What I Learned On My Disney Vacation-Complete

[DisneyNutMary]

This was a two part trip, so this is a two part report, the WDW, very brief section comes first, followed up by the report from our 9/18, Magic cruise.

Background Information
This trip was planned during our previous cruise in August, 2003; we had so much fun that we all decided to rebook ;D We rebooked on board for the special itinerary to include a stop at Antigua. We received a 10% discount for rebooking and $400 per stateroom credit :o Can't beat that with a stick, so how could we pass it up?
We had cruised the first time through DVC on points, but opted for cash this time, the deal was better with cash than points. We also brought along my stepson, who didn't come last year.
I learned a few valuable lessons on this trip, hence the name of my report, not the first of which is: There's a reason why hurricane season is so affordable

The Team:
The Walsh Family
Me ;D Mary, age 32
DH, Jimmy, age 48
DStS, James, age 16
DS, Bobby, age 10
DS, Tommy, age6

The Mustacchio Family
Lucy, my sis, and best friend
Frank, my bil, and probably the best friend my DH has
Anthony, age 11
Victoria, age 10

The Woods Family
Lucille, my sister's good friend, and my former boss
Wade, her hubby
Amanda, age 8

That is the motley crew ;) 12 of us in all!

Day One, Sept 15: Will we make it?
We were set to leave via JetBlue Airways on the evening of Sept 15, our flight was at 5:50pm. This was the first week of school, but with Rosh Hashana, there would be no classes on Thursday and Friday.
The plan was to gather the kiddos, and be on the road as early as possible, which meant about 3 pm when Tommy got out of school.
You know what they say about the best laid plans, right?
I left work early, and got the luggage loaded into the car. It was trash night, so I was able to put out the trash and the recycleables without alerting the neighbors of our impending escape. Got the house cleaned, water turned off, and appliances unplugged. All with time to spare.
About 2:30pm, I got the call from James that he would be at Tommy's school by 3 to meet us- 8-)cool, things are falling into place.
Jimmy and Bobby arrive home by 2:45, and they jump into the car so we can go pick up James and Tommy.
The trip to the airport is about 45 minutes at this time of day, so we are in good shape.
By 3:05 we are on our way. We call my sis and bil on the cell phone and coordinate to meet in the Long Term Parking lot.
It looks good until we cross the Verrazano Narrows Bridge :o The Belt Parkway looks like a parking lot!
My nerves start to fray, and I stare at the clock, willing it to slow down.
It seems we didn't account for the fact that Rosh Hashana means rush hour comes early for our Jewish neighbors, who need to be home before sundown. We crawled along, while the clock ticked away. Then it starts to rain, no make that POUR! This slows traffic down even more, and I resign myself to the fact that we will NEVER make it.
Fortunately, someone was looking out for us, because about 4 miles from the airport, the traffic cleared, and we sailed through, and had the car parked by 4:30pm. Plenty of time. Whew!

What I learned:Don't count your chickens before they hatch
That's right, we thought we were in good shape, until we were aboard the airport shuttle. We had gone two stops when Frank realizes he left his wallet in the car :o So he jumped off to head back, and we continued on. We got to the terminal, and checked in, and checked the bags.
The clock was ticking now, and Frank had not come back yet. My family headed up to the gate, while my sister and her kids waited for Frank. Upon arrival at the gate, we were told that they had 4 minutes to show up or they would miss the flight. I whipped out my cell phone, "Lucy, RUN!!!!"
We boarded, and watched the door tensely, praying they would make it. And they did, with plenty of time....I still want to smack the guy at the gate who was so nasty and said we would leave without them.
All aboard, and seated, the flight was smooth, and uneventful. JetBlue is awesome! Seats were comfy, and the direct tv was perfect for keeping the kids quiet.

Coming up: Arrival in Orlando, and first impressions of the Contemporary Resort

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 1, Part 2:Arrival in Orlando, and first impressions of the Contemporary Resort

After an uneventful flight, we landed in Orlando, right on time. Headed down to baggage claim. What I learned: I am definitely going to buy a bright colored set of luggage, maybe teal, or red

Every single bag looks the same :o So after some close calls, we actually came away with all of our own luggage. We headed over to Avis to pick up the rental. What I learned: Next year, I will take advantage of my Avis Preferred membership, and go directly to my car.

After a stop at McDonald's to fill our rumbly tummies (why is fast food so slow here?) We finally approached the Contemporary Resort :woohoo:
Gave the bags to bell services, and check-in was a breeze. We got a 7th floor room, Magic Kingdom view :woohoo: room 4344
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d708b3127cceb7c332e207800000001610
It was a good thing I took this picture, because I kept forgetting my room number :-[
Great location, on the side of the hotel closer to MK, right above the pin trading station.
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My sister was one floor up, right over Chef Mickey's. We could wave to one another from our balconies.
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It was cool to see the monorail pass below, and we finally figured out how they get the monorail to park in the middle of nowhere at night, they tow it!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d709b3127cceb7d7f38cde970000001610
That funny thing at the front is the tow train.

Coming soon: Day 2, Sept 16, Epcot and MGM

[DisneyNutMary]

Oh, I forgot to mention, there was an awesome candy bouquet waiting in the room. It was sent by a FeralPeg, she makes these, and wanted to practice, so she volunteered to send me one. It was beautiful, and a real treat for my kids.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d709b3127cceb7d7f3d4decf0000001610
This picture was taken after my kids attacked, and it still looks great!
What I learned: Disney People are the kindest, most generous people ;D


Thanks so much, Feralpeg

[jlawall]

Thx for your reports, they're great!!!

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 2, Part 1: Epcot
We were exhausted when we got in the night before, so we went right to bed without even exploring the hotel, or enjoying our view.
Promptly at 6:58am, Mickey called to tell us "up and at em, big doins going on"
I was already up and in the shower, so the kids got to fight over who answered it. Bobby won, which caused a fit of pouting from Tommy.
The plan was to meet my sister's family in the Food and Fun Center, then hop the monorail to TTC, then on to Epcot.
I finally got to check out the view while everyone else got ready. Awesome! I felt like I could reach out and touch Space Mountain. I watched the monorail come into the hotel, and I could hear the Walt Disney World Railroad whistle from out there. Ahhh, home again, at last!
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Magic Kingdom in the a.m.

When we were all dressed and ready (I wish I had known that 16 year old boys take 45 minutes to get ready in the morning. ::) ) we headed down to the first floor, to the Food and Fun Center. Where Lucy and family were seated and waiting for us.
Nothing remarkable about breakfast other than the Bacon, egg and cheese croissant- Yum!

Epcot was opening at 9, and we were up at the monorail by 8:45, not bad. On to TTC, where the kids wanted me to ask for the front car. It was free, though the CM seemed annoyed that we asked-I chalked up to hurricane season, and let it go.
Only 4 could go, so Tommy and James went since they had never ridden up there, and we let the other two boys go with them, Anthony and Bobby.
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The boys waiting for their front of the monorail ride

We saw plenty of fallen trees on both sides of the monorail track, remnants of Charley and Frances. The loop around Future World confirmed that it was off season-the park was empty.
We were so excited, we ran down the ramp and into the park....well, almost. Two of Lucy's passes had become de-magnetized, and wouldn't go through on the turnstile. So a quick 5 minute wait later, and new passes in hand, we headed up the left hand side of Spaceship Earth, toward Mission: Space and Test Track.

Once past SE, Goofy and Max were up ahead, with no lines!!! And now it struck me....We're here, we're really here. I was skipping and yelling, and just excited to be there.
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We stopped for some pictures with the characters, then took a sharp left toward the big shiny planets at M:S. I was wary about riding, so I took all of the park hoppers to Test Track for Fast Passes, not that we would need them, but being in WDW, I assumed the crowds were bound to appear sooner or later. Lo and behold, the 2 passes of Lucy's that did work at the park entry, did not work now. So I high-tailed it to Guest Services to have the problem corrected.
What I learned: A cell phone in close proximity to your park hoppers WILL demagnetize them

Back at Mission:Space, I expected everyone to be green around the gills, but they all emerged looking fine. They assured me that I could easily have handled this ride, so it is now on my must do list for next time.
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Over to Test Track, where a 5 minute posted wait proved my guess that Fast Passes were unnecessary. When we were near the pre show area, the ride broke down, so there was a 5 minute wait for it to be fixed. Then again after we exited the pre-show another break down, with another 5 minute wait. ::)

The ride photo was awful, my son's whole face was blocked out by the windshield, so we passed on buying it.
When we exited the ride we got a call from Wade and Lucille that they were at CR and were checking into their Garden Wing room now...they weren't able to get a Tower room like the rest of us :(

We headed over to Ice Station Cool, and were disappointed that there was no real ice in the igloo, I guess they cut back in the off season :( No fooling anyone with the Beverly, we had all tried it before. The ginger ale was the best liked flavor, and it was a welcome treat to have a nice cold drink after the morning's heat and humidity.

My nephew, Anthony, being a member of the Figment fan club, wanted to go to Journey into Imagination next, so we headed for the Figment ride. No wait! Afterward we played in Image Works for a while (still haven't received the pictures we e-mailed home) then headed out toward World Showcase.

