Coffee on the Verandah -The Last Slide, Recap & Souvies 5/29 - Link to Aulani TR 5/31

[PracPerfPatricia]

Hey Cynthia,

I know I wished you a happy Bday on FB but I really do hope it was awesome...

I'm sorry to hear about all of the illness in your circle...sigh... sometimes it really feels that when it rains it pours...

Glad about the boys being all about the music... totally agree so important not just because I really love music in its myriad forms but it gives them a good group of kids to hang around with... If I get my way David will swim in HS and be in Jazz Band... (& I plan on getting my way...lol)

The Meridian Lounge (?) really, really looked lovely and you all looked like you were having a great night at Pirate's night... you are a good mom to hand over the camera to your little man... sometimes as mom's we make those kinds of sacrifices for our children... Fun Pics...

Great Cruise Swag...

Looking forward to seeing Castaway Cay... thinking about doing the short cruise that goes there (3 night? ) before we commit to anything longer... ahhh... but except for the ship... that whole Alaskan thing really appeals to me... I'm going to have to go back and read that trip report of yours on Alaska...

 

[CarolynK]

You got some great pins!!

Considering how many people are on board, it sure looks like you and your husband were able to find some quiet areas! Nice!

 

[glennbo123]

I can relate to Evan on the Aquaduct (Aquaduck?), that would've been me at his age.

Dinner looked like a fun time.

 

[rentayenta]

Great update Cynthia. As usual you look gorgeous. You two are a darling couple.

You didn't dress up for pirate night?


Let me ask you.....tell me how you handle everyone splitting up without cell phones or ways to communicate? I've thought about how I'll handle Joshua going to the Edge and what we'll do? With only5 nights, I'm not sure that's long enough to really get to know our way around, ya know? Are they allowed to come and go into the clubs as they please?

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Cynthia. I love the picture of you by the rail on the ship. And I am now drooling over that crab cake that one of you had for your appetizer.

Great photos at dinner!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

We loved the travel themed interior here and tried to get a shot of the 2 of us with the cool luggage strapped in seating

That is awesome! I'd never seen that before. Now I want to find a room in my house to decorate like that!

Apparently Evan, who is about 80 pounds soaking wet, had gotten stuck on the Aquaduck riding solo and had gotten an earful from others waiting in line, mad apparently that he’d gotten stuck and slowed down the line.

Poor guy. People can be jerks sometimes. As if he was trying to get stuck.

The interior on the Dream is VERY different than that of the Wonder so I enjoyed checking it out

It looks a little classier on the Dream. But either spot is pretty cool.

Jack Sparrow's Barbecue Marinated Beef Short Ribs - Rubbed beef short rips with tamarind-barbecue sauce and served with onion red bliss mashed potatoes and plantain chip

I remember this being my favorite meal on the Wonder.

Yeah, I admit. The show didn't do much for me but it was cute.
Soon enough though, fireworks at sea! A first for us


And…that’s all I got picture wise as I could see quite quickly they weren't turning out.

You saw a lot more than I did on our cruise!

DIS Dads!

Sadly the ink wore off within a month of using it.

I hate that.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

By the way, I can't post this on my own TR as an update (yet) because my wife will see it...but our wait list came through for Aulani!

We got into a 1-bedroom island-garden view villa. My wife and I were just in the process of looking for a different place to stay and were ready to give up on it when we got the call. Her birthday is next month so I'm not going to say anything about it until then.

 

[glennbo123]

By the way, I can't post this on my own TR as an update (yet) because my wife will see it...but our wait list came through for Aulani!

We got into a 1-bedroom island-garden view villa. My wife and I were just in the process of looking for a different place to stay and were ready to give up on it when we got the call. Her birthday is next month so I'm not going to say anything about it until then.

Congrats!

 

[MEK]

Continued in next post

These turned out great!

Nice that you had a little alone time for an adult beverage!

Dinner looks yummy!

The Pirate Party looks like fun and fireworks at sea seems like a blast. I'm looking forward to that.

Lots of fun loot!

 

[KatMark]

By the way, I can't post this on my own TR as an update (yet) because my wife will see it...but our wait list came through for Aulani!

