Our First Disney Cruise "Double Dip Delight" Pre-TR & TR September 27-October 4, 2008

[anc22]

We are home and it was wonderful!! Things didn't always going as I had planned, but I have a few great stories to tell and a lot of pictures to share ;)

I didn't meet a lot of the people I was hoping to, but those that I did meet were wonderful :thumbsup2

I hope to get my TR started sometime this week :)

[taraandmike]

I can't wait to hear about your first disney cruise!

[mickeyluv]

We are home and it was wonderful!! Things didn't always going as I had planned, but I have a few great stories to tell and a lot of pictures to share ;)

I didn't meet a lot of the people I was hoping to, but those that I did meet were wonderful :thumbsup2

I hope to get my TR started sometime this week :)

I can't wait to read it...loved your Pre-trippie!!! We cruise in 55 days!! :woohoo: :banana: :woohoo:

[nenner1]

We are home and it was wonderful!! Things didn't always going as I had planned, but I have a few great stories to tell and a lot of pictures to share ;)

I didn't meet a lot of the people I was hoping to, but those that I did meet were wonderful :thumbsup2

I hope to get my TR started sometime this week :)


Yep, you can add neither of us winning bingo to that list of things not going as expected!:rotfl2:

I'm glad we *finally* ran into you....(of course once we did I realized I think I saw you skulking around deck 6 one time...you were probably doing one of your many FE drops.....and can I say, Your FE gifts were amazing! Thank you so much for all of the thoughtful, fun goodies!)

Anyway glad to hear you had a great time! It was nice to meet you, Mike, and Madison!! (Chase must have been in the club, huh!):thumbsup2

Bring on the report! Can't wait!

[kvaday]

My family is going on our first disney cruise for Halloween. I was just wondering what you guys thought of FLTours for the limo? We are supposed to be using them too, but I'm a little nervous since I dont really know much about them.

I cant wait to read your TR
:cool1: :surfweb: popcorn::

[anc22]

My family is going on our first disney cruise for Halloween. I was just wondering what you guys thought of FLTours for the limo? We are supposed to be using them too, but I'm a little nervous since I dont really know much about them.

I cant wait to read your TR
:cool1: :surfweb: popcorn::

FL Tours was great. They were right on time, got us to the port very quickly (we ended up getting there by 9:00 on accident) They played a movie for the kids to make the time go by faster and there was cold pop and water on ice for us to drink. I would definately use them again.

[alleluia5]

I can't wait to read it...loved your Pre-trippie!!! We cruise in 55 days!! :woohoo: :banana: :woohoo:

Mickeyluv - are you on the 11/29 cruise?

Yep, you can add neither of us winning bingo to that list of things not going as expected!:rotfl2:


yeah, add us to that list of non winners, I only played once but I seemed to only be supporting the rest of the room's habit as everyone except me seemed to win! :lmao:

[anc22]

Wednesday September 24th

Today started out as a good day. I had packed pretty much everything during the days (o.k....WEEKS) before. We didn't have to wake up early since we weren't leaving the house until 4:30 p.m. for our evening flight.
DD/10/Maddie went to school as usual and I took DS/3/Chase to daycare so I could get some last minute things finished.

~Dog to doggy sitter......check
~Mail put on hold.............check
~Neighbors know we are leaving........check
~Waterheater turned down......check (come on guys, it saves energy.....save the planet.......live green;) )
~Banking done............check
~All 11 bags packed......:scared1: .........check

At 4:00 we were finally ready to leave for our 1 hour drive to the airport, we were actually AHEAD of schedule for once in our lives, but we were too excited to wait.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise193.jpg

Mike loaded up the truck and we were on our way. A quick stop at a truck stop for some snacks and before we knew it, we were at the airport. What happened to all of the traffic I had planned for :confused: We got to the airport 3.5 hours before our flight! :eek: DD and I got a luggage cart and stayed with the bags while DH and DS went to park the truck and catch a shuttle back. That took about a 1/2 hour. We checked 5 of our bags, paying the $25 fee for our "extra bag" and then they weighed the bags............and 1 was 3 pounds over! So, another $50 fee and we were on our way. We tried to kill time by eating dinner and shopping for flight entertainment. DS got a new toy and DD read a book:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise194.jpg
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Our first flight was scheduled to leave @ 8:30 for a very short flight (40 minutes) to Seattle. The plane was tiny.........I was a little bit freaked out, but I didn't let the kids know that. This was DS's very first ride on an airplane:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise198.jpg

He did great! As for our connecting flight to Orlando.............NOT SO MUCH. :scared:

UP NEXT: Travel Day: Part 2: Our flight to Orlando a.k.a. The Flight From H#%%

[Jillpie]

Oh, I just found your fantastic report today!:thumbsup2 And to think it started way back in May. I love, love the pictures. Can't wait to have a good read every night!! (thats my Dis time:wizard: ).

[alleluia5]

popcorn:: Awesome TR so far - we are so opposite, DH and I got to the airport 50 minutes before our flight :scared1:

[kvaday]

popcorn:: Doing a great job! I'm having so much fun reading your TR! Cant wait to read more!:surfweb: popcorn::

[Mozart]

Since you have the Tinkertini in your sig (Thanks, btw.) I have been told to ask...is there such a drink as a Tinkertini or should we create one? Erica - your help would be appreciated here.