[DisneyNutMary]

We had planned not to do World Showcase, but I really wanted to ride Maelstrom, so everyone else relented, and we headed toward Norway. One stop at a souvenir cart, where Jimmy and James bought new sunglasses, and Jimmy and I tried on funny hats.
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Wade and Lucille called to say they were hungry, so we were going to wait for them in WS and have lunch together. On to Norway, where I took lots of pics for my co-worker who is of Norwegian descent, and we rode Maelstrom.
The kids got a kick out of trying on Viking hats, so I had to snap a picture. My husband got a kick out of the pretty Norwegian girls, but no picture for him!
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We get a call from Lucille again, they had eaten at the Food and Fun Center, and were on their way to Epcot. Grrr! We were starving, and were waiting for them, so we headed over to America for some burgers.

Coming up: Epcot continues, MGM, and Where to have dinner?

[april riddle]

great posts and great pictures

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 2, Part 2: Exiting Epcot, and MGM

After lunch, we headed toward the International Gateway to catch the launch to MGM-from the lunch to the launch :rotfl:...okay, bad joke, I know!

The ride to MGM was calming, but the boat makes so many stops :o

After what seemed like forever, we got off and headed for the gate to MGM. Our first stop would be the Great Movie Ride, with a stop for Mickey Bars on the way. (Either I was cranky, or I forgot I had the camera, because I seem to be lacking pictures of most of MGM! :'()
What I learned:Take more pictures!


Anyway, Tommy, who we all forgot, does not like chocolate, proceeds to have a melt down into full tantrum at this point. It seems we gave him a mickey bar (poor misguided child turns down a mickey bar) which he does not want! Some of the street performers see this, and bring us into their act. This helped cool me off a bit, seeing as how I could not understand my child, not only turning down a Mickey Bar, the Holy Grail of all ice cream treats, but also acting in such a spoiled brat manner in MY HAPPY PLACE! If it weren't for the street performers, I might have lost it then.

Anyway, I digress, we dragged a very pouty Tommy to GMR. It was a walk on, like everything else.

When we exited the ride, we called Wade and Lucille to see if they were in the park yet, we were saving ToT and RnR to ride with them. They said they were on ToT :o It wasn't all good, not after Tommy's melt-down.

So we grumpily made our way to ToT. I was the only one of our group of 9 who was too chicken to ride, so I head to the gift shop where, who do I meet? Wade! Amanda and Lucille came along soon too. We are finally one big happy (well, almost happy) group.

Next stop, RnR, which I also chickened out of :-[ I waited with Tommy, who is to short to ride, and Lucille and Amanda who took a pass on this one.

When the others got off the ride, we went over to Star Tours, which is a favorite of mine :D Then took some pics outside the ride (I guess I remembered I had the camera:rolleyes: )
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Tommy fully recovered from his tantrum.

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Bobby really getting into it!

After Star Tours, we rounded a corner, and who did we find?
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Sully and Mike! ;D

We were getting hungry, and weren't too sure how busy the park restaurants would be, so we headed back to CR and picked up the rental cars. We took our motorcade (3 cars) down 192 in search of vittles. And found a Macaroni Grill ;D
It's a favorite back home, so this was a no brainer. Yum!

What I learned: MGM and Epcot really should not be done in one day! It felt like we missed so much in our rush!


Coming soon: Day 2 part 3, will this day ever end? J/K ;D

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 2 Part 3

Let's see, where was I?
Oh we were having dinner at the Macaroni Grill, yummy, if you're a Macaroni Grill fan ask for the Bella Napoli (or italian nachos) they're not on the menu, but they'll make them for you- they are worth it.
When we left the restaurant, we decided to stay up late and let the kids try out the pool. The guys wanted some Coronas for pool side, so Jimmy and I made a side trip to Publix for Coronas and a few limes (and a plastic knife to cut the limes)
What I learned: The Contemporary Resort has refrigerators in the rooms

My DH, being in the supermarket business, has to check the place out :rolleyes: so on our vacation, we tour the Publix :rolleyes:
Back to CR to change, and head down to the pool, the slide is closed at this time of night, but the pool and hot tubs are open.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4ce25b3127cceb7bcc567a2d50000001610
Sorry so blurry, I was trying out the night mode.

My sister asks if I saw the Loch Ness monster in the water by the Grand Floridian. I had no idea what she was talking about, until we hear music coming from Bay Lake. Then we saw the Loch Ness monster, here, right outside CR :o
It was the Electrical Water Pageant, what a surprise. We grabbed the cameras and ran down to the edge of the dock...leaving the kids in the dust trying to catch up to us.
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Sorry, night mode again
What I learned: You really truly do need a steady hand or a tripod to use night mode
We hung out at the pool until around midnight, then head up to bed to dream of tomorrow....

Coming up: Day 3: Magic Kingdom

[RobinMarie]

" What I learned: I am definitely going to buy a bright colored set of luggage, maybe teal, or red"

I thought the same thing and bought red, you'd be AMAZED how much red luggage there is - go with teal!

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom

The three men (I was tempted to write three wise men, but that's a far cry from the truth lol!) had decided to get up early and go to Dunkin Donuts for some "real" coffee, and breakfast. So Mickey called at 6:30 to tell Jimmy "up and at em" and Jimmy was out the door by 7. The plan was to have our breakfast and be at Magic Kingdom by opening.
By 8:30 they still were not back, so the kids and I headed down to the lobby to wait with the others. We were a little cranky, because, really how long does it take to go get coffee and donuts??
What I learned: If you want something to go quickly and smoothly, don't send the husbands (no offense to all you husbands who actually have a clue out there)
When they came back, we went down by the pool and had breakfast at the tables there.
After eating, it was time to catch the monorail to the Magic Kingdom....yes, I know it would have been faster to walk, but how often do you get to ride the monorail?
Security bag check had no lines and getting into the park was a breeze.
As we walked down Main Street USA (ahhh, I am at peace here) there were street performers singing and dancing to, what else, Walking Right Down the Middle of Main Street USA....I sang along.
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At the hub, we hung a left and headed into AdventureLand. Alas, Aloha Isle was closed, no Dole Whips this early :( Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room were also not open yet, and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin were down for refurbishment...no wonder this side of the park is empty.
What I Learned: AdventureLand opens at 10 am!
Pirates of the Caribbean was open, woo-hoo, so we rode that.
Then we moved onto FrontierLand to hit Splash Mountain twice and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice....every ride was a walk-on :o Then we back tracked to ride the Jungle Cruise. Ben was our skipper...he was pretty good-funny and dry, he delivered the script like it wasn't even a script.
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That's Ben, but if you didn't enjoy the ride, he's Steve :rotfl:

My favorite part is always the same....the back side of water:
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We stopped for Mickey Bars...and we learned out lesson, no Mickey Bar for Tommy. He didn't want anything at all-if my head was on right I would have thought to take him for a Dole Whip, maybe he's part of that camp! Then we headed toward Liberty Square to ride my all time favorite, the Haunted Mansion.
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The pair-ups had me and Jimmy riding together, and we both at the same time tried to hug our hitch-hiking ghost, we only ended up knocking into each other!

After HM, we headed into FantasyLand, past the boarded up IASW, and we found the only line in the whole park...everyone was on line for Peter Pan, so we decided that's not where we needed to be. Round the corner and we walked right into Mickey's Philharmagic......what is there to say? Awesome. The kids loved it, the adults loved it, what's not to love? Donald Duck in the starring role, awesome!

The kids are outgrowing the wonder of FantasyLand (even if I'm not) so all we did there was Snow White's Scary Adventure and the Tea Cups....I was very disappointed to gloss over FantasyLand, but it was pretty hot, and the kids were not totally into it.

For anyone who wonders if the characters really do ride the rides, or if that is just for the advertisements, here's a pic of Alice and the Mad Hatter riding the Tea Cups.
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After the Tea Cups, we were feeling hungry, so we decided to head back to the resort for lunch.

Coming Soon: The Afternoon in MK and Wishes...

[MamaKate]

Thanks for the great reports!

I love reports with photos and I'm really looking forward to the remainder of your trip!

Keep them coming :wave: !

;) :D ,
Katie

[Henlady]

What a GREAT report. I love it. I almost feel like I was there with you. Can't wait for the next installment.

[lulu201]

Your trip report is FANTASTIC! Thanks so much for sharing your adventures with us!

[jlawall]

Hey LuLu,

Where in Bucks Cty?

[lulu201]

:wave2: Hi! Bucks County is located northeast of Philadelphia; "downtown" is about 45 minutes away.

[april riddle]

Thanks Mary! After reading your post - I decided that I just had to stay at the contemporay - even just for one night before we move over to universal for a couple of days before we cruise! your reports are great!

[WDW Poly Princess]

Really enjoying your report so far! Great pictures, too! It must be crazy trying to stay organized with that many people!

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 3, Part 2: Magic Kingdom

After the Tea Cups, we were starving, so we decided to head back to the resort to eat, and decide the plan for the rest of the day. We hopped a monorail, yes, even though it is only one stop, how often does one get to ride a monorail? Not often here in New York!

