The Great Thinkers Sail the Wonder - April 15 - 19, 2007

[jrose529]

I returned last night (actually very early this morning) from our 4 days on the Wonder and 3 days at WDW. I began my trip report before I left, but decided to post it when I returned. I took notes throughout the trip, but have yet to type them. I'll begin with my first chapter now. I hope you enjoy it...

Chapter 1 – Prologue, or Great Minds Think Alike…

Well, I decided to begin my trip report before we leave for our April 15, four day Wonder cruise. I just want to warn you that I am very verbose, so this will probably be a very long TR, sorry!:rolleyes1 It also won’t be nearly as humorous as the many classic trippies on this board. I plan to take notes while onboard. At least that is the plan! I will be waiting up for DD every night, so this will fill my time.:thumbsup2 DH will fall asleep well before she returns.

This trip has been in the planning stages since August, 2006. DD (Amy – 18) will be graduating from high school and heading off to Indiana University this August, so we decided to celebrate with a cruise and a trip to WDW. We will also be celebrating DD’s 18th birthday which was in March, and my 50th birthday in May. Here is our cast of characters:

Me – Judy
DH – Steve
DD – Amy (18)
DD’s best friend (Katie – 18) and her family

We are DVC owners, so we decided to cruise with our points. I wanted a verandah room, so I only had enough points for a 4 day cruise. I decided to book one of the secret verandah rooms – SR #7620. I was so excited that it was available! :cheer2:

We cruised on the Magic when DD was 15 and now we’ll experience the Wonder!:banana: DD also wanted a few days in WDW, so we are spending 2 nights at OKW after the cruise. Unfortunately, DS (23) can’t join us on this trip. He’s in grad school and doesn’t have the time.

After spending way too many hours on these boards and meeting so may wonderful DIS members, I decided to put together a DIS meet booklet so we can keep in touch during and after the trip. I also had fun making lime green Mickey head magnets for everyone.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/GreatThinkersMickeymagnets-1.jpg
That is going to be a surprise at our 3:00 DIS meet in the Promenade Lounge. We have 75 people in our DIS group! DH and DD tease me all the time about my DIS obsession!:confused3

Since so many of the DIS members on our cruise will be staying at WDW for at least 2 nights or more after the cruise, we decided to name our group The Great Thinkers. You know, great minds think alike! We found that the more we got to know one another, the more we had similar plans for this trip, hence, The Great Thinkers moniker. :goodvibes

Next up: We live in CT, so why are we are flying out of Newark, NJ?

[LITTLEKID58]

Subscribing... TFS

[jrose529]

Chapter 2 - We live in CT, so why are we are flying out of Newark, NJ?

Our cast of characters:

Me – Judy
DH – Steve
DD – Amy (18)
DDBFF - DD’s best friend Katie (18)
BFFM - best friend’s mother Chris
BFFD - best friend’s dad Mark
BFFS1 - best friend’s 16 year old sister Lauren
BFFS2 - best friend’s 5 year old sister Erin

Saturday, April 14, 2006. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 6:05 PM. I really didn’t want such a late flight, but the fares were so high when I needed to book. DH wanted to keep our costs down, so I began to spend my every waking moment on line, checking fares at every possible airport.:surfweb: He kept telling me that the fares would drop, and I foolishly listened to him! Our friends were able to get a decent flight out of LGA, but by the time I decided that I could wait no longer, the least expensive flight was on Continental out of Newark at 6:05 PM on April 14. We live in Fairfield County (Not the high rent district!), so the distance to Newark is not much farther than to LGA, JFK or Bradley. I would have liked an earlier flight so we could spend some time in Port Canaveral, but that was not to be.

We decided to stay the night before the cruise at the Residence Inn in PC. We were scheduled to land in MCO at 9:10 PM, so we wouldn’t get to the port until nearly 11:00. We’ve had trouble in the past with Budget and National, so we reserved a car from Hertz for a one way, one day rental. We will be taking the DCL bus to OKW after the cruise and Disney’s Magical Express to MCO on Saturday, April 21.

The trip down was rather bumpy, but we were happy with our choice to fly on Continental. We arrived on time and took the shuttle to Hertz. We arrived at the Residence Inn at midnight. The room was a nice size. They gave us a handicapped room, so I don’t know if it was larger than a normal 1 bedroom suite. There were a lot of small caterpillars in the lobby area by the doors,:eek: but thankfully, the room was very clean and caterpillar free. I asked about this and they said they were having trouble keeping them out of the lobby.:scared: The breakfast buffet that was included in the price of the room was not to my liking, but it was okay. I don’t like scrambled eggs and the waffles were terrible. Overall, the hotel was fine, but I’m not sure I’d stay there again. It was very close to the port, so that was nice and I loved the large suite, but I think next time I’ll try somewhere else.

We left for the port at 10:30 and DH dropped us off about 5 minutes later. It was extremely windy when we left the hotel and we heard on the radio that there was a tornado watch!:scared1: We were really worried. The rain began while we were in the car.


Next up: Time to Sail Away With Mickey and the Great Thinkers. Will it be a soggy ride?

[Babs417]

We love long trip reports:thumbsup2 :goodvibes ;) :) :cutie: Just keep it comming:cool2:

[haywardranch]

Hi Judy,

Looking forward to reading your trip report!!! Thank you so much for getting everyone together, you did a great job and we proudly displayed our Great Thinkers magnet on our door. It was a pleasure to meet you.:hippie:

[jrose529]

Chapter 3: Time to Sail Away With Mickey and the Great Thinkers. Will it be a soggy ride?

Our cast of characters:

Me – Judy
DH – Steve
DD – Amy (18)
DDBFF - DD’s best friend Katie (18)
BFFM - best friend’s mother Chris
BFFD - best friend’s dad Mark
BFFS1 - best friend’s 16 year old sister Lauren
BFFS2 - best friend’s 5 year old sister Erin

It was just drizzling when we arrived at the port. DH unloaded our 6 bags and 3 carry-ons!:scared: I really wanted to pack light, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. All 3 of us over-packed as usual. We usually change 2 to 3 times every day on a cruise and of course, DD and I need shoes for every evening!:rotfl2: I also bring way too may incidentals like an exorbitant amount of toiletries, OTC meds, and a myriad of other useless items. I am the queen of over-packing.

There was no line at the terminal, so we got through security very quickly and received boarding pass #3. We checked in and noticed quite a few lime green shirts and wrist bands!:banana: It was so much fun to meet some of our DIS friends before we boarded! By noon, we were embarking on our Wonderful cruise.:cheer2: We went directly to Parrot Cay for a terrific lunch. We wandered around for awhile and hung out in Diversions. DH & DD had fun playing chess while I took some TR notes.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0453.jpg

At 1:30 it was time to see our stateroom. We were on deck 7 starboard, aft in SR #7620. It was a great room. It was a former category 6 that that is now a category 7 since the verandah is partially obstructed. It was a great location and the obstruction is minimal. Our stateroom host was Winston.

When we arrived in our stateroom, we found gifts from The Perfect Gift. (Thanks Shirley!) We sent DD a mesh beach bag filled with goodies and a towel. She loved it, especially the Pooh towel. Our friends sent me a great smiley face flower arrangement for my 50th birthday. We also found our Castaway Club gifts. There were 2 different mesh bags, two plastic cups, a pad, hand wipes and CC flags, all in a CC tote bag.

