All I Got Was A Lousy T-Shirt. . .(SleepyD's WetnWild Shower Fan Club -16 Feb 07)

[firstmickey]

Of course it had cream in it....

 

[Grammyof2]

Crap Dog - even I added cream this morning. NOT BAD

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Dog, what they all said above! You are soooo funny and Doc's a beauty, etc, etc, etc........

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Oh gaaaawd...now you have me hooked! Get thee to a computer and finish this!

 

[sheridac]

The trip down was uneventful, otherwise. . .except for the lovebugs. I ain’t talking the Herbie kind, either. I don’t know what they call these little critters in other states, but where I grew up in east Texas, we called them lovebugs. Why? Because they seem to be copulating all the time. And in their mutual bliss they are completely oblivious to death streaking toward them at 80 mph. My god, they’re everywhere this time of year! They make bunnies look sterile. And they made my Pilot look as though it had zits. . .hundreds upon hundreds of zits.

STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is DISGUSTING!!!!! Not quite as disgusting as, oh, let’s say cream in coffee. But. A VERY close second!! Eeewwww!!!!

And.

What’s WRONG with karaoke??? It doesn't make you want to La La???

 

[Disneygrl36]

Coming along for the ride..........
Getting so excited for my own trip on the Wonder & your trippie will help me pass the time & build the ANTICIPATION.
When are we gonna get to see your face????? PS you might want to send princess to pedicure school so your tootsies will look a little less SCARY.

 

[NAB]

We are not even on the boat yet......

What a sweet princess you have. I know she painted your toes but she at least she has a playfull side too.

How can one get there to early.....unless the termial isn't open yet. We have done that by 15 minutes.

 

[Minniespal]

Can't wait to read more

 

[MagicMe]

Wow - eight pages into it and you're not even on the ship yet??!!! Can we try to wrap this up in two weeks - I have somewhere to be!

 

[sleepydog25]

Fear thee not! I will have an installment--that includes "action" from the ship--by tomorrow's morn. This weekend was difficult re: posting as Princess has been suffering from a cold and slight fever while Doc did work on the computer. But, tonight I'll be penning something. . .to include the The Attack of the Marshmallow Pillows. . .

 

[fallon]

Good Lord SleepyD!
It seems like you had more fun getting to the ship than on it, and I was on it!

Can't wait to read the next installment.

Big wave to Doc.

 

[grumpydude]

You need to change your name from SleepyDog to MILKMAN because you are certainly milking this report. MOOOOOOO

 

[smwf71]

tHIS IS GREAT FUN - THANKS!

 

[sleepydog25]

Call it excitement over the cruise. Call it habit. Call it serendipity. But, we woke early on that Thursday morning, just before 6. And what a sight it was to behold a day dawning just like the previous one had ended: sunny, clear, and gorgeous. To wit:

Irritatingly, we also woke to a simple annoying alarm, not the perpetually perky Mickey one we were used to on our Disney trips. Oh yeah, we were already expecting the “magic.” Is that not pathetic? Part of me wanted to go for a run along the beach. Part of me wanted breakfast. None of me wanted the swill that likely passed for coffee here. I’m very leery of coffee in hotels. Sure, they call it fresh brewed, but I figure if I’m one of a few hundred jonesing for java that they aren’t apt to be brewing a fresh pot just for me and almost assuredly it won’t be stronger than coffee sopped up with a wash rag then rung out. I’m picky that way. Doc has learned to live with me despite my coffee angst. Bless her.

I opted against the run primarily due to the rising tide of anticipation for getting on board the Wonder. . .and due to The Attack of the Marshmallow Pillows. I applaud the Hilton for actually having four huge pillows on our bed. Usually you get those small pieces of foam that remind you of CampItchybuggy. Not these suckers. They were the size of a Chevy Metro. As we settled in to watch a little TV before hitting the sack, I propped up a pillow against the bed board and leaned back. . .until I felt my spine impact the wall. I used a second pillow and was quickly swallowed up. Not to be defeated, I stole one of Doc’s and leaned back yet again. Five seconds later I knew what it felt like to be in a bag of giant marshmallows. And so I wrestled with my pillows all night. You couldn’t get on top of the pillows—you were either under them or IN them. I could see the headlines: MAN SUFFOCATED BY STAY-PUFT MARSHMALLOW PILLOWS. But, I digress.



Since we were on vacation, we ordered room service for breakfast, each of us having the almond French toast. I figured they meant the batter would have almond extract or maybe even amaretto in it. Nope. The French toast had almonds scattered on top. Period. Truthful, sure. Tasty, not so much. Glad I didn’t order their coffee. As we picked at breakfast, we alternated getting ready and repacking the few items we had unpacked the night before. And we watched the local news. No one eaten by a gator the day before. Traffic was bad. Florida was in the throes of a record-breaking cold spell! Omigod, it was 63F! I quickly wondered if Ron Jon’s sold parkas as I thought back that when we drove off yesterday, the temp at home was 49F.



