Another 1st Double Scoop Report - Completed (6/25/06)

[BWVPam]

Hi All - I will try to post details of our recent WDW trip and 1st Double Scoop Cruise.

Cast: Mom (Me) 44
DH/Dad (45)
DS/ Dale (15)
DD/ Ashley (11)

After planning for this vacation for almost 2 years it was finally here. 1 week before we were scheduled to leave for WDW, hubby calls and asks if we can leave early on Monday, May 22 instead of Thursday May 25. I kick into high gear, went to both kids schools to see if I can pull them out early. Dale was going to be excused from finals at the high school because of grades, so it was really only pulling him out of class on Monday. Ashley's principal at the middle school was really cool and said "have fun". Then I had to pay Delta $200 to change our flights, which luckily we found a FF flight we could change to, next step was changing car reservation. Got a great rate at National for a week (intermediate car) with all taxes for $99. Now I had to call DVC to see if we could change our resv. around. We found something for Tuesday and Wednesday, but nothing for Monday night. I ended up getting an AP rate at ASMu for around $80.

Now that this was all taken care of, I had to get packed and get everything finished at work. You might wonder why we did this. Well to make a long story short, my husband was told he had to come back on Monday June 5, only 2 days after the cruise and the kids and I were going to be staying at WDW. The week before we left, a bunch of his stuff got cancelled at work and they told him he could take the whole week off. By changing our plans, he was able to spend a few days in the parks with us.

We left El Paso at 11:42 a.m. on Monday, May 22. We were all so excited. Very uneventful flight to Orlando and we arrived on time at 7:30 p.m.. DH and son went to get luggage and me and daughter went to the emerald aisle at National. Now, I knew we were going to need a bigger car. With going on the cruise and then WDW, we had a lot of bags. 5 big bags, plus carry ons and a cooler. Low and behold, we walk out to the emerald aisle and there is one mini-van. Boy I snagged those keys so fast your head would swim. The best part of all if that it had the fold and go seats. We hid the seats and had a huge cargo area that would easily hold all of our bags.

We went on out to ASMu and got checked in and then grabbed a quick bite at the food court. We all went on and tried to go to sleep. We wanted to be up early so we could be at AK when it opened Tuesday morning.

I was the first one up early (by 6 am) so I got up and around before waking everyone else up. Started reloading all the luggage and got out what we needed for the day. We ate at the food court and then headed over to OKW to check in. Of course, our room wasn't ready, so we left all the luggage and headed to AK. We arrived and were the first in our line at the turnstiles when the park opened. Our son ran back to EE to get fast passes and by the time we got back there we got in on the first ride of the morning. We all loved the ride!!

We called some fellow DIS'rs (The Tinks) who were also going to be in AK and we met up and we all rode EE again. I think we ended up riding it 3 times that morning. We also got on the safari, Kali and Dinosuar. We ate lunch at Flame Tree which was really good. After lunch, we went back to check on our room, which still wasn't ready. The Tinks invited us to go into EPCOT and the kids went swimming. Diana introduced me to my first Fiesta Margarita at EPCOT (yummy) and Kevin was picked to be Romeo in the Romeo and Edna skit in the World Showcase. He was very good.

By 4:30 or so, we were all pretty tired, so we headed back to check on our room. Thank goodness it was finally ready. We had a downstairs 1 br and it was great. We were at the front of the resort as we had requested, but not in one of the newer buildings. Ashley had gotten a little bit of a cold, so she layed down to rest. I ran out to get some waters and sodas and breakfast stuff. We canceled our dinner at EPCOT and headed to DTD. We went to Captain Jacks. We were on dining plan, which was wonderful. We ordered three Steak and Lobster's and with the appetizers and desserts, it was plenty of food for the three of us. Lobster was excellent.

Wednesday, May 24

Got up and headed out early to Magic Kingdom. Crowds were very manageable and we did all we wanted to do. Ate lunch at Cosmic Rays and it was good. We enjoyed our dinner so much at Captain Jacks, we decided to go again. Had the same menu. After dinner, we headed to late hours at MGM. Got to see Fantasmic and do a couple of things. RNR had broken down, so we ended up going on back to the room and going to bed.

Thursday, May 25

We had to move out of our 1 br at OKW and move to our studio at Beach Club. We had wanted to stay at same resort for all three nights, but there was nothing available. Anyway, got over to Beach Club early and was pleased that our room was ready so we got to get all of our stuff out. Today our friends were joining us. We didn't get around into EPCOt until about 11:00. We had lunch at Season's and it was really good. We rode Test Track and Soarin and then toured the land a little. By afternoon, we decided to go back and enjoy our pool at Beach Club. Spent the afternoon enjoying the pool and then had a nice dinner with our friends at the Cape May Buffet.

