2/24/07 Western TR As Seen Through the Eyes of a Young Family WITH PICTURES!!!

[tink too]

Loved reading your trip report. Thanks for sharing your stories and beautiful photos.

 

[ChrisLei]

I absolutely loved reading your trip report. Sorry to hear that DD2 got sick. I know how stressful it is when a little one is sick. I loved the pic of her devouring the ice cream cone!

 

[Dopey'sMAMA]

Great TR! I too love that ice-cream, and have never seen it anywhere other than Castaway. Hope the surgery goes well and she has a speedy recovery!

 

[disney_fan_fam]

Love your trip report! You have a gorgeous family!

 

[Jillpie]

I think I just spent a good 2 hours reading this report and honestly, I don't want it to end. We are also from Ma., and I see you are from the Cape, I spent all my Summers in W. Yarmouth! Right across from the police station on Berry Ave. My sister now lives down there with her family in a new home. Anyway, I'm so jealous you're doing the EB cruise and you have no idea how much I want to ask you how much THAT costs for your family!! We are a family of five, so I can appreciate everything you spent for this cruise. I LOVED every word, you are a great writer.

 

[Jillpie]

Are you all done? I hope not!! I need more please.

 

[ILUVEVERYTHINGDISNEY]

I love the report. Your kids are beautiful. The baby is soo cute. How old is she? Other than getting sick did she have any fun? I have a 21 month old and I'm sailing on the Wonder in August. I am bit apprehensive since she is so young and I am not sure how she would do with diferrent soundings/so many people. Was she able to go into the pools? I am a bit surprised to read that someone else has a big family. I too have 4 kids and I get alot people questioning why so many. Please finish the report. I am all ears.

 

[jblb1020]

I LOVE the Pictures!!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Thanks again for all the comments. I am not done yet-and I actually have a weekend off this weekend; maybe I'll be able to do some more writing.

JillPie,
As far as the EB Repo goes, we were lucky enoug to get through shortly after it went on sale. We locked in 2- Cat. 10's for just under $10,000 for all of us. Come on tax return, I'm counting on ya!

ILUVEVERYTHINGDISNEY,
The baby seemed like she enjoyed herself (hard to tell at that age). She was 18 months old on the cruise. One ear of the Mickey pool is for non potty trained babies who wear swim diapers. If the child can stand or sit, they can enjoy the water also.

 

[sejejoemmiev]

After finishing up with the final Mickey Pool experience of our trip, we headed down to our staterooms to shower and dress for dinner. After everyone finished dressing, I decided that DW should take the older three kids to the last show, while I started packing and let DD2 rest for a little while in our room. DW and the kids really enjoyed Remember the Magic, but the show made it really hit home that the trip was now ending and everyone was sad going into dinner. I made plans to meet DW outside the Walt Disney Theatre after the show. Before meeting them I headed to guest services to get our tips ready for our last dinner. When the show ended we brought the kids to the Lobby Atrium to get pictures with Donald and Daisy Duck and to do some final pin trading before dinner. We had a few minutes before dinner still, so we headed to the shops to make a few last purchases. We then headed to Animator's Palate for our final 'Til We Meet Again Dinner.





We were all pretty depressed at our final dinner. The kids could only talk about living on the Disney Boat Forever. We said our good-bye's to our wait staff and gave them their hard earned tip envelopes. We liked our servers well enough but when we got the final speech about only marking excellent on the comment cards , it got a little uncomfortable. That speech needs to be left out. It ruined our final dinner experience.





After dinner, we headed to our staterooms to pack. DW took on the job of leaving out PJ's and clothes for everyone for the next day, while I packed up all the rest of our belongings. While I finished up packing, DW brought the older three kids to the Lobby Atrium at 10:15 PM for the 'Til We Meet Again farewell of many of the characters. The kids were able to get many of their missed autographs and photos that they really wanted. DD1 was dissapointed though because she missed Sleeping Beauty and she was NOT at this performance. The princess meet and greet was during our Villa Spa time on our second Sea day. DD1 was very dissapointed to have missed it, and never had a oppourtunity to see Sleeping Beauty again. If she is you daughters favorite, make sure not to miss her early on, she doesn't come out much. After the character autograph signing they all gather on the stairway to say good-bye. Pixie Dust (Mickey Shaped silver confetti) is then showered on everyone at the end. Our children loved this and spent the next few minutes gathering as much Pixie Dust as they could find to bring home with them. This was a great farewell show that is not to be missed. Our Children loved it.







