7th January 2007, Dancing Queens Thread CONTINUED

[mandymouse]

Carolin says thank you!! As for that bell, I think that'll stay hidden for a day or two

What a meanie !!

 

[disallday!]

That's what she said!!

Are you guys secretly chatting somewhere?

 

[Cruisin]

Hello, here I am.

You guys have been a chatty bunch today.

It is very very chilly here again today. I've been staying inside and keeping warm.

Actually I've still been working on that pile of laundry that I didn't get done last week.

At least my squeaky dryer does not squeak anymore. That makes getting the laundry done much easier.

I got on the scale this morning and found out that I had lost almost 4 pounds since last week

I guess toothpulling and losing kitties are good weight loss strategies

I don't want to do that every week though

How did Kerry's driving lesson go.

I hope Carolin is feeling better Kelly.

Betsy. I had oatmeal for breakfast today too. The instant kind though because I'm too lazy to make the other kind.

 

[mandymouse]

Hey Robin - Well done on losing 4 lbs, not that I'd recommend the way you did it

Kerry's driving lesson went well, and she's booked another one for next week

We've been having some fun on our new Cruise thread today, we're talking about exchanging little gifts using these Fish Extenders that seem to have become popular on the ships recently

Well I am about as creative as a 3 year old, so today I won the bid on ebay, and I'll be the proud owner of one of these soon

It should be fun leaving little gifts in these for everyone

 

[Cruisin]

Hey Robin - Well done on losing 4 lbs, not that I'd recommend the way you did it

Kerry's driving lesson went well, and she's booked another one for next week

We've been having some fun on our new Cruise thread today, we're talking about exchanging little gifts using these Fish Extenders that seem to have become popular on the ships recently

Well I am about as creative as a 3 year old, so today I won the bid on ebay, and I'll be the proud owner of one of these soon

It should be fun leaving little gifts in these for everyone

Have fun with your fish extender Mandy.

Now you will have to find little things to put into them.

 

[Cruisin]

Want to hear a funny story

Well too bad cause I'm gonna tell ya anyways

My mother called me tonight and said a man had been in her small shop (trophies and engraving, stuff like that).

They were just making small talk and for some reason this guy says that he knows us and our business.

He tells my mother....... they have no money problems there.

They've got millions

Neither one of us recognizes this guy's name and if we are really millionaires, I sure wish that guy would tell me where we've put all that money

It is certainly not in MY bank account.

Obviously he has not looked at where we live and the cars we drive

Where do people get these ideas

I think people think that just because you have your own business that you MUST have a ton of money.

Definitely not true, but I'm sure wishing it was.

Now....... off to find the buried treasure

PS. Anybody need a few hundred thousand......... I'll be glad to share when I find the money tree.

 

[mandymouse]

LOL, I think we're going to have to rename you Robin Trump Maybe he's got you mixed up with someone else ?? How strange, now go and find that metal detector and get digging

 

[Cruisin]

I haven't found any treasure yet

Of course I spent most of the afternoon at work.

It is very nasty weather wise here right now.

It is extremely windy, snowy, cold and icy underneath all of it

Not a good situation at all.

Hope everyone else is keeping warmer than we are here.

 

[disallday!]

I hope Carolin is feeling better Kelly

Thanks Robin!! She is feeling much better! She went back to school today... unwillingly!

I am so honored to be speaking with a millionaire here on the disboards...

Now that I know you've got lots and lots of $$... there's no excuse why you can't reserve the January 4th cruise and bring the rest of the Dancing Queens !!


Mandy, cute fish extender!!! I had been eyeing them on ebay in the past... just never got around to buying one! Glad Kerry had a safe run yesterday... tell her good luck for next week!

Hello Betsy! Thought about you yesterday as they had the Hawaiian Islands on the Travel Channel! You lucky gal... they look fantastic!

 

[Cruisin]

Hey Mandy........

I'm working on getting some pictures together of my trip

Some morning reading for you all.

I will probably post a link to this for the threadkillers and also for the other people who were on the cruise with me.

