We were to excited to sleep...or how 6 women spent 10 days in January

[bywheel]

Cast:

Martha (me): Disney nut. My first cruise other than a Windjammer Cruise.
Kathy, my sister. Believe it or not, more of a fanatic than me.
Heidi, my partner: We’ve been together for 8 years and she puts up with me. A bit of a fanatic herself.
Wendy, my friend of 26 years. We’ve been to Disney a couple of times together
Arlene, another friend of 26 years. She had never been to Disney before.
Betty, our neighbor. Disney Vacation Club member and big Disney fan
Sandy, one of Heidi’s oldest friends. Lives in North Carolina and we only see her every few years

_____________________________________________________________

So we had been planning this cruise since last January. First it was Me, Kathy, Heidi and Wendy. Then Arlene mentioned she would like to go so we asked Betty and Sandy if they were interested. Of course they were. So after many emails between me and Deb of Dreams Unlimited, we had our reservations squared away. Myself, Kathy, Heidi and Sandy would be in a Cat 4 Deluxe Family Stateroom. Arlene and Wendy in a Cat 11 inside stateroom and Betty had a Cat 5 stateroom all to herself. Our reservations were linked and we started planning. I even designed a website “ We’re Too Excited To Sleep” that everyone could go to check the latest “tips” and news. Yes, we were obsessed.

We decided to fly down the day before and started looking for an inexpensive place to stay. I mentioned this to Betty and she asked why we don’t stay at Disney. I explained that it was a bit too expensive for a couple of us so we were looking for cheaper. “But I’m a vacation club member” she said. So she booked us a two bedroom and a one bedroom villa at the Beach Club for the Thursday and Friday before the cruise. WooHoo

Next was transportation. Myself, Heidi, Wendy and Arlene were coming from MA, Kathy was in NH, Betty in CT and Sandy in NC. Betty wanted to fly non stop so we booked her a Delta flight out of Hartford for Thursday morning. She would arrive in Orlando at 10:30am and take the Magical Journeys Bus to the Villas.
We were looking into Southwest. One day Kathy called and asked where Sandy flew out of because there was an Air Tran flight from Boston to Newport News VA, then on to Orlando. We called her and she said she could fly from there no problem. So that’s what we did. We would fly to Virginia, Sandy would get on the flight and we would arrive in Orlando together. We then got a 1:00pm return flight that would land in Virginia and then onto Boston. Perfect. Kathy would have a ride from NH the day before. We made reservations to stay at the Holiday Inn at the airport. We could leave the car there for the 10 days. It ended up being cheaper than parking at the airport garage.

We checked rental cars and decided to rent two cars from Budget for two days. It was cheaper to rent two midsize cars than one van. We picked them up at the airport and we would drop them off the morning of the cruise at the Budget Rental near the pier. I then contacted FL Tours and scheduled them to pick us up at the port and drive us to the airport.


We were set.

Many phone calls between us for the next 10 months. . “How many more days?” “What are you bringing for formal night?” “How many more days?” “What day are we in St. Thomas?” “How many more days?’


Two days before we were to leave Kathy received an email from DU asking if we were willing to give up our Category 4 for two Category 6 Staterooms. In addition they would upgrade Arlene and Wendy from a Category 11 to a Category 7. We would be right down the hall from each other. We decided to take the offer.


Finally it was time………….

 

[Mickey'sfriend]

Yea!!! I love to hear about your Disney fun!!! More! More!

 

[kellimomo3]

Hey "Wellfleet!"
Even though we were on the same cruise, it's just as much fun to read your adventures. Keep it coming!!!

