have them out so late when Kevin has to nebulize?!

Just as I’m about to go knock on the Boots’ door, they come walking in. Because I’m a stressed-out lunatic mother, I immediately attack my husband with a verbal assault. He thought he was doing a good thing by keeping the kids away so I could get stuff done. Well yes, the theory was good but the timing was off. We get Kevin hooked up for breathing while Chuck goes into hyper mode checking drawers, bathrooms, closets and desktops. Yes, I've already done that but go ahead, check again.

I fill out the Minnie tags we were given and number them 1 through 6. You see, if I had actually paid attention and read the information, I would have known to tag them “1 of 6”, “2 of 6”, etc. But I missed that part and numbered them incorrectly. Oops.

Kevin finishes up his breathing, we throw the nebulizer in the suitcase, and throw our luggage in the hallway at exactly 11:05. By 11:06 they are picked up and out of sight. We tuck the kids in bed and I fall on our bed exhausted. Oh my God, tonight was waaaayyyyyy too stressful. Not fun, not happy, just stress.

Tomorrow we go home. But first I must run around in the morning…back to Shutters and up to breakfast. I’m exhausted. I need a vacation.

Up Next…that’s OUR ride baby, “where the h*ll did they park our minivan!!", and an unbelievable ending to an unbelievable trip

discruiselovers97

05-28-2007, 03:19 PM

Can't wait for the unbelievable ending!

plutospup

05-28-2007, 08:31 PM

Thanks Lindaso for the lastest chapter! Soon you'll be finished with your TR, and it will be time to book your next vacation!

anewmac

05-29-2007, 12:08 AM

The man who is standing next in line exclaims rather loudly, “oh no, not more scrapbookers!!”

He said this like it was a BAD thing LOL. Well from one scrapbooker to the other, I know what you went through. Im sure I would have been the same way ... well I will im sure LOL.

Cant wait to hear the ending!

disneydance

05-29-2007, 12:54 AM

Im enjoying every moment of your tr. Its so hilarious and funny :thumbsup2 as soon as you finishes this tr it will be time for you next disney vacation another cruise :cool1: me and a friend were reading yiur tr together and just cracking up:lmao: keep it up and plan your next vacation soon:cool1: :thumbsup2

Tinkermom3

05-29-2007, 11:30 PM

Yay Linda, you came back! OK, I have been patiently waiting since the beginning of the month for you to finish. PLEASE do not make us wait that long for the "unbelievable ending"!:thumbsup2

We are going on our first cruise in Feb '08 (7 night Western) and I have SO enjoyed reading your trip report!! Thanks so much for sharing! Man, it is going to be a LONG 8 1/2 months until our cruise! We are keeping it as a surprise for our kids (DD6, DS 11, and DS13).

jsfein

05-30-2007, 01:45 PM

Up Next…that’s OUR ride baby, “where the h*ll did they park our minivan!!", and an unbelievable ending to an unbelievable trip

Hi Linda. Hope all is well with you and Chuck. Happened to be on the DIS today and saw your recently updated TR (gotta get back to mine before my 2008 cruise). I don't want to spoil your ending for your readers, but recall your rather travel weary family on the shuttle bus to the offsite parking. Sounds like you must have had a rather long day that Saturday. Regards.

Jason

SCRAPBOOKQUEEN

05-31-2007, 10:14 AM

Hi Linda,

Greetings from a true addicted scrapbooker too. I'm already collecting scrapbooking things for my trip. I am so loving your report. I've printed it out and going over and over it. I'm booked for the September 1, 2008 Double Dip. It will be my first Disney Cruise. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I found this great picture on the DIS Board that looks between two trees and you see the Magic. I put it on my desktop at work just to keep me motivated!!! So, did they have a lot of scrapbooking stuff in the ship gift shop? I'm dying to know. My trip will include me, my daughter who will be 10, my mom and dad who I am taking for their 50th wedding anniversary. Also, my friend Renee who is an addicted scrapbooker and her husband. Thank you so much for such detail. Your children are beautiful. I love the braids on the girls. Where is that done? On the ship? How much? My daughter would love it. I think I'll surprise her on that. Where did you do your dolphin swim? On our trip, it's Nassau and then CC. I want to do the Dolphin Encounter on Nassau. Is it worth the money to do the swim? I have so many questions. I can't wait to read more. Thanks again!!!