So, better spruce up the place because we might have a few visitors in the next couple of days

 

[Cruisin]

Okay finally getting this trip report started

Thursday Jan 24, 2008

All packed up and ready to leave bright and early (5:30am) Friday morning.

Mischief......... Step AWAY from the bags

Friday Jan 25, 2008

We got up nice (?) and early and stopped at John's (daughter's boyfriend) house along the way to pick him up.

Then it was off to the airport in Detroit to catch our plane.

On the plane, for those who may not know this is my daughter Liz (age 20):

After a fairly uneventful flight we arrived at the airport. We got really lucky and our luggage was among the first few bags coming off the belt and we were outside and waiting for our rental car, in no time at all.

Liz, my husband Rick and Liz's boyfriend John.

Nice Tinkerbell bag you have there John

After getting our rental vehicle, a mini-van this time, we headed off to the Golden Corral for lunch, approx time 12:30pm.

After lunch we headed over to spend the rest of the afternoon at Universal Studios. We had tickets that allowed 7 consecutive days of entry to both parks and we thought we'd start out right.

It was kinda chilly but a heck of a lot warmer than home.

The crowds at the park were pretty much non-existant, very short wait times or just walk right on.

Pretty flower:

Margaritaville chairs:

While we were wandering around Universal Studios we put in a call to our friends, Don, Penny and their son James who were already at the Studios. We met up with them at The Mummy. After arranging to meet at closing we all went our separate ways again.

After the park closed we headed over to our hotel to check in .. Comfort Suites, Lake Buena Vista.

We all got together and went out to dinner at TGIFriday's. After that we spent about an hour at the Premium Outlet Mall.

Then it was back to the motel to get some sleep.

It had been a long day and another one to come tomorrow.

 

[Cruisin]

Saturday January 26, 2008.

Today we are going to Islands of Adventure with Don, Penny and James.

We were all staying in the same motel so we all rode over together since we had a van. Saved on some of the parking costs.

It was a chilly, rainy off and on kind of day.

We got wet but we had fun just the same.

Hey look.......

the airplane boys found an airplane

Here we have the baggage check department They were pretty much the non-riders of the group and spent their time holding everybody elses junk.

Rick, Penny and James.

My Siamese twins:

Hmmm, I wonder who this might be, sporting the lovely dollar store poncho

Okay, I'll admit it might just be me.

So we had a great time wandering around Islands of Adventure and then we headed back over to Universal Studios to do a few more things that got missed the day before.

Afterwards we met back up again and headed back out for some dinner.

We decided to go to the Olive Garden tonight.

After dinner it was back to the motel to get rested up for the main event.



Tomorrow is cruise day.

Oh yah, forgot to mention but the other couple cruising with us arrived late on Friday evening.

We had some text messaging conversations with them to know that they had arrived safely. They were staying elsewhere and doing some golfing on Saturday.

Now off to bed, can't wait for tomorrow.

 

[Cruisin]

Sunday January 27, 2008.



Cruise day has arrived

We get our stuff gathered and thrown in the van and we are off to the terminal.

Leaving a bit later than we would normally but we are off.

It is another cool day today but heck I'm not complaining about anything today

The ship in the distance:

We head to Thrifty to drop off our rental van.

It was soooo cold and windy there. We had to wait for the shuttle van to come back to pick us up.

Liz trying to avoid the cold:

We finally arrive at the terminal and get checked in, received Castaway Club lanyards for all even though John is not a returning guest.

Here is where we were told a wonderful thing.

The CM slides this paper across to us and says... we have a change in itinerary for this cruise. You will be having 2 stops at Castaway Cay

No complaints from me on that one, for sure!!

Don, Penny and James arrive (they are also Castaway Club members) and get checked in.

We wait for the last couple to arrive. Cliff and Val seem to be taking an awfully long time to arrive even though they had planned to get to the terminal early.