Friday, May 26

Today was a big day. We are checking out of BCV and heading down to Port Canaveral. We decided to do no parks today. Did laundry and repacked all the stuff we had and packed the car. The kids went down to the quiet pool. I ran over to the outlet mall to pick up a couple of things, came back. the kids went with our friends over to the main pool. Got back from the mall, and picked up the kids and headed for Canaveral. Checked in at Radisson and got settled. We decided to do dinner at Grills and it was really good. Since we had rented from National, the front desk said we could do a night drop at National and they would send someone to pick us up. Did all that and then came back to hotel. There was a DIS meet by the pool. When we got there, Mark/Mary, Laura/Dwight and Sandi and her husband were there. Had to move indoors because of the storm. Later, other showed up (Tiggerinny, mickeymo, ladypoo, I may have left some out, my memory is not that great) also arrived. GaRry and Stacey drove down from Orlando to meet everyone.) Okay, the anticipation is really building now. We get on the Magic tomorrow. Guess who can't sleep!! that's right me

I will continue in Part II

 

[WDWLVR]

Pam - loving the report. Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Ditto what Mary said! Loving the report and can't wait for more installments.

 

[BWVPam]

Saturday, May 27 -- The Big Day!!

I was first to wake up again so I got ready and then got everyone else up. Hubby wasn't feeling well, so kids and I walked across the street to McDonalds. Someone else posted that this was the slowest McDonalds in the world. I have to agree. It was terrible and they kept messing up the orders. Ate and then went back across the street. I had stopped at the front desk to see if we could get someone to help move the bags. That was a waste of time, they never came. I am very impatient at this point, so I start lugging our massive amount of luggage downstairs. Note to self: Don't pack so much next time!!

Ladypoo was already out there with her stuff when I arrived, so we started stacking our stuff up next to hers. By 9:30 lots of people had gathered for our ride to the shuttle. We were the first ones on the list and they started calling the families by name to load on the bus and load the luggage. We had several dis'rs on our shuttle. The excitement was building and none of us could hardly wait. Got over to the terminal. Hubby and son stayed to get the luggage checked and the girls all headed to the terminal. We got boarding group 2 (woohoo). Got inside and got all checked in. Lots of Dis'rs over in the corner. Great sign Mark and Mary. It was definitely easy to spot us with our double scoop shirts. We all started mingling meeting the others and it was great fun. The kids all started getting to know each other as well.

We stopped for our boarding picture and I love how they put the frame around it. Looks like a map in the background and lists the ports on the front.

We wanted to go to Topsiders, so we snagged a table and put our stuff down and ran in to eat. Good buffet and great shrimp!! We were with our friends and got a nice table inside where it was cool.

Kids and adults hopped in the water. It was hot!! Now is when I was really wishing I had lost weight before this cruise.

Our luggage did not start arriving till after 3:00. Hubby stayed in room and I ran up to Dis Meet on Deck 10. Really did not get to stay long because had to round everyone up for the lifeboat drill. The new lifejackets are much nicer. It was pretty painless and went by fast.

Now on to the sailaway party. Went up and took some pictures of my daughter and her friend. THey were having a ball. Didn't realize that people had gone down to the lower deck to hang out the sign for Gary. That was really nice. By this time I think I better go check on luggage. We were on the early dinner and had to be at AP by 5:30. This is way too early for dinner in my opinioin. I felt we were always missing something by having to be at dinner by 5:30. Next time I will probably go late and request the APL rotation, that way you get the first seating of late at 8:00 p.m.

Luggage all made it in time and we made it to dinner. We had Ivan as our server and Alexandria as our head server. They were both great! Went to the opening show and loved it.

I thought I could stay up late, but my daughter was exhaustedand ready for bed by 10:30. All in all a great first day. Met lots of great people and had loads of fun. You may notice that I haven't mentioned by teenage son much. That is because he took off with a bunch of the DIS teens and we hardly ever saw them.

More later.....

 

[Dancind]

HI Pam. Hey, I saw your son several times! Sounds like I saw him more than you did. That was our joke by day 2 "there goes the back side of daughter". You have to be thinking about the Jungle Cruise ride when you're saying it.

I sure would like another Fiesta Margarita, but I got a mango one somewhere and it was pretty close. On the ship, maybe?

Keep up the good work!

