11/04/06 Western Magic, Part of the NJ Contingency!!! (New post 02/06/07)

[pklein09]

Well, this will be my first formal trip report. I did a brief recap of HH last year, but nothing like this. What a week!!

Cast of Characters:

DH39 (as big a Disney nut as me, thank goodness!)
Me (39 on the ship, now 40)
DD10
DS9
DD8
DS5 (turned 6 our day in Key West)
Mom and her Husband


Day -2 (Nov 2)

This is the day we leave!!! We wanted to get to Florida ahead of time so we wouldn't be exhausted for the cruise. We were going to leave on Friday, but decided to leave Thursday night instead. Well, Thursday night turned into early Thursday afternoon when we booked our flights. We booked our flights on Christmas Eve to get a decent rate.

The kids are wired in the morning. Our flight is 2:20 out of Newark and we decided to put the kids in school for the morning and pick them up around 11:00 am. After the kids got on the bus, we pack the dogs off to the kennel (kennel owners are DVC members as well as Castaway Club members....chatted with them about what to do, where to go, etc.) We still had over an hour before we needed to get the kids, so we wandered around Target for an hour. DH got new sunglasses. We still had time to kill, so we just parked outside the school and waited. As we pull up, there are 2 police cars at the front entrance. Now, we received a note the day before from the superintendent about a vague threat to the municipal buildings with an even vaguer mention of schools. We thought nothing of it. Apparently, the school did. They were in a type of lock-down mode. When we buzzed to go in, the policeman asked if he could help me. I said, "Yes, I'd like to get my 4 kids so we can leave on vacation." They let us in, but only as far as the office. The kids were brought to us. DS5 forgot his jacket in the classroom and had to run back. It was cold enought for winter coats that morning, so he needed it. We left our coats in the van at the airport.

We collect the kids, more wired than before, if that was possible, and head up the Turnpike. It was about a 45 minute drive. We found the Avistar parking lot, and get on a waiting van. We had never checked luggage before and had no idea how long it would take. (I brought enough clothes for the trip...I really didn't want to do laundry.) It was a breeze! No lines and no dragging luggage through the terminal.

We find our gate, get something to eat, and set up a picnic on an overturned baggage bin. We got on the plane with no problem, but something delayed us 20 min. I have visions of missing our PS at Olivias later that night.

We get to Orlando, find FL Tours, and our luggage was some of the first off the plane! Yeah team!!! Off to OKW!!!

We had toured OKW back in 1992 on our honeymoon, but hadn't been back since. We should have bought DVC then, too, but we were being fiscally responsible young adults who needed a regular house first. OKW is beautiful!!! Check in was okay. We had a CM from China who spoke very quietly and slowly. I just wanted to get in my room and get some dinner. We were 15 min from our PS time, and hadn't even made it to the room! I went across to Olivia's, and they said not to sweat it, they weren't busy. A bell hop put our stuff on a golfcart and off we went to Turtle Pond area. We got to our room - 3rd floor!!! with 6 suitcases and 6 carry ons!!! We droped the stuff and ran back to the golfcart. Dinner at Olivia's was good, and the Key Lime Pie was FANTASTIC!!! Very noisy, though. We walked back to our room, washed the kids, and put them to bed. We had AK and MK on tap for tomorrow, with 8:00am PS at Donald's Restaurantosaurus.

It was nice to be "home."

[jsfein]

Michelle, welcome to the 11/4/06 Magic trip report club. The more the merrier.

[pklein09]

Did I mention that I didn't want to be exhausted for the cruise? Well, we're up around 6:00 am, and have the kids up at 6:30 am. I'm sorry to say that I get into "commando mode" when we're going to the parks and have a short stay. UP UP UP, MOVE MOVE MOVE, NOW NOW NOW....MICKEY'S WAITING!!!!!!!!!! LET'S GO!!! It's amazing how well that works in Florida, but not New Jersey!

What's this? 61º??? This is Florida!!! Where's my warm weather??? Our jeans are drying in the dryer...all we have are shorts. Kids, grab your sweatshirts, it will be brisk!

We check our tickets at the concierge desk to make sure how many days we have left...and we're covered. We walk out to the bus stop, and there is the AK bus. DH and I always nail the busses just right. Whatever bus we need, it shows up within 5 minutes, never fail. Just a neat piece of magic for us. We're the only ones on the bus, so we chat with the driver a bit, and discuss what we want to see at AK.

As we walk up to the gates, I notice a very tall Christmas tree and hear Christmas music playing. Wasn't it just Halloween??? The entire park was decorated and the characters were in their Christmas best. It was nice (I LOVE Christmas), but, boy, did it seem early. Donald's Restaurantosaurus was new for us, and we enjoyed it. The theming the restaurants always amazes me. We particularly liked the suction cup darts on the roof and water tower outside. Inside was equally fantastic. Breakfast was good, we saw all the characters, and still had to wait for the rope drop outside DinoLand. It was a great morning!!!

Chester and Hesters was great! It reminded me of the boards at the Jersey Shore with the carnival-type rides, games of chance, and bright colors. We rode TriceraTop Spin with all the kids, but DS5 was too short for Primeval Whirl. DH rode TirceraTop spin with DS5 and I took the other on Primeval Whirl. DH and I swapped places so he could ride. DS5 didn't want to ride a 3rd time, so we played a water shooting game. With it being the 2 of us, we won! He got a red and blue frog, promptly named "Froggy" and was the happiest kid in the park! The older 3, on the other hand, weren't. They wanted one too. TS (terribly sorry), was DH and my response. They were big enough to ride the ride (twice!) and this was Michael's consolation prize. They had long faces, but got over it pretty quickly.

Off to EE. No line....10 min, if that. DD10 has anxiety issues, and they were very apparent standing in line. There was no way no how she was going to ride. DS5, who couldn't ride Primeval Whirl, could ride EE. Go figure. He wanted to ride. So, DH and I did the baby swap thing again. I rode first with the younger 3. I also need to mention that I'm not a roller coaster person, but I promised DH I would try new stuff on this vacation. <heavy sigh> What was I thinking??? I had my head in my hand when the ride came in to the unloading area, and I think I muttered something about getting even with DH. We get off, and DH can take up to 3 extra people on his fast pass. The middle 2 decide to ride again, DS5 decided once was enough. They get back in line and DD10, DS5 and I roam the gift shop. I finally notice that the ride isn't moving, and doesn't move for a good 5-10 minutes. DH will NOT be happy if the ride breaks down and he didn't ride. It eventually starts again, and he rides. DH reallly enjoyed it, as did the 2 middle ones. It was good, but I've done it once. For now, that's good enough.

We continue on for a stop at 2 kid's stations, listen to some gorillas (?) hanging from trees talking to each other very loudly, see It's Tough to be a Bug (really neat to walk under the tree!), Festival of the Lion King (we were lions), and run into Wes Palm, all before noon time! Pretty good!

It's off to MK for the rest of the day. A trip to WDW isn't official until I walk down Main Street. It is my most favorite place in WDW. I could sit there all day and watch the world go by. We knew we wouldn't get to see all of MK in such a short time, so we asked the kids what must-see attractions were on their list. We also wanted to do things we haven't done before. Our first adventure was a horse-drawn carriage ride down Main Street. We had never done this before. It was very nice. It dropped us right in front of the castle. We decided to head to Pinocchio's Village Haus for lunch so we could look out over the IASW ride. This was also a first for us...we had never eaten there before. Not bad food.

Well, with the kids picking the attractions, we criss-crossed the park at least twice!!! I can't even remember the order because it was so disorderly! If there was a long wait, we said we would come back to it. For the most part, we did. The kids got to be guest conductors on the railroad (all you have to do is ask!). We saw Tink in her bureau in Tinks Treasures. We had dinner at Casey's (also new for us). We were worried about overeating in the parks because we knew we had the cruise ahead of us.

One other thing we had never done before was buy hot chocolate in the parks. I never thought I would order hot chocolate in the parks in the beginning of November. It was pretty cool when the sun went down. It was 7:00 and had an hour to kill before Wishes. We went to the bakery for cookies and hot chocolate. The gentleman standing behind us was wearing shorts and a windbreaker with 3 bottles of ice cold water and 2 cold Cokes. I looked at him and inquired if he was from Minnesota. He said close, Wisconsin! We all had a good laugh about temeratures and what you're accustomed to.

We found a place in front of a hedge row (to cut the breeze), sat on the pavement (still warm from the afternoon sun), and waited for Wishes. It never disappoints! We love that fireworks show. The kids have the music memorized (thanks to someone who video taped it and put it online). It was a great end to a great day!

We headed back to OKW for baths and bed. We were also expecting my mom and her husband in around 10:30 PM from the airport. I fell asleep waiting for them. They called around 11:30 to say they were enroute. Their flight out of Philly was overbooked and they waited an hour for people to give up their seats. We all finally settled in around midnight with visions of the cruise dancing in our heads.

I'M TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(but I really need to because I don't want to be exhausted for the cruise.....)

[pklein09]

Who needs a wake-up call???? We were ready to cruise!!!! We packed everything up and walked over to Olivia's for breakfast. DH and Joe went back to the room to wait for the limo while mom, kids and I walked through Conch Flats General Store. The limo comes about 20 min early, but they guys were ready. We're off and rolling down the highway.

me: "Honey, where's my green folder?"

DH: "I don't know, I don't remember seeing it." (or something like that...)

Sheer panic! This has EVERYTHING for the cruise in it, forms, passports, birth certificates, everything. I put it in the carry on, but I didn't help pack the limo. We made the limo driver stop along the side of I-4 so we can find the folder. It was in DHs carry-on. Whew!!! The blood pressure went back to normal. The limo was more like a minibus with a video system in the overhead area. We watched Disney shorts all the way to the port.