We got into a 1-bedroom island-garden view villa. My wife and I were just in the process of looking for a different place to stay and were ready to give up on it when we got the call. Her birthday is next month so I'm not going to say anything about it until then.

awesome news and what a wonderful birthday surprise.

 

[Flossbolna]

By the way, I can't post this on my own TR as an update (yet) because my wife will see it...but our wait list came through for Aulani!

We got into a 1-bedroom island-garden view villa. My wife and I were just in the process of looking for a different place to stay and were ready to give up on it when we got the call. Her birthday is next month so I'm not going to say anything about it until then.

I am happy for you, but I am even more excited about the fact that we will get a Captain Aulani TR now!!!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Congrats!

awesome news and what a wonderful birthday surprise.

I am happy for you, but I am even more excited about the fact that we will get a Captain Aulani TR now!!!

Thanks everyone!

Sorry, Cynthia, I didn't mean to hijack your TR. I just posted that here because you had asked about our struggles getting a reservation there before.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Great pictures again! Love the two of you at Meridian!

I am so hungry right now - I should NOT have looked at the food pics. Those potstickers look so good!!

You got some really good DVC swag! I'm going to have to make an effort to check into that more next time! We got hats and tote bags and maybe one other thing.

 

[eandesmom]

Great updates! Pirate night looks like fun! Love the idea of the Fireworks at sea.

Fire works at sea are pretty darn cool I have to admit. It was a fun night

You got some nice things from the FE group and DVC. Looking forward to the Castaway Cay day!

We did! It was a great FE.

Fun pirate night pictures! The Mickey bandanas are cute. I like the Mickey/paintbrush plates, too.

The paintbrush plates are so cute, I've often been temped to buy some. I wish the pirate bananas were bigger, they are like half bandannas. Works great for the kids but a little more challenging for Jeff and I.

Wonderful update! The Meridian lounge looks so wonderful. I remember that when the first pictures of the Dream were available online, I thought that this was one of the spots I needed to explore if I ever got to go on that ship (I guess I would enjoy it on the Fantasy as well... ).

We absolutely loved Meridian, of all the lounges on the Dream it was our favorite.

Those pirate nights celebrations seem to make that day a very long day. I wonder how it will work for us as pirate night will be on the day when we are at Cozumel. We have a snorkel adventure planned, so I imagine that I might have the same problem as Eric...

Not really longer than any other day unless you are an early to bed sort, which we are not. Naps by the pool, or beach do help

Looks like a fun evening!!! Sorry about the Aquaduck incident. Bad enough to get stuck, but having to hear about it wouldn't make it any better.

I know! If we'd have been there Jeff would likely have given someone a major earful so it's just as well we weren't but the poor kid. Hard enough to be one of the smallest in your class and then get abused for it by strangers.

I think I'd give up on the fireworks pictures too. Always hard to get good ones, and it is easier to enjoy them without looking through a camera anyway!

At a certain point it's best to just be in the moment. That was definitely one of them!

Looks like there were a lot of cool FE gifts. I wonder who the Disdads keyring was from...

It was a wonderful FE. The Disdad is around this TR but I know has been super busy lately, I think he started their TR before we did but we are further along in the trip by now although he had an update to his pretty recently. Life gets busy! I could "out" him I guess but I bet he will be along at some point. It was such a kick to see that. His DW was one of the main coordinators of the FE and I don't think I realized he was a DISdad until later on. Pretty fun, Jeff loved it.

I apologize! I am really late with my birthday wishes to you!

On the other hand, I am very early in my recognition of National Margarita Day!
I'll be returning home from Mexico on 2/22, so I won't be able to send greetings to you on the actual holiday.

Thanks Dee!

I love it! I didn't know there was a national margarita day, Jeff and I must celebrate.

Been really busy keeping up with the BC/YC FAQ board, and managing some mischief over there. Oh yeah, and cleaning up after our east coast blizzard. We got around 2 feet of snow. No school again today for the boys. We are very lucky- we never lost power during the storm.

Now, off to catch up on your update.

.

2 feet, wow. That will close school for sure. Hopefully no major damage, just closures for you. It was a crazy storm, the pictures are amazing. Mischief at the BC/YC huh? I might have to poke my head in and see what's going on, I haven't been over there in forever!

