8/26/07 Wonder (L&S) If it is worth doing, it is worth overdoing.

[DAggiesRWe]

Here is the next installment.

From our dinner at Palo. No, our server was not wearing this when he served us . Unfortunately none of the pictures we took of Coskun at Palo turned out, but at breakfast on the last day we ran into him at the Beach Bucket Breakfast Buffet Blowout and snapped the one good picture we got of him.

See, not all of her pages are busy.

Fun at Castaway Rays.

Combined shots from the Disney Dreams show with the shot from the lobby.

My birthday, celebrated on the Wonder. And she even used the card she gave me that day .

DW's favorite place on the whole ship.

That's all for now, unless someone begs for more .

 

[Dopey'sMAMA]

I'll look at as many as you'll post, they really are great!

 

[gwcollins71]

Your wife's pages are great. I am still scrapping photos from 3 trips ago. Keep posting and pleeeeeeeeeeze, finish your trip report. I'm anxiously waiting the next installment.

Great job!
Gretchen

 

[jns]

I'll look at as many as you'll post, they really are great!

me too

thanks for sharing
love all your pages

 

[joiev98]

Congrats to your wife for getting the pages done so quickly! And so well, at that! Great Job!

 

[disney100666]

Great TR! I was also on this Cruise! Can't recall if I saw you though! Scrapbooking pages are great!! I didn't take enough pics to make one myself.

 

[RLccweems]

I want more scrapbook pages!! I love every thing you've done so far!

 

[DAggiesRWe]

Sorry to take so long getting to the next installment of the TR. Gotta work to cruise (hmmm, maybe I should become a travel agent so I can cruise to work ). Anyhow...

I have no reason why I woke up when I did, or more importantly why I decided to go to have a look outside when I saw it was 4:53 a.m., but as I peeked out the doors I saw that we were still moving, and in fact we were just passing the submarine base. Since we are still officially underway, I figure the cruise hasn’t ended yet and go back to bed.

We stayed in bed as long as possible, but finally had to get dressed and pack our last few things into the carryoff bag . DW took the boys out to wait for the elevator while I took one last pass through the room, looking in every drawer, cabinet, nook and cranny. I found a couple of things in DS7’s bed, and closed the door for the last time (this trip – I forgot to mention that we booked back into the exact same room for our next trip this December ) confident that we didn’t forget anything.

Romy and Mariana had invited us to breakfast at Tritons, and I thought they had said 7:45, but by sleeping in we missed one last opportunity with them because the early seating breakfast was at 7:00 (and they are not flexible with this ). I hoped that this was one more time that God had something better in store for us . Since there really wasn’t a big hurry to get to the breakfast buffet, we stopped by Shutters to round out our photo package with some final shots and settle up for what we didn’t use (thankfully, the clerk had some common sense and let us count two of the 6x8 shots as two 8x10 rather than going by the book which would have ended up costing us more ).

Photos in hand, we made our way up to the breakfast buffet and managed to squeeze into a table. As we sat down our trays, we found that Coskun (our server from Palo) was working the breakfast buffet on this morning, which gave us the chance to get a good photo of him since none of the ones from Palo turned out. As we got to the end of the serving line, we discovered that the ice machine was broken (I told you before, the guy with the recipe missed the ship for this cruise). Not to be deterred, I proceeded to the drink station and picked up several paper cups full of ice and headed back to our table and enjoyed my iced tea at the proper temperature .

With breakfast complete, there was nothing left for us to do but get off the ship . So we passed through the lobby, said goodbye to the crewmembers there and made our way to baggage claim. We took the advice from the DISBoards and got a porter as soon as we hit the bottom of the steps. She quickly located our bags and had us through customs in a matter of just a couple of minutes (after she got scolded by the customs officer for crossing the yellow line without permission ). Officially back on US soil, we were dropped on the curb to sit with our luggage like some sort of refugees (albeit well fed, relaxed and smiling refugees) because our limo wasn’t there.

Of course we did end up getting out a little before the requested time of 9:00, and it was only a few minutes after 9:00 when we spotted the Happy Limo pulling into the port. I watched as the limo was maneuvered around the parking area (which seemed to take forever) and then pull up in front of us to load up. Our driver for the trip back was Chris (who is part owner of the company, which demonstrated how busy they were that day). Chris had SpongeBob movies playing in the back (figuring we had our fill of Disney ), which made the boys happy. Since the cooler only had water and ice, we made a stop at the store for some snackage for the trip back. Chris remembered we weren't going to the airport and took us back to the Beach Club, then he pulled out the red carpet for us to get a picture (even though we weren't staying at the Beach Club any more, they didn't mind too much).