They don't arrive until AFTER boarding has started

Turns out someone had broken the passenger window of their rental car and stolen the cradle for their GPS

They had not left the actual GPS in the car but apparently the thieves had picked one of those up down the street and needed the holder to go along with it

So Cliff and Val get checked in for their very first cruise and we are off to board the Disney Wonder......... finally!!!

You guys know how hard it is to be watching people get onboard and not be going with them

We discovered at the terminal that our dining times had all been coordinated so that we were together. We had been half scheduled for early and the other half for late dining. Wait lists really do work sometimes.

Once we are onboard it is quickly up to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch:

Cliff, Rick, James and Don:

By the time lunch was done we could get into our cabins.

We wanted to drop off our carry on bags so off we go.

This is our cabin... Category 11, sideways cabin on deck 6.

Penny went to see if she could change their Palo brunch reservation to match with the rest of ours.

She ended up changing us all to half an hour earlier. Worked for us and they put all 8 of us at the same table.

Then it's off to the important stuff........ icecream

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring around and enjoying the sailaway party.

They handed out streamers on plastic sticks for us to wave as we were sailing away.

Our first dinner was in Animator's Palate.

Our servers were Michael from South Africa (I think??) and Jorge from Chile.

They were good servers but not exceptional. They did their job but didn't put a lot of extra oomph into it.

Don and Penny:

Cliff and Val, celebrating their 39th wedding anniversary (which was actually on Friday)

After dinner we went to see the juggler/comedian. He was good, we enjoyed his show.

Then I went to hang out in Wavebands for a bit. That is when I missed my Disney Wonder Dancing Queens from Jan 2007 the most

All I could think about and remember was being out on the dance floor and having a laughing good time with all of you

A self portrait of me with a streamer bowtie that Liz gave to me.

Everybody else went to bed early and I wandered out on deck after midnight. It was much warmer than it had been earlier in the day.

Came across groups of teens doing a scavenger hunt. They seemed like they were having a great time.

Off to bed for me around 1 am.

 

[Cruisin]

Monday January 28, 2008.

After a fairly smooth sailing overnight we arrive in Nassau.

The sun is shining and it is nicely warm, a hint of promise for a wonderful weather day.

After breakfast, myself, Rick, Liz, John, Cliff and Val get off the Wonder for a short walk around downtown Nassau.

Don, Penny and James had a dolphin encounter arranged for that afternoon.

Oh, I forgot to mention that during lunch yesterday we saw two dolphins swimming in the harbor near to the ship

After our walk around and thru some shops we headed back to the ship.

Me, Liz and John in Nassau:

We spent the rest of the afternoon just lazing around on deck and sitting near Cove Cafe reading.

Liz and John doing a foot size comparison

Enjoying the weather outside Cove Cafe:

Found some CM's cleaning the windows on deck 9. If you look closely you might be able to see one of the guys names in the picture, they were signed by Joseph and Roy.

Oops they emptied the Goofy pool on a busy warm afternoon Somebody must have done something they shouldn't have

Dinner in Parrot Cay tonight:

Liz and John:

The "you can dress us up but not take us out picture"

Rick, in a tie, an extremely rare happening but Liz bought it for him for Christmas and Cliff:

After dinner it was off to see the very last ever showing of Hercules, the Muse-ical. After that show it was being retired and soon the new Toy Story stage production is supposed to start.

After the show the comedian was doing a show in Wavebands for the adults. That turned out really good too. I enjoyed it. I then hung out in Wavebands again for a bit and went out on deck for my evening ritual before bed stroll.

I saw the crew deck all lit up. We were in Nassau until 2:30 am that night and I guess the crew had a party on their outside deck. Looked really neat all lit up.

After spending some time on deck looking at the stars it was off to bed for me.

Tomorrow is Castaway Cay day

 

[Cruisin]

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Yeah, Castaway Cay day, number one.

Up and out to get breakfast at the buffet.

Since I knew I had two days at Castaway Cay I wasn't too worried about rushing right off the ship.

Liz and John were off on a snorkeling excursion and we were to meet them for lunch around noon at Cookies BBQ.