Kelli (aka Mrs. Doug Flutie)

 

[kevinsmom]

lovin' it so far!!! keep it comin'

 

[bywheel]

Cast:

Martha (me): Disney nut. My first cruise other than a Windjammer Cruise.
Kathy, my sister. Believe it or not, more of a fanatic than me.
Heidi, my partner: We’ve been together for 8 years and she puts up with me. A bit of a fanatic herself.
Wendy, my friend of 26 years. We’ve been to Disney a couple of times together
Arlene, another friend of 26 years. She had never been to Disney before.
Betty, our neighbor. Disney Vacation Club member and big Disney fan
Sandy, one of Heidi’s oldest friends. Lives in North Carolina and we only see her every few years

______________________________________________________________


We drove up to the Holiday Inn at Logan Airport Wednesday night. I was a little leery having read some not so great reviews on the hotel, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was clean and comfortable which is all I really need. Kathys saint-of-a-husband dropped her off at the hotel and we had dinner.

Of course there was not much sleep to be had. Our flight left at 9:30am. We got up a bit early and had a bite to eat. The shuttle from the hotel had us at the airport at 8:30. We were very pleased with Air Tran. The seats were comfortable and the flight was actually a bit early. We settled in and left chilly Massachusetts behind.

Kathy didn't need to wear that turtleneck sweater again!!



We landed in Newport News and waited for Sandy to embark. And waited, and waited. She didn’t. Heidi checked her voice mail and got a message from Sandy saying she had been in the hospital, sick with mono, and she didn’t know if she was going to make it or not. She would call later to let us know. Bummer.

We landed in Orlando, collected our bags and headed to the rental cars. We had gotten a fast break card when we made our reservation so we bypassed the huge line and went right to the cars. Beach Villas here we come!

We arrived and Betty was out front waiting for us. We were starving, so after a quick trip to the rooms (the Beach Villas were gorgeous. The one bedroom had a queen bed in the bedroom and a pull out sofa in the living room. The bathroom was huge. One section was shower, one section tub and the other section had the toilet. It also had a little kitchen area) we went to Beaches and Cream for lunch.

Back to the rooms and we got on our suits. Kathy, Betty, Heidi and I went to the pool. Arlene and Wendy went exploring. We went back to the rooms and relaxed a bit. We talked to Sandy and she was determined to get to the boat on Saturday. She still sounded terrible and I was afraid she would get to the boat and they wouldn’t let her on. She was going to see how she felt the next day.

Time for dinner. Since we had had lunch late we really didn’t want a big dinner. We went back to Beaches and Cream and ordered a Kitchen Sink Sundae.

Dinner......What?!? We were on vacation!!

The sundae's serving bowl is a replica of a kitchen sink. The sundae includes a scoop of every flavor of ice cream they serve. It also includes all of their toppings - fudge, strawberries, caramel, pineapple, almonds, Oreos, and Snickers chunks, to name a few. The sundae is finally topped with an entire can of whipped cream, and lots of cherries.


When the sundae was served, the waiter flickered the lights and, in the middle of the restaurant, announced to everyone "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the largest sundae we serve, and we're serving it right over here!" So, now the pressure is on to do some serious damage. We tried. We really did, but we were unsuccessful in conquering the Kitchen Sink.


We rolled out of the restaurant thankful that we didn’t have far to go.

Tomorrows agenda……Magic Kingdom here we come

 

[kjblovesdisney]

Okay,when do you want to go back to Disney????
Really...I'm serious!

 

[beachwench]

NOW PLEASE... lets go now...

 

[Keggy]

Sounds great so far!!!

 

[bywheel]

Cast:

Martha (me): Disney nut. My first cruise other than a Windjammer Cruise.
Kathy, my sister. Believe it or not, more of a fanatic than me.
Heidi, my partner: We’ve been together for 8 years and she puts up with me. A bit of a fanatic herself.
Wendy, my friend of 26 years. We’ve been to Disney a couple of times together
Arlene, another friend of 26 years. She had never been to Disney before.
Betty, our neighbor. Disney Vacation Club member and big Disney fan
Sandy, one of Heidi’s oldest friends. Lives in North Carolina and we only see her every few years


Friday was our first Mickey wake-up call. Love it!! We only had one day in the parks. We were excited to go to Magic Kingdom for a myriad of reasons, but the most important being that Arlene had never been to Disney and you always have to experience MK first.