What a beautiful ship!!!! I love the classic design of the ship (I love most art-deco stuff and there are times I think I'm reincarnate from that age). Mom said it was the smoothest check-in she's ever done for a cruise (she's done 3 or 4). Disney knows how to move lines! We met Chip-not-Dale in line. We MMouse37 in line also - she was helping some of her many travel companions. We would continue to run into MMouse 37 all week, especially since she was next to my Mom's cabin! We were part of check-in group 7. We got the kids registered in the terminal.

It didn't seem like long till we were called to embark. It was still a line, but Disney breaks it up with pictures! We walk up to the lobby where we're announced like celebrities and the cast and crew are clapping and waving. WOW! (That was one of DHs "wow" moments for the end-of-cruise survey.) Just a question in hindsight: Do they light that chandelier?

Went to Topsiders for lunch as we had our Palo ressies made and the kids were registered. It was a nice leisurely lunch. The peach slide cake (the one under the warming lights) was the best!!! With a touch of vanilla sauce....mmmmmmmmmmmmm. I could have eaten that all week!

We made our way down to Deck 2 and was there for the rope drop. We found our room and were very glad we had mouse ears and other door decorations. They all look the same!!!!!!!! And people complain BWV has long hallways!!! The kids were also excited because there was a bag in the room for them from Mickey and Minnie (aka Shirley and the Perfect Gift). Little things mean a lot!

Remember me saying I didn't want to be exhausted for the cruise? We got into the room and the kids immediately wanted to go swimming. DH looked at me and said, "I'll take them, you sleep." I have a wonderful DH. He knows. If I don't sleep, I'm cranky and I get a headache to boot. I crawled under the blankets, but I was freezing. I tried turning the thermostat up and the cover fell off in my hands. Huh? Something broken on the Magic? In my stateroom? I snapped it back on and tried to sleep. I think I got about 45 min in when there was a knock at the door....Lyndon had our luggage. Wow! Pretty fast. I decide to unpack without all my "helpers."

It's 3:00 and I have one more suitcase to go. Is the meet at 3:00 or 3:30? I can't remember!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I hoped it was 3:30 and I unpacked the last suitcase. I grabbed my roomkey and headed to the Goofy Pool. I didn't see anyone. Well, I saw lots of people, but no one I was looking for. I didn't see any lime green Mickeys nor did I see my DH and kids. Hmmmmm. Well, I guess the meet was at 3:00.

I head back to the room and I found DH and the kids. They were happy - very important!!! And I wasn't tired and cranky - even more important!!! We got our life vests and waited for the drill. Our meet spot was Animator's Palate. Now I knew where dinner was tonight.

We finish the drill and go the sail away party. We were at the front of the Goofy Pool, to the right if you're looking at it with the jumbotron in front of you. We had bubbles compliments of the gift bag from Shirley and company. One mom looked at us and said thanks for the bubbles....her 3 year old was running off a TON of energy catching the bubbles. I saw one other person with bubbles toward the back of the pool on the same side as us, but not a lot of bubbles. I guess the carry-on restrictions quashed that.

We head back to the room to get ready for 5:30 dinner. We had the early early seating. But our rotation was APL...which seems to me was the desired rotation. Formal and semi-formal in Lumieres and pirate night in Parrot Cay. Another touch of magic there! Our waiter for the week was Antonio from Mexico and our drink server was Eva from the Czech Republic. They were FANTASTIC!!! Our head server was John from Scotland. He introduced himself and said if there was anyting we needed to let him know. Well, DD8s birthday was Nov 1 and the travel agent said they would do something for all the birthday's (there were 3 in our party). I mentioned it to John and he said no problem. They came out with a small cake (it looked like it was cut from a larger sheet cake) with a piece of white chocolate with the ship screen printed in dark chocolate. She was duly impressed and we had birthday cake for dessert.

We opted for the basic wine package for the week....for DH. Now, I could feel the ship moving, but I wasn't sick from it. No one seemed to be (thank goodness!). I had a glass of wine with dinner and as soon as we left to go to Mickey Mania (yes, I was there too, just too late to get a spot on stage), I decided I should have had another glass of wine to counteract the movement of the ship!!!

Mickey Mania was great!!! I was doing well in the audience till the picture scrambles hit. The twisted ones were the worst for me. I could deal with the pixilated ones. Great job by the brother and sister team!!!!

Which brings me to a general aside about brothers and sisters and the kids in general: For the number of children on the ship, I really can't say that I saw any tantrums or unruly behavior. Sure, I saw tired children that were crying, but it's a different cry. Overall, I felt the kids on the ship were well-behaved and pretty courteous (sometimes with parents' prodding :rolleyes: ).

We went to the All Aboard show in the Walt Disney Theater and I nearly froze! I'm cold all the time, but geeze...I was okay during dinner. I couldn't wait to get back to the room. We get back to the room....freezing cold!!! The thermostat wasn't working. I turned it to the warmest it would go earlier that afternoon, and the temperature hadn't moved! We called maintenance. They were pretty prompt and did something. It eventually started to warm up. We got the kids to bed and had to yell at them 3 or 4 times to settle down and go to sleep. They were just too excited!!! I knew exactly what they were going through!!!

Ah yes, towel animals. The kids loved these!!! They had never seen one before and promptly took it apart and then asked us to put it back together. Ummmm, I didn't see it before you took it apart. Sorry. Love ya, mean it. They got a really cool surprise later in the trip, which I will get to, and it did involve towel animals.

Day 1 was very good! I just hoped the week didn't fly by.

[lindaso]

I am enjoying reading your report. I thought I liked trip reports before but reading trip reports of the same cruise is a hoot :banana:. I don't think we met that week but we must have run into each other at some point. And a Delswife reference to boot? Gotta love it!!

[pklein09]

I am enjoying reading your report. I thought I liked trip reports before but reading trip reports of the same cruise is a hoot :banana:. I don't think we met that week but we must have run into each other at some point. And a Delswife reference to boot? Gotta love it!!


I'm sure we had to have run into each other at some point! For anyone who noticed, I was carrying a photo tote bag around everywhere. The pictures were that of MVMCP 2004 - it was my kids with all the characters. I also had a lime green Mickey ears at a luggage tag attached to the bag.

--Michelle

PS My entire extended family knows "Love Ya, Mean It"!!!!!!!!!!

[disneylover5]

Which brings me to a general aside about brothers and sisters and the kids in general: For the number of children on the ship, I really can't say that I saw any tantrums or unruly behavior. Sure, I saw tired children that were crying, but it's a different cry. Overall, I felt the kids on the ship were well-behaved and pretty courteous (sometimes with parents' prodding :rolleyes: ).

We have been on 7 Disney Cruises and we have never had an issue with children (except my own :rolleyes1 ). On Key West Day Morning, my DD10 and her best friend were MOONED (are there smiles that are showing their bottom :rolleyes1 :rolleyes1 ) on while riding down the mid-ship elevators. They thought the kids were about their own age....maybe a little older. I guess it is Deck 6 when people can walk behind the glass elevators. Once reported to Guest Services they had extra security in that part of the ship the rest of the week.

Those boys ought to be glad that Gretchen couldn't get a hold of them right then....she would have flattened them :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

[pklein09]

I forgot something at Animator's Palate that first night....the show didn't seem to be working. We walked in and the walls were white...so far so good. But there was no music playing. Hmmmm. The video screens showed some pencil sketches that then went to full color drawings, but the walls didn't change. Then the screens went blue and started all over again. And still no music. Then we saw technicians in the dining room. The walls still weren't in sync. Our server said the show was about to start right when dessert was being cleared. He said it was about 5 minutes and worth the wait. We waited and the show was entertaining, but not all the walls changed. Some were still black and white while others had gone to full color. And still no background music.

When we cycled back around 2 nights later, the walls were on and the music was on, but no show. Did anyone else experience this or we were the only ones?

[nlmcbride]

I forgot something at Animator's Palate that first night....the show didn't seem to be working. We walked in and the walls were white...so far so good. But there was no music playing. Hmmmm. The video screens showed some pencil sketches that then went to full color drawings, but the walls didn't change. Then the screens went blue and started all over again. And still no music. Then we saw technicians in the dining room. The walls still weren't in sync. Our server said the show was about to start right when dessert was being cleared. He said it was about 5 minutes and worth the wait. We waited and the show was entertaining, but not all the walls changed. Some were still black and white while others had gone to full color. And still no background music.

When we cycled back around 2 nights later, the walls were on and the music was on, but no show. Did anyone else experience this or we were the only ones?
11/4 was our first disney cruise - actually our first cruise ever. We had the same rotation as you did, and I was expecting a WOW that night in Animator's Palate and got an EHHH instead! I'm glad to hear that wasn't what should have happened.

I'm also happy to hear you didn't have motion sickness that night - a little girl at a table behind us in Animators Palate got sick in the restaurant. They cleaned it up really quick and it didn't affect us at all - except I sent DH to the cabin to get our motion sickness medicine. (LOL!)

[pklein09]

Here is a pic of DH and me...with Stitch!

http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6aQQ%7C%3Dup6%3DzqH%3AxxqUD7qRUrKxzX7BHpUUKx gXP0a%3F87KR6xqpxQQPexanaxonnxv8uOc5xQQQon0Jle0nlG qpfVtB%3F*KUp7BHSHqqy7XH6gXP0a%7CRup6lQQ%7C/of=50,590,442

Here is one of the kids....

http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6aQQ%7C%3Dup6%3DzqH%3AxxqUD7qRUrKxzX7BHpUUKx gXP0Q%3F87KR6xqpxQQPexanaxonnxv8uOc5xQQQon0Jleonaa qpfVtB%3F*KUp7BHSHqqy7XH6gXP0Q%7CRup6lQQ%7C/of=50,590,442

[pklein09]

Day 2 Part 1 - Nov 5, Key West and DS5 Birthday!

