A bit of Disney Christmas Magic - Dec 11 - 27th

[Tinkerkell123]

Really enjoying reading your trip report! We did the same cruise in January. I am REALLY impressed that your kids lasted so long during the day without naps... Also, love seeing the pix of veggie stuff as I wouldn't normally order it. I am going to try some of it next time. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[heymoonkid]

Wow, thanks so much for this trip report. I also have a boy & girl who will be similar ages to yours by the time we're thinking about sailing, and I'm also a vegetarian.... good to know they're so accomodating! (I do love curry though so maybe I should check out the Wonder!)

I also didn't realize parents are allowed to hang out in the Oceaneer's Club and even bring the younger siblings in to play. Also good to know booking extra time at Flounder's was easy... that's all very encouraging.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I have always loved seeing your kids sleeping in the funniest places!

Kira is a little like me, night owl and does well without the proper amount of sleep so she can stay awake very late. The only place she sleeps is in her bed

If we ever cruise to Mexico again, we will be staying on the ship too

Loved Amelia in her Belle dress! Kira has a similar one but in gold but it is too big. Maybe when we go back 2012, it might fit her

LOL...they do tend to fall asleep at the weirdest times in the strangest places. I'm just glad they fall asleep!

That Belle dress is interchangable. The inside is the gold version of the Belle dress. It's super cute.

Really enjoying reading your trip report! We did the same cruise in January. I am REALLY impressed that your kids lasted so long during the day without naps... Also, love seeing the pix of veggie stuff as I wouldn't normally order it. I am going to try some of it next time. Can't wait to hear more!

Thank you!!! They may have lasted long but they weren't always on their best behavior. I should say that...Amelia is typically just fine but Ernie is the one that might not behave so well when he's worn out.

Wow, thanks so much for this trip report. I also have a boy & girl who will be similar ages to yours by the time we're thinking about sailing, and I'm also a vegetarian.... good to know they're so accomodating! (I do love curry though so maybe I should check out the Wonder!)

I also didn't realize parents are allowed to hang out in the Oceaneer's Club and even bring the younger siblings in to play. Also good to know booking extra time at Flounder's was easy... that's all very encouraging.

You are very welcome! Thanks for reading! As a vegetarian I was happy with a majority of the offerings. They had some variety which was very nice for a change. And to be honest, the veggie burgers and fries were also great! They also have good veggie wraps on Deck 9, as well. There is certainly plenty to eat.


Another update coming...

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Thursday, December 17th, Sea Day – Day 7

Today was our last Day at Sea and Amelia and I did our usual early morning Cove Café run and Disney cartoon viewing at the Goofy Pool.
We had an 8am character breakfast at Parrot Cay and we weren’t sure at first if we were going to attend it. It has never been a good character or meal experience and we are somewhat spoiled with the great character breakfasts in WDW (don’t laugh because in comparison they are ten times better).

Anyway, we decided to move forward with the character breakfast, got cleaned up and made our way down to Parrot Cay. We were greeted by our serving team and ordered from the brief menu. I was beginning to feel quite ill from all the sugar I'd been ingesting thus far on the trip, so I ordered just plain oatmeal. I get physically ill from too much sugar and really should have known better than to indulge several times a day for so many days straight. My stomach was not happy with me.

The usual gang of characters made their rounds – first Goofy, then Pluto, Dale, Mickey, Chip and Minnie. Our assistant server entertained the kids with some silly napkin hats and we had a pleasant time with mediocre food.

We dropped Ernie off at Flounders for 10am and then Amelia at the Oceaneer’s Club right after. EB and I then enjoyed the Art of Entertaining series in Studio Sea. Chef Douglas James of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa Events was the guest Chef this cruise and today he would discuss the entrée. He made us lamb (which we didn’t eat, obviously) and a truffle scented macaroni and cheese which was pared with a wine. He talked about what he does at the GF, how he learned to cook and what his aspirations were with Disney. He was funny and very informative and good natured about the audience’s questions. The sommelier of the Magic discussed the wine choice at the end of Chef James’ demonstration. All the recipes from his week’s demonstrations were available at the entrance to Studio Sea. We both really loved the macaroni and cheese and his recipe is very similar to the homemade one I make at home but I would like to try his out soon. I even bought some truffle oil this last week at the grocery store. This event is really something we enjoyed as EB and I are both Food Network addicts. I wish we were able to see more of his demonstrations – definitely next time, though.