SCRAPBOOKQUEEN
Kellie :)

MouseGrandma

05-31-2007, 10:51 AM

Don't forget to go to Home Depot and get the Disney Micky head shaped color samples. They are very cute and colorful inclusions!

chepic

05-31-2007, 12:17 PM

"She sighs and says, “you can tell Kyle is wearing a clip-on tie.” You see, Kyle’s black clip-on tie was ever so slightly overlapping the collar of his shirt. So, what do I say to my neurotic friend? I say the stupidest thing possible:

“I knew you were going to make a big deal out of that!!” I yell at her.

“So you noticed it too!! That’s it, I can’t use this picture,” she says as she tosses it back on the pile.

Oh crap, why did I say that! Of course I noticed it but I notice these things because I’m sick. Nobody else in their right mind would even see it!

I try to tell her she’s being ridiculous but she’s convinced her whole mailing list will notice a slightly-skewed clip-on tie. The picture is now ruined for her because that’s all she’ll be able to see when she looks at it."

OMG....you are too funny. The entire time I am reading this, I am thinking that will be Trish and I....cruising together with families in Jan. 2008. We are both scrapbookers, and I am soooooooo neurotic with pictures!!:rotfl:

Loving your report.

cheryl

Madisonznana

05-31-2007, 01:50 PM

Hi Linda,

Greetings from a true addicted scrapbooker too. I'm already collecting scrapbooking things for my trip. I am so loving your report. I've printed it out and going over and over it. I'm booked for the September 1, 2008 Double Dip. It will be my first Disney Cruise. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I found this great picture on the DIS Board that looks between two trees and you see the Magic. I put it on my desktop at work just to keep me motivated!!! So, did they have a lot of scrapbooking stuff in the ship gift shop? I'm dying to know. Thanks again!!!

SCRAPBOOKQUEEN
Kellie :)

Hi Kellie,
We will have to let Linda let you know how scrap supplies were on her trip but I wrote this about ours in May. TIP FOR FUTURE SCRAPBOOKING CRUISERS: I had read on another thread that there was a 2007 Cruise scrap book available. I happened to see it in the Treasure Katch and since I only saw 3 more behind it, I decided to grab one. I figured they would put more out during the week. I also went over to Mickey’s Mates and noticed they had 2 more. While I was there I saw Seeboo and mention the Scrapbooks and she grabbed one too. By the next night I did not see any more. Nor did I notice any at all through the rest of the cruise. They had plenty of photo books, but not scrapbooks. So anyone who scrapbooks and would like a 2007 cruise book, check right away. I don’t know if that is normal, if they usual have more, but don’t take a chance! There were papers left, but no more scrap books. Oh ,and this was the 1st night!
Karen

The Cinco Dis May 2007 Cruise
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1457591

SCRAPBOOKQUEEN

05-31-2007, 02:07 PM

Hi Karen,

Thank you for the info. I suspect that one of the first things Renee and I will do is head for the Gift Shop to score our scrapbooks and anything else we think we might need. I'm very excited to see what is there. I printed your cruise report to take home and read. I can't get enough of them. Thanks for the info.

Kellie
SCRAPBOOK QUEEN:)

Madisonznana

05-31-2007, 02:26 PM

Not a problem Kellie. The Paper packets have great papers and a lot of stickers. I don't usually use a lot of stickers, but my dgd Madison started her own book yesterday, her cover sheet and she enjoyed the stickers!:rotfl:
Karen

margaritaqueen

05-31-2007, 06:18 PM

Ok, Linda. I sure hope that you are going to start the first chapter of the Bahar fan club, cuz this woman sounds AMAZING!! I can't wait to go on our cruise just to meet the star of your trip report! (Did you get her email and email this to her??) :upsidedow

I, too, was with you on your cropping/font discussion! I am so looking forward to scrapping my cruise in Oct. Thanks for all the laughs and can't wait to read the rest!!

lindaso

05-31-2007, 09:29 PM

Hello scrapbooking ladies...I did not go for the 2006 album even though they did have them available on the last night. I have described my frugal (read "cheap") personality throughout this trip report and I am much happier with a $3 on sale A.C. Moore album than a full-price Disney one. I did buy the paper pack with the stickers though. They had 2 different kinds and I bought the one that was more cruise ship and less ports.

