Surprise Sweet 16 Cruise 8/29 - 9/5, 2009 on the Magic

[Cinderella1001]

WARNING Label: This may be very long but hopefully to be enjoyed by all.

How it started:

About January 2009, my husband and I were discussing what to do for our daughter’s upcoming birthday in August (the Sweet 16). For years I have been known for my outrageous Disney themed parties that I slaved over and planned out every detail (including making all the decorations). Until about 3 years ago, she decided that she didn’t want any type of parties mostly because it is right before starting back to school and her friends are all on vacation.

My husband and I pondered over going to Hawaii, and after looking at the costs of just the flights and about a week at Hawaii...that was enough for me to stop and look at the alternate route. Well, what’s a mom to do when it is the big Sweet 16? You guessed it ... We’re going to Disney World! I asked my daughter if she would like to go back to Disney as she will have been there in April for cheerleading and she said sure that it would be great to get a tan before school started. Then I asked her if she would like to take a friend with her as well. “WOW” was all she could say and then of course “YES”. Knowing who she was going to take wasn’t hard to figure out...her best friend for the last 3 years of middle and high school.

I then started doing some scheming of my own and looked into another Disney cruise. We have cruised several with Disney and the last was 2 years ago to the Mediterranean. I also had told my daughter that we would take our next cruise when the new ships came out in 2011 and 2012. So we would have to wait it out a few years. I then presented the idea to my husband and all he could say was “Are you sure she would want to do that?” It’s Disney and she will have her best friend with her. Of course she will want to do that. Their school wasn’t going to start until September 8 so we would be able to take one of the last cruises of the summer on the Magic.

Now, she has asked several times if I will let them roam the parks by themselves. Unfortunately, I had let it be known that my parents let us kids run the parks back when we were 15, 16, and 17, as long as we were back at a certain time. So, I have told her that yes she and her friend can go to the parks alone (if she only knew that she will spend possibly ½ a day if that at a park.)

Now, because we are military, I called Disney and was able to book the Grand Floridian for a night at a great discount. I then talked to my daughter’s best friend’s parents and told them of the plan to take a cruise. They have sworn that they will not say a word to their daughter. I decided that since their daughter turns Sweet 16 at Christmas, that this trip would be an early gift from us. All they would have to pay for is the airfare and the excursions. We have DVC and are going to use our points.

So, after booking everything, I started thinking of ways to surprise our daughter for her Sweet 16 cruise. What better idea than to have a scavenger hunt before we leave for the ship. I then pulled up the resort map of the Grand Floridian. After mapping out different locations, I wrote out the clues for the hunt. While we were at Disney in April, we stopped by the Grand Floridian and I verified that I could do the scavenger hunt on the property. They said no problem. All I will have to do the morning of the hunt, before the girls go to breakfast, is to run to all the locations and hand the clues to the Cast Members for their safekeeping until the hunt begins.

Now everything up until now has happened by April. I then had to look for a goody bag for each of the girls. I found a cute rather large sea bag/backpack on sale and went for it. After getting them I found that they were more than I had imagined and of course ordered one more for myself. I had each embroidered with the girls name on them. The rest of the stuff for the bag included the following: water bottle with carrying case, id water proof container, Mickey Mouse gloves (to wave good-bye and possibly have them autographed), Goofy pirate ears, Coach small wallet and wristlet, homemade flip flops, Sweet 16 tee shirts that were made for the trip, Pirate outfits (tee shirts and shorts), bracelets, and candy. Now part of the things included in this list were purchased well before and stashed away. I usually get things when they are ridiculously on sale. I have been making lots of magnet door signs for the girls and made duplicate magnets for the best friend so she will have her own set. I also made bag tags for each of the girls and made extra again but for scrapbooks. I figured if I am making one may as well make a bunch.

I have been getting things such as candy and treats to give to the cast members and others on board. So far I have two shopping bags full of stuff for the cast members. I have bagged them all and have packaged them ready to go. I haven’t figured out how to get them in the luggage without being found. Hmmm...Guess I will figure that out closer to the trip.

