11/15/09 Wonder

[pursuethekingdom]

I got 3 more days of work. And oh joy trying to test how to reload 500,000 lines of transaction histories before I go...... yeah

Well we're packing up and now we're cleaning up the house REALLY clean before we go. Just love the idea of coming back to to a clean house instead of coming home and cleaning up.

We are so pumped. We got our reservations for the hotel, limo, and first 3 days of navigators too.!!!!! Please send me an email and I'll be happy to foward them on. They've been seperated into seperate emails cause of the PDF size. MMELITO@KC.RR.COM They are from someone who did a 4 night from 11-1-09 so it's pretty recent...... Oh we're gonna love planning the days out.

 

[maktrk96]

Ok so excited and pumped up now. One yes I said one more day of work. How will I ever get threw the day. Today was hard enough.

Someone told me to just spend the night in the airport Wednesday night cause noone is going to sleep. I'm praying my kids go to bed early tonight and then after church tomorrow then get to bed and try and get a good night sleep. We have to be at the airport by 6 am!!! But it will be worth it all when we arrive in Disney

 

[maktrk96]

OH yeah we have to clean our house mainly cause we have company come four days after we get home for Thanksgiving, Plus Thanksgiving is at my house as well. Just love it!!

 

[pursuethekingdom]

Oh just 2 more days of work. I love it when the boss says we will be making updates to Production data before we've had a chance to test the process. Unrealistic deadlines before testing. OMG I'm living in a Dilbert cartoon.

4 days - just 4 days. We were getting excited reading through the navigators. I was excited they had a magician on the Nov1 cruise.

I envy being at the parks already.......

 

[bonhote]

We leave in 6 hours, we'll be at Pop century for 4 nights before the cruise. We are cleaning too! We FINALLY got our documents...still in #6569.

See you all on Sunday!!!

 

[ppony]

Cleaning here too. It's nice to come home to a clean house!

 

[trinibjill]

Can someone please tell me what time your documents say we can get on the ship (earliest). I have one that says 1pm and another that says 4 pm. When I went before we were able to get on earlier.

Ok, you guys are all packed and ready to go. I started today & will probably finalize tomorrow. We are leaving Friday morning & driving down. On Saturday we will stay at the Seralago.

I did clean the house really well this week. Also, got in two days of skating practice (I promised my coach I'd bring her a souvener)

 

[ppony]

I'm not looking at my docs at the moment but I KNOW they want you on no later than 4 at the latest! In fact, I think if you look at the Navigators Mike was so kind to send around , the muster w/ the lifeboats is at 4. So probably before then. I think they start boarding around 11:30 with the family of the day, then suite guests (I'm SOOOO looking forward to taking pix of a nearly empty ship!), then all the rest of the groups. Rooms will be ready at 1:30.

Safe flights (and driving in case anyone is driving) everyone!!!!

 

[trinibjill]

Thanks Stephanie. I too am looking forward to this & so is Laura. She is so excited cause she has never cruised before.

 

[maktrk96]

Ok it's like almost 11pm Wednesday night I have to be up and out of my house by 5 am to get to the airport by 6am. I guess I will say good night and see you all on Sunday! Can not wait. Hugs to you all!!!

I'm going to go dance with the Mouse tomorrow!!!!

I hope it stop raining here in Baltimore, but I have feeling it's going to be raining when we leave in the morning!!!


See you all Sunday!!!!:

 

[pursuethekingdom]

Well it's 7:45pm and still flying home. This is the last leg though. Heard there was a system wide FAA issue this morning causing delays. Didn't effect us much though.

Waiting in line at Orlando airport was really something with coming across a few rude people. SO DIFFERENT, very very different from the cruise attitude and staff. There was a coupon for free internet during the flight so I'm cleaning out my inbox and doing some high tech surfing at 34,000 feet.

I hope everyone enjoyed the cans. Some got a little squshed from the luggage but most seemed OK. I really enjoyed some of the stuff we got. Thank you all so much.