 

[armyfam]

Great job, Pam.
Keep up the super reporting!
Love all of the anecdotes coming from the May 27th cruise.

susan

 

[LindaBabe]

Did I understnad you to say you did a NATIONAL car drop off in Port Canaveral???

More report please!

 

[BWVPam]

Did I understnad you to say you did a NATIONAL car drop off in Port Canaveral???

More report please!

Yes, it was actually in Cocoa Beach, about 7 miles from the Port.

 

[BWVPam]

Sorry that I have not been able to get back here and finish this report. I have a very busy week at work, but I promise to try and finish it this weekend!!

 

[BWVPam]

I slept great on Saturday night. Probably because I could finally relax because I was on the ship. Woke up early Sunday morning with our call from Room Service. Just had some coffee, juice and pastries sent up to get us moving. Got everyone ready and then headed to Topsiders with our friends we were traveling with. We had planned to get off the ship as soon as we had finished with breakfast, but I had left my visor in the room and I wanted to go back and get it. So, we didn't get off the ship as early as I had liked, but we still snagged a spot right behind the bar on the Family Beach. We had a nice shady spot with an umbrella and several trees. Sent the kids to pick up their raft rentals. We took advantage of the two-day rentals and it was great! Our son decided to go off on his own to see if he could run into any of the teens. Our daughter spent a lot of time either with us or with her friend. THey were a little farther down the beach but I really didn't want to move.

Since the kids had quit using their rafts, I snagged one and spent at least an hour on it in the water. It was so relaxing. Probably the most relaxing thing on the whole trip. Our son stayed gone a long time and I was getting a little worried that he didn't check in. He ended up doing a bike rental. Anyway, he stayed gone and didn't reapply sunscreen. He is pretty fair, so he burned pretty bad. His nose blistered later in the day. We had lunch at Cookies and it was good. We had the Banana Boats reserved for 2:00. It was fun, but we all fell off at one point. It was pretty funny. Headed back to the ship about 3:00 so we could have time to get ready for early dinner.

Dinner was good again. We all went to change. THe kids and I wanted to go to the Ventriloquist show. My daughter snagged seats on the first row. Unfortunately, hubby didn't go and my daughter got picked to go onthe stage. It was good and she really enjoyed it. She had a part with Simon. Lynn told her she had pretty nails. Of course I was furious because hubby had the video camera and I only had the small still camera. Oh well. Again by 10:30 her and I were ready to crash.

Monday

Our first sea day and I sleep in till about 8. The kids went to eat breakfast, because DH and I are heading to Palo's. We had Tony as our waiter and he was great. A lot of DIS folks were there and it was fun to see everyone. The food was fabulous. Pretty low key day. We had our formal night at Lumiere's and it was really nice.

Tuesday

Costa Maya day. We had reserved the Dolphin Swim and we were all looking forward to it. Had breakfast on the ship in Topsider's and then went to meet the group down in one of the lounge's. We got off the ship and were directed to some really nice motor coaches. They looked brand new. Headed out and were on the road for about 30 minutes to get to the excursion. Dummy me didn't bring a lot of cash, which was a mistake. Anyway, we got there and got ready for the dolphins. Everyone had to wear a lifejacket and watch a video. They separated the observers from those doing the swim. We had booked my husband as an observer so he could video tape the kids. Unfortunately, the area they let the observers go to is so far removed from where the dolphins area, he wasn't able to see much. We were disappointed. However, the swim was great. You start out on a ramp in the water and the dolphins come up to you then they have you swim out further in the water and the dolphins start doing tricks around you. Then finally, they have a photographer come and take your picture with a Dolphin kissing you on the cheek (those are $20 each). It said we would only be in the water with the dolphins for 30 minutes, however, it was a good 45 - 50 minutes. After we finished, we went back up to look at the photos and bought the two for the kids and got them some souvenirs. They had several vendors, but we really weren't interested because we hadn't brought a lot ofcash. They did provide you with a free drink bar (alcoholic and non) We ordered the kids some stuff. You could stay on the beach longer, however, we wanted to get back to the port area, so we grabbed the first bus back. Shopped a little around the port area. I found a really nice pair of earrings I wanted at Diamonds Int., but I figured I could wait until Cozumel. Big mistake, they didn't have the ones I wanted in Cozumel. Oh well. Lesson learned, if you see something you like, buy it!