Well, even with the ship rocking me like a baby, I didn't sleep like one. I woke up a few times during the night and had no idea what time it was. That propeller clock doesn't glow very well! I also swear someone knocked on our door in the middle of the night. I went to go look out the door and there was no peep hole!!! I wasn't stupid enough to open the door, so I have no idea what happened. Parrot Cay was right above our staterooms, and I heard carts being wheeled around all week, so that also woke me up.

The kids are used to getting up at 7:00 every morning for school, so they woke us up at 6:30. We had our character breakfast at 8:00, so they were going to have to get up soon anyway. I'm glad we booked connecting staterooms - the double bathrooms made life so much easier. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Michael as he was waking up.

Breakfast was great - Antonio met us at the entrance and walked us back to our table - #12 - waaaaaaaaay back in the corner. Apparently, table #12 is in the corner in every restaurant. We always had a cleaning station or a column blocking our view every night. Frustrating, but I suppose someone had to sit there.

The kids were excited to go to the clubs - yeah team!!! DH dropped them off at their various locations. The 4 kids were spread out over 3 age groups. DS6 went to the Club, DD8 and DS9 went to the Lab, and DD10 went to the Quest. At least for the first day. DD8 decided she wanted to be with DS6, no DS9, the rest of the week so she dropped down an age level. As long as she's happy.

DH and I wanted to go to the DVC Member Celebration. My mom joined us and we got great DVC hats and lanyards (see JSFein's heirarchy of lanyards!!!). Mom was happy...she's not a DVC member but got the lanyard for her keycard! They did some trivia and raffles. I was great at the trivia, but my name didn't get picked for the raffles. I even helped someone answer their question (What was Donald's middle name? Fauntleroy), but I didn't even get a consolation prize! Oh well, I did get a hat and a lanyard I didn't expect.

When the talk turned into the sales pitch, we decided to leave for the Art of Entertaining with the guest chef, Gary Miles. We walked in as they were breaking down the set...bummer. But we got to meet Gary and snagged the recipe. He's a really nice guy and we made it to his other 2 demonstrations.

There was some free time and we honestly didn't know what to do with ourselves. We made plans with Mom and Joe to meet them for lunch at Topsiders and went off to wander around the ship.

Here's where you can tell we're new to this Disney Cruise thing. We had 4 kids happy in the clubs. We should have left well-enough alone, but we didn't. We got the kids from the clubs and went for lunch. Lunch was okay for everyone but me. I didn't like anything on the buffet. Yes, I'm picky, very picky. We got the kids settled and I went to Pinocchio's for pizza. This was mediocre at best, but it was better than the buffet. While at lunch, Mom used her cell phone to check in on my Nana and sister. They got on the phone and wished Michael a happy birthday.

After lunch, we told the kids we were taking them back to the clubs. DH and I wanted to walk around Key West on our own. The older 3 willing said yes, but Michael, dear dear Michael, didn't want to go. We said it was the clubs or Key West with us. DH told him we had a big day planned with cholesterol screenings, pocket lint cleaning, and lots of shopping for ladies handbags. No dice. He wanted to be with us. Mom told me I shouldn't have given him a choice, but it was his birthday. Besides, he's an absolute ANGEL when he's alone with us. He'd make the perfect only-child. But he has 3 older siblings, and he plays his part of the youngest child very well!!!

We thought we would do a Conch Train tour, or something like that, but we were told that the pagers only work for a 1-2 mile radius. The tours go further than that, so we decide to stay close to port. We disembark to gale force winds. Geeze! Once we get off the marina area, the winds calm down. Joe (mom's husband) wants to go to a pirate museum (Pirate Soul) founded/sponsored by Pat Croce (of 76er fame). We find it relatively easily and Michael enjoys it. It was interesting. I was a history major, so I'm okay with museums, even pirate ones. Mom and Joe also said they wanted to find the Blonde Giraffe. Huh? They go on to explain that Paula Deen's son's had been on a road trip to Key West and went to the Blonde Giraffe for frozen chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick. Sounds good to me!!!!! We find that only a block or two from the pirate museum. The place is quiet and we order Michael ice cream for his birthday and one piece of frozen chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick to share. "Wow" was the word that came out of our mouths!!! It was fantastic, but 2 bites were more than enough for me. It was rich!

We decide to head back to the ship because Michael has decided a piggy-back ride with Daddy is the way to travel. Mom and Joe want to take a Conch Train tour, so we part ways. I wanted to stop in at Diamonds International to get the charm bracelet. What a joke. I shop at the Jewelery Exchange in Woodbridge, NJ and this place's prices were ridiculous. And I'm being nice. Rewind 14 years to honeymoon on St. Martin and shopping there...and all the freebies that were handed out....I got fresh water pearl bracelets for free. Fast forward today's charm bracelet...you would get something nicer in the dollar store. But there's a diamond chip in it, the sales lady says. Yeah, it might be a diamond chip, but you'd have been better off grinding it into carbon and using it for carbon paper. It's not worth the labor to set the stone in the mystery metal. I just hoped that didn't forshadow what shopping would be the rest of the trip.

I'll stop here because I really need to get dinner started....the kids are starting to look over my shoulder and mutter something about being hungry. They've even said they missed Antonio and Eva from the restaurants. I told them back to reality....get your own drinks and clear your own plates!!!

[pklein09]

We head back to the ship with DS6 (Michael) in tow. Mom and Joe want to do a Conch Train tour, so we part ways. After some questions, DH finally figures out why DS6 wouldn't stay on the ship and give mommy and daddy some along time: "I'm AM, not PM." That simple. For those of you without half-day kindergarten, that means he goes to school in the morning and stays with Mom all afternoon. So, why shouldn't it be any different on vacation? Ah, the rationale of a 6 year old! Note to self: DO NOT take kids out of clubs for lunch!

We get back on board and check the Navigator - Mr. Toad's Wild Race for families is about to start. We head to the atrium where we find a few lone kids with parents for the race. Keyon says we need an even number to play, and it's really no fun unless there are 10 or so. Parents offer to play to bring up the number. Little did I know I was about to meet jsfein and family and Wendygirl and DD at the race!! We had a great time!! While Keyon is getting everyone's Toad names, DD10 pages us....good thing we came back on board. DH retrieves her and she fills in for me in the adult race. Many thanks :love: to the parents whose toads had "trouble" hopping down the course - DD10 LOVES her gold medal! DS6 didn't fare as well. He got the rhythm of the hopping down, but he was too busy watching jsfein's DS maneuver his toad. DS6 lost his race by a toad's leg, literally. It was very close. DS6 had his heart set on the trophy because DS9 has 5 or 6 trophys from soccer and DS6 has none. This was his chance to get trophy. He didn't throw a tantrum, but he did go to tears. We talked about how fun it was to participate and that not everyone can win. But there was DD10 with her shiny new medal. He wasn't having any of it. Keyon noticed this and asked for our room number. I told him not to worry about it because DS6 is the baby and is used to getting everything, this was just a life lesson he would need to deal with. Keyon still wanted our room number, so I gave it to him. A few days later, there was a trophy AND gold medal for DS6 on the bed with a birthday card signed from Keyon!!! DS6 was in hog-heaven.... :cloud9: Here's his pic....

http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6aQQ%7C%3Dup6%3DzqH%3AxxqUD7qRUrKxzX7BHpUUKx gXP0Q%3F87KR6xqpxQQPexanaxonnxv8uOc5xQQQon0Jle0neQ qpfVtB%3F*KUp7BHSHqqy7XH6gXP0Q%7CRup6lQQ%7C/of=50,590,442


The trophy holds a place of honor next to the Play Station here at home! Many thanks to Keyon....he was one of many who made our trip even more magical!!!

There was some time to kill, so I took DD10 shopping. Each kid had $$ from birthdays, allowance, Easter Bunny, etc. It's much easier to shop with one kid that try and herd 4 of them at once. For the most part, they can buy what they want, but I told her she had to get a sweatshirt with her $$. No problem, she got the navy blue one with the ship and all the characters. She then filled in with dolls and charms. She may be 10, but she's LOVES her dolls. She played with them the entire cruise and on the flight home.

We collected the other 2 kids from the clubs and went to the Goofy pool. It was so windy I didn't even take off my coverup. I did stick my foot in the hot tub, but decided getting out wouldn't be worth getting in. I sat in the sun with my eyes closed while DH monitored the kids. About 45 minutes was enough, and we headed back to the staterooms for showers and to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was a Parrot Cay. Our head server John came through again and had a cake with the same piece of white chocolate with the ship in dark chocolate for Michael for his birthday. Birthday cake for dessert again tonight! DS9 and I left dinner early to get a close seat for "Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer?" I was bummed when they changed the prizes for this show....a cruise would have been great! When we booked this trip, I read about this particular show and went out and bought Dave Smith's A to Z Encyclopedia on Disney. I studied this book in anticipation of this show and a possible cruise prize, only to find out that they seriously downgraded the prizes. Don't get me wrong, the pins and crystal keepsake are nice, but ah, to win another cruise! The change of prizes didn't keep me from wanting to play, and off DS9 and I went. We got right up front and #42 and #43. The rest of the family soon followed with numbers in the #118 range. They all handed me their numbers and said "Here, you play!" What a great family!!! As Doug the host was going over the rules, we were encouraged to bring up a kid with us if an adult was chosen as well and encouraging a kid to bring up an adult. That would be a problem...I have 4 kids!!! I didn't have the problem of who to bring up because none of our 8 numbers was picked. Two years of studying for nothing. Oh well, it beats anything I ever studied in college!!! (Don't tell my mom that!) We had fun playing in the audience.