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I couldn’t wait to decorate our stateroom door. I had made two signs and had the Great Thinkers Mickey Head, as well as some magnets from CC and DVC. Thanks to KristineN from these boards, I used one of her designs and it looked great. Here is our door.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0517.jpg

Our friends boarded at about 1:30 so we went to see them in their SR on deck 8. This was their first DCL cruise and they loved it. Their oldest DD - BFF is my DD’s best friend, so they had a great time together. Their middle DD - BFFS1 (16) had a great time also and spent most of her time either with the older girls or with her new friends in Aloft. They also have a 5 year old DD - BFFDS2. She didn’t spend much time in the kids club, but she had tons of fun in the Mickey pool.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0497.jpg

DH, BFFM and I toured the Spa. It was wonderful. DH had no interest in the spa at all; he just wanted to see the workout facilities. Now, this is something I just don’t get. If you are on vacation, why would you want to work out?:confused3 I hate to work out at home, why on earth would I subject myself to that torture on my vacation? He signed up for a spinning class for the next morning and was looking forward to spending time up there. So were BFFM & BFFD. Oh well, not my cup of tea. I, on the other hand booked a Ladies Morning special for Castaway Cay day.:goodvibes I was really looking forward to that! It included a facial, back massage, foot massage and scalp massage. It also included time in the Rainforest Room, champagne and treats. Heaven!!! :cloud9:

It was now 3 PM, time for our DIS meet!:woohoo: I was so excited to meet everyone. We met in the Promenade Lounge and had a nice sized crowd. It felt as if I already knew everyone since we spent so much time chatting online. It was fun to put faces to names. I made name tags for everyone so it was easy to spot each other. BFFDM took a group pic for us. Unfortunately, some people had already left, so if you aren’t in the photo, I’m really sorry. We were also missing a few families. I hope you all made it onboard. Since the weather was lousy, there were cancelled flights. I know some of our group were flying out that morning.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/DISgroup.jpg

Next up: How Can You Be Bored?!?

[jrose529]

Hi Judy,

Looking forward to reading your trip report!!! Thank you so much for getting everyone together, you did a great job and we proudly displayed our Great Thinkers magnet on our door. It was a pleasure to meet you.:hippie:

Hi Lynne,

It was wonderful meeting you and your family. How was the rest of your trip? We had a great time!

[smeck]

Great job so far Judy it's fun reliving the cruise through your trip report. Oh by the way I"m still practicing drawing Mickey not any better I"m afraid.

[haywardranch]

We had a great time too! My daughter's actually cried when we had to leave. We are definitely going to do a 7 day the next time. I know most others had late seating for dinner, that was our only draw back, 2 years ago we had early seating and at that time it worked (the girls were 7), this time not so much. We were a bit rushed but our servers Vanessa and Palo were EXCELLENT! A couple of our shore excursions were canceled due to wind, but even that didn't make too much difference. We just wandered around Nassau for bit and then had the whole day on the ship which was really fun.

How were the crowds at WDW? We are contemplating doing the world next April vacation but I am a little weary about it.

Looking forward to the rest of your report!! Great so far!! It is also good to know that 18 year olds will still like the cruise and have fun as I plan to keep going!!:banana:

[spoon2003]

TR already posted, I'm impressed :thumbsup2 I'm still doing laundry :sad1:

Judy,
Thank you for organizing the meet, it was great fun meeting everyone!! I'm reliving the cruise through your TR. That was definitely the highlight of our vacation, WDW paled in comparison :rotfl:


Sue

[skiingwife]

Hi Judy,
I'm going to be in 7620 in October. Glad to hear you liked the room. Did you find that the obstructed verandah was really not that obstructed? What kind of condition was the room in (carpet, bedding, etc.) Enjoying your trip report!

[lunsusie]

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing with us.

[CapnJackGroupie]

Great TR so far!!!popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

[jrose529]

TR already posted, I'm impressed :thumbsup2 I'm still doing laundry :sad1:

Judy,
Thank you for organizing the meet, it was great fun meeting everyone!! I'm reliving the cruise through your TR. That was definitely the highlight of our vacation, WDW paled in comparison :rotfl:


Sue

I stayed up typing last night until 3 AM! I still have more to go. We came home to a flooded basement, so I'm just getting to my laundry now. I still have to unpack.

It was so great to meet all of you. The cruise was so much fun and very relaxing.


I'm going to be in 7620 in October. Glad to hear you liked the room. Did you find that the obstructed verandah was really not that obstructed? What kind of condition was the room in (carpet, bedding, etc.) Enjoying your trip report!

The cabin was great and in wonderful condition! The obstruction was really minimal and wasn't a problem. I'd stay in that cabin agian. I'm working on uploading my pics to Photobucket, so I'll post a verandah shot soon.

Here are two pics. They aren't very good, but right now, they are all I could find.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0462_edited-1.jpg http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0461.jpg

[jrose529]

I'm so glad there are people reading this TR. I had visions of being all alone here! Thanks for all your kind words. Now on to the next part.

Chapter 4: How Can You Be Bored?!?

Our cast of characters:

Me – Judy
DH – Steve
DD – Amy (18)
DDBFF - DD’s best friend Katie (18)
BFFM - best friend’s mother Chris
BFFD - best friend’s dad Mark
BFFS1 - best friend’s 16 year old sister Lauren
BFFS2 - best friend’s 5 year old sister Erin

The first night’s show in the Walt Disney Theater was Michael Harrison. He was a ventriloquist and was really funny. We had as much fun watching our friend’s 5 year old daughter’s reaction to the show. She was sad for the tennis ball when he was complaining about being hit by famous tennis players and was very upset that everyone was laughing! :rotfl2:

We had the 8:15 dinner seating and our rotation was APPT. Our servers were Corrine from France and Brent from Trinidad and Tobago.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0481.jpg

They were fabulous and we had a great time with them! The kids were thrilled with Brent’s magic tricks and loved Animators Pallatte. I had a stuffed tomato, Caesar Salad, delicious cannelloni and Peanut Butter Pie for dessert! Yummy!!! I was stuffed, but it was all wonderful.:thumbsup2

We tried to go to the Cadillac Lounge to listen to Darryl Lockhart after dinner. We loved listening to him every night on our Magic cruise, but the lounge was too smokey this time.:sad2: We complained about that on our comment card. We only got to see him for short periods of time because of the smoke. He is so good; he should be in a smoke-free environment so more people can enjoy his music. When we talked to him about it, he said he would rather not be in a smoking lounge. It isn’t good for his voice, but that is where he is most evenings. I was disappointed that we couldn’t spend more time listening to him. The people smoking at the bar were talking loudly and not paying attention at all, and the rest of the lounge was empty. That was a waste of a talented man.:confused3

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0450.jpg

After leaving the Cadillac Lounge, we went to see Wild Hogs in the theater. DH was looking forward to seeing it, but we both agreed that we were glad we didn’t pay $9.50 a ticket. It wasn’t very good.

We got back to the cabin at 1 AM and DD returned soon after. I was surprised since I didn’t expect her before 2 AM. She was tired and bored.:confused3 :eek: Oh no, I didn’t want to hear that! :scared: We went on this cruise because she begged us. If she wasn’t having a good time, why were we there? No one showed up at the College Meet & Greet and the kids in Aloft were sitting around not speaking.:crazy2: Since she and her friend were just 18 and still in high school, they pretty much had free reign of the ship. They could go into all the adult areas and were still welcome in Aloft. They should have been thrilled, not bored! I went to sleep confused and worried that she was too old for Mickey!:confused: Actually, I tried to sleep with all the rocking and rolling. Remember I mentioned that it was windy when we went to the port? Well, the wind didn’t die down all night.

Next up: Chills & Thrills in Nassau and Can DD find anything to do?

[jrose529]

Chapter 5: Chills & Thrills in Nassau and Can DD find anything to do?

Our cast of characters:

Me – Judy
DH – Steve
DD – Amy (18)
DDBFF - DD’s best friend Katie (18)
BFFM - best friend’s mom Chris
BFFD - best friend’s dad Mark
BFFS1 - best friend’s 16 year old sister Lauren
BFFS2 - best friend’s 5 year old sister Erin

(Aren’t you sick of seeing this at the beginning of every chapter? By now you should know our cast of characters, so this is the last time you’ll see this list.)

Day 2 – April 16, 2007
Nassau

DD had to wake up early for a snorkel excursion with our friends. She had fun snorkeling, but it was cold and windy, so she and BFF spent most of the morning sunning themselves on the catamaran. DH & I decided to sleep in until 10:00! It was heavenly! We had the breakfast buffet at Parrot Cay and it was just okay. We braved the wind and cold and walked around deck 10 taking pics.

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We decided to settle on our favorite deck chairs on deck 4 to read.

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It was freezing! I thought we should sit in the sun at the Quiet Cove pool, but DH thought the new lounge chairs were uncomfortable, so we sat by the Cove Café and comfortable chairs and ottomans. I was so comfortable, that I feel asleep for a couple of hours. This was a very relaxing cruise! Unfortunately, there were smokers out there, so we left after my nap. Two of our favorite spots were the smoking areas and we were not too happy about that!