As you can probably guess, I haven't even thought about scrapping this cruise. Heck, I haven't even scrapped my 2 WDW trips from 2005!! Far behind does not even describe it :rolleyes1.

love2travel

05-31-2007, 09:36 PM

anewmac

06-01-2007, 10:23 AM

As you can probably guess, I haven't even thought about scrapping this cruise. Heck, I haven't even scrapped my 2 WDW trips from 2005!! Far behind does not even describe it :rolleyes1.

You mean were supposed to USE the supplies.... not just buy them and put them in our scrapbook rooms LOL :rotfl:

Dont worry your not alone I am so far behind its not funny anymore.. just sad. LOL

MagicMe

06-02-2007, 11:20 PM

So I make my way to the end of this trip report (great TR BTW:cool1: ) and find that after 6 months there is still no final installment???:confused3

The good news is, I was able to enjoy it since it hadn't slipped in to TR oblivion!! The bad news is, I now have to wait along with everyone else for that final installment!

Hurry! Hurry!:yay:

robertgp124

06-05-2007, 07:38 PM

This is like waiting for Book 7 of Harry Potter! Such a wonderful trip report.:hourglass

LisaG520

06-05-2007, 09:52 PM

This is like waiting for Book 7 of Harry Potter! Such a wonderful trip report.:hourglass

:rotfl2:

lindaso

06-05-2007, 10:51 PM

This is like waiting for Book 7 of Harry Potter! Such a wonderful trip report.:hourglass

OMG, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. :banana:

Do I dare promise to finish before Deathly Hallows is released? ;)

LindaBabe

06-07-2007, 07:41 AM

OMG, I have just read all 16 pages from beginning to end in one swell foop and th ere's no END? <wailing> I'm SO glad Behar managed to save your photos for you and that you got them - this was the best trippie EVER! Please finish <begging on knees here>.

sandysplayhouse

06-08-2007, 01:21 PM

Linda...
I love your report... and Bahar IS wonderful.. I remember her from our 1st cruise in 2005. She convinced me to take the if'y photos and I'm so glad I did because they can't be replaced.

In regards to the Castaway Cay Sunken Mickey....
:thumbsup2 Kudos to you for going out there to see it, but where is your picture?

This is something I also had an obsession about.
I was totally determined to find it and take my picture with it...
I bought a special underwater digital camera to take these pictures.
I had my whole scrapbook page planned out in my head for these pictures.
I got all dressed out in the snorkel gear and vest and started swimming for the bouy.

Here's where I can identify with Kevin...
I got 1/2 way there and started freaking out by the all the fish that are out in the water.
I had NO IDEA that there would be fish in the water...
I'm laughing at myself as I write this as I know how absurd it must sound...
but I really had not anticipated the fish... well, maybe one or two but not HUNDREDS.

I was with my 8 year old god-daughter and she kept frantically screaming "SHARK!.. there's a SHARK! I saw a SHARK!"
I kept assuring her that there were no sharks here.. not here, ...THIS is Disney property and they don't allow sharks in here. They have nets to keep them out of here... trying to calm her down and reassure MYself as well.

But she would not calm down...
So she went back to shore and left me there ... ALONE...with all those fish...
I totally felt like Alex from Jurassic Park 1 where she keeps chanting "he left us, he left us".. I was like "she left me, she left me!"... I could totally hear the naaaaaah-num, naaah-num, nah-num sound track from Jaws as I frantically looked around for that shark... just in case she actually knew what she was talking about. I was too nervous to continue... I actually quit... I had come all this way... 10 cruise days obsessing about that Mickey and I gave up. I was and still am so disappointed in myself. ...I'm not a quiter kind of person... and I can usually make myself do anything but THIS was not one of those situations... I felt totally scared... It was a weird feeling and a rush at the same time.. but not good enought to make myself continue. I sent my DS and DSIL out there to take my scrapbook picture. It is my favorite picture from the cruise... even thou I am not in it. It signifies what I wanted to do, even thou I actually didn't get to do it myself, I can live vicariously thru their adventure. They also saw a boat and several other things out there... they had a great time and weren't bothered by the fish and they never saw the shark that almost ate me. LOL:rotfl:
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i257/sandysplayhouse/CastawayCayMickey.jpg

And the trick to the vests is to DE-flate them before you go under.

nlm

06-08-2007, 02:01 PM

And the trick to the vests is to DE-flate them as you go under.

