3 Families doin' a Surf & Turf Trip! AKL CL & Dream...Good-Byes

[hstrickland]

Welcome home!!!!!!

Pics to follow soon!!!

Thanks! Of course there will be pictures However the "soon" part is up for debate....

We had an awesome time, and the New Fantasyland is so precious. Jesse and Faith just loved it. Even Stephen said it was great.

Welcome home Heather! Can't wait to see your pictures, glad you all had a great trip

The ship tour looks great, I totally missed that on the navigator.

Thanks!! How was your cruise??? Pictures???

Yay an update! Thanks!

I was going to continue on with the Pirate Night pics, but Photobucket is doing something weird AGAIN. That is one aggravating website

 

[pas130]

Thanks! Of course there will be pictures However the "soon" part is up for debate....

We had an awesome time, and the New Fantasyland is so precious. Jesse and Faith just loved it. Even Stephen said it was great.

That's great Heather! And we want to hear all about Faith's reaction to the surprise of course In the meantime...I will continue to enjoy the cruise pics

 

[shan23877]

How disappointing that lunch was so slow.

Great character shots though. Love the ones of Jessie and Woody & Jessie, and your mom and Remy. Beautiful.

Can't wait to hear about Faith's birthday trip!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Cute update! I love the picture of your son with Woody and Jessie - so adorable! I'm surprised about the slow service you had for lunch though, wow.

I hope that you all had a great time on Faith's birthday trip!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm glad you had a great time at MK! Even if your report and photos may take some time, I look forward to seeing them!

I LOVE that Remy was available for pictures, and the photo your mom took with him is great! I wish he was available for meet and greets in the parks...

 

[amandaw]

Enjoyed hearing about lunch in Royal Palace. I'll remember for us to steer clear of the main dining rooms for lunch if we're in a hurry.

The character pics are all so cute!

 

[Pinkocto]

Hmmm, curious about the slow service. Don't they know there's too much to do to be lolly gagging around inside!

 

[Sue M]

Hi Heather! Got home Sunday, finally trying to get caught up! it was so nice meeting you and your lovely family over Beignets at POFQ! I booked the BB in our room, for 2 nights at FQ pre our Y/C stay in August. But now thinking we should change and stay in the Royal Rooms

 

[RGirl]

You're back!

Loved reading about the lunch - even if it did take a looooonnnnggg time.

And the character pics were awesome! I didn't know that Woody, Jessie, and Remy could be found on a ship. I really need to find a list of possible characters on the Fantasy now that I am trying to make an autograph book for our next trip.

 

[Sue M]

Update, now that Por room for 2 days has morphed into 2 days at GF lol!

 

[nannye]

My iPad ate my reply 3 times now. I give up. Lived h update an pics of the oys with Jessie and woody.

 

[cdotla]

Hi Heather!

I haven't been on here in ages, but I am finally all caught up. Fantastic trip report once again (as if there was any doubt!)

Love all your photos. Great job! The professional ones on the ship of your family turned out fantastic! Are they included with the photo CD, or do you have to pay extra for that?

Can't wait to hear how you enjoyed Remy's. And your second day at CC...can't wait to see those photos!

Great news to learn that you already have another trip to write about after you finish this one up! I can't wait to see your photos and hear all about the Royal Rooms at POR and hear all about Faith's surprise birthday trip!

 

[hstrickland]

How disappointing that lunch was so slow.

Great character shots though. Love the ones of Jessie and Woody & Jessie, and your mom and Remy. Beautiful.

Can't wait to hear about Faith's birthday trip!

At least we were not in a huge hurry! The wait staff just seemed to be in another world. Good thing they weren't expecting a tip

Cute update! I love the picture of your son with Woody and Jessie - so adorable! I'm surprised about the slow service you had for lunch though, wow.

I hope that you all had a great time on Faith's birthday trip!

Our mini trip was super mini but lots of fun!! LOTS of pics to share

I'm glad you had a great time at MK! Even if your report and photos may take some time, I look forward to seeing them!

I LOVE that Remy was available for pictures, and the photo your mom took with him is great! I wish he was available for meet and greets in the parks...

That was the first time ever (for us) to see Remy. And you're right...they need him in the parks. EP would be perfect, over by France. Of course they do have him in miniature form at Chefs de France ( I think) We never saw him, though, when we ate there.

Enjoyed hearing about lunch in Royal Palace. I'll remember for us to steer clear of the main dining rooms for lunch if we're in a hurry.

The character pics are all so cute!

