Think of all the joy you’ll find …….. Update - January 06

[dizneeat]

​

Day 1, March 28

Celebrations are about to start … - Part 2


It all went pretty fast and soon we heard, “all doors in flight” and our flight attendant came over, pulled the handle and it would not fall into place.
She tried again and it still would not fall into place.
So she called and all the doors had to be put back in park.
We looked at each other and were not very happy to be next to a faulty door.
But they started to put the doors in park again and our door ……..



would not budge.
It was still stuck.
Time was ticking and we would be loosing our take-off window in Frankfurt, which would give us a delay, but there was no way around it, they had to call for maintenance. It only took about 10 minutes until two maintenance guys were arriving and tried to completely open the door, but quickly found out that the emergency slide was already activated and they could only open the door a few centimetres. But it was enough for them to crawl underneath and fix the problem.
Yippie.
With about half an hour’s delay the doors were finally all put in flight and we were rolling out of our space and taking off.

Soon the fasten seat belt signs were off and the flight attendants were off to do their jobs. So, a few minutes later we were all handed hot/cold towels to freshen up a bit and the we were served drinks and snacks.

I just love those little airplane shaped crackers and cloud shaped pretzels, which I washed down with some Diet Coke and Tom had opted for some beer. About 20 minutes later we were served some lunch.

We started off with a small salad, followed by

Orecchiette pasta with a creamy pesto sauce and a julienne of vegetables. Tom had decided on the other menu and was enjoying his

chicken in a paprika sauce served with rice and a floret of broccoli. There was some nice

yoghurt cake for dessert and

a roll, butter and some very young Camembert to close the meal. There were even some

Lufthansa Chocolate Coins. Trays taken away we found out what movies were on demand and I ended up watching “Up”, which I had never seen before. We even slept a bit as it had already been a long day for us and we had an even longer night ahead of us.
About 3 hours before we were supposed to land at MCO we were served some dinner.

Again, it was Pasta. This time it was

spiral pasta with some Arrabbiata sauce which was quite spicy, even with the slightly overcooked pasta. For dessert there was some

really good and creamy chocolate pudding with some vanilla sauce. Then it was time to fill out the customs declaration before sitting through the rest of the flight.

We had left Frankfurt about 35 minutes late, but had only made up about 15 minutes of the time, so were coming in about 20 minutes late.
We were really worried as the last time we had arrived late there were two other planes’ people in line for immigration and it took over an hour to get to the front of the line. So when we had finally arrived and were able to leave our seats and head for immigration we were quite anxious to see how many people were already in line.
Turned out it was only our plane that had just arrived and we kind of walked through the line, were then directed to one of the machines to fill in our details and within minutes we were waiting for an officer to finish immigration. It was only 7.45pm when we walked up to pick up our luggage.
One of our bags was already making rounds but the other one we could not see. Took about 20 more minutes for the other bag to appear and we finally made our way over to customs. There was quite the line by now, but we finally made it through and were on our way to pick up our rental car.
We did not even stop for the Earport as we were on a mission to make it to the hotel as soon as we could.
We got down to the rental car floor and knew





that we were out of luck.



There were LONG lines for all the companies and we knew that Hertz always takes quite some time to rent out its cars. And did I mention that the line was long? We joined the line and it did not move for a long time. There were three people at the counter and while two of the other employees were able to serve several people those three were still there when it finally, after 75 minutes was our turn to go to the counter.

To be continued ..........​

 

[dizneeat]

Yeah!!! I am so happy that "the cat is out of the bag" (not sure if that is a term in English as well...).

Me too.

I really just caught the dates of the PC cruise by chance as I was trying to figure out some really tiny pictures someone had posted of the brochure on my phone. I was so surprised that they said something about PC and August. And then I remembered our discussion about how that was a cruise you always wanted to do, but that that had to wait until after you retired. Now you can do the Eastbound one now and then a Westbound one once you are retired to see the new locks!

Actually - you might even already go through the new locks in 2016!!!! So exciting!!