AHA! Thanks for the tip. I'll pass this on to my husband (who was the one who got chastised for taking his off to dive down)

disney4dana

06-10-2007, 08:09 PM

Pre-trip

Everything Christine and I thought or did, we had the cruise in the back of our minds:

The kids want to have a sleepover? You’ll be spending 7 nights sleeping over on the cruise.
Shopping at Target? Hey, look at these cool Pirate t-shirts for the cruise.
Arguing with Keith at Little League? I’m spending 7 days with him on the cruise.
We have a chance to get a puppy over the summer? She’ll be 5 months when we cruise.
The boys have the same 1st grade teacher? Now we have to tell her they’re both missing school for the cruise.

It was like being pregnant and considering life with the new baby. The guys definitely didn’t get it.

I found your trip report and could not stop reading all 16 pages. It was like looking into a mirror except you tell the story better.:rotfl:
I had to do a lot of fast talking for our first trip and even more for the up coming cruise. (My husband was in the navy. I never thought I'd get him on a boat--ship --again.) He loved the first trip but I am not sure I ever heard a "you were right" when we got home. :rolleyes1
It seems I live and breath the up coming trip. It is nice to know I am not the only one out there that does so.
I can't wait for your next report

scoutsmom99

06-14-2007, 11:27 PM

Plus, Kevin has the swords to his neck, which you just don’t find on too many Christmas cards.

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: I now have a water logged keyboard thanks to this line! I started reading your report last night and I would have read it all the way through, but I figured work would like a semi-coherent me so I told myself well you will finish it tonight, but alas you aren't done yet:sad1: What a wonderful trip report Linda thanks for taking the time to write you are very talented. Ok now get on with the next chapter...pretty please:worship: :worship:

ncseric

06-15-2007, 11:04 AM

AHA! Thanks for the tip. I'll pass this on to my husband (who was the one who got chastised for taking his off to dive down)

Don't feel bad... it took me a while to figure out that if the snorkel was in my mouth and I took the snorkel underwater, the water wouldn't actually go in my mouth, as long as I didn't inhale through the snorkel.

I'm just too buoyant to get down most times, though. :)

smt218

06-21-2007, 05:52 PM

Just found your trip report, I'm thinking of taking a cruise. Your trip report was funny, keep writing.

disneydance

06-22-2007, 01:46 PM

Come on need more

CRSNDSNY

06-23-2007, 10:27 AM

Great TR! Hoping for an ending! :)

wwwosie

06-24-2007, 01:32 PM

So I was supposed to be working on this translation project and I got hooked on this report. It's incredible!
Thank's Linday, can't wait to hear the end....

RubySlippers

07-01-2007, 10:46 PM

This a a GREAT trip report! I can't wait til the end! THANK YOU!!!!

Rubyprincess:

lindaso

07-02-2007, 12:19 AM

Saturday Nov. 11th…that’s OUR ride baby, “where the h*ll did they park our minivan!!”, and an unbelievable ending to an unbelievable trip

I wake up bright and early Saturday morning and we’re still moving. I take my last shower and say goodbye to the shower curtain…tomorrow I’ll be back to showering with a glass door, thank God!

It’s getting close to 7 a.m. when I’m supposed to be in Shutters picking up my stuff. I’m really worried that it will be crowded so I forego drying my hair, throw on some clothes and run up there. I see Bahar right away and she goes behind the counter and gets my pictures. My Christmas cards look awesome…I’m so psyched!! I’m so glad I used the pirate font for the “Yo Ho Ho Ho” and had them crop the picture. It pays to be a pain in the as*!!

I was hoping to see Christine up here so we could all take a picture together but Bahar informs me that Christine hasn’t been up here yet. She hands my camera off to another Shutter’s photographer and we get this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB110228.jpg

I say goodbye to Bahar and she gives me her email address (which I lost somewhere before we even got home!!). Back down to the room I go where Chuck is awake but the kids are still sleeping. There’s a soft knock on the door that I can barely hear. It’s Christine asking if I’ve been to Shutters yet. I accompany her back to Shutters to get another picture and say goodbye again. Bahar is excited to see us both and literally grabs her co-worker to take the picture. He’s confused about how to work my Olympus and we have a good laugh over how he’s supposed to be a photographer.