Nope...probably wouldn't do main dining rooms with the kids for lunch. There are too many other fun things to do. And since you usually eat in the big restaurants at night, it's not a must-do. Next time I'll try to get a brunch ressie at Palo

Hmmm, curious about the slow service. Don't they know there's too much to do to be lolly gagging around inside!

My thoughts exactly!!!!

Hi Heather! Got home Sunday, finally trying to get caught up! it was so nice meeting you and your lovely family over Beignets at POFQ! I booked the BB in our room, for 2 nights at FQ pre our Y/C stay in August. But now thinking we should change and stay in the Royal Rooms

Hi there!! Glad yall made it home safely! Hope your trip was wonderful. PM me and give me all the details. You were smart to book the BB. I really thought about it, but then quickly remembered we had to buy plane tickets to Cancun. Bill has to remind me sometimes that money doesn't grow on trees The Royal Rooms are really neat...and nicely done. Loved them. If you've never stayed in them, you might want to give it a try

You're back!

Loved reading about the lunch - even if it did take a looooonnnnggg time.

And the character pics were awesome! I didn't know that Woody, Jessie, and Remy could be found on a ship. I really need to find a list of possible characters on the Fantasy now that I am trying to make an autograph book for our next trip.

We had no idea either...just kind of happened upon them. And by the way...you might want to consider taking Willow to POR and stay in the Royal Room. She would love it!

Update, now that Por room for 2 days has morphed into 2 days at GF lol!

Ok....I'm thinking I would stick with GF for sure. There's really no comparison. Nice switch.

My iPad ate my reply 3 times now. I give up. Lived h update an pics of the boys with Jessie and woody.

Technology is great....when it works I should invest in an iPad, a Surface...something!

Hi Heather!

I haven't been on here in ages, but I am finally all caught up. Fantastic trip report once again (as if there was any doubt!)

Love all your photos. Great job! The professional ones on the ship of your family turned out fantastic! Are they included with the photo CD, or do you have to pay extra for that?

Yep...they were included on the CD. The CD price was a bit expensive, but if you consider the cost of family pictures...not bad at all.

Can't wait to hear how you enjoyed Remy's. And your second day at CC...can't wait to see those photos!

Remy's and CC were awesome!! LOTS of pics!!!

Great news to learn that you already have another trip to write about after you finish this one up! I can't wait to see your photos and hear all about the Royal Rooms at POR and hear all about Faith's surprise birthday trip!

A very last minute trip thanks to my sweet hubby. Super short, but lots of fun. I so wish we had taken advantage of the BB offer...35% off rooms. Oh well....too late now.

 

[hstrickland]

Day 8
Pirate Night!



Needless to say, the kids were super excited about dressing in their Pirate Best! Thank goodness for our recycled Pirates League costumes. Pirates League, Halloween, Pirate Night&. yep &definitely got our moneys worth for these outfits.

My two kids were dying to visit the Oceaneer Club!! I mean begging!!! I wanted them to kind of experience the magic show, but they wanted no part of it. So&.off we went to the club. While they were there, Jack Sparrow came in for a visit; they made pirate crafts, pirate snacks and had pirate story time. When we went to pick them up, they didnt want to leave. We really can't say enough about the kids club on the ship!!!! Just awesome!


The rest of us headed to the Main Event in the Walt Disney Theatre. The show started at 6:15, but we arrived early to ensure a good seat.

I didnt get many pics of the theatre because the lighting wasnt quite right...or perhaps it was the camera settings that weren't quite right

Notice Pop's, Stephen's and Jonah's costumes....Pirate's League, also. Told ya...we definitely got our money's worth.



The show for the evening&.

By the way&I totally enjoyed it. And kind of glad my two little ones were not there. At times, the show was a little slow. Jesse would have been bored for sure. I thought Mike was very entertaining&would definitely recommend this if its available on your cruise.


The show lasted around an hour. Then, the Pirate Deck party started on Deck 11 and 12 at 7:45pm.

It was a bit crowded&we didnt have a great spot for viewing the stage. Probably because we didnt get there early enough.

I decided this was good time to grab a quick drink. Bill and Pop had the cameras&I had a drink in one hand and Jesses pirate hair in the other. I was totally unaware that Bill was snapping pictures from the deck above. He zoomed in trying to get a shot of my tattoos&they did look quite real FYI&if you plan on applying tattoos, make sure you have something strong enough to remove them. I usually use acetone (finger nail polish remover) to take them off. But&I forgot to bring it on the trip. My skin was rubbed raw from trying to remove them with soap!