We offload the luggage to the curb, and DW waits with the boys while I run and get the van. Before too long we have the luggage loaded back in the van, and the boys hop into their seats expecting to start the trip home. I pull back into the parking space I had vacated less than ten minutes before and tell the boys that the vacation isn't over because we are spending my birthday here as well rather than on the road .

Up next, bonus day at Walt Disney World.

 

[manntra]

Aww that is great that you had one last day at MK! After we got off the ship we had the pleasure of waiting for our plane departure which was scheduled at 3:30. Oh and it ended up being later than that! Not very good planning on my part! We could have used an extra day! Oh well now that I joined DVC I will always have a place to stay!

 

[yanceygb]

Loving your TR! I'm learning so much.

 

[Dopey'sMAMA]

I don't like having to travel the day we get off the ship, we are usually so tired, we head back to WDW take a nap and then enjoy the rest of the day and head home the following.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

subbing, great report. I am really looking forward to the cruise portion of this trip, but it is past 1 am no, so I marking my spot for now.

Going on my first first cruiise in 3 weeks. with no plans made, just chilling...........


I read Sleepydogs report, and many of the people who posted there are old friends.

 

[kaysmommie]

Great update, loved the surprise last day in DIsney. Your DW scrapbook pages are terrific, maybe I can pay her to do mine ssince I haven't even started and our vacation was in October.

 

[DAggiesRWe]

After parking the van and convincing the boys to put down their video games we crossed the bridge back to the Beach Club. We had told the boys that we were going to spend that day at WDW before we started the trip, but they were so focused on getting back to their games that they completely forgot. I planned this day as a chance for us to catch the high points rather than trying to do and see everything.

We took the boat over to MGM, and I hoped and prayed that our old passes would still work . DW and I had Park Hopper Passes from 1998 that still had 2 days on them, and the boys would be using passes from our last trip in 2004. The bag check went very quick, and the guard was even smiling and wishing everyone a "Disney Day" as they went through. We got to the gate, and passed our cards with not a single problem (the gate attendant even thought it was neat that even 9 year old passes still worked) .

The boys are Star Wars nuts, so naturally we headed straight for Star Tours. After the ride, we spend some time letting the boys pick something at the shop. Then we get shots of the boys on the speeder bikes (thanks PhotoPass) and wait in a brief line to get the autograph of Darth Vader (DS7 even insisted on an autograph from the Stormtrooper as well).

Finally Star Warn out we went to one of my favorite shows, Muppet Vision 3D. Luckily we got there just as the previous show went in so we got to see the entire pre-show (which is almost as funny as the main show). I pointed out some of the fun stuff on the walls, and the boys had a good time finding funny little treasures (like the emergency tuxedos for the Emporer Penguins "open in the event of an event" , could have used one of those on the cruise.

After finishing there, and getting photos and Autographs with Woody and Buzz, we had just missed the Extreme Stunt Show. I didn't realize that they only did two shows a day, and the next one wasn't until late that afternoon. Oh well, next trip. We decide to take advantage of this end of the park being nearly deserted (everyone was at the stunt show) and grab some lunch. This was my first post-cruise moment when I realized the best part of the vacation was over...I had to pay for lunch . I was quite pleased to find the healthier offerings on the menu rather than the typical burger, dog or nugget choices.

After lunch, the boys went next door to play on "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" while DW and I finished our lunch (we could see the only entrance/exit from where we were sitting, so felt reasonably comfortable with this arrangement for the few minutes we would be there). After lunch we went to find the boys, and I discovered an error in the playground. They have a large film canister you can walk into and the film forms a slide to travel down, but as I informed the attendant it shouldn't be KodaChrome film in the can but EctaChrome (EctaChrome is the film you use to make slides) . DW informs me that I truly AM a geek (as if I didn't know), we collect the boys and make our way to the other end of the park.