I would not have looked at the dates as they usually don't cross the Panama Canal that early, so you noticing it just made our day .... and vacation.

Yes, the new locks!!! I completely forgot about them. Thanks for reminding me - that should be so awesome.

And I feel very honored that you adopted my magnet design!!

I loved it when I first saw it and it was the first thing that came to my mind when we had booked the cruise and needed a "header". Thanks again for letting us use your design !

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 1, March 28

Celebrations are about to start … - Part 3


There were three people at the counter and while two of the other employees were able to serve several people those three were still there when it finally, after 75 minutes was our turn to go to the counter.
About 15 minutes later we had a car key in hand and were on our way out the door, where we were hit with the heat and humidity that we were not used to. Once we had found our car we stowed all our luggage and quickly fixed the GPS and were on our way.
But by now it was already close to 10pm and we had a quick conversation and decided that it made no sense to head over to the Magic Kingdom and waste a day’s ticket for just an hour or two.
So while on route to the Contemporary we made a d-tour and went to Krispy Kreme instead. When we arrived their Hot Now sign was on and the CVS right opposite was still open, so we stopped there to see if we would find some drinks to take on the cruise with us. They did not have much of a variety, so we just stocked up on Diet Coke, got some Tortilla Chips and Salsa which Tom loves and a six pack of beer which we put into the trunk of the car before heading into Krispy Kreme.
I was trying hard to find a point not to get too many doughnuts as I had ordered a surprise for Tom at the hotel, but there was no way around it, without spilling the beans, so we got a dozen, a Diet Coke and a Flavoured Coffee.

Tom grabbed some sugar for his coffee and some napkins and we sat down at one of the small tables next to the conveyor belt and took a first bite. Yes, that taste says vacation again and again. Tom tasted his coffee and pulled a face, as the coffee already seemed to have had sugar in it and now it was sickeningly sweet.
We shared the Diet Coke and both had two doughnuts, which was okay as it was already late and we had had our “dinner” at around 4.30pm.
Sweet tooth sufficiently filled we headed back to the car and finally drove to our home for the night, Bay Lake Tower.
When we got close to the hotel we saw that they had signs out that said that there was no parking for non hotel guests and we were sure we would have a hard time finding a spot to park our car. But the security guard quickly checked IDs and waved us in and we found a spot close to the hotel in the second row down. Score!
We took our paperwork and headed for the front desk. Five to eleven, which meant that we had now been up for more than 25 hours, we checked in for our standard view studio, which had been the only studio I had been able to secure.
We chatted with the Cast Member doing the check in as she was from Paris, France and she then presented me with the bill which she wanted me to pay now.

Um, I actually am DVC and used my points.

No, in her computer our reservation showed as a cash one. Thank goodness I have a folder with paperwork and I presented my reservation, including points payment to her.
It did not match and she went to get a manager, who came out, looked at the reservation, then with a huge smile said, that I had asked for a higher floor and she did not have any higher floor standard view studios, so she had

upgraded us to a Lake View studio.

We both were standing there with open mouths, trying to wrap our tired brains around what she had just said and then she pulled out a birthday button and mentioned that there was something to celebrate and she wanted to help us with it.
We were stunned, thanked her a thousand times as she overrode the cash payment with the points I had already paid for the standard view, handed us our magic bands and then they sent us on our way.
Hadn’t we been so tired we would have skipped all the way to the elevator. We went up to our floor, then walked along the hallway, when Tom finally said,

“Isn’t that the wrong side for a lake view?”

When we had finally reached our room I let Tom open the door and my surprise was right there on the table,

a mini-cake for his 50th birthday, but we needed to check the view and when we were out there my heart skipped a beat, as the first thing we saw was Space Mountain.