After the show, DW and the kids returned to the room of Mayhem. We had just a few minutes until 11 PM and there was still packing to be done. Everyone ran around gathering the rest of our belongings and shoving it where ever they could cram it. We finished just in time, and had our suitcases in the hall outside our door in the final minute. After the chaos, Dsis called to see if the kids wanted to experience the arcade for one last time. They jumped at the chance and Dsis came to pick them up. While waiting for her to come DS2 fell asleep and missed his chance at going to the arcade for the second time. We knew he would be upset to have missed it again, but we were not going to wake him. That would be dangerous! After the kids left with Dsis, we were left to peace and quiet. We decided to try some pediasure for DD2 tonight at a low a rate. She had been living on only pedialyte and water for the last two days and we were worried about her not getting any calories. It was too soon for the pediasure and she vomited. She was also developing diarrhea tonight and we were glad to be going home tomorrow. We would be visiting her pediatrician first thing on Monday morning for sure! After DD2 was asleep, DW and I got ready for bed. This is when DW realized her shoes, which she had left out for the morning, were gone. In the final craze of packing, I packed the shoes she had left out! DW was now mad at me again! She readied everyone's clothes and shoes for the morning, and now she would be going to breakfast BAREFOOT! Dsis returned the kids around midnight and then we all went to bed. Our final night on the Magic.
Our towel animal of the night: A snake!

 

[Jillpie]

Thanks for this latest report!! Sorry that wife got mad at you again, its just the stress, I know that all too well when ya gotta think of the whole families needs. And you had a sick daughter to contend with to top it off, I hope you let it roll off of you. So, you're not done, right? Breakfast tomorrow, yes?

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Thanks for this latest report!! Sorry that wife got mad at you again, its just the stress, I know that all too well when ya gotta think of the whole families needs. And you had a sick daughter to contend with to top it off, I hope you let it roll off of you. So, you're not done, right? Breakfast tomorrow, yes?

I got at least one more installment in me. Our vacation didn't totally end upon arrival in Port Canaveral, I'll get the end of the story up this weekend!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

I awoke one last time to that familiar wake-up call. Although this time, I didn't bother listening to Mickey's message. Now that I think about it, I wonder if DCL has a different wake-up message for debarkation day? We got up around 7 a.m., took showers, and got dressed. The nice part of having to send off all your luggage the night before, is that there really isn't much to do that last morning. We made one final walk through of the two rooms, then headed down to A.P. for our final breakfast. Thanks to me, DW made the journey downstairs barefoot. I'm sure at least a few people got a chuckle! I offered my socks to her, but she took one look at the holes in the heals and turned me down. Unlike our last cruise, our same waiters were there for us for the last breakfast. DMom and DSis were already at the table and had just ordered. In a strange twist of fate, DSis happened to have an extra pair of socks in her purse. I have no idea why, but it worked out great. We ate a light meal, said our goodbyes to the waitstaff and walked back towards the lobby. This is when it really set in-the vacation was over. DSis and DMom went back to use the restroom, and we told them we would meet down in customs. We left the boat, went down into the luggage hold (Customs area) and found a porter to help with all our suitcases. It happened to be the same guy who took our bags a week ago. What a character this guy is. I know they don't work for DCL, but this guy definetaly could! While we were loading the bags, DS2 disappeared. DW and I had about 30 seconds of THAT FEELING you get when you can't find a child. It seems to last more like an hour, and your heart just stops. Then I spotted him with a cast member over at the lost and found table. Where else would a lost child be? The porter knew exactly which customs agent to go to, and he simply waved us right through. I had reserved a rental van through Budget, so we dropped the bags at the curb, DW and the kids sat in the lobby entrance, and I went out to the street to the clearly marked Budget shuttle waiting area.

It didn't take me too long to realize that we were no longer in the Carribean-it was freezing out! We were all still dressed in shorts and short-sleeves. Anyway, it took about 25 minutes for the Budget van to arrive. I was the only DCL passenger to get in. But we then went over to the Carnival terminal, and LOADED up the van. It was a ten minute trip over to their office, five minutes worth of paperwork (TIP: sign up for RapidRez), and back to the terminal to pick up the family.

Now our flight didn't leave MCO until 8 p.m., so we had planned on going to SeaWorld for the day. As we left the Port Canaveral area, the cold, cloudy day turned into a cold, rainy day. We really wanted to see SeaWorld, as we had never been there, but this didn't seem like the type of day to see it. I also wasn't too anxious to drop another $300 in admission tickets after I saw the final stateroom charge statement that morning. When we booked the WDW portion of our trip, Disney automatically upgraded our Park Hopper passes to include an extra day. So we called WDW and asked if that extra day was still valid. They pulled up our reservation and told us that today was the last day they could be used-perfect! Back to the Magic Kingdom it was. Half way back, DD1 got car sick all over herself and the rental. She had just spent an entire week at sea and was totally fine, but twenty minutes in a car, and up came breakfast. I just don't get it! When we got to the MK parking lot, we spent twenty minutes going through suitcases, and had everyone change into some warmer clothes. I also cleaned out the van the best I could-didn't need any surcharges on the rental fee.