After that demonstration, we ran back to the stateroom to straighten up from the morning and we both did about 30 minutes of work.
From there we enjoyed a nice, relaxing lunch at Lumiere’s. As you may have already noticed, we prefer the table service breakfasts and dinners to the buffets. The food is just so much better, although the service at these meals is extraordinarily slow. We finished up lunch by 1pm and then picked up Ernie from Flounders and then Amelia from the Oceaneer’s Lab.

From there we decided to seek out a few characters and headed to Deck 9 to try and catch Max and Goofy. We just missed the cut off for their line, but stayed in line for the next set of characters – Daisy and Donald. Amelia threw a bit of a fit here as she had her heart on meeting Max, which is why you’ll notice in the pictures that she is not standing with Ernie and they were photographed separately.

After meeting Daisy and Donald, we headed to the ice cream station and got the kids an ice cream. They have a soft serve machine with dishes, but no toppings. The toppings would have made the ice cream much more enticing and I think they should have someone working that station to help you with some ice cream decorations.

Anyway, we headed back to the stateroom to have them eat their ice cream because it was very hot out and they were not dressed for the hot weather.

Continued on next post....

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Day 7, Sea Day...CONTINUED

Since it was so warm, we decided to take the kids back up to the Mickey Pool for some swimming which ended up being a very big mistake. We got back up there by 2pm and ended up staying until 3pm but it was so crowded with reckless, misbehaving kids. Seriously, kids were jumping on you from the edge of the pool, splashing in a reckless, out of control manner, pushing, etc. It was insanity! We convinced the kids to leave the pool to go do something else – thinking back, we probably bribed them with something to get them out of the pool without taking a fit but I just don’t remember.

Happy to be out of there, we headed back to our room to shower and get ready for the evening.

EB and I had Palo dinner tonight which meant we had to get the kids some dinner before dropping them off at Flounders and the Lab. They ate some room service before we took Ernie to Flounders for 6pm. Amelia ate at the Club with her group.

Our Palo reservation was for 6pm and I was just not feeling it at all. This is supposed to be the dining highlight for me for the entire cruise but my stomach was rebelling big time. I was so upset with myself that I had eaten too many sweets all week and have certainly learned a lesson.

We had Andrea as our server and were happy to be seated with her again. We really liked her as she as friendly and didn’t linger like other servers tend to do. Both EB and I decided to forgo any alcoholic beverages in favor of some herbal tea. He wasn’t feeling that great, either, but not nearly as bad as I was at this point.

Now, I usually can never figure out what to order here because there are so many wonderful selections, but my stomach just wasn’t feeling any of it. I embarrassingly asked Andrea if I could order just plain pasta with tomato sauce and she made that happen for me.

To start, we shared the bread with the three dips and a small cold platter that typically has meats on it. Without the meats, I believe EB enjoyed some various olives. He loves olives! EB ordered an eggplant starter and I ordered a tomato mozzarella platter. My stomach seemed fine with that and EB raved over the eggplant. Next I had the minestrone soup which was very good and EB ate a flatbread. I think I had a piece of that, too. For our entrees, EB enjoyed a huge and tasty lobster and I had the pasta. He couldn’t stop talking about how good the lobster was and my pasta was good. I would probably have eaten every last bit if my stomach wasn’t feeling “off” but I ate about a third, at least.

For dessert I was able to muster (barely) a bite or two of the fried pineapple ravioli (which I usually love) and EB had the soufflé. I couldn’t even bring myself to take a bite of the soufflé which really says something about how I was feeling. I was bummed. We even passed on the iced lemon vodka shot which is always a great ending to a perfect meal. I vowed then and there to not do this again next cruise. I want to enjoy Palo and I just could not this time.