And if you leaned out just a little there was the castle as well.
Disney Magic at its best – we loved our room for the night.
We had to go back to the car to get the rest of our stuff and when we returned to the front desk to thank the CMs again, we learned that their shift had ended a minute after we had left the desk. Luggage in the room and on a high we thought about heading over to MK for EMHs, but knew that it did not make any sense to waste a ticket just for an hour.
But what about heading to the Top of the World for a cocktail to toast Tom’s birthday? We asked the CM in the lobby if that was still an option and she said that they would be open for just a little longer and she was happy to send us up in the elevator.
When we arrived at the lounge we saw that we would have been the only guests and CMs were already cleaning up, so we decided again the idea and went back down to our room.

We sat out on the balcony, enjoying the warm night air and a drink and some nachos that we had bought just a little while earlier. It was after midnight when we returned to the room and I was searching for the candles for the birthday cake and we had a slice of it each as a late night treat.

It was already 1am when we finally went to bed. Needless to say after the long day it did not take long for us to fall asleep.


To be continued ..........​

 

[Flossbolna]

I know all about that dreadful suspense of how crazy the immigration lines will be... That is one of the reasons for me to actually pay for a seat assignment: to get a seat at the front of the plane to be off quickly. This can make a 40 minute difference and after a 12 hour flight those minutes really matter.

I have heard of those new machines, they are supposed to make things faster. I hope they work.

The car rental line was really not needed. I don't understand why they understaff their airport locations so much all the time. I have to say that while I don't enjoy flying on my own across the ocean to meet Michael, at least once I am through customs I don't have to worry about a single thing anymore. He is there to pick me up, has a car and I just need to say where I want to go next! Feels really luxurious!

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh, and you posted another update just when I was writing my first reply! You really had a lot of sweet things to eat that first evening! And I think you made the right call to just enjoy the room and the cake instead of running to the park. I guess I know what you had for breakfast the next morning!!

Did they really charge you more points for the upgraded studio? I know that you were happy, but I can imagine some people who are very cautious about they use their points would not have been too pleased about an involuntary added expense...

 

[dizneeat]

I know all about that dreadful suspense of how crazy the immigration lines will be...

We had a few really long waits, one of them being at Dulles/Washington during a blackout. They made us sit on one of their stinky transports for two hours, then let us into the immigration building, where we were in line for another 4 hours. Needless to say that our connecting flight had long left by then.

That is one of the reasons for me to actually pay for a seat assignment: to get a seat at the front of the plane to be off quickly. This can make a 40 minute difference and after a 12 hour flight those minutes really matter.

Same here! We always pay for seats as far forward as possible. But now that they use a 747/400 with has three seats together at the windows we actually pay for the exit seats. Not so bad, as it gives you more legroom AND lets you get off quickly. And those few minutes are so crucial when it comes to immigration.

I have heard of those new machines, they are supposed to make things faster. I hope they work.

We have used them twice now and they work pretty well. You can even change the photo the machine takes of you. Not that I care.

The car rental line was really not needed. I don't understand why they understaff their airport locations so much all the time.

Especially since it was Springbreak. And the the few people actually working seemed to go extra slow. Well, the three people renting at the first counter who had been there when we arrived and still were there when we left didn't help either.

I have to say that while I don't enjoy flying on my own across the ocean to meet Michael, at least once I am through customs I don't have to worry about a single thing anymore. He is there to pick me up, has a car and I just need to say where I want to go next! Feels really luxurious!

Lucky girl!

And I think you made the right call to just enjoy the room and the cake instead of running to the park.

Had we had an annual pass we might have just walked over for an hour or two, but we needed to use our regular tickets and it seemed like a huge waste of money to burn a ticket just for an hour in a park at the weekend.
And since we had just scored that nice upgrade, it made sense to make good use of it.

I guess I know what you had for breakfast the next morning!!

You will need to wait until tomorrow to see if you are right. I need to finish typing that update first.

Did they really charge you more points for the upgraded studio? I know that you were happy, but I can imagine some people who are very cautious about they use their points would not have been too pleased about an involuntary added expense...

I reread the paragraph and realized that I didn't word it right. NO, she did not charge us for the upgrade - it was free! She just had to override the cash payment with the points I had already used for the standard view.

 

[NHPixidust]

Subscribing so I can follow along!! Love your trip reports!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Subscribing so I can follow along!! Love your trip reports!!!