Gimme a recipe...the best we've been able to come up with so far would be related to an appletini, and my wife hates those. She wants to be an official charter drinker of the Tinkertini.

[anc22]

Oh, I just found your fantastic report today!:thumbsup2 And to think it started way back in May. I love, love the pictures. Can't wait to have a good read every night!! (thats my Dis time:wizard: ).

Thanks for reading :thumbsup2

popcorn:: Awesome TR so far - we are so opposite, DH and I got to the airport 50 minutes before our flight :scared1:

:eek: Holy cow! I would have been happy with 2 hours early.

popcorn:: Doing a great job! I'm having so much fun reading your TR! Cant wait to read more!:surfweb: popcorn::

Thanks.

Since you have the Tinkertini in your sig (Thanks, btw.) I have been told to ask...is there such a drink as a Tinkertini or should we create one? Erica - your help would be appreciated here.

Gimme a recipe...the best we've been able to come up with so far would be related to an appletini, and my wife hates those. She wants to be an official charter drinker of the Tinkertini.

Tinkertini? I do not think that one exists. Let me know what you come up with ;)

[anc22]

The plane ride from H#%%!!

We had a layover in Seattle and our plane left for Orlando at around 11:00 p.m. (red-eye). In my planning I had the bright idea that if we flew thru the night, the kids would just sleep the whole way :rolleyes1

Well, after take off, the cabin lights were dimmed so everyone could sleep if they chose to do so. DD told me she wasn't feeling well. I asked her if she needed to go to the restroom or anything. She said no, she just wanted to go to sleep, well approximately 30 seconds later I heard the unmistakable sound of someone vomitting..........looked over..........and DD had thrown up all over herself! :scared1: She was just sitting there with her hand over her mouth (a little late for that don't ya think ;) ) with puke all over her hair, face, shirt and Camp Rock blanket!!!! :eek: She got up and went to the restroom to clean herself up. The stewardous gave her a puke bag to use for the rest of the flight (which she did a couple of times) and then she went to sleep for the last couple hours of the flight. After DD had finally fallen asleep, DS let me know he was tired, so I let him lay in my lap and he fell asleep farely quickly. After about an hour I was jolted awake by DS screaming at the top of his lungs. I tried to calm him down, but nothing was working. I got up with him and walked to the very back of the plane, where they prepare the service carts, and tried to calm him down. It seems as though he screamed FOREVER, but it was really about 10 minutes total. He was screaming "it hurts" I think that his ears were bothering him. He also has a habit of waking up crying when he wakes up anywhere besides his bed (car, etc.) Just when I was having thoughts of jumping from the plane (just thoughts people, JUST THOUGHTS!) DS stopped crying and we went back to our seats and he watched movies until we finally landed in Orlando at 7:30 Eastern (4:30 our time!) I was THAT person, the one with "the kid that screamed on the plane" :scared:

Thank goodness that part was over! We went down to the transportation area and found our Magical Express Disney bus to take us to our hotel. We got on the bus, waited about 5 minutes and we were on our way. We had the whole bus to ourselves! It was really nice not having to pick up all of our luggage too! The kids loved it:

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On our way to the hotel we told the kids that we were surprising them and we were actually staying at a Disney Resort. DD was excited :woohoo:

We got to Disney Caribbean Beach Resort at about 9:00. We were prepared to spend the morning and early afternoon by the pool as check-in was not until 3:00 p.m. I checked in and I think the lady saw how tired we all were because she gave us our room keys and told us our room was ready NOW! :cool1: :worship: :cheer2: :yay: I truly wanted to reach over the counter and hug the women! We were assigned a room in Trinidad North building 31, which ended up being a perfect location, right next to the brand new pirate themed pool area.

UP NEXT: Our first day at CBR

[DisneyMama629]

I can't believe they charged you for 3 pounds over! I can't wait for you to get on the ship!

[dismom73]

We took a red eye our last trip to WDW and we were the only ones on our ME bus too! The kids got a kick out of it. We were lucky enough to get our room right when we checked in too. Made all the difference in the world! We all slept for about 6 hours straight. Red eyes can take a lot out of you. I can't wait hear the rest!

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Arin, I can't believe your DD got sick on the plane! That really stinks. How was she on the way home?

Loving the pictures and the TR!!!!

[MaryAz]

Yay, ur trip report has started!
I am interested to see how you liked CBR. We are staying there for 2 nights next year before our DD cruise. Did you visit the MK?? If so, how long was the bus ride?
Can't wait to read more!

[AQW]

Oh no, how awful to be sick on the flight out! I'm glad she rebounded well.

I'm always glad when I end up sitting next to "that woman" on the plane - the one with the crying/screaming/sick child - because as a mom, I have nothing but empathy for that woman and I like to be able to offer help or at least a supportive smile. Travel with kids can be rough. :hug:

Looking forward to the rest of your TR!

[googles111]

Awww, sorry about your daughter getting sick. Same thing happened to Braden... not on the plane though. We just got to the Space Center and blahhhh all over :confused3 I think it was nerves or the plane ride cause he was fine after that.