We headed down to the Food n Fun Center, for lunch. Nothing special about the food here, and service is a bit slow. After lunch, we though about hanging out by the pool for a while, but we still had things we wanted to do in MK, and we figured we better just head back there.
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Waiting for the monorail
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Bobby and Tommy with the Partners statue

Monorail again, I can never get enough of it :D When we were back on Main Street, we decided to head right into TomorrowLand, because that's the one section we missed completely in the morning. Walking past Stitch gave me a pang on longing. I wanted so bad for it to be open, and here it was still surrounded by walls :(

Buzz Lightyear was the first ride we came to, so we hopped on. I don't remember my score, but I remember that it was a record high for me, but that's not saying much.
We saw that CoP was open, woo-hoo, that was a treat for us, so he queued up, and were on in 10 minutes :D I know it's a tired old attractions, that doesn't excite the kids much, but I enjoy it. There's such hope in it..."There's a great big, beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day..."
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Now it was on to Space Mountain, and no line, horray! Tommy is big enough to ride this year, which, of course was giving me heart palpitations....I was convinced my baby was going to fall out. :o On the long walk from sunlight to ride vehicle, I started sprouting feathers....I was ready to bolt from the line, and this is a ride I like!!!! Not sure why I was turning chicken, but I was. At the car, Jimmy told me to just shut up and get in, so he was in front, then me, then Wade. Lucy was in the car ahead of us with the kids. I heard her asking if I got on as the rounded the corner to the uphill. I was on, but not too happy about it. I was fine on the ride, not sure what the panic attack was all about, but I did turn down a second ride when the kids wanted to go again. Lucy went back with all the kids, James was her other adult, in case they were in separate cars.
What I learned: Sixteen is a good age, he was a big help with the younger kids.
Jimmy, Frank and I waited outside, under the WEDway PeopleMover, oh, excuse me, the TomorrowLand Transit Authority.

When they came off the ride, we headed toward the Indy Speedway, where I had my only experience all week with a line cutter. I watched as a woman came from the very end of the line, and excused herself all the way up to the ride loading area, telling everyone along the way that she was with a group. I am sorry, group or no group, you wait in line like the rest of us! That rude lady made me a little grumpy,when I got on the ride. And I was stuck with speed demon, Victoria, behind me, and Sunday driver, Anthony ahead of me...and steering in my own car was Swervealot Bobby....needless to say, I had a slight headache after that ride. ::)
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Chilling outside Indy.
We sat outside the Speedway to rest up a little, and had sodas to cool off. Then we headed into ToonTown to ride the Barnstormer, which ended up being just me and the kids. That's a sneeze ride, I call it that because the ride lasts about as long as a sneeze. But the kids enjoyed it anyway. The it was on the see my main mouse, the big cheese, Mickey Mouse. We took some pics, and I hugged the love of my life (Mickey) then we sadly said goodbye and headed out.
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Mickey's Mailbox
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Bobby and Tommy with the Mouse
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Even teenagers love the Mouse

[DisneyNutMary]

We decided to take the WDW Railroad around to Frontier Land, and were able to get on a waiting train. In FrontierLand, the kids were up for another ride on Splash, but my feathers were on, so I opted out. James Wade Frank decided to keep me company. Wade went to try and take their pictures on the big hill, the rest of us just sat in a shady spot and chilled out. I'm not sure if Wade got the picture, because he was still standing there waiting when they came up the hill from the exit.

I must add here, my nephew, Anthony, is a true Disney person....he just loves the place, and everything about it....my kind of kid :D Anyway, he and I were both insisting all day that we had to go to the Tiki room. So, I guess everyone just got tired of hearing us, we headed there next. I really like this show, I don't remember the original version, but I like this version alot.

After the Enchanted Tiki Room, Under New Management, we were tired, and it was getting late, so we walked back to the FrontierLand Railroad station to catch the train back to the front of the park.

Up the ramp to the monorail for the last time :(.Victoria wanted her turn to ride up front, so she asked, and it was available. She and Amanda would ride this time, since Amanda had never been, and I would be the adult to go with them. We took Tommy too, because he was following the girls around this whole trip, and always wanted to be with them.
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Amanda, Victoria, and Tommy
We headed back to the Contemporary and up to our rooms, where we were able to watch Wishes from our balcony. Ooooh, ahhh. It was great. We had the music playing from the tv, and were watched from our own private box seats...we were even able to spot Tinkerbell as she flew down from the castle.
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After Wishes, we got into our cars and headed to 192 for dinner. We were in the mood for Chinese buffet. We found a place, that everyone thought was okay, James and I thought it was yuck :P

After dinner, we stopped at Baskin Robbins for ice cream, then headed back to the resort for some night swimming.
Before bed, I packed up our stuff, and got everything ready for the drive to the port in the morning.

What I learned: When packing to go to the port, I just tossed out Tommy's and Bobby's underwear and socks, which were old and outgrown, and the clothes of Tommy's that were snug on him this week went out too. This left extra room in the suitcase for the souvenirs we picked up in the parks.

Coming up: The Disney Magic, Day 1

[DisneyNutMary]

The Disney Magic, Day 1

The cruise felt world's away from the land portion of our vacation, so in the interest of my disjointed memory, I am starting again at day 1.

Anticipation was killing me, I was up way before Mickey's 7:00 call, and I was dressed and ready to cruise. Jimmy was up and ready soon after me, but since we weren't meeting the others until 9 am, we decided to let the kids sleep a little longer.
Jimmy and I went out and explored the hotel a bit. We walked around the 4th floor Concourse, saw all the sleepy people coming in for their breakfast at Chef Mickey's. We browsed the shops and ogled the pins at the pin station...can you believe they had no Contemporary Resort pins. I like to collect the pins of resorts I have stayed at, so I was disappointed about this.
We walked around the second floor, which is really only meeting rooms, then we headed up to the 11th floor. A little hint was stuck in my head that I remembered reading somewhere. I decided to test the rumor. Jimmy and I got off at the 11th floor, and walked in the direction that our own room on the 7th floor was. We walked all the way to the end of the hall and....

What I learned:The stairway door is unlocked, you can take the stairs up to the rooftop Observation Deck...shhh, you didn't hear it from me ;)

The view was gorgeous in the early morning light, and we were able to look out in all directions. We watched the Magic Kingdom, and drank in our bird's eye view of the castle. We were sad when we had to tear ourselves away and go downstairs to get the kids ready.

Even with our little side trip, we were still a little early when we got to the Food and Fun Center, so we ordered our breakfast, and sat down to wait for everyone else. Wade, Lucille and Amanda were also a little early, and the service was faster than the prior two days, so we were sitting down with our food when Lucy came up with the kids. SO she ordered and we all ate tensely. We were all a bit stressed with getting to the port early and getting checked in so we could get Palo reservations.

One stressful hour later, we had our motorcade on the road headed east, for Port Canaveral and a Magical vacation.
The ride to the port is about an hour long, but it is a boring hour, and you just sit there anticipating the sight of the ship in the distance. During the car ride, James' mom called his cell phone. She wanted to see how his trip was going, and nag him about ironing his clothes if they are wrinkled from being in suitcases. He dumped her off the phone before she could ask to nag my DH....it seemed like he has perfected the science of getting his mom off the phone, which we got a chuckle out of. Ahh, to be 16 again.

We came over a bridge, and there she was, gleaming in the morning sunlight, the Magic. Everybody ooooh, everybody aaahhh. Sorry, no pics, seems I put the camera in the trunk :(

The husbands dropped us wives and the kids off at the port, and drove the cars to Avis for return.

What I learned: Some things make sense when you read them on the internet, but don't always work out as planned.

We got the tip about dropping us off at the port from reading DISboards, but we didn't realize it would take the guys forever to get back! We checked the bags with the porters, then went into the terminal. This being our second cruise, we were prepared with our documents filled out, and our IDs and birth certificates ready. A CM at the top of the escalator asked if this was our first cruise, when we said no, she led us to the Castaway Club check-in line, which had no one on it, woo-hoo! The kids went over to watch tv while we checked in.

Check in was quick, and we went over and took our place in line to board the ship. We were about 100th on line to board. Since we had checked the whole family in, all the husbands would have to do is go up to the window, and pick up their KTTW's. Before long they started boarding the ship, I think it was around 11:45am, the men were not back yet, and the line behind us stretched the length of the terminal. The line moved faster than we expected, and we were at the Mickey ears and still no men...so we told the CM at the ears that we were waiting for our husbands. She told us we could wait to the side, which we did.

By the time they arrived back from Avis, the whole line of people behind us had boarded, and we went from being one of the first 100 in line to being one of the last to board the ship ::) It was a good plan, and I would do it again, but I didn't realize how long it would take to get to Avis and back, I will try to get to the port earlier next time, and maybe not have the men wait so long for a shuttle at Avis.

Coming soon: Day 1, part 2 Exploring the Magic

[cristit14]

Can't wait for the next edition!:)

[jlawall]

wow, i totally love your reports!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep 'em comin"

Lulu, I also live in Bucks cty....where are you guys???

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 1, Part 2: Exploring the Magic:

When you step through the mouse ears, you are stepping into a whole other world, the world of cruising. You walk up the ramp to your first stop, Embarkation photos. We opted to do a group photo of the 12 of us.

The you walk up the short gangplank and onto the ship. We were stopped, one family at a time, and our boarding was announced. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard the Walsh family, for Staten Island, NY" And then the CMs gathered in the lobby applaud you...it's an awesome feeling, and a great way to start a vacation.

Our plan was to split up, the men would head to Studio Sea for Palo reservations, and the women were heading to Guest Services and the Shore Excursion desk. We had to have charging privileges removed from the kids KTTW cards, and we had a shore excursion that we heard some disturbing rumors about that we wanted to cancel. Guest Services is always a nice experience, they are quick and friendly, and whenever the line builds, CMs always seem to come from the back to help out, there's no window, so I always wonder how they know help is needed. The Shore Excursion desk is not as smooth as guest services. These CMs had hardly any idea of how to do something, and each different person you spoke with gave a different answer :rolleyes:

The guys came back, having secured a reservation for brunch on Monday-my birthday :D

Our next destination was Topsider's for lunch. Tommy, being only 6 is the only one of the kids who needs help, so I helped him pick out his lunch choices. I just love that soda is now available at Topsiders, this saved me a trip to Pinocchios Pizzeria to get sodas for the kids.
What I Learned:If you enter Topsiders through the right entrance, the buffet line to the left is the kid's only buffet, which is where your kids will find chicken nuggets, pizza, french fries, and other kid friendly foods. The other three buffet lines have choices that the average kid may find less appealing.