I was quite surprised at how busy the park was considering the weather. Then again, when you come to WDW for vacation, you can't let the weather stop you. The first stop was to the ice cream shop on Main St. It was completely empty. They must have known we were from New England. Only people from cold climates would think about eating ice cream on a cold, rainy day. And why is it that this was the first food item that the kids actually finished for the first time in two weeks. Now that we are not on a meal plan, or on a cruise with unlimited food, they decide to get their appetites back-typical! We then walked around and rode a few of our favorite rides one last time. We were able to get on Space Mountain, Dumbo, and Winnie the Pooh. We were walking by It's a Small World when the sky opened up. We ran in there for cover, and ended up riding that again.







It was kind of surreal walking around MK this day. I was trying to take in as much as I could, because who knows when/if I will ever be here again. I made this point to the kids also-not that they listen to stuff like that. Even with the crummy weather, it was a nice way to ease back to the reality of going home. We left the park around 4 p.m., and drove back to the airport.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Dropped the luggage and the family off at the Southwest terminal. Brought the car back to Budget (right downstairs), and walked back over to meet them. We got through security quickly, and took the tram out to the terminal. We got some dinner at McD's and Sbarro, then went to our gate awaiting the flight. About half the passengers were young families, and the other half were adults without kids (making comments about how unfair it was that families get to board first). One guy was obviously saying it so that we could all hear him, so I offered him one of my kids, if he wanted to deal with them for the whole flight. The kids were actually very good, considering Southwest doesn't have individual T.V.'s like JetBlue. DD2 didn't have her own seat, but she fell asleep on my lap the minute we sat down, and didn't wake up until we landed. Boy did I luck out there! We arrived back in Providence around 11 p.m., and the weather was pretty much the same as it was in Orlando.

That is it. All-in-all, it was the longest and best vacation that DW or I had ever taken. Months and months of obsessive planning makes it last longer than it really does. Unfortunetaly, when it is over-it's over. That is why these trip reports are so great. Writing them keeps the memories fresh in your head, and helps you escape from everyday life for the first few weeks after getting home. I know I plan on printing up this TR and putting it in the photo album with all the pictures from the vacation. Then we will have both a pictoral and literary review of all our experiences.

As I get ready to post this, I see that the countdown for my next DCL cruise is at about 15 1/2 months. That is just about the time when we began obsessing for this past vacation. Perfect, the TR bridged the gap! L.A., here we come!

 

[Dopey'sMAMA]

Great TR...we will be seeing you in 15 1/2 months!

 

[jrose529]

Great TR! Thanks for sharing.

I wouldn't be happy if my DH packed my shoes! I hope she wasn't too angry with you.

 

[Jillpie]

Wow, fantastic. Like a really great book coming to an end, bummer. I loved every word, honestly. Thank you so much for taking all that time and effort to share your trip and family with us. I so appreciate it, I loved it!!

p.s. In eight years of trips to DW, we've never ventured to try and rent a car. Guess we never really needed one. But just wondering (especially if we have to go to the port again, a huge expense in transport for five), do you ever stress out not knowing the roads? I love just getting in their buses and letting them do the driving, my DH does too. But it is so darn expensive to go all the way to the ship, does that stress you out and are you constantly staring at a map?

 

[Dopey'sMAMA]

Wow, fantastic. Like a really great book coming to an end, bummer. I loved every word, honestly. Thank you so much for taking all that time and effort to share your trip and family with us. I so appreciate it, I loved it!!

p.s. In eight years of trips to DW, we've never ventured to try and rent a car. Guess we never really needed one. But just wondering (especially if we have to go to the port again, a huge expense in transport for five), do you ever stress out not knowing the roads? I love just getting in their buses and letting them do the driving, my DH does too. But it is so darn expensive to go all the way to the ship, does that stress you out and are you constantly staring at a map?

We have rented a car several times either to or from the port, we think it is an easy drive we take the B-Line right into Disney or the Port, it's a toll road, but it's worth it...$5.00 in total maybe?

 

[sejejoemmiev]

Wow, fantastic. Like a really great book coming to an end, bummer. I loved every word, honestly. Thank you so much for taking all that time and effort to share your trip and family with us. I so appreciate it, I loved it!!

p.s. In eight years of trips to DW, we've never ventured to try and rent a car. Guess we never really needed one. But just wondering (especially if we have to go to the port again, a huge expense in transport for five), do you ever stress out not knowing the roads? I love just getting in their buses and letting them do the driving, my DH does too. But it is so darn expensive to go all the way to the ship, does that stress you out and are you constantly staring at a map?

One word: MAPQUEST

I printed up directions on the ship a few days before debarkation. It is actually a really easy drive from Orlando and all the parks to Port Canaveral, there is only like 2 roads that you travel on the whole way.

Thanks again for all the kind words. Who knows when I would have finished it without everyone showing interest in reading it.

 

[pppiglet]

It was great! Hope your next trip is just as good for you!

 

[FrenchSnowWhite]

BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!!!

What a nice vacation you had!!!

My heart went out to you with your DD that was sick alot, we've got twins and everytime we went to WDW they became sick and vomited.....

That became like a running gag for us.....

Can't wait to see how the girls will be in a cruise but then again, I might not laugh at all when I will clean them up.....

Thanks again for such a nice report!!