Oh the places We Go, The People We see

[jenseib]

Gosh, I just noticed I have not been adding the links on the first page. I'll try to get that updated tonight.

 

[MEK]

Well, you may have only been using your point & shoot, but your pictures still look lovely.

Meltdowns by tired kids are just no fun.

Too bad that you couldn't find the pirate shots you were looking for.

*sigh* to having to undress your door.

 

[dizneeat]

You are getting so close to the end of your cruise ...... but thankfully you had a little WDW add on.

Jen, I love all the updates, dinner (YUM, black truffle pasta!) and great that you were able to "save" some of your photos into Gail's folder!

Love the character shots!

Do NOT love that you had to take your magnets down!!! So sad when it's time to do this.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What a shame that Alexis and Abby felt a little sea sick. I loved the photos of Till We Meet Again. I really have to make sure to get to see it this time round. As we do not have to worry about packing and putting our baggage out at the end of the Repo cruise, I will try for it then. It is strange that they did not print the group photo.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Well, you may have only been using your point & shoot, but your pictures still look lovely.

Meltdowns by tired kids are just no fun.

Too bad that you couldn't find the pirate shots you were looking for.

*sigh* to having to undress your door.

thanks. they were mostly kind of blurry, but a little fixing helped a bit.
This is not the end of Abby meltdowns, but honestly it could have been worse. She really needs a nap and I don't think she had one the whole time we were gone. Claire witness one that made her thinks Abby was possessed by the devil later in the trip.
I hate taking down the magnets. That is like the final thing to really sink in that you are leaving soon.

You are getting so close to the end of your cruise ...... but thankfully you had a little WDW add on.

Jen, I love all the updates, dinner (YUM, black truffle pasta!) and great that you were able to "save" some of your photos into Gail's folder!

Love the character shots!

Do NOT love that you had to take your magnets down!!! So sad when it's time to do this.

Claire and I still had another 6 days or so of park fun. I really like coming off the cruise and playing some more.
Dinner was good. I wish they would change up the menus a bit though, like yearly or every 2 years to get more variety. i think some things were changed, but for the most part it was mostly the same stuff that was on the menu in 2011 and many of the same things that the magic had as well. Some things I really love and don't want them to take away, but some things need a change.

 

[jenseib]

What a shame that Alexis and Abby felt a little sea sick. I loved the photos of Till We Meet Again. I really have to make sure to get to see it this time round. As we do not have to worry about packing and putting our baggage out at the end of the Repo cruise, I will try for it then. It is strange that they did not print the group photo.

Corinna

I didn't see the whole thing yet on the Dream. I actually caught a bit of the earlier till we meet again show too that day, but I just walked through, took about 3 extremely blurry pictures and kept going. I need to make an effort to see it. It's sad that the only one I made an effort to see was on the cruise that Claire wasn't with me.

Why don't you have to pack up after the repo?

 

[dolphingirl47]

I didn't see the whole thing yet on the Dream. I actually caught a bit of the earlier till we meet again show too that day, but I just walked through, took about 3 extremely blurry pictures and kept going. I need to make an effort to see it. It's sad that the only one I made an effort to see was on the cruise that Claire wasn't with me.

Why don't you have to pack up after the repo?

We are staying on for the first Alaska cruise and we are having the same cabin for both cruises. So everything stays in the closet apart from what I need for the day in Vancouver.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

We are staying on for the first Alaska cruise and we are having the same cabin for both cruises. So everything stays in the closet apart from what I need for the day in Vancouver.

Corinna

How exciting!!!!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Oh boy! If I ever get on a cruise, it will be so hard to NOT take pictures of the shows! I was totally looking forward to doing that!

 

[sager1969]

Your pictures are awesome. I loved the ones of light fixtures in Palo. They were very artsy looking. Claire is adorable, Those outfits! The kid's were so cute! Also, Geoff is my hero on pirate night. My husband and I love to do that kind of thing to our nieces and nephews. Thank you for sharing your trip. I have 4 months to go until a cruise with my hubby and this helps.

I love your hair. I want to dye mine purple, but the teenager said he would die. I am at his school all of the time so I already "embarrass" him enough. I am a brunette and my hairdresser said he would have to bleach my hair which scares me a little. But you only live once...

Anyway.... Thank you again for sharing!