After lunch, the kids wanted to go in the pool, and all I really wanted was a break. I gave my kids their swimsuits, they changed in the restroom, and went out to the Goofy pool area. Jimmy stayed with the kids while I went down to see if the room was ready, thankfully the rooms were ready, and I was able to go check out what would be our home for the next 7 days.
What I Learned:Instead of shorts and t-shirts, I will bring more swimsuits for my kids in the future. They can be worn with t-shirts and it is easier to have them wear swimsuits all day, every day, than deal with the constant changing of swimsuits to shorts and back.

[DisneyNutMary]

A quick visit to check out both of our rooms, and I decided who would sleep where. We had 2 adjoining category 11's, 6045 and 6047. Jimmy and I would take 6047 and the boys would take 6045. Being that James and Tommy's keys were for 6045, I got one extra key for 6045 for Bobby. And I got an extra key made for 6047 for Jimmy to use. When I wanted to get into 6045, I just used Tommy's KTTW, which I held onto for him. Confusing? Yes, it was a bit confusing for us too.
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Our room...they both look exactly like this.

What I Learned:Category 11 does not have connecting cabins, if you have a family of five, book connecting cabins of category 10, 9, 8, etc. The price savings for the category 11 is not worth the inconvenience of going back and forth through the hallway. Go for the extra money, you won't regret it.

They started making announcements about the mandatory life boat drill at about 3:15. Jimmy and the kids came down from the pool, and I got the boys changed back into shorts. I also realized about now that in the rush of boarding and eating, Lucy and I completely missed the DISmeet in the Promenade Lounge. :( I was very upset about this, as I had really been looking forward to it. Anyway, we got into our life vests, and met the others in the hallway. When the alarms sounded, we headed down to deck 4. I know there is a reason for everything, and they have reason for packing us in so tight, but man do you feel like a sardine down there. And it's hot standing out there!!! To anyone who tries to skip this, I hope the A/C breaks down in your room, because we have to wait there for the no-shows. :mad:
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I guess I should have realized that the flash would reflect off the reflector, and make the pic too dark

After the drill, we drop the life vests in the room, and head up to deck 9 for the Sail-Away Party. This party is a do not miss! The kids can get up on the dance floor that covers the Goofy Pool and join in the line dances. The characters make an appearance, there is just a lot of fun to be had. Also, they did something this year that they didn't do on our previous cruise, they had complimentary drinks for everyone. I think they were Rum Runners for the adults, and some nonalcoholic concoction for the kids and non-drinkers....I personally enjoyed the kids drink more, but I really wasn't in an alcohol mood at that point anyway.
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More to come...

[DisneyNutMary]

After the Sailaway Party, we got back to the room to find our luggage had arrived. ;D
I was able to unpack in 15 minutes...amazing because it took a month to pack ;) And I had 15 minutes to spare in order to change and wash up for dinner.
We had the APL rotation, first seating, table number 9. This meant that tonights dinner would be in Animator's Palette, and we would see the famed Animator's Palette show.
Being on a cruise ship is cool, because you can leave your room at 5:58, and be walking into the dining room at 6:00 sharp, which is pretty much what we did every night.
Our table was up against a wall, which in Animator's meant very little, but I knew that it meant we would have a window table in Parrot Cay. WooHoo! This made me happy, as I love looking out at the ocean.
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We met our server, Erasmo, from Chile, and asst server, Aswald, I didn't hear where he was from.
If anyone is wondering, Erasmo is THE BEST!!!!!! We loved him ;D
I wish I had noted what we ate, but honestly, all the food is great, and I didn't write down anything in particular.

[DisneyNutMary]

After dinner, we rolled our overstuffed bodies back to our rooms.
Our room steward, Darwin had been in and left us our first towel animal
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We think it was a frog.

The kids were ripe and ready to get to the Oceaneer's Lab/Club, and James was ready to check out the Stack...we said good-bye to James, and I don't think we saw him much after that until we debarked.
Okay, I am exaggerating a little now, but James did spend a LOT of time in the Stack, so I guess it's okay for 16 year old boys.
We adults headed down to Rockin Bar D, we were anxious to see if our booth was free....our booth is the booth we sat in every night of our last cruise. :teeth:
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Here's our booth!
Rockin Bar D was quiet, and I was freezing...the guys went to check out Diversions, I headed to Mickey's Mates in search of a sweatshirt, which I neglected to pack.
What I Learned: Do NOT forget to pack a sweater, jacket, sweatshirt, you will see why next...

Mickey's Mates...1 sweatshirt for me, $38.00, 1 zippered hoodie sweatshirt for DH $42.00 and 1 cd that I've wanted..."Where the Magic Lives" it's the music from the parks and attractions $19.00...total, because I tried to save room in the suitcase...$99.00 :o And I only bought 3 things.

The guys like Diversions, and met a guy from Rhode Island who they really enjoyed talking to, and who they would meet almost every night.

There was a show starting in Rockin Bar D, the band was called Sea Breeze, we really enjoyed them.
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I was drinking MudSlides, and I liked my drink so much, I had to take a picture of it.
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When the kids beeped us, it was off to bed...I think around 11:30, to dream sweet Disney Dreams.

What I Learned:This was an ongoing lesson, but we really should have checked out the show in the Walt Disney Theater, which we didn't that night, or most other nights. So if you cruise, see the shows, nothing else is going on at that time anyway.

Coming up: Day 2, Character Breakfast

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 2....Day at Sea
Bright and early, my alarm clock buzzes to tell me it's time to start getting ready for our character breakfast. Five minutes later, the phone rang... it was the wake-up call I requested just in case the alarm didn't work!
What I Learned:The wake up call is the same as at the WDW resorts, except, when you answer the phone, Mickey is already halfway through his spiel... so you miss the "up and at 'em" part. :(
I got up and dressed, then grabbed my KTTW and ran next door to wake the kids. This is where the two rooms got inconvenient. During the course of getting ready for breakfast, I was back and forth between the rooms about three times.
We met the others in the hallway, and headed down to Parrot Cay. Just as I thought we would, we had a seat next to a porthole, so we were able to watch the water rush by as we ate.
Character breakfast on the Disney Magic is quite different than character breakfast in the parks or resorts. We received our menus, and placed our orders, all the usual breakfast fare, eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage. They also have a special meal for the kids that has a Mickey waffle, some bacon, sausage, and eggs, I think. ??? The characters come to the tables one at a time...each with a photographer. The photographer snaps a few hurried pictures of the character with the people at the table...at our table we had all of the kids in a group with each character...no adults got into any of the pictures....it almost seemed like the photographer wasn't interested in getting pictures of the adults. Anyway, the characters do not to autographs...it is very rushed at breakfast (don't worry, there are plenty of other meet and greets to get autographs)
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Twice during breakfast there is a little show where Chip and Dale lead the characters in a song and dance...the servers also take part.
It is not your usual character breakfast, but you are only offered one opportunity during the week to attend, and I recommend going. It's a lot of fun-with singing and dancing, and napkin twirling.

After breakfast, we took the kids to the Lab/Club so we could go to the DVC member meeting without them. The DVC member reception is held in Diversions. Since we weren't cruising on points, we stopped at the DVC sales desk first to make sure it was okay to attend. The CM there gave us the thumbs up to attend, and even gave us some of the lanyards that they leave in the rooms of those cruising on points...in the pouch on the lanyard is a card that has the day and time of the reception. The lanyards are pretty cool, because they are a great way to carry around your KTTW card, and ID when you need to carry it.
We arrived in Diversions early enough to score seats in the front. By the time the meeting started, it was packed in there! And people were still coming in. If you're a DVC member, and cruising, I recommend you go to the meeting...there are a lot of giveaways...we got sun visors, lanyards, mousepads, luggage tags...and every family receives a ticket. They pull tickets and they have trivia questions for prizes. My sister won a DVC towel, and I won a fanny pack with a water bottle. There are just slightly more families present than prizes available, so very few people left without a prize.

I should mention, that while we were waiting for the DVC reception to begin, I ran up to Treasure Ketch, they had men's Disney Cruise Line muscle shirts on clearance sale for 8.99, so I picked up one for Jimmy, and one for myself to wear as a pool cover-up...I also got them in kids sizes for the boys.
What I Learned:Look in the back corners of Treasure Ketch and Mickey's Mates for clearance priced items. There isn't much on clearance, but you never know when you'll hit on a good buy.

After we stopped by our rooms and dropped off the goodies we got at the reception, we picked up the kids and headed up to Deck 9. We found tables near the Goofy pool, and set up our central location. From here, the kids could go to the Mickey pool, the Goofy pool, the hot tub, Scoops, Topsiders, QuarterMasters or even back and forth to the Oceaneer's Lab, and always know where to find us.

Frank, Jimmy and Wade headed over to check out the Cove Cafe....that was the last we saw of them for a few hours :rolleyes:
Our location by the Goofy Pool was convenient to view the band that preformed during the day, and the poolside activities that went on mid-afternoon. Also, there are character appearances in one of the gazebos by the Goofy pool, so the kids were able to see when a character was there, and hop in line to say hi!