The island:

I had picked up Treasure Hunt packages for Rick and Penny the day before (I did it last time that I went). So I waited for them and went off the ship with them.

They got started on their treasure hunt and I meandered my way towards the main part of the island, taking some pictures along the way.

I came across the treasure hunters later on in my wanderings. They were having fun trying to figure out all the clues and find that elusive treasure.

I found this beautiful spot right behind the bicycle rental area. Made me want to just pull up a chair, right under that gorgeous tree.

Then it was off to wait for everyone at the BBQ. While I was waiting I saw this couple come and put down their plates at a table. The man sat and the lady went back for a drink.

She was gone all of 10 seconds when this little bird hopped right on her plate. It hopped over and started to eat her banana loaf Her husband was totally engrossed in looking the other direction and didn't even notice.

A CM came over and shooed the bird away.

I met up with Liz, John, Rick and Penny for lunch finally.

The "hunters" figuring out their final clues.

Checking out the snorkelling pictures:

After lunch Rick and Penny went back to the ship, Liz, John and I were off to Serenity Bay

Liz:

This is hilarious. Cliff is sleeping in the chair, snoring, deeply sleeping. But his head never once touches the chair. I have no idea how he can possibly sleep like that, holding his head up

He can sleep virtually anywhere and everywhere

After spending a few hours frying ourselves on the beach it is back to the ship for showers and to dress for dinner.

Tonight is Pirate night, so back to Parrot Cay for us.

The sea was soo very calm when we left Castaway Cay. It stayed that way the whole night long. You would have never known the ship was even moving.

We had dinner at Parrot Cay and then went off to see The Golden Mickeys.

After that it was up on deck for the Pirate Party and fireworks.

It was a gorgeous night out.

I didn't get anything from the buffet because it was so mobbed with people you couldn't get anywhere close. I think they really need to have it last a bit longer than they do. Then maybe the crowd would thin out a bit and there would be some breathing room.

I think some of our group stayed on deck to watch a Pirates movie on the big screen. I of course headed back down to Wave Bands for my nightly fix.

Again, shortly after midnight, I'm out for some star gazing and then to bed for another day to come.

Tomorrow we have Palo brunch reservations and more time at Castaway Cay.

 

[Cruisin]

Wednesday January 30, 2008.

Hurray, Castaway Cay day....... again

But first, we have Palo Brunch reservations for 10am.

All 8 adults are going to brunch at Palo this morning. We meet up on deck outside the restaurant.

Our waiter is Juan.

We were seated and he explained it all to us. We had great food and a wonderful time at our brunch.

So much food, so little time

Hidden Mickey on plate at Palo:

Then it's back to the cabin to change and off to Serenity Bay to enjoy the rest of the day at Castaway Cay.

We decided that we would like to go to the lookout tower on Castaway Cay first and thought we'd walk over there.

Now that we've been there we realize what a silly idea that was. It is one LONG walk there and back.

We were just getting to the airstrip when we were commenting how all the CM's on the golf carts never stopped to offer us a ride.

No sooner had we said that when we hear a cart coming up behind us. It stopped beside us On board was Mark from Australia. He asked us where we were headed and when we told him, he said...you've got quite a walk ahead of you, jump in and I will drive you there.

Okay, we think... bonus... and we all pile in.

So he drives us the long distance to the lookout tower and I'm thinking... we've got quite a hike to get back again.

Mark shuts off his cart and says, I will wait here for you to finish looking. If you have any questions just holler them down to me.

Cool!!

So we go up and look around a bit.

Our magical Cinderella's coach, from above:

Heading back down again I find Mark halfway up just looking out and enjoying the view.

I got to talking to him and found out that he is one of the CM's that live on the island. He said that his title is "Relief Manager". He did not seem at all in a hurry and was willing to answer any question that we asked of him.

When we went to get back on the cart he asked where we were headed. We said three of us were going to Serenity Bay and that Rick was going to the ship again. He drove the three of us to the beach and Rick figured he'd just catch the tram back again.