We headed back to the ship and got some food and did some swimming. By now it was time to get ready for dinner again. DH and I had dinner resv. at Palo's since it would have been our second time in Animators. We went down with the kids until about 6:15 before heading out. We got Tony as our server again and he was just awesome. My DH had the steak which was fantastic and I had the swordfish (yummy) There was so much other stuff, I can't begin to describe. We also had some wine and it was good. We were trying to hurry because we wanted to see Glory Road at 8:15. It is about the university here in our hometown and we hadn't seen it yet. Tony was really good about getting our dinner out to us. When he brought us our bill, we were only charged for our drinks. He said the manager comped it for us. Don't know why, but I had spent some time talking with him while we were waiting to be seated. Very nice guy. Made it out and got to see Glory Road. Great movie!

Will try to finish up tomorrow.

 

[sftnslky]

Please forgive my ignorance, but it was a little hard for me to read your report with soooo many abbreviations could you please enlighten me and tell me what some of them mean? Here are the ones I just COULD not figure out .

RNR
DTD
EE
AP
ASMu
AK
BCV

Thank you for your time...and a GREAT three part report btw.

 

[WDWLVR]

Please forgive my ignorance, but it was a little hard for me to read your report with soooo many abbreviations could you please enlighten me and tell me what some of them mean? Here are the ones I just COULD not figure out .

RNR
DTD
EE
AP
ASMu
AK
BCV

Thank you for your time...and a GREAT three part report btw.

This should help http://www.wdwinfo.com/abbreviations.htm

 

[BWVPam]

Thanks Mary for posting the link to those abbreviations.

 

[sftnslky]

This should help http://www.wdwinfo.com/abbreviations.htm

Thank you for posting the site..while it didn't answer all the abbreviations it helped some ...guess I will pass on reading any future reports since I am at a loss, and feel very out of place.

 

[justmestace]

Hey Pam....I know where your son was! Well, except for the night he was late for dinner........

 

[BWVPam]

Hey Pam....I know where your son was! Well, except for the night he was late for dinner........

Love the picture Stacey. You probably saw him more than I did (hahaha)

 

[BWVPam]

Please forgive my ignorance, but it was a little hard for me to read your report with soooo many abbreviations could you please enlighten me and tell me what some of them mean? Here are the ones I just COULD not figure out .

RNR
DTD
EE
AP
ASMu
AK
BCV

Thank you for your time...and a GREAT three part report btw.

Sorry for any confusion: RNR - Rockin Roller Coaster at MGM
DTD - Downtown Disney
EE - Expedition Everest
AK - Animal Kingdom
BWV- Boardwalk Villas
AP - Annual Pass
ASMu-All Star Music

Hope that helps

 

[BWVPam]

Well, it is time to get this finsihed, Part IV


Wednesday - Cozumel

We were up early for breakfast again and get ready to get off the ship for our excursion. We had reserved the San Gervasio Ruins and Beach Tour excursion directly through Disney. We went and met up in one of the lounges for our excursion. This was a painless process as we very quickly got to our tender boat. Nice ride over to the pier. Boy you could sure see the devastation in Cozumel since our last last trip in 2002. We walked through the mall area back to where the buses were. It was at least a 30 minute drive to where the ruins were. These were not big ruins, but okay. The guide was very good. There is a shopping area where you can buy trinkets and stuff, but we didn't buy anything. They give us bottles of water when we returned to the bus. We went around the island to where the beach area was at Playa del Sol?? Very nice beach area and also had a nice pool. They gave us a free drink ticket and the adults all got margaritas, pretty good. We ordered some food and it was decent. The kids went down to the beach for a bit and then swam in the pool area. I would say we had about 1 hour at the beach before heading back into Cozumel.

We did some shopping and got some of the free jewlery. Disappointed because I didn't find any earrings that I liked in my price range like I had seen in Costa Maya. We took a taxi down to Del Sol so we could get some t-shirts. After that, we headed back to the ship. I would say we got on the ship by 2:30. Popped into the pools to cool off. It was hot!!

Tonight was pirate night and the dinner was great. We were back in Parrot Cay. The waiters were dressed great for the event. Went up for part of the activities on deck, but my daughter got tired and headed to bed. I missed the fireworks, which I was disappointed in, but hubby got to seem them and enjoyed them.

Thursday - Sea Day

This day is kind of a blur to me. I don't remember doing anything at all on the ship this day. Isn't that terrible. Hung out by the pool some. We did go sea one of the shows on this day, I believe it was Disney Dreams at the matinee performance. SInce it has taken me so long to do this report, I am forgetting the sequences of events. Not to self, don't procrastinate next time.

