A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream!

jenseib

Mommy to Claire
Joined
Oct 28, 2006
Hello all! We just got back from a fabulous “Dream” trip on the Disney Dream, along with a stay at Residence Inn, Cape Canaveral, Pop Century at WDW, and Residence Inn near Sea World, with a few park visits to Magic Kingdom, Sea World and Epcot!

The dates of this trip were March 30th to April 6th.

Let’s get started with the introductions of who was SUPPOSED to go on this trip.

Me~ Jennifer~ The mom of 3 LOVELY Children (though they are not always lovely at the same time…or even all the time) I am a very BIG Disney fan and am always trying to think of a way to get there!

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Skip~ My Wonderful husband of almost 9 years. He is a good dad, and he even puts up with my passion for Disney…though usually with a lot of eye rolling.

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Claire~ a 6 year old girl who loves Disney very much and was very excited to take her first Cruise, as well as seeing and dressing like the Princesses.

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My 2 other children are now adults and did not travel with us nor really want to for the most part. They are Michael and Paige.

As the title will tell you, we had a few mishaps, and there was a cast change…more on that in a bit.

Now for a little background info…….history. It is a little long, but I promise, I have a ton of pictures to post after all of this!

This is one of those trips that I thought just never would happen…I know, you’ve heard it all before, but HONESTLY, it really took a LONG time to get to this point.

We have gone to Disney with Claire in March of 2007, 2008 and 2009. I really wanted to go again in 2010. Skip had had a hip replacement in late 2009 and just was not ready to go back in early 2010. But believe me, I tried to convince him all the same. Claire and I then came up with the plan that we should go for her 6th birthday in December. Skip said he would think about it. Through out the year, we got a lot of “some days”, “we’ll sees”, and “maybes”.
In the mean time, Skip was still having troubles with his hip and had been sent to several different Drs…all of them claiming to have no clue what was wrong with him.
In Oct Skip started talking more about a possible Dec. trip. We had dates set, and places we want to go, etc.
Then he threw a wrench in my plans. “How much does a Disney cruise cost?”…. I was shocked! I had tried to convince him to do this in 2009 for my 40th birthday, but when it came down to it, he decided he would rather go to WDW. He had worries about a cruise with a little one with us.
I did some quick pricing, and the price for 3 nights on the Wonder, along with a few nights at WDW were almost the same as 7 nights at WDW. Before making it a done deal, Skip had one more Dr’s appointment he wanted to attend and see what was determined. This was with his hip Dr. who had claimed all year long that nothing was wrong with the hip.
Things totally changed this day. The Dr found that the implant had never adhered to the bone and the replacement was going to need to be replaced. It was scheduled for Dec 6th….2 days before we had planned to leave for our vacation.
Plans then were postponed and we decided we would go in March and still be able to catch the free dining. (I must note that even though we agreed on this, Skip sometimes doesn’t listen to me and just agrees anyways).
Mid January rolls around, Skip seems to be healing well, and I mention that we have to have Disney paid for soon to be able to get the free dining. Skip goes in panic mode and says, he doesn’t care about saving money (yeah right) and he would rather go in May now, but he WOULD NOT commit to any dates. Let’s just say that I wasn’t happy, and for a few days there wasn’t much talking going on at all in our house.

A few days later, Skip mentions he has called a Travel Agent and has looked at possibly going on the Disney Dream or going to Disneyland in CA. My job then, was to spend lots of hours on the computer pricing several scenarios, we chose the 3 night Dream, with a few added park days.
FINALLY a trip is booked!
 
A little cruising history~
I have been on two cruises in my life prior to this trip, both on NCL. I really enjoyed it. It is also the only kind of cruise experience I have ever known, so I couldn’t compare it to other lines. Skip also sailed once on NCL with me. We both liked the free style dining. What would I think of Disney?

They are SUPERIOR!

Now for a few mishaps….
On Feb 26th, Skip’s brother broke his leg. They are business partners of our Dairy Farm, and one need to be able to work at all times. Skip was slightly worried, but then figured his brother would be just fine in a months time. After all Skip had his hip replaced and was back to work in 2 weeks.
All seemed to be looking good.
30 days before we set sail…….. March 1. In celebration of being in our travel month, I gave Claire a little gift bag of goodies.
She got Poppy Jr...which she loves. She is obsessed with Chihuahua 2 movie and watches it daily. So this was a perfect gift. She briefly lost him on a mall trip and I thought the world might end if we didn’t find him, but luckily we did!

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And a Mickey head watch that you can wear like a necklace

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She is learning to tell time now, so I thought it would be nice to take on the trip.

And a book with info about each Disney character

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She was very excited and enjoyed these gifts. She also worked on a Countdown calendar daily, adding a new sticker each day till the day of our flight!
 
On to March 16, a Wednesday.
Skip comes into the house from working and says he doubts very much his brother will be able to even walk in the next two weeks. He tells me to ask Paige if she would like to go along in his place. I was upset, of course, but what could we do? I called Paige and she wanted to go REALLY badly. BUT she had just started 2 new jobs about a week or 2 earlier and she was in school as well. After a day of thinking it over she did the responsible thing and said she couldn’t go.
I called my Mom and asked if she would like to come. I wasn’t sure if she could because she had just come home from Vegas the Sat. before.
She cleared her work schedule and OK’d it with her boss and by Friday she was on the reservation to take Skips place.

New Cast member….. Mom!

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But there was a kink still in the plans. Dad wanted to go as well. We gave DCL a call and were told that the ship was at capacity. After some talking and playing around with the airlines and a few more calls, we made a decision. Dad was going to fly down with us and stay with us at the Residence Inn one night. He would then drop us off at the Port and go on to Kennedy Space Center for the day, then head over to his sisters home in the Villages (about 2 hours away) for the next 3 nights. He would then come back and pick us up from the Port and join us for the park days.

Next New cast Member…Dad!

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So the plans are all set. Nothing is allowed to go wrong from here on out!

Of course we do have a few mishaps along the way, but we have fun!

I have to tell you of a mishap right up front though….this one affects the trip report. This was the final mishap of the trip, and I didn’t even know it had happened till the day we got home. I LOST an SD card from my point and shoot camera. I take a LOT of pictures. I took 3 cameras on this trip.I think I have over 2000 even without the lost card, so I have plenty of pictures to show you all. BUT there is a few times where I had used this camera with this card in it for a couple of hours solely, so sadly there will be a few spots with some missing pictures.
I have made several calls to every lost and found number I could find, but no one has been able to locate the card.

On to the fun!!!!
 




YAY!! You guys are fast. I figured Janet would be first!

Welcome!!!! :dance3:

LOL! :rotfl2: The washer repair guy is here and my path to the computer was blocked!

He's off to get a new pump and I should be doing laundry again by tonight. So how sad is it that I'm quite excited by that news???????????

Clearly I need to escape into your trip report! :thumbsup2
 

Yay! :thumbsup2

LOL! :rotfl2: The washer repair guy is here and my path to the computer was blocked!

He's off to get a new pump and I should be doing laundry again by tonight. So how sad is it that I'm quite excited by that news???????????

Clearly I need to escape into your trip report! :thumbsup2

Hey! I cried over a lost cell phone...I totally understand! But you just need to push him out of the way so you can get to your computer!!
 
Yay! :thumbsup2



Hey! I cried over a lost cell phone...I totally understand! But you just need to push him out of the way so you can get to your computer!!


Yeah! I did as you said..... PUSHED him right out the door!

Of course, he WAS done when I did it. But YEAH! I can wash the stinky towels and track clothes!

Now on with the report! :surfweb:
 
OK..... you have your old pre-trip report open and are posting there when stuff comes up...... you have your dining report..... and now FINALLY! :dance3: the trip report........

All I can say is.............

When are you starting your next pre-trip for the trip where you finally get Skip back to Disney? :rotfl2:
 
Subbing, too. Love your reports! We (meaning me and the kids, not dh, he refuses to hear the word Disney) are wanting to take a cruise next year. Your pre-trip report and your dining review are answering lots of questions for me. Can't wait to read more.

BTW, what part of Ohio do you live in? DH is from the Arcanum/Greenville area, my in laws live in Greenville and my sil lives in Centerville. And, Luke Skywalker - wonderdog extrodinaire is from 4 Paws for Ability in Xenia.
 

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