[DisneyNutMary]

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Having fun in the pool
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The boys relaxing in the hot tub!
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The kids loved playing Ping Pong
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Pool side games and fun!
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[DisneyNutMary]

Tonight would be formal night, so at about 4:30 we headed downstairs to shower, and start getting ready for our Formal Night dinner.
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Don't they look nice? ;D
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That's Jimmy and me.
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Jimmy and James
When we were ready, we headed down to deck 3 to the lobby atrium, which was PACKED...I am talking wall to wall people. Lucy and I picked out the background we wanted for our formal family portraits, and planned to come back after dinner in hopes that the lines would be shorter.

Our dinner rotation brought us to Parrot Cay, which is not the best choice for Formal Night. There are barbecue ribs on the menu, which I really, really wanted to try, but I didn't want to risk dropping them on my formal dress :( After dinner, I ran out to the lobby to get on line for pictures. Lucy and I waited together on line, while our husbands and kids finished dessert, this reduced the stress of standing on a long line with cranky kids.

After the pictures were taken, we ran upstairs to the pin cart to pick up the special edition pins they had. They are made specially for the Antigua and San Juan itineraries, and are limited to an edition of 750 each. I picked up one of each, and asked about pin trading with the officers, which I was told would be the following night.
What I Learned:Be prepared for long, slow moving lines for portraits on formal night! I noticed that later in the week, the lines for portraits were shorter.

We went back to the room to change, before heading to the 8:00 showing of Golden Mickey's. Had I known that they were doing portraits outside the theater with a Golden Mickey backdrop, and a Golden Mickey statuette as a prop, I would have kept my kids in their formal were, and gotten their portraits done. This is a very popular show, and the theater fills up early, so by the time we arrived, we were in the back section. It was neat to walk up the red carpet, and past the 'paparazzi' on the way into the theater. Golden Mickey's is a great show, I'm glad we saw it, and I can't wait to see it again next year!!!
What I Learned:Don't miss Golden Mickey's, and show up in your formal wear. It's fun to walk up the red carpet, and if you're lucky, you might get picked out to be 'interviewed' by the Joan Rivers type CM outside the theater; the interviews are broadcast on the screens inside the theater!

After the show, the kids headed off to Oceaneer's, James went to the Stack, and the adults headed down to Beat Street for our relaxing night in Diversions and Rockin Bar D

What I Learned:Every night in Diversions there is a station set up where you can get nachos, hot dogs, or finger sandwiches....these were previously available in ESPN Skybox, and are now available here...they make a nice snack, and will hold you over until the pizza station is set up outside Rockin Bar D at 11pm ;)

Coming Up: Day 3, Palo's Brunch and My Birthday :)

[DisneyNutMary]

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They're not this neat and squeaky clean often, so I had to get a group shot ;)
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Pictures from Golden Mickeys...sorry so blurry, I was far, far away and had my flash off.

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Our towel animal...an elephant. Darwin even put Bobby's glasses on it. ;D

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Tommy wanted to pose with the elephant.

[jlawall]

Wow, your pics are wonderful, thx for sharing!!

[staylor]

I can't wait to hear about your birthday. Great report!

[KYCruiseCrazy]

thanks for all the great pictures.

[Tink03477]

Well, I wasn't sure if I'd like a cruise before reading your reports, now I know that I would LOVE one!!!! I want to go really bad now after reading your report!
Thank you so much!
I can't wait to read the rest.
Kim
:flower3:

[tkd lisa]

Great pictures and a super report! I love the little boy's formal shirts. They are very cute, and a nice alternative to a suit for that age!

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 3: Day at Sea, it's my birthday

We had reservations for Brunch at Palo today, and a late night the night before, so we were in no rush to wake up. But the thought of Oceaneer's Lab had my son Bobby up early.
I got my kids dressed and met my sister in the hallway to take them up to Topsider's for breakfast. After which, we dropped them at the kids club for the morning.
My only hope was that Tommy would not beep me before or during brunch.
In the room, Jimmy was getting ready so I flipped on the TV. About a half hour before our brunch time, wouldn't you know it, the beeper goes off :rolleyes: Tommy hates when the Oceaneer's Club goes to lunch, so he asked to beep me instead. Jimmy and I hurried to get dressed. I headed up to the club to get Tommy, while he scoured the ship looking for James to keep an eye on Tommy while we ate.
Jimmy and I ran into each other outside the OC, he still had not found James. He took Tommy with him, while I went to Palo's to meet the others.
He did manage to find James and meet us at Palo just as we were being seated.
Bruch at Palo is yummy! We went up the the buffet area and stuffed ourselves with danish and cheeses and meats. Our server, Christov brought us champagne and explained the menu to us. He also took our coffee and juice orders. We chatted with him a few minutes, and found out that Florencia, who was our server last year, was on vacation.
While we nibbled on the goodies from the buffet table, he took our regular orders. I ordered the Chicken Cacciatore and we ordered a Mushroom Pizza for the table-I think I ate the whole thing though. I can't tell you what everyone else ordered, because I was too busy stuffing myself at that point. :D
After we ate, we headed over to the dessert table, and loaded up our plates yet again. Christov brought out a plate that said "Happy Birthday" in chocolate, and they sang Happy Birthday to me :teeth:

After brunch, we rolled ourselves down to our rooms to change. But on the way, Jimmy and I stopped at Treasure Ketch, he wanted to get me a Mickey Mouse watch for my birthday. I didn't see one I liked, so I took a raincheck on the birthday gift, and he got me a bracelet with Mickey Mouse heads to tide me over until he got the real gift :teeth:

He went to relieve James of babysitting duties while I went to change. Then while he changed I took Tommy up to get Bobby and head up to the pool.

We hung out poolside, some of us napped
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the kids played
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And the girls showed off their freshly cornrowed hair
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[DisneyNutMary]

We went to Bingo in the afternoon. I felt the bingo love when my sister won, but no bingo love for me, because I lost :'( Que was the caller, he's very funny, but Andy was the bingo king last year, and was much better! I still love Que though, he does the best Austin Powers impressions "Yeah, baby!"
What I learned: I don't like losing at bingo :'(

After bingo, we got ready for dinner. Tonight was the Castaway Club reception, right before dinner. I didn't realize it would be that crowded. :o It was held in Rockin Bar D, and the place was packed. I am talking Sardine City!!!
Captain Tom spoke to the crowd
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That's Captain Tom, between all those heads.
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That's the beautiful ice sculpture that was on the hors d'oevure table.
What I learned: DCL has a lot of return cruisers, and they all want to see DCL cruise to Alaska! All except me, I said New York!

I was happy to get out of there, it was possibly the only time we saw crowds all week!
Dinner was at Lumiere's, which is conveniently close by.
We headed in to dinner, Lumiere's is my least favorite of the restaurants, the food has a French flair, and I don't like it so much. My sister was brave enough to order the escargot for an appetizer, but she didn't like it. I on the other hand had the Fried Camambert- learned that the T is silent- not only did I have a lesson in pronunciation, but the dish was delish ;D
What I learned: Camembear, not camemberT, and is tastes really really good when breaded and fried

After dinner, Erasmo was stalling on our dessert orders >:( but then I found out why ;D Alain, our head server came over, and they brought out a birthday cake for me ;D (Sorry, no pics, Wade took the pictures on his camera, and I haven't gotten a copy yet) Alain hammed it up for the camera, then cut the cake and gave everyone a slice. Yum! Fresh whipped cream.
What I learned: It's fun being the birthday girl ;D

After dinner, we headed to the room to change and find our towel animal
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A dog? or a lamb, maybe?

The kids went to their clubs, and we headed to Beat Street---I love Rockin Bar D after 10 pm!

Coming soon: Antigua

[Dreamer04]

Mary, I am LOVING this trip report!

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 4: Antigua
Just a few things to add about Monday night, before I get to Tuesday.
After Tommy beeped me to be picked up from the Oceaneer's Club, I decided to do some laundry. It was about 11:45pm, and the laundry room was empty, only one washer and one dryer were in use. This was a convenient time for me because by now we had been on vacation for five full days, so there was plenty of laundry to be done. The laundry room was located on the side of the ship opposite our room, but the walk was short. I loaded up two washers, and went back to my room to watch some tv. When the time was up, I went back and put the stuff into three dryers. After all I had read on the boards, I know the dryers don't work as efficiently as the washers.
What I Learned:If you are doing a WDW vacation before your cruise, Monday is a very good day to do laundry. The average cruiser has not built up enough dirties yet, so the laundry room is empty. And I was able to pack less knowing I'd do laundry so early, everything was worn twice.
When I was coming back to my room after laundry, I met Frank and Wade in the hallway. We decided to order room service for breakfast since we would be getting off the ship early in Antigua to explore on our own.
I filled out the card and hung it on the door, then went in and set my alarm for 15 minutes before the room service time frame.
In the morning, I was up, and scrounged up a couple of dollar bills for room service, then went into the shower while Jimmy waited for the food. The food came, and I got the boys dressed, and brought them in to eat.
What I Learned:Though the convenience and idea of room service is nice, the selection at Topsider's it ten times better. Looking back, I don't think I will be so anxious to have room service breakfast again.