I don't ever remember seeing you on the cruise. I was looking, but I guess I didn't look hard enough.
Tonya

[mickeyluv]

[QUOTE=alleluia5;28017238]Mickeyluv - are you on the 11/29 cruise? /QUOTE]

Yes we are!!! :banana: :banana: ...with the Nanahead's for the 1st time!!

[anewmac]

aww poor dd... and ds. We were that family on the way back... but I just ignored J since he was sitting in a seat infront of me with E.. made it just seam like it was that single dad that couldnt control his 6yr old LOL.

cant wait to hear more. i dont think we officially met But I saw you on the way to the character breakfast I believe it was then... my days are all mixed up.. no clue how im going to fill in my trip report. Cant wait to read more about your adventures!

[anc22]

Oh no, how awful to be sick on the flight out! I'm glad she rebounded well.

I'm always glad when I end up sitting next to "that woman" on the plane - the one with the crying/screaming/sick child - because as a mom, I have nothing but empathy for that woman and I like to be able to offer help or at least a supportive smile. Travel with kids can be rough. :hug:

Looking forward to the rest of your TR!

That would of been nice, but we mostly just got glares ;)

Awww, sorry about your daughter getting sick. Same thing happened to Braden... not on the plane though. We just got to the Space Center and blahhhh all over :confused3 I think it was nerves or the plane ride cause he was fine after that.

I don't ever remember seeing you on the cruise. I was looking, but I guess I didn't look hard enough.
Tonya

I know, I did't meet a lot of people that I was hoping to. I think that with DD it was just nerves too. She is a worrier, like her mommy :rolleyes1 She got a little nauseous during the limo ride to the port too. :confused3

[Jillpie]

darn, ya teased us, I thought this was a new entry:woohoo: . Cmon, we need our fix for the day.:thumbsup2

[anc22]

So, we were in our room by about 9:30 a.m. The location of the room was perfect. The inside of the room was....well....cozy ;) with a tropical theme.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/cbr-room1-350.jpg

DH and I looked at the 2 beds in front of us like this :eek: We are used to a nice big King size and were not looking forward to sleeping on these (They were either double or queens?) DH & DD immediately layed down to take a nap. DS and I were past the point of no return and didn't feel tired anymore, even though we had only about an hour of sleep the night before :confused3

DH & DD slept for about an hour while me and DS watched t.v.

Soon, I was over sitting around doing nothing so I woke up the fam, told them to suit up and we made our way to the cafeteria style restaurant for lunch and then it was time to swim (wait 30 minutes what? ;) )

The Main pool at CBR was just remodeled and had re-opened only 1 week before got there. It was awesome, with a pirate theme, 2 water slides and a kiddy splash area, complete with pirate ship and smaller waterslides. It was fabulous! I forgot to take pictures of the pool areas so I borrowed these from the CBR thread:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/CBRpool2.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/CBRkidspool.jpg

We swam for about an hour and DD and I headed back up to the room. I had ordered groceries to be delivered to our hotel thru wegoshop.com (they are great!) It was well worth the money, they even deliver liquor.....you know.......if your into that kind of thing....:rolleyes1 ........;)
Just remember to tip the 15-20% for their great work :thumbsup2

That night we ordered lasagna/spaghetti from a pizza place for delivery. We all fell asleep EARLY and ended up sleeping for 14 hours!!!:scared1:

A pretty uneventful day, which is exactly what we had the energy for.:)

Up Next: Our second day at CBR, Down Town Disney & a Not So Scary Night @ Magic Kingdom

[Jillpie]

excellent, now you just made my night:thumbsup2 !

More please, for my tomorrow night viewing?:wizard:

[disneychic]

anc22,

Great trip report! Can't wait to read about your cruise :)

[anewmac]

aww sounded like such a relaxing day.. perfect!

[anc22]

After a refreshing 14 HOURS of sleep :eek: we all woke up refreshed and soooo in vacation mode. The kids and I left the room to explore the resort and take some pictures:
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There were little lizards running around everywhere:
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And little beaches and hammocks throughout the resort:
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http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise203.jpg

DD and I decided to take DS back to the room to hang with dad, so we could rent a bike to ride around the resort:
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Now it was time to swim. Back to the room to pick up the boys and we headed to the pool:
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The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time, until...............ATTACK OF THE LOVE BUGS! These things just appeared out of no where and swormed the kiddie swim area. "LOVE BUGS" They sound so cute and innocent, like a lady bug, and then when you actually see them...........not so much.