Christine asks Bahar how to pose so she doesn’t get a double chin and Bahar, who has obviously had no sleep whatsoever, puts Christine in a chokehold and says “this will hide your double chin!!”

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB110049.jpg

After our picture, Bahar gets Christine’s stuff. Her cards came out really cute too. The photoshopping of the clip-on tie was a complete success. You’d never know the shot almost made the slot of doom!! There is a slight problem as one of Christine’s 8x10’s that needed reprinting is not in her packet. Bahar promises to print another one and mail it to her (which she did…it took awhile and we thought she forgot but it did come a few weeks later).

We say our last goodbye’s as it’s getting really crowded in Shutters. I wonder if Bahar would remember us now?

Back to the rooms again where everyone is awake and getting ready. We have stopped moving and Chuck looks completely relieved of this fact. I check around the rooms to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything. We watch the workers outside our porthole getting ready to load all the supplies for the next cruise. We see a few fully decorated Christmas trees and crates upon crates of pineapple ready to be brought aboard.

We say goodbye to rooms 2624 and 2622 and meet the Boots out in the hallway. We look for Elsa to say goodbye but another stateroom hostess tells us she is getting off the ship for her holiday and didn’t she tell us this? Well no, she didn’t mention it but then again, we didn’t really have too many conversations with her either. Christine is freaked out because she still has Elsa’s tip envelope. She’s mortified that Elsa will think they didn’t tip her, especially when Chuck tells her we gave her our envelope yesterday.

Christine goes to guest services to try to get Elsa her money before she leaves. The rest of us head up to Topsiders to get some breakfast. It’s not crowded at Topsiders at all and much to our surprise, they have quite a selection of food up here. I’m so glad we didn’t wake the kids up to eat breakfast in Parrot Cay!! While the omelet station is closed, there is hot food on the buffet so it’s not just a continental breakfast.

We enjoy our very last meal on board and send everyone to the bathroom before heading off the ship. We make our way to the lobby where I grab a whole bunch of character luggage tags that now function as ornaments for our Christmas tree. We follow the way to customs and our luggage…it’s really over, I can’t believe it!!

We arrive in this huge room where there are little piles of luggage scattered all about. It’s obvious to me that we missed the crowd as there is not all that much luggage left. A porter guy comes up to us and asks us what character. “Minnie” we tell him and we follow him to the Minnie section and find our luggage. Fortunately all 6 pieces are here and has survived my packing blunder of not marking them “1 of 6”, “2 of 6”, etc. Whew!!

He piles our luggage on a cart and we follow him over to the Customs people. I have my envelope all ready with our paperwork but Mr. Customs Guy just stares at us. The staring is making me a bit nervous especially since Chuck wanted me to get passports but I balked at the cost. I hesitantly ask Mr. Customs Guy if he wants to see our birth certificates. He says, “nah, I can tell you’re related.”

“You can?” I answer, thinking that we really don’t look all that much alike. My kids don’t look like each other at all.

“Sure”, he answers, “I just look at the noses, the noses are all the same. You can go through.”

I look up at Chuck’s nose and over to my kids’ noses and then back to Mr. Custom’s Guy. “Thank you”, I say quickly as we walk past him. This is right up there with our last Customs experience leaving Canada 4 years ago. We were driving across the border at 3 a.m. and as soon as we stopped the car and rolled down the window, baby Kevin started screaming (yes, he spent most of his infanthood screaming, does this surprise you?). Again, I’m all prepared with birth certificates but the noise was just too much for the guy and he couldn’t tell us fast enough to drive away. Do they ever actually look at the paperwork?

Mr. Porter Guy takes our luggage all the way outside to where we need to meet our 10-passenger Happy Limo van. The Boots follow close behind us with their luggage. I get the cell phone from Chuck to call the Happy Limo people because we are here a half an hour earlier than I told them. It feels weird to talk on the phone. It’s been 7 days since I’ve held a cell phone to my ear and it’s unfamiliar. Vacations are funny that way.

