PARK-CRUISE-PARK in Nov. 2012: Another Thanksgiving with Mickey! (7/7/14 UPDATE!!)

[lvjen777]

subscribing..

Loved the Hoop de Doo info. That's been on my "next-time-we-come-here" list since our first trip

Also, I can't wait to hear more about your cruise! I can't wait until we do our first Disney cruise.. whenever that will be?! LOL.

 

[kittylady1972]

subscribing..

Loved the Hoop de Doo info. That's been on my "next-time-we-come-here" list since our first trip

Also, I can't wait to hear more about your cruise! I can't wait until we do our first Disney cruise.. whenever that will be?! LOL.

We hadn't done it since...well before DH and I were married and I took him to WDW for the VERY FIRST TIME...I think 1997? Kids and in-laws had never seen it. It was GREAT and I highly recommend it!

I really can't wait to write more about the cruise...whatever I can remember. I'm going to update my 2013 TR next since I got all the photos over to Photobucket that I need for a few more installments. Then I will try to get back to this trip report and the cruise!

 

[kittylady1972]

My sincere apologies that I am so far behind in getting this update done! I promise I will finish it...really, really really!

On a side note, I have two more Disney vacations already booked. Yes it's an addiction and I might need a 12-step program.

We have our family vacation to DISNEYLAND booked for this August now and yesterday I booked a 4-night Disney Dream Cruise for just DH and myself for October to celebrate our 15-year wedding anniversary. I think we are going to add a few park days to the beginning of that trip to do some Food and Wine Festival first. I'm on the waitlist for a studio at Beach Club Villas though.

Really looking forward to another cruise and I NEVER thought I'd say that until we took this last/first Disney cruise!

 

[kittylady1972]

So is ANYBODY still bothering to read this any longer? Is anyone still interested in hearing the rest of our trip?

Well if you are then you might be in luck. I just finished uploading a BOATLOAD of new Disney Dream Cruise photos to my Photobucket sight. That means I can at least document our first full day and our stop at the Bahamas.

There will be tons of photos I am warning you. My laptop is about to shutdown due to low battery life but here is a quick sneak peak:

 

[kittylady1972]

Ah....the cruise memories. Have I mentioned how much fun we had on that trip? Oh but I have not even gotten to the fun part which includes the sick kids! Memories!

I only wish I had the forethought to go ahead and book another cruise while still on board. We tried but we got too impatient to wait for somebody to help us as the desk was always busy. And now...I am finding myself booking another cruise without the advantage of the savings. I did book today and took advantage of a special that allowed me to book with a reduced deposit, so that's something. As of now we plan to try a cruise on the Disney Wonder out of Galveston!

I don't know, part of me really wanted to try the Fantasy instead but the additional cost was really bugging me. It is our 15-year anniversary cruise so I guess it's okay to splurge a little bit. I might change my mind but we will see since I have yet to book the airfare to get there.

Disneyland planing for now is at a stand still as I don't have much left to plan there. I have several hotels booked on hold, have our airfare booked and paid for, have our car booked and have some plans in place. That's about it.

Right now I'd just like to get to Spring and enjoy some warm weather! I can't even think about AUGUST yet as that is the END of Summer!

 

[kittylady1972]

I swear I am still here and I do plan to finish this even if it only for my own records. Life. Crazy. Nuff said.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using DISBoards

 

[kittylady1972]

Hello May! Where did you come from and how did you get here so fast?

Maybe I can update my TRs when I am IN WDW next month...all by myself!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using DISBoards

 

[livsmom04]

So...what about Disneyland Paris?

Yes there are some very serious talks happening in our house right now and they are centered around us moving...temporarily...to England. There is a position out there that would be perfect for my husband, it would be a 2 year assignment (with a possible 3rd year) and although in the past I have absolutely REFUSED to consider it...suddenly I've changed my mind. I can't explain why but I think part of it has to do with the fact that there are really no real family ties for me here in Maryland any longer. Now that my brother and his family have moved to NC and my parents are in NC and my dad always lamenting about the drive here I'm just thinking perhaps it's a good time to go elsewhere for a while.

My husband and I now work for the same company and that makes my decision a little easier. Before it would have meant me giving up my job but now...well there's a possibility that a position could be found for me in the same place.