In my back and forth between rooms, Lucille popped her head out, and invited my in to watch from her verandah as the ship pulled in to the port of Antigua. There was a band playing on the pier, and groups of school children were out to meet the ship. There was a lot of excitement on the part of the natives, this was Disney Cruise Line's first ever stop here. We later learned that Antigua is not a very busy cruise port, only one or two ships a week stop here.
When we were docked and all ashore was announced, we grabbed our beach bags and headed down to Deck 1 for disembarkation. Getting off was a breeze, there were no crowds. My first impression was of what a beautiful island it is. The pier, and as far as we could see was clean and well kept. The islanders were very friendly and helpful. We talked to some of the school kids, and found out that they were waiting at the pier for us since before 7 am, we docked after 9! We felt bad for the kids, because it was HOT! But they didn't seem to mind. I thought it would have been nice if DCL had some characters come off the ship and greet the kids, but as far as I know, they didn't.

We were pleasantly surprised to see a DCL flag waving from a flagpole on one of the buildings in port, what a welcome we received here!
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We weren't sure where we were headed, but we knew we wanted to avoid the beaches that DCL was pushing, figuring they would be crowded. So we went to the taxi area and asked the dispatcher. He recommended Turner's Beach, the taxi would take up and come back for us at a preset time. I don't remember the exact fare, but it was about $10pp round trip, to be paid on the trip back. They were able to fit all 12 of us in one van, and we were not squished at all.
To be continued...

[spencersmom]

I love reading these and feel like I know your family by being part of your memories! Love them! Thanks for sharing! Ginny

[westjones]

Originally posted by DisneyNutMary

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Pool side games and fun!


How Neat! My kids are up on stage doing this too! It was SO funny to see my kids in your pictures!!!!

What a cruise! If only Jeanne had just headed out to sea, it would have been perfect!

DJ

[bratray]

fantastic trip report- i am loving the pics!!

this has me more excited:hyper: :hyper: (if possible) for my cruise

looking forward to reading more::yes::

[DisneyNutMary]

Continuation of Antigua, Day 4...

When I left off we were riding, unsquished, in a cab...
I was glad it was a regular enclosed van, with air-conditioning, because there were some of the open air jitneys around, and it was hot out!
The thing I like about asking a local for a good beach, is they will tell you their opinion, not the opinion the cruise line tells them to tell you. We got to see parts of the island I doubt we would have seen if we had gone to a DCL recommended beach. Antigua is really, truly beautiful and lush. We followed a road that took us past some hills and along the shoreline.

Scenery on the way to the beach:
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When we arrived, the cab driver dropped us off right by a restaurant that had public rest-rooms with outdoor showers for later. We asked him to come back in 2 hours figuring the kids would have had enough by then, and we'd all be ready for lunch.
What I Learned: Take the advice of the taxi drivers, they will seldom steer you wrong, especially when their tip depends on it.

Turner's Beach:
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We found a place to set up camp, under some wooden umbrella type things that were over to one side. The guys went a little way down the beach and found a vendor who rents chairs and umbrellas, they rented 6 chairs. We ended up pulling 3 of the chairs up closer to the water so we could keep a better eye on the kids. The water was warm, the sun was shining, it was perfect beach weather. We were approached by a few vendors from down the beach, one was renting water craft-waverunners, banana boat rides, parasailing, etc. Another was doing hair braiding, another was doing horse back rides along the beach, some had souvenir stands near the hotel that was down the beach. None were pushy, they seemed like they just wanted us to know they were there, and all were polite when we said "no thank you" or 'maybe later."
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There are the horses you can ride on the beach.

We swam, played in the water, the kids played in the sand. One complaint though, after about an hour of swimming we had our first jellyfish sighting....that kind of cooled down our desire to be in the water.
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Tommy's such a ham!
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[DisneyNutMary]

Right on time, at 12:30 our taxi driver came back. We had packed up, and washed off some of the sand, and were ready to go. On the way back to the ship, we made our plans to clean up, have lunch at Topsider's then disembark again to shop.

After we were showered and fed, we gave the kids a choice, come or stay. Bobby, Tommy and Anthony chose to stay on the ship and go to Oceaneer's Lab/Club. Victoria and Amanda chose to come shopping, so did James, but mostly because he was really interested in getting a watch, and had heard alot of the adults talk about the prices in the islands. If weren't for the watch, he probably would have stayed in the Stack.

Right off the ship you leave the pier through a fence, and right in front of you is a large shopping area. We browsed some shops. In one shop, I found the watch that I wanted. The was the watch. But I hemmed and hawed, not sure if the price was right, and after Jimmy and I talked, we decided to look around a bit more, and come back later. We continued on browsing shops for a while, James didn't find a watch that he really liked....at 16 most of what you find in the jewelry stores is too adult.
What I Learned: When you see something that you really want, I mean really, really want, BUY IT! You will see why later...but take my advice, buy it when you see it. Prices don't vary too much from shop to shop. But once you leave that island, your chance is lost.

Frank, my DBiL, wanted to go to the casino...he was determined to get into the casino before it got too late in the day, so he took along his two lackeys, Jimmy and Wade and they went to the casino. The casino is right near the pier entrance for anyone who's wondering. We girls, and James decided to go get some tee shirts. Here's where I started to not like Antigua so much. I have shopped in St Maarten, St Thomas and the Bahamas, and never had too much of a problem, here, on the other hand, once the men were gone, some of the vendors were too pushy and downright rude. We were approached to take a tour, and the guy was pretty insistent. "No" did not discourage these people. I was a bit uncomfortable, and I hadn't felt this way before the men left, so I just wanted to finish up and get back to the ship. I bought my tee shirts, but I wasn't happy with the vendor who sold them to me, and the rest around her were no better. I und! erstand that ships don't come in often, and this is their livelihood, but I would just as soon not go back there.

Anyway, Lucille, who is chronically cold, wanted to buy a sweatshirt. So we looked in a few shops and didn't see any. Finally she went into a store that sold name brand shirts-like Tommy Hilfiger, etc, and she asked about buying a sweatshirt. They looked at her like she had two heads! Apparently they don't sell sweatshirts here.
What I Learned:Antigua is not a sweatshirt wearing kind of country. It doesn't get cold enough there, so they don't sell them in the tourist shops! If you are a chilly type person, bring a sweatshirt or sweater with you on the cruise, or be doomed to paying Disney Cruise Line prices!

After that, we were pretty anxious to get back to the ship. So we went back, got the boys and headed up to the pool. Port days are my favorite at the pool because it is mostly empty. James went to the Stack, I guess he had enough time with the adults and needed the company of some teenagers. We stayed at the pool until it was time to start getting ready for dinner.

We got to the room, and the men still had not returned from the casino. So we got the kids ready, and they all sat in Lucy's room to watch tv. Lucy and I went on her verandah to watch for the guys, but still, no guys. At this point, after having charge of the kids most of the day, we felt if the ship left without them, too bad! Finally, at about 10 minutes to five, they came sauntering down the pier.

[DisneyNutMary]

I went over to my room to get ready with Jimmy, while Bobby and Tommy stayed to watch tv with their cousins. That's when I realized...we never went back for the watch! It was too late to disembark and try to get it, we were scheduled to leave port soon, and it was too close to dinner time. So I resigned myself to hoping I could find my watch in St Thomas :'(
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Bobby and Anthony, Identical cousins ;)

Tonight's theme was Pirates in the Caribbean. We are cruise veterans (we sailed last year) so we had packed our tropical shirts. We knew from the boards that people were still wearing tropical attire, so we went with it. Dinner was in Animator's Palette again. When we walked in Alain, our head server was there in his pirate finery,
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and when we got to our table, Erasmo and Aswald were also decked out like pirates.
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We were each given a black bandanna to tie around our heads like pirates, and we were handed our treasure map/menu-very cool. I liked pirate night much better than tropical night! I don't remember what I ordered, but the hidden treasure banana, ice cream and caramel dessert was AWESOME, YUM-OUT!
There was a little show during dinner where the servers paraded around the room, and they had limbo. Erasmo came back to the table and got our kids up to join the limbo line. It was alot of fun.
What I Learned:You'll probably never see most of these people again, so join in the fun. It'll make great memories
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[DisneyNutMary]

After dinner we went to Who Wants to be a Mouseketteer in the Walt Disney Theater. It's a good show, but I don't like how they changed it that you have to be in the front section to play. It was packed up there, and therefore, much less likely that your seat would be called. The show was okay, no one won the free cruise, and no one in our group had their seat called :(
What I Learned:Even though they have changed it to half theater, you should still try to find a seat in the emptiest row possible, if the seat called is empty, they move to the left until they find someone to play

After WWTBAM, we headed up to deck 9 for the Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. This party was great, lots of fun. The kids danced, we danced, we just had fun. One thing DCL does superb are it's deck parties, so full of energy. If you cruise, don't miss the deck parties.
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The 'ham' gene just might run in the family ;)
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Victoria 's dancing with Travis of the cruise staff ;D
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A pirate dropped in on our party.
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After the party broke up, I took Bobby and Tommy down to their room to go to bed, while Jimmy and James went with Frank and Wade to see Mr 3000 in the Walt Disney Theater.
What My DH and Stepson Learned:After a long day on the island, and a late night deck party, it's probably not a good idea to go to an 11 pm movie on the night before Immigration at St Thomas ;)
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Towel animal du'jour

Coming up, you guessed it, early morning immigration check and St Thomas...