Friday - Castaway Cay

Got off the ship bright and early and went straight to the shop to purchase our special t-shirts that said "Twice the Magic" People were really buying these up and they started running out of certain sizes. We had everything sent back to the ship. We got our rafts and just kind of hung out on the beach for awhile. We had lunch and then headed back to the ship. Just didn't feel like staying out any longer. Our son wanted to see a movie and our daughter met up with some of her friends back on the ship. I actually took a little cat nap. Decided I better get things packing and started doing this before dinner. Had everything almost done by the time we went to dinner and then finished up after dinner. By this point, I was pretty sad knowing that this vacation was almost over.

Saturday

5:30 came awful early and we all got up and made it down for early breakfast. Got in line to get off the ship with some of our DIS friends (WDWLVR/Mark RG and the Ohiomouse family) We really got off the ship early, by about 8:00 they had started letting us off. We grabbed a porter and started trying to find our luggage. I thought I had immediately spotted my daughter's hot pink rolling bag. Grabbed it and set it with the others, when I noticed that even though it was identical, it wasn't hers, so I put it back and kept looking for hers. So glad I had checked each nametag to make sure they were all ours. Some of our friends actually got outside before they realized they had grabbed someone else's bags.

I called yellow taxi and my son and I headed for National car rental. We were there by 8:30. My husband and daughter stayed at the port with all of our luggage. Well, this is where the nightmare began. We were the first ones at National, with another family off of a carnival ship right behind us. THey were supposed to open at 9 a.m. by 10 a.m., no one was still there. I spent a great bit of time on the phone with National, but there was nothing anyone could do. The other family called Avis and they had a driver come and pick them up, so we caught a ride on that shuttle back to Avis. We were able to get a car (minivan $80 for one day) to head back to Orlando. I spoke again with someone at National and they agreed to compensate me for the problems -- pay the difference in price for what I was going to pay them.) I had a free day coupon with National, which is why I planned on using them. anyway, we told them we would return the AVIS car the next day at the airport and pick up our national car. We finally got to Orlando about 11 a.m. and checked into the Boardwalk Villas. Yeahhh, our room was ready so we unloaded everything and headed over to MGM for our lunch at 12:45 at Sci-Fi. The park was really crowded because of Star Wars weekends.

We stayed for a couple of hours before heading back to the room and rest for a while. We had dinner at Japan in EPCOT that night. Great meal. We also did some of the pearl things downstairs. My daughter got a nice 6 mm pearl and I got a really nice 8 1/2 mm pearl. Mine is now a pendant and hers is a ring.

Stayed till the end and watched Illuminations. When we walked back to BWV, low and behold who do we find as our next door neighbors from our cruise (WDWLVR and Mark RG) We visited a bit and invited them to have dinner with us the next night at O'hanas.

Sunday, we are up and ready to go to Magic Kingdom. We get to do all that we really want and headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We had tried to get the OhioMouse family to join us, but the restaurant wouldn't let us add them to our party of 6 now. We made plans to join them for the late night at the Magic Kingdom after dinner at Ohanas. The sky really opened up while we were at dinner. It poured. After dinner we caught the monorail and headed over to meet them. mark and mary decided to join us and surprise the Ohiomouse family. We had fun, we did Stitch and Buzz. We ended up leaving a little early. My husband had to fly back home the next morning.

Monday, he is up and ready to leave early for his flight. The kids and I pack up and head to the pool at BWV. the Ohiomouse family came and joined us and it was great fun. Our room didn't get ready at the Beach Club villas until late. Monday night we met up with them at AK for the late night. Kids and I first went to dinner at the Rose and crown and then we drove over there. We had a lot of fun. EE broke down, so they gave us a return fast pass to use anytime.

Anyway, Tuesday was our last day in Orlando. We went to MGM first and ride TT and RNR and then run over to AK to use our FP at EE and then head to EPCOT to meet the OM family at the Garden Grill. It was a great lunch and it was so nice to get to see our friends one last time, knowing we were going home tomorrow. It was very hot, so we all decided to spend the afternoon at the pool The kids had a great time and it was really nice.

After that, the kids and I went to DT Disney and went to the movies. I had everything packed up and ready to go because we had a 7 a.m. flight the next morning.

Notes on this trip.

We had a ball. We met some great friends that we can't wait to see again. We definitely want to do a do-over cruise. I feel like I wasted so much of my time on the ship, because I didn't do any of the special things I wanted to do. I hated the new navigators, because I was always missing things. Next time I will keep one with me daily so I know where and when to go to something.

I will never rent from National in Cocoa Beach again. I love renting from them in Orlando, just not in CB. I did get my money back from them this last week. They refunded me $77, which was nice and I do appreciate their customer service department.

 

[WDWLVR]

Pam - thanks for a great report. It