 

[KatMark]

I swear every time I come by for an update, there is food involved. Perhaps a cruise is not for me...I'd be so fat by the end of the trip.

Love the girls in their "sailor" outfits.

For only have your point and shoot, your show pictures came out really well.

 

[scottny]

Cabanas is cute.
I like that little lounge area. It does seem very private.
Nice pic with Daisy.
Okay those dessert pics all looked so good.
The brunch looked delicious.
Looks like fun times.
All caught up.

 

[jenseib]

Oh boy! If I ever get on a cruise, it will be so hard to NOT take pictures of the shows! I was totally looking forward to doing that!

It is hard not to. On the first cruise I took, we were allowed and I loved it. I think many flash users and using the screen ruined it for all of us who don't use those on our big cameras. My screen only comes on right after i take the picture for a preview of what I have taken, but I have an option to turn that off too. And those using flash ... they don't work. You get better pictures without the flash ...unless you are right next to them.

Your pictures are awesome. I loved the ones of light fixtures in Palo. They were very artsy looking. Claire is adorable, Those outfits! The kid's were so cute! Also, Geoff is my hero on pirate night. My husband and I love to do that kind of thing to our nieces and nephews. Thank you for sharing your trip. I have 4 months to go until a cruise with my hubby and this helps.

I love your hair. I want to dye mine purple, but the teenager said he would die. I am at his school all of the time so I already "embarrass" him enough. I am a brunette and my hairdresser said he would have to bleach my hair which scares me a little. But you only live once...

Anyway.... Thank you again for sharing!

Thanks so much for reading along. I have another Dream TR too in my signature if you want to read that. It's from 2011. and that one does have pictures of the shows. It's call "a hope, NO Skip......" Just click on those words in my signature and it will take you to it.
Feel free to ask any questions.
As for hair. I am licensed, but i don't practice anymore. you do NOT have to bleach to do it. Actually with bleaching, it will come out vibrant and then last a few washings and fade....a LOT. you will really have to keep it up. If you apply it to your natural color you can get the hue of it and in some cases it can still be pretty strong. If you want to try it out, thats th way I would go. if you don't like it, it's easier to go back to your natural and it will fad out too, but it should fade closer to your natural color.

I swear every time I come by for an update, there is food involved. Perhaps a cruise is not for me...I'd be so fat by the end of the trip.

Love the girls in their "sailor" outfits.

For only have your point and shoot, your show pictures came out really well.

I did a lot of eating this trip.

Cabanas is cute.
I like that little lounge area. It does seem very private.
Nice pic with Daisy.
Okay those dessert pics all looked so good.
The brunch looked delicious.
Looks like fun times.
All caught up.

Thanks Scott. Brunch was very tasty. I highly recommend it.

 

[jenseib]

Nov. 8, Thursday, Day 8

All good things must come to an end, and today we were ending our cruise. Now we weren’t super sad as we still had a trip to Disney World. The family was staying till Sunday and Claire and I were staying till the next Wednesday!

I believe I woke up around 5:30 AM…yes you read that right! I know, what a fool I am, but I woke up and instead of rolling over I decided to look and see if we were in port yet. I ran out to the balcony and saw we were in the process of docking, so I quickly found my camera and took a few pictures.







I then got dressed quickly and ran up top to watch.







It seemed to be quite a bit chillier this morning.





After a good look around I headed back to the room and got ready. We had decided we would skip the dining room this morning and go to Cabanas. It would let the kids be able to sleep in slightly longer and we could eat and get out fast.

Claire was good about getting up for the most part this morning. She knew we still had a lot of fun ahead of us.

Geoff and Mary took a few pictures of the luggage being loaded. Many are blurry, but I think they had actually spotted their luggage going off.





We all headed to Cabanas and had a quick breakfast. We kind of trickled in and out, not all of us eating at the same time. The selection was less than other mornings and I think only one side was open, but there was enough to keep us happy. After we ate we headed down to the atrium. We had no real plans to meet up, but luckily everyone found us and we gathered around. Of course there were bathroom stops needed and the bathroom closest to the atrium was pretty full, as in a line out the door. BUT we got smart and found out that the one down a ways near the Walt Disney Theatre was virtually empty.





Finally we all were gathered. There might have been another bathroom break in there as well. We have a family of nervous bladders.
Mom also appeared to be coming down with sinus infection. She is not like the normal people who get them after an extended cold. She gets them right off the bat and she was worried how she would be feeling the rest of the week.



It was time to say goodbye to our home for the last 4 days. I think we started the process of getting off around 9.

We headed down the stairs and the porters were waiting. I had told the family that it might be wise to get one to help with the luggage, but every one of them ignored them as they walked by and looked lost. I wasn’t sure how they missed them or why they were walking by, but when Claire and I got down, the porters once again asked if we needed help and I said yes! Mom came out of her haze then and realized what I was doing. The porter told her he could get all our bags. The other families followed suit. I think we had 2 to 4 porters working with us if I remember right. Our guy was nice. He told us how he was going to be sailing with his daughter in a few weeks and that he planned to work that morning and make some extra money and then have her Mom drop her off and they would sail and he would be back to work again that day they got off. He was very excited about going.

We made our way through customs and when it was our turn the porter told us that we had a great customs officer who wasn’t too strict. We headed up and I gave him my passport and Claire’s birth certificate and my parents did the same. The officer then asked Claire what Feb 14th meant to her. My parents both at the same time said “it’s Valentine’s day”! Um, hello, mother who gave birth to me …… I told the officer that Claire probably didn’t know what it meant, but my parents surely should and that’s when they went oh. Yep that’s my birthday! But the first thing they thought of was Valentine’s Day. Oh brother!

We all headed out to the shuttle pick up with the help of our porters. They dropped our bags off and we tipped them.
We had a little wait, but not long at all.





Before we knew it the Residence Inn shuttle arrived. This time it was not a big bus, but a little bus with a trailer attached to the back for luggage. Luckily none of us lost our vouchers for the return trip. Once again Claire and I got the front seat.



And then we were off. It was so sad to see our ship one last time. But I still can’t get over how big she is.





All too soon we were back at the Residence Inn.
They unloaded the luggage and Claire and I went off to pull the van up to get it packed.



Everyone was impressed with how smooth this whole process went. I was glad we had no kinks.

Once our vans were loaded we were all heading off to our next resort. We all had different ones. Gail’s family was staying at the Art of Animation in the Little Mermaid rooms. Katie’s was staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Pete and Vicki were heading to Pop Century, via Aunt Mary and Geoff dropping them off and Mary and Geoff were going to stay offsite at the JW Marriott.

And us, well I had a resort in mind right from the beginning of the planning of this trip. The thing is, it was an expensive resort. But I REALLY wanted to stay there. I did all sorts of figuring and scheming and research and I finally was able to get it for a decent price. At the time of booking it, it was just going to be for Claire and I.
Where is this dream resort? Well the Beach Club! Well I ended up finding a fabulous deal for the Beach Club Villas. Still more than I wanted to pay, but let’s just say I saved a TON of money on this room. And since it was just Claire and I, I booked a Studio. Well several months later, other family members decided they wanted to extend their stay as well, and started booking rooms. Mom did not want to stay at Pop again. She didn’t like the double beds. She looked at some options, but she just wasn’t sure she wanted to pay the price for the Beach Club or other deluxe resorts. I had mentioned that they could stay with us, but I was in a studio and that they would have to have the pull out couch. At first that was a big no, but after a while she decided it wasn’t so bad after all.

So off we go! It’s not a long drive at all, but when people drink coffee in the morning …ahem, mom …..They can’t go an hour between bathroom breaks and we had to make a stop.

Soon we pulled into the Beach Club and I went in to check in.



Once again our room was not ready and they said they would text us when it was. I will tell you now I never got that text either. We drove over the villas and parked the van.





The family was heading off to Animal Kingdom today. Katie had planned a pool day, but since it was so cold she ended up adding a day to her ticket and going to AK as well. Geoff and Mary had also planned on only 2 park days, but they also decided to add the 3rd day as well.

Mom and Dad headed off on their own. I told them that I wasn’t sure if we would see them there or not. It depended on what we decided to do once we got there. But first, Claire and I had something we had to take care of. Tickets!
Now I had said Claire and I were staying longer than the rest and on Sunday when everyone was leaving, we were switching over to Art of Animation to the Little Mermaid rooms. I was one of the lucky ones who got a pin for free dining. So that meant I had to get tickets with that package. So today we had to go over to the International Gateway and pick up our tickets early. (For those who don’t know, you can pick your tickets up, up to 3 days earlier than when your package starts).

We made our way over. I must say we had a slight skip to our step. We were excited to be back at Disney World again. The day was a little chilly though already. I was hoping for it to warm up, but for now it was sweatshirt weather.

We got in line at Guest Services there. I had done my research about this a few times and even had a print out on how it worked if the CM told me it couldn't be done. I believe only 2 windows were open and one window had some clients that seemed to be having a major issue as they never left. Finally we made it to the other window and I told the CM what I wanted. He knew it could be done, so that was a plus. But he said it might take him a bit because it had been awhile since he last did it. That’s ok, we can be patient ….well sort of. He then realized that this system at the International Gateway was still an old system while all the park front ones were on a new system, so he had to make some calls and get it all figured out. He apologized several times, but I was just thankful he was doing it with a smile. Sadly the other window still had the other people, so the line behind us kind of grew and I did feel bad for the people behind us. Finally our tickets printed! YES! We were so excited. We now could go and play for 7 more days.

We walked off to the side to get situated and I took a picture of Claire with our tickets in hand!



And then we made our way back toward the Beach Club !

 

[dizneeat]

Yeah, for a painless debarkation, shuttle service and getting back to WDW! And now you've got tickets for seven more days of play! Yippie!!!!!!

Love the photo of a VERY happy Claire!

 

[KatMark]

Jen, I'm glad you had no kinks when you disembarked and were able to get on a shuttle quickly.

Love the pic of Claire holding your tickets.

I can't wait to hear what you thought about the BCV since I'll be there in 28 days.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am little sad that the cruise part of the trip has ended. I am glad that you were able to make Beach Club work. We were hoping to stay there in November, but ended up staying at the Boardwalk, which we loved. I am glad that you managed to get your tickets sorted out.

Corinna

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

Love the photos of the ship getting in port

 

[jenseib]

Yeah, for a painless debarkation, shuttle service and getting back to WDW! And now you've got tickets for seven more days of play! Yippie!!!!!!

Love the photo of a VERY happy Claire!

It went very smooth. It's hard enough to leave and I often get that "what if they don't like me and strip search me" feeling.
Now that we were done with the cruise, I just wanted to get to WDW and start the fun there.

Jen, I'm glad you had no kinks when you disembarked and were able to get on a shuttle quickly.

Love the pic of Claire holding your tickets.

I can't wait to hear what you thought about the BCV since I'll be there in 28 days.

I'm gonna tell you now, because who know how long this will take me to get to reviewing it ...but it was just ok. We we really far out from everything, which was superbad, but from the outside, I could never figure where we were at looking at the building. Our view was just trees. I am thinking the road was on the otherside. One night they had the marathon and you could hear the announcer and dance music almost all night long. I even got up to check if our sliding door was open and it wasn't, but it was so loud it sounded like it. We only had 3 days there and didn't have much time to really enjoy the place. We only got the pool once and then i closed not long afterward. I didn't know that stormalong bay closed at 10PM.

The room itself was ok, but I think I would like the regular BC rooms better in design. I also stayed with my parents and they slept longer than I and went to bed earlier, so I never really got to enjoy the room as I was always creeping around trying to be quiet.

Also the Marketplace is the only fast food place and it also serves the Yacht Club. At least we were closer here to it, but the selections isn't that grand.
The walk to Epcot is great, but there is no fast way to DHS. Walking is the way we chose usually to get there as the friendship boats take forever making a zillion stops. The buses to Mk ....slow slow slow. I have read that as busy times they have direct buss designated for just YC and BC, but it was busy and that was not the case for us.
Now I would stay there again, but I am most likely going to try other resorts first and then maybe come back here in a few years and try it again. I just didn't love it as much as i thought i would.

But I think the major factors of not loving it was because I only had 3 days there and i had a room with my parents and I couldn't enjoy it to the fullest.

I am little sad that the cruise part of the trip has ended. I am glad that you were able to make Beach Club work. We were hoping to stay there in November, but ended up staying at the Boardwalk, which we loved. I am glad that you managed to get your tickets sorted out.

Corinna

I know, I hate getting off the ship, but at least we had lots of fun instore for us still.

Love the photos of the ship getting in port

Thanks. I do too.

 

[micandminforever]

I enjoyed reading about the cruise and look forward to the next part of your trip report.