Don't get me wrong...it's actually all a bit scary to think about...especially that part about packing! And moving! But having just left a job that I had for 15+ years and realizing that it CAN be done...it just makes it a bit easier for me to consider. There are many, many pros to this opportunity and until all of the details are worked out I can't say how likely it is that it will happen, which is why I won't even MENTION it to anybody right now, including friends and family. Yet there's a part of me that really wants to start looking into the whole situation more and more and start planning because if it happens it would mean we'd move in JUNE!

All the more reason to squeeze in ONE MORE WALT DISNEY WORLD TRIP next year because it may be a while before we come back. Until then...there's always Paris I guess and I think the chance to see more of the world would be awesome for the kids.

So there you have it...another NON-TRIP update from me. I do plan on getting these kiddos to bed soon and REALLY starting my trip report though! REALLY!

What part of Maryland are you in? I'm originally from MD but moved to NC in 1996 when my dad was offered a position with Hardees. He was coming from Roy Rogers then.

 

[kittylady1972]

What part of Maryland are you in? I'm originally from MD but moved to NC in 1996 when my dad was offered a position with Hardees. He was coming from Roy Rogers then.

Hi there! I was born in Washington, DC and raised in Charles County, transplanted to Howard County where I bought my first house and now I live in Anne Arundel County between Baltimore and Annapolis!

 

[kittylady1972]

Sunday Nov. 18th - Dolphins and other fun stuff!

It's hard to believe that it's been just over SIX MONTHS since our big Thanksgiving trip and cruise! Life keeps us pretty busy around here with work and three kids in school and extracurricular activities. I finally have a down day and am home with a slightly sick but getting better child...so I'm going to try to do this update.

Did I mention I'm leaving for another trip in just TWO DAYS?! Yes you heard it, I'm doing my very first SOLO Disney trip, leaving the entire family, kids and husband behind and doing a long weekend in Disney alone. Crazy? Maybe but I'm really looking forward to some new discoveries that I can share when I return.

Now back to our report....

We woke up on the morning of November 18th all ready to take on our first excursion that we booked via the Disney Cruise. I'm sure we had some breakfast, but I don't know where. I know we had to report to one of the main theaters for checking in and being briefed on our day.

We had to get stickers and ID bracelets to identify what group we were part of, and we picked up some towels for our day as well. As far as the kids knew, we were just going to check out the dolphins...they had no idea about the swim.

Disembarked from the ship and headed right over to a small boat that would be taking us out to Blue Lagoon. The boat was pretty well packed but it was still a nice ride over to the Lagoon. I want to say it took a good half hour and maybe more but I really don't remember.

Me and the little girl during the trip:



And here she is with her daddy:



We arrived at the Blue Lagoon and were taken to an area where we would have our introductions. The group contained the people who were just doing the dolphin experience and the dolphin swim group. We learned interesting facts about dolphins and keeping them safe and we watched a video as well. Soon the kids were catching on at the two groups and eventually they seemed to realize that they would be doing the SWIM and not just the experience. They were excited...but this would not last.

We headed towards the docks, where we were fitted with our lifejackets and then headed to the platforms. We had a man and a woman who would be doing our experience with us. We sat there and watched the dolphins swim around us. I put my husband in charge of the video camera as I would be swimming with the kids. It wasn't my first choice really, but due to their age (under 12) they all had to have an adult. This fact would become important later.

Sitting at the platform:


There was more talk about the dolphins and the dos and don'ts for all of us for the day. After this was all done, it was time for all of us to enter the water. Now the water was clear...and it was about 10-12 feet deep. I should note that all of my kids have been swimming since they were pretty young. My youngest was swimming at about age 3-4. They all love the water. And yet...both boys (age 12 and 8) were reluctant to get into the water.

There was no time to waste though. I managed to talk the youngest into it but NOT my oldest. Are you kidding me? Did I mention NO REFUNDS on this not-cheap-at-all experience???

No time to worry about that now...3 of us entered the water and my oldest son walked off the dock.

Here is our view from within the water:





We got to touch the dolphins and then one by one we did different things with each dolphin. Everybody got to hug a dolphin, dance with the dolphin, get a kiss from a dolphin, feed a dolphin, and a few other things.