Though the news was scintillating, it was time to brush my teeth, shave, and get out of Dodge. And as I was brushing, an epiphany struck me.



Florida has no cold tap water.



I’ve visited this state numerous times during all seasons, and I have come to realize that Florida has no stinkin’ cold tap water! Want hot water? Got it. Want tepid water? In abundance. But, if you desire water cooler than your blood temperature, buckaroo, do not move to the Land of the Perpetual Tan. Funny, it’s never mentioned in the tourism ads: Come to Florida! Where the water never hurts your teeth. Despite this glaring oversight by the state tourism board, we get packed and walk out the door. And. It wasn’t even 9 a.m.



So, like any good coffee drinker does when he hasn’t had his morning hit, I turn on my javadar. . .which leads us straight to a Starbuck’s in the Ron Jon mega-megaplex just a few blocks down and on our way to the port. Okay, it led me. Doc tolerates my addiction which this morning meant a quad venti latte with two raw sugars. That was like pouring lighter fluid on a smoldering fire, but it was damn good. Doc is more of a tea person and had hers during breakfast, so this was a solo drinking experience. Seared tuna with wasabi and ginger the night before and a quad venti latte the following morning? Now this is what I call a vacation!



I was sipping my latte as we cruised over the bridge leading to the Disney terminal, and there we got our first glimpse of the Wonder.

Yes, it’s a cliché, but I’ll be darned if we didn’t both go, “wowwww.” We were two goobers from Virginia in awe of a single ship. (Sorry, Doc says I’m a goober, she’s not.) We had seen pics of the ship, had watched video, but nothing prepares you for the moment when you first see that gorgeous boat. I would like to say that we held up traffic to take this shot above, but we didn’t. And therein lies a story.




You know, Disney generally prides itself on providing plenty of info for visitors and travelers to its many attractions. Further, the DIS Boards have just about any tips you could want regarding the same. But, for the love of pete we couldn’t find any direct reference about when to show up to board, other than an oft-repeated notion that “sometime around 10” would suffice. Well, neither Doc nor I are the types to be late to anything; in fact, we know being early can have its rewards. So, by golly, we showed up at 9:20. We did a U-turn at the end of the street, pulled up to the curb, and we jumped out. I mean, the line was already stretching down the entire length of the drop-off area!



Doc grew strangely quiet while I unloaded the luggage—all of it. “I think these people are leaving, “ she muttered. I looked up and sure enough--these folks had a calm look about them. There was a woman in uniform sitting in a lawn chair next to a huge wrought iron gate where an occasional employee car passed through. “Excuse me, but what time does the loading start and is this the right place?” I might as well have asked her to solve the square root of pi. After she mumbled something totally incomprehensible (and I speak fluent Idiocy), I found a nearby CM who was able to answer my questions. In essence, we were way too early and needed to park across the street until they started letting vehicles in around 10. So, for those skimming this report, IT’S OKAY NOT TO SHOW UP UNTIL 10 A.M. TO GET ON A DISNEY CRUISE. I swear I’m going to start my own thread on the Cruise Line forum entitled, Don’t Show Up until 10.



At this point, I saunter back down to Doc who is waiting impatiently at the Pilot. There is no cool way to casually saunter in front of dozens of people who have not only just seen you unload the entire contents of your SUV onto the sidewalk, but they know full well you are going to have to load it back into said SUV right in front of them. “Yes, we are novices!” I wanted to shout, “and for our next act, I am going to ask that man who helped me for his autograph!” Instead, I sheepishly loaded the bags back into the Pilot. Doc is a wonderful woman with many amazing qualities—she doesn’t do sheepish well. She was in the Pilot. Smart woman.



Soon, however, it was 10. And we saw cars with families being let in from our lookout across the street. A minute later we were through the gate and dropping our bags at the correct location this time. Doc got out while I drove to the long term parking lot and got a great tip from the attendant: park near the white canopy. It reduces the walk time to and from the terminal. For those of you who missed it, I just gave you another tip. See? This really is a trip report. Moments later, I joined Doc and entered the terminal. We sailed through security, grabbed our carry-on bags, stepped to the escalator, and were handed our boarding card. . .THE famed boarding card often mentioned in hushed computer tones on the threads. And. We got the coveted. . .

. . .#2!!!

For those of you not in the know, the boarding card indicates when you will be allowed on the ship. Generally speaking, those with the number 1 on their card are the concierge level guests or a very special gathering. On this day, the #1 group was made up almost entirely of a wedding party. We found out later they were to be married at Castaway Cay. A number 2 on your card means you will be in the next group to be called, followed by those with 3, 4, 5, and so on. Sooooo, my earlier cool saunter was justified!


Of course, being one of the first few on the ship isn’t really a big deal (okay, that’s what we told all the people around us ). However, seeing as how we had never been on a cruise before, we were anxious to look around. Before that moment came, though, you had to check in much like you do at a Disney resort. And that process didn’t start for another 30 minutes, about 11 o’clock. Doc and I are good stand-in-liners. That’s one skill the U.S. military teaches well. As we stood there making small talk with each other and admiring the unique look of the terminal, I spied a couple of green wrist bands on the couple behind us, and I heard the husband tell his wife, “. . .and we can look for the green bands on the others.”