We then went off to see Gary Delena in the theater. It was freezing in there again! As soon as everyone got settled in their seats, I got up to leave. "Where are you going?" was chorused from DH and my mom. "To buy a sweatshirt!!! I'm freezing!!!" For as cold as I am, my mom is hot. It's never too cool for her. I went to Treasure's Ketch and found a zip up sweatshirt on sale for $24.99 - a bargain by Disney standards!!! I carried it with me every evening for the rest of the cruise!

Gary Delena was fun and the kids enjoyed themselves. It was off to bed after the show. More towel animals to amaze the kids. They didn't dismantle them tonight. DDs both gingerly moved them (one from our room and one from theirs) and slept with them like stuffed animals!!! Tomorrow is a day at sea and a Palo Brunch for us!! And we're NOT taking the kids out of the clubs till dinner!!!

[kaceyisme]

I'm enjoying your report! Can't wait for more. Reading these trip reports keep me sane while I wait for our vacation. I'm sad that we don't have a DCL vacation planned anytime soon.

[Suzy Mouse]

We had the same dining rotation as you. We also felt that Animators was ehh this year for some reason. We were not doing that great the first night as we felt every wave the ship was hitting. All were in bed by 9:00 and lights out! Felt much better in the morning!

[ldeninge]

Loving your TR! thanks for sharing... :thumbsup2
did you say what room # you were in? just curious, since you described noise, etc.

Also, I'm intrigued by the 'hierarchy of lanyards'! I read jsfein's trip report (relished it, as a matter of fact!) but don't remember that part...?

[pklein09]

We were in rooms 2122 and 2124. The location was great....right off the elevators, but as I said, Parrot Cay was above us. We learned on our galley tour that they start cooking breakfast at 3:00 am, so that had to have been some of the noise we heard. It was definitely in the middle of the night, not near daybreak. I don't want you to think it was terribly loud, I'm just a light sleeper, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. I slept much better as the week went on.

[pklein09]

Also, I'm intrigued by the 'hierarchy of lanyards'! I read jsfein's trip report (relished it, as a matter of fact!) but don't remember that part...?

This was in the part where he's describing the terminal. He noticed lanyards and promptly bought one there in terminal. He then noticed the different lanyards....those newbies who actually paid money for one (like himself), us DVCers who got them for free at the DVC meeting, and the Castaway Club members, who also got them for free and had the nicest lanyards.

[pklein09]

DH and I had some rare couple time over Thanksgiving. My mom took our 4 kids for 2 days while DH and stayed at home and took in a show in NYC (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), saw all the Christmas windows, and went to St. Pat's. We hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful!

Day 3 - Nov. 6 Day at Sea

We slept ever-so-slightly longer this morning...the kids got us up around 7:00. We went to Topsiders for breakfast and them promptly deposited the kids in their respective clubs. DD8 decided to join DS6 in his club to make Flubber. I think having her with him made him comfortable enough that he stayed in the clubs all day. Not one of the kids paged us!!! And we did NOT get them for lunch!!! We can be taught!!!

We managed to catch the entire demonstration from guest chef Gary Miles this time. He made a lemon cream that was out of this world! They paired it with port wine. DH likes port, so this was right up his alley. I'm not a fan of port, but it was paired so nicely that I drank the entire glass (which was only 2 ounces, if that). You know it's vacation if I'm drinking something I don't normally like at 10:30 in the morning! We chatted a bit with Gary and his wife. They're really nice people.

We tried to get in on the wine tasting later in the afternoon, but it was booked. We did get reservations for Thursday's tasting, though. We told Mom we'd meet up with her for the shopping seminar after our 11:30 brunch at Palo's!!!

WOW!!! We LOVED brunch!!! The champagne glasses were pretty cool! Gemma was our waitress. She gave us the tour of the tables and explained the pizzas as well as the entrees. I can't remember all the appetizers we sampled, but here are some: caviar on a bed of chopped eggs and onion, bacon-wrapped scallops, feta cheese wrapped in eggplant, shrimp, crab legs, stuffed mushrooms, and I'm drawing a complete blank on the other stuff. There was so much, I could have eaten just off of those tables. We decided against the pizzas and ordered half portions of all the hot entrees. There was orechetta (okay), tilapia in a marinara sauce with capers (pretty tasteless), chicken parmesean (no marinara or mozzarella in sight, but good), veal saltimboca (the best...we ordered another half portion of this). We ordered coffee and tea and waddled over to the dessert table. I'm pretty fussy with desserts. I don't like cream cheese, so that eliminates a lot of stuff, nor do I like coffee. I like chocolate, but I typically don't order it out because it tends to be too syrupy sweet and sometimes gummy. I tried this unassuming custard-looking dessert with an orange gel on top. It turned out to be marscapone cheesecake. Well, marscapone is no where near cream cheese, and it was by far the best dessert on the table to me. We tried some of the other petit fours type desserts. DH tried the tiramisu in the small shot glass. Over all, it was a fantastic experience. It really piqued my interest for dinner two nights later.

We very slowly strolled back to our room to get changed and went to meet my Mom at the shopping seminar. I'm not sure what to say about the shopping seminar. I was pretty disappointed with all aspects. I was one of the people who won a gift bag (#5), but I though it was a load of junk. There were 2 shot glasses (which I gave to a kid who collects shot glasses), a cheap blanket which smelled bad, a small sombrero (4" diameter) and a broken Costa Maya magnet. We bought (so I found out after our trip) 2 of the coupon books. I was under the impression they were chock full of fantastic deals and free. They were $20 a piece listed as "Paradise Passports" on our final bill. I called Disney and told them the books were far from being worth $20 and they should be ashamed of selling them. For those of you who saved yourself the money, the coupons were pretty much for free shots of tequila at jewelry stores. There were some coupons for $9.99 pearl earrings. When we tried to redeem these, we were told that they were out of them, but we could get a bracelet for $49.99. No thanks. I also wasn't impressed with Melanie, the CM who ran the seminar. Just something about her presentation style that irked me. She just seemed "flat."

After this presentation, we didn't see very much else we wanted to do, and with no kids to worry about, we did what any normal married couple with an afternoon on their hands would do. We took a nap!!!!! :blush:

We got up in enought time to get the kids from the clubs and get them dressed for dinner. It was formal night, but the kids wore what they wore any of the other nights. The girls had matching dresses and the boys had matching sweater vests. And they all matched!!! Thank you Strasburg Children!!! We met up with Mom and Joe in the atrium and posed for formal pics in front of the Mickey Statue. It took forever because people were going in and out Lumiere's front door and messing up the pics. DH and Mom got a drink while waiting in line. What? A free drink? Wow!

Dinner was good, but so far, AP had been my favorite meal. They did have a dessert I liked...creme brulee. I know it's only a vanilla flan/pudding with blow-torched sugar, but I like it.

We had enough time to see Jay Mattiolo's show at Rockin' Bar D. I was a bit disappointed because the beginning of the show was the same as the Sail Away Show. He did add some other stuff, and the kids were duly impressed. That's what mattered to me. If the kids were happy, they weren't going whine at me.

Off to the Golden Mickey's!!! We thoroughly enjoyed this show. I only caught a bit of Gretchen on the red carpet because DD8 wanted to go shopping. DD10 had gone yesterday, and she wanted her turn. I told her it would be rushed...only 20 min to shop....but she had $$ burning a hole in her pocket. Well, technically my pocket since I hold all the $$. She spent about 2/3 of her allottment before it was time to get back in the theater. She was happy, and that's all that mattered.

We were all tired and parted ways with Mom and Joe. They did some adult stuff while we did the parent stuff and put the kids to bed. We were going into Grand Cayman the next day and talked about what we would do before turning out the lights. It was a great day at sea. I really see the appeal in these days over port days. It's nice to get off the ship, but it was nice to not have anywhere to go too.

[lindaso]

and with no kids to worry about, we did what any normal married couple with an afternoon on their hands would do. We took a nap!!!!! :blush:

I hear ya sister!! :thumbsup2

[PrincessFAN2006]

[QUOTE=pklein09]

It's off to MK for the rest of the day. A trip to WDW isn't official until I walk down Main Street. It is my most favorite place in WDW. QUOTE]


I completely AGREE!!! Great report

[PrincessFAN2006]

I forgot something at Animator's Palate that first night....the show didn't seem to be working. We walked in and the walls were white...so far so good. But there was no music playing. Hmmmm. The video screens showed some pencil sketches that then went to full color drawings, but the walls didn't change. Then the screens went blue and started all over again. And still no music. Then we saw technicians in the dining room. The walls still weren't in sync. Our server said the show was about to start right when dessert was being cleared. He said it was about 5 minutes and worth the wait. We waited and the show was entertaining, but not all the walls changed. Some were still black and white while others had gone to full color. And still no background music.

When we cycled back around 2 nights later, the walls were on and the music was on, but no show. Did anyone else experience this or we were the only ones?


We had the same problem I was so dissappointed! We also had Lyndon we were in 2135/37 He was awesome he showed my 5yr old how to make a towel elephant he was so excited!!!