Great to have you on board!

 

[DnA2010]

Oh wow Panama! and the dates!! I didn't even really look at the new releases as they seem to be high high high, but the panama is pretty reasonable! And DD wouldn't miss too much school either! Will def watch this one and maybe we can jump on a GTY later down the road!
Can't wait to read more of your trip!
PS - I tried the tugboat on my recent first DCL cruise on the fantasy as well as the muesli- just because I have seen them in your reports- yum to both!

 

[eandesmom]

I will try to keep up! No promises but I will try! Heck I just read your last Key West update on the other thread lol (and now I want breakfast at Camilles!)

 

[MEK]

I am so glad the door thing did not hold you up too much longer. That could reall have been bad. I'm glad the rest of the flight was uneventful.

75 minutes for the rental pick up. OMG! I had that happen once on a Saturday night. Come to think of it - that could happen again during my August trip, but I got such a good rate I booked through Alamo.

Yay for Krispy Kremes! Didn't see THAT coming.....

Wow - what a beautiful upgrade with a great view. But how did they end up thinking it was a cash reservation? So confused. Yet the cake was already in your upgraded room. LOVE it! Happy Birthday Tom. What a great way to start a trip!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin! So sorry you were sick for so long. I have been a little out of the loop. It seems I just can't catch up and when I do I miss updates. I love your bracelets! I keep planning to buy a charm or two when at Disney, and then I get so busy rushing from ride to ride I forget.

Your plans for 2016 look fabulous! We toured the QM a couple of years ago - very elegant and interesting. I forgot you could actually book a stay on her. That cabin you showed would have been quite the posh stay back in the day! We had a nice cocktail in the lounge and had fun talking with some of the crew. We also snuck in on a wedding rehearsal going on in the ballroom.

You will have to let me know your dates. We are planning something in 2016 but are up in the air at this time. We could be in Cali. for a graduation and then on from there or we could be on the Dream for a 4 day and in WDW for 3 after that. We are waiting for some career decisions for Jim before proceeding with plans.

I can't wait to see your pics from your Italy trip this year! It all sounds so "Old World"

I'm glad you were able to take off without having to change planes!

Nice PD! How fun that you got the upgrade! Fun cake surprise! They did a nice job on that and it looks delicious! Quite the sugar overload - hope you were able to sleep - although I guess being up for 27 hrs or so probably helped.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Yeah!!! I am so happy that "the cat is out of the bag" (not sure if that is a term in English as well...).

I love the new ticker!! That will be a long countdown. But Katharina and I started counting down to the Norway cruise about the sam about of time - and now it is nearly here!

I really just caught the dates of the PC cruise by chance as I was trying to figure out some really tiny pictures someone had posted of the brochure on my phone. I was so surprised that they said something about PC and August. And then I remembered our discussion about how that was a cruise you always wanted to do, but that that had to wait until after you retired. Now you can do the Eastbound one now and then a Westbound one once you are retired to see the new locks!

Actually - you might even already go through the new locks in 2016!!!! So exciting!!

And I feel very honored that you adopted my magnet design!!

We DO say "cat is out of the bag" here. How does it translate? So funny we use the same phrase in two different languages!

 

[JKSWonder]

What a lovely room you got and such a cute cake!

 

[Flossbolna]

We DO say "cat is out of the bag" here. How does it translate? So funny we use the same phrase in two different languages!

In German it is "Die Katze ist aus dem Sack". Sometimes the expressions are really similar, but slightly different. A famous example is "to pull someone's leg" in English would be "to take someone onto one's arm" (i.e. carrying around like a baby) in German. And some are the same. I think in both languages you don't look into a gifted horse's mouth? It is always fun to discover these things!

 

[KatMark]

I would have been crashed if I was up for over 24 hours.

I also would have asked to have my seat changed on the plane after that door incident.

And what was up with the three people at the car rental counter taking so long?

A very nice upgrade for your room for the night and a spectacular room.

Love the cake you got Tom.