Thanks to my waterproof camera, I got some good shots in the water of the kids:

















My daughter at one point was singled out to work with one of the younger dolphins who they were still training. I guess she was so calm and they figured she'd be okay to work with so she went through some of the routines again with a second dolphin while we all watched. It was cool.

For the most part it all went well. We did have one lady in our group who was really struggling with just about everything but she managed to get through it all.

Last but not least was the swim. All of the adults went first and I have to admit, it was by far one of the coolest things I have every done! I really enjoyed it! My daughter was chosen as the first kid to try it and she did AWESOME!

Here she is in action:











Once we were all done, my oldest son came back over and joined us. As it turned out, the people at Blue Lagoon were so great and managed to get him over to do the Dolphin Experience instead. In this case he didn't have to deal with the deep water but still got to do a bit with the dolphins in his area. We got a professional photo of that:




He did join us on the dock and wanted to try the swim, but they were just finishing up the swims and we didn't persist in seeing if he could do it as well. At least I didn't spend all that money on him for nothing...and he got to do part of the same things that we did.

Afterwards we had planned to hang out on the island but I think we were getting hungry and just wanted to return to the ship and get some food. We did buy the other professional photos from our swim as well:









And then we were ready to board the boat back to our ship:

 

[kittylady1972]

Monday November 19th Cont'd
Here is the view as we got closer to our ship:





Only we didn't end up docking the ferry boat at the same place. Instead it docked a little further down from our ship and we had a little bit of a longer walk back to the ship. This was not exactly a fun experience. We were approached at all sides by kids trying to "give" us things and I had to continue to tell my kids not to "take" any of their "free" necklaces and other trinkets, knowing we'd have to pay for them. We kept ignoring them and keeping our eye on the prize. We had to go through a building at some point, which was a bit confusing because there was a somewhat official looking person that seemed to be checking IDs to let us exit the building...only his purpose was really unknown. Several people ended up going through a different exit door, without somebody checking IDs, and we followed. There seemed to be no real purpose for this line and ID check at all. Weird.

Almost there:



And at port at the Bahamas they were keeping our ship very clean:


We returned to the ship and couldn't wait to get some lunch and hit the pool.

And of course after lunch, there was always room for this:






The kids were also begging to use the hot tub, but they had to be supervised by an adult so we watched them in there for a little bit. Afterwards:


Oh and they also tried out the other slide:


And watched some movies:


Eventually I'm sure we made it back to our rooms for some relaxation. This would be our Adults Only Dinner night at Palo and so we had to eventually get cleaned up for that. Before we headed out for dinner, we did head down to the area near the pool and pick up a few slices of pizza and brought it back for the kids. We wanted to feed them before dropping them off at the kids area for the evening.

 

[kittylady1972]

Monday November 19th cont'd
So not a lot of photos from this last part of the update. After feeding the kids and getting dressed up, we dropped off two of the three kids at the kids' clubs. Our oldest wasn't feeling well and wanted to hang in the room, which was fine with us since we had the wave phones and knew he could contact us at any time. Those were very nice to have on the ship.

So it was myself, DH and my MIL and FIL for dinner. We headed up to Palo for our reservation. We checked in and had a few minutes to wait, so we headed to the bar and ordered a few adult beverages, then took them to the outside deck area to drink them. It was a bit chilly but not to bad. We did not wait very long before our table was called.

The inside of Palo was beautiful and our waitress was very nice. We decided to start with a few appetizers, which I don't recall but I do remember they were very good. I think it was like an Italian selections of meats and cheeses and some crispy bread like crackers which were tasty. I don't recall if we had wine or not, since we already had drinks. Honestly I can't even tell you what we ate but I know that everything was just FANTASTIC! I do remember I think all of us ordered the dessert which was the chocolate souffle and it was just FANTASTIC! The whole meal was delicious from start to finish. What was funny was that at the end when the check arrived, my FIL wanted to pay for it. He did not realize that the only thing on the check was any extra stuff we ordered...which I think might have been the drinks. The rest was part of the $20 fee we each paid to make the reservation and it was part of our bill for our cabin! He got off pretty easy!