Betty decided to sleep in, so the rest of us went down to get the cars to bring us to the park. Valet parking is $10.00. When I asked the attendant if I gave her the money she said that we didn’t have to pay because it said we were DVC members. Score! Off to the park we went.

At the transportation center we had to buy our one day tickets. Wendy and I used the machines while Kathy, Heidi and Arlene went to the window. Arlene got a 1st timers button. Very cool. She had lots of comments from both the Cast Member and other guests all day.

First stop Pirates. The new Captain Jack animatronics are awesome. At one point we weren’t sure if it really was animatronics or a real person. Next was Big Thunder Mountain. The other girls didn’t want to go on it. Whimps. Kathy and I are the ride queens. Favorite: Tower of Terror. We have been known to do the tower 3 and 4 and 5 times in a row. Anyway, back to BTM. The line was semi-long but moved right along. Maybe a 10 minute wait. The ride was great as usual.

Its blurry cause I took it from a video

We were all a bit hungry so it was off to Casey’s for hot dogs and cheese fries. On the way there Wendy got a turkey leg. She is kind of a turkey leg fanatic. Betty called and was on her way into the park so she met us there.

Haunted Mansion, Mickey’s Philharmonic, Tea Cups (Me & Kathy), Small World (not Me & Kathy), and Peter Pan rounded off our morning.

OK, so this is where the afternoon gets a bit surreal. Betty and I are in the Tinkerbell store. When we leave we find the girls behind the castle hanging out. Wendy says to me “Heidi went that way (towards the walkway) and wants you to find her.” So off I go. She is standing in the side garden. “Look at that beautiful flower”, she says, “Smell it, it’s awesome.” So over I go and smell the flower. Beautiful fragrance. When I turn around Heidi is next to me on one knee with a little ceramic box with Sorcerer Mickey on top. She opens it and pulls out a gorgeous diamond ring. “Will you marry me?” Holy Crap. Of course, I will. (BTW, we are from Massachusetts where gay marriage is legal). To top it off the ring is actually my mothers’ engagement ring. After she passed away in 2003, I inherited her engagement and wedding ring. They were too small so I kept them in a box. Heidi had it resized so it would fit me.

Ooohhhh Aahhhhhh

So after may hugs and kisses all around, we set off to do a bit more shopping and find a place to watch the parade. We settled right outside the bakery and watched the Disney Dreams Come True Parade. Once the parade was over all of us but Kathy decided to go back to the Villas for a dip in the pool. Kathy stayed and explored a bit more. We would meet up later for Wishes.

Whats up Pluto?

After a swim and rest period, back to the parks we went. We watched Wishes from Frontierland. Not the best place but we caught most of it. We slowly made our way back to the cars. After arriving at the Villas, we started getting our luggage together. We threw in a load of laundry and tried to sleep. Tomorrow was the big day!

Goodbye castle...see you next year


Next up……….DCL here we come

 

[kevinsmom]

OMG CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is so exciting!!! Love your report!!

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Awww... Not only a proposal but with your mother's ring, resized to fit, just doesn't get much better than that!! Congratulations!

 

[RobinMarie]

Hurry! Post more!

Great start, an engagement - very romantic.

 

[bywheel]

Cast:

Martha (me): Disney nut. My first cruise other than a Windjammer Cruise.
Kathy, my sister. Believe it or not, more of a fanatic than me.
Heidi, my partner: We’ve been together for 8 years and she puts up with me. A bit of a fanatic herself.
Wendy, my friend of 26 years. We’ve been to Disney a couple of times together
Arlene, another friend of 26 years. She had never been to Disney before.
Betty, our neighbor. Disney Vacation Club member and big Disney fan
Sandy, one of Heidi’s oldest friends. Lives in North Carolina and we only see her every few years