Take care,
Mike

 

[ppony]

We're home as well. Feels SOOOO good to be home! Our toddler just fell into his crib just about when we put him to bed. He was HAPPY!!! And did he ever squeal when we walked in. He just isn't good out of his element right now.
I'm sorry I only got to actually meet up w/ one of you and that was only because Krystyne had AMAZING timing to be where we were every single day! THANKS to everyone for the gifts and such! My oldest especially looked forward to every day. LOL It was mainly due to our 2 YO being an utter PILL the whole trip. I think DCL was wonderful and the cast members were beyond reproach, but I'm not sure cruising is anywhere in our near future. Especially w/ the youngest until he's a few years older.
Had a wonderful experience last night though. As I was looking off of our veradna around 1 am, right over the mid-ship stableizers, I saw some small dolphins or porpoise jumping along the ship for about 20 minutes. I LOVE dolphins! I'll write more when I can. I have much to think about.

I hope everyone else had a MUCH better cruise than we did. I do plan on writing nice long letters of glowing reports about CMs. Stupid me, I walked off the ship w/ my report card we all filled out so I need to send that back. Anyone know an address?

Hope you all enjoyed the paintings! They are all in oils. I had a great time doing them.

 

[maktrk96]

Well it's sad to be back home. I really wish I was back on the ship! Wow is the best way to describe our first trip. We all had a wonderful time on the ship so much better than WDW itself.

First Thanks to everyone for their wonderful gifts. This was a real highlight of the night everyone got so excited and wanted to know when the nexts gifts would show. Thanks for making this a highlight of our trip.

Sorry I did not get to see you all as well. I wish I would have but DH was to busy on the go with the kids. I was a little upset that my kids did not go in the clubs so DH and I could have some alone time. I never made it into the pools. I was planning on going into the adult pool but the kids never wanted to go in the clubs. go figure.

I have some wonderful pictures and I'm in the process of downloading them now. oh what fun!!

talk about the airlines. I will never fly US airways again. They are the most rudest people I have ever met. I can not believe Disney deals with them. I plan on filiing a complaint against them. They where so nasty with Annette with her wheelchair. Oh I wanted to punch someone thats how nasty they where but I knew I couldn't so my DH and Joe handled it.

The time on the ship was totally amazing and the views where awesome.

We left the airport around noon and should have been home around 415 but cause of the airline problem you all have heard about we did not arrive back to baltimore unitl 545 pm it felt like we circled the airport for hour or so.

Funny thing we left baltimore in the dark rainy morning. We come home in the dark rainy evening. lol

The main question is there a future cruise. the answer is YES!!!! My dh is hooked now! He wants to do a 7 day cruise. We may have to wait about four or five more years but we will take one. maybe even sneak just a him and I cruise in there some where some time. lol

 

[ACDSNY]

We finally got home at 1AM last night (4AM EST) I'm so tired, I need a vacation from my vacation. Good thing it's a short work week this week.

Steph, my DH was acting like your toddler for most of our trip, his new name should be Grumpy. I'm not sure I'll be able to take the Panama cruise with him unless he gets an attitude adjustment. I agree the cruise would be easier with kids 4 yrs and up. Our two 2 yr olds were a handful to keep up with. We did alot of walking or I should say chasing on deck 4 making the loop around the ship.

All in all we had a good time, loved my verandah, I wish I could afford one for the Panama cruise. My nieces didn't want to leave the ship. We had a great time on the dolphin encounter. Castaway Cay was wonderful, everyone wished we could have skipped Nassau and had two days on the island.

I was able to rebook our Panama cruise and get the discount and booked another cabin for DH's cousin and his wife.

 

[ppony]

We finally got home at 1AM last night (4AM EST) I'm so tired, I need a vacation from my vacation. Good thing it's a short work week this week.