My niece looks precious in her costume. My brother-in-law&.well&.he just looks&.

We didnt stay too long at the party. Dinner was at 8:30, so we headed to the atrium to see what was going on.

Ivy lost a tooth while on the cruise. Im thinking that Stephanie told one of the CMs and they did something special&cant remember exactly. Maybe she can tell us.


Before we entered the Royal Palace for dinner, Pop captured this shot of the Maynards&..so proud of my brother-in-law for dressing up! I think he secretly enjoyed it.

While Im glad we experienced the Pirate Party, it wouldnt be something that I would break my neck to get to again. Would certainly recommend seeing the party if it was your first time on a Disney cruise. I will say that I do enjoy dressing up, so that is something that we (I) will do again.



Up next&a Pirate dinner at the Royal Palace!



​

 

[shan23877]

Cute pictures! From what I've heard the pirate party isn't that great, but the dressing up does look like a lot of fun

 

[hstrickland]

Cute pictures! From what I've heard the pirate party isn't that great, but the dressing up does look like a lot of fun

Yep...a bit disappointing, but glad I saw a little of it. The dressing up part is fun! I was surprised that Stephen wanted to do it. He's getting to that middle school age where some things just aren't "cool" anymore. There were some people (adults) dressed in full pirate costumes, and most people had on some sort of pirate attire. It's not like MNSSHP where MOST people totally dress up. All the CMs in the restaurants were dressed up like pirates and many of the characters, too. When we do another cruise, I'll totally bring clothes and do it again. To me, it's part of the experience and makes for a fun evening.

 

[RGirl]

And by the way...you might want to consider taking Willow to POR and stay in the Royal Room. She would love it!

We have had a Royal Room booked for about 6 months! I am waiting VERY impatiently for a mini-TR about your Royal Room stay!

Loved the pirate night update. Everything looks so fun! They had a pirate night on our Alaska cruise, and we did meet Jack Sparrow and Pirate Stitch, but Willow was too tired to stay up for the real pirate party, so I'm hoping we might see more of the festivities this year.

 

[hstrickland]

Day 8
A Pirate Dinner at Royal Palace


Well…I feel like we just left the Royal Palace. Dinner last night and lunch today…oh well. We had the same “private” room again. Very nice to be able to dine away from the crowds.

All the waiters and tables were in pirate theme…lots of fun and added to the overall experience.

The photographer made his way around capturing all of our “Pirate” impressions….

Everyone enjoyed dressing up for the event…(I think)

So I’ll get right to the food….appetizers are up first!


I think this was Honeydew and Watermelon Soup….I have no idea how it tasted. Not sure who ordered this.

Potstickers…always yummmmmy!

For the main course, we had….


Beef Short Ribs…

Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops...

Stephen was unaware that we planned to celebrate his birthday on this particular night. He was surprised when the head waiter came out singing!

I realize that it’s his job to make sure all guest are happy and satisfied, but he really went out of his way to make our trip memorable. They spent lots of time with our family just chatting and laughing…it was very easy to joke around with them. Thank goodness they caught on to Pop’s sense of humor …

Continued to next post….



​

 

[hstrickland]

Continued from previous post ….




What would dinner be without dessert??!!

And if you can’t decide….try all 3!

One of my favorites!!

It was almost time to head to the top of the ship for the fireworks…and once again, the kids were getting a little antsy. One last picture of the gang in costume….

The fireworks start at 10:30pm, but you better get there early if you want a decent spot.

The ship was so very beautiful at night…

As you can see, the kids were tired. And quite frankly I was exhausted at this point.

Jesse kept running off into the dark, which was about to put me over the edge! The kids finally sat down and tried to behave.

This isn’t the best shot, but you can get the idea. If you’ve been to the MK and experienced Wishes, then this doesn’t really compare. However, for fireworks on a cruise ship, it was fairly good. I’m thinking that if I hadn’t been so tired, it might have been better.

After it was over, I couldn’t get back to the room fast enough….the bed was calling my name. I knew that I would be up at the crack of dawn in order to be the first on Castaway Cay …

Up next…..a day at Castaway Cay (prepare yourself for a picture heavy update )



​

 

[shan23877]

Can I just day how much I love that your dad dresses up? His grandkids must get such a kick out of that. What wonderful memories they'll have with him!

Pirate dinner looks like fun! It seems like your servers really added something special to your trip!

Kids should always watch fireworks with chocolate on their faces. Those photos are the epitome of 'vacation'.