After the "attack" we headed back to the room to get ready for our early dinner at Rain Forest Cafe in Down Town Disney. Since we didn't rent a car, we had to use resort transportation to take us around. I had heard mixed reviews, but we ended up waiting for only about 10 minutes and the bus was there:
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I can't remember how long it took to get there, but we were at Down Town Disney by 3:00 p.m. and headed straight to Rain Forest Cafe. There was no wait and we were seated in the section by the elephants. The kids loved it, the thunder storm scared DS a bit:
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The food was great and the prices were pretty good. Plus, it was really loud so I didn't have to stress about DS being quiet ;) . Would definately go there again with the kids :thumbsup2
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I had told the kids the night before that we had decided to surprise them with tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) tonight. I had purchased costumes for them long ago and had brought them in our day bag. We had to take the bus back to our resort and hop on another bus to WDW for MNSSHP. We got the kids changed in the restroom: Tinkerbell & Peter Pan:
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We entered the park at around 4:45. We were given a special MNSSHP bracelet and handed a trick-or-treat bag. The park looked so great in all of the Halloween decorations!
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This would be DS's first Disney park experience. We did all of the kiddie things first: Peter Pan, Buzz, Mickey's Phil. (which scared him a little, he kept trying to hit the 3D images away :lmao: ) DS loved driving:
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We took turns going on the bigger rides with DD. At 7:00 the trick-or-treat stations opened up and we all ended up with bags FULL of candy. The park seemed so empty, I LOVED IT. We saved Pirates of the Caribbean for last because we weren't sure if DS would be terrified or not. He is currently obsessed with pirates, but the ride did end up scaring him. He didn't cry, he just covered his eyes the whole time, poor guy :rolleyes: The park stays open until midnight for the halloween party. I think we only stayed until around 10:00 or so. We were just so excited for the next day. It was a great day over all, but now it was time for the real vacation to begin! :cool1:

UP NEXT: Embarkation Day

[2beaprincess]

Love your trip report so far!!!! And I have never seen pictures of MNSSHP...
very nice! Can't wait to hear more!:)

[kvaday]

:thumbsup2 sounds like you guys had a wonderful time so far. I cant wait to read more!!:banana: popcorn::

[frdeb1999]

Loving your TR so far! Can't wait for the rest! :)

[anewmac]

sounds like a fun day! Cant wait read how the cruise was for you guys! Your kids are adorable btw!

[MaryAz]

Loved the pics pf CBR, can't wait to go! Looks like you guys had lots of fun!!

[nenner1]

The costumes turned out so cute!
Adorable!!!!

[dismom73]

I'm loving all the pictures...I can't wait to hear about the cruise!

[TiszBear]

I found your trip report today at lunch and have loved reading it. Can't wait till the next installment.

I have 192 days till I leave and I am like you with the early planning.

[googles111]

I Love all the pics.. Looks like you had fun!

My family is going on our first disney cruise for Halloween. I was just wondering what you guys thought of FLTours for the limo?
:cool1: :surfweb: popcorn::
Drea and I had a BAD experience with them. We were supposed to be picked up by 9am after the cruise and they never showed up. When Drea called they were SO rude. Didn't say sorry or anything. She had booked a limo and we were going to surprise the kids with that. Good thing we didn't tell them :)

FL Tours was great. They were right on time, got us to the port very quickly (we ended up getting there by 9:00 on accident) They played a movie for the kids to make the time go by faster and there was cold pop and water on ice for us to drink. I would definately use them again.
Hey, did you get our limo? :rotfl:
Tonya

[anc22]

Love your trip report so far!!!! And I have never seen pictures of MNSSHP...
very nice! Can't wait to hear more!:)

MNSSHP was great. I wish that I would have taken more pics :confused3

:thumbsup2 sounds like you guys had a wonderful time so far. I cant wait to read more!!:banana: popcorn::

Loving your TR so far! Can't wait for the rest! :)

Thanks for reading :thumbsup2

sounds like a fun day! Cant wait read how the cruise was for you guys! Your kids are adorable btw!

Yeah, I always say that if Chase wasn't so cute, i'm not sure if he would have survived this long :rolleyes1 :lmao:

Loved the pics pf CBR, can't wait to go! Looks like you guys had lots of fun!!

We LOVED CBR! The new pool was amazing and the scenery instantly put us in vacation mode. :lovestruc

The costumes turned out so cute!
Adorable!!!!

I thought so too ;)

I'm loving all the pictures...I can't wait to hear about the cruise!

I found your trip report today at lunch and have loved reading it. Can't wait till the next installment.

I have 192 days till I leave and I am like you with the early planning.

Thanks for reading and there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a planner or an OVER PLANNER ;) :rotfl:

I Love all the pics.. Looks like you had fun!
Drea and I had a BAD experience with them. We were supposed to be picked up by 9am after the cruise and they never showed up. When Drea called they were SO rude. Didn't say sorry or anything. She had booked a limo and we were going to surprise the kids with that. Good thing we didn't tell them :)
Hey, did you get our limo? :rotfl:
Tonya

I read that you guys had a bad experience, I think someone else from our thread did too. Maybe they are really bad and we just lucked out? :confused3 I am definately going to stop recommending them now though!

[Goofy442]

Great trip report! Can't wait to hear more. My son who works in DHS said the lovebugs are bad this year. We went last year during September and I will never go back during lovebug breeding time. They drove me crazy they were everwhere.

[dismom73]

Great trip report! Can't wait to hear more. My son who works in DHS said the lovebugs are bad this year. We went last year during September and I will never go back during lovebug breeding time. They drove me crazy they were everwhere.


We went last year, the first week of October, and the only places they were really bad was our resort (Coronado Springs) and Animal Kingdom. We kind of got a kick out of them. We are from CA, where we don't really have "big" bugs, let alone ones that you see attached to eachother, so the kids thought is was fun to watch.