 

[RGirl]

In early May there was another birthday to celebrate and I thought I'd share the decorations and at least a picture (or two) of the cake with you.

Adorable! And Happy Birthday (quite late)!

Needless to say we needed to have a proper birthday dinner at one of our favourite restaurants.

Of course!

it is called Kristallschiff (crystal ship) and they used Swarovski crystals to decorate it. If you drive past it, you can see the crystals glittering in the sun.

This is so cool! Loved all the pics, really.

Shortly before we reached Passau there is a lookout over the city, so we drove up there and snapped a few more photos.

So gorgeous! And jealous that you can drive to places like this so easily.

Starting the vacation of with a nights at Lake Garda

then move on to Santa Margherita

from where we would like to visit

Portofino.
Next we are going to Manarola where we will stay for three nights

to enjoy the scenery

neighbouring villages

and the local specialites

after that we will move on to Florence for two nights

before three more nights of relaxation at an Italian costal town

We will then return home, stay there for 10 days before we head back to the Italian town where we usually go for weekends. There, we'll spend another 5 nights to end our summer vacation.

Take.Me.With.You.

PLEASE!!!

So this is what we are aiming for in 2016 (dates are not set in stone yet)

We will fly to Orlando about 3 weeks before the cruise and visit

WDW and friends for 2 weeks (no plans on where to stay yet, but DVC could be in the mix)

after that we will fly across the country and check in here for one night
(always wanted to stay there)

and after that we will spend 4 more nights and days at

we have not visit in the last ten years and cannot wait to walk in Walt's footsteps again and see all the new stuff.

Next stop

San Diego for a night before

boarding the Wonderful Disney Wonder for the Panama Canal cruise. Unfortunately when we reach Port Canaveral it will be time to head home, but I guess after catching the best of both worlds that bitter pill will be a bit easier to swallow.

Okay, Karin, you are KILLING ME!!!! The PC cruise is one of my biggest dream vacations.

And then you combine it with all the rest????

Take.Me.With.You.AGAIN!!!!!

and went to Krispy Kreme instead

Of course you did!!!!!

It did not match and she went to get a manager, who came out, looked at the reservation, then with a huge smile said, that I had asked for a higher floor and she did not have any higher floor standard view studios, so she had

upgraded us to a Lake View studio.

NICE!!!

we needed to check the view and when we were out there my heart skipped a beat, as the first thing we saw was Space Mountain.

Even nicer!!!

Oh, the cake turned out beautiful - I love it!

 

[Leshaface]

And that's the one with the Disney beads

Holy moly that's a lot of charms! And so many that i've never seen before. Thanks for sharing!

WDW and friends for 2 weeks (no plans on where to stay yet, but DVC could be in the mix)

Yes!!!

I've only ever visited once for a tour and it looked really cool! That will be fun to hear your experience.

and after that we will spend 4 more nights and days at

EEEEK!!! I'm really hoping I can make it down there and meet up with you guys if at all possible.

boarding the Wonderful Disney Wonder for the Panama Canal cruise. Unfortunately when we reach Port Canaveral it will be time to head home, but I guess after catching the best of both worlds that bitter pill will be a bit easier to swallow.

Can't wait for the planning to start

That cruise is going to be AMAZING!!!! So excited for you to go already!

It all went pretty fast and soon we heard, “all doors in flight” and our flight attendant came over, pulled the handle and it would not fall into place.
She tried again and it still would not fall into place.
So she called and all the doors had to be put back in park.
We looked at each other and were not very happy to be next to a faulty door.

Okay, i'd be freaking out!

I ended up watching “Up”, which I had never seen before.

Did you like it?!

There were LONG lines for all the companies and we knew that Hertz always takes quite some time to rent out its cars. And did I mention that the line was long? We joined the line and it did not move for a long time. There were three people at the counter and while two of the other employees were able to serve several people those three were still there when it finally, after 75 minutes was our turn to go to the counter.

No way. Ugh i'd be sooooo annoyed!