 

[eandesmom]

Fantastic update!!!

Love the pictures of you, and of Jeff and of you and Jeff with your drinks in and out of the lounge. The one of you on deck with your drink is awesome!!!

Thanks!

Dinner looked and sounded amazing. I may troll around to see if I can find a recipe for the carrot, coconut, golden raising slaw. That sounds really good.

It was really good, I really enjoyed the entire meal and that chicken definitely exceeded my expectations. Let me know if you find the reciprocity

Too funny on your "dessert series".

And that was honeslty maby 1/3 of the pictures he took. It was pretty funny.

Nice booty! Both the FE stuff and DVC swag.

It really was quite the lovely load of loot wasn't it!

ARGH on photobucket! I just figured out that you can't resize the photos, you have to upload them at the size you want. I haven't switched over to the new version. Well, I did for about 5 minutes then I bailed. Not looking forward to being forced into the new version.

Yeah, I was in the new site, bailed, and then got forced back in. NOT happy. And now if you edit a photo somehow it resizes the new one larger I don't get that at all. I need to do all my editing and organizing before I upload but with time stamps and names that just doesn't always work. It's been amazingly frustrating and has definitely slowed down my updates, esp on the Gaston TR.

Can't wait for the Pirates Party in May !!!! I am gonna have to see if I can find some Pirate Eye Patches for the guys for that !! Your FE loot looks awesome !! I am just not crafty enough to come up with some of the ides !!!

Eye patches are fun! I don't think we started out with any but got some in the FE both times which was fun and we also got DVC pirate tattoos which came in handy. Evan REALLY wanted to do a pirate makeover and I swear, if we do another cruise and he wants to I will book it. He brought it up that night so it was a bit too late to even try but it was cool he even wanted it. You do not need to be crafty at all to do an FE. Some items were very crafty, some not at all. Mine were a mix but you'll have to wait and see what we gave (unless the aforementioned DISdad posts it on his TR first lol).

wow you got alot of really cool stuff. sounds like a fun time.

The FE's are SO much fun! I think I enjoyed this one even more than the one on the Wonder. That one was much bigger but on this one I felt like I "knew" the participants better which made it more personal.

and i would have had them double up that pot sticker order.

And the beauty is, you can! They will bring seconds of anything. Or 2 apps, 2 entrees, you name it.

Great new updates, Cynthia!

I REALLY REALLY love all the photos .... what a walk down memory lane. We LOVE Meridien and have spent quite a bit of time in there.

Thanks Karin! It was definitely our favorite lounge, by a landslide.

Pirate dinner is my least favourite, but it looks like you enjoyed your time a lot.

I don't remember loving it on the Wonder but honestly I loved the meal. I really debated what night to do Palo and was torn between pirate and the last night but b/c it was K's first pirate night we went with the last night which meant we missed out on the "animation" of Animators. It was a tough call for sure.

Cute FE gifts! And I had to LOL when I saw all the DVC and DCL gifts - another set will be collected next week.

Poor Eric, he's using the Castaway Club backpack as his school one (he has a perfectly fine other one but REALLY wanted to use the CC one) and one of the straps broke. WAH!


ONE WEEK! We hit double digits for Aulani. Not quite the same thing as one week but still...double digits

I am glad you enjoyed some quiet time in the room, too!

It was lovely, just a little quiet solo time for me, I think it (in a very odd way) made up for the lack of a spa visit. Which accomplishes much of the same thing but costs a heck of a lot more.

Karin what do you not like about Pirate's night ????

If it were just Jeff and I, adults only, we'd definitely have done Palo this night. Still made it to fireworks of course but I can see it being a good night on an adult only trip for Palo or Remy.

 

[eandesmom]

I'm with you Karin...I try to schedule either Palo or Remy that night as well.

Jill in CO

I am sure we would to if it was adult only, especially on the shorter cruise.

Great minds think alike?

You know it!

Jill in CO

Hey Cynthia,

I know I wished you a happy Bday on FB but I really do hope it was awesome...