An aside here, from a traffic flow standpoint, MGM has a bad design that is steadily being made worse. We were fairly close to the Narnia Adventure attraction (our next goal), but for some reason there was a fence erected across the road blocking direct access . This wasn't a fenced off area for future development because I could see the attraction just on the other side of the fence. Once again, God had something planned for us as we walked back through the hub we caught the end of a character meet-and-greet (the characters were heading back for the parade), and spotted DW's favorite Disney Character, Marie from the Aristocats.

We made our way through the Narnia Adventure and watched the trailer for the next movie "Prince Caspian" (I love the series, and am glad to see they are doing the stories in the order they were written rather than according to the "Narnian Chronology"). Then we make our way to our last two "must-sees" for this park, the Tower of Terror and the Rock-n-Roller Coaster.

At Tower of Terror there was no line at all . We walked into the pre-show area, and as soon as we passed into the loading area we were boarding. I had my camera at the ready, and caught a great shot as the doors were closing.

I tried getting a shot out of the open doors at the top, but my timing was never right. After the ride we went to check out our picture, and were disappointed to see that I had the camera over my face, DW was looking over at DS7 who had his eyes shut while DS11 looked angry. So that meant we had to ride again (darn ). As we were walking out, I discovered that during the ride the spray sunscreen in my pocket had gotten triggered, and a large portion of the contents of the can was now dripping from the leg of my shorts. DW laughs at me because it looks like I had an "accident" on the ride . After our second ride, we ended up buying the picture even though DW was still looking over at DS7.

At the Rock-n-Roller coaster, we encountered the first line of the day (about 20 minutes), and we all had a blast on the ride (this was DS7's first ride on an inverted coaster). The pictures didn't turn out very good, so we skipped. A quick poll of the family determined that we had done and seen everything we really wanted to at MGM, and so made our way out of the park and back to the boat for the ride over to Epcot.

 

[poffles]

Are the bottle caps in your wife's scrapbook magnets? I think they would look fantastic on the fridge and would definitely look for them if they are.

You trip report is awesome ... sad to see it all end.

 

[DAggiesRWe]

Are the bottle caps in your wife's scrapbook magnets? I think they would look fantastic on the fridge and would definitely look for them if they are.

You trip report is awesome ... sad to see it all end.

She found them in a package in the scrapbooking section at the Boardwalk Village shops. They came with a foam sticky backing to attach them. You could easily attach them to a magnet.

I am somewhat disappointed to see the trip report end as well (not quite as much as I was seeing the trip end ). With just a few months until our next trip, I guess I will just have to start working on organizing the Cruise Meet.

 

[poffles]

She found them in a package in the scrapbooking section at the Boardwalk Village shops. They came with a foam sticky backing to attach them. You could easily attach them to a magnet.

Hmm ... what a good idea. Will be staying at the Swan for a week after the cruise so I will have to do some shopping. More to add to the "to do" list.

Looking forward to writing a report of my own after my trip. I'm sure I will have lot's to write about. Three adults do Disney, a beer drinker, a frou frou drinker and an anything drinker ... that would be me!

 

[DAggiesRWe]

As we start drawing this trip to a close we are stretching to get as much as possible out of it . We took the boatride over to Epcot, and DW pointed out some redness and swelling in her ankles . She is still willing to head over to Epcot, but says she will likely pass on some of the quicker rides. The boys and I head to Test Track and walk straight into the ready room because there is NOBODY in line . We came out and DW insists we find somewhere with air conditioning where she can put up her feet (that are now starting to hurt).

Then we walked next door to Mission: Space. DS11 wanted to ride, but DS7 has a sensitive stomach at times and said he didn't want to ride. So DS11 went in while the rest of us went around to the play area at the exit to the ride. DW found a nice comfortable place to sit and enjoy the AC with her feet up while DS7 and I went and played the various games. DS11 finally came out and was disappointed that he had missed some of the fun on the game, and was almost in tears before we told him we could hang out and let him play the games too (DW was comfy and didn't care to move anyway). After a couple of rounds of the space race game, we were ready to head over to the Living Seas with Nemo.

On our last visit to WDW, I actually got to go scuba diving in the Living Seas, but had to pass this time around. They had also re-themed the attraction since our last visit as well, and was looking forward to what it looked like inside. We rode the new shellmobiles and tried to take pictures of Dory, Marlin and the rest.