We were finished in time to pick Ernie up at Flounders for 8:30 and then right afterwards, Amelia from the Club. We took him back to the stateroom and I got him ready for bed. Tonight was supposed to be Disney Dreams in the Walt Theatre but EB and I weren’t up for the late night so we decided to watch it in the stateroom. It isn’t broadcast live, but it is Disney Dreams. We lay in bed and watched it and then fell asleep shortly after.

Tomorrow is Castaway Cay and our last day on the cruise.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Friday, December 18th, Castaway Cay – Day 8

Today was personally a very disappointing day for me. For how ill I felt the day before, today I was much worse. This was my low point of the entire vacation. Today was supposed to be the highlight of the entire cruise – Castaway Cay is usually the best day for us as a family.

I woke up feeling even worse than I had the day before. My stomach was rebelling big time and was heightened to a whole other level of sickness. To make things, worse Ernie was now having digestive issues and EB seemed to be starting it all, too. Perhaps this wasn’t totally my overindulgence after all, but perhaps we were passing around an intestinal bug? Amelia seemed to be just fine.

We awoke early and I ended up just getting tea today at the drink station rather than my usual latte at Cove Café. Amelia and I watched cartoons at the pool for a bit but made our way back to the stateroom to get our day started.

We decided on Parrot Cay’s buffet again for breakfast today and made our way there for its opening. I had some bland food and oatmeal and the kids ate just fine, as did EB. He wasn’t eating too heavy today either, though.

After breakfast we made our way back to our stateroom, got ready for a day at Castaway Cay and disembarked shortly after the all-ashore time. We like to get there early so we have our choice of loungers at the beach.

On our way to the Family Beach (walking, not the tram which was available) we saw Captain Jack’s line just beginning to form. EB wanted to get a picture so I miserably agreed. I hate wasting time in lines for characters that we had not planned on meeting and just wanted to get to the beach. Add that with feeling miserably sick and I was not a happy camper at this point. But we stood in line for only a few minutes and the kids and EB got their picture with him. He was funny and in character, as well, so that was neat to watch. Afterwards we continued our walk to the Family Beach.

Just a note about the weather at this point - It was partly sunny but very windy and not too warm. It must have been maybe about 70-75 degrees? But overall, it wasn’t the best Castaway Cay weather we’ve had.

We walked as far as the Conched Out Bar and turned at that to the path leading to the beach. This was about a halfway point on this particular beach. We found a spot near the water in the front row of loungers and dropped everything. Cast members were walking up and down the beach shutting the umbrellas which were to stay closed during the day because of the high wind. The kids headed to the water to begin playing in the sand at the edge of the beach. They really enjoyed themselves and made friends with a couple kids near us.

I walked to She Sells Seashells and More and bought them a pack of sand toys to play with. They were happy to see that stash!
I was not feeling well at all and alternated between sitting on a chair at the edge of the beach with the kids and laying down and closing my eyes. I was plain miserable!

By 11am EB was ready to get some food so he took Amelia to Cookies to check it all out. I stayed with Ernie as he played in the sand. He came back and we got some things together and headed to Cookies together. I decided not to eat, but helped get the kids some food. We sat and I was just as cranky as could be, snapping at him at every chance. That just isn’t me at all. During lunch I decided I needed to get back to the stateroom and lay down. I ended up taking Ernie with me since he was also having some intestinal issues and on our walk back it went from rain to downpour. We were soaked by the time we made it back to the ship. Ern thought it was pretty funny, though. I was just too cranky to care.

Back in our stateroom I got him bathed and cleaned up. He played with his monster trucks while I began packing our belongings.
It was only about an hour later when Amelia and EB showed up. I thought they’d stay longer but the weather had turned very bad in the last hour or so. We found out weeks later that there were several funnel tornados spotted off the water and some people actually have posted video of them from our cruise! I'm glad I didn't see them as the severe rocking we had that night was hard enough to deal with.

When he got back, although I was still biting his head off at every turn, I was feeling slightly hungry so he was nice enough to go to Deck 9 and get me a veggie burger and fries. I ate those and they actually sat in my stomach just fine.

Since I was still packing and wanted to relax a bit, he was nice enough to take the kids to the Oceaneer’s Club to play for a couple hours. This worked out well as I was able to get the packing done as well as some of my work and even lay down for a bit.