But by now it was already close to 10pm and we had a quick conversation and decided that it made no sense to head over to the Magic Kingdom and waste a day’s ticket for just an hour or two.
So while on route to the Contemporary we made a d-tour and went to Krispy Kreme instead.

That's a good detour for sure!

Where's the drool emoticon?!

It did not match and she went to get a manager, who came out, looked at the reservation, then with a huge smile said, that I had asked for a higher floor and she did not have any higher floor standard view studios, so she had

upgraded us to a Lake View studio.

We were stunned, thanked her a thousand times as she overrode the cash payment with the points I had already paid for the standard view, handed us our magic bands and then they sent us on our way.

How in the world did this happen? Does this mean i'll always have to bring printed papers with me from now on?

a mini-cake for his 50th birthday, but we needed to check the view and when we were out there my heart skipped a beat, as the first thing we saw was Space Mountain.

That is such a nice surprise!

It was after midnight when we returned to the room and I was searching for the candles for the birthday cake and we had a slice of it each as a late night treat.

Yum that looks delicious!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Oh wow Panama! and the dates!! I didn't even really look at the new releases as they seem to be high high high, but the panama is pretty reasonable! And DD wouldn't miss too much school either! Will def watch this one and maybe we can jump on a GTY later down the road!

I never thought we would be able to do the Panama Canal. And I did not even really look as we were all set for 2016 with two Dream and a Fantasy cruise. I owe it all to Magdalene (flossbolna) as she told me to look at the dates. It works perfectly for us. The ship returns to PC on Friday before school starts, so this is great timing.
That would be awesome, if you were able to go on the PC cruise. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you.

I tried the tugboat on my recent first DCL cruise on the fantasy as well as the muesli- just because I have seen them in your reports- yum to both!

I am glad you enjoyed it. We really enjoy these breakfast items. Good to know we are not the only ones.

I will try to keep up! No promises but I will try! Heck I just read your last Key West update on the other thread lol (and now I want breakfast at Camilles!)

No problem, Cynthia. I am glad you are here in the first place.
And don't remind me of breakfast at Camille's I would love to go back there myself soon.

75 minutes for the rental pick up. OMG! I had that happen once on a Saturday night. Come to think of it - that could happen again during my August trip, but I got such a good rate I booked through Alamo.

I did ask if that was a common wait time and the answer was that it was spring break, so that's it. We usually pick up on a Saturday night and have had some long waits, but not as long as this time.
And even though they are so slow we are still booking Hertz - they have the best insurance packages and even though they are expensive - I am a better safe than sorry kind of girl.
And I hope you will be WAY luckier than us in August.

Yay for Krispy Kremes! Didn't see THAT coming.....

Yes, that was really so "unforseeable".

Wow - what a beautiful upgrade with a great view. But how did they end up thinking it was a cash reservation? So confused. Yet the cake was already in your upgraded room. LOVE it! Happy Birthday Tom. What a great way to start a trip!

It was an AWESOME upgrade and I think it was because of the cake I had ordered. There was already another room number on the envelope that had gotten crossed out and replaced with the room number of our wonderful room.
And the supervisor explained it that way to us - the computer would not let her override our reservation, only when she had changed it to cash it would let her. She simply had forgotten to change it back to points, but it made heck of difference for us when checking in and being presented with the bill.
I have stalked the cake order thread here for a long time and was not sure I wanted to order something as Tom is not very much into sweets and a whole cake just for the two of us, which we would have had to throw out since we would not have been able to take it with onto the ship was just not what I wanted. Then I came across the mini cakes and was sold. And it was SO easy to order - email to the Contemporaty cake team, which Chef Brian answered within half an hour, then a quick phone call to place the order and ask if they would be able to place the cake in the room before we arrived. No problem and that was it. The cake was just the right size for the two of us and VERY good.

Your plans for 2016 look fabulous! We toured the QM a couple of years ago - very elegant and interesting. I forgot you could actually book a stay on her. That cabin you showed would have been quite the posh stay back in the day!