Afterwards we were considering hanging out but we decided to check on the kids first since it was late. I think we got to the room and our oldest informed us that the kids' club had called to say our youngest son wasn't feeling well. They tried to convince him to stay, but we went and got both him and our daughter sprung from kid club jail and took them back to the room.

We put the kids to bed and stayed up and watched a bit of tv from our bed. It was nice that we could swing the tv to our half of the cabin and put up the curtain to separate the kids' area and not disturb them. The king bed in our room was VERY comfortable.

Sometime in the middle of the night our youngest son woke up and he wasn't feeling well. In fact, he was burning up with fever. We put him in bed with us and a cold rag on his head and rode out the rest of the night like that. And so the downward spiral of illness for our trip would now begin....

 

[kittylady1972]

Tuesday November 20th
Our day at Castaway Cay had finally arrived. How we were looking forward to checking out this fun island. But would it happen??

Our youngest son was clearly down for the count after a rough night. I think we managed a little bit of sleep with the sick child, but taking him out for the day did not seem like a wise move. When we checked in with the in-laws in the cabin connecting ours, it would turn out that my FIL also had a rough night with a fever. So they determined they would both be staying on the ship for the day. It seems like some of us may have gone down and had breakfast together but I don't remember if that was this day or the previous day.

I made a deal with my husband at this point. I would take the two other kids down to the island for a little while to explore. Then I would come back up and switch with him and he could take them down and explore. It seemed like a good plan and we'd both get the chance to check out the island.

I disembarked with two kids to go explore Castaway Cay. We had to get a photo of the cool holiday tree that greeted us as we exited the ship:





Then we hopped the nearest tram to take us out the fun parts of the island. We had no idea where to go or what to do but we made our way towards the kids area and this:



We found a chairto drop our stuff:



and headed towards the clear blue water. We stepped into it and...


YIKES!!! It was cold! Ok maybe not FREEZING but not warm at all. I remember commenting to a nearby parent asking if it was just initial shock and it would feel warmer. He replied negative to that...probably wasn't going to get much better.

Ok then.

My daughter was dying to try out that slide area but of course she had to head out there to get to it and I'm afraid I was not willing to go with her. No need, she could swim and she was plenty big enough to go so we waited on one side of the roped off area while she headed out to the slide/play platform on her own.

My son picked up some shells:


Then I had to break the news to him that he could not take them with him.

We watched as my daughter swam out, went down the slide, then came right back to us. Brave soul!

Quick photo op:


So now that just hanging out in the water didn't seem like an option, what was left for us to do?

The kids really wanted to do these:


Ok can't really see them well but they are the water trikes. The problem was that only ONE kid was old enough to do them alone (the 12YO) and even though they seated two, I could not send the 12YO and the 9YO together. Well rented two of these things was going to cost some money that I wasn't willing to spend. Instead I talked them into a paddle boat that seated four and said the two of them could do the paddling!

So that's what we rented for either 30 minutes or an hour...can't recall.

Here I am getting chauffered around the water:



Two happy kids:





We headed out towards our ship and the kids were enjoying it...but they were getting tired pretty easily and soon we would be drifting. I finally told them we had to make our way back to shore, but they had trouble paddling quick enough that we weren't drifting back away from the shore. We were told NOT to change positions while in the water, so me helping out was out of the question. Instead it was mostly me doing a lot of yelling at them to paddle harder! You can imagine it wasn't very fun for too long!

Eventually we arrived back on the shore and then made our way back to the ship. We found DH and DS8 relaxing in the room. DS8 was content watching endless hours of Disney cartoons on the tv in the room and DH decided he wasn't up for the beach. Instead we checked out the ship activities and he would take our oldest son to see a movie later instead.

I think we also decided to get some food, and I headed downstairs to the pool area to get some food and then I'd come back up and we'd switch off. I know at some point we did take the kids to check out the Midship Detective Agency. I remember at one point I was walking around with two of the kids doing the adventure but we didn't finish. They really wanted to continue and I decided it was something they could easily do by themselves. I sent the oldest two off with the wave phone and the game stuff and told them to return no later than an hour, so they did that. They really enjoyed having their freedom but did call frequently to report their progress, even though they were back in the room well before the hour ended.