Nope, Mark drove him all the way back to the ship

Rick said that they drove on some back roads to avoid the crowds of people and that Mark was very nice and seemed like he would have spent all day with him wanted.

Thanks to Mark for adding that special touch to our visit to Castaway Cay.

When we arrived at Castaway Cay we needed towels. The hut attendant was nowhere to be found so I convinced Liz to go into the hut and grab us some towels.
Just as she was coming out the CM came running back and asked if we needed anything else Caught in the act.

Ahhhhh, on the beach again. Truly Serenity Bay is my happy place

All too soon we had to say goodbye to Serenity Bay and head back to the ship.

Dinner tonight is at Tritons.

Penny with her dessert:

Liz and John:

Tonight's show was Disney Dreams. It was magical as usual. They have actually made quite a lot of changes to it. Nice changes.

I went to watch the final character meeting, Till We Meet Again.

Since I've seen it quite a lot of times, I kept my eyes open.

When I saw that the Pixiedust time was coming near, I ran up to deck 5 and asked if I could help

The CM looked at me a bit weird but then handed some over. He asked if I knew when to do it and I said yes but I'd just follow him. He counted down... 3.... 2.... 1.... now and we did it.

How neat that was to take part in making the magic for the kids and the big kids too below.

Afterwards to Wavebands to see the cruise staff do a skit. It was hilarious.

I spent some time listening to the music in Wavebands and then for my final evening walk on deck.

Again the sailing was extremely smooth.

Off to bed for my final sleep onboard the Disney Wonder.

Tomorrow we must leave this magical ship

 

[Cruisin]

Thursday, January 31, 2008.

Today is a sad day.

We must leave the Disney Wonder, one more time.

So, we get up and head for breakfast.

BUT at least we didn't have to be up for immigration at 6am this time.

I am so glad that they have done away with that, finally.

We went to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast and to find all the rest of our travelling companions.

When we got off the ship we were all heading in different directions.

Reluctantly we ate our final meal and headed off.

We went for the Thrifty rental shuttle and picked up our rental vehicle. This time we ended up with a PT Cruiser.

Cliff and Val had gotten off earlier and were headed for the golf course and to visit with a friend in Orlando. They would be flying home on Sunday morning.

Don, Penny and James were going to the Space Center and then over to Tampa to Busch Gardens on Friday. They would be flying home on Saturday evening.

My little group were headed back to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for a few hours.

We went back and did a few things that we had missed or wanted to do again.

It was still early so we headed over to the Florida Mall for an hour before we had to catch our plane.

After the mall Rick dropped Liz, John and I off at the airport to catch our flight home. He was spending the rest of the weekend, until Sunday evening, in Jacksonville, Fl at a model airplane seminar.

We navigated the airport just fine and our flight back was fairly bumpy because we were passing over some snow that was headed towards home

We got to Detroit and landed before the snow started. We remembered where we parked the van and headed for the border.

We dropped John off at his house and continued home, arriving just shortly before midnight.

It was so nasty cold after spending such glorious warm days at Castaway Cay.

So that is it.

I have a couple hundred more pictures

If there is anything in particular that you are interested in seeing, let me know and I will post it if I have it.

Any questions that I can answer? Ask away.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my pictures and read about our wonderful vacation onboard the Disney Wonder.

 

[Cruisin]

Hey, Mandy

Are you awake yet??

It's time for me to go to bed now

Have a good morning.

 

[mandymouse]

Hey Robin

Wow, you stayed up late doing your trip report. Thanks so much for sharing it, it was great, and so were your photos too. It sounds like you had a great time

I can assure you that the Disney Wonder Dancing Queens would've loved being there with you too

Thanks again Robin

 

[PrincessaC]

Hey Mandy........

I'm working on getting some pictures together of my trip

Some morning reading for you all.

I will probably post a link to this for the threadkillers and also for the other people who were on the cruise with me.

So, better spruce up the place because we might have a few visitors in the next couple of days

Oh my! So nice of you all to clean up for us....

Hi everyone!!!