We’re all very excited about the day. We got up early and went down to the little restaurant and have a little breakfast. Get the cars from valet and off we go. The drive to Port Canaveral was easy. Going over the bridge and seeing the ship for the first time is as exciting as everyone says. We pull into the guest drop off zone and dump all the bags and passengers. Kathy and I then take the cars to the Budget office. Very easy to find. Drop off the cars and a few minutes later we are in a van heading back to the port. The others have gone upstairs already so we met them there. Wendy and Arlene are all checked in; Betty was waiting for me because I had all her documents. She also was a little panicked because when she left her house she grabbed her old passport instead of the one just issued. It turned out OK anyway because the old one didn’t actually expire till Feb 07. She got all checked in. Now it was our turn. We finally heard from Sandy and unfortunately she wasn’t coming. Now we needed to switch around who was in which cabin but we had no problem with that. After all was said and done, Heidi and I were in one cabin; Kathy was all by herself in the cabin next door. Wendy and Arlene were four doors down from us and Betty was one floor up. (After being on board for a few days we realized the 4 women in a Category 4 would have been a little tight.) We were all ready to board.

The girls got boarding #6. We hung around ready for them to call us. Soon enough we were heading through the Mickey ears. Now we had been debating on how to announce ourselves. We were going to be the Tets Girls. (To Excited To Sleep) but some thought it was a little close to a female anatomy part and would be misconstrued. So we just went with the Wheeler girls (Mine and Kathy’s last name) since we made the arrangements. I got the chills when Simone announced our names.

Kathy, Martha,Wendy, Arlene, Heidi, Betty

Kathy and I went to Rockin Bar D to make a change to our Palo reservations. We wanted to change from a reservation for four to a reservation for six. No problem. Then to guest services to have the box I sent ahead of time brought to our new stateroom. Again, no problem (it was in the room when we got there). I also dropped off my pillowcases and pens for character signatures.

We headed to Parrot Cay for lunch. It was a nice buffet. We were all pretty excited to be on board. After lunch it still was a bit too early to get to the staterooms so we wandered around the ship.

Just around 1:45pm the cabins were ready. Our cabin was in the back part of the ship, 6152, right were it curves, so our verandahs were wider than most. It was very comfortable. There was a little noise but not enough to keep us awake. It took me a night or two to get use to it but Heidi had no problem sleeping at all.

Our Stateroom

Our stateroom hostess was Beverly. She did and excellent job. She always had a big smile and hello for us whenever we saw her and if we asked for anything it instantly appeared.

The lifeboat drill was painless and took less than 20 minutes. When we got back to the room some of our luggage had arrived so we started to unpack.

Flattering...yes?

We had the early sitting 6pm which was perfect for us. Our rotation was LAPLAPL.

The sail-a-way party was great. Kathy had brought bubbles so all the kids around us were happy. I video taped the countdown so I could watch it again and again and again….

Our first dinner was at Lumieres. Arlene kept calling it Lumineers.

Our server was Ever Lee from the Philippines. He was great. Very soft spoken and polite. He learned all our names quickly and always had a big hello when we saw him around the ship. Assistant Server was Erwin from Jamaica. Erwin was very friendly but had a problem with remembering what we wanted. Poor Betty couldn’t get milk with her coffee without asking him every night. I didn’t keep track of what I ordered but I do remember the escargot at our first dinner. Delicious. I could have had it every night. We had two tablemates, Jim and Pat who dined with us. They were very personable and we got along very well.

Ever Lee

Erwin

We went to the sail away show at the Walt Disney Theater. It was fun. We all went back to the room early. I was exhausted but I didn’t sleep all that well the first night. You know, strange bed, strange noises…………ok, I was just to excited to sleep.

Sunday….First visit to the spa

 

[beachwench]

Faith, Trust and pixie dust Good thing I didn't even think of the possibility of you saying no when I proposed. Would have made for a interesting cruise. Love reading about the trip... its reminding of all the fun we had. Someday we will go again I promise

 

[RobinMarie]

Your door looked great!

 

[Tinkified]

Congrats to you both, Martha and Heidi...very magical...romantic and meaningful. We are still sorry we were unable to cruise with you...but it is one month away today for us...hard to start a count-down again. When do you plan on getting married? You can add another count-down to your signature now! Something else to plan and prepare! Good luck and Best Wishes to you both.

"I know DIS much is true"
Michelle

 

[bywheel]

Cast:

Martha (me): Disney nut. My first cruise other than a Windjammer Cruise.
Kathy, my sister. Believe it or not, more of a fanatic than me.
Heidi, my partner: We’ve been together for 8 years and she puts up with me. A bit of a fanatic herself.
Wendy, my friend of 26 years. We’ve been to Disney a couple of times together
Arlene, another friend of 26 years. She had never been to Disney before.
Betty, our neighbor. Disney Vacation Club member and big Disney fan


I woke up early unable to sleep anymore. I told Heidi I was going exploring and she rolled over and was asleep again before I hit the door. From our stateroom you could go up the back steps to deck 8 than go up the back stairs to Topsiders. When I arrived they were just opening the door. The CM told me the coffee wasn’t done yet but led me out to the 24 hour drink station. I roamed the ship for a while. Not too many people around yet and it was really nice. I checked out the internet café. Heidi had signed up for unlimited access for the week, so we all could check email or post on the DIS boards.

I went back to the room to get ready for my 8am massage. Heidi is a massage therapist so it’s not something new for me but it’s a wonderful way to spend my first morning. I got to the Vista Spa and filled out the form. My massage therapist was Elizma. She was wonderful. She made me feel very at ease and was always checking to make sure the pressure was comfortable. It was great.

Back to the room for a shower. BTW the showers on board were surprisingly good. There was always plenty of hot water and the water pressure was good. Heidi and I went up to Topsiders for breakfast. They did have quite an assortment of food. My favorite was the Bagels and Lox. Also, they had Krispy Kreme Donuts!!!

before / after

We went outside to eat. A bit breezy but comfortable. Kathy, Wendy and Arlene were already there so we had a nice breakfast. I was sitting there eating my lox and bagel after having a wonderful massage, with my closest friends and family thinking how lucky I was. It was my Disney Moment.

We decided to check out the Bingo Game. Pikey was very entertaining. The woman next to us won three times. After the second time it was a bit difficult giving her any “bingo love” as Pikey would like to say. It did drag on a bit (that Pikey likes to talk) but it was fun.

We all met up for lunch at Parrot Cay.

Back to the staterooms for quick change into swimsuits. The adult pool was great. It was amazing how the whole dynamic changed after you passed the Cove Café. The Goofy Pool at times was nuts. With the music and kids and jumbotron you couldn’t hear yourself think. The second you went around the café it was quiet. You didn’t hear anything from the other pool. Bliss.

We hung around the pool for a good part of the afternoon. We went down to Mickey’s Mates and Treasure Ketch to see what we would be filling our suitcases with. They had a sale rack that had some Disney Cruise Line Sweatshirts on it for $22. I found one my size and also a t-shirt for $9.99. (I realized after I had worn the sweatshirt that it had the western ports listed on it. Duh. ) We went to Diversions to check out the Saints/Bears game. We had a quick drink and then we headed back to the rooms to get ready for Formal Night.

I think all looked very nice. We had a picture taken but Betty wasn’t with us so she didn’t get in the picture. We had another taken later in the week with all of us.



Dinner was at Animators Palate. I thought the show was a lot of fun. I, again, forgot what I had to eat other than the dessert which was Strawberry Shortcake. The best I’ve ever had.

Arlene, Heidi and I quickly went back to the rooms after dinner and changed into our Patriots gear. They had the Pats/Colts game at Diversions. We sat down next to a gentleman who looked like Doug Flutie. It ended up that his wife grew up in our town and went to the same high school as Arlene and Heidi. When she came in to meet him it was like old home week. Small world. (Hi kellimomo3!)

In regards to the actual football game; I have nothing else to say on this subject.

Monday…….Character breakfast and Rasul

 

[cheriemek]

Congratulations on your engagement! And I am enjoying your TR. Keep it coming!

 

[kellimomo3]

There's something about being mentioned in someone else's trip report that makes one feel almost famous!!!

Congratulations by the way, we had no idea you had just gotten engaged!! My sister also recently got engaged at Disney right in front of Cinderella's castle!! I'm really enjoying the report, keep it coming!!

Kelli
(aka Doug Flutie)

 

[bywheel]

Cast:

Martha (me): Disney nut. My first cruise other than a Windjammer Cruise.
Kathy, my sister. Believe it or not, more of a fanatic than me.
Heidi, my partner: We’ve been together for 8 years and she puts up with me. A bit of a fanatic herself.
Wendy, my friend of 26 years. We’ve been to Disney a couple of times together
Arlene, another friend of 26 years. She had never been to Disney before.
Betty, our neighbor. Disney Vacation Club member and big Disney fan


Monday was another day at sea. We had our character breakfast at Parrot Cay. It was fun and all the characters stopped by our table for pictures. There is nothing funnier that seeing six grown women swooning over Disney characters. We're just big kids. We got some good pictures. Some people have said that the characters are too rushed and don't spend enough time at the tables but I didn't find that to be true. We all got a turn with them and they allowed us to take as many pictures as we wanted.

Back to the pool. I was determined to go back to work with a tan. Or in my case lots more freckles. (Damn that Irish blood of mine.) I had my first virgin Pina Colada. Excellent, I wish everyone back home at work could have seen me and been extremely jealous. The seas were a bit rough that day. It made the pool seem like a wave pool. It was actually pretty fun for swimming.

Speaking of the seas being rough, we didn’t have too much of a problem with the movement of the boat. Wendy seemed to have felt it the most. She did take the motion sickness pills provided by the medical services on board but it made her tired. Some days were worse than others but no one got physically sick. Overall the motion didn’t prevent anyone from doing what they wanted.

A few of us had lunch at Lumineers. I just had appetizers. It was good. The waiter forgot Wendy’s burger but brought it pretty quick after we had pointed it out. Dessert was a sundae. Has anyone noticed I can’t remember what I ate for any meal other than dessert?!?

After lunch Heidi and I headed up to the spa for our Exotic Rasul. OK, get your mind out of the gutter (or not). It was very relaxing. When you go in the room there is a bench in front of you with big towels rolled up on it. To the left was a shower. To the right was a door that went into a steam room. The room had three seats. Each seat had five showerheads. The middle of the room held a fountain with cold water. Beware: the steam room gets really hot! You have two bowls, one with salt scrub and one with mud. There is also a basket with 10-12 different lotions and creams you can use. We had a really good time.

Before dinner, we took a quick nap and then I went up to Deck 10. I hadn’t seen that part of the ship yet. It was verrrry windy. Going against the wind was difficult and going with the wind almost pushed me down! It was pretty cool standing at the front of the ship overlooking the crew’s pool. There was a couple of CM’s sunbathing and using the pool. There is also a “hidden” Mickey at the front of the boat. (its not really hidden, actually it’s huge)

I went back to the room to get ready for dinner. On my way through the Atrium I noticed my favorite character standing by himself just waiting for me to come over and get a picture with him.

I love this picture


Dinner was Parrot Cay. It was Caribbean Night. I do remember they had ribs, Heidi had them and like them a lot. I don’t remember what I ate again. I’m such a food disappointment.

We went to the theater to see Twice Charmed. Really fun show. All shows we saw on the ship were excellent. We checked out the store again. I had my eye on a few things I wanted to buy before I got off the ship. We leisurely made our way back the room, sat out on the verandah for a bit. Sleep came very quickly.


Tomorrow…….St. Maarten