Thank you!
We were pretty sad when our plans for this summer had to be cancelled but the trip to Italy seems quite interesting and makes up for it a bit.
But then when we changed our plans to the Panama Canal cruise it all fell into place and we can finally explore the Queen Mary as well. I cannot wait to tour the ship and then spend the night there before moving over to Disneyland.

You will have to let me know your dates. We are planning something in 2016 but are up in the air at this time. We could be in Cali. for a graduation and then on from there or we could be on the Dream for a 4 day and in WDW for 3 after that. We are waiting for some career decisions for Jim before proceeding with plans.

Tammie, our dates for WDW are not quite set in stone yet, but the Wonder leaves San Diego on August 26 and we should be in LA for 4 - 5 days prior. I'll let you know the exact dates when we make that decision.
You already have a lot of great things coming up for 2016 as well. And I hope all of Jim's plans work out!

I can't wait to see your pics from your Italy trip this year! It all sounds so "Old World"

It took a while, but now I am very much looking forward to our "old world" vacation. We picked some nice places to stay. I have been to all of them before, but it has been quite a while and we loved our short visit to the Cinque Terre last summer, so we are happy to go back.

Nice PD! How fun that you got the upgrade! Fun cake surprise! They did a nice job on that and it looks delicious! Quite the sugar overload - hope you were able to sleep - although I guess being up for 27 hrs or so probably helped.

That PD was just so unexpected! It was my impression that upgrades happen with cash ressies, but not DVC, so we were both floored when we walked into the room and actually saw the castle from our balcony!
As I explained to MEK above, ordering the cake was easy once I had made my mind up and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was delicious and so cute.
Being up for over 24 hours helped a lot with falling asleep even with the huge sugar input. We were both on a high, just being at WDW and going on the cruise AND having all those planned and unplanned surprises.

 

[dizneeat]

What a lovely room you got and such a cute cake!

We could not believe how lucky we were with the room upgrade and the cake was perfect in size and taste.

I would have been crashed if I was up for over 24 hours.

Kathy, we are "kind of" used to those long first days - with the time difference and the long stopover it takes quite a while to travel to WDW. But we were on a high just thinking about the fact that we were at WDW.

I also would have asked to have my seat changed on the plane after that door incident.

We had paid quite a bit of money for those seats as they offer extra legroom and that is crucial on such a long flight. So giving up our seats was not an option.

And what was up with the three people at the car rental counter taking so long?

I have no idea what was up with them. Quite some people in line were joking that they were renting ALL the cars they had. Thing is that we saw that they handed them keys, then they talked for a while and they handed the key back and they were still there when we left.

A very nice upgrade for your room for the night and a spectacular room.

We were so stunned about the upgrade as I was under the impression that points reservations very very seldom get upgrades. So therefore we just could not believe that we would be in lakeview instead of standard and then to have a view of the castle was just the icing on Tom's birthday trip!

Love the cake you got Tom.

It was perfect just the way it was.

Adorable! And Happy Birthday (quite late)!

Thank you!

So gorgeous! And jealous that you can drive to places like this so easily.

So jealous that you can drive to Disneyland.

Take.Me.With.You.

PLEASE!!!

Sure! But don't forget to bring my girl Willow as well.

Okay, Karin, you are KILLING ME!!!! The PC cruise is one of my biggest dream vacations.

I owe it all to Magdalene that we even thought about another cruise for the summer. I had glanced over the new itineraries and not even looked at the PC dates. Only when Magdalene emailed me that the dates might just fit into my summer vacation I went to look into it.
Ever since our first cruise we wanted to do a PC or TA cruise and they just seemed to be at the wrong time. So after a sleepless night trying to figure out if we can swing it, I am still on cloud nine, pinching myself that we are going on that cruise.

And then you combine it with all the rest????

Take.Me.With.You.AGAIN!!!!!

It took me nearly a whole night to make my mind up and decide on doing a coast to coast (and back) trip.

And again - you can come with us - just don't forget to bring my girl Willow!

Oh, the cake turned out beautiful - I love it!

We did too! It was the perfect cake for us - small enough for us to finish it, but yet it was so cute and tasty.