June 14, 2011 - Father's Day on the Wonder in ALASKA!

[jcarlstrom]

Thanks to everyone who participated in the FE. This was my family's first cruise and first FE experience and they loved every aspect of it... from delivering the treasure to other rooms and hunting down the next hanging "treasure collector" to finding treasure in their own "treasure collector" outside our room.
Thanks again,
The Carlstrom Family

 

[DVC Mary]

Thank you everyone for a great cruise! I wish we had done a 2nd meet on a sea day. It seemed like I kept running into the same people & never met others again or at all if they weren't at the meet.

Thanks for all the GREAT fish extenders. We were soooo late w/ our last gift, we joked that we were going for latest FE delivery EVER. Who beat us w/ the water bottles? What a great idea! We needed them when we were waiting for our hotel room to be ready. We did nothing in Vancouver. We had an EARLY flight on Wed. We were all so tired & the view from our room was so wonderful--including out view of the Wonder at Canada Place. I almost cried when it sailed away.

Larry---Thanks for creating the flicker account. I need to sort 1st. We took almost 3,000 photos.


We're home & going to bed. I'm so sorry we weren't home sooner. We live 15 minutes from O'Hare & could have offered stranded passengers a place to sleep for the night. Was anyone else effected by the bad weather???

Amy--How's your son doing?


If anyone noticed that our ship left Vancover late, I'm sorry. It was our fault. We almost got kicked off the ship. My youngest DS was complaining of a neckache the night before the cruise & at BBB. We had gone ATVing in Whistler Monday morning & he wasn't doing a good job of controling his head movements. We later found out the helmet had been to heavy, but b/c he has a BIG head it was the one that fit so they had ok'd it.

At the muster drill I noticed he was burning up. I went straight to the health center, which was not open, but when I told them what was going on they took him in. He had a 101 fever that had just started that afternoon. They were worried it was meningitis, had the 2nd ship's doc do an independent assessment & then they discussed it. In the mean time, the 1st doc had called the bridge & told them not to leave--we might have passengers who we are going make leave the boat. They gave him anti-bios & his fever broke around 11:30 that night, but we still kept him in the room until 2nd seating on Wed night. I'll try to write a trip report eventually.

 

[Mineu]

We made it home around 1:00 a.m. last night due to bad weather in Houston. I just wanted to thank everyone again for all of the wonderful FE gifts-the candy came in very handy during those long excursions without snacks! We came home with extra magnets (the two square ones) if anyone forgot theirs on their door (we almost did-luckily our stateroom hostess reminded us!). Unfortunately, the extra pralines disappeared the first day . Anyway, it was fun meeting everyone and seeing friendly faces throughout the trip! Thanks again!!! Anne

 

[Smileneyes]

Hi, all!

We did finally make it home as well...although not as intended.

Our return trip was via United, connecting through Chicago. We apparently were just a few minutes ahead of the Huffman's, but we did land in Chicago...and then we sat on the runway, awaiting our gate's opening up due to a late departure.

We waited for quite some time (about 30 minutes?), when the captain announced that the departing aircraft was ready to leave the gate...but that a storm was coming, and we may have to ride it out in the plane, should ground crews be hustled inside.

At that point, I was on the phone with my mother, letting her know that we had made it safely to ORD...when my call waiting went off. It was an automated message from United, announcing that the connecting flight to Cincinnati was "affected by...CANCELLATION". I repeated to myself "AFFECTED BY?", and Matthew caught wind that we were in for a long haul. Mind you, we're still on the plane.

Then the storms roll in. The plane was shaking rather violently at times. The captain again came on, and announced that we would indeed ride out the storm...as not only had the ground crew gone inside, but the terminal and tower had been evacuated!

After about 30 minutes of plane-shaking winds, the storm passed. We were advised a little later to go to another gate. However, as the plane approached the gate, we were again stopped. The captain again on the loudspeaker...apparently the gate had been damaged by the storm's winds. We would either be rerouted to yet another gate, or we would have to wait for maintenance to fix the gate. I was unaware at the time that the size of the aircraft determines what gates with bridgeways can be accessed...and our A320 didn't fall in the "one size fits all" category.

More waiting.

The captain again...and we're finally being moved to another (and final location). By the time the door of the plane opens, we had been on the plane (and on the ground) for 2 hours and 45 minutes...just 15 minutes shy of the FAA "Passenger Bill of Rights" deadline.

BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE!!!

We then filed into a line at that gate, to get reassigned on the next flight. Another 30 minutes...and finally we are assigned the last two available tickets on a 4:30 PM flight to Cincinnati. Hmmm...that meant some serious downtime. And "oh, yeah"...the gate agent casually mentioned that we had waited out TORNADIC ACTIVITY while on the plane. YIKES!

We'd already been told that hotel rooms were pretty scarce...did I mention there were hundreds (if not thousands) of people that were stranded in O'Hare??? We could rent a car (at our expense), for about $350 one way (even rental cars were in short supply). So, we decided to spend the night "a la Tom Hanks" in the terminal.

Oh, how I wanted to throttle those young kids who were screaming while playing hide and seek!!!

Finally the noise died down and we settled into a fitful sleep.

Matthew awoke me around 5AM, stating that the morning's flights to Cincinnati had been posted. So we hoofed it across the entire length of Terminal C to the gate and had ourselves added to the standby list for the 7:30 AM flight.

Waiting...
more waiting...
more defeated feelings waiting...
...until we got the LAST TWO seats on the flight!

We finally landed in Cincinnati around 10AM yesterday. And would you believe that our luggage made it with us???

So now you've heard OUR story (hehe). Let me just close by saying how incredibly nice it was to meet everyone, and get to know many of you better. We will also be posting pics (thanks, Larry). Thanks to everyone who participated in the FE, and thanks for the incredible gifts. Oh, one quick story for Kim...not paying attention, we opened the key lime juice, and Matthew took a sip. The look on his face was PRICELESS! I then had to share in the misfortune. We'll be using the rest to make a pie or two!

--Drew

 

[nzdisneymom]

I will post our travel tale after we get home next week. Not nearly as exciting as those above but let's just say while we were at the Atlanta airport at 3:40 AM to go to Vancouver, we were also there at the same time for our return. We are visiting my FIL in Kentucky now. We slept til 11 AM today which is 8 AM Alaska time. Glad we don't go back to work til Monday.

it was so nice to meet so many of you. And thanks for all the FE gifts.

Thanks for the flickr acct info. I will be working on pictures next week.

 

[disneyochem]

We made it home today--our tale is not so exciting as others! We drove home--stopped by Olympia, WA for more forests and hiking. Beautiful, beautiful country. This morning, we hit the Turtle Bay Museum and Sundial Bridge in Redding. Again, lots of fun.

We had quite the climate change--Washington was drizzling and cool--we were all in sweatshirts and pants when we left. Redding today was almost a hundred degrees!

Laundry is getting done, picked up the dog from the kennel, both kids off with friends, and hubby and I are drinking margaritas getting ready for the Burn Notice premiere tonight.

Thanks to all for the great FE gifts. It was our first time--girls loved it. Our room host got such a kick out of the experience that he would meet us in the hallway telling us we got something!

Loved, loved Alaska. (Absolutely fell in love with Juneau--Auck Bay). We signed up for a Mexican Riveria cruise next year--only cruise that didn't interfer with school, youth groups and drumline!

 

[wendy151950]

Sarah and I returned home yesterday after spending the night in Vancouver. We left the ship around 9, checked into the Pacific Rim and then went on back to back trolley tours of the city, spending a few hours at the aquarium.

By 5:30, Sarah was pooped out so we had room service (not cheap!) and tried to get to sleep since we were leaving for the airport around 5 am. The trip home (Toronto to Cleveland) was uneventful though there were 4 crying kids on the Dash 8 from Toronto to Cleveland. One was particularly being a drama queen (I think she was 4 or 5) and her poor mother also had a baby. We saw the mom later pushing her in a wheel chair to baggage claim! I guess we'll do about anything to prevent another melt down.

I had to goto work today but Sarah slept until noon. We picked up the dog and the cat and I'm finishing up laundry. Now only need to get food in the house though we leave for Roanoke, VA and a lacrosse goalie camp on Sunday.

We had a wonderful time and thanks to everyone for the FE gifts! They were great. Sarah is also working on photos and we'll get some posted by net week.

Drew- let Matthew know that Sarah almost did the same thing with the lime juice. Too funny!

Mary and Cindy - will send you the pics from our excursions together once we edit them down. I'll send you a PM when we have them uploaded.

Thanks again everyone and have a great rest of the summer! June will be tough to top though

 

[sunshine state kim]

Sorry about the juice! I should have added a disclaimer on the sticker! Kind of like taking a swig of lemon juice! My husband likes a little shot of it mixed in with bourbon and coke for those of you not up to baking a pie.

 

[DVC Mary]

Thanks to all for the great FE gifts. It was our first time--girls loved it. Our room host got such a kick out of the experience that he would meet us in the hallway telling us we got something!

I forget to tell you about my youngest DS's reaction to your personalized treat bag. He was so excited. Patrick's 11 but still finds it magical. He pulled each item out of the bag w/ awe and then said "It's like they know me. (PAUSE) Mom did you tell them what I like?" I said no & then he held up each item AGAIN saying: "I love beef jerky. I love football & I love pirates. I love chapstick...." (At this point I'm ) I didn't know my son loved chapstick.

Thanks everyone for all the great gifts. Patrick always got to the gifts before we did & dumped out the contents on the bed. So I'm not sure who to thank for what.

Liam thought the key lime juice was a flavored drink & had planned to drink it too before he read about Matthew.

 

[ward3]

Nice to meet everyone. I learned that nzdisneymom is visiting my town now while we did laundry. We signed up for nova scotia cruise June 10 th.

Loved the trip except fort the hair dryer. My daughter is missing having her bed made and food cut for her.

Our flight from Vancouver was late due to mechanical problems. That left us seven minutes to run and catch our nashville flight. Needless to say our luggage didn't make it and they sent it to Chicago instead of Nashville. It finally showed up on our front step yesterday.


We will do FE next time. It was like a little Christmas each day for Emma.

 

[amyhuffman]

DVCMary:

Thanks for asking about Kelan. He is doing better thanks to albuterol, oral prednizone and cough medicine. He slept in until around noon each day this week and is finally feeling better enough to return to diving today. Now the fun begins as we head to Atlanta and then Moultrie, GA next weekend for a 10 day diving training/competition.

Take Care!
Amy

 

[DVC Mary]

Nice to meet everyone. I learned that nzdisneymom is visiting my town now while we did laundry. We signed up for nova scotia cruise June 10 th.

Loved the trip except fort the hair dryer. My daughter is missing having her bed made and food cut for her.

Our flight from Vancouver was late due to mechanical problems. That left us seven minutes to run and catch our nashville flight. Needless to say our luggage didn't make it and they sent it to Chicago instead of Nashville. It finally showed up on our front step yesterday.


We will do FE next time. It was like a little Christmas each day for Emma.

Bummer: We're doing the Nova Scotia cruise on Aug. 2nd.

 

[DVC Mary]

Our case of canned salmon from Ketchikan arrived! The magic continues!

 

[kde175]

Hey Drew,

This is my first chance to get on the boards since we got back.

Just wanted to share that we were on the same plane, so we too spent the night at O'Hare. United couldn't/wouldn't get us home until late Thursday night so we ended up booking on Southwest out of Midway @7:30 Wednesday morning. We finally got home @11am. Luckily our 4yo thought it was all just a big adventure including the 4am train ride from O'Hare to Midway.

Other than the return trip, we had an amazing time. It was so much fun to meet you all. We've booked on the Fantasy for Dec. 2012, and we'll be headed to WDW this December. Hope to see you all again sometime.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Our ULU knives arrived before we got home. Our neighbor is thrilled with the one we got her for watching the house!

I'm beginning to get our pictures sorted out and will share our FB links here as we get them loaded. We have been so excited to look through them - we got some good shots and had a blast remembering this vacation! (here's the link to our Vancouver pictures.)

I took quite a few of our FE gifts to work today - pens, pencils, notepads, hand-sanitizer, and plenty of treats to share in the treat bowl!

Our trip home started out well from the Wonder to YVR to DFW - but at DFW, our flight crew was an hour late arriving because of all the bad weather on Tuesday - so we didn't board til 10 p.m. (it was an 8:55 flight) and then the weather started in DFW so we sat through a storm on the tarmac for 1:45. We got to Atlanta just around 3 a.m. and by the time we got luggage and shuttled to the hotel, it was 4 a.m. checking in. What was interesting is that when we left, we left at 3:30 a.m., so we've experience the ATL airport in the middle of the night twice now. We were exhausted so when I woke at 8:25 a.m., I had to call the front desk for a late checkout. We slept til 11 - then drove to KY - we slept the next day til nearly 11 a.m. Central time.

We found out that DH's father's next door neighbor knows Ward3's DH. Small world for sure!

I'll be posting a trip report later this week (I hope) so feel free to chime in if I do.

(Edited to add photos for Day at Sea and Tracy Arm )

 

[disneyochem]

I forget to tell you about my youngest DS's reaction to your personalized treat bag. He was so excited. Patrick's 11 but still finds it magical. He pulled each item out of the bag w/ awe and then said "It's like they know me. (PAUSE) Mom did you tell them what I like?" I said no & then he held up each item AGAIN saying: "I love beef jerky. I love football & I love pirates. I love chapstick...." (At this point I'm ) I didn't know my son loved chapstick.

:

I'm glad he enjoyed the treat bag--I have daughters so wasn't too sure about what to get boys! It was fun.

 

[DVC Mary]

I can't believe I'm going on vacation again. This has been a wild summer. We are leaving tomorrow to drive to Eagle River, WI (6 hours North) to my cousin's gorgeous lake home.

Although seeing the eagles from a long distance will be nothing compared to Alaska. Alaska spoiled me!

Boating, fishing, tubing & I have a suspicion that there is an ATV surprise awaiting us too. I think they rented one for the weekend. Let's hope Patrick doesn't act like a bobble head dolls again.

Happy 4th of July Weekend! Thank you to all who serve & who have have served this great nation.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Gary and I are heading to Milwaukee for a week in August. We made our flight reservations today and since we were in control of them, we made them so we don't have the o'dark-thirty flights

Here are our Skagway Pictures.


Here are our Juneau Pictures and our Ketchikan pictures.

And for more pictures that we didn't put on Facebook, here they are at photobucket.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

 

[lsutigger2]

Hi one and all:

Want to add my thanks for all the great FE's as well. I swear that is Tom's favorite part of the trip. Many of my items made it to work as well

We had a mini-adventure getting home as well. Got to San Francisco just fine. Had a couple hours to walk around and grab something to eat. Then we started the waiting game. our flight was suppose to depart at 5:36. The plane arrived and passengers got off. Then they decided it had mechanical issues and they finally put it out of service . They announce that they were looking for another plane. Found one and I'm sure it took a healthy dose of pixie dust. So we are almost 2 or 2 1/2 hours late leaving. Our original time to arrive in New Orleans was 11:56pm but we didn't get in until about 2:15ish am Gathered up luggage, got the truck from parking and headed home. Got to Baton Rouge about 4:00am. Was so glad i had decided not to go to work and had already scheduled vacation.

Drew you probably get the prize for scariest trip that must have been quite a scare.

We loved our trip and especially meeting up with our dis friends. We may go back in 2013. Next year is Hawaii !!

We are headed to WDW in four weeks. I know I must be crazy for going in the heat, but if I'm going to be hot, might as well be at WDW

Maybe we'll see each other again, if not - enjoy where ever your travels may take you

 

[nzdisneymom]

I started a trip report.