[anc22]

We woke up early Saturday morning "too excited to sleep" I. had arranged for a limo to pick us up. This was a surprise for DH & the kids, they had no idea. I had talked to the limo company (FL Tours) the evening before to confirm a 8:00 pick up time. I was more than determined to get to the terminal by 9:45! The kids put on their custom disney shirts:
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and DH not-so-happily put on his Grumpy shirt that I had chosen for him :cool2:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise227.jpg

The limo showed up right on time and everyone was really excited.
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The driver loaded up our mass amount of bags and turned on a movie for the kids to watch:
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The limo was stocked with ice, pop and water. The ride went by really fast. There was absolutely no traffic and we ended up getting there before 9:00!

So, we had to wait, with all of our luggage for over an hour before the porters came to take the luggage. DS was hot and grumpy and we will definately never get there that early again. When the porters finally did come, it was like survival of the fittest. People literally ran over to the porters to get them to take there luggage. It was a little bit frustrating for those of us who had been there for so long............but I tried to keep the "Disney Spirit". We tipped the Porter $10 and were on our way to the cruise terminal. Thru security, up the escalator and:
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SCORE!!! ;)
We waited in line for a short time and checked in with a not-so-friendly cast member :eek: What tha?
Then the waiting part of the Hurry Up and Wait process began. I checked the kids into the club, picked up our awesome lanyards from our wonderful Dis Team (Double-Dippers) and met a few new friends:
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At around 11:45 they started calling boarding numbers and we finally got to walk thru the mouse ears!
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DH and the kids went to Parrot Cay and I went to Rockin Bar D to confirm that our Table would be a 4 top (I didn't want ANYONE to have to experience a sit-down dinner with DS/3, more on that later :) ) We ended up with a 4 top table, table #64, 8:00 seating LAAPPLA. Exactly what I had wanted! :banana: I was somewhat disappointed with the food selection at the buffet that first day, so we were finished fairly quickly and off to explore. First stop, Oceaneer Club. The first councelor we met took DS's hand and they raced over to knock down a castle made of blocks (how ever did she know that he would love that? :rolleyes1 ):
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise240.jpg
DS was instantly in love with the club and raced around like a maniac for a few minutes as we watched:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise241.jpg
We made a quick stop at DD's club and then we were off to the pool and in search of my very first (of many) DOTD:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise242.jpg
My kid's were the very first ones in the Mickey Pool and down the waterslide. Ummm, what's up with the Mickey Pool? No matter how fresh the water is, it ALWAYS looks......well..........not-so-fresh :confused3

Soon it was time to go and see our room for the first time. We dragged (literally) Ds out of the pool and headed to our room on Deck 6, 6108. The room was great, LOVE the split bath! There was a bottle of champagne on ice and a gift (2 robes & chocolates) waiting for us in the room (REAS package). There was also a gift for DD from Dreams Unlimited. It was a really neat memory box. A nice surprise.

As the bags were delivered, I was a woman on a mission. I wanted everything put away! The lifeboat drill seemed to take FOREVER! We watched part of the sailaway party and then it seems as though dinner time came very quickly. DS was extremely tired and we decided not to even attempt taking him to dinner with us, so to the kid's club he went. Our first dinner was in Lumier's (this ended up being our least favorite menu) Our server was Hemant, asst. server was Aswald and Head server was Jeff. They were all wonderful! DH had the beef tenderloin and I had the lamb. They were both just o.k.
It had been a long day and we were all exhausted. We walked around the ship to take some pictures:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise244.jpg
Got a page to pick up DS and headed back to the room around 10:30ish:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise245.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise246.jpg
Our towel animal tonight was a swan:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise247.jpg

NEXT UP: OUR FIRST (BUT NOT LAST) DAY AT CASTAWAY CAY:

[anewmac]

awww you guys did get there early. We tried but my boys never woke up... like waking the dead LOL so we got #5.. next time I leave without them LOL

[2beaprincess]

Love the trip report so far! And the pictures are wonderful! I see that you stayed in room 6108 on deck 6...how was that?? We are booked for 6008.
TIA
Cindy

[alleluia5]

Awesome TR :thumbsup2

[Amy7979]

Subscribing! Can't wait to see how you manage to get all those gifts delivered. On my last cruise we had about 30 cabins and I thought THAT was a lot!

[nenner1]

Love the trip report so far! And the pictures are wonderful! I see that you stayed in room 6108 on deck 6...how was that?? We are booked for 6008.
TIA
Cindy

2Bea Princess, 6008 is far away from 6108.

6008 (Cat 8, correct?) is way forward. We were in 6018 which is 5 doors down from 6008. Its only an OK area of the ship, I did not much care for being so far forward. We had a killer SR Host though! Calvin from Trinidad, he was the best!!!

6108 (Cat. 6, right Arin?) is same side of the boat but waaaaay aft. And I know this cause I had to find Arin's room (and SR Host!:rolleyes1 ).

Lovin' your update!! What great pics!!!

[anc22]

Love the trip report so far! And the pictures are wonderful! I see that you stayed in room 6108 on deck 6...how was that?? We are booked for 6008.
TIA
Cindy

We loved the location of our room :lovestruc

Subscribing! Can't wait to see how you manage to get all those gifts delivered. On my last cruise we had about 30 cabins and I thought THAT was a lot!