I tell the Happy Limo phone person that we are waiting at the port and that we are a little early. The connection is not good and I can barely hear her. She says something about a limo, then static, then something about 15 minutes, then more static. I tell her I can’t hear her, could she repeat it. More static, then something that sounded like upgrade, then more static, then nothing, which I notice that I’m now disconnected.

Huh?

I call back, get the same lady, but the static is gone. I apologize and tell her that I couldn’t hear her, we are waiting for a 10-passenger van at the Disney Cruise Line terminal and that we are out here early. She then tells me that our driver should be there in about 15 minutes and that we should be looking for a black super-stretch Hummer limo.

“A what?” “But we’re supposed to get a 10-passenger van.”

She laughs and says we’ve been upgraded for free.

“TO A HUMMER?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

I turn towards my group and shout “WE’RE GETTING A SUPER-STRETCH HUMMER LIMO!!!!!!”

The kids all scream at once, making the Happy Limo phone lady laugh out loud. She tells me our driver’s name is James and to call back if he’s not there in 15 minutes.

I thank her and hang up. I’m smiling from ear to ear. That’s a pretty cool upgrade. Happy Happy Limo!!

The kids are excited at first but it takes James more than 15 minutes and the whining is starting. We see a few other Happy Limo rides pull up, including a few very ordinary 10-passenger vans. Our flight is still hours away so we’re not too worried. Finally we see a Hummer Limo off in the distance. Is that it? Is that our ride?

The Hummer pulls up, the driver jumps out, I give him our last name and he nods. Yeah baby, this is OUR ride!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise278.jpg

James goes into the trunk, opens the back door, and lays out the red carpet. Oh my God, we can’t stop laughing. Christine and I are positively giddy!! The kids enjoy pretending they are celebrities on the red carpet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise279.jpg

James takes one look at our luggage and asks “is this all yours?” Chuck tells him it is and walks over to see how much room there is. The kids pile inside where “Finding Nemo” is playing on the TV. The rest of us pile in and we add a suitcase and a few bags to the inside of the limo. We made it fit.

Here are the kids enjoying our ride to the airport:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/disneycruise280.jpg

Here is Chuck enjoying life back on land:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/lindaso/PB110051.jpg

We pull up to the curb at the airport and the moment we stop, a lady puts her face right up against the tinted window of the Hummer, checking her hair and her face in the reflection. She’s making all kinds of faces right in front of us and we are just sitting there laughing hysterically. Then James opens the door and the guys jump out to help with the luggage. Keith gives the lady a thumbs up and says, “everything looks good”.

You’d think she’d be embarrassed making all those faces with us in there, right? Nope, she keeps on checking herself out in the window even after Keith made fun of her. I swear I almost peed myself.

We take some more pictures with the Hummer and the guys tip James a Hummer-like amount. We lug the luggage into the airport and over to the JetBlue check-in. They tell us it’s too early to take the luggage and show us where we can leave it. Chuck is not one to just leave stuff unattended so he sits and watches it until it’s time for them to take it.

Meanwhile, Christine notices that the kids don’t have their jackets. She and Keith argue over this fact for a while until they determine Keith put them down on top of a luggage pile in the customs area and forgot to pick them back up.

I suggest we go into the Disney Store and get a phone number to call the port. How hard can it be to locate two navy blue jackets with a big ESM on the back and Kyle and Alyssa written on the front that’s left sitting on someone’s luggage? The Disney Store people give them a phone number but it’s just an answering machine.

We go through security and make our way to the gate. We have almost 2 hours to kill. The girls get busy finishing the rest of their homework while Christine and I separate our first grade boys and listen to them read the books their teacher assigned. Neither of them forgot how to read in the past week! Kevin plays some gameboy while the other four work. Keith and I wait on a long line at McDonald’s for some lunch. By the time lunch is finished, it’s just a little more waiting until boarding.

There is an uncomfortable moment where the window seats are discussed and Stephanie says she wants to sit next to me. I think the girls had too much togetherness and Steph was looking for some alone time. We work it out with Stephanie and Tommy getting window seats. The flight is uneventful. I try to convince Steph to watch “The Princess Bride” on TV but she’s not interested. “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to Die.” How could my very own daughter not want to watch a classic such as this?