Kim

[pklein09]

My Mom has cruised before and wanted to take the kids to see the Turtle Farm, so that was on the schedule for today. While we were getting ready for breakfast, we noticed boats pulling up to the side right under the kids's room and unloading supplies. I don't know what was in the boxes, but it was fun to watch them pull up alongside the Magic. We headed up to breakfast at Topsiders. Mom and Joe commented on the thunderstorm overnight and DH and I looked at each other and said, "Huh? What storm?" We slept right through it. Apparently it was a pretty nice storm with lots of lightning.

We got our stuff together and headed to one of the tendering locations. It was overcast, but I didn't think it would rain. HAH! We got on the tender and sat on the top deck. I managed to click off a few pictures before the batteries in the camera died! We hadn't even rounded the front of the ship yet!!! DS9 brought a disposable camera, so I swiped it from him and got pics of the ship while headed into port. Then the rain started. It wasn't bad, some light rain. It looked like it would taper off. We got off the tender and headed to Columbian Emeralds. DH and I shopped there on our honeymoon in St. Martin, so it was a must-do for me. I wanted to shop first before the kids got tired and whiny. Besided, I could always hold the Turtle Farm over their heads. The rain was steadily getting heavier and the heavens opened up while we were in the store. I was beginning to think the Turtle Farm was out of the question today. I very happily browsed the store while it poured. But it really didn't let up, it got worse. I was kicking myself because our Mickey ponchos were in our stateroom. I brought them just in case. So much for "just in case!" It did eventually let up and we left Columbian Emeralds with our wallets intact. We headed to a perfume store (Mom bought my sister some perfume for Christmas) and Bernard Passman. Mom and Joe had been looking a black coral for a few years now and decided they were buying a piece on this trip, for Joe. They found a few pieces they liked at Bernard Passman, but decided to think it over before making a purchase. We then headed to a souvenier shop for magnets and the such. The sun had come out by now and it was a sauna.

We headed back to the main road to get a taxi to the Turtle Farm. Everyone wanted us to get the package trip of Hell - Governor's Mansion - and the Turtle Farm, but we just wanted the Turtle Farm. Mom said Hell was an overrated tourist trap, and we knew the Governor's Mansion would be terrible with the kids, so we just wanted the Turtle Farm. It was nice to ride through a bit if the island and see all the rebuilding. Joe got in a conversation with the driver (he was from Cuba), but I couldn't hear about what. He said he would give us 30 minutes at the farm. My mom balked...she said we needed at least 45 minutes. Well, when all was said and done, we spent 20 minutes there. When we pulled up, my mom was amazed at how the location had changed. Part of the previous turtle farm was now a parking lot and the entire farm was across the street. It was a nice building with a gift shop and snack bar. Joe treated us and we walked through the doors to the tanks. We saw some huge turtles, but there were no signs like you would see in a zoo telling you what was in that particular area. We wandered around to the various tanks looking at the same turtles in various sizes. There was one tank labeled "petting tank" and the kids tried to pet them. There were warning on other tanks not to pet the turtles, that they will bite you. Mom was disappointed. On their last visit, before the hurricanes, there was a tank with little turtles that you could pick up and play with. Not so this time. We took a bathroom break and found our taxi driver.

It was about 1:00 at this time, and the kids were hungry. We parted ways with Mom and Joe. They continued to shop for black coral and we took the kids back to the boat for lunch. They also wanted to go back to the clubs. Yeah team!!! DH and deposited the kids in their requisite clubs and decided to head back to Georgetown, where we OD'ed on jewelry stores. Nothing caught my eye. I was looking for a blue topaz bracelet or some kind of pendant. After a while, everything looked the same. I also thought everything looked pretty ordinary, stuff I could get back in the states for less money. We did get 2 pairs of earrings for each of the girls - pearls and CZs set in 18 carat gold. They were cheap enough that if they lose an earring, I'm not going to be upset over it.

I take that back, I DID find something I liked. After a while, I just started tring on anything that caught my eye, no matter how elaborate or how large the stones were. I fell in love with a ruby and diamond bracelet. It was $10,000. :lmao: It was really nice!!! I looked at DH and said "25 year anniversary?" We're currently at 14 1/2. He nodded and said okay. He's so good!!! Of course he knows to say yes....he know's I'll probably change my mind about a million times before then!!! I should have taken a picture of it....

We got back on the ship around 4:00, got the kids, and got ready for dinner. We were back in AP. Mom and Joe came in right behind us. Joe had found a black coral ring at another store at half the price. It's a nice piece, and it looked good on his hand. We headed to the Cabaret with Rich Purpura, which the kids loved. After that was Twice Charmed. We also enjoyed this one. I'm also glad that my kids could sit through these shows without having to get up for a potty break. I'm also glad that they didn't want any snacks. We managed to walk right past the snack bar everynight without even pausing.

It was off to bed for us. Cozumel was up next.

[lindaso]

Glad to hear you were indoors for the heavy rain. We, of course, were not as fortunate :rolleyes:.

Great report, can't wait to read the rest.

[disneylover5]

The rain was steadily getting heavier and the heavens opened up while we were in the store. I was beginning to think the Turtle Farm was out of the question today. I very happily browsed the store while it poured.

This is when we were on the tender. We got soaked!! But we were in our bathing suits headed for the beach and we had a wonderful day!!

[pklein09]

The time changed today. Maybe for some people, but my body hadn't changed time at all! That was especially true for the pirate party later on.

My mom and Joe decided to do the Tulum Ruins today so we were on our own. Breakfast was at Topsiders and who do we run into but Mom and Joe. With the time change, we were up "early" and they were on time for their "early" departure. The kids didn't want to go into port with us. We asked if they were sure, and all four chorused "We want the clubs!!!" Well twist MY arm!!! To the clubs it would be! Except there was the little time change thingy. The clubs operate on local time, so we were 30 minutes or so early. We decided to watch the ship pull into port. The Carnival ship was already there and I was wondering where they would tie off the front of the ship....the ropes for the Carnival boat looked like they would interfere with the Magic's ropes. The kids weren't as interested as DH and I were and complained about the heat. DS6 wanted to go back in the air conditioning and proceeded to try and open the doors on deck 4. It was rather humorous to watch. He just didn't have the body weight to pull it open more than a few inches. And he was hot. And the door wouldn't open. And all I did was stare at him instead of helping him. I eventually caved and sat with him right inside the doors.

The clubs finally opened and we deposited said children in their proper places. The ship hadn't been cleared for debarkation yet, so we walked around deck 10. We took pictures up and down the coast line. The water was a brilliant sapphire blue. It was soooo vibrant! I got pictures of where the captain stands to dock the ship as well as pics of the "hidden Mickey" at the front of the ship beyond the crew's pool. We also remarked at how much larger Disney's crew pool was than Carnival's. Carnival's pool looked like it had the diameter of a 55 gallon drum. If two people were in it together, it would be very cozy.

When the ship was finally cleared, we headed downstairs and walked into Cozumel. I thought it was interesting how they deposited you onto the second story of a shopping mall. We walked through Los Cinco Soles and decided to stop back here on the way out for souveniers. DH and I began our walk down the main street. On the first block out of the mall, we were asked if we needed a cab, wanted to rent a scooter, wanted to see their resort, wanted to go to the beach, wanted to buy jewelry, wanted a donkey ride. All in about 10 feet. I've walked through NYC enought with DH to just ignore all the talking. We hit the next block and we were asked if we wanted a cab, wanted a scooter, wanted to go to their resort, go to the beach, buy jewelry, want a donkey ride. We just ignored it, but DH and I looked at each other and started laughing. We both said el Rio del Tiempo at the same time!!! It was just too funny!!! Now, if you're scratching your head right now, el Rio del Tiempo is the "River of Time" ride in the Mexican pavillion in Epcot. At the very end, a salesperson follows you from tv screen to tv screen trying to sell you something at the ride is coming to a close. Disney captured that very well, especially now that we had experienced it first hand! This continued on all day long on every block. I also was worried about being rude by just ignoring them. I wasn't in NYC, I was in Mexico. I started to say "No thank you" to the hawkers and it seemed to be okay. I think they wanted to know that you had heard them.

We went in a few jewelery stores looking for the elusive blue topaz tennis bracelet. We finally started asking for cheap earrings for our daughters. They had to be cheap enough that if they lost one, I wouldn't be upset. We bought them each a pair of pearl earrings at one store and a pair of CZs set in 18 ct gold in another store. The pearls were $17.99 and the CZs were $14.99. Pretty reasonable. I thought most of the stores were pretty scuzzy; nothing at all like Grand Cayman. I realize they were rebuilding, but I just didn't have good feelings in most of the stores. We went through most of the big ones and some of the small ones along that main road. We had found one pendant that was nice, but it wasn't "talking" to me. I told DH that I wanted to go to Genoa Jewelers and after that I was done. They had some nice stuff. We had a flier from their store and I asked about the blue diamonds. They were very stunning in the photographs, and I wanted to see the in person. Well, the pictures actually did the pieces justice. The diamonds were goregous! The 3 diamond pendant (2 blue, 1 clear) looked beautiful on. This was one was "talking" to me!!! It was telling me to put it back because it was over $3,000!!! There was another pendant with smaller stones that was also very pretty. It was an old fashioned art-deco setting. It was mostly blue diamond with 4 princess cut white diamonds set in a square shape, but hung on the point. It was in our price range and DH liked it. So after 2 days of ODing on jewelry shops, we finally bought something for me. I like it very much and it's not something you'll find in the states easily.