I walked around and checked out my old friends in the tank (not much had changed there) . Time for us to have our Encounter with Crush. The kids had a blast asking quesitons, while the geek in me marveled at the technology behind this attraction . Ours was one of the last encounters of the day, and as we exited the Living Seas they were closing down the front half of Epcot for the day.

DW's ankles were getting sore again, so our plan to visit the World Showcase was going to have to wait until next trip. We walked over to the Photopass store to check out the photos collected over all our visits to the parks. After handing over the card that we had been putting our photos on since our day at Typhoon Lagoon, we discovered that we had been using the wrong card (as the two pictures of a total stranger on the waterslide demonstrated) .

We spent the next 20 minutes going through the computer's photos and found the right ones of DS11 and I, and combined these with our Pirate and Princess Party pictures, then spent another 15 minutes or so adding borders and sparkles, then waiting another 10 minutes while our photos printed and the CD with all the original pictures was made. Meanwhile, the line kept getting longer and longer and I started hearing some grumbling about how long it was taking us. The CM didn't seem too worried (considering the amount of money we spent that day, it was worth it to them), but if you were waiting in line at the Epcot Photopass on August 30, 2007 for some moron and his family to make up their minds, tough cookies because we got there first.

We left Epcot and rode the boat back to the Beach Club (even though it was only 300 yards from the Epcot gate to the Beach Club, DW needed to sit down). I went to get the van while DW and the boys waited at the door. I picked them up and we headed out of the gate for one last time, saying goodbye to all our friends for the time being.

I drove to a CVS to pick up some lotion for DW's legs which are now bright red, and we pick up a pizza at a little, hole-in-the-wall place next door. Then we spend the next 45 minutes driving around trying to find the hotel . I know the road is called the Marriott Village, so I head toward the big Marriott hotel. This is next to the conference center, and I end up doing about 4 or 5 U-turns just to find the front entrance to the hotel . After walking in and talking to the nice person at the front desk , I get directions to where we are staying (and still manage to make a couple more wrong turns along the way. Maybe this was God's way of getting even for the time we took at Photopass). We finally found our hotel, checked in, ate our pizza and settled in for the night, DW barely finished her pizza and was soon snoring. I had brought in the bottle of Korbel that we had taken on and back off the ship, with the intent of having it with the pizza, but after the long, tiring day for everyone it wasn't meant to be. The boys followed DW shortly afterwards, and I finished writing my notes and joined them.

Up next, observations during the trip home and tips for others.

 

[gwcollins71]

I'm sad to see your trip report coming to a close. I hope all is well wth you and your family. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your story and any great tips you can share.

Gretchen

 

[DAggiesRWe]

We got up Friday morning. I rubbed some more aloe lotion into DW's ankles (we later determined it was a combination of sunburn and dehydration that had caused the red marks on her ankles). After getting dressed, DW and I ran down to the little cafeteria in the hotel for a little caffeine infusion while the boys got their Cartoon Network fix (for some reason they weren't interested in watching the Disney Channel ). We offered the boys the option of one more day in Orlando (even if we did Sea World or Universal), but they were "vacationed out" and wanted to head home .

After packing everything, and rearranging the van for travel mode rather than local mode (e.g., cooler and snacks accessible, blankets and pillows available, etc.), we loaded up to begin the trip home. We stopped at a McDonalds near the hotel that was billing itself as "The World's Largest McDonalds", but we went through the drive-thru for breakfast so it didn't matter. (Back in January, I saw this same place featured on a Travel Channel show and wish we had gone in. Something else for the next trip).

We were on the far side of Orlando when I realized that I had left the Korbel in the refrigerator. I did the quick math and decided that we were past the point where it would cost more in gas to go back for it. Hopefully the next guests in the room found it and had a nice magical moment of their own.

Unlike the trip down, I will spare you the mile-by-mile updates and just list a few observations:

- Gas tended to get cheaper the further north we went (South Carolina was less than Georgia which was less than Florida). It also tends to be cheaper when you are away from the major metropolitan areas.

- Why do stores selling marital aids, "adult" videos and similar entertainment rent billboards 50-100 miles in advance? I live near I-95, and drive it every day to work. Most of the out-of-state travellers on this road are either families or snow birds, neither of which are likely to patronize this type of establishment .

- J&R Tobacco must have a huge advertising budget or North Carolina Law requires that every fifth billboard be given to them .