In May, I was able to order 2 formal dresses for the trip without my daughter finding out. I had her try on dresses from the same designer that she already had and since they fit it made my job easier. And before you ask “why wouldn’t I want my daughter to pick out her own dress”... well I pretty much pick them all out anyway so it was only fitting that I did it again. Besides she will be able to wear them for Homecoming when she goes back to school. Actually, she trusts my taste in clothes as I am always picking up outfits or such when I am out. The cruise portion is a surprise and I couldn’t have her knowing we were taking formal clothes. The formal clothes will be packed in a suitcase that we decided I would say is my husbands and cram most of his clothes in it as well as my suitcase.

Now I have booked the hotel room, cruise, and have been debating on transportation to the hotel, ship, and back to the airport. I priced it out many ways with Disney and other transportation services. I really wanted to go all out for this and thought what about a stretch limo. If I couldn’t do it for the whole time then we could have a town car for part and the stretch limo for the other. At least start the trip off right. Well, the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, I received an email from WDWNewsletter having you register for free round trip stretch limo service from Orlando airport to our hotel. The drawing would be on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I quickly registered and then started thinking...if I win this; I could pay the difference for the other stops making the transportation even better. The thought of having a stretch limo for the entire time was starting to sound even better the more I thought about it. Well, low and behold Sunday came and after finding out that cheer tumbling was moved to an earlier time, I ran to the computer and was checking my email. There in my inbox was the email announcing the winner...”Me.” I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to run through the house screaming but I decided that I would keep it to myself and not say a word. I want everything to be a surprise.

That Tuesday, I received a call from Dixie Limo, the service that would be picking us up in Orlando. I explained what I wanted to do and they were very accommodating and agreed to do the three stops and I could pay the difference. What great customer service. I have since told my daughter that we will either rent a car or grab a bus. Can’t you just see the excitement on their faces (especially my husband’s) when they walk out to a stretch limo? I can’t wait, if I could just arrange for a photographer at that time, or maybe I could just take pictures myself.

The evening before the 90-day mark, I stayed up to go online and book reservations for our dinner and spa treatments onboard the ship. But after spending about 45 minutes and getting nowhere with the computer, I gave up. I started again in the morning and by noon had the reservations that we wanted. Not sure of what the girls would like to do, I only booked a parasailing excursion at Castaway Cay for them. We figured that we would probably only be shopping and perhaps some sightseeing while at the ports.

About two weeks from ordering the dresses, UPS delivered them within a few days from each other. They both came from different stores in California. Having ordered the last of her size in each, I started to get a little scared. One of the boxes the dress came in was smashed beyond belief and so I opened it and decided to go ahead and have her try on the dresses. I made her close her eyes and I put the dress on her and zipped it up. She opened her eyes and was so surprised. “It’s beautiful; I can’t believe you got this for me” was her words. I did the same for the second dress and again so surprised. Now the dresses both fit however, one was just a bit tighter than the other and so I told her that I could see about getting one size bigger. She didn’t want to do that. I contacted the store and they have an alterations lady that should be able to take the straps out a bit in the back and they felt it would be better to do that than to order a whole size bigger. She asked what the dresses were for and so I told her that she could wear one for Homecoming and the other for perhaps Prom should she get asked. Again she was extremely excited and surprised. Operation dress complete.

About March, I started looking into a birthday cake for Jessica and found several designs. I pretty much narrowed everything down and decided we would do her cake at the hotel the night we arrive and take the leftovers onboard with us the next day. Well that plan got shot out of the water when I found out that no prepared foods such as homemade items could be brought onboard. I was back to the beginning again, just when I had figured everything out for the cake. I then had a small brainstorm about calling Disney Fairy Tale Weddings and explaining the situation to them and see if they could help in anyway. About a week later I got an email from a wonderful Cast member stating that they would see if the pastry chef would be able to make the cake. I sent about 3 pictures of different cakes and told them about how I wanted the cake to be. Then about a week and a half later I got an email back stating “yes” the pastry chef could make the 3rd cake that was pictured. Yay!

It is now the end of July and we are one month out from our vacation. I have just about finished all the tee shirts for the girls. The worst part is deciding on which design to put on them. I have started packing the crew members gifts (mainly snacks and candy) into the carry-on bags. I will have to make the girls carry these so the candy stays in a controlled temperature so that they don’t melt. This will be a little tricky because I don’t want them to open the bags while we are traveling. I could pack the snacks into a large duffle bag and pay for the extra bag but I don’t think that it is all that necessary and it will give us 2 if not 3 bags for the return trip that will be empty.