We head back down the main road towards the ship and DH sees an alley way with lots of little shops and we make a small detour. There are 2 guys there weaving palm. A little background info on me briefly: I'm half Italian, half Irish, all Catholic. My Italian grandfather and great uncle taught me weave palm for Palm Sunday when I was 9 or 10. To this day, I still weave palm in little baskets, barrels, and crosses. I also can weave the large pieces of palm the the priest processes in with on Palm Sunday. Needless to say, I was intrigued watching these guys weave palm. One guy was working on a hat while the other guy was working on a grasshopper for the hat. The hat was too much to learn, and besides, where would I wear it? The grasshopper, on the other hand, was right up my alley. I watched and eventually asked how to do it. They handed my a piece of palm and they showed me how. He got me started and I finished it. Not bad for my first grasshopper!!! And it was so easy!!! I can't wait to do more around Easter! In any case, I'm looking at my piece of palm and we continue walking to the end of the alley. I've got all these people hawking at us to come look at jewelry. I'm so enthralled with the piece of palm that I look at them like they've got 3 heads! What could I possibly want with jewelry when I've got this here leaf!!!!! This leaf trumps any jewelry you could possibly have in your shop! DH is very amused. He sits me down at table so I can stare at my new creation without hurting myself or anyone else and he gets a $2 domestic beer....Corona! Boy did it taste good! There was another couple at the next table who struck up a conversation. It turns out they were from the Carnival ship. They asked us about the Magic, which we raved about. I don't remember the particulars, but from what this couple had to say, we were very glad we were on the Magic. They didn't say anything bad, but we knew it just wasn't the ship for us.

We head back to this ship after another beer. Oh yeah, the other beer. I almost forgot. DH bought another beer for himself and the gentleman from the Carnival ship. The bartender offered DH a shot of tequila for free. DH took it. He doesn't do shots. And he didn't do this one very well. I didn't see it, but he said the tequila hit the back of his throat, and he coughed. Then he had to catch his breath. He came back to the seat with a very red face and watery eyes. I found this rather amusing! LYMI honey!

We got back on the ship and deposited our new purchases in the safe. We went to Topsiders for lunch and decided to go to the pool. It was warm enough for me to acutally get in! The adult pool was lovely. I especially liked the sitting area around the pool with only a few inches of water. That's more than enough for me. I did get in the pool so my whole body was wet. We went in the hot tub as well. We headed back down to our staterooms to shower before getting the kids. Tonight was pirate night, but we had Palo reservations for 7:30. We had to look presentable. After showers, there was time to duck into the Buena Vista theater to watch Cars. We came in at the tractor tipping part. I absolutely LOVE this part!!! I laughed till my sides hurt the first time I saw this! Too funny! We got paged during the final race scene. DD10 wanted us. Oh well, at least we had seen the movie before. We retrieve all the kids and get them ready for dinner.

We told Mom and Joe that we would take the kids to dinner at Parrot Cay and sit with them, but that we weren't eating a thing. The kids had pirate shirts and Mickey pirate ears we bought in the Parks. DH was in a sports coat and tie with a pirate earring on. He had his pirate shirt on under his dress shirt (dark gray) for easy changing after dinner. I knew Mom and Joe were getting dressed, but I hadn't seen their costumes. Here's a link:

http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/is=Yup6aQQ%7C%3Dup6%3DzqH%3AxxqUD7qRUrKxzX7BHpUUKx gXP0e%3F87KR6xqpxQQPexanaxonnxv8uOc5xQQQon0Jle0nnQ qpfVtB%3F*KUp7BHSHqqy7XH6gXP0e%7CRup6lQQ%7C/of=50,590,442

The plan was to eat dinner and Mom and Joe would take the kids to see Santa Clause 3. DS6 was being difficult and didn't want to go to the movie. Okay, back to the club it was. Well, he had another fit when his age group was in the Club, not the Lab. DH is ready to sell him to the pirates really cheap, so I go back to Parrot Cay hoping mom hasn't left yet. Sure enough, they were gone. I head back to the Club with one very unhappy child. It is now 7:28 and I'm hungry. I apologize to the lady at the desk and tell her I can't find my mom and that we have Palo ressies right this instant. DS6 won't even walk at this point. I pick him up and she raises the scanner to his wrist while another one wipes his hands clean. I deposit him unceremoniously on the floor and he lets out a big fake cry. The lady at the desk says "Palo?" and I say "Yes." She says "No problem. I noted it here and we won't page you. Enjoy your dinner." WOW!!! I leave without looking back and DH and I leave for Palo.

I need to stop here because the kids will be off the bus soon. I'll follow up soon with Palo and Pirate night and the fireworks!!!

[curlybop]

I love your report! Almost feels like I'm right there with you, watching the events unfold. :teeth:

[pklein09]

:thanks: You'll have a wonderful time in the cruise!!! Make sure they know it's your daughter's birthday. I love your report! Almost feels like I'm right there with you, watching the events unfold. :teeth:

[pklein09]

Sorry for the delay. Last weekend, we had to restring our 9' prelit Christmas tree because 1/3 of the lights were out. It took DH and I 4 hrs to take all the $%&*%#@^ lights off the tree and the rest of the weekend for DH to restring the tree. :love: I have a wonderful DH!!!! The kids took the week to put their ornaments (all nonbreakable) on the tree. DS6 liked one branch very much....it had 7 ornaments on it!!! I managed to finish decorating it this past weekend and get everything put away. I even started baking this weekend. Whew!!! Back to the cruise.....

DH and I arrived at Palo after depositing a cranky child in the club. We were promptly seated in the middle of the restaurant. This was much better than brunch. We were seated in front of the piano near the door for brunch. I sat on the bench and had a pretty good view of the kitchen. Annie Marie was our server. She was very good. We wanted wine with dinner, but didn't know which to order. Annie Marie told us to look over the menu first, decide what our main courses would be, and then she would suggest a wine. We both decided on the filet mignon. She suggested a wine off our wine package...an amarone. Neither of us had heard of this type of wine before. She brought some for DH to sample. It's a red wine, and I'm not a red wine fan. I don't care for the all the tanins. This wine was (is) very good, I even liked it!!! We ordered one bottle with dinner, which we corked to finish off the next night. We liked it so much, we decided to order 2 bottles to be delivered to our room to bring home. That was DHs souvenier. I got a diamond necklace and he got 2 bottles of wine. Pretty good deal!

With the wine out of the way, we ordered our appetizers. The bread was good, but I wasn't enamored with the dipping sauces. We got a pizza with prosciutto and pesto on it. Very good, but we had to pace ourselves. DH ordered the portabello mushroom while I ordered the warm shrimp, white bean, and asparagus salad. We both enjoyed each others appetizers. The filet was delicious and paired very nicely with the amarone. Dessert was the souffle. DH had his with vanilla sauce and I had mine with chocolate sauce. We also split a panna cotta. I know there have been rave reviews for the souffle, but I enjoyed the panna cotta much much more. Don't get me wrong, the souffle was good, but I the panna cotta came out tops for me.

Sometime during dinner, DH put his gold pirate earring on. I didn't see him do it, but I noticed it. So did Annie Marie!!! She did a double take! It was pretty funny to see her reaction. Apparently, pirate earrings are not typical Palo attire!!!

We finished dinner at 9:30. Just enough time to get DS6 from the clubs and get changed. We got the the club and the kids had just transitioned to Diversions. Okay, over there.... When we walk in, DS6 is in the same state I left him. Miserable. I panic and think he's been like that all evening. I don't like to leave my kids with someone to watch if I know they're miserable. That's just not nice to the sitter. The counsellor tells me, "No. He was fine till we came here. He thinks he missed the fireworks." Okay, I feel better. He just put on a show for me. It takes some convincing, but we assure him he didn't miss the fireworks. We came to get him for the fireworks. He perks up a little. We zip down to the room and get changed. Amazingly, we run into Mom and Joe with the other kids up on Deck 9. The party is just starting and we decide to go up to deck 10. We were on deck 9 for the Sail Away party and decided Deck 10 would be better for the pirate party. We manage to secure a piece of railing on the left-hand side of the ship (sorry, no fancy nautical terms here), at the top of the steps leading to deck 9, next to the Stack. We thought this was a pretty good location. We could see everything and had quick access to bathrooms at the bottom of the stairs.

I only have one criticism of Pirate night. They pull this party for the "time change" day. The party doesn't start till 9:45 and isn't in full swing till 10:15 or so. Fireworks go off somewhere around 10:30. Well, factor in the time change and you're talking 10:45, 11:15 and 11:30, respectively, for our "body time." The kids were absolutely exhausted. Every kid I saw was cranky and miserable. DS6 fell asleep against the railing. DD8 fell asleep against a pole. Kids were falling asleep on their father's shoulders. It just wasn't pleasant. We were pretty much marking time till the fireworks went off. I guess the show of Captain Hook taking over the ship and Mickey saving it was good, but it was hard to hear the dialogue over tired kids.

Oh yeah, our kids had glow bracelets. I had mean to meter them out over the course of the cruise at night to the kids, but I forgot about them till tonight when we pulled out our pirate stuff. I had so many of them, I started handing them out to other kids. It was easy to pick out my kids in the dark with the glow bracelets around their wrists and ankles.

Remember that stack we were next to....well, it blocked the fireworks. We had to wake the 2 younger kids up and move them back to the next section of the boat to view the fireworks. Even though we are accustomed to the extravaganzas at the parks, we were duly impressed with the fireworks. The kids were happy to see the fireworks and happy it was over. They wanted to go to bed. It was the only time they went directly to sleep and we didn't have to tell them to quiet down.

We were very glad to have a day at sea scheduled next. We just wanted to sleep in. Which we did, for us....we slept in till 7:15 or so!!!