Just so happens that we had met several folks on the DIS Cruise Meets sub-forum who were going on the same cruise, and green wristbands supplied by one of our meetmates was one way to identify each other. I turned around and introduced myself as Sleepydog and Doc as, well, Doc. Turns out the husband was FatherForce, and right in front of us was another online friend, Momsully. We had been on Disney property less than 10 minutes and had already met people we knew. It was another one of those moments that those who relish Disney have come to anticipate and appreciate. In fact, it reminds me of the military in that you are never really a stranger but part of a larger family of like-minded souls. Well, okay, a small percentage of them are like the black sheep in the family and no one wants to hang around with them, and they show up unexpectedly and uninvited-ly for Thanksgiving, and they do really weird things like take their pet boa constrictor on vacation with them, and they eat nothing but tofu and organic peanut butter with jalapeno jelly. . .still they are family.

A very detailed Disney Magic. . .which is nearly identical to the Wonder. How do they fit people on that thing when it sails? The first of many questions I had.


Around noon, embarkation finally began. We had been up for six hours already, had been planning the trip for over six months, and now we were just moments away from actually being on a cruise. The announcement came: “We will now be boarding those guests holding a boarding card with the number 2.” We were off! Naturally, this being Disney, you don’t just enter a doorway. You enter a Mickey doorway.

It was by complete accident that Doc matched the wall color behind the giant tubas. Those are tubas, right?


As you enter through the boarding gate, you are welcomed warmly then announced to the ship at large. No kidding. “The Disney Wonder welcomes the Black Sheep family!” It’s no big secret how they know who you are—they ask you. Five or six CMs are floating harmlessly around the grand foyer, and they begin clapping for you, along with the odd stranger or two milling about. I know some cruisers find this entrance to be wonderful, and I certainly wouldn’t argue that it’s memorable. Yet, I find it a bit surreal considering that two hours later they’re STILL doing the same thing for every family who enters the ship. Besides, I just knew that someone, somewhere was looking at us whispering, “Look! It’s that couple who unloaded their bags in the wrong place!” I had that #2 boarding card ready to whip out and show them, though. Ha!



Truly, entering the Wonder was magical, much like the first time--who am I kidding?--every time we travel to WDW and walk into the lobby at WL or walk down Main Street at MK. Disney succeeds because they make us smile, whether we’re 3 or 93. They have some serious mojo goin’ on. And there we were, drinking it all in: the grandeur of the atrium/lobby, the friendliness of the staff, the tears on grown women (I had heard of this phenomenon but didn’t believe it until I saw it—I heard one woman saying that she couldn’t believe she was crying like a baby and laughing while she said it. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe that’s the Disney magic.), and the excitement in the children’s faces. Yes, we missed Princess, but we knew we’d be back one day with her in tow. . .for now it was time to enjoy the cruise. . .



Stay tuned for more. Coming up: Day 2: Day-Glo Orange Isn’t My Color

 

[Grammyof2]

Nice work, Dog!!!! You had me

Glad we got on the boat finally, but my DH said a cruise ship is NOT a boat

 

[NAB]

You do know that only the siggy pics have to be that small right.....

We manged to get on the Magic with no problem All that water must have shrunk it a little though I remember it to be bigger.

They didn't have those cards when I went 2 years ago. It beats standing in line instead of enjoying the terminal. We also got to use the short line when checking in since we were not U.S citizens and were on the Magic the year before that.


--

 

[HaleyB]

Hay look at that, he really did go on a cruise.

Truly, entering the Wonder was magical, much like the first time--who am I kidding?--every time we travel to WDW and walk into the lobby at WL or walk down Main Street at MK. Disney succeeds because they make us smile, whether we’re 3 or 93. They have some serious mojo goin’ on. And there we were, drinking it all in: the grandeur of the atrium/lobby, the friendliness of the staff, the tears on grown women (I had heard of this phenomenon but didn’t believe it until I saw it—I heard one woman saying that she couldn’t believe she was crying like a baby and laughing while she said it. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe that’s the Disney magic.)

Yep, that's the ticket. That is why we all keep going back for more.

 

[MBFergie]

I’ve visited this state numerous times during all seasons, and I have come to realize that Florida has no stinkin’ cold tap water! Want hot water? Got it. Want tepid water? In abundance. But, if you desire water cooler than your blood temperature, buckaroo, do not move to the Land of the Perpetual Tan. Funny, it’s never mentioned in the tourism ads: Come to Florida! Where the water never hurts your teeth. Despite this glaring oversight by the state tourism board, we get packed and walk out the door.

I am loving your report but the above line had me in tears! If I need a cool shower I am better off jumping in the pool. ps: i'm a born and raised florida gal who has just realized what's been missing all my life!

 

[Bethipooh4]

WOOHOO another installment!!!

Ok, so when is the next one?

 

[RoyalVizier]

Yay, we're on the boat!!