Later that day, the youngest was feeling a bit better so we headed to the pool area to get some food and he spent a little bit of time in the pool. I'm sure there was more ice cream involved too. And more movies by the pool.

Since he was feeling a bit better, after the pool we figured we'd explore the sports deck and do some mini golf.




(DH looks thrilled here huh?)



The kids wanted to try some table tennis, but the wind and the upper deck did not allow that to happen:


We took some pictures with the lovely island in the background:






Isn't it beautiful?



Soon it was time to return to the room and get ready for dinner. Tonight we would be dining in the Enchanted Garden!

 

[kittylady1972]

Tuesday November 20th (cont'd)
Dinnertime soon arrived and after such a busy day we were ready to enjoy another nice Disney meal together. At this point the only night we had all eaten together was our first night and this was night #3...also known as the last night of our cruise.

It was soon determined that our youngest son was once again down for the count and not up for dinner. FIL was still recovering as well. Since we had connecting rooms, and those lovely wavephones, we let both of them stay in their respective rooms and we headed to dinner. My DS8 would stay on the couch and watch some tv while FIL was in bed in the next room doing the same. The rest of us headed off to dinner with promises of bringing them back a meal of some kind.

The Enchanted Ballroom Restaurant was really lovely! I especially liked the lighting above one of the tables:



Our servers from our first night were delighted to see us again. I don't know if I mentioned how fabulous they were from night number one, but they really kept the kids entertained and they were just awesome. Tonight they gave my daughter this:



A nice rose made out of paper just for her. Again can't remember what we ate but I am sure we were not disappointed. At the end of the meal we ordered two meals to go, one for FIL and one for my son. I do recall that at least at ONE point during the meal the wavephone did ring, and it was my DS8 calling to ask something that I remember not being too important. He just liked that he could call us up anytime!

After the meal we did some looking around and took some photos:







For the evening, I really wanted to go see one of the shows. However since DH had spent all day in the room, I figured he should be the one to get out since he didn't go explore the island. So he would take our oldest son to go catch a movie instead. We tuned into the show from the comfort of our bedroom. I even went downstairs to the box office area and purchased some popcorn and drinks for us to enjoy while we watched Believe! while in our PJs from bed. It was nice.

That would be it for our evening...only I have just realized I left out a very important part of our trip. The Pirate Night!
****************************************************
Pirate Night Backtrack:

I think that ended up being night #2 for some reason. I don't recall why but I remember nobody else really wanting to attend but my daughter really wanted to go and she had even brought a little pirate outfit for it. So whatever night that was, I will tell you that I took her with me and we headed to the pool deck to watch the show, just the two of us.





I ended up video recording the entire show and it really was fabulous, fireworks included! After the show ended we did a tiny bit of dancing but then I wanted a snack! We headed to Cabanas where they had a nice spread, including Turkey Legs! If only I had known that before...I LOVE turkey legs! Instead we each chose a small dessert and some milk to enjoy before heading back to our room for the night.

********************************************

So while we watched the Believe show from the comfort of our room, I also finished packing up our stuff. The next morning we would depart the ship very early and head back to the parks to continue our trip and meet up with MORE family members!

 

[livsmom04]

Hi there! I was born in Washington, DC and raised in Charles County, transplanted to Howard County where I bought my first house and now I live in Anne Arundel County between Baltimore and Annapolis!

I know where Charles County is. My cousins live there as do most of my aunts & uncles. I used to live in Howard county too in Columbia.

 

[kittylady1972]

I know where Charles County is. My cousins live there as do most of my aunts & uncles. I used to live in Howard county too in Columbia.

VERY COOL! Not too many people know about Charles County!

 

[kittylady1972]

Still here...just caught up in summer madness. Finished my solo trip earlier this month and working on our Disneyland plans now. I refuse to start another TR or PTR until these are done!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using DISBoards

 

[kittylady1972]

Can't believe we leave for DisneyLAND in just over a week!!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using DISBoards

 

[kittylady1972]

OK back from our Disneyland trip...great fun! Hope to find time soon for more updates.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using DISBoards

 

[kittylady1972]

One of these days I'm hoping to finish this report!