It was! The actual day was mostly a normal work/school day with the lovely exception of NOT having to cook dinner. We went out on Friday to celebrate with the kids and then Jeff and I will run away for a night in a couple of weeks to do a combo bday (his/mine) and valentines getaway as has become our tradition, combined with seeing Mindi Abair (amazing smooth jazz sax) at one of our favorite venues and a night in downtown Seattle with no kids. Maybe I should check your diner sources for a new breakfast spot for the next day, you are my diner breakfast hero right now!

I'm sorry to hear about all of the illness in your circle...sigh... sometimes it really feels that when it rains it pours...

Oh I know it's part of getting old but oh, it just seems like so many!

Glad about the boys being all about the music... totally agree so important not just because I really love music in its myriad forms but it gives them a good group of kids to hang around with... If I get my way David will swim in HS and be in Jazz Band... (& I plan on getting my way...lol)

I have every confidence you will (get your way that is). It DOES give them a good group to hang around. One of my favorite part of the 6th grade sales job is when this top middle school band stands up as the teacher rattles of stand if you have....done 1/2/3/4 honors classes, a language, school sports or club sports and these 6th graders seeing how many have done several or even all of those things and managed to keep in band as well. It is inspiring and even more so to me as I think I sold Evan short when he was in 6th grade, I never expected him to be one standing there like that, heck at the time I was just thrilled he walked away not wanting to quit. Good thing he didn't know I didn't expect it, we asked him to rise to the occasion and he did and I do believe that has inspired Eric to rise to the occasion far earlier as a result (that whole sibling competition thing). It's so easy to quit and so so worth it not to. It was such a huge part of my school experience, and Jeff's and it means the world to us that they are all having it too, in their own ways. I am so happy ours have embraced it as they have. Not to mention that whole music/math correlation

The Meridian Lounge (?) really, really looked lovely and you all looked like you were having a great night at Pirate's night... you are a good mom to hand over the camera to your little man... sometimes as mom's we make those kinds of sacrifices for our children... Fun Pics...

It is my favorite lounge of any Disney ship (granted we've only been on 2) by a landslide. Evan went nuts with those shots, those are but a fraction of what he took.

Great Cruise Swag...

Looking forward to seeing Castaway Cay... thinking about doing the short cruise that goes there (3 night? ) before we commit to anything longer... ahhh... but except for the ship... that whole Alaskan thing really appeals to me... I'm going to have to go back and read that trip report of yours on Alaska...

A 3 night is a nice way to start, though I'd advocate a 4 simply as with 3 you'll have just figured out where things are and it's over. We did like the 7 better and Alaska was AMAZING. I'd do a 7 night on the Fantasy depending on the itinerary but Jeff is more interested in the Med so we will see. I have a dummy booking right now that I've just realized won't work based on when Evan will need to be back for Marching Band but hope to move it to a Med Maybe on Thursday when it opens up. It will depend on pricing and even then it will still be a long shot but one can hope. It would be part of a bigger trip and with Ireland now pretty set for 2016 for both boys we will have to see what all we can swing.

You got some great pins!!

Considering how many people are on board, it sure looks like you and your husband were able to find some quiet areas! Nice!

We did get some lovely pins! It was super cute, they were in the bottle. I found there to be quiet adult spots on both ships, you just had to look sometimes. It is a bit fascinating, on both you'd have places that were packed...and others that were deserted. Sometimes I could understand why and other times, it truly boggled the mind other than perhaps the simple fact that those like us (either adult only or adults ditching their kids) were in the minority and so maybe the places that were busier (adult wise) were closer to where the kids might be? I'm really not sure.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Reading your report really makes me wish that I was on a cruise right now Pirate night looks like a ton of fun! The photos of you and your DH with your drinks are so nice too - it looks so relaxing!

 

[eandesmom]

I can relate to Evan on the Aquaduct (Aquaduck?), that would've been me at his age.

Dinner looked like a fun time.

That would have been me too. Dinner was fun, and yummy too

Great update Cynthia. As usual you look gorgeous. You two are a darling couple.

You didn't dress up for pirate night?

Sure I did! I had...big piratey gold hoop earrings and....a DVC pirate mickey pin.

I'm lame, what can I say.