We land at JFK, make another bathroom run and make it to baggage claim. We get some of our bags right away. We wait a little longer and the Boots’ bags come through. We wait some more for our other two bags. We wait some more. We speak to other people from our flight who are waiting. There are still quite a few people waiting with us. We wait some more. This is getting ridiculous. Just as I am about to go to the office to start asking questions, new suitcases appear on the carousel. People from our flight are getting their bags. We wait for ours. They finally appear and we can move on with our lives.

I call the number for Avistar so we can get the shuttle. You are not supposed to call until after you collect your luggage…good thing I remembered that rule, it’s been a full hour since we arrived at baggage! We wait outside where it’s a bit cold for the Boots children whose jackets are somewhere in Florida.

An Avistar shuttle stops about 50 feet before us. A whole bunch of people jump on this shuttle that is 50 feet away. Now let’s review…we are 9 people, 6 suitcases, 2 rolling duffles, 2 garment bags, 3 backpacks and a princess suitcase. The question is…do we move all that the 50 feet to this shuttle that seems full of people and luggage? Or do we stay put and maybe he’ll stop for us or perhaps another shuttle will be coming any minute? The possibilities seem endless. My husband of course wants us to move everything and everyone while I am quite content to stay put and have the shuttle driver drive another 50 feet.

An hour watching a baggage carousel has not helped the situation any. Chuck moves with some bags while I stay with kids and bags. At least this has helped the Avistar driver understand that we are the group he is supposed to find. He stops for us. Will we fit? Yes, he thinks we’ll fit.

Luggage gets loaded, people smoosh together, we are about to drive away. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man jumps on the shuttle…all by himself, no kids, no luggage. It’s Jason!! We have to stop meeting like this! He tells us it’s their family’s strategy for him to get the car and them to get the luggage and wait. Nope, not us, we are a “no separate” family in airports.

We chat about the cruise and I find out that Jason rebooked on board. Sooooo jealous. So so jealous!! We arrive at Avistar and make sure they have the information needed to retrieve our cars. The Boots’ car comes relatively quickly and they want to know if they should wait. It seems strange after doing everything together for so many days. But there’s no reason for them to wait, no reason for us to drive home together. We still have more than an hours drive ahead of us.

We say our goodbyes and wave them off. Another family that was on the shuttle with us gets their car and drives off into the traffic of the Belt Parkway. Jason’s minivan pulls up and we say goodbye to him as he heads back into the airport to get his family. Another shuttle pulls up and we’re joined by more people.

We watch as some of them get their cars before us. I go inside to ask about our car. The lady behind the desk says it’s coming. I go outside to wait some more. Every person on that second shuttle gets their car and drives off.

Another shuttle comes and we wait with the new people. When their cars start coming, I start to lose patience. I go inside to ask again. I remind them that 3 shuttles have gotten cars and we are still waiting. She radios someone and tells me they are on their way. From where, New Jersey?

It’s getting cold outside so I wait inside with Stephanie and Kevin. They start eyeing up the snack machine. They whine that they’re hungry. I’m so aggravated…it’s been forever since we’ve landed. We should be home eating a real dinner. I tell them we’ll get something to eat on the road…no way am I spending a dollar on a bag that has 5 pretzels inside.

I can’t stop looking at the clock. I wanted to pick up the dog tonight but it’s getting too late. We are still over an hour from home. When another shuttle pulls up and those people start getting their cars, I lose it. I start yelling, complete with f-bombs…I am pissed!!

Chuck has been waiting outside most of the time, remaining pretty calm. Usually in situations marred by incompetence, one of us freaks out and the other is quiet. Fortunately this is one of those times. He is aggravated too but I’m the crazy lunatic throwing f-bombs in front of my kids!! Finally, finally, we see our minivan pull up.

We get out of there with no NYPD involvement and head towards home. We are positively starving but we’re on the road and we’re not stopping anytime soon. I do what any self-respecting mother would do and grab the bag of Halloween candy I had stashed in my backpack before we left home. Kit Kat anyone? Snickers for the driver?

We drive along the Southern State parkway and talk about our next vacation. I poll the kids and ask them would they rather do a Disney Cruise, Disney World or a combination of both. To my surprise, they all say Disney World. Then, Tommy backs off and says both. They loved the cruise but as Steph points out, it’s been “so long” since we’ve been to the parks. Interesting.