Yeah, DD and I just did a couple of decks per day. I will definately tone it down the next time. I was a little bit out of control this time around ;)

awww you guys did get there early. We tried but my boys never woke up... like waking the dead LOL so we got #5.. next time I leave without them LOL

:lmao:

2Bea Princess, 6008 is far away from 6108.

6008 (Cat 8, correct?) is way forward. We were in 6018 which is 5 doors down from 6008. Its only an OK area of the ship, I did not much care for being so far forward. We had a killer SR Host though! Calvin from Trinidad, he was the best!!!

6108 (Cat. 6, right Arin?) is same side of the boat but waaaaay aft. And I know this cause I had to find Arin's room (and SR Host!:rolleyes1 ).

Lovin' your update!! What great pics!!!

Yes, Cat. 6, great location and awesome SR Host: Erwin!

[Goofy442]

Can't wait to hear how you liked Castaway Cay. My kids wanted to camp out on the island. Trying to decide which cruise to take again. We did the three day and it seemed to short. So reading all the trip reports helps out in deciding which one to take.

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Arin, loving your trip report! The pictures of you and your family are great! :)

[anewmac]

Yeah, DD and I just did a couple of decks per day. I will definately tone it down the next time. I was a little bit our of control this time around ;)



same here LOL

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

I LOVE reading your TR! Your kids are so darn cute! Can't wait for the next installation...

[Mozart]

Yeah, DD and I just did a couple of decks per day. I will definately tone it down the next time. I was a little bit our of control this time around ;)



Ya think?

[Miscoehill]

What a great TR! Can't wait to read more...you've been blessed with two adorable kids! I'm sure they loved the vacation! Have you already planned the next one!??

[anc22]

Can't wait to hear how you liked Castaway Cay. My kids wanted to camp out on the island. Trying to decide which cruise to take again. We did the three day and it seemed to short. So reading all the trip reports helps out in deciding which one to take.

Yeah, I think 7 days is too short :goodvibes

Arin, loving your trip report! The pictures of you and your family are great! :)

Thanks. :thumbsup2

I LOVE reading your TR! Your kids are so darn cute! Can't wait for the next installation...

Thanks, they have their moments though :rolleyes1 ;)

Ya think?

maybe just a little................;)

What a great TR! Can't wait to read more...you've been blessed with two adorable kids! I'm sure they loved the vacation! Have you already planned the next one!??

I ALWAYS have something in the works. A girl has to have something to look forward to you know? :rotfl:

[nenner1]

Yeah, DD and I just did a couple of decks per day. I will definately tone it down the next time. I was a little bit out of control this time around ;)




same here LOL

Just want to say you guys had some of the best, most thoughtful FE gifts!!!
Your hard work on those is so much appreciated!!:lovestruc

Arin, you don't know how happy I was to see those onesies for Sarah when we got back and I could not face the mountains of laundry!!:rotfl2:

[Echie]

Awesome! You have a wonderful family! I love all the photos too. I can't wait to hear more!

[anc22]

I woke up as we were docking @ Castaway Cay, so I jumped up and ran out to the Verandah. This time around our cabin faced the swimming areas (away from the dock). What a beautiful view. I was so excited, but not too excited to go back to sleep ;)

Ashore time was 8:30. After breakfast at Topsiders we got off of the ship around 9:30 or 10:00 and decided to WALK to the family beach. We did get some nice pictures, but I had to listen to everyone, including DH, complain about how HOT they were! UM, HELLOOOOOOOOO, I guess we could have taken a cruise to ALASKA! :confused3

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise251.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise249.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/disneycruise253.jpg
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http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/img009.jpg

The family beach was already really crowded, we found some chairs near the play structure and set up camp. A Dis friend found DD by recognizing her from her picture (Valerie's DD, Gabby) and they were fast friends. It seemed like they had known eachother forever :)

After 1 1/2 hours or so, we dragged DD away from her new friend to go on our reserved bike ride. The bike ride was really nice. We had planned to find the look out tower, but never made it there. We did find a nice lookout point though:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise002-1.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise003.jpg

After an hour of bike riding we returned the bikes and headed to lunch. The food was great! and the cookie dough icecream definately met expectations.

After lunch we headed back to the family beach for a little more R & R:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise001.jpg

All aboard time was early, 3:00 p.m. So, the day went by way too fast. At about 1:00, DH headed back to the ship with DS to take a "nap" (a.k.a. WATCH FOOTBALL :rolleyes1 ) while I took DD to get her hair braided, which took FOREVER, and by the look on DD's face, was very painful:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise004.jpg
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http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise007.jpg

At around 2:00, DD and I headed back to the ship. We took the tram this time ;)

I stayed in the room with DS napping, while DH headed down to Diversions, beer mug in hand, to watch more football for the rest of the afternoon.

Tonights show was Freddy Fusion and John Charles. We thought that Freddy was really funny, but John Charles, not so much.