After a quick lunch by the Mickey pool, we went shopping. Actually, we didn’t shop at all, but our plan was to find the Straw Market. Once we found it, we did not like it at all. It was tight and crowded, so we left. Nassau is not a port that I enjoy. We stopped there last summer when we sailed NCL Dawn and took a cab to Atlantis to tour “The Dig.” We enjoyed that, but didn’t feel the need to go back. This time we wandered for only 45 minutes and got back onboard.

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I went to the 4 PM DVC member presentation and got a DVC beach bag, hats and pins. It was fun. DH sat on deck 4 reading his Barack Obama book, which he loved. After DVC, I ran into DD, BFF & BFFDS1 playing Bingo. I hung out watching them lose. DD was really close at one point, but no luck. Oh well.

I went to the 6:15 Hercules the Muse-i-cal while DH went to work out. He never made the early morning spinning class since we slept in, so he really wanted to exercise. The show was okay. Parts of it were funny, but I had seen it before. They really need to completely change the shows since so many people are repeat cruisers.

Tonight was Palo night. We were really looking forward to eating there since we enjoyed it so much on the Magic. It didn’t disappoint. The food and service were as fabulous as we remembered. BFFM & BFFD enjoyed it as well. I had the Gnocchi Florentine as an appetizer and it was amazing! BFFM liked it so much; she ordered some to go with her dinner. We then shared a pizza, half four cheese, half Prosciutto. It was delicious. I had the Gorgonzola Fillet of Beef – yummy, and ended the evening with the unbelievable Chocolate Soufflé. All I can say is WOW. This dinner was even better than I remembered on the Magic.

After dinner, we stopped by the Cadillac Lounge to see Darryl Lockhart again. This time we stayed a bit longer since the smokers were in the back of the lounge. As usual, Darryl was great! The smokers were very loud in the back of the room and paid no attention to him. What a shame!

DD was back by 1 AM again. OH NO, was she still bored? I’m happy to report that she was just exhausted from all the fun she and BFF had. All the girls went to dinner in Parrot Cay and our servers were wonderful with them. They enjoyed dinner so much; they stayed until 10:30! BFFS2 fell asleep right away. This was the theme every night for her. She was wiped out by the time dinner rolled around. The other girls had fun with Corrine & Brent and all the magic tricks. They came up to Palo and BFFD took BFFS1 to the cabin. We were finished with dinner, so we left soon after.

DD & BFF spent time in Diversions and loved it! They made friends with Rob, the manager of Diversions and he let DD play the piano and BFF sang. They have been writing music and recording a CD, so they were thrilled to have a chance to perform!

We all had a wonderful day!

Next up: What a Way to Relax – Massage, Champagne, Chocolates & Hammocks…

[jrose529]

Chapter 6: What a Way to Relax – Massage, Champagne, Chocolates & Hammocks…

Day 3 – April 17, 2007
Castaway Cay

Well, I had to wake up at 8:30 AM for a 9:30 Spa appointment. I am NOT a morning person, but the anticipation of spa treatments, had me jumping out of bed, bright eyed and bushy tailed. I took a look out of our verandah, and this is what I saw.

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I tried to go to BB for a quick breakfast, but since it was CC day, the line was too long for me to wait. I hopped over to PC for their buffet, but the line was just as long. I would have skipped breakfast, but I had morning meds I had to take so I went to Triton’s and the servers were incredible. They had me fed and out of there before 9:30! I scooted up to the Spa, just as they were calling my stateroom and waking up DH. He was not happy, but he got over it.

Decy from the Philippines was my masseuse and she was wonderful. I had a facial, back massage, foot massage and Oriental scalp massage. What a treat! I forgot to mention that I didn’t want a sales pitch at the beginning, but she was very low-key. I needed face cream, so I bought a small bottle, but that was all. Decy then brought me into the Rainforest Room and I got comfy in the heated tile loungers. That was so relaxing! She then brought me a glass of champagne and chocolates. I don’t drink champagne, so I asked for water, but the chocolates were delicious. I tried some of the steam rooms and the sauna, but they were too hot for me. I decided that I had enough and went to get showered and dressed to go out to CC.

DH was awake when I returned to the cabin and we got ready to go to the beach. He didn’t have breakfast, so he was starving by the time we reached Cookies at noon, so we ate. The chicken and ribs were very good, but the cheeseburger was dry. The chocolate chip cookies were not great, but the fruit and ice cream were good.

The island didn’t seem overly crowded. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. We walked to the end of the family beach, taking pictures the whole time.

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DH thought this sign was funny.

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At the end of the family beach, we found two available hammocks, side by side and decided to try them out. I was really beginning to relax when the sun got too strong for me and DH. He just had a cancerous mole removed from his back last month and he was nervous in the sun. I burn very easily, so we decided to look for shade and for DD and our friends. We walked along the shore and found the water to be quite cool, but refreshing. We found two lounge chairs in the shade at the beginning of the family beach, with a nice breeze and settled in to read. We had been there about an hour when DD and BFF are suddenly standing in front of us laughing. They were sunning themselves about 10 feet in front of us and we didn’t notice one another until they got up to leave. I really am blind! They were right under our noses the whole time.

Walking back to the ship, we saw Donald Duck.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0559.jpg

Next up: Argh; It’s a Pirates Life for Me.

[ColoradoMom!!]

Hurray! :cool1: I've been waiting for more, and I LOVE the pictures too!
Thanks!:cloud9:

[jrose529]

Hurray! :cool1: I've been waiting for more, and I LOVE the pictures too!
Thanks!:cloud9:

Thanks for your support.

[mom_of_2_princesses]

I love your TR! Thanks for taking the time to write it.:)

[jrose529]

I love your TR! Thanks for taking the time to write it.:)

Thank you for reading it!:goodvibes

[jrose529]

Chapter 7: Argh; It’s a Pirates Life for Me

We returned to the ship at 2:45 and sat at the Cove Café to read. DD and BFF came over to hang out in the Quiet Cove pool, so I joined them. It was nice to spend some time with DD.:goodvibes We all went back to the cabin by 5:30 to get ready for the Golden Mickey’s at 6:15 and Pirate Night in Parrot Cay. DD & I showered and dressed, DH planned to shower after the show.

We were late for the show, but it was fun. I enjoyed it more than Hercules, although it was not much different than the last time I saw it. While DH went back to get ready for dinner, I popped into Shutters to see if I liked any pictures. I found two nice 8 x 10 shots of DD and a 6 x 8 of the four girls, so I bought them. I declined to purchase a package, since I knew I wouldn’t buy any photos of myself. I love takings pictures, but hate to be in them!:rotfl2:

I'll scan them tomorrow and add them here.

I had told DH to meet me in the Cadillac Lounge to listen to Darryl, but someone else was playing his piano. He was good, but he was no Darryl. I realized that I forgot to take my meds so I went back to the cabin to meet DH and drop off the photos.

It was time for our Pirate Dinner in PC. I bought everyone at our table an eye patch and hoop earring. Everyone bought some sort of Disney Pirate hat except for DH and me. We wore the Pirate bandanas that were at the table. I took a lot of pictures. The kids all looked so cute!:thumbsup2

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0568_edited-1-1.jpg
BFFS2 Erin

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0570_edited-1.jpg
BFFS1 Lauren, BFF Katie, DD Amy, BFFS2 Erin

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BFF Katie & DD Amy

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BFFS1 Erin & BFFS2 Lauren

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BFFD Mark & BFFM Chris

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DH Steve

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BFFD Mark having a great time!

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DD Amy enjoying herself!

BFFS2 fell asleep as usual, so BFFD took her back to the cabin. The rest of us went to the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. pirate: It was great. We danced and sang and enjoyed the fireworks.

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After the party, DH BFFM and I settled in to watch POC on the big screen. It was so cool to be sitting out there on deck.:woohoo: I took some pics of Johnny Depp and they came out great. Here are two of them.