[DisneyNutMary]

I love the pirate party pictures, so here are some more:
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He was having a good time, I swear! I just snapped the pic a minute too late.
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[DisneyNutMary]

Day 5, St Thomas

On our last cruise, immigration at St Thomas was a breeze, so we weren't worried about it this time. The time we were supposed to arrive was between 7 and 7:30 am. So at 5 minutes to 7 we all met in the hallway and walked down the 2 flights of stairs to the Walt Disney Theater. I was grumpy from lack of sleep, and the sight I saw did not help my mood any. As we came down the stairs, the line stretched out of the theater on both sides, down the hall, past Mickey's Mates and Treasure Ketch, into the atrium and around the corner. Ugh! This was not going to be fun!
We trekked to the back of the line, trying to pass people who were just standing in the middle of the path, and not wanting to move for anyone. Everyone was grumpy on this line.
Surprisingly, the line did move quickly into the theater. Right at the theater door, there is a table with a CM who marks off your room number on a list, then you go in. The theater was packed!!!!! CMs line the aisles and direct traffic. When we got to the row, we were the last family in, my sister and Lucille's families went into the row behind us, and were clear across the theater :(
I was sitting behind a young girl, about 11 years old, who had her hair fully braided, with beads at the ends. She liked the sound it made when the beads hit one another, apparently, because she kept whipping her head side to side, and whacking me with the beads >:( All I can say is, it didn't tickle...but I figured it would be over soon. After about 10 minutes, I whispered to my DH that I wish this kid would stop whacking me with her hair. It's very out of character for me to say anything, I am a grin and bear it type person, but I was grumpy that day. The girls mother overheard me, and felt the need to tell everyone in her group what nerve I had...but never once suggested to the girl that she be more careful. Surprisingly, to myself, I ignored them, but boy was that a long wait.
When our row was finally up to go to the immigration officer, I got up and noticed my legs were all scratched.GRRR!
We got to the end of the row, and my sister was right behind us.
The rest was easy, the officer barely glanced our papers and we were on our way.
What I Learned:DCL needs to come up with a better way of doing this immigration thing! The time is way too early after the late night deck party the night before, and there is log jam in the theater with everyone pressing to be first to get through. Regardless, I plan to get there much earlier next time.

To be continued...

[trivial]

"The girls mother overheard me, and felt the need to tell everyone in her group what nerve I had...but never once suggested to the girl that she be more careful."

You know, it REALLY ticks me off when I hear/read things like this, but the sad thing is, I hear/read about it on a daily basis. If this is how so many parents are teaching their children to behave (and how parents themselves behave), I'm not terribly optimistic about the society my future children will have to live in. Do people no longer have any degree of shame or respect at all? Kudos to you for remaining civil; I don't think I would've been able to in the face of such gall.

Anyways, crazed rant aside, thank you very much for the time and effort you're putting into this report, as it's very interesting reading. By the way, Tommy's such a cutie! :)

[WVMD]

Great Trip report - can't wait for the ending.....

Virgil
pirate:

[DisneyNutMary]

Thank you everyone for the nice comments. I had an awesome time on this cruise, and I relive every moment as I share it.

A note about immigration....I wasn't going to share my experience in the theater. First, because as much as I hate to think it, the mom could easily have been a DISer, and not really rude, but just having a bad morning like me. And second, when I write my trip reports, they are as much for me and my kids to read as everyone else I share them with, so I like to leave out life's less than shining moments-unless they are necessary to help the story along.

And Lucy, I know you are reading this, so feel free to add to anything I may have forgotten at any time...this long after the trip, my mind is getting fuzzy.

[DisneyNutMary]

St Thomas, continued

After the immigration check, we headed up to Topsider's for breakfast. We were planning to get off the ship today only to shop. So after we ate, we put all the kids (except James) into the Oceaneer's Lab and headed out to shop in St Thomas.

We got into a taxi van, there were 7 of us, and the van would hold 10. The driver was desperate to fill those last 3 seats. So we waited about 20 minutes for people to come along.

Finally, we threatened to get out and walk downtown if she didn't get in and drive. :mad: Needless to say, that driver lost her tip!

We were let off in a parking lot at the edge of the downtown shopping area and we walked down Front Street for a bit before cutting up an alley.

I was in search of a Mickey Mouse watch, James wanted a Fossil watch, Wade and Lucille were interested in Mickey Mouse watches, Frank was interested in spending money, and my poor sister would probably have been happier just staying on the ship.

We must have gone into about 6 jewelry shops, and Mickey watches were scarce. I was getting depressed.
In Royal Caribbean, James finally found the watch he wanted...and with Frank's negotiation skills, he got a good price. WHile they handled the paperwork and sizing of James' watch, I went ahead to Columbian Emeralds. I found 2 Mickey Mouse watches here that I liked :D One with a gold band, and one with a sterling silver band. I couldn't decide. I wanted the silver band, but the watch face that was on the other watch. Then Wade and Lucille joined me and they liked the silver band watch- the face of the watch is blue, with Mickey in silver right in the center.

Finally after hemming and hawing, and remembering my disappointment of the previous day, I decided on the silver watch. I am actually glad I did. It looks so nice on me, and it is casual enough for day wear, and dressy enough for the evening. I love it!

After shopping, we headed back to the ship to once again take advantage of empty pools.
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Tommy and Victoria taking a break from their hectic day
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My boys in the hot tub!
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Pool fun!
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Dinner was in Parrot Cay. While everyone got ready for dinner, I went up to deck 9 to find James and watch the ship leave St Thomas.
This was pretty cool, we backed out like a car, then turned and sailed away...it didn't happen that fast, but it was cool!
As we passed the entrance from the harbor into the open sea, I saw dolphins playing in the water near the shore. I was so upset that I forgot the camera, I know my kids would have loved seeing those pictures.
When we were sitting down to dinner, it started. The ship rocked like it hadn't yet all week. We heard bangs below us, which Erasmo swore were nothing to worry about, but we were nervous.
For the rest of the night, the ship rocked like crazy. Our cabin was squeaking, and walking up and down stairs was becoming a challenge.
We carried on with our normal nightly routine, and no one was sick yet, but the rocking was becoming a niusance.
This night was unusual, I didn't get any pictures, I didn't even get a pic of our towel animal-I think it was a snake.
I went to bed hoping we'd hit calmer seas tomorrow.

Coming up: Feeling the motion of the ocean

[jlawall]

Wow, I just read ALL your reports and THEY ARE TERRIFIC!!!

I feel like I just went to WDW and then on the cruise. I was wondering when the hurricane season would hit.

One comment......the Avis car rental has moved since a year ago and it is further away. In addition, they take drivers to the Carnival cruise as well as the DCL cruise. This is why it takes so long.

Keep those reports coming!!!

[bartjwb]

DisneyNutMary,

We were on the 9-18-04 Antigua cruise with you. Great trip report!!! We went to the WWTBAM show and if there was one person in that theater that did not want to be picked to go up on stage it was my wife. Guess what? She was picked and not very excited about it!!! She was so nervous but she took my daughter up on stage with her and everything worked out fine. They won $100.

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 6: Feeling the Motion of The Ocean

Normally, the gentle rocking and rolling of the ship causes me to sleep like a baby, but Wednesday night was awful! The entire ship was creaking and cracking, and I thought I would look up at any moment and see that the ceiling had separated from the walls. The closet door was sliding open and banging shut all night, and there were times I would have sworn the ship was laying on it's side. One of the downsides of an inside cabin, with no windows, is that there is no way to reassure myself at 2 am, that the ship is not laying on it's side.

Normally, I get seasick in a moving car, but amazingly, the movement of the ship did not bother me much...it was the noises the ship was making that were scaring the heck out of me.
I was up pretty early, because sleep was just not happening for me, I was hoping that daytime would bring calmer seas with it. I showered and dressed, and headed up to Deck 9 for coffee...humming the theme to Gilligan's Island the whole way (because that's how I felt!) The sun was shining, the skies were blue, and the sea was rolling....the waves were huge! I noticed that the pools were all closed, this is accomplished by hanging ropes around the pools, with little signs on them that say "pool closed" I thought they'd have something more clever, like maybe closing the dance floor over the Goofy pool or something, but no, just ropes.
I got my coffee, and a coffee for Jimmy, and headed down to wake the kids. James was green, there was no way he was moving from the bed. Bobby and Tommy both reluctantly got out of bed, but I could tell the rocking of the ship was hypnotizing them. They both looked like they wanted to just sleep.
After we were all dressed, we met Lucy's family, and Lucille's family out in the hall, and headed up to Topsider's for breakfast. The scene was surreal...people looked like zombies, even the crew looked like they weren't very happy. Anthony wasn't feeling well, and had stayed in bed, and halfway through breakfast, Victoria went back to her room to lay down. Next was Tommy, but he wasn't feeling sick, just exhausted...we learned on our first cruise that the rocking of the ship makes him sleepy...and on both cruises he had slept through dinner almost every night. Jimmy took Tommy downstairs, and left him to sleep with James.
Bobby asked to go to the Oceaneer's Lab. Being the only one of the kids not to feel seasick, I figured the Lab would be the most exciting place for him, so I let him go sign himself in.
The adults were feeling okay, not too much issue with seasickness, so we headed down to Bingo, Amanda was okay at this point too, so she came with us.
Bingo was in Rockin Bar D. We bought our bingo cards, and found a couple of tables to sit at. While we were waiting for bingo to start, we took turns going upstairs to check on the kids. At one point, both Lucille and Wade were gone, and Amanda made a funny face, then gagged, then, well, let's just say the rocking of the ship had gotten to her. That's another kid down...she and Lucille went up to the room to rest.
Bingo was interesting, you could tell that people were feeling off...and when it ended, we all just wandered up to our rooms because there wasn't much else to do.
I had given James a Bonine, and Jimmy went up and gave him a second one...these seemed to help, because he got up showered and dressed, and went out for a walk up on deck. Tommy was fast asleep, and Lucy's kids were in bed too.
The day dragged on with us each taking turns wandering around, looking for something to do.
I walked on Deck 4 for a bit, and it looked like a hospital ward...people were passed out on the deck chairs, just sleeping it off. Then I headed up to deck 9, where I saw more of the same. People were just out of it. CMs were walking around with barf bags in their pockets, and I saw two CMs with a carpet steamer who looked like they could not keep up with the need for their services.
What I Learned:Bonine and rest are the best relief when the seas are bad.

