I wrote that like Jamaica was on the itinerary and it wasn't at all. But I like saying it. So I will. This post is the one where we actually get on the ship.
Oooh. Course, that is all that this post will cover. Because my trip reports are ridiculously long and detailed filled with useless fluff no one really cares about. Until sharks swim along. But that totally doesn't happen in this post. (or really, any of my posts.. so sorry for that disappointment).
Ok. So last post saw us safety arriving in MCO. Bomb and Drug Free thanks to the to O'Hare security. It was late & we went to bed. The alarm rang at 7am sharp (per my handy dandy notes..because lets be honest- I don't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday let alone what time I woke up 3 weeks ago).
7am is not early when you are excited to be boarding a ship. We donned our super cool matching facebook group t-shirts one awesome lady arranged/made for us all.... and headed down for breakfast.
Now, I might have mentioned my tendency for needing to arrive early to all things. Well, our PAT (Port Arrival Time) was 10:45am. I scheduled Happy Limo to pick us up at 9am. It's less than an hour to port. So 9am is even early for this early bird. But dang it- we were going!
Well, the folks at Happy Limo take after my own heart. And they actually arrived right around 8:35. So. Long story short. We arrived at port really, really early.
I could not resist THE VERY FIRST PICTURE OF OUR SHIP!!! THERE IT IS EVERYONE!!!!
Man, that sky does not look good. Please don't rain. Please. Please.
Anyways, we were so early that they were still unloading the previous passengers off the boat. No Porters to take our luggage. So the early birds wait again.
I'll just sit here and look cute mom. Maybe some porter will take pity on us and get our luggage. Nah, they will just glare at us for being so stupid early.
My notes say "Bit by ant" Which now jogs my memory..as I stood there waiting, a d#mn ant bit my foot. And it hurt. Like a shark bite. But not really. More like a red ant bite.
Okay, anyways. I finally sent the hubby down to plead to some bored looking porter to take our luggage. He loaded it up and we tipped good to make sure we saw our luggage on the boat. And then we were herded up to level three of the parking garage to wait in line.
Here is the front of the
Disney Cruise Terminal. I love this because no other cruise line has an entrance like this.
You can see the Carnival Liberty boat peeking out behind it. It was a pretty big too. Same size as Fantasy I would say- or bigger. But Fantasy is prettier.
We saw lots of our blue/green shirts. A sea of blue/green I have in my notes. Pretty cool to see that.
And up in the parking lot we waited and waited and waited some more. Remember, we were really early and they were still disembarking last weeks cruise. I felt sad for them. But happy for me. Their ending was my beginning.
Waiting in the garage. Least we had nice scenery in the background!
We finally started moving and in the walkway between the garage and the terminal. We took some pictures....
I think this is my 'f#cking ant bit my toe' face. Or "Stop complaining to me that I got us here 2 hours early so we could wait in line face'.
Notice DH does not have a beautiful blue/green DIS shirt. That, my friends, is his inner Disney kill-joy coming out. Homey don't do matching shirts. And Homey only wears grey, white or dark blue. Or Chicago Cubs apparel. Possibly Chicago Bears apparel if it's winter. Say it with me "Kill-Joy". There. Done.
Anyways. The rest of my cute little family happily wore them. Look at the cute backs. We still love these shirts! Thanks again Angie for making them!
I notice here that my mother commandeered Rebecca to haul her suitcase. Well played mother.
The ship. The ship! (the plane, the plane) Sorry Love Boat this is not.
Through security (no stops for drug or bomb residue this go around!) and into the terminal we went....
Disney terminal.
Now, I know it looks a little crazy. And it is. But for anyone who has cruised other lines and also Disney will tell you how NICE this terminal is compared to other lines. I guess you pay for it... but it is a very nice terminal.
We moved to the
Castaway Club line and quickly were up getting our ship cards and boarding number. Group 5. Sweet. (there were like 40 groups).
We went off to sit for a bit. Notes say... "Sarah is cranky".
Capt Mickey was out & Char Girl and Becca wanted to see him. So we got in line....
And it moved pretty fast.... Sarah refused to join in the picture. Hugs for the best rodent around!
Aww, it would have a been a super cute family picture. You know, if Sarah had decided she was part of the family. And Kill-Joy wore a matching shirt.
For those of you unfamiliar with my previous TR let me take the time to introduce you to "Char face" That would be Charlie's forced smile. It's almost funny to watch it's progression in pictures. She's still learning to smile on cue. And many times has a W T F look on her face in pictures. You'll know it when you see it- the TRUE Charlie smile!" This, above, is not it!
They were already on group 3 by the time we were done with Mickey. I rushed my kids out to the deck to gasp and awe at the beauty of the Fantasy.
(Please notice me trying to tickle Charlie to get a real smile out of her. You will also see this a lot in these pictures).
We ran back inside. I snapped a quick picture of the model of the Wonder.
And just like that, our group was called!! In line we went and into the "Magical Mystery Mickey Ears". That transport you into a world upon the shark-ridden sea. But that also serves Rum".
'Doh' just saw DH photobombed my pic.
Past the Magical Mystery Mickey Ears I had to beg and plead for my family to stop for the Embark picture. More like. "Do it now". And so they did.
The white shirt. It's killing me.
And there were these signs...
And..sigh... heavenly sigh.. we were on board.
"Welcome XXXXX Family" Those of you unfamiliar with Disney cruises, they announce each family that walks on their ship over PA. And everyone claps and says welcome. It's cool.
Our Cruise tradition is. Get on board early. Get up to Lido Deck. Find deck chairs. Get Drink of Day. Get Ice-Cream. Put suits on Kids. Let them into empty ship pools (the ONLY time those pools are empty). So we followed tradition.
Drink o' Day. Check. (Oh yes, this one DID HAVE RUM!! It was called The Paradise.)
Ice-Cream. Check. First of hundreds maybe?
Empty Pool. Check. Only time you'll see this site. Look at the beauty of a pool so clean and pee-free.
Kids in swimsuits and into pool!
Based on the pool cliental.. 10 minutes after the empty pee-free pool pic..this pic probably is kids swimming in pee already. Side note- I never set foot in any cruise ship pool. Ugg. But my kids are allowed. Whatever. They are young. Pee does the body good. Makes them tough.
Aqua Duck Time!!!
There they go......
And that is my 25 picture limit.
But wait. Just so you know. My notes say we ate at Flo's (which was the fast food area). I got a wrap. And fruit. Kids got fried junk. It was ok. All food at Flo's was only OK. The fruit was pretty fresh.
Lordy, this was a crazy long update on a time frame that probably spanned 3 hours. It felt like it took me 3 hours to write.
So I guess I'll stop writing now. And let you digest it all. Mon'.
Way to string me along!
There were about 30 of us gals. 
I am going to have to pick your brain about how you got involved in all these groups...I would love to go on a cruise where we "knew" people!