I don’t remember much of the rest of this day, but we had our last dinner at Animator’s Palate and I didn’t eat too much and definitely no desserts. Ernie went to Flounders for a couple hours beginning at 6:30pm and Amelia went to her Club at 7pm.

Since we had some time after dinner, EB and played checkers in Diversions for a bit before and chose our Shutters photos for purchase before picking up the kids.

I believe we ended our evening rather early (9:30pm-ish).

Up next – Disembarkation and checking into Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa

************************************
I have another 8 or 9 days of Christmas at Disney to share if anyone is interested?

 

[JOANNEL]

Yes, please continue!! I am loving reading along. You are doing a great job and have beautiful kids!! Enjoy because they grow up way too fast!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Yes, please continue!! I am loving reading along. You are doing a great job and have beautiful kids!! Enjoy because they grow up way too fast!!

Thank you!!!!

 

[Timon]

I'm so sorry you got sick. It definitely sounds like it was a bug and not just you overindulging your sweet tooth!

It's so horrible when you get sick on a vacation

I was the exact same way at Palo's this past cruise. I was so sick I couldn't enjoy it at all. Really sucks because Palo is soooo good!

I meant to say last post how much I loved Amelia's formal night dress, it was so cute and I loved the colour!!

 

[Timon]

I have another 8 or 9 days of Christmas at Disney to share if anyone is interested?

ME ME ME!!!

 

[Timon]

I forgot to ask....would you mind sharing that mac & cheese recipe please?

I bought white truffle oil last year to make a dish but I don't know what else to do with it.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I'm so sorry you got sick. It definitely sounds like it was a bug and not just you overindulging your sweet tooth!

It's so horrible when you get sick on a vacation

I was the exact same way at Palo's this past cruise. I was so sick I couldn't enjoy it at all. Really sucks because Palo is soooo good!

I meant to say last post how much I loved Amelia's formal night dress, it was so cute and I loved the colour!!

I know, it's just terrible! Palo is one of the things I look forward to the most on DCL and it was a huge letdown for me this time. I was bummed!

Thanks RE her dress. Funny enough, when I bought that dress (a year prior) it was for the BOBr cruise I had in mind!!!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I forgot to ask....would you mind sharing that mac & cheese recipe please?

I bought white truffle oil last year to make a dish but I don't know what else to do with it.

No problem! I've actually made it twice and it is very good. The cheese blend and the truffle oil are key. Typically I just use cheddar but the actual cheese makes a huge difference.

1 pounds elbow macaroni
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 quart whole milk
2-1/2 cups quatro fromage (4 cheese mixture of Asiago, Provolone, Fontina and Gruyere cheeses) plus one cup Mascarpone cheese
To taste kosher salt
To taste fresh ground black pepper
6 tablespoon white oil (optional)

Prepare the macaroni according tothe directions on the package. Make a roux with the flour and butter. Bring the milk to a simmer and work in the roux. Put cooked macaroni in a mixing bowl and toss with truffle oil. Pour over the macaroni, add salt and pepper to taste. and heat through in oven.

 

[Timon]

No problem! I've actually made it twice and it is very good. The cheese blend and the truffle oil are key. Typically I just use cheddar but the actual cheese makes a huge difference.

1 pounds elbow macaroni
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 quart whole milk
2-1/2 cups quatro fromage (4 cheese mixture of Asiago, Provolone, Fontina and Gruyere cheeses) plus one cup Mascarpone cheese
To taste kosher salt
To taste fresh ground black pepper
6 tablespoon white oil (optional)

Prepare the macaroni according tothe directions on the package. Make a roux with the flour and butter. Bring the milk to a simmer and work in the roux. Put cooked macaroni in a mixing bowl and toss with truffle oil. Pour over the macaroni, add salt and pepper to taste. and heat through in oven.

Thanks Melody! I will have to try it someday...sounds delish!

 

[sdchickie]

Just lurking so far... loving your TR. Were there any holiday decorations on the ship or on the island? Do you have picts of any of them? We're going next Dec. and I hope they ship is all decked out when we go.

 

[strawberryblonde]

So sorry that you were sickish for two of your favs (Palo and CC), big bummer . You will make up for it in the future, I am sure!

Thanks for posting that yummy recipe, sounds amazing

 

[jinia]

Enjoyed your cruise report very much! So sorry about the bug - yuck! Would love to read about Christmas at WDW!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Hi everyone!
I'll be back to respond to posts - thanks for letting me know you're out there and interested in our report.
Just wanted to get on here to get the next day posted. Forthcoming. Enjoy!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Day 1 Disney – Saturday, December 19 – Day 9

I awoke rather early and even Amelia was still sleeping. I snuck out and made it to Topsiders in time for the buffet to open. I loaded up a tray with some food and dropped it off in our room. I then headed back out again to load it up once more with a couple more items and beverages for everyone. We skipped our sit down breakfast with our servers (obviously) so we could disembark earlier. We loved the cruise but at this point, there is really no point in lingering. I want to get on with the rest of our vacation.

We all got cleaned up and packed up the rest of our belongings. We were able to begin disembarking by 8am. We waited for a little bit in a short line and were one of the first off the ship. We located a porter for assistance with our luggage and while we got in line to go through customs, he found our luggage. It is well worth the tip money to have someone help you disembark! He walked us to our car (it was freezing out by the way) and we packed up quickly and were on our way. Ernie was screaming crying almost immediately after getting set up in his car seat. He had a horrible bum rash because of the intestinal issues he was having.

We made a relatively quick stop at Publix in Cocoa Beach to get groceries for our SSR Villa and then a coffee at Dunkin Donuts for EB. We were then on the road to Lake Buena Vista which took about an hour. Ernie was inconsolable most of the ride and we felt terrible for him.

I checked us in at SSR while EB stayed in the car with the kids and our Grandstand room was ready! This was only 10am. I did do online checkin but I was still surprised to find all our requests were met and the room was ready. What a blessing because we needed to get Ernie feeling better quickly.

We got to room, got all our belongings (four boxes I shipped as well as our Owner’s Locker and one suitcase from our BLT stay) and unpacked. In meantime EB took Ernie to CVS to get a couple things to help him. During this time, Amelia discovered that pink blanket was nowhere to be found! Uh-oh! She has had that blanket since her days in the NICU (we bought it for her) and she does not sleep at night without it. I put in a call to DCL’s lost and found and they’d get back to us.

By 12:30 we started to walk to Downtown Disney as we were all very hungry. It was very busy but we were seated at TREX within about 15 minutes of me checking in at the desk. EB’s belly was feeling pretty much how mine felt on Castaway Cay day so he ended up not eating but sipping ginger ale. I felt ok and was able to eat. Kids ate ok – they had fried shrimp.

We left TRex and went to Goofy’s Candy Co. I got some pretzel rods and the kids some spinny lollypops. What’s wrong with me giving them all that sugar? They loved them, anyway. J

We then went to Guest Services to get new Tables in Wonderland (TIW) card. That was pretty quick and we were soon walking about to SSR. We wanted to put up the tree and lights. That lasted a couple hours and was a lot of fun.

Around 5:15pm we left for dinner at Cape May Café. Ernie fell asleep along the way.

The three of us ate ok – EB and I still didn’t feel totally right so we took it easy. I could only muster up a bit of my favorite dessert at Cape May Café – the lemon tart. Poor EB couldn’t even enjoy the King Crab Legs they had! Mia had two small plates of mac and cheese and a mini cupcake. She was a very happy girl but then began breakdown over Starlight (our greyhound we lost not a month before this trip) and her pink blanket. She was very tired, as well. Ernie slept through the meal but woke up when we put him back in the car seat for our trip back to SSR.

Back at the room, we got the kids ready for bed and asleep at a decent hour. I ended up working on my classes from about 8pm to midnight. I would be very tired the next morning!

Up next: Rope drop at Magic Kingdom!

 

[disneychic]

Great TR! We had a LOOONG stay like that a few years back --WDW, 7 night cruise, and back to WDW (for a total of 17 days). It was our favorite vacation we've ever been on! Looking forward to reading about the rest of your stay