Let me ask you.....tell me how you handle everyone splitting up without cell phones or ways to communicate? I've thought about how I'll handle Joshua going to the Edge and what we'll do? With only5 nights, I'm not sure that's long enough to really get to know our way around, ya know? Are they allowed to come and go into the clubs as they please?

Yes, at that age they are allowed to come and go in the clubs as they please. They have wave phones that work like cell phones, 2 per stateroom. Also, kids can call from the club, or have a CM call, mine did that a lot on the Wonder. For me, giving the kids the wave phones ($250 if lost!) made me nervous esp if they were going to be swimming so we used the magnetic whiteboard as our main means of communication, either inside or outside the door. It worked great! Most of the time. Doesn't help obviously if the kid is stuck on the Aquaduck!

Great update, Cynthia. I love the picture of you by the rail on the ship. And I am now drooling over that crab cake that one of you had for your appetizer.

Great photos at dinner!

Thanks! That was my app, I could go for one of those right now. Seriously yummy

That is awesome! I'd never seen that before. Now I want to find a room in my house to decorate like that!

Restoration Hardware has a series that has some similar elements, I'd love to get some of the pieces but OUCH. So not going go happen. Our family room does have a similar feel, we have vintage seaplane posters and then I just re-covered an automan in a travel stamp type fabic that is kind of similar to that wallpaper.

Poor guy. People can be jerks sometimes. As if he was trying to get stuck.

Seriously, how mean was that?

It looks a little classier on the Dream. But either spot is pretty cool.

They are both cool, very different for sure. I'm not sure which I like better to be honest and since I didn't get to see the "show" part I can't really fully compare.

I remember this being my favorite meal on the Wonder.

I don't remember it standing out on the Wonder (although I liked all my meals) but I really loved this one and the chicken really surprised me, in a good way.

You saw a lot more than I did on our cruise!

My kids are older

DIS Dads!

is right!

By the way, I can't post this on my own TR as an update (yet) because my wife will see it...but our wait list came through for Aulani!

We got into a 1-bedroom island-garden view villa. My wife and I were just in the process of looking for a different place to stay and were ready to give up on it when we got the call. Her birthday is next month so I'm not going to say anything about it until then.

I am SO happy for you guys! That is SOOOO exciting. I've been reading up like crazy, reconsidering my room requests and just getting so excited in general for it. We are at double digits but oh I wish it was sooner.

 

[eandesmom]

Congrats!

Ditto!

These turned out great!

Nice that you had a little alone time for an adult beverage!

Thanks! Having time to go to Meridian that night was an unexpected bonus. We'd decided at breakfast that we were going to get to Palo early to visit it but were thrilled not to have to wait!

Dinner looks yummy!

The Pirate Party looks like fun and fireworks at sea seems like a blast. I'm looking forward to that.

Lots of fun loot!

It was really yummy. Are you going to do an FE or will your friends think that is too wierd. It's lots of fun.

awesome news and what a wonderful birthday surprise.

I agree, great timing

I am happy for you, but I am even more excited about the fact that we will get a Captain Aulani TR now!!!

Captain Aualni, I love that!

Thanks everyone!

Sorry, Cynthia, I didn't mean to hijack your TR. I just posted that here because you had asked about our struggles getting a reservation there before.

You can hijack away, it is wonderful wonderful news and I'm glad you can share it, and we can be part of the surprise! Do let me know if there is anything specific you want me to check out for you while we are there,

 

[eandesmom]

Great pictures again! Love the two of you at Meridian!

Thanks!

I am so hungry right now - I should NOT have looked at the food pics. Those potstickers look so good!!

I would love that, and the crab cake for lunch. Instead it will be bad buffet seminar food. LOL!

You got some really good DVC swag! I'm going to have to make an effort to check into that more next time! We got hats and tote bags and maybe one other thing.

Well some came to the room and then others I stopped by the desk, twice I think. I might not have stopped by but on arrival day there was a note to stop by for a special pin, so I did and then they were like you have to come by every day! Which I didn't but I did go back at least once.

Reading your report really makes me wish that I was on a cruise right now Pirate night looks like a ton of fun! The photos of you and your DH with your drinks are so nice too - it looks so relaxing!

Me too! Of course it doesn't help that I am stalking the opening day pricing threads for the summer 2014 Med cruises.