We talk about what to eat for dinner and we decide on pizza. I can’t for the life of me remember the number for the pizza place. How long have we been away? Everybody is tired, cranky and hungry. It’s way too late to pick up Shenzi. She’ll have to sleep one more night at the dog sitter. As we get closer and closer to home, we all feel a little better. I can’t wait to get inside my house and relax. It’s hard to believe this day started on the cruise.

We finally pull into the driveway. WE’RE HOME!!! I hit the button for the garage door and we pile out of the car. The kids run up the steps to the door, Tommy gets there first. He turns the knob and my brain prepares to hear the familiar buzzing of the alarm.

“It’s locked,” he says.

“What??” I say as I look at Chuck who has turned stark white.

Chuck’s color goes from white to pure red as he walks the steps to the door and tries it for himself. Yup, that door is obviously locked, I observe.

It’s this moment that I bust out laughing. Oh my God, after an entire day of nothing but traveling, we are now locked out of the house. It’s so impossible that it’s hilarious. We’re standing in the garage but we’re still not home!!

Let me back up here to give a little background info for this scenario. My niece had left her car at our house while she went out of town for a job. She was coming back to pick it up and was sleeping over for one night while we were away. Chuck didn’t trust her to turn everything off so he asked his dad to come by to check on things after she left. He also didn’t trust my niece to NOT lock the door between the house and the garage so he gave his key to his dad so his dad could get in to our house if my niece locked it. Chuck specifically told him NOT to lock that door, that we’d get in with the garage door opener. But my father-in-law never saw a door he didn’t want to lock, even though HE had our key to it.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Chuck, playing this through in his head and realizing that it was his dad who locked us out of our own house, doesn’t see the humor in the situation. Now it’s his turn to freak out and freak out he does. Let’s just say my kids heard more curse words on November 11, 2006 than they have in their entire lives. Chuck’s letting them fly every which way while he’s slamming his shoulder into the door trying to break it open.

Tommy starts crying cause he thinks we’re locked out forever. I herd the kids back into the car and wait for Chuck to finish abusing the door. After testing the soundness of the lock with his 250lb+ frame, he comes back into the car and slams the door. He tosses his cell phone at me and tells me to call his mother.

Of course I get his mother’s voicemail and leave a pathetic message about how we’re locked out of the house and they have our keys. We get back on the road and head toward his brother’s house. I call ahead and tell his brother what happened. He busts out laughing and I’m grateful I’m the one on the phone to hear it.

We make it to his brother’s house in about 15 minutes and he meets us in the driveway with the keys to our house. He used his key to my in-laws’ house and found our keys laying on their counter. We come in to use the bathroom and what does my future sister-in-law say to me at that moment? I’ve been traveling all freakin day with 3 kids and an irate husband and she actually says to me, “Oh my God, your hair’s so frizzy!!”

We drive back home, keys in hand. We actually get inside the house this time. We get and eat our pizza and go to bed. I’m a complete zombie until 9:00 in the morning when a child puts the phone to my ear and I hear an exasperated voice asking “when are you coming to pick up your dog?”

THE END :cool1: :banana: :dance3:

Postscript:

Yes, it’s finally done. I must have the record for the longest time to finish a trip report. At least I finished it before “Deathly Hallows” was released!! A few things:

1. DCL did find Kyle and Alyssa’s jackets and mailed them back a few days later.
2. The Christmas cards were a huge success, I got so many positive comments.
3. I haven’t even printed any pictures of this trip, no less think about scrapbooking it.
4. Chuck is not too keen on another cruise although he did say he’d be willing to do a 3 day just to get back to CC. I priced it out and it’s just so darn expensive for 5 people to cruise for 3 days. Now that I’ve finished this trip report, I can officially plan the next vacation. I kept true to my word and didn’t book anything. Right now it looks like it will be WDW, probably the Polynesian again. I’ve renewed at TourGuideMike and I’m ready to plan. April of 2008, spring break is after tax season, hooray!!

I’m certainly no J.K. Rowling so if I’ve left any loose ends, let me know and I’ll address them! Thank you for sticking with me over these long 8 months and reading my crazy story. :rolleyes: