From Fantasyland to the Fantasy: We came, we saw, we kicked it's AFT! UPDATED 1/10!

[Cheryl726]

WOW! Congrats on being the First Family, what an awesome experience! That is a great family pic on the boat!

 

[nancy drew]

Wow, so exciting already, and you haven't even boarded the Fantasy!

I'm reading along as I am just shy of pulling the trigger on the Eastern Fantasy cruise next summer. It will be our first, and I'm just overwhelmed by the price and trying to figure out how to book it. I read (silently lurked in) your Dreamworks cruise report, and can't wait to hear how this compares!

 

[DLW8]

Jen - the shirts came out great, and obviously brought you lots of pixie dust!

Can't wait to see what else happened!

 

[nenner1]

I know the picture difference too. I had 3 cameras going on my trip and you can certainly tell the difference. But I do love the waterproof camera for fun events like that. may not be top notch pictures, but still decent and you can have the memories!

Oh absolutely! The waterproof one was our main 2nd camera and having it came in really handy when the batteries for the Rebel would run out. I had 3 batteries in rotation but still managed to deplete them frequently!

The pool looks so fun. I don't think I have ever seen pictures (or not many at least) of this pool before. I am glad you shared them.

It was! all Disney pools are fun pools but it is right up there with some of the best we've had the chance to enjoy! (Animal Kingdom Lodge and Swan/Dolphin are other awesome ones!)

From all your pics of just the pool I know now your not exagerating with how many pics you took lol. I wish i could take a vacation and just resort hop. Cant wait for more!

Yeah I ended up just under 10,000 once I found my Day 6 and 7 pics, I was totally freaking about those...just wait until I bombard you with Fantasy pics....I must have several hundred of the Aquaduck tubes from below as much as we were on it! hehe!

JEN!!!

So excited that I happened to see your TR listed on the main page. We had a fabulous time on this trip, and loved meeting you and your family.

Darcy!

I second that- what a FANTASTIC (or is that Fantasy-tastic!) week! It was awesome meeting you and your family and again I can;t thank you enough for what you did to make the trip special! The Private Mixology was such a BLAST!!! I promise I don't have too many incriminating pics...LOL...

Can't wait to re-live the week since I know I will never actually DO a trip report.

That is what I love most about doing a TR!

And I need to show my family how many photos you took. They think I take a lot, and I only had a little over 500 on this cruise.

Oh believe me I was taking a lot of heat for it. "NO MORE PICTURES MOM!" was probably the most often uttered phrase of the week in our family! Its great to have so many especially since so many of them came out bad! LMAO!

Can't wait to hear the final decision for Ron,

and definitely can't wait to see the Random Wind photos and read the details.

Yes, that was a really good time! Lots of great pics to come of that excursion! We all had a blast!!!

We loved our St. John Champagne Catamaran excursion (from St. Thomas) and Jordan was so happy that we actually DID see some turtles and swim alongside them. It was amazing.

That sounds awesome! I will keep it in mind for next time we are there- I just LOVE St. John!

I am subbing to keep reading about the trip - and OKW looks beautiful, I will add that to my list of places to try out one of these days if I can ever get the kids to go back to WDW instead of DCL!

I know, right? It's getting harder and harder even though we are close by. Some of the Fl Res Rates on the Dream are too good to be true- just our 3 day WDW passes were nearly $1,000...when you can take a cruise on the Dream for $1700 well how can you compare!

Woo hoo! Hi Jen! Looking forward to reading along with you. I am a trip report flunkie...and why would I need one when yours are always fabulous! Can't wait to relive our trip on the fantasy again. Hope there are no incriminating pics from the mixology class....

Hi Jill! It was so great meeting you on the cruise! That Mixology was such a blast! SO GLAD we got to do that! I do have some incriminating pictures...LOL..I'll try to make sure they aren't too bad!

I'm so...glad you had a safe journey and another wonderful Disney adventure.

Hi Joanie!

I'm sad it's over but excited for you guys- oh my gosh you and Sam are going to LOVE THIS SHIP! It really is THAT GREAT! We just loved it soo much!

I watched for you guys on sail away, but image wasn't that great. I'm going to check when they have your cruise available to view.

Yeah, I know. A friend of mine grabbed a screenshot but even she couldn't really tell it was us. oh well...it's OK. I know the camera at PC isn't as good as the one in Port Everglades. I really do hope they post the video, it seems they aren't posting them consistently from PC.

We sail on the 20th, so I'm hanging on every word. Looking forward to the Halloween activities again.

Thanks for sharing.
Joanie

LOL Ron said last night "I hate Halloween when we aren't on a cruise" HAHA!

I wish I could think of some tips to give you but I don't really think you will need any- the ship is a little different but I found it easy to get around as it is still very familiar to the Magic.

Less than 2 weeks! Yay!!!

Enjoying your TR and pictures. You and your family really know how to have fun!!!

Thanks so much! We definitely always try to make the most out of our trips! Glad to have you reading along!

Love your reports Can't wait to read all about your adventures

Thanks so much Cass, it's always a pleasure to have you aboard!

How fantastic that you were the first family! What a cool way to start off your day at the Magic Kingdom

It was so awesome! I knew this trip was going to be the best EVAH and that pretty much confirmed it!

Sorry to hear about Sarah not feeling so good, poor kid

Yes, I wish I could say that will be that last instance of overeating and vomiting on this trip...but let's just say it wasn't! I'll leave it at that for now!

WOW! Congrats on being the First Family, what an awesome experience! That is a great family pic on the boat!

Thanks so much! It really was an amazing start! How in the world will the cruise match up to that? Well...it did! That isn't a spoiler is it? LOL!

Wow, so exciting already, and you haven't even boarded the Fantasy!

I know! it was awesome and it keeps getting better!

I'm reading along as I am just shy of pulling the trigger on the Eastern Fantasy cruise next summer. It will be our first, and I'm just overwhelmed by the price and trying to figure out how to book it. I read (silently lurked in) your Dreamworks cruise report, and can't wait to hear how this compares!

Oh my gosh- first of all so happy to have you reading along again. Second of all GO BOOK THE FANTASY RIGHT NOW! It's OK, I'll wait.....

In all seriousness..these cruises just keep getting better and better. We LOVED the Fantasy- it is OUTSTANDING! it really is the best of Disney Cruise Line- and as Ron says "the BEST overall cruise experience out there". Did he really say that? Yes...yes he did! So that oughta tell you something!

Jen - the shirts came out great, and obviously brought you lots of pixie dust!

Can't wait to see what else happened!

Thanks! They really were Magical!

 

[livingis2me]

I'm so...glad you had a safe journey and another wonderful Disney adventure.

I watched for you guys on sail away, but image wasn't that great. I'm going to check when they have your cruise available to view.

We sail on the 20th, so I'm hanging on every word. Looking forward to the Halloween activities again.

Thanks for sharing.
Joanie

Joanie,

We missed seeing you guys around every corner on this cruise! It's so funny how on cruises you see some people all the time and then others you wouldn't have ever known you were on the same cruise. We had a few that we saw over and over on this cruise too! I know you'll enjoy your cruise. Be sure to check out Satellite Falls! This was a nice quiet area to get away from it all. It's especially relaxing when they have the guitar player out there, playing Buffett-type music.

Ron

 

[livingis2me]

Great start Jen! I can't wait to see how the rest of it turns out!

 

[michigan829]

Hey, remember me??? LOL

I really enjoyed reading your trip report, and so glad I was enjoying the same cruise! LOL

Take care!

Caroline (Go Blue)

 

[michigan829]

Great start Jen! I can't wait to see how the rest of it turns out!

Hello, Ron!

 

[livingis2me]

Hello, Ron!

Hi Caroline! I guess this will be my new Dis Home until we transfer our dummy date to our 2014 Fantasy cruise and have a new meet thread. Opps, I hope that isn't a spoiler for this trip report. Yes, we enjoyed it enough to re-book...

Ron

 

[lucas]

Hey Jen,

Lovin' your report! Congrats on being First Family!

Not to be totally off topic (oh, why not?!) but I found something interesting about the Allure. She will have a 3 nighter for Valentine's Day 2013! Still expensive, but I wish we could do it.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/finda...pe=CO&state=&packageCode=AL03S031&date=201301

 

[jenseib]

How awesome to be first family. I didn't even know they did such a thing.

I had the same thought about the parking lot in March. I didn't remember them having two sets of trams like that and I thought the names had changed...but it's been so long since I last drove to the parks that I thought it might've changed years ago.

That peanutbutter gold rush sundae looks sooo good. Thats my style. I am a huge fan of the no way jose at Beaches and cream and I bet this would be just as good. I have yet to make it into there yet.

I am surprised you had a good review of that fast food place (I am blanking on the name right now) I mostly hear bad reviews and I actually heard it may be taken out. I only used the bathroom there, but not eaten there myself.


Poor Sarah. Was it just that she ate too much?
We had a puking incident at DHS one year. I push Claires head into a garbage can...gross I know, but I didn't know what else to do. Unfortunately she was sick the rest of the day and the next day we went home and she was very fussy on the plane. We had a good trip, but the last 2 days were hard.