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As an aside, I don’t know if this is a rumor, but apparently Johnny Depp and his family bought a house in our town. He’s been seen around town, but I haven’t seen him myself. It’s fun to think he’s here, but I am not sure if I believe it. A few years ago, there was a rumor that Anthony Edwards moved here, and I didn’t believe it until I ran into him in our local grocery store. He was a really nice guy and we spoke briefly since he was in line behind me. So, the Johnny Depp rumor may just be true!:confused:

Back to the movie - it became very cold out there on deck, so we returned to our cabin at midnight. Now here is when I get stupid. I decided that since I had to stay awake until DD returned at 2 AM, I would do laundry! :rolleyes: Not smart. I was exhausted and the laundry took forever! DD got back before the clothes were dry and I wasn’t done until 2:45. Dumb move! :sad2:

In between my trips to the laundry room, I watched coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. It was horrible. What a sad and shocking event.:scared: I can’t understand how someone could take so many lives. I can’t understand how he could have shot anyone at all. I really hate guns. It must have been so terrifying for all those people. It just makes me cry.:sad:

Next up: Mickey Heads and Goofy Ears

[scottishwee35]

I enjoyed to read your trip report and thought the photos of pirates look good:thumbsup2 seem everybody happy:) :)

Scottishwee35:thumbsup2

[outahere]

You're doing a great job Judy. Keep up the good work. Through your TR
I'm reliving those very short 4 days we were on the Wonder with your family.

[Ski-and-Sea]

I am so loving this TR - great job. You're getting me excited about our Wonder trip in August.

[Kurby]

i'm all in anticipation looking for the next bit.

you're pictures are great - makes me feel like i'm there.

[jrose529]

Thanks for all your words of encouragement.

Here is the next chapter:

Chapter 8: Mickey Heads and Goofy Ears

Day 4 - April 81, 2007
Day at Sea

I just love sea days!:love: We all planned to sleep in this morning. Are you shocked? That was the theme of this cruise – relaxation, and we definitely did that. We woke up at 10 AM and after getting ready, we went to PC for breakfast. DD went off with BFF and I didn’t see them until dinner. I have to say that this morning’s breakfast was the worst meal of the cruise.:sad2: It wasn’t the food, it was the server. I feel sorry for anyone who had him during the cruise. I hope he was better at dinner. I don’t remember his name or where he was from, but he was very unfriendly and never introduced himself. The table wasn’t set and we had trouble getting anything from him. DH had to wait for his coffee and it was cold. He was never offered another cup. It made me realize how lucky we were to have Corrine and Brent. They were always smiling.:)

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After breakfast, DH went to work out again and I went to Shutters. There were some nice pics of DD, but I didn’t buy any. I thought I’d check again later. I then went to shop and didn’t buy much for some reason.:confused3 Actually throughout the cruise, I only bought an ankle bracelet at the gold by an inch event on the first evening and a magnet on the last day. I held off on my shopping for DTD on our last day at WDW, but I’ll get to that soon.

It was now time for the Castaway Clubhouse for people who had cruised DCL before. I figured that I may as well go since DH was still working out. I met some wonderful people who had cruised DCL many times, but one couple beat them all. This was their 24th DCL cruise!:eek: They were an older couple and they were so adorable. The best part was her name – it was Wonder!:rotfl2: Isn’t that amazing? I’m still trying to get DH to book our 3rd DCL cruise, I can’t imagine 24! I didn’t win one of the Castaway Clocks, but I had fun and took back chocolate covered Rice Krispie Mickey heads for the 4 girls. They were thrilled with that.

DH met me for lunch at Goofy’s Galley. I had a great Panini and we got fries. We loved the fries.:goodvibes We took a nice walk around deck 4 and settled down to read in our favorite chairs. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to stay outside all day! Something convinced me to go inside though. There was an animation class in AP and I really wanted to go. When I got inside I saw one of my DIS friends, Smeck and his DD Rachel. I sat with them and we laughed the whole time.:rotfl: We just couldn’t get it right. Rachel was the most talented out of the three of us. We drew a Mickey and Goofy head. Oh boy, am I a lousy artist! I made the heads so large; I had no room for the ears, especially Goofy’s. Smeck just ripped his up. I should have done the same. DH & DD were rolling when they saw my feeble attempt at animation. :lmao: I guess I’ll keep my day job.

I guess I was too relaxed to take pictures. There really aren't any to fit this chapter, so I'll throw in some just for fun!

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CM pool

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Next up: Disney Dreams, French Food & Packing Problems

[whithouston]

Awesome Judy! Keep it up!!!! :)

[Kim in TN]

Awesome trip report, thanks for sharing!! Love the photos.

[jrose529]

Chapter 9: Disney Dreams, French Food & Packing Problems

After making a fool of myself at the Animation class, I went back to the comfy chairs on deck 4 to take notes and read. I needed to check my email to see if our confirmation for Disney Grad night came through. I’ll talk about that in a later chapter. I was online for maybe two minutes and DH was on for 2 more minutes and it cost $6!:eek: I’m glad I wasn’t on longer.

I decided to begin my packing so I could have more time after dinner. After getting ready for dinner, we went to Disney Dreams. That is my favorite show. There were a few changes to this show and the lighting was cool. I took a few pics at the end without my flash and they came out lousy. I don’t know how people get such good shots at the shows.

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I told you I got lousy shots!

We went to listen to Darryl in the Cadillac Lounge for a little while and went back to our cabin to pack and find Winston, our stateroom host to give him his tip. He was good and very friendly to me, but DH was not happy when he wanted to change after his workout and Winston was annoyed when he asked if he could shower. I felt bad for Winston. He worked so hard and we slept so late; he had trouble finding the cabin empty so he could do his job. His towel animals were not spectacular. The elephant was a dud, but the monkey was cute.

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This was our first one and it was good.

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I guess this one wan't bad. I think it's a rabbit, but it may be a dog.:confused3

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Not a very convincing elephant!

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Here's the monkey.

I guess we were spoiled on the Magic. Our towel animals were great!

Tonight was our French dinner in Triton’s. Our server Corrine was so excited since she is the only French server. She had some great suggestions for food choices. I had the leek and goat cheese quiche, which I never would have tried any other time. It was fabulous!:thumbsup2 Next, I had a delicious Tomato Basil soup. Yummy!:goodvibes I had a few bites of salad – I don’t know why I ordered that. I was full before my main course arrived. Corrine put a plate of escargot on the table so we could at least try it. There was no chance that DD or I would try those! Yuk!!! :crazy2: DH, BFF, BFFD & BFFM all tried it and thought it was okay. They weren’t clamoring for more though. My next course was the beef tenderloin. It was a bit overcooked and not as good as the one in Palo. No big surprise there. We LOVED Palo.:love: I did ask for it to be cooked medium-well, so I should have expected it to be overcooked. For dessert, I had the white chocolate dome. It wasn’t as good as it looked. For some reason that was the only food pic I took.

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We had birthday cake for BFFS1 Lauren who turned 16 the day before we embarked. She was rather embarrassed.

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We were in the dining room until 10:30. We gave our tips and hugged our wonderful servers. We knew we’d see them in the morning, but we really enjoyed our time with them. Brent did a few magic tricks for the kids and we all ran back to finish packing.

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I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but we had 6 checked bags for the 3 of us! It was tough to get everything back into those bags for some reason. We ended up with 4 carry-ons instead of 3.

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DH decided to change for bed, so we ended up staying in the cabin for the evening.:sad1: I was disappointed, but I figured I could hang out and read. DH wanted to finish his book, and I had to read my book for my book club. The only problem was I foolishly packed it in my checked bag! I can’t believe I did that. DD was staying out until 2:30 tonight, so I had a long evening ahead of me. No, I was not going to do any more laundry!:rotfl2: I wrote more notes and looked over my Birnbaum’s WDW book for our trip to OKW. I also watched CNN again for coverage of Virginia Tech.:sad:

Next up: It’s Nice to be Home!

[jrose529]

Awesome Judy! Keep it up!!!! :)

Thanks Scott!

Kim in TN, I'm glad you're enjoying this. It's fun to relive the trip.

[LITTLEKID58]

Awesome.. enjoyed very much

[Miscoehill]

Judy,

Love the TR! We had a great time! It was our first cruise but certainly not our last! Love our pics..

Laurie (Miscoehill)

[jrose529]

Hi Laurie, It was great to meet you and your family.

I'm glad you're enjoying my trip report.

LITTLEKID58, thanks for taking the time to read my report. I'll get the next chapter up soon.

[AlisaP]

Judy,

Great trip report and Thank you so much for organizing the Great Thinkers meet and greet. We had fun meeting all our DIS friends! Plus I think my DD Kayleigh has a new penpal in AussieFan's DD Brittney!

Alisa

[jrose529]

Judy,

Great trip report and Thank you so much for organizing the Great Thinkers meet and greet. We had fun meeting all our DIS friends! Plus I think my DD Kayleigh has a new penpal in AussieFan's DD Brittney!

Alisa

Thanks Alisa. I enjoyed organizing the M&G and meeting all of you. I'm so glad Kayleigh and Brittney hit it off.:woohoo: That's exciting!

[jrose529]

:sad: :sad: Chapter 10: It’s Nice to be Home!

Day 5 – April 19, 2007
Old Key West and Epcot

We got up early this morning and were at breakfast by our 8:15 scheduled time. I ran up to shutters one last time, but I couldn’t find the photo’s I liked the day before. Oh well, the 3 pictures I purchased the day before were good enough. We had a nice breakfast, said our good-bye’s and sadly disembarked the Wonder.:sad2:

We took the DCL bus to OKW. It was freezing on that bus! I think next time we’d use a car service. It took too long on the bus with all the stops before we finally got to OKW. It was nice to be home.:woohoo: We are DVC members and OKW is our home resort. We love staying there!:goodvibes It is comfortable for us. We stayed in a studio room and our friends had a 2 bedroom. They invited DD to stay with them, which was great for all of us. :banana: We were in the same building, but not right next door to one another.

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After we checked in and had them store our luggage since it was too early to enter our room, we decided to go to MGM. Well, apparently we had just missed the bus and the Epcot bus was pulling up, so we changed gears and went there. Epcot is my favorite park, so I was happy to go there first.:cheer2:

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We were there for the Flower and Garden show and it was beautiful. We took many pictures. Here are just a few.

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I was really looking forward to the new Soarin’ ride. After all of us rode Spaceship Earth, the three older girls took off and the four adults took Erin to the Nemo ride in the Living Seas pavilion. It was cute. By then it was 1:00 and we were hungry. We went next door to the Land and ate in the food court. DH, DD and I purchased the Disney Dining Plan (DDP) and had a nice lunch which included dessert. I substituted a pasta salad for my dessert. What was I thinking?:confused3 We noticed the line for Soarin’ was 75 minutes:eek: and DH didn’t want to wait so we got Fast Passes for 7:15 – 8:15. I hoped we wouldn’t be on the other side of the park at that time! We took the Land boat tour, which I always enjoy. I find it so interesting.

When we got off the boat, we ran into the 3 older girls who said it only took 45 minutes to wait for Soarin.’ BFFM & I really wanted to wait, so we did. It only took 25 minutes, not 45 or 75 as it said on the sign!:banana: It was so worth the wait. I loved it! :love: DH is afraid of heights and was white knuckled! Poor baby.:rotfl2: We next took Erin to see Figment which she loved, then saw Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Erin had a great time with the dancing water. We couldn’t get her to leave.

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BFFM & BFFS2 Erin with Figment!

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Erin getting splashed!

We went across to ride Ellen’s dinosaur ride. I forgot the name of that one. Next up was Mission to Mars. We decided to take the green (less intense) ride. It was fun. I couldn’t have taken the orange ride. It would have made me sick. DH, BFFD & BFFM went on the single rider line for the Test Track and I sat with Erin outside. They got through pretty quickly and we headed over to the countries. We really never had to wait very long for anything. We must have timed it right. We also started out late and that worked to our advantage.

We didn’t go into any of the countries pavilions; we just walked around looking for a place for dinner. The Turtles were performing as we passed the American Pavilion, so we stayed to listen. It was so much fun and brought back so many great memories!

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By now we were really hungry snce it was nearly 8:00. There was a long line for the Italian restaurant, but everyone wanted to eat there. We walked a bit more and decided to go back to wait in Italy. It turned out to be a shot wait, but we did miss our Fast Pass time for Soarin’.:( At least I was able to ride it once, so I wasn’t too disappointed. I had Gnocchi for dinner, which paled in comparison the Gnocchi I had at Palo. In fact the food was just okay. By the time we finished dinner, it was time for the fireworks, so BFFM, Erin & I ran out to watch while the husbands took care of the bill. We arranged to meet the older girls and went back to OKW. I was exhausted! Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and a very late night. I just wanted to go to sleep. We had to wait for our luggage which took about half an hour. By then I was really dragging. I told DH I wanted my own bed since DD was with her BFF’s family.:rotfl2: Of course, once I got into bed, I couldn’t fall asleep!:confused3

Next up: The Punishment and the Crime

[smeck]

we had the same situation with Soarin when we were their the wait was alot shorter than advertised a pleasant surprise to be sure. We ate at the Italian rest. also and was very dissappointed and will never eat their again. Menu was only soso and very expensive and not that good. I think next year we do Disney without the water, haven't been to the parks in a couple of years and DD is dying to go on the new Coaster at Animal Kingdom.

[Miscoehill]

Smeck,
We did the RC at AK and the kids didn't like it. They said it wasn't fast enough. They like rockin better.

Judy,
Epcot looked awesome. We ran out of time, but I would love to go during Flower Festival.

[jrose529]

we had the same situation with Soarin when we were their the wait was alot shorter than advertised a pleasant surprise to be sure. We ate at the Italion rest. also and was very dissappointed and will never eat their again. Menu was only soso and very expensive and not that good. I think next year we do Disney without the water, haven't been to the parks in a couple of years and DD is dying to go on the new Coaster at Animal Kingdom.

DD and DH didn't want to go to AK. They didn't like it as much as the other parks the last time we were there. I would have liked to check it ou though. I think there were more new things to see and do there.

Laurie, Epcot during the Flower and Garden show is absolutely beautiful. I could have taken hundreds of pictures and am sorry that I missed so much of it. The character plantings are outstanding! This is the 3rd time we were there at this time of year and I love it. There is also the Flower Power concerts that are so much fun. Davey Jones was there the last time we went.

[jrose529]

Chapter 11: The Punishment and the Crime

Day 6 – April 20, 2007
MGM & MK – Disney Grad Nite 2007

Let me regress for a bit now. About a month before our trip, I noticed that there was a Disney Grad Nite while we were visiting WDW. I checked into it and thought it looked great. DD’s favorite group, The Fray was to be one of 4 bands during the evening. It was for graduating high school seniors only and their chaperones. The Magic Kingdom was closing early and they would be setting up for the kids. There was a foam dance party, and most of the rides and shops were open. DD & BFF were very excited about the prospect of attending this event. There was one problem – It was from 10 PM to 4 AM!!!! :scared1: I didn’t think I could handle that. I asked BFFD if he would take the girls. He wasn’t crazy about that idea and who could blame him. With a 5 year old waking up early, it would be difficult for him. In the meantime, DD found out that another friend would be in WDW during that time and she wanted to bring him along. Well, I’m weak and I wanted to let DD enjoy this special event. Every group needed 1 chaperone for every 10 students. There was a dress code and an amazing amount of security. I convinced DH to join me and we ordered 5 tickets at $40 each. I know; we’re crazy!:crazy2:

Okay, back to our originally scheduled programming. Since we were going to stay out so late tonight, we decided to sleep in this morning. Are you shocked?:lmao: We got up at 11:00 and went MGM. DH & I didn’t have a chance to eat breakfast, so we went directly to the 50’s Prime Time Café. We always enjoy eating there. The 3 older girls saw us walk inside and decided to join us for milkshakes. They had eaten breakfast at Olivia’s at OKW, so they weren’t ready for lunch, or so they thought.:rolleyes1 If you have never been to the Prime Time Café, it’s a lot of fun. The waiters and waitresses act like you’re eating at home. They yell if your elbows are on the table, make you set the table and get angry if you don’t finish your meal. They don’t let you order dessert if you didn’t clean your plate. If you do clean your plate, they announce it to the whole restaurant! :eek:

Well BFF decided she wanted to see what would happen if she annoyed “Dad.” The girls did decide to share chicken fingers and fries with their milkshakes. They were writing their names in ketchup on their plates and “Dad” came over to yell at them for playing with their food. Then BFF put her elbows on the table.:scared: Uh oh! “Dad” came over and made her stand in the middle of the dining room. She had to sing and act out, “I’m a Little Teapot.” It was hysterical.:rotfl2: :lmao: She had a great time being center stage. We all had dessert, but couldn’t finish it. Luckily we didn’t get yelled at. It was great fun! Here is BFF Katie as a teapot.

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The girls went off to go on the exciting rides and DH and I went on the Great Movie Ride. It 's just my speed. Unfortunately, it is getting old. We’ve done it so many times, we know what to expect. What we didn’t expect was having our car get stuck!:laughing: It was at the Indiana Jones set where the driver comes back after the “robber” tries to steal the ruby. We sat there as the next driver got set up. It was pretty funny.:rotfl: Finally someone came to fix our car and all he did was bang on it and it started to run. What a riot.:lmao:

We headed over to the Backstage Tour next. That had changed some and I really enjoy Catastrophe Canyon. DH works in the propane and oil industry and loves the fires.

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We walked around the Streets of America taking pictures and went to the Light’s, Motor’s Action Stunt Show. That was new for us and we enjoyed it very much. There was more fire for DH. It was all very noisy though. I had a headache when we left.

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We went to shop and ran into the rest of our group in the first store we walked into. No one really wanted to shop, so we went back to OKW to swim and go in the hot tub. By then it was 8:00 and we were hungry. After getting into our bathing suits, we got some food at Good’s Food to Go, which is the snack bar by the main pool. The air was cool, but the hot tub was great.

It was time to shower and get ready for Grad Nite.:rolleyes1

Next up: Transportation Woes and a Sea of Seniors!

[wilma-bride]

Judy, I am really enjoying your report so far. Can't wait to hear about how you and DH held up at Grad night ;) We are taking our first cruise in August and I am really looking forward to it. Every report I read makes me a little bit more excited :banana:

[jrose529]

Judy, I am really enjoying your report so far. Can't wait to hear about how you and DH held up at Grad night ;) We are taking our first cruise in August and I am really looking forward to it. Every report I read makes me a little bit more excited :banana:

Thanks! I'll be putting the next chapter up shortly.

You will love the cruise. Are you sailing the Magic ot the Wonder?

[Firedog]

Judy,

You got some great pictures during your vacation. I'm glad I got to see them because I decided to look at the ones I took last night, and of course I never take enough, and the ones I did get are marginal at best. Good job!

We never did hook up with any Disers on the cruise but with our three kids we were constantly moving in different directions.

[jrose529]

Chapter 12: Transportation Woes and a Sea of Seniors!

Day 6, Part 2 – April 20, 2007
Disney Grad Nite 2007

Now we had a bit of a problem. Since MK was closed to the public, there was no transportation to get us there.:confused3 All the groups came in their own busses. I think we were the only group of 5! I called down to the front desk at OKW to find out what we should do and they thought the best bet was to call a taxi. DD’s friend Evan was staying at The Beach Club, so he took a bus to OKW to meet us at 9:30. We called a cab for the 5 of us and they sent a regular sedan. I sat in the front and DH sat in the back with the 3kids. Do you remember the clown car at the circus? That was us. :lmao: Now we expected to be dropped off at MK, but no the cab dropped us off in the middle of the parking lot at the Transportation and Ticket Center.:eek: We had no idea where to go. There was no one around. We wandered over to the monorail and found some security guards. They told us we needed Grad Nite tickets to ride to MK. Our tickets were at Will Call. They finally agreed to let us board the resort monorail and after we started moving, there was an announcement that they would not be stopping at MK!:scared1: Now what. When we arrived at the Polynesian, DH jumped off to find out what to do. They said to just stay on; they made the announcement to make sure no one got off. When we stopped at MK, the station was swarming with security. They wanted to see our tickets before they would let us enter the park! We explained our situation and we were on our way. :banana:

I didn't ake any pics tonight, but Amy's friend Evan took pics with her camera.

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I have never seen so many 17 & 18 year olds in one place in my life!:scared: It was a swarm of teens! We all had to empty our pockets and the kids had to turn them inside out. They thoroughly checked every bag and if the kids wore school colors or anything with the school names, they had to check it. They didn’t want turf wars! What on earth was I getting myself into? :eek: After our security check, we found Will Call, but they couldn’t find our tickets. We stood there for at least twenty minutes. Luckily I had my emailed receipt and they decided to print us new tickets. In the meantime, DH realized he lost his KTTW card!:scared: Not only did it have our DDP plan on it, it was our room key, park pass and had $1,500 worth of charging privileges! DH ran back to the security check point, but no luck. He called OKW and they cancelled his card. He’ll pick up a new on the next morning. Crisis averted!

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_3253.jpg

The chaperones had to check in at Tony’s Town Square and give their cell phone numbers to the CM’s There were so many CM’s and so much security. :thumbsup2 This was chaperone headquarters and they had drinks and snacks all night. There were movies and free candy & popcorn in the theater. We saw The Bridge to Terabithia which was good, but sad. The next movie was Wild Hogs, but we saw that on the cruise, so we left. We listened to one of the bands, but it was too loud for us, so we went on a few rides. I wanted to see Mickey’s Phillarmagic and the Monsters Laugh Factory. They were both very good, but the kids never stopped talking.:headache: They were quite rude. I didn’t see any fights or problems, but boy were they loud!

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_3238_edited-1.jpg
Here are the kids having fun.

There was also a free breakfast until 2:30 AM for the chaperones at the Crystal Palace. It was nice and killed some time. We told the kids to meet us at 3 AM in front of chaperone Headquarters. 3 AM was the earliest they’d let groups leave the parks. We were done with breakfast at 2:00 so we went on a few more rides. They really need to get rid of Small World or at least redo it. I forgot how cheesy it was. :dance3:

DH and I were a little late to meet the kids because we were stuck on Stitch’s Wild Ride. DH’s watch stopped, so we thought it was 2:10 when it was really 2:50, so we figured we had plenty of time for the ride. Oh well. That was not a very good ride. When we met the kids, who had a fabulous time, but were exhausted, we had to figure out how to get a cab. They were not letting any vehicles near MK so we had to go back to the TTC and call a cab. We sat in the deserted parking lot for about 15 minutes before it came. Again, it was a clown car!:rotfl2: We dropped Evan off at BC and were in bed by 4:10 AM. Of course, I couldn’t sleep again! It was after 5 AM before I fell asleep and we had to check out by 11 AM! Yikes!!!!:eek:

Next up: Marathon Shopping and Now It’s Time To Say Good-bye.

[jrose529]

Judy,

You got some great pictures during your vacation. I'm glad I got to see them because I decided to look at the ones I took last night, and of course I never take enough, and the ones I did get are marginal at best. Good job!

We never did hook up with any Disers on the cruise but with our three kids we were constantly moving in different directions.

Hi Firedog, thanks for your kind comments. We missed you at the DIS meet. Did you enjoy the cruise?

[wilma-bride]

Thanks! I'll be putting the next chapter up shortly.

You will love the cruise. Are you sailing the Magic ot the Wonder?

We're on the Wonder :thumbsup2

Just read your last installment - Grad Nite sounded like a hoot - kudos to you and your DH for making it through the night. I'm usually in bed by 10 pm when we're on vacation :rolleyes:

We, too, are (brand new) DVC owners so I'm really interested in how the DVC/cruise trip worked out for you. We're doing it the other way around in August - SSR first for 2 nights, then DCL and then 4 nights at ASMu for free dining. I'm slightly concerned that we will be disappointed with ASMu after having stayed at SSR - however, if the staterooms on DCL are as small as everyone says, our room at ASMu should seem HUGE in comparison, right :rotfl:

[jrose529]

Chapter 13: Marathon Shopping and Now It’s Time To Say Good-bye.

We arranged a 9:30 AM wake-up call and scrambled to pack and check out in time. We called to have our bags picked up at 10:30, but they couldn’t get to us until 11:00. We all had our bags picked up at the same time and checked our bags at the airline stand. That was great. We didn’t see them until we arrived at Newark!:cheer2:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_3292.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_3293.jpg

It was too late to eat breakfast at Olivia’s so we took the boat to DTD and ate lunch at the Rainforest Café at noon. I never checked to see if we could use our DDP there and of course we couldn’t! It figures. The food was okay, but nothing to write home about. I had a Turkey wrap. We ordered a Volcano for BFFS1 Lauren’s birthday, just to embarrass her again. We succeeded.:rotfl2: All 8 of us tried the Volcano and it was delicious. It was the best part of the meal.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_3297_edited-1.jpg

The kids all wanted to go to Disney Quest, so DH & BFFD took the 4 of them. That left BFFM & me to shop until we dropped, which we did.:thumbsup2 I bought gifts for my son, his girlfriend, my nephews, my dad and my Mother-in-law. I forgot to mention that MIL was rushed to the hospital while we were on the cruise. We were very worried about her! She hasn’t been well and was hospitalized 2 weeks before we left. She was in intensive care for 4 days. Her blood pressure was 60/40!:scared1: They never found out why, but thankfully she’s home now.

Our friends had to be back at OKW for the Magical Express by 4:00 PM, and our ME was at 5:20. While we were shopping, BFFD called BFFM to say that BFFS2 was not happy at Disney Quest. (Did you get all that?) We ended up with Erin and had fun shopping for about another hour until they had to leave. DH & DD met me and we shopped for a bit longer and took the bus back to OKW. We still had a sit down meal, a fast food meal and 3 snacks left on our DDP, so we went to Olivia’s and shared a meal. DD & I shared a Turkey Club and soup, DH had a dessert. We bought snacks to take home in the General Store and walked away from our fast food meal. Over all, I would recommend the DDP.:thumbsup2 It saved us a lot of money. I thought I purchased 3 days for each of us, but it turned I only purchased a 2 day each. That worked out great since we ate at Rainforest anyway. The plan includes a lot of food, so I can see not being able to use it all, but it is cost effective for a short trip.

All 3 of us fell asleep on the bus to the airport. We had an exhausting few days after our relaxing cruise. We probably should have done WDW first. Since we checked in at OKW, we already had our boarding passes. Believe it or not, DD & I went straight to the Disney store to shop again.:laughing: You’d think we didn’t buy anything at DTD! After spending more money, we went to our gate to await the boarding announcement.

The flight was uneventful, thankfully and we arrived at Newark Airport at 10:40 PM where my dad was waiting for us. The luggage took forever to show up and after dropping my dad off at his house in NY, we arrived home in CT at 1 AM. Now you’d think we’d go right to bed, but when DH went down to the basement, he saw that it had flooded and the water had been standing there for nearly a week!:sad2: We began our clean-up and crashed at 3 AM! We spent the next few days working on tossing out everything from mattresses to clothes. It was a mess! A company came today to remove the carpet, disinfect and deodorize. It cost us a fortune! There goes any chance of another cruise in the next year!!!:sad1:

We had a fabulous vacation, but coming home to that mess tarnished some of our vacation glow.:headache:

Next Up: Final Thoughts

[wilma-bride]

Thanks for sharing your report with us Judy. Your DD is a lovely looking young lady and I'm glad she got over her initial boredom on the cruise ;)

How awful to come home to all that mess and trouble - glad it is finally sorted.

[jrose529]

We're on the Wonder :thumbsup2

Just read your last installment - Grad Nite sounded like a hoot - kudos to you and your DH for making it through the night. I'm usually in bed by 10 pm when we're on vacation :rolleyes:

We, too, are (brand new) DVC owners so I'm really interested in how the DVC/cruise trip worked out for you. We're doing it the other way around in August - SSR first for 2 nights, then DCL and then 4 nights at ASMu for free dining. I'm slightly concerned that we will be disappointed with ASMu after having stayed at SSR - however, if the staterooms on DCL are as small as everyone says, our room at ASMu should seem HUGE in comparison, right :rotfl:

You'll love it on the Wonder! It's smart that you're going to WDW before and after the cruise. That will give you more time. welcome to DVC, it's been great for us!:thumbsup2

I've never stayed at ASMu before, so I can't comment on the size of the rooms, but you're right that nearly any room will seem larger than the stateroom. The stateroom is quite comfotable in size though, so it shouldn't be too crowded. It all depends upon how many people you have in the cabin and what category cabin you have.

[wilma-bride]

It all depends upon how many people you have in the cabin and what category cabin you have.

We're in Cat 11 and there are just the 2 of us, me and DH. We're doing a Sleepydog and testing it out to make sure the kids will like it before we bring them too ;)

[jrose529]

Thanks for sharing your report with us Judy. Your DD is a lovely looking young lady and I'm glad she got over her initial boredom on the cruise ;)

How awful to come home to all that mess and trouble - glad it is finally sorted.

Thanks, she's a great kid most of the time!:rotfl2:

The basement was a huge mess, but there is a silver lining. We've wanted to clean it out and now we are forced to!:laughing:

[jrose529]

We're in Cat 11 and there are just the 2 of us, me and DH. We're doing a Sleepydog and testing it out to make sure the kids will like it before we bring them too ;)

You should be fine in the stateroom with just the two of you. I told DH that our next DCL cruise will just be the two of us.:thumbsup2 Unfortunately, we couldn't rebook just yet since we are still paying for DS's college and DD starts in the fall.:eek: It may be awhile before we cruise again since we used all our points for this year and next year. We decided to book a verandah room, so it was alot of points.

[Miscoehill]

Judy,

Your not alone...we came home to a basement filled with water too! What a mess and an awful smell as soon as we walked in the house. So up came the carpet, and some tiles...not a fun time. John is going to try and do all the work himself so we can save for another cruise!:cool1:
Great trip report..make you want to go back!
Laurie

[wilma-bride]

It may be awhile before we cruise again since we used all our points for this year and next year. We decided to book a verandah room, so it was alot of points.

I must admit, I was tempted to book this cruise on points so we could get a higher category room but we need all our available points for next year's trip - 3 weeks for me, DH, the 3 kids and MIL and FIL :thumbsup2

DH and I keep telling ourselves we'll be rich when the kids grow up and leave home but I guess there's always something that keeps on costing you money. I just can't wait until I can start going back to WDW at non-peak times :rolleyes:

Looking forward to reading your final thoughts - would be interested to hear more about the DVC presentation on board - is it worth going to?

I'm off to bed now as it is 10:30 pm here in the UK and I have a 4 year old who will be up at 6 am :sad2:

Been nice 'chatting' with you :)

[jrose529]

Since I'm on a roll, I'll post my last installment now. It will be nice to get it out of the way!:banana:

Chapter 14: Final Thoughts

We have been on 7 cruises, 2 of them on DCL, and by far those 2 were the best!:woohoo: Disney really does it right. I love the fact that they know how to cater to every age group. The only negatives I have are the smoking in the Cadillac Lounge and at the Quiet Cove Pool, but again comparing it to other cruise lines, there is much less smoking on DCL. The other complaint is that the shows pretty much stay the same, but compared to other cruise lines, the quality of the shows on DCL are far superior. So even my negatives can be turned into positives!

I found the DCL staterooms to be more spacious than other lines. I like the split bathrooms, but each side should be a bit larger. Our last cruise before this one was the NCL Dawn which is also a beautiful ship. The shower on the Dawn was uncomfortably small and the one bathroom was not much larger than one side of DCL’s split bathroom. The Freestyle Dining on NCL had its good and bad points, but no food on any of the ships we sailed can compare to the food at Palo.:love: I also like DCL’s dining rotation. The embarkation and disembarkation on DCL is also far superior to other lines.

I just thought of one negative that I didn’t mention at the beginning of my report. Our lifeboat drill was in AP, as were many other groups. We were all sitting right next to one another. With all the CM’s making announcements at the same time, we couldn’t hear a thing!:listen: We’ve never had that problem before. Here is a picture of DD & DH, since I have no pics for this post.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m172/jrose529/DCL%20Wonder%202007/IMG_0470.jpg
As you can see, DD was not happy about this picture!:rotfl:

The first DCL cruise was a 7 day Eastern on the Magic and I thought 4 days would be too short. I would have loved to stay on longer, but leaving after 4 days wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Maybe that’s because I knew my vacation wasn’t over just yet. Also, If I were going to combine the cruise with WDW again, I’d either do WDW before the cruise or spend more time at WDW after so we didn’t feel rushed. I would also spend more time in Epcot since we missed so much in the countries.

Thank you all for hanging in with me for this very long TR.:wave2: I hope it wasn’t too boring.

[jrose529]

Judy,

Your not alone...we came home to a basement filled with water too! What a mess and an awful smell as soon as we walked in the house. So up came the carpet, and some tiles...not a fun time. John is going to try and do all the work himself so we can save for another cruise!:cool1:
Great trip report..make you want to go back!
Laurie

I'm sorry to hear that Laurie.:sad2: The smell was disgusting, wasn't it? Steve has a bad back, so he couldn't move any of the heavy items.

Good luck!

I must admit, I was tempted to book this cruise on points so we could get a higher category room but we need all our available points for next year's trip - 3 weeks for me, DH, the 3 kids and MIL and FIL

DH and I keep telling ourselves we'll be rich when the kids grow up and leave home but I guess there's always something that keeps on costing you money. I just can't wait until I can start going back to WDW at non-peak times

Looking forward to reading your final thoughts - would be interested to hear more about the DVC presentation on board - is it worth going to?

I'm off to bed now as it is 10:30 pm here in the UK and I have a 4 year old who will be up at 6 am

Been nice 'chatting' with you

Sometimes it isn't cost effective to use points for the cruise. You need so many points. We have also always gone at peak times, so we use more points.

When you go for 3 weeks, are you also going on the cruise? It sounds like a great trip!

The kids only get more expensive as they get older!:rotfl2:

I enjoyed the DVC presentation. They give away some nice free goodies and it's nice meeting other DVC members.

Have a good night and thanks for taking the time to read my TR.

[disneegrl4eva]

Thank you all for hanging in with me for this very long TR.:wave2: I hope it wasn’t too boring.

awesome TR Judy..I enjoyed every minute of it:thumbsup2

[outahere]

Great TR Judy!!

I thought we would come home to a flooded basement, as well. However, I think the gutters we had installed last Fall probably saved us. The previous owners of this house has some basement water problems, which prompted us to do the gutters. Probably money well spent!

Take care and I hope to sail with you again.

Ed

[jrose529]

awesome TR Judy..I enjoyed every minute of it:thumbsup2

Thanks disneegrl4eva, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Great TR Judy!!

I thought we would come home to a flooded basement, as well. However, I think the gutters we had installed last Fall probably saved us. The previous owners of this house has some basement water problems, which prompted us to do the gutters. Probably money well spent!

Take care and I hope to sail with you again.

Ed

Thanks Ed! It was great sailing with you also.:banana: When are you sailing again?

Unfortunately it isn't as easy as our gutters. They are relativley new. It's hydrostatic pressure coming up through the ground and cracking our foundation!:scared: We have alot of repairs ahead of us. We have to seal the cracks and reseal the floor. Steve sealed the floor years ago and we had been dry until last year. He put a curtain drain in this past summer and that worked for a while.The snow melt and intense rain was too much and everything failed! Our whole neighborhood is on ledge rock, so the water has no place to go. We had to drill a new well a couple of years ago and they had to go 450 feet before they hit water!:eek:

[outahere]

Thanks Ed! It was great sailing with you also. When are you sailing again?



Judy,

We rebooked onboard for 4/20/08 (another 4 night). We had a great group of DISers on the 4/15 cruise.... I just wish I could have spent more time getting to know everyone.

There is a lot of ledge under our neighborhood as well. Fortunately, there are places where the water can run off (we're on top of a hill) and not hurt anything. I hope you're able to get everything cleaned up and fixed better than new. Best of luck!!

Ed

[mom2my3kids]

loved your report..

[jrose529]

Judy,

We rebooked onboard for 4/20/08 (another 4 night). We had a great group of DISers on the 4/15 cruise.... I just wish I could have spent more time getting to know everyone.

There is a lot of ledge under our neighborhood as well. Fortunately, there are places where the water can run off (we're on top of a hill) and not hurt anything. I hope you're able to get everything cleaned up and fixed better than new. Best of luck!!

Ed

Hi Ed, I wish we could join you. We did have a great group on 4/15.:thumbsup2

We are still working on the basement, but it's coming along well.


mom2my3kids, thanks for reading my report and your kind words.

[Mickey Mania]

Loved your report and your great pics! :thumbsup2
We're getting ready to go on our first Disney Cruise and it helps so much to read about yours.
I loved your pirate hats, bandanas, eye patches..... etc.pirate:
Did you buy them on board?
I'm wanting eye patches, Mickey pirate hat, and Goofy pirate ears. Are these sold on the ship?
Thanks for your help.:flower3:

[jrose529]

Loved your report and your great pics! :thumbsup2
We're getting ready to go on our first Disney Cruise and it helps so much to read about yours.
I loved your pirate hats, bandanas, eye patches..... etc.pirate:
Did you buy them on board?
I'm wanting eye patches, Mickey pirate hat, and Goofy pirate ears. Are these sold on the ship?
Thanks for your help.:flower3:

I picked up the eye patches in a party store here. There were 4 patches and earrings to a package for under $4. The Mickey pirate hat & Goofy Pirate ears we purchased on the ship.

Enjoy your first Disney cruise, you'll love it!:thumbsup2

[PowayMom]

Judy, Judy, Judy,:thumbsup2

Thanks for a great trip-report and all the WONDERful pictures.
More than that, though, thank you for being such wonderful
"Great Thinkers" with all of us. Thank you for the Mickey Magnet
which we will treasure with all the other souvenirs forever and
forever. We printed out the picture with all the other "thinkers"
at the Promenade Lounge, and went right into our Wonder
scrapbook.:grouphug:

Thank you for your care and friendship. Wish we could have
spent much more time with each other. We saw the Turtles
too at Epcot, so we were probably right close by.

Maybe another cruise somewhere down the line.......

Thank you,
Daniel, Patrick and Ada (PowayMom):flower3:

[jrose529]

Thanks for your kind words Ada!:goodvibes It was great meeting all of the "Great Thinkers." I wish we could have found more time to spend together. Maybe the next time we can all take a 7 day!:woohoo: That is after DD finishes college!:rotfl2:

Wouldn't that have been great if we saw each other at the Turtles concert? I would have been so excited.:banana: I saw Scott & Christy at OKW and it was so much fun to run into them.

It was wonderful to meet you, Patrick & Daniel.:grouphug:

[outahere]

Maybe the next time we can all take a 7 day!



I'm ready...... when do we leave??

[Miscoehill]

We're ready too! We want to go next year but can't decide between DCL or RCL. Has anyone ever done the 4 day two stops at CC cruise?

[smeck]

The Smecks can now close the Book on our 2007 cruise. We recieved our postcard from Castaway Cay. Sadly that puts the Stamp (pardon the pun) on our cruise, time to focus on our 2008 family vacation whatever that may be.

[jrose529]

I'm ready...... when do we leave??

We're ready too! We want to go next year but can't decide between DCL or RCL. Has anyone ever done the 4 day two stops at CC cruise?

I wish we could go soon. I would love to take a Med cruise!:banana: But alas, money stands in our way!:rotfl2:

Laurie, the Double Dip at CC would be great, but we haven't done it. I think this is the first time there is a 4 day DD.

The Smecks can now close the Book on our 2007 cruise. We recieved our postcard from Castaway Cay. Sadly that puts the Stamp (pardon the pun) on our cruise, time to focus on our 2008 family vacation whatever that may be.

:sad1: I know what you mean, I'm so sad to think it's over. Where do you think you might go for 2008? I have no idea if we will even take a family vaction again.:sad2: DS is probably moving to Chicago and he hasn't travelled with us for a few years. With DD starting college in Indiana, our next few years will probably be spent between IL & IA.:rotfl2:

[smeck]

I wish we could go soon. I would love to take a Med cruise!:banana: But alas, money stands in our way!:rotfl2:

Laurie, the Double Dip at CC would be great, but we haven't done it. I think this is the first time there is a 4 day DD.



:sad1: I know what you mean, I'm so sad to think it's over. Where do you think you might go for 2008? I have no idea if we will even take a family vaction again.:sad2: DS is probably moving to Chicago and he hasn't travelled with us for a few years. With DD starting college in Indiana, our next few years will probably be spent between IL & IA.:rotfl2:


No Idea, who knows, we'll figure something out this fall.

[outahere]

Has anyone ever done the 4 day two stops at CC cruise?

Laurie,

We've never done the 4 day double dip, but we did the Thanksgiving double dip last year and it was great to go to the island twice in one week. Doing it on a 4 day would mean no sea day, but it's not like we were moving all that fast anyway.

Ed

[PowayMom]

Smeck,
We just got our postcards too. One was from Mickey and Minnie
addressed to Daniel, and Goofy even sent him another one too!

They went right into our scrapbook, which I have been looking at
everyday. It went by so quickly.........all that planning and dreaming
and now back to reality. But it was WONDERful!!!
Thanks, everyone!
Ada:flower3: