Kingskid892
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2004
Thursday:
Mom and I were up at 3:30am; I was too excited and she just couldn't sleep. We woke Scott and Abby up around 5:00ish. Abby didn't want to get dressed at all, so she went to the airport in her PJs. Scott was groggy b/c he slept on the den floor (Mom slept in the bed with me), so he wasn't too talkative or excited - just tired. We parked in the blue lot, boarded our flight at 7:30 and were off! No real hitches getting down to Florida through Washington. It was interesting though, any flight going to or from the Nation's capital all passengers must remain seated/belted 30 minutes before arriving and departing from Washington. It is a Federal Law now. We arrived in Orlando and took a shuttle (no conductor/driver - it's electric and REAL fast) from one building to the other. We were met by a Disney Cruise Line person and wisked away to our bus that would take us to Port Canaveral. The trip to PC was about 50 minutes long and they had TVs all along the rows showing movies about the ship, boarding procedures and excursions we could take at ports of call. We arrived at Port and the ships were HUGE! We went into the Disnery terminal and stood in line to check in. This was the first of quite a few lines we would stand in over the next few days and Abby was NOT a peach. She was tired, very squirmy and disobedient. Donald Duck was there to see us in and take a picture with those who were willing to stand in line. We were not! We boarded and found our room. The rooms were like hotel rooms, but a tidbit smaller. The verandah proved to be a great buy. Mom and I enjoyed our coffee out there in the mornings and a few trips out to see the ocean during the days. We walked the ship for a little while and then were instructed to prepare for a mandatory boat drill. We had to put on our life jackets and report to scheduled areas where we were instructed what would happen should we have to jump ship. It was VERY orderly and swift! Shortly after the drill we left port and that was quite a feeling! It wasn't too long before the exhaustion of the day set in and motion sickness followed right behind. Thankfully I took a Dramamine just as we boarded and I think it saved me from vomiting. I usually get carsick, so I figured better safe than sorry. We were in the stateroom trying to decide whether or not to go to dinner. We collectively agreed that we came all that way and stayed awke that long, we should get to dinner and try to enjoy it. Unfortunately none of us enjoyed it. Abby was WAY too tired, the three adults were whipped and terribly dizzy. We ate at Animator's Palate which was a room that has Disney drawings all over the walls and ceilings in black and white. Throughout the dinner the room begins to change color and eventually everything, including the servers' outfits, turned colorful! It was really, really neat and we wished we could have enjoyed it all. We received our dinners, Scott ate most of his while Mom, Abby and I pushed it away, and then excused ourselves to go back our room.
We all fell asleep pretty quickly, though it was still a hard night sleep. Abby had fitful sleep and woke up crying twice. Once I had to shake her awake and tell her everything was okay. She and I slept in the double bed, Scott in the bed that pulled out from the ceiling and Mom on the convertible couch.
Friday:
Mom and I woke up around 6:30 and ran out to the verandah to see what the morning over sea looked like. It was gorgeous!! We watched Nassau come onto the horizon and get closer and closer until we ported. We all got showered, dressed and headed down to Parrot Cay restaurant to breakfast. They had a few buffets to choose from - pancakes, make your omlet (sp?), scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit of all kinds, cereal, etc. I couldn't eat much for some reason, plus my pancakes were hard. I'm not much of a breakfast eater anyway. We sat with a couple from Long Island, NY. They were very nice and their son was VERY talkative, but adorable all the same. Captain Hook came over to say hello, but Abby buried her head in Scott's chest and cried. We tried to put Abby in the kids lab, but she only stayed for about 45 minutes and we were beeped to pick her up. She just didn't want to stay! Weird! So, we rented a stroller from the ship and left the ship to shop on Nassau. We went through a straw market where we barely fit with the stroller. There were rows and rows of women sitting in cramped spots and all were hollering for you to stop and buy their merchandise. Lots of T-shirts, straw bags, conch shell jewelry, etc. We only bought a tiny straw purse for Abby and shot out of there. It wouldn't have been bad at all if Abby hadn't been with us. The stroller was just too big to be manuevering through those tiny rows. Abby was exhausted and it was Noon, so Scott and I headed back to the ship while Mom stayed and shopped. Abby fell asleep in the stroller before we got back to the ship, so we left her to nap in it once we got to the room. I fell asleep for about half and hour while Scott watched a movie. We didn't go back to Nassau b/c we were thinking that we could get plenty of shopping and beach time at Castaway Cay (pr. KEY) (our next port of call the following day.) We got Abby up and took her to the Mickey Pool where it was nice and warm outside and inside the water, but with the wind blowing it turned out to be quite chilly when you were wet. ABBY LOVED THE POOL!!! We stayed there for a few hours and let her get her fill of the fun then scooped her up and went back to the room to dress. We went to a live show after that - The Golden Mickeys (spin off of the Golden Globes) and it was a great time. Lots of characters and great music! After that Scott watched Abby while I indulged in a pedicure/foot massage. If you've never done it, I highly encourage you to get it done!! It was wonderful! Then it was dinnertime before we knew it. No sickness today, so we were looking forward to it. We were scheduled to eat at Parrot Cay and we sat with a great family from Tennessee. They were SO cute and had really strong accents! Very sweet people. Abby, of course, was NOT sweet and cute. She was overly tired and obnoxious. She kept insisting on banging the silverware together and crawling on the table to reach the little boy (or whatever else she wanted) across the table. We had a great dinner and great conversation though. We left port while we were still at dinner (around 10pm) and again the motion of the boat set in. Abby got to meet and get a picture with Cinderella today! We have a picture to prove it! She LOVED Cinderella and asked for her the whole rest of the trip. The best moment for Scott and Abby was when they ran into Belle on the way back to the room. It was not a meet & greet situation, she was on her way back from a meet & greet and they saw her before she got to the door. She was SO nice and sat right down to talk with Abby. She had on her gorgeous yellow/gold gown and Abby (Scott too, I think) was enamoured. She held Abby's hand for quite awhile and spoke to her about the beast and her horse, Phillipe. Scott so wished that I would pop around the corner with the camera, but I didn't. We made it back to our room and were greeted by our first towel animal - an elephant (picture soon) - and four dark chocolates. Our hostess made animals out of towels each night - it was adorable. We hopped into our beds (me on the top bunk, Mom on the couch and Scott/Abby in the bed this time) and couldn't wait for Castaway Cay in morning.
Saturday:
Mom and I were up bright and early again. We arranged to have our coffee sent via room service this time, so we had to sit out on the verandah for awhile and wait. Scott and Abby both slept in. We watch the sun rise and Castaway come into view. We enjoyed our warm morning and waited patiently as we wondered why were weren't docking. it felt like we were doing circles for awhile. Finally our coffee and muffins arrived! The Disney coffee is REALLY good! Scott and Abby finally woke up and just as we all started gettting ready for our beachy day the Captain came over the loud speaker. We figured it couldn't be good and it wasn't. he announced that wind and wave conditions made it impossible for us to dock at Castway Cay and would not be able to stay. We were really disappointed - everyone on the ship was. He said that safety was most important and hoped we would understand, though he knew we were all disappointed. Understatement! Even if we were able to dock the conditions on the beach would not have been comfortable for any of us and the excursions (we wanted to snorkel) would have been impossible. SO, we just gave into it and prepared to have a day at sea. We went to breakfast at Parrot Cay again (we waited too long and it was the one open latest) where Dopey tried to talk to Abby, but she gave him a good cry instead of a hello. I guess their big heads are too intimidating. I took Abby back to the lab today to see if she would stay and play with the other kids, which she did. Thank you, Lord!! After that Scott decided to go to the theatre and watch a movie (Lord of the Rings 3) while Mom and I went to the Deck Party at Goofy's Pool. We had a few drinks while we watched the staff play a pool game with the older kids who were willing to be in the pool (it was cooler today). Their was a trio who played Reggae when the staff wasn't playing a game. Then Mom and I went to an Animal Towel Folding class which proved to be very fun. I can now create a monkey, dog, swan and elephant with a bath towel and hand towel. hee hee!! After that Mom headed off to her pedicure while Scott and I watched Abby in her first stage performance. She and all the other kids in the club got a free t-shirt and the counselors took them all on stage. (pictures soon) They had to clap and do some other motions with the music. We were so proud!!! We went to the club and signed Abby out, then headed back to the room. Our next stop was the final live show and said to be the best - Disney Dreams. Peter Pan had to show a little girl learned how to find the magic within (with the help of Simba, Ariel, Alladin and a few others) and fulfil her dream - to fly like Peter Pan. It was awesome! In the end she found her magic and literally flew away with Peter Pan. There were pyrotechnics and at one point Tinkerbell threw pixie dust on the crowd and the whole room (ceiling and all the walls) lit up like glitter. it was cool! Unfortunately Abby was being a pickle and Scott had a caffeine headache so he left with her just before all the cool stuff. After the show it was dinner at Tritons! We had to dress up for this restaurant, but it was nice to do that. It was French Cuisine night and I tried Escargo! Bleck - it was like eating mushrooms, which I hate. I guess if you like the texture of mushrooms you'd like snails. They tasted good b/c they were cooked in garlic, so that was okay. Dinner was a fight with Abby as it had been the nighs before. It was just toooooo late for her and she was beside herself. I had to leave early with her (I didn't get my dinner at all) and that was not a problem for me b/c I didn't feel like eating and had to pack our bags. We had to have them packed and out in the hallway to be picked up by 11pm. That meant that we had to have everything out that we needed for the next day and only the essientials. SO, here is where it started getting bad. The Captain told us that the evening would be turbulent, but that did not prepare us at all. I put Abby to bed and began to pack everything. The ship was rocking back and forth so badly that I was sick to my stomach. Just as I finished packing Abby and I up Scott came in with my dinner. I took one glance at it and set it outside. There was no way I could eat feeling the way I did and Scott was feeling it too. Mom came in and we got everything set outside for pick-up. By this time the ship was swaying so badly that we couldn't stand up without being sent across the room. The curtains were swaying away from the wall about 45 degrees!! I stepped out into the hall and asked one of the porters, on a scale 1-10 how bad was this. He looked at me and said this is an 8 and is the worst he's experienced on the ship so far. Greeeat! None of could sleep, though we wished we could, so we sat up and joked about our impending doom. We had quite a few laughs until I was seriously about to puke and asked them to turn the lights out. I had to make a mad dash to the toilet, but was able to keep it down. Thank God again! Eventually we fell asleep.
Sunday:
I woke up at 6am when we docked back at Port Canveral. I showered, dressed and filled out our necessary documents to disembark and go through customs, while everyone else tried to catch a few more z's. We had to be up, around and to breakfast by 8am and then off the ship by 8:30. We disembarked and found it to be very smooth. The bus took us back to Orlando where we had to sit and wait for our flight from 10am until 2:45pm. Thankfully there were a lot of shops and places to eat there.
So, overall, we had a fun and exciting time on the Disney Wonder, but we are REALLY glad to be on land and back home. If I could go again I definitely would, but it's gonna be awhile though. The ship was extraordinary, the service was impecable, the staff was delightful and very eager to help, the shows and events were wonderful and the Disney magic was definitely there. If it weren't for the weather and awful airport experience we'd have had all great things to report.
Thanks to everyone who gave such good advice in advance!!!
Mom and I were up at 3:30am; I was too excited and she just couldn't sleep. We woke Scott and Abby up around 5:00ish. Abby didn't want to get dressed at all, so she went to the airport in her PJs. Scott was groggy b/c he slept on the den floor (Mom slept in the bed with me), so he wasn't too talkative or excited - just tired. We parked in the blue lot, boarded our flight at 7:30 and were off! No real hitches getting down to Florida through Washington. It was interesting though, any flight going to or from the Nation's capital all passengers must remain seated/belted 30 minutes before arriving and departing from Washington. It is a Federal Law now. We arrived in Orlando and took a shuttle (no conductor/driver - it's electric and REAL fast) from one building to the other. We were met by a Disney Cruise Line person and wisked away to our bus that would take us to Port Canaveral. The trip to PC was about 50 minutes long and they had TVs all along the rows showing movies about the ship, boarding procedures and excursions we could take at ports of call. We arrived at Port and the ships were HUGE! We went into the Disnery terminal and stood in line to check in. This was the first of quite a few lines we would stand in over the next few days and Abby was NOT a peach. She was tired, very squirmy and disobedient. Donald Duck was there to see us in and take a picture with those who were willing to stand in line. We were not! We boarded and found our room. The rooms were like hotel rooms, but a tidbit smaller. The verandah proved to be a great buy. Mom and I enjoyed our coffee out there in the mornings and a few trips out to see the ocean during the days. We walked the ship for a little while and then were instructed to prepare for a mandatory boat drill. We had to put on our life jackets and report to scheduled areas where we were instructed what would happen should we have to jump ship. It was VERY orderly and swift! Shortly after the drill we left port and that was quite a feeling! It wasn't too long before the exhaustion of the day set in and motion sickness followed right behind. Thankfully I took a Dramamine just as we boarded and I think it saved me from vomiting. I usually get carsick, so I figured better safe than sorry. We were in the stateroom trying to decide whether or not to go to dinner. We collectively agreed that we came all that way and stayed awke that long, we should get to dinner and try to enjoy it. Unfortunately none of us enjoyed it. Abby was WAY too tired, the three adults were whipped and terribly dizzy. We ate at Animator's Palate which was a room that has Disney drawings all over the walls and ceilings in black and white. Throughout the dinner the room begins to change color and eventually everything, including the servers' outfits, turned colorful! It was really, really neat and we wished we could have enjoyed it all. We received our dinners, Scott ate most of his while Mom, Abby and I pushed it away, and then excused ourselves to go back our room.
We all fell asleep pretty quickly, though it was still a hard night sleep. Abby had fitful sleep and woke up crying twice. Once I had to shake her awake and tell her everything was okay. She and I slept in the double bed, Scott in the bed that pulled out from the ceiling and Mom on the convertible couch. Friday:
Mom and I woke up around 6:30 and ran out to the verandah to see what the morning over sea looked like. It was gorgeous!! We watched Nassau come onto the horizon and get closer and closer until we ported. We all got showered, dressed and headed down to Parrot Cay restaurant to breakfast. They had a few buffets to choose from - pancakes, make your omlet (sp?), scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruit of all kinds, cereal, etc. I couldn't eat much for some reason, plus my pancakes were hard. I'm not much of a breakfast eater anyway. We sat with a couple from Long Island, NY. They were very nice and their son was VERY talkative, but adorable all the same. Captain Hook came over to say hello, but Abby buried her head in Scott's chest and cried. We tried to put Abby in the kids lab, but she only stayed for about 45 minutes and we were beeped to pick her up. She just didn't want to stay! Weird! So, we rented a stroller from the ship and left the ship to shop on Nassau. We went through a straw market where we barely fit with the stroller. There were rows and rows of women sitting in cramped spots and all were hollering for you to stop and buy their merchandise. Lots of T-shirts, straw bags, conch shell jewelry, etc. We only bought a tiny straw purse for Abby and shot out of there. It wouldn't have been bad at all if Abby hadn't been with us. The stroller was just too big to be manuevering through those tiny rows. Abby was exhausted and it was Noon, so Scott and I headed back to the ship while Mom stayed and shopped. Abby fell asleep in the stroller before we got back to the ship, so we left her to nap in it once we got to the room. I fell asleep for about half and hour while Scott watched a movie. We didn't go back to Nassau b/c we were thinking that we could get plenty of shopping and beach time at Castaway Cay (pr. KEY) (our next port of call the following day.) We got Abby up and took her to the Mickey Pool where it was nice and warm outside and inside the water, but with the wind blowing it turned out to be quite chilly when you were wet. ABBY LOVED THE POOL!!! We stayed there for a few hours and let her get her fill of the fun then scooped her up and went back to the room to dress. We went to a live show after that - The Golden Mickeys (spin off of the Golden Globes) and it was a great time. Lots of characters and great music! After that Scott watched Abby while I indulged in a pedicure/foot massage. If you've never done it, I highly encourage you to get it done!! It was wonderful! Then it was dinnertime before we knew it. No sickness today, so we were looking forward to it. We were scheduled to eat at Parrot Cay and we sat with a great family from Tennessee. They were SO cute and had really strong accents! Very sweet people. Abby, of course, was NOT sweet and cute. She was overly tired and obnoxious. She kept insisting on banging the silverware together and crawling on the table to reach the little boy (or whatever else she wanted) across the table. We had a great dinner and great conversation though. We left port while we were still at dinner (around 10pm) and again the motion of the boat set in. Abby got to meet and get a picture with Cinderella today! We have a picture to prove it! She LOVED Cinderella and asked for her the whole rest of the trip. The best moment for Scott and Abby was when they ran into Belle on the way back to the room. It was not a meet & greet situation, she was on her way back from a meet & greet and they saw her before she got to the door. She was SO nice and sat right down to talk with Abby. She had on her gorgeous yellow/gold gown and Abby (Scott too, I think) was enamoured. She held Abby's hand for quite awhile and spoke to her about the beast and her horse, Phillipe. Scott so wished that I would pop around the corner with the camera, but I didn't. We made it back to our room and were greeted by our first towel animal - an elephant (picture soon) - and four dark chocolates. Our hostess made animals out of towels each night - it was adorable. We hopped into our beds (me on the top bunk, Mom on the couch and Scott/Abby in the bed this time) and couldn't wait for Castaway Cay in morning.
Saturday:
Mom and I were up bright and early again. We arranged to have our coffee sent via room service this time, so we had to sit out on the verandah for awhile and wait. Scott and Abby both slept in. We watch the sun rise and Castaway come into view. We enjoyed our warm morning and waited patiently as we wondered why were weren't docking. it felt like we were doing circles for awhile. Finally our coffee and muffins arrived! The Disney coffee is REALLY good! Scott and Abby finally woke up and just as we all started gettting ready for our beachy day the Captain came over the loud speaker. We figured it couldn't be good and it wasn't. he announced that wind and wave conditions made it impossible for us to dock at Castway Cay and would not be able to stay. We were really disappointed - everyone on the ship was. He said that safety was most important and hoped we would understand, though he knew we were all disappointed. Understatement! Even if we were able to dock the conditions on the beach would not have been comfortable for any of us and the excursions (we wanted to snorkel) would have been impossible. SO, we just gave into it and prepared to have a day at sea. We went to breakfast at Parrot Cay again (we waited too long and it was the one open latest) where Dopey tried to talk to Abby, but she gave him a good cry instead of a hello. I guess their big heads are too intimidating. I took Abby back to the lab today to see if she would stay and play with the other kids, which she did. Thank you, Lord!! After that Scott decided to go to the theatre and watch a movie (Lord of the Rings 3) while Mom and I went to the Deck Party at Goofy's Pool. We had a few drinks while we watched the staff play a pool game with the older kids who were willing to be in the pool (it was cooler today). Their was a trio who played Reggae when the staff wasn't playing a game. Then Mom and I went to an Animal Towel Folding class which proved to be very fun. I can now create a monkey, dog, swan and elephant with a bath towel and hand towel. hee hee!! After that Mom headed off to her pedicure while Scott and I watched Abby in her first stage performance. She and all the other kids in the club got a free t-shirt and the counselors took them all on stage. (pictures soon) They had to clap and do some other motions with the music. We were so proud!!! We went to the club and signed Abby out, then headed back to the room. Our next stop was the final live show and said to be the best - Disney Dreams. Peter Pan had to show a little girl learned how to find the magic within (with the help of Simba, Ariel, Alladin and a few others) and fulfil her dream - to fly like Peter Pan. It was awesome! In the end she found her magic and literally flew away with Peter Pan. There were pyrotechnics and at one point Tinkerbell threw pixie dust on the crowd and the whole room (ceiling and all the walls) lit up like glitter. it was cool! Unfortunately Abby was being a pickle and Scott had a caffeine headache so he left with her just before all the cool stuff. After the show it was dinner at Tritons! We had to dress up for this restaurant, but it was nice to do that. It was French Cuisine night and I tried Escargo! Bleck - it was like eating mushrooms, which I hate. I guess if you like the texture of mushrooms you'd like snails. They tasted good b/c they were cooked in garlic, so that was okay. Dinner was a fight with Abby as it had been the nighs before. It was just toooooo late for her and she was beside herself. I had to leave early with her (I didn't get my dinner at all) and that was not a problem for me b/c I didn't feel like eating and had to pack our bags. We had to have them packed and out in the hallway to be picked up by 11pm. That meant that we had to have everything out that we needed for the next day and only the essientials. SO, here is where it started getting bad. The Captain told us that the evening would be turbulent, but that did not prepare us at all. I put Abby to bed and began to pack everything. The ship was rocking back and forth so badly that I was sick to my stomach. Just as I finished packing Abby and I up Scott came in with my dinner. I took one glance at it and set it outside. There was no way I could eat feeling the way I did and Scott was feeling it too. Mom came in and we got everything set outside for pick-up. By this time the ship was swaying so badly that we couldn't stand up without being sent across the room. The curtains were swaying away from the wall about 45 degrees!! I stepped out into the hall and asked one of the porters, on a scale 1-10 how bad was this. He looked at me and said this is an 8 and is the worst he's experienced on the ship so far. Greeeat! None of could sleep, though we wished we could, so we sat up and joked about our impending doom. We had quite a few laughs until I was seriously about to puke and asked them to turn the lights out. I had to make a mad dash to the toilet, but was able to keep it down. Thank God again! Eventually we fell asleep.
Sunday:
I woke up at 6am when we docked back at Port Canveral. I showered, dressed and filled out our necessary documents to disembark and go through customs, while everyone else tried to catch a few more z's. We had to be up, around and to breakfast by 8am and then off the ship by 8:30. We disembarked and found it to be very smooth. The bus took us back to Orlando where we had to sit and wait for our flight from 10am until 2:45pm. Thankfully there were a lot of shops and places to eat there.
So, overall, we had a fun and exciting time on the Disney Wonder, but we are REALLY glad to be on land and back home. If I could go again I definitely would, but it's gonna be awhile though. The ship was extraordinary, the service was impecable, the staff was delightful and very eager to help, the shows and events were wonderful and the Disney magic was definitely there. If it weren't for the weather and awful airport experience we'd have had all great things to report.
Thanks to everyone who gave such good advice in advance!!!