 

[Fastpaks]

Woohoo! So is that the cruise you are on Deck 10, in 2014? What is your date?

We were originally on D10 for the '13 cruise, but the '14 cruise we are going to try and lower ourselves a deck. That said I'm still curious about it and glad you grabbed the shots. There was a thread on here about the aft cabins and how folks are concerned with the sight lines from Cabanans. We are going to go on the first eastern in '14. With all the craziness of trying to get my business venture off the ground, it should be the one bit of sanity to look forward to. I would love to think about doing what you and Ron were talking about, I guess that is why the whole be your own boss is intriguing to me. (Speaking of the business, I have a few ideas that involves your young dancer that I need to run by ya.)

After showing Adam the facilities to OKW, I think he is warming up to a "hidden slide" and a place that has real sand. I didin't realize how I lived in Florida for soooo long and we had sand ever where. The first time he saw it was Sea World and Hotel Hell.

Very cool to get a Front of the Line pass.... (TEACHERS PET)
I also never knew there was ice cream in DTD at Ghiardelli's. I thought it was just Candy. I'm putting that on the list of need to do when I come down next. (as well as a run to Earl)

Jonathan

 

[podsnel]

Great exit (puke-o-rama) and entrance (first family)! Yuck, yuck, yuck on the exit, tho. My boys did enjoy the story, however!

And this-

What a great shot!

 

[JKSWonder]

Sarah's hair has gotten so long! Now I'm wondering if you got it braided again on this cruise (and if so, if she fell asleep this time!). Guess I will have to wait until further on in the report to find out.

Did you know Ghiardelli's also gives a discount to military, fire and police? Me either! I thought for sure, military, but never thought about asking about the other two. Mike and his Mom were talking about something random about his job, the cashier overheard them, asked if he was a police officer, he confirmed and, bam, discount! And to think, all these years I've been paying full price for those sundaes.

Poor Sarah's little tummy. And the DTD bathrooms are unfindable. This happens to us all too often. Michael is the usual culprit. However, we just took a camping trip to go apple picking and on the way home, I kid you not, Michael, Allison AND the dog all got car sick. At different times, no less.

First Family? How cool is that!

 

[Mysteria]

First family must have been such an exciting surprise!! Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Misskitty3]

How awesome that you got to be the First Family!! So exciting!

 

[anewmac]

I think its so cool to be picked as 1st family for anything!!! and your own tranportation SWEET! The shirts came out AMAZING. Do you have a close up of the rinestones I wanna see. I found one to make a pink ribbon for my breast cancer walk and am going to try after seeing your shirts. I want to bling it out like your also but need tips. Did you glue them? Iron on?

btw saw this pic and just have to say i think she's going to give Savanah a run for the money! Love the pose and sass! lol

 

[nenner1]

After Pooh, we decided that Ron and the big kids would run (or walk fast!) to Space Mountain, get FP’s and ride standby. Sarah and I would get the stroller and leisurely meet them there.

Our stroller sure is easy to spot!

Looks pretty empty in Tomorrowland!

We thought Sarah would be big enough for Space Mountain this time. She is about 43” tall barefoot and it was really close with her shoes on. You can see here she has her chin tilted down. When she lifted her chin, her head touched the sign. I was pretty sure she would get to ride, especially as we waited by the exit for Ron and the kids we saw other kids smaller than her exiting the ride.

So…we waited….and waited. The Standby line said 10 so I thought we must have just really gotten over there too fast. Then I got a text from Ron. It said ‘Stuck on ride”

Waiting…

Oh boy. We sat and waited patiently. 10 minutes…15. Ron texts back- still in rocket. I ask him if I should take Sarah on TTA or something. He replies yes.
We go onto the TTA thinking for sure by the time we get off, they will be out and waiting for us at the Exit.

But as we cruise into Space Mountain, we see something that delights me. Something I have never seen in person before. THE LIGHTS ARE ON!

How cool! I was surprised to see how BIG the ride was, I had read how small and rinky-dink it seemed to appear when this lights were on. Didn’t seem that way to me.

The pictures don’t do it but the video is a little better. Click To Play (and stay with it, I tried to get a shot over the wall which didn’t work, but once the Plexiglas window comes around you can see it!)



We start to walk back over to Space, but run into Chip and Dale coming out for a Meet & Greet. The line is short, so we hop in. Why not? I’m pretty sure they were still stuck on the ride.

The Chip & Dale line moved slowly though so before we knew it, guess who showed up?

So by now the FP’s Ron had gotten for all of us to ride Space were valid, and since you have to return in the window now, we figured it made no sense to go elsewhere and come back. We headed over.

But on the way ran into Stitch with no line.

Finally back at Space Mountain, indeed Sarah was pulled out and measured. We tried to get her to stand straight but she just didn’t get it. If she put her head up, then she bent her knees. If she straightened her knees then she leaned over. She still looked big enough though. The guy at the entrance sent her through. We really thought she would make it!



But at the actual entrance to the rockets they pulled her out and measured her again. The lady tried to make her stand correctly but again she just didn’t quite make it.

We were allowed to child swap, and Ron and Sarah headed for the chicken exit.

The kids and I rode- LOVE this ride. It’s my favorite!

Afterward the kids were hungry so we stopped and got them some Popcorn and some drinks. The cloud cover was wearing off and it was getting HOT!!!

It also kept getting busier and busier. We hoped we would be able to ride everything we wanted to. Even with the delays (the Space debacle cost us a good hour), so far we seemed to be doing OK.

Now THIS looks like a fun ride!

We decide to head towards Big Thunder and Splash- get a fastpass for one and ride the other standby.

In the hub, however we have a disagreement about which is the fastest and most direct way to get there. Ron insists it is better to go through Liberty Square to get there. I’m pretty sure it’s faster to go through Adventureland and Caribbean Plaza.

I won, and we went my way, but I’m genuinely curious which way is faster. Anyone know?


(Continued)

 

[nenner1]

We got FP’s for Splash and then decided to ride Big Thunder Standby since it said the wait was only 20 mins.

Sarah was just tall enough for Thunder and Splash on our last visit so she had ridden before but didn’t seem to remember the rides.

She was quite excited to ride the “crazy choo-choo train”

Yep, it is better in the back. You have the full speed back there as the weight of the train is ahead of you. It is even better later in the day when the grease on the rails has heated up and melted!

Oh yeah, and this blocks your view if you are in the front anyway.

After Thunder we were shocked to see a 5 min Standby at Splash. It was still early and we were concerned about getting wet but how could we pass by a 5m wait?

We got lucky that it seems the obnoxious water cannons at the drop that usually soak you as you prepare to enter the first lift hill of the ride have been dialed back a notch and no longer reach across the briar patch to drench you. Hallelujah! Nobody really wants to get soaked do they?

Sarah loved the ride I expected her to freak out at the drop, but this is what she thought of it:

Yeah baby!

When we got off, we could get FP’s again, so we headed over and grabbed a set for Big Thunder. So far the FP situation was working out OK.
We headed to nearby Pirates of the Caribbean next. Could we be so lucky as to catch another short wait?


(You can see it if you look closely in the upper right hand corner of this otherwise horrible pic.)

The other thing funny about this picture is as soon as I snapped it some lady totally faceplanted right in front of me. The greeter CM had to help her up.
I wanted to snicker- only because she went FLAT down so fast, but I didn't. She wasn't hurt or anything and don't worry. I'll get that Karma right back at me when I get to Castaway Cay!

Yep 5 mins!
Yo Ho Yo Ho!

For once we had a nice boat with nobody taking a million flash pictures! Yay! Well, until Capt, Jack at the end. I guess everybody has to take that pic, don’t they?

After Pirates, our Splash FP window was up so we headed right back over there!



How Dy’a Do? Again!

After this trip on Splash we had a while before our Thunder FP’s would be good so we went back into Adventureland to check on Jungle Cruise FP’s. While Ron got those, the girls get a little crazy with the Drumming- er- now Squirting Tiki’s.

Adventureland is getting quite busy.

Even thought the line to Aladdin’s Magic carpets was CRAZY (it said 20 mins but looked ridiculous), Sarah wanted to go on it, so we did.

It was actually only 15 mins but it was so hot and slow moving it seemed like an hour.

You shall NOT spit at me, Camel.

(Of course his idiot brother on the ground almost got me as we exited the ride)

By now it was 1 PM and we were all hungry! Usually in the MK we eat at Columbia Harbor House (something about the smell of seafood and vinegar just screams Magical to me!) but this time Ron wanted to try something different. I did too. I had just recently heard of the new chicken waffle sandwiches at Sleepy Hollow. You had me at Waffle! So, after a stop at the restrooms, we passed through the Adventureland/Frontierland breezeway and headed for Liberty Square.



Up Next: Cover Girls (and Boys!): High Fashion Modeling in the Magic Kingdom!

 

[livsmom04]

I'm enjoying your trip report and look forward to reading more about it. We are thinking of taking a cruise in 2014 if we can afford it.