Okay here it is 2 weeks before we leave and I finally got Jessica to pack her clothes. Not as bad as I thought it would be. I had her keep it simple and only pack what she will wear and not take extras.

For her birthday, she had to do a car wash for her high school cheer team. I let her open her gifts and she seemed quite surprised with her vinylmation figurines from Disney. She was quite impressed with how I kept this a secret from her. If she only knew that she is going on a cruise in a week.

I was able to finish packing the clothes for both John and myself. I even got the dresses packed with the shoes.

I am writing this down that if I pull this off it will be one of the best kept secrets I have ever pulled off.

Finally after months of hard planning, I managed to get all the suitcases packed and ready to go. Jessica had cheerleading practice at both high school and all star so we didn’t get home until about 10:30 that night. I prepared the carryon suitcases so all we had to do in the morning was pack the car and pick up Courtney.

 

[Cinderella1001]

Friday, August 28, 2009

We woke up around 5 o’clock, loaded the car and left to pickup Courtney. On the four mile trip, Jessica remembers that she forgot her tennis shoes. Arriving at Courtney’s house there were no lights on in the house. Jessica rang the doorbell and her dad opens the door stating that Courtney has been up for a while. Jessica runs up and checks on her and finds that she is just getting up. We loaded the car and get to the outside of her neighborhood when Courtney realizes that she forgot her carryon bag. Back to Courtney’s house for the bag and we decided to go back for Jessica’s shoes. With the travel delays, we by-passed the stop for breakfast at Panera bread for the breakfast sandwiches.

I dropped off everyone and the luggage at the departure area and went to park the car. I ended up having to drive off the property of the airport and then back around to get to the garage. Parking in the garage was much easier, although not cheaper, than parking in the economy off-site. I snagged a spot close and ran to the departure area to check-in. We checked in and proceeded to security. Everything was going smoothly until my carry-on with the magnets stopped everything. I showed the guards what they were and off to the gate we went. After plopping the carry-ons down, the girls and I searched for some breakfast sandwiches. We had to settle for sandwiches on bagels.

The girls ate them but were disappointed that they were not from Panera bread. Our plane was delayed about 30 min but it didn’t bother us. We boarded the plane and found that each seat had a tv screen on the back of each seat and since we had our own earphones it made the flight go very fast.

We landed and grabbed our carry-ons. Walking down the escalator, Courtney spotted a man standing holding a sign with my name on it. They were a bit surprised and Jessica thought we had a town car or a taxi picking us up. The gentleman (Henry) assisted us with our luggage and we walked out a side door where there were about a dozen town cars and limousines parked. We stopped at the first limo and Jessica and Courtney were looking quite confused until I told them that we had won part of our transportation. Being thrilled with the surprise, they climbed into the limo grinning from ear to ear.

They thought this was the best car ride ever being that we didn’t have to wait for a rental car or bus to take us to the hotel. Along the way, Jessica told Courtney that we were staying at a Motel 6 for the week, even though Jessica knew we were staying at the Grand Floridian she wanted to try and pull a joke over on Courtney. But hey, “We’ll leave the light on for you” is what we all stated to Courtney and laughed as we rounded the road to the Grand Floridian. We pulled into the front of the Grand Floridian and both girls looked in amazement at the wonderful hotel.

We checked into our room and informed the girls that the hotel would be moving us to another room in the morning and so they can’t unpack everything. They quickly put their stuff in the room and we stepped out to grab a bite of lunch. We decided to eat at the Grand Floridian Cafe and the food was delicious. It was so good that John and I decided that we would eat there for dinner later that evening. After lunch the girls put on their bathing suits and went swimming in the pool. John went back to the room to take a nap and I put together the girls surprise gift bags for the morning scavenger hunt. I then arranged the snack bags into the luggage for the morning departure and joined the girls out by the pool enjoying the sun.

Later that afternoon, the girls and I decided to take the monorail around and search out the brick that my parents had purchased back in the late 1980’s. Jessica was determined to find it first and we had the general area of where it was. I couldn’t remember the first 3 number sequences but after trying one sequence I thought it had to be another. Sure enough the second sequence (HOO 321) was right and I found it real quick. We took pictures of it with our feet, hands, and faces plastered to the brick (quite funny if you were passing by).

After the pictures we continued the walk to the Polynesian hotel where the girls wanted to get a new necklace. We walked around the gift shop and found some bracelets and necklaces, made our purchase and started walking around. We each got Hawaiian leis from one of the cast members and boarded the monorail back to the Grand Floridian.

Once back at the Grand Floridian, we took a few pictures with the castle in the background around the lagoon and the girls put their bathing suits back on to hit the pool again. They grabbed some light dinner and swam again in the pool, while John and I had a nice dinner at the cafe. Afterwards, Jessica and Courtney went back to the room to watch a Disney channel movie (Wizards of Waverly Place on Vacation) premier. They quickly took showers about the fastest I had ever seen two teenagers take showers so they could watch their show. Earlier that day while John was taking a nap, room service delivered a white chocolate Mickey Mouse with little deserts on a plate with Happy Birthday to Jessica along with a picture signed by Mickey Mouse wishing her a great day. Jessica was surprised by the sweet treats and they nibbled on them while watching the movie.

After dinner we sat by the pool and I mentioned to the girls that the Space Shuttle was supposed to go up that night around 11:45. I had been watching the NASA website about the delays that had been happening and crossed my fingers that it would liftoff while we were there that evening. All of us walked down to the dock to watch the Wishes fireworks over the castle. Along the way I dropped the camera case only because it wouldn’t stay snapped to the belt loop. I had the camera in my hand so I didn’t notice I had lost it until the end of the show. The fireworks were really nice and so were the water parade of lights. After the fireworks, we all went up to the room and John went to bed. We watched a little television and then around 11:40 the girls and I walked down to the dock and waited to see if the shuttle was going to launch. Others started to come down to the dock to watch as well. We could hear the sounds from Magic Kingdom even though it had closed hours earlier. The Haunted Mansion was sounding quite spooky. Then at 11:59 the sky started to light up. It was an eerie sight. The clouds turned an orange/reddish color and then through the clouds the shuttle appeared. We watched in amazement as the shuttle rose upward and the rocket boosters dropped from the sides. Then the shuttle faded into the sky like a star. The girls were so excited to see the shuttle go up. Afterwards we headed up to the room for a good night’s rest.

 

[Kelcot]

What a good start to the trip report and what a GREAT surprise! I'm so happy for your family because this seems like a trip of a lifetime! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Cinderella1001]

Saturday, August 28, 2009

Ahhh, the morning of the surprise announcement, I quickly took a shower and repacked the bag. I checked with Guest Services to see if anyone had turned in the camera case...low and behold it appeared. After thanking them, I left the girls surprise gift bags and the instructions for Guest Services about the scavenger hunt. I dropped off all the clues and returned to the room. Every cast member that I spoke with about the scavenger hunt thought it was the best planned surprise and was more than welcome to help with the hunt. I woke the girls around 8:45 and they got dressed and we headed back to the Grand Floridian Cafe for breakfast. We ordered breakfast and as the girls were eating I distracted them by stating “Isn’t that little girl over there cute?” As they turned to look “over there” I slipped the first clue in front of Jessica. After about 10 minutes she finally saw the clue. The girls opened it and found that they were done with their breakfast and wanted to start their new adventure.

They seemed a little stumped over the first clue but after looking at the map, they figured out the first clue. I handed them the second clue and sent them on their way. I kept watch as they went from place to place. Then they got stumped. For some reason they decided to skim the clues and not really read them. I had to point them in the right direction a few times but they managed to get to the final clue and still couldn’t figure the end surprise. They figured out the “When You Wish Upon a Star” answer and managed to get their surprise bags from guest services. I had them sit down (right beside the ship model) and open their bags together. They pulled out their cards saying “Welcome Aboard the Magic” and started to read them. After reading, Jessica questioning the card states “We’re going on a cruise?” “When?” I stated that “yes” they were going on a cruise and that because they were so slow in figuring out their clues that we were supposed to be leaving right then. The girls grabbed their bags in excitement and we ran back to the room.

The girls changed into their trip clothes and John was ready and waiting for our return. We called the bell stand and quickly had our luggage picked up. Waiting outside was Henry our limo driver. He loaded our luggage and off we went to the port. Along the way we stopped to pickup Pepsi for John. After 2 stops we got the Pepsi and headed to the ship. The girls were so excited that they couldn’t stop talking or texting their friends. We arrived at the port and unloaded the luggage. We looked like we were moving onto the ship for months. The porter said they could take all of the bags, even the ones with the candy in it. I let them take all but the soda luggage and the luggage with the magnets. We checked-in, had our photos taken, and sat waiting for our boarding number to be called.

While we were waiting, the girls had their photo taken with Mickey Mouse and texted their friends. After about 40 minutes they called our boarding number 18. Yay! We walked through the Mickey Ears and soon had our photo taken. We gathered our bags and headed up the gangway onto the ship. They announced our family name and the magic began.

We walked up to Parrot Cay but the wait for lunch was long so we walked upstairs and the girls and I decided to stay with the bags as it was a short wait until the rooms were ready. John went on up to Topsiders to grab lunch. The doors opened to the cabins and we took our luggage to our cabins. The girls had their own cabin next to ours. I explained the rules to the girls and they agreed that they would obey them graciously. The girls left and went exploring the ship. I went up on deck and got some lunch. The girls met up with me as the gray clouds were forming above. We looked over at Cape Canaveral where the shuttle had launched just hours before. It began to sprinkle rain but soon stopped. I went back to the room and our luggage started to arrive outside the doors. I began to drag the luggage into the rooms and began unpacking them. I put the magnets up on the doors so that we could find our room fast.

John came back to the cabin and started helping unpack the luggage. I put the snack bags together and got them ready to drop off later that evening. Soon the girls returned and it was just about time for the lifeboat drill. I realized that it was too late to meet up with the other DisBoard members for our meet at 3:00 to get our bracelets so we grabbed our lifejackets and walked down to Animators Palate which was our station for the drill. It was nice not being out on the deck. We completed our lifeboat drill and returned our lifejackets to the room. The sail away party was coming up next and surely not to be missed. John and I each grabbed our sail away drink and headed out on the deck to watch the party. The characters arrived and the countdown began. Soon the horn blew “When You Wish Upon A Star” and we were off. The party began and we all started dancing and having fun. We returned to the room to begin getting ready for dinner. John didn’t feel well and took a nap that lasted till the morning.

The girls and I took down our two huge gift bags full of candy for the guest services and characters. I had decided months ago that I wanted to do something special for those that work non-stop dealing with every issue in the book and for those that are making every wish come true. So I had put about 60 candy bags together and wrote cards for the characters and guest services members. When we approached guest services with our loot they were flabbergasted and didn’t know what to say. The bags were a hit! I also left autograph books for the characters to sign and I figured I would use them in the scrapbook later.

We ran back to the room and gave our stateroom hostess Jenny her two bags (one from each room) and she was stunned as well. (I know you usually give them something at the end of the voyage but I wanted them to feel special early.) We carried our dinner servers goodie bags with us to dinner. We stepped out on deck and took a few pictures of the sun setting then we arrived fashionably late just so we could avoid the line to get into the restaurant.

We had a delicious meal at Parrot Cay and met our servers Pierre and Agus who were quite entertaining. The girls ordered off of the kids menu and kept Pierre and Agus hopping throughout dinner. At the end of dinner the girls had decided that they didn’t want any desert so I told Agus to bring them “Nothing.” So he did just that and brought them a plate written in chocolate “Nothin.” The girls were rolling in the floor. Afterwards, we gave the bags filled with candy to them and they were thrilled. We also had a bag for the Head Server Roberto. He too was thrilled.

The girls went to check out the Stack and I walked around the deck enjoying the evening. While we were gone, Room Service had delivered a celebration cake to the room for Jessica. I started thinking that this was the one I had ordered and thought this can’t be right so off to Guest Services I went. After speaking with Guest Services, they assured me that there was a cake order into the pastry chef for the following evening to be delivered after dinner. I just wanted to be sure that my paid cake was definitely going to be there.

The girls returned from hanging out in the Stack and hit the bed. I told them that they will want to get up early to have breakfast and start their ritual tanning sessions (a must before starting school the following week). I had ordered from room service a All Hands on Deck cheese plate and cookies and milk for the girls so they enjoyed eating them and watching some tv as they unwound from the day’s excitement.

 

[Mickey4me!]

Great report! You're planning is wonderful! We took our DD on an Eastern cruise and included her best friend for their high school graduation in 2002 using DVC points (they had a cat 11 while mom and dad had a 6 ). They had a blast and so did we. Next month we'll be taking DD and her fiance on a Western cruise and the excitement level is just as high. They are both so excited and so are we. I can't wait to read the rest of your report!!

 

[Cinderella1001]

Sunday, August 30, 2009

This morning, I got up a bit early and walked around the deck to get some exercise in and take a few pictures. I returned to the cabin and woke the girls up for breakfast. I figured we would eat in Lumiere’s that morning so the girls had to quickly get dressed so we could be of the first into the restaurant so they could eat and then get on with their day. They got up and threw on their clothes and joined me for breakfast. Waffles, French toast, egg omelet, and doughnuts seemed to be the choices for us.

After breakfast, the girls put on their bathing suits and decided to get some sun on deck. I returned to my cabin to find John just getting up. He was feeling better so he went on his own way to explore. I started to see some of our magnets disappearing from the girl’s cabin door. This upset the girls to the point that they wrote a note and put it on the door stating that they wanted the magnets returned and that it took me a long time to make them.

After a bite of lunch on deck with the girls, I decided to go to the DVC presentation for the members. The girls joined me and John surprised us by attending also. We got our red hats and sat with a nice couple. The girls started getting bored and left to go see what was happening up in the Stack. John and I each won a gift by answering questions. The gifts we won were duplicates so I gave mine to the couple beside us. I was hoping to win the $300 shipboard credit, but had no luck with that.

Since the girls had coated themselves in tanning oil they returned to their cabin later that day and took their showers. The girls and I got dressed in our formal wear. Jessica couldn’t decide which dress to wear and I quickly made the choice for her with her blue and white zebra dress. (The dress would match her cake when it was brought to her later that night.) While John got ready, the girls and I went to the Golden Mickey’s show. What a great show it was and we sat where the glitter was shot out above us so we were covered in glitter.

We went back to the room to get John and decided to get our pictures taken before eating. The lines were long for photos but we were able to get our formal picture taken and also our photo with the captain. Our dinner was in Lumiere’s that evening. We walked into the dining room not so fashionably late but enough to avoid the line waiting to get into dinner. Upon walking into dinner we were approached by the other head server. He wanted to know why he didn’t get any goody bag with candy. Thank goodness I have extras in the room...I will bring him a bag in the morning.

We were seated at our table and the girls decided to again order from the kids menu. Courtney did try some French Onion Soup and commented on how tasty it was. I spoke to Roberto quietly to make sure they knew about the birthday cake. He assured me that they had it and would bring it out for desert. I told the girls that they would definitely want to have desert that evening and to save room for it.

We had our pictures taken at dinner again. After they took away our dinner plates, Agus and Pierre made the girls bows out of the napkins and placed it on their heads. While this was going on, Roberto had Jessica’s cake and showed it off throughout the dining room. He approached our table with the cake and placed it in front of Jessica.

Stunned and surprised was the expression on her face. Roberto assisted Jessica in standing on her chair and then announced to the dining room that it was her Sweet 16 birthday. The entire room began singing Happy Birthday to her. Roberto was stunned and informed us that in his years onboard he has never had the entire room sing at once. He had tears in his eyes when this happened and said that he will remember this event. It was truly a priceless moment.

We looked at the gorgeous cake and didn’t want to cut the cake until we had pictures of it. While we were debating the cutting of the cake Roberto reappeared with the Head Pastry chef. He was super sweet and informed us that he enjoyed making her birthday cake. Afterwards, many kids from the surrounding tables came over and wished Jessica a Happy Birthday and wanted to see the cake again. We decided to take the cake back to the room and nibble on it the rest of the week. Roberto allowed Pierre to carry the cake to the room for us which he gladly accepted the challenge to carry the wonderful treat. The girls loved the exposure they got from the excitement. There were several “cute” guys that kept eyeing the girls as they walked away with the cake.

After dinner, the girls went back up to the stack to enjoy the teen scene again. I decided to check out the shops on board and picked up a few gifts for myself and Jessica. The shops of course had the next two series in the Disney vinylmation collectibles that Jessica had started collecting. So I again started the next collection by picking up a few boxes for her.

The girls returned from their outing in the Stack and found the vinylmation boxes. Jessica opened them and found that there were no duplicates. Whew...of course now she knows that they are onboard and wants more. So back to the shops we go and purchase a few more. The next few had no duplicates as well so she was happy with that. Of course she wants to finish the set but will pick up more later in the trip.

We topped off the evening by walking around on deck and just enjoying the fresh air and quiet.

 

[epfootballcutie04]

What an absolutely FANTASTIC surprise. I am incredibly jealous!!! ... where's the pictures!?!?! I want, I want!!

 

[GirlfromTN]

Ooh I would love to see pictures!

 

[aiken4mickey]

I agree PICTURES!! PICTURES!! This sounds so much like something I have done or would do ...my daughter is turning 14 on our Nov cruise...I'm loving it!!!

 

[Cinderella1001]

Okay...I have been trying to put pics up but am having issues. Can someone out there give me great directions on how to add them.
Thanks.

 

[epfootballcutie04]

Okay...I have been trying to put pics up but am having issues. Can someone out there give me great directions on how to add them.
Thanks.

Whenever I would add pictures on here, I would have to upload them to a site like... photobucket. And then it would give you a link to post in here

Good luck!

 

[knewton64]

Whenever I would add pictures on here, I would have to upload them to a site like... photobucket. And then it would give you a link to post in here

Good luck!

Secondly, how do I then upload each picture onto my Disboards.com DCL trip report??? again, I am confused by this as well. do i right click over "upload images?" When I do, it takes me to my pictures. but i cant upload, select, choose, pick or grab any pic to then move it on over to my trrip report..
Need help and would greatly appreciate your assistance.
I haver been at this (trying to upload pics) 4 over 2 hrs and this is driving me "GOOFY!"

Thanks!
When you go into your folder to select which files to upload, hold down the "CTRL" button. After you have selected multiple pictures while holding down the button, hit upload.

When placing pictures into your trip report or anywhere on Dis'boards, you will need to do it each picture individually. Put your cursor over the image, the very bottom of the drop down menu is the "IMG" link. Copy this link (control c is copy) and paste (control v) into your message.

Good luck.
__________________

 

[Lanie]

Just wanted to tell you I am enjoying your trip report!

 

[ArmandXG]

Wow, what a great trip report. I actually had tears in my eyes when your D.D. finally realized she was going on a cruise. I have a nephew that I would love to surprise. I think the scavenger hunt is a great idea!

It seems like you had a little for your entire trip! Winning the limo, finding your camera case, etc. I can't wait to read more... looking forward to seeing the photos.

Don't feel bad about having difficulty uploading, I have the same problem... that's why I am married to a computer geek! I told him that if he ever left me I would be thrown back into the dark ages

 

[Mojodisney]

We were on the cruise with you, but I don't remember the birthday singing. But it has been 2 months and my memory of the trip details are not as strong. Enjoying your TR.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

What an amazing surprise for your daughter - I can only imagine how excited you were planning all of that! I am really enjoying your report so far and looking forward to more !!

 

[lmhall2000]

What a GREAT memory maker you are!! KUDOS MOM!!! Can't wait for pics of that cake!! I want to get a 48th anniversary cake for my parents...curious how yours turned out! Any hint on how much the cake ranges??

Tara

 

[Cinderella1001]

Soooo sorry I haven't been on the boards in quite a while. I have been busy with my daughter (school, cheerleading, football games) and now I just started a new job. I really hope to finish this thread. I was working on a scrapbook for her with all of this but guess what...its not done and I haven't even printed the pics from the trip. So as soon as I get a spare minute of time. Maybe this weekend. I will write more and get this post finished. Thanks for being so understanding.