Dinner tonight was show night @ Animator's Palate. I have to say that as far as the "show" goes, I was very underwhelmed. I think I had just built it up in my head so much that I ended up being dissapointed with the real thing. Tonight DH and I both had the Filet Mignon, VERY GOOD.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise011.jpg
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http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise015.jpg

After dinner, the kids went to the clubs and DH and I cought Freddy Fusions Adult show at Rockin Bar D. Again, very funny. Right after the show was "ROCK STAR NIGHT" which apparently replaced 80's Night :eek: So much for my Rainbow bright shirt and legwarmers :headache: The show was pretty lame and we left soon after it started. Picked up DS from his club and back to the room. DD followed soon after. Towel animal tonight was a......not really sure:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise016.jpg

Next up: Sea Day, Formal Night, and a few things in between.

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Ashore time was 8:30. After breakfast at Topsiders we got off of the ship around 9:30 or 10:00 and decided to WALK to the family beach. We did get some nice pictures, but I had to listen to everyone, including DH, complain about how HOT they were! UM, HELLOOOOOOOOO, I guess we could have taken a cruise to ALASKA! :confused3



Dave and I walked to Serenity Bay! :scared1:
We didn't realize just how far it was!!!! We won't be doing that again!

Loved the pictures!!!!! Can't wait for the next installment!

[nenner1]

Great pics!:thumbsup2

[crissichef]

Love the pictures Arin! Great job! I love re-living the cruise through all the Trip Reports!

Crissi

[anewmac]

OK not to make this into am a crazy stalker chick but man can I say hot momma in the bikkini.. and no stretch marks.. I hate you LOL

ok other then that love the pics.. and your family sounds like mine with the whining about how hot it was LOL

[Magic3forme]

lil John was here when I was reading your TR and he said... its Maddie, Gabbys friend. :) :goodvibes

[nenner1]

OK not to make this into am a crazy stalker chick but man can I say hot momma in the bikkini.. and no stretch marks.. I hate you LOL

ok other then that love the pics.. and your family sounds like mine with the whining about how hot it was LOL

I seriously doubt you have any stretch marks either, missy...and even if you do, they are probably camoflaged by the tan!:lmao:

Me, on the other hand, I look like I have been slashed and eviscerated by a panther. Its not pretty!:laughing:

[anc22]

Oh, you girls are too sweet. Completely wrong, but sweet ;)

My secret: I never post pictures until my personal air-brushing team has touched them up :lmao: :rotfl:

[zweihund]

Oh, you girls are too sweet. Completely wrong, but sweet ;)

My secret: I never post pictures until my personal air-brushing team has touched them up :lmao: :rotfl:

:lmao: :thumbsup2

[MagicMe]

Arin - great trip report. Love reliving the memories of such a great cruise!!! We actually LOVED John Charles (although I will say I loved his later shows more than the first show).

[Timon]

Just found your trippie :cool1: :thumbsup2

Your kids are soooo adorable!! :love: :lovestruc

I love the water pouring pic at the dinner table :lmao:

Sorry to hear that your plane ride was rough!:scared: I'm a little worried now about next year after hearing about your experience :eek: Hopefully the ride back wasn't so traumatic :goodvibes

Can't wait for the rest ::yes::

[LITTLEKID58]

Great Tr...TFS :goodvibes

[anc22]

Can't remember what time I woke up today, One thing I do know for sure is that I DID NOT go to the gym.............AGAIN :rolleyes1

Today would be DH's 29th birthday, so I had a few things planned for us.
We headed out to take the kids to their Island Jam Character breakfast @ Parrot Cay:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise017.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise019.jpg

We met some friends:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise026.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise024.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise029-1.jpg

We ate some food:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise027.jpg

Chase got a little bit bored:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise020-1.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise021.jpg

We had to leave a little bit early to make it to our Palo Brunch ressie @ 10:30.

Dropped the kids off at their clubs and headed to Palo. Our server was Sabucci from Hungary. He was a very sweet man, but did not surprise us with entrees or insist on us trying his favorites like I have read happens to some people. I think that the tour was time consuming and a little bit unnecessary, but the food was great and I would end up preferring brunch over Palo dinner.

Here is DH with Cuba in the background:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise030.jpg

We headed back to the room to let our food settle, so we would be ready for our 2:00 spa appt.

Up Next: Exotic Rasul and Formal Night

[zweihund]

I love Chase's photos - priceless!
Looking forward to the Rasul report......;)

[nenner1]

Woooot! Its update day! How exciting!
Looks like all of us have snuck one in today, except Erica. Whassup, girl? ;)

I love Chase's photos - priceless!
Looking forward to the Rasul report......;)

Umm...I think we already know how *that* went.....:rolleyes1
:rotfl: :rotfl2: :thumbsup2 ::yes::

[anc22]

:lmao: :rotfl: Very funny...............;)


Sorry about the lame updates. I have had very few non-nauseated moments in the last couple of weeks, and those moments are spent sleeping, force feeding myself or crying:rolleyes1 Morning sickness is my new arch nemesis :sick:

[TheDisneyGirl02]

:lmao: :rotfl: Very funny...............;)


Sorry about the lame updates. I have had very few non-nauseated moments in the last couple of weeks, and those moments are spent sleeping, force feeding myself or crying:rolleyes1 Morning sickness is my new arch nemesis :sick:

Arin, I don't think your updates are lame! I love them! Hugs to you and I hope your feeling better very soon! :hug:

[anewmac]

Love it.. we have some fun pics with spoons of the boys too LOL.... Cant wait to hear all about brunch since we didnt get it... :(

have ya tried ginger chews to help with the nausea ??? just a thought I know Erika lives by them obviously not for morning sickness but you get the point LOL

[MaryAz]

Arin
Congrats on your pg! I found that lemon drops worked at times. So did Zofran.....I liked the update-especially the pics.

