Slept in beach blanket buffet, and then headed for the pool. Be proactive and ask people if chairs are taken or not. Kids were happy in whirlpool and Goofy slide. DH fell alseep checking sports center. We relaxed today and watched some movies, played shuffle board on 4th deck, children went to lab for awhile (quiet time alone), some packing and tropical drinks and the next thing you know it's dinner time. Where did the day go? Today was the day I finally got to relax and feel like I had no cares in the world. Oh how did I forget the show???? The children of the ship put on a show for parents, they also get a free special gift if they participate. DS said no way to being on stage. DD said I'm there. We all showed up for short 20 min show. Wa s anice touch. DS was participating whole time and said he wanted to be in show midway...hmmmm. We ate at Parrot Cay for dinner. I loved the citrus Florida salad with grapefruit orange, baby spinach and blue cheese dressing. My father said the lamb was the best meal he had the whole trip. My mother had a special diet and they were great about accomodating her - diverticulitis- no seeds and certain other restrictions were well directed. After dinner we had a group photo with Captain Mickey. My father is not a Disney fan, so this was a real treat to have a picture made with the characters. He was all smiles. Still won't go to WDW, but we got him to enjoy the cruise. We went to Palo for dessert - Mom, Dad and me- others went to Disney Dreams Show. The plan was to watch show in cabin while we packed. The problem was Palo was booked and we had a long wait for dessert - well worth the wait. Ahh, I can still taste the creamy cheasecake now. We brought stationary with us and gave extra money and than k you to the head server at Palo(Sid), the waiter("Sabi") and the bartender(Panda) who entertained us while we waited for desserts. I went to the ship's store and bought two photo albums and one large picture frame. Note that the photos you get from the ship are 6X8 and they are not easy to find frames to fit. I bought a 6X8 frame just for the photos. We got back in time to watch the show, pack and go to the arcade. They show a recorded version of the show all night. It is an option if you are trying to do it all. They also show a recorded version of shore excursions and disembarkation talk. We played it a few times as we packed to remember all the rules that were expected of us. Even my father was saying he missed parts and he was there. We had first sitting, so we had 645 AMbreakfast. We planned to eat and go to shutters. Whole crusie I kept suggesting to parnets ot get picture package. No, we don't want any pictures. You know what comes next........buying lots of pictures. Get the package deal.............
Next, back to reality-- we leave the ship. Packing was hard to do simply becasue the thought of all the service will be gone. It is nice to be pampered.
We were headed to a self-planned stay at AKL for 3 nights.
We took the DCL bus to WDW. We had a great Savannah View room. This room was a lot bigger than the other rooms we had stayed at the Carribean Beach and Coranado Springs. Two Queen beds and balcony to watch animals. One night one of the antelope jumped the fence. Exciting, but controlled by the rangers. We went to MgM and ate at Sci-Fi Thursday, Animal Kingdom (lunch at Rainforest Cafe - only 30 min wait) on Friday and E-night at the MK on Friday night, Saturday at Typhoon Lagoon (rained out) and the Luau at the Polynesian, pack again and went to Epcot Sunday before our ride to airport. We set up a ride with Florida Town cars. It was $50 one way for five of us - nice comfortable ride. We were early for flight and had no problems with security. Hard to believe it all went by in a week. What a great vacation! Not sure kids want to go back to Disney- they are not excited about characters anymore - no matter how much Mom likes them. They loved the lab and the dolphins. I sat down and wrote a letter to DCL guest services as soon as we arrived to AKL to write down names I remembered and fun we had. Gave them a list of highlights from each of us. I highly recommend this short cruise to all with kids. It really was magic! Always to be remembered!!!
Thanks to all for the tips and ideas - no. 1 tip: bathing suits in carry on..#2: over the door organizer #3 photo package #4 bring lots of film and cameras - more than you think you'll need- especially water proof #5 Palo, Palo, Palo
Next, back to reality-- we leave the ship. Packing was hard to do simply becasue the thought of all the service will be gone. It is nice to be pampered.
We were headed to a self-planned stay at AKL for 3 nights.
We took the DCL bus to WDW. We had a great Savannah View room. This room was a lot bigger than the other rooms we had stayed at the Carribean Beach and Coranado Springs. Two Queen beds and balcony to watch animals. One night one of the antelope jumped the fence. Exciting, but controlled by the rangers. We went to MgM and ate at Sci-Fi Thursday, Animal Kingdom (lunch at Rainforest Cafe - only 30 min wait) on Friday and E-night at the MK on Friday night, Saturday at Typhoon Lagoon (rained out) and the Luau at the Polynesian, pack again and went to Epcot Sunday before our ride to airport. We set up a ride with Florida Town cars. It was $50 one way for five of us - nice comfortable ride. We were early for flight and had no problems with security. Hard to believe it all went by in a week. What a great vacation! Not sure kids want to go back to Disney- they are not excited about characters anymore - no matter how much Mom likes them. They loved the lab and the dolphins. I sat down and wrote a letter to DCL guest services as soon as we arrived to AKL to write down names I remembered and fun we had. Gave them a list of highlights from each of us. I highly recommend this short cruise to all with kids. It really was magic! Always to be remembered!!!
Thanks to all for the tips and ideas - no. 1 tip: bathing suits in carry on..#2: over the door organizer #3 photo package #4 bring lots of film and cameras - more than you think you'll need- especially water proof #5 Palo, Palo, Palo