Next up, day at sea....

[needAcruise]

Terrific report! Keep it coming! :Pinkbounc

[birkner]

Being from California, the time zone was 3 hours behind for us, so grandkids had absolutely no problem staying up late. We just kept them on California time because they had absolutlely no interest in shore excursions, just swimming and the kids club. Castaway Key was the only day they were willing to get up early.

[pklein09]

Hello everyone!!! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and/or Hanukkah (or whatever you celebrate this time of year) and a wonderful New Year!!! The kids are finally back in school, and I don't have to fight one of them for the computer!

I decided I really like the days at sea. They just seem to be relaxing to me. We got up and were ready by 9:00 am because our stateroom steward, Lyndon, had picked our kids' stateroom for a towel animal demonstration. We thought this was really cool!!! He said he's allowed to pick one stateroom for this event, and apparently our kids made an impression on him. He came to our room at 9:00 with his supervisor and another stateroom steward. There were 9 of us in our category 9 stateroom!!! It was cozy! The kids were each allowed to pick one animal and Lyndon made it, going over how to make it. The kids (as well as DH and I) thought this was really neat. The kids picked the rabbit, elephant, stingray, swan, and puppy. His supervisor then took a picture of us all with his digital camera and said he would have a print in our room before then end of the trip. We thanked Lyndon for picking us. The kids thought this was one of the neatest parts of the trip.

We headed off to breakfast at Topsiders. The kids were promptly dropped off in their respective labs. I'm still amazed that they all left us so willingly. DH and I really enjoyed this the best. No kids!!!! Temporarily, at least.

We met up with Mom and tried our hands (heads?) at trivia in the Promenade Lounge. We did a respectable job, but there was a family that got a perfect score. We found Joe and went to lunch at Topsiders. We parted ways with Mom and Joe. DH wanted to learn napkin folding, so off we went to Studio Sea. It was way too cold in there for me, so I left and wandered around the shops. I came back before the end of the hour to a very animated husband. He LOVED the class. He's very good at this type of thing, and was charged up from the morning's towel folding demo. When I walked back in, he said he was being heckled. Huh? From the instructor? Nope, from the lady in front of him!!! Apparently, she was having a difficult time with the folding, and here was this guy behind her who was folding up a storm! She was very friendly about it all, they were laughing about it the entire hour.

From there we went to the wine tasting session. This was a lot of fun too! We sat in front and had a great view. I've decided DHs hobby is wine. In the past 2 years or so, he's enjoyed having a glass of wine at night after dinner. He's also adventuresome, and tries many different wines. After being pregnant and nursing for almost 6 straight years, I've lost any tolerance I had and I seem to have lost my taste for alcohol. I enjoy a glass of wine now and then, but I could easily live without it. We had about 10 glasses of wine to taste. DH was in charge of scribbling notes. The best part of the session was when one of the somnmeliers sworded a champagne bottle!!! He did it twice so the entire room could witness it. Then they passed the top of the bottle, with cork intact, around the room. Very cool! As usual, we were talking to people and finding out where everyone was from. When we said were from New Jersey, the gentleman at the next table said he was originally from Malaga. I said, oh yeah, I know where that is. Not of interest to most people, but this is a town you've only heard of if you live there. As Tim McGraw would say, it's a stop sign on a map dot. We then ran into him and his wife the rest of the trip!

We ran, literally, from the wine tasting to the galley tour. Mom and Joe were already in line, and just about to go into Lumiere's when we got there. Whew...too close. I know there were a few posts that the galley tour was dull, but we found it to be interesting. The introductory/welcome speech was a bit dull. I just wanted to get in the kitchen. My mom (and grandmothers) taught me to cook, and cook well. DH really appreciates this. I also do most of my cooking from scratch. I've also taught classes for my daughters and their friends. I even started a Mom's class. And I'm half Italian - food is a BIG deal in our lives! Lumiere's and Parrot's Cay share galley space. There are 2 kitchens separated by the pastry kitchen. They told us about the amounts of food brought on board at the beginning of the cruise (staggering numbers at first, but then you realize how many people they serve). All the food goes on the ship at Port Canaveral. They also bring on enough food for 9 days at sea in case of an emergency. They said they serve roughly 400 people in the restaurants in a 45 minute time span, from appetizers to desserts. I was impressed by the about of food served in that short amount of time. The kitchen then preps for the second seating. The entire kitchen is stainless steel, even the ceilings and walls. They have 2 shifts, 12 hours each) that clean the kitchens from top to bottom. The place was immaculate. Except for the pastry section....they had chocolate chip cookies for us to sample!!!

This was also the day for Celebrate the Journey for the kids. They had been rehearsing all day. Well, the show started at 5:00 and ended at 5:30. We had early early seating....5:30 in Lumiere's and it was a semi-formal night. I would have liked the kids to be involved in the show, but I needed to get 4 kids ready for dinner. This was the one time some of the cast members in the clubs bugged me. They stressed that the kids had worked hard, and it would be a lot of fun. Yes, absolutely. But could you have started it at 4:30 instead of 5:00??? We managed to pull 3 kids from the clubs before they went to the theater, but we had to get 1 of them out of line outside the theater. The cast members definitely weren't happy about that. At least it was DD10 who didn't have the GPS device, only her room card. The kids were thrilled with the graduation cap mouse ears and t-shirts. They also didn't seem particularly upset about missing the show. Off to dinner we went.

While headed to Lumiere's, we went past the stairs that lead from Shutters. Filip was there with no one in line. Real fast, we had pics taken of the kids, the family, and just us. They turned out to be some of the better pictures taken during the cruise. Thanks Filip!!!

Into Lumiere's. Dinner was okay. I tried the lobster, but I probably should have gotten something else. It was good, but I much prefer crab. Tonight also turned out to be the night John (head waiter) decided to celebrate my birthday. I would turn 40 4 days later. The travel agent had it set up to celebrate on Friday night, but John changed it to tonight. I had no idea he was going to do anything, as is evident by my actions after I saw the dessert menu. You may recall that I was not impressed by any of the desserts in the restaurants. Topsiders, in my opinion, had the best desserts. When the dessert order was taken, I declined. Then I excused myself to the ladies room. I actually went to Topsiders looking for dessert!!! There was none!!! The kids from the clubs were eating, but no dessert set up like at lunch. Disappointed, I went back downstairs. I found out afterwards that John and Antonio panicked when they didn't see me at the table and worried if I was coming back. When I got back, I saw John in the reflection of the window with a tray in his hand. It was a cake, but not like the ones the kids got. No white chocolate ship for me. He had the pastry chef (or someone back there) write in chocolate "Happy 40th Birthday." Then I was serenaded by everyone at the table. Antonio also had some creme brulee for me because he knew it was the only dessert I had actually ordered all week. We looked at the time and noticed that Rhys Thomas was in Rockin Bar D. Antonio was boxing up my cake for me to take back to the room. It was agreed that Mom, Joe, and DH would take the kids to the show, I would bring the cake to the room, and meet up with them. Antonio gave me the cake and 3 additional creme brulees!!! I was stuffed!!! What was I going to do wiht all this food??? I thanked him and headed downstairs.

When I opened the room, Lyndon had already been there and we had more towel animals than you could shake a stick at. We had the 5 from earlier that morning and 2 more for tonight. Lyndon had arranged them around the rooms. There was also more food in the room. On our coffee table was a covered plate. It contained a sampling of desserts from the dessert bar for later in the evening. I certainly didn't order it. John was my only guess. I headed back upstairs to find John. He wasn't there, but Antonio was. I questioned him and got a blank stare. Must have been John. I thanked Antonio again and headed over to the show.

I showed up about halfway into the program, so I didn't get a full picture. I didn't think the show was fantastic, but my kids seemed amused. I also can't juggle worth a darn, so I was amused. Needless to say, I'm not sure what he did that warranted him being replaced the next day. I'm curious as to what happened, so if someone would PM me and let me know, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

I told my family about more food in the room while we headed off to Disney Dreams. We also enjoyed this show. After the show, we headed off to bed while Mom and Joe headed to the Rutgers game. Mom is a prof at the Camden campus and Joe likes football in general, so there was interest in the game. Apparently, it was a good game too!

I was still stuffed when we got back to the room, but I sampled some of the desserts anyway. I shouldn't have done it because I was so full, but you only turn 40 once. Some of it was good, some was really good, and some was okay. DH didn't want anything so I was on my own. I felt really guilty when we put the plates in the hall for housekeeping to get because there was so much food left. But I knew we would never eat it. The next day would be Castaway Cay and I wasn't carrying desserts to the beach.

[discruiselovers97]

Can't wait for more!

[wendygirl]

great trip report! can't wait to hear the rest!

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing

[pklein09]

My apologies for the delay, but boy have I been busy! Thank goodness none of the kids have gotten sick, or I'd really be in trouble!

Day 7 - Castaway Cay

Heavenly:cloud9: That is the only word to describe our day on Castaway Cay. About an hour into our day, I was envious of the next cruise because they would get 2 days here. I would have much preferred a day here over Key West.

While waiting to disembark, we met the Castaway Cay nurse. She said she had seen me before on the ship and that I looked like her aunt. We asked about her time with Disney. She really enjoyed it and said she was near the end of her contract. DS6 was bouncing around, and we joked that we'd probably see her at least once over the course of the day.

The kids were eager to play on the beach. Being from New Jersey, this isn't new to them, but they love our days in Cape May. We walked all the way in and had our pictures taken with the Magic in the background, with the Flying Dutchman in the background (very cool!), and with Captain Jack and the Flying Dutchman. We also found the buoys and another cruiser was kind enough to take a family picture for us. We had reserved snorkle equipment and found our way to the pick-up location. We told my mom and Joe that we'd meet them on the beach as they brought their own equipment. We agreed to head allllllllllllllllllllll the way down the beach to where the break is for the stingray beach begins. It was a hike, especially carrying snorkle equipment for 6 plus assorted beach items. We found Mom walking along the water looking for us. It was a hike, but I'm glad we went all the way down. It was quiet and we had our pick of chaises. We were hoping for a hammock, but they were taken. It was also quite convenient to have the bathrooms right there.

It was a perfect beach day :love: . It wasn't terribly hot, there was a nice breeze, and eveyone but me thought the water was fantastic. I'm one of those people who can live without air conditioning. The water temp was probably in the 70s, but it may as well have been in the 40s. There was no way I was going in past my ankles! The kids have never snorkled before and were eager to try out the equipment. DH took over the kids here: he's certified for scuba and he was willing to get wet. DS9, DS6, and DD8 were like fish. They only came out of the water once that day (for lunch) and that was under protest. DD10 is more like me. She got wet and then built sand castles, decorating them with seashells.

We had an 11:00 reservation for the stingrays. This was really neat. They gave you the science lesson beforehand, and then led you to a guide. We were a party of 8 so we had a guide to ourselves. I don't remember her name, but she was the 2nd guide in from the right. She was very knowledgeable and great with the kids. We brought our underwater cameras for pictures. I love that the stingrays are conditioned to eat off Mickey Ears!!! DS6, DS9, DD8, DH, Mom, Joe, and I fed the stingrays. DD10 did NOT like it at all. She levitated the first time a stingray brushed up against her legs. She stayed long enough to touch one and then she got out of the water and played in the sand. Oh well, at least she tried. We probably kept our guide talking the longest. We looked up at one point and everyone else was out snorkeling and we were still talking. DH, mom, Joe, and 2 of the kids went out to swim with them. I was not getting my knees wet, so I stayed with the other 2 kids and watched. The stingrays felt like cats brushing agains your legs in the water. It wasn't unpleasant, but it startled me the first few times. Overall, it was a great experience and I'm glad we booked this one instead of the one in Grand Cayman.

We headed back over to our chaises and DH, Mom, and Joe decided to go on a hidden Mickey search. I handed each on a camera and said to have fun. The kids were content to float and snorkel with me. It had warmed up a bit by now and I pulled one of those low chairs to the water. My knees actually got wet. A photographer came by and we all got in the water for a picture. I felt bad because he tried to get closer to us and got his sneakers soaking wet. The 2 pictures he took came out great! I saw quite a few of the shots at Shutters later and the pictures were fantastic. It was great to see the unposed pictures of kids at the beach.

We were getting hungry and decided to get lunch. The other 3 were still snorkeling. I figured if they came back and didn't see us, they would know where we went. Our drink server, Eva, was on the line we picked. The kids filled her in on the stingrays. We managed to find a picnic table and sat down. John, our head server, was keeping watch over things. I flagged him down and asked if he had sent desserts to our room the night before. He gave me a sly smile, and said "What desserts?" I thanked him, telling him I sampled everything. We also compared our tans...he's Scottish and I'm half Irish/half Italian, but with 100% Irish skin! My legs were as white as his!!!

Where we were sitting on the beach, you could hear music playing. It was rather nice, kinda playing in the background. Well, here at the picnic pavillion, it was pretty loud. I was even happier we walked all the way down the beach; the music would have given me a headache by the end of the day.

DH found us somehow. Boy, there are a LOT of people on the ship. You don't realize it till you're at one end of the beach looking back and the place is packed!!! That pavillion holds a lot of people too! DH wasn't hungry, but thirsty. The kids had finished eating and we headed to the soda fountains for DH. I forget what song was playing (maybe Kenny Chesney's When the Sun Goes Down), but it was a great West Coast Swing/cha-cha. Once upon a time, before children, DH and I danced 4 nights a week. Well, I looked at DH and said let's dance. He gave me a look and I said tough, I wanted to dance. So, there we are, in front of Cookies with full sodas in hand, dancing. The kids were bopping along too. Eva sees us and starts clapping. Well, that attracted more attention. A CM came up and took our sodas and my beach bag so we could dance easier. I'm not sure how long we danced, but it was more than a few minutes. When we finished, there was a round of applause from everyone watching. We thanked everyone and then DH dipped me!!! We giggled like school kids, gathered up our kids, and headed back to the beach.

When we arrived back to our chaises, more people had discovered our end of the beach. There were a few kids there and our kids joined in. Someone had a float and everyone took turns. I was very impressed at how well the kids in general behaved on the ship. It was even nicer when these children offered to share the float with my kids. Everyone took turns and there were no complaints. Mom and Joe had had enough of the sun and said they were heading back to the ship. The kids wanted to swim some more, so we stayed behind.

About 3:00, we packed up and turned in our snorkel equipment. We stopped at the gift shop to look around. It was a madhouse because it was the end of the day. The kids had spent their money, but I told them they could pick out a t-shirt that said Castaway Cay and Mommy and Daddy would treat them. It takes a loooooooooong time for 4 kids to pick out just the right shirt!!! While they were looking, I actually found some on sale and bought them for Santa. DH kept the kids occupied while I made the purchase. On our way back to the ship, we saw the first aid station. We stopped in to see the nurse. She looked up and smiled. We said we had to stop in to at least say "hi" and that DS6 made it through the day without injuring himself. We asked how busy she had been, and she said she had a few people, mostly skinned knees and such. The kids looked all around the place and she was kind enough to answer all their questions.

We were going to walk and decided to wait for the tram car (watch the tram car please.....watch the tram car please....). We passed the post office and I told DH I forgot about postcards!!! I had to have a postcard with a Castaway Cay postmark. We went back on the ship, I got money, and headed to the post office. They don't sell postcards at the post office, only stamps. Back to the ship for a postcard. Well, Mickey's Mates is closed in port. I wasn't walking back to the shop on Castaway Cay for a postcard either. I went back to the cabin to tell DH. He said, "What about the post cards in the drawer?" Ding ding ding.....I forgot about those. I wrote out 3 postcards really quick and headed back off the ship to the post office. I managed to get there before he closed. Mission accomplished!

A big thank you to my Mom - she went to the debarkation presentation for us!!! That saved us a chunk of time. Wait a minute - WHAT time do we need to be at breakfast??? 6:00...oh, that will be fun....

We managed to get everyone showered and ready for dinner. No bad sunburns either. Yeah!!! Dinner was at Animator's Palate. It was the "Till We meet Again" menu. We found out that this would be our server Antonio's last night - ever. He had been with Disney for 5 or 6 years, and that this was his last cruise. He was going back to Mexico. He said it had been a fantastic experience, but it was time for him to move on. He also told us of all the things he had to do before disembarking tomorrow.....like have his luggage out the door by 11:00 just like us. He also had at least 2 pages of items he had to have checked off by supervisors before leaving on top of his regular duties. He looked frazzled, but his service was as good as every other night. While at dinner, we ordered 2 bottles of Buena Vista Chardonnay to be delivered to our room. We tasted it during the wine tasting event, and decided to order some to take home. We asked that the wine be room temperature and not chilled. No problem, the wine would be delivered to our stateroom.

We went to Shutters after dinner and ordered our Christmas cards. It ended up being the one with Sorcerer Mickey. I rounded out our package with pictures from the day at Castaway Cay. Boy, those developers are fast!!! We were told we could pick up our cards the next morning at 7:00. Filip helped me again...he was really nice the entire trip.

We went to the theater to see Remeber the Magic. Every show was great, and this was no exception. I'm so glad my kids can sit through something like this. They all seem to be musically inclined in some fashion or another and this piques their interests. We bid goodnight to Mom and Joe and headed back to the room for packing. I had started on this before dinner. I had 2 our our 6 suitcases packed and ready to go. We got the kids ready for bed and pulled everything from their stateroom into ours to complete the packing. The wine we ordered had arrived, but it was chilled. DH called the front desk and explained the problem. They told him to go to Lumieres and exchange the bottles. Great, problem solved. I continued packing. Geeze, how did we accumulate so much stuff over the week? Then I realized how much "free" stuff we had received: 2 stateroom gifts from our TA, 4 sets of Mickey Mouse mortarboards, 4 graduation t-shirts, 6 DVC caps, 6 DVC lanyards, assored papers (i.e. Personal Navigators). All this on top of stuff we actually bought! And we had 4 bottles of wine to pack in our luggage due to carryon policies. Whew! DH arrived back quite some time later. They had trouble finding unchilled bottles of wine. They said someone would bring down warm bottles sometime tonight. Uh-oh, they NEEDED to go in luggage. It was already 10:00. Antonio knocks on our door about 5 minutes later, apologizing for the problem with the wine. We told him is wasn't a problem and that we were surprised he was delivering the wine. He said he offered to bring us the wine. He also brought us some of the diner menus from tonight's meal - one of each character. We thanked him again for all his service through the week and we wished him well going back home. He still had to get his suitcases out by 11:00 too, and bid us goodnight.

We managed to get our stuff packed and out the door at 11:00 on the dot. We just looked at each other and sighed. Wow...what a job! I didn't think packing would be that tough. But we made it. We made our first request for a wake-up call - 5:15 am. Good thing we're used to getting up early...DH gets up this time every day for work. We knew the kids would move, but they'd be zombies. I enjoyed my last night of being rocked to sleep by the ship. I would definitely miss this. I enjoyed the movement of the ship.

Next up....debarkation....