[anc22]

O.K. where were we? After brunch, we had a couple of hours to kill before our Exotic Rasul appt. I am pretty sure we just hung out in the room trying to let all of that brunch food settle :sick:

I had booked this spa appt. as a gift for DH's birthday. He had no idea what it was, and I had only read about it. We were sent into our designated locker rooms to change into a robe and flipflop slipper things. I just have to mention that in my locker room, I was standing next to my chosen locker and 2 spa employees were sitting right there, in my space bubble, chatting away about non-work related issues..............LOUDLY. Um, scuse me................a little privacy please?? I am not a completely shy person, but come on. Enough about that, so, we walk out, take a look at each other, my robe & flip-flops waayy too big, his robe barely long enough to cover.........well............you get the picture :eek: . We both started laughing and then took the awkward walk into the RASUL ROOM. i just have to say that the steam room is even HOTTER than I had expected (and this is after reading zweihund's description in her last TR!) OMG! I could barely stand it. The tile seats, floor and walls were so hot you couldn't touch them without first soaking them with cold water from the hose. Not very relaxing if you ask me. We were told to stay in the steam for 15 minutes to let the mud seep into our skin (sounds romantic huh? ;) ) I felt like a little kid on a long car ride, but instead of "are we there yet" I was asking DH, "is it time yet, is it time yet?". All said and done, the Rasul was great and very much worth the cost. Our skin was extremely soft and I felt very refreshed.

Tonight was formal night, which I was very excited for. We watched the Golden Mickey's on T.V. in our room as we got ready to head down for pictures:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/img016.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/img015-1.jpg

Dinner tonight would be in Animator's Palate again. We waited in line for the restaurant to open:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise031.jpg
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http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise036.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise038.jpg

DS started acting up just waiting in line. This was one of the few days we hadn't gotten him to take a nap, so DH ran him up to the kid's club so we could all enjoy a relaxing dinner.

Tonight's dinner ended up being one of my favorites. I had the broccoli/blue cheese soup, wow, that was fabulous! I also had the beef wellington. DH had the rack of lamb and we all had the Chocolate Chocolate Award Dessert.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise042.jpg
Madison & Mike goofing off:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise039.jpg


DH had no idea, but we had let the waiters know that it was his birthday, and they ended up embarrassing him thoroughly! :laughing:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise045.jpg

They brought a cake out and sang to him...............LOUDLY. A lot of our fellow cruisers joined in and DH turned bright red, it was great.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise044.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise043.jpg

After dinner we headed back up to the room to change, this is what was waiting for us:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise048-1.jpg
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u263/acloyd22/Disneycruise050.jpg


We ended the night with a trip to the hot tub to watch Monday Night Football on the Dumbo-Tron............Hey it was still DH's birthday for a couple more hours ;) I do have to say though, the hot tub temp. was luke warm and very dissapointing getting into on a chilly windy night.

UP NEXT: GRAND CAYMAN..........NOT SO GRAND AFTER ALL?

[anewmac]

Love all the pics you guys got. And the blue dress looks great!

So the rascal.. was it ewwie and gooie... I dont like being dirty lol just wondering for next time LOL

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Loved the update! :)

[nenner1]

Great update!
Love the pictures, you all look so nice!:thumbsup2
We really liked the Golden Mickey's menu also.

I see the head server Jeff in the birthday serenade pic. I think I've had him as a HS before, on the Wonder, but I'm too lazy to go back and check!;)
Its so cool seeing familiar faces in all the TR pics (both cruisers *and* staff!)

Hope the appearance of the new update means you are feeling better!:goodvibes

[anc22]

Love all the pics you guys got. And the blue dress looks great!

So the rascal.. was it ewwie and gooie... I dont like being dirty lol just wondering for next time LOL

The Rasul was good. There is a shower in there, so if you don't like how the mud or other masks feel, you can wash them right off.

Loved the update! :)

Thanks.

Great update!
Love the pictures, you all look so nice!:thumbsup2
We really liked the Golden Mickey's menu also.

I see the head server Jeff in the birthday serenade pic. I think I've had him as a HS before, on the Wonder, but I'm too lazy to go back and check!;)
Its so cool seeing familiar faces in all the TR pics (both cruisers *and* staff!)

Hope the appearance of the new update means you are feeling better!:goodvibes

Not feeling so great still, but I have to finish this thing some day! ;)

[anewmac]

ok ok i know your busy but come on.. im dying to know how it ended.. LOL ok well I know they kick us off but i mean for you all how the rest of it went LOL

[KittyKat08]

Hi, I just read your trip report so far and I'm all caught up now. You guys looked great for formal night, I love how your hubby's tie matched your dress. Anyway looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.

[flower91882]

The report is going great. And, congrats on your little souvenir.