Some time in the afternoon, the captain made the announcement that due to Hurricane Jeanne we would not be stopping at Castaway Cay. The groan was audible about the ship. I think people were mostly annoyed that all this bouncing around was for nothing, and that the captain could have used the extra day to seek out calmer waters for the trip home.
What I Learned: I would rather skip Castaway Cay altogether than sail through rough seas, Castaway Cay is beautiful, and fun, but the destination is not worth the journey in this case.
Jackpot Bingo was this afternoon in the Walt Disney Theater. It was pretty filled, but not a rowdy crowd, again, the rocking of the ship had a lot of people subdued. All I really remember is that I didn't win :(

Tonight's dinner was the Captain's Gala, and semi formal night. My kids were feeling okay, so Jimmy and I got dressed in our semi-formals and met my sister and Anthony in the hall, along with Lucille...the others stayed behind because even though the seas were less rough, they were not fully recovered. The dining room was not as empty as we thought it would be, but it was noticeable that people were still not feeling well. Dinner was good, but dessert was what made the day. Warm Chocolate Lava Cake, yum, the best dessert all week.
Erasmo made up plates for Frank and Wade, because they were back doing baby-sitting duty, and Aswald was kind enough to carry the tray up to the rooms. Nice touch, just another example of DCL's excellent service.

That evening, the ship was coming out of it's coma, my kids went to the clubs so we could go out. But for some reason I was just a zombie....I was completely exhausted. Jimmy went down to Rockin Bar D, I told him I'd be coming down, but I never quite made it. I fell asleep. I was counting on having my last hurrah on Friday night, so I wasn't too worried about missing out on the fun. I wish I had known then what Friday would bring.
What I Learned:Life, the weather, and DCL are unpredictable...have the fun when the opportunity arises, sleep when you get home ;)

Coming next: Day 7.....Outrun a hurricane? Is this captain kidding me?

[kikipug]

Great report... wish I was going SOONER!!!!! Doing 7-day Magic with the new 2 CC visit itinerary in May '06- I've cruised many times, but not on DIS...

Regarding the hurricane- I feel your pain- living on the East Coast of FL, I had a front row seat for all 3... a little too close for comfort! You'll never catch me booking during hurricane season- unless its last minute and I know the forecast!

Sounds like you had a great trip - wish I could drag another family with us!!!!

[jrp]

Hi DisneyNut Mary:wave:
I have enjoyed your posts on your trip as we did the Eastern cruise 2 years ago and really enjoyed the trip.. What brand of camera and what megapixel did you use for the photos? They are pretty clear. I just got a kodak 5.0 easyshare and hope to take pictures that good. Thanks James

[Medleytrio]

I am anxiously awaiting to hear more about your trip.....:bounce:

[tksbaskets]

I loved your trip report especially the "What I learned". Thanks for sharing wiht us!

[DisneyNutMary]

Day 7: Outrun a hurricane? Is this captain kidding me?

Friday morning, we should have been docked at Castaway Cay, but thanks to Jeanne, we were on the run, back to Port Canaveral. We had been told that we would arrive sometime late in the evening, and disembark as normal on Saturday.
We slept in, not knowing how the seas would be, we were in no big rush to get up.
When we did get up, we found the newly printed Navigators under our door. They had planned a deck party today, and a game of prize bingo at the pool.
We put on swimsiuts for a day by the pool.
The kids were finally feeling better, and were up and ready for a day at the pool.
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Victoria finally stopped looking green.
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Tommy and Victoria posing with the latest towel animal.

We all headed up to deck 9 and found a couple of tables together. The kids hit the pools and hot tubs to get out some of their pent up energy.
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Tommy waiting for his turn on the slide
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Tommy at the bottom of the slide
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Anthony after his turn on the slide.
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to be continued...

[DisneyNutMary]

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Bobby and Anthony in the hot tub

After we had lunch and were just sitting around, the cruise staff showed up on the stage for Prize Bingo.
What I Learned: Disney does know how to make it up after disappointing you. Prize Bingo was really cool. It's free to play, everyone can play, including the kids, and they gave out some nice prizes. It helped ease the pain of missing CC.

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We didn't win, but that's okay, we had fun.
After Bingo was the Deck Party.
There was lots of music, and dancing, free drinks for everyone (alcohol for the adults and non alcohol for the kiddos)
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Mickey and the gang came by to have fun with us.

Late in the party, I looked down and noticed that my new bracelet had broken. I headed down to Treasure Ketch to have it repaired, and left the rest of my group up on Deck where the music was blasting, the people were dancing and there was general mayhem.

While my bracelet was being repaired, I heard Captain Tom come on the PA. He said that Jeanne had gained strength and Port Canaveral would be closing at midnight. What that would mean to us was that we would dock and disembark after dinner, at about 10pm. All suitcases had to be packed and in the hallways by 6pm.
He let us know that Disney had arranged for us to spend the night in The Dolphin Resort at WDW. There would be transportation to the hotel and transportation to the airport the next day.

Panic :o How was I going to be ready in 2 hours, and did my family know yet? :o

[DisneyNutMary]

I ran back up to Deck 9, and passed on the news. The music had been so loud and they hadn't heard.
In a mad dash, I gathered up my kids, and sent my DH to find James in the Stack.
I got the kids changed quickly, and dropped them off at the club and lab to prepare for their show.
I headed back to the room and in a mad rush, somehow managed to get everything packed and the suitcases into the hall before heading to the show.
We didn't dress for dinner tonight, we all stayed in shorts-as did a lot of people- there just wasn't time to worry about what to wear to dinner.
What I Learned: In a rush, it is possible to gather up and pack 10 days worth of belongings, in under 45 minutes....just beware of what it will all look like when unpacked
My sister, Lucille and I headed down to get seats for the kids show, the guys were going to meet us there. We were chattering about how we were going to use that 50% off voucher that was headed our way.
Another cruise wasn't planned, but 50%of off was very, very tempting.

The show started, and our little Disney Sea University "D Sea U" graduates paraded in and up onto the stage.
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The show was really cute. My son Bobby was in a ton of slides. I'm glad someone got to see him all week. He apparently spent more time with the Oceaneer's counsellors than he spent with us!

After the show, the mad rush was in. The lines to sign out the kids, and return the pagers were huge. I had Bobby sign himself out while I got on line for Tommy. Once the kids were inside, the sign out was actually very smooth and quick. Returning the pager also went very quickly.

Dinner was in Animator's Palatte. Tome to say goodbye to our servers. It was a very strange night. We were sorry to be leaving, and dreading the next few hours.
After dinner a cake was brought out for my sister and brother in law's anniversary.
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Alain, our head server, posed with the cake

After dinner, and cake, we wandered out on deck 4 to watch the approach to Port Canaveral
It was dark and eeire coming up the channel. The deck was crowded with people watching to see us pull in.
The Port Canaveral area had that calm before the storm feeling. It seemed so calm and quiet, very eerie.
We were tired, and ready to get on with it, so we headed down to the lobby to wait for disembarkation.
We were at the front of the line, and a counsellor from the lab was up there- the kids were calling her Professor Muddles, or something like that. SHe was very nice, and kept the kids entertained. She gave them lots of info about working on the ship. And she answered all of their questions.
Finally, the ship was cleared and the doors were opened.
We were first off the ship, but thanks to a lost suitcase (Wade and Lucille had a bag missing) we were in the baggage area for a good 45 minutes.
When we left the baggage area, it was very orderly. We were led to a waiting bus, and sat down and realxed as the bus filled.
We had a pleasant ride to th Dolphin, the driver was funny and nice.
At the Dolphin we expected chaos, but surprisingly it was all very well organized.
We got onto a line for the first letter of our last name, and were handed keys to our room. Then onto another short line for bus vouchers for the next day.
There were CMs EVERYWHERE. We were pointed in the direction of our room.
After we found the room, Jimmy, Frank and Wade went out for a beer, the kids and I just went to bed.

In the morning, we explored the hotel a little- it's huge and beautiful, I'd definitely consider staying there under normal circumstances.
When my sister's family and Lucille's family came downstairs we headed up to the ballroom for breakfast. Another well organized and well done affair.
After breakfast, we went up to get our bags and met down in the lobby again. We found out the Wade's bag was found on the ship and brought over to the Dolphin overnight, so we were headed home with all of our belongings in tow.
We boarded a waiting bus and were headed toward the airport.
What I Learned: Disney does crisis very well. You would never have guessed that the whole Dolphin experience was put together in such a short time. We left the ship feeling very sad, and very stressed, but as usual, Disney took care of us, and made us feel good again.


All in all, it was a great trip. I had a great time with great friends. Sometimes stressful situations occur, but with Disney, even the stressful situations seem to work out.

Thanks for reading ;D