We pulled up to the house around midnight (door to door is about 11 hours of road time, but we made several stops during the day that pushed things to 14 for the trip). We were glad to see the house was still standing, the cats greeted us at the door, and we made it home safely once again.

So for those of you who have stuck with me this long , let me see if I can summarize some tips to help others with their vacation plans. In no particular order:

1. Land and Sea is nice if you are looking for a sampler and can't decide between a DCL cruise or a WDW vacation. However, you never really feel like you get the chance to settle in for the vacation. If you do decide to go this route, and can afford it, pack separately for the cruise and land portions so you aren't spending a lot of your vacation unpacking and repacking the suitcases. We packed a case for each person, but would have been better taking two cases to be "cruise-only" and left them in the van while at WDW.

2. If things don't go as you planned, don't make yourself miserable worrying about what didn't happen but rather go with it and discover the magic you weren't expecting . Some people are in such a rush to get to that next ride that they miss the cool frog climbing the wall or the beautiful butterfly sitting on the nose of the Mickey topiary.

3. Along those same lines, if you are staying on the property (or even at a resort off the WDW property), don't feel that you have to hit the major parks every day. The resorts have a lot to offer that doesn't cost extra, so take some time to enjoy as much free stuff as you can.

4. If driving down on I-95, make sure to take a rest stop at Daytona before turning onto I-4 because there is nothing until you get to Orlando .

5. Don't apply spray-on sunscreen outdoors on a windy day (DW says she can still see the stripes on my back ).

6. On embarkation day, get to the port early (after 10:00) to board as early as possible. You pay the same whether you get on at 12:00 or just before they close the doors at 4:00 so you might as well use as much of your time aboard as possible.

7. On the ship, take advantage of the public restrooms when possible. In most cases they have much more room than the one in your stateroom. All the ones I went into, including the ones near the kids pool, were always cleaned and well stocked.

8. Make sure your kids know where to go if they ever get separated from you. (I know many of you probably disagree with the amount of freedom we give our sons, and I will even grant that you are probably right.) This can change (e.g., at the exit from a ride), or can be a fixed location (e.g., this set of beach chairs with our stuff on them), but it is better that they know where to go than to just wander around looking randomly for you.

BTW, you should know that the episode with DS7 on embarkation day was caused by Ian (the program director) getting involved (DS7 knew where we were, where he was supposed to stay, and was upset when Ian made him go to the Oceaneer's Club).

9. Along those lines, one tip that I haven't had to use but is good training. If your child gets separated from you in a moving crowd, tell them to stop and put up their hands and stay in that spot (not jumping but just standing). In a moving crowd, a non-moving person will stand out, and having their hands in the air just adds to it.

10. Talk to the Cast Members. These are people from all walks of life and from all over the world. There are many fascinating stories about how and why they decided to go to work for Disney. Most of them love to share their story with a willing listener. You never know what kind of surprises your new friend can provide for you.

11. On the ship, if it can be latched then make sure it is latched. This includes, but is not limited to, bathroom doors, closet doors, the verandah door, cabinet doors and the drawers. If seas pick up, a sliding closet door can make an awful loud racket .

12. The stairs will almost always be faster.

13. Do a trip report. Why should the vacation be over just because you are back at work. Stretch out the trip report so you get to relive the vacation over and over again. Heck, I stretched 7 days into 7 months with this one.

14. Don't worry about the things you didn't get to do. Walt Disney World has been there for a long time, and with a few minor exceptions hasn't had anything disappear. Unless you are coming from far away (like Tokyo - Hi Wally ), anything you missed will likely be there the next time you come back. That's why they have the Never-Expire option on the tickets.

15. Door signs, while optional, are a really fun way to add to your trip and jazz up your stateroom.

16. Watching the sunrise from the verandah is a nice way to wake up in the morning.

17. Chocolate, even sealed in a cooler full of ice, will not survive four days of late August in Florida .

18. A case of water for four people for a four night cruise is too much (we brought 8 bottles back off the ship).

19. What looks like a fridge in your stateroom won't cool off anything. You have to get your room steward to bring you ice.

I will post more if I think of anything, but that just about covers it. I look forward to next time, but for now...

Now's the time to say goodbye
To all our company.

M-I-C (See you real soon)

K-E-Y (Why, because we like you)

M-O-U-S-E.