Steph, my DH was acting like your toddler for most of our trip, his new name should be Grumpy. I'm not sure I'll be able to take the Panama cruise with him unless he gets an attitude adjustment. I agree the cruise would be easier with kids 4 yrs and up. Our two 2 yr olds were a handful to keep up with. We did alot of walking or I should say chasing on deck 4 making the loop around the ship.

All in all we had a good time, loved my verandah, I wish I could afford one for the Panama cruise. My nieces didn't want to leave the ship. We had a great time on the dolphin encounter. Castaway Cay was wonderful, everyone wished we could have skipped Nassau and had two days on the island.

I was able to rebook our Panama cruise and get the discount and booked another cabin for DH's cousin and his wife.

Oh sweetie. I hear ya. Actually, all 3 of my men were difficult at times but I'm SO sorry your DH was acting like my Daniel. OMG. The horror! I HOPE you can still do the Panama cruise! I'm expecting a FULL report!


I'm glad you had a good time other than that.
The cruise was actually horrible, for ME. But I do plan on trying it again, in about 3-5 years. It was nothing Disney did. they were awesome! I just didn't get to enjoy anything except my room. Not a single show. Oh wait, after the boys were asleep the last night, we did sneak out to see a movie. That was fun. The art auction was a joke. But again, not Disney's fault. The auctioneer was a slime. I heard him make disparaging remarks under his break about the info a DVC sales person was giving someone on deck 4. Seriously. Uncool.

Did you find the gifty I left in your room? They were cleaning it when I came by so I was able to leave it directly in your room. I hope that wasn't creepy that I stepped in,

I agree, I would have rather skipped Nassau and had 2 days on CC.
Did anyone else notice all the cruise ships that were in our vicinity on Pirate night at the time of the fireworks? Seriously! Other lines sponging off of Disney's service! One might ahve been the Magic, who kows but there were serval and I konw they were cuise ships.

One lessoned learned though? Do NOT give my 9yo charging privileges! He made others in the arcade VERY happy by essentually, buying rounds. Great. Apparently he dind't believe us when we said we'd SEE what he was charging. Maybe that's why he did most of it the last day. Unfortunately, too late. Misplaced trust.

I'm sorry I missed all of you exapct Krystyne. I was the proverbial chicken w/o a head.

 

[ACDSNY]

Did you find the gifty I left in your room?

I agree, I would have rather skipped Nassau and had 2 days on CC.
Did anyone else notice all the cruise ships that were in our vicinity on Pirate night at the time of the fireworks? Seriously! Other lines sponging off of Disney's service!

One lessoned learned though? Do NOT give my 9yo charging privileges! He made others in the arcade VERY happy by essentually, buying rounds.

Oh Steph, I'm so sorry you didn't have a good time after all your planning you put into the trip, it's so disappointing when that happens. I hope you'll try again after Daniel is a little older and do a longer cruise so you can get some time to relax too. Did you have a better time at WDW? Did you make it to the Festival of the Masters?

Yes, I love my Donald and no it didn't creep me out. I figured our host must have been cleaning when you stopped by. I showed it to my family so they could see how talented you are! Thank You!!! I loved your very decorated door, it was so cute.

My niece was in the arcade on the sea day, I wonder if she did the same thing to my sister. It would be just like her to do that.

 

[ppony]

Oh Steph, I'm so sorry you didn't have a good time after all your planning you put into the trip, it's so disappointing when that happens. I hope you'll try again after Daniel is a little older and do a longer cruise so you can get some time to relax too. Did you have a better time at WDW? Did you make it to the Festival of the Masters?

Sadly, the Festival of the Masters was closed by eth time we reached DTD. Lots of tents but all of them had their shades down. I DID get the pin tho. Maybe next year as I think we'll use our points for then.

Yeah, I wasn't sure we'd try another cruise on the day we left, but after some thought, we both thought we'd try it again when Daniel was older. With a few exceptions, I try to give people and places a second chance. One experience is such a small snapshot in time.

We did have a better time at WDW. Not by much though for me, but I was glad we stayed on the monorail. Daniel was a pill there too. The heat never agreed w/ him I think. I'm not sure. We only got on 2 rides and after the carousel went badly, we didn't try any more. Especially w/ long lines like Dumbo had by the time we got to it at noon. It's funny, we brought Nick when hew as 3 and it was WONDERFUL! Daniel is only 2 but it's such a polar opposite experience.

Yes, I love my Donald and no it didn't creep me out. I figured our host must have been cleaning when you stopped by. I showed it to my family so they could see how talented you are! Thank You!!! I loved your very decorated door, it was so cute.

My niece was in the arcade on the sea day, I wonder if she did the same thing to my sister. It would be just like her to do that.

GLAD you liked the painting and I'm glad it didn't freak you out I stepped a few feet in to leave it there.

Isn't it hard to be mad at the kids when they are just trying to make others happy? Nick said he had done a lot of the crane game to get an elephant for one little girl that wanted it. He was moving stuff out of the way to get it for her. It's hard to be mad, BUT he owes us, big time!

 

[ACDSNY]

I agree it's hard to be mad at the kids when they are being so nice to others. One of my kids when they were in elementary school used to buy lunch for another kid all the time.

I did get to meet David E. Doss in the Art of Disney stores in Epcot and DTD, I would love to get the Four Seasons and Summer Magic prints. Now where I can hang them is another story.

I had a 8 yr old little boy flying alone across the aisle last night on our flight from MCO to LAX and I think the flight attendents basically forgot about him. Luckily my son left the portable DVD player so I gave it to him to watch Mulan. He was very into football, which I never watch, so I got quite a lesson on teams, players and positions.

 

[ACDSNY]

Had a wonderful experience last night though. As I was looking off of our veradna around 1 am, right over the mid-ship stableizers, I saw some eitehr small dolphins or porpise jumping along the ship for about 20 minutes. I LOVE dolphins!

Now I know where I should have been at 1AM instead of lying awake listening to DH snoring. Very cool.

Did you get to do any excusions on Nassau or CC?

Some of the family were on the Segway tour in Nassau and the rest were at the Dolphin encounter. Seven of us took the Walking/Kayak tour on CC, some did the Seahorse snorkeling and six did the parasailing. Everyone that went parasailing loved it.

 

[ppony]

Now I know where I should have been at 1AM instead of lying awake listening to DH snoring. Very cool.

Did you get to do any excusions on Nassau or CC?

Some of the family were on the Segway tour in Nassau and the rest were at the Dolphin encounter. Seven of us took the Walking/Kayak tour on CC, some did the Seahorse snorkeling and six did the parasailing. Everyone that went parasailing loved it.

A: nice type-os I had.

Nope, didn't get to a single excursion. DH and DS did BUT the chop was so bad on the snorkel one Nick wouldn't get out of the boat along w/ about 3 other kids. And within 2 minutes of the stingray one, Megatron swam over my son's hand and sucked it in and freaked him out. So that was done. from there they jsut went on to rent one of those water trikes. Funny thing as, I was on my veranda at that time and looked out and thought a few people on a trike looked just like my DH and DS. But han, they're doing eth stingray thing. Guess not! It was them and they saw me! I was the only one on the uper deck veranda at that time.

Note for everyone else tho...don't bother to reserve your snorkel equp. if you do and don't bother to even pick it up, you'll get changed anyway. Nice $45 down the toilet.

Sounds like you guys had a WAY fun time!!!! Color me jealous! You'll never get me in a parasil but a Segway sounds fun! Oh and yes, as I said I LOVE LOGVE LOVE dolphins! I want to do one of those experiences again. When Sea World first started to offer them, we did it. Of course, I wouldn't fit into a wet suit now, but oh, the fun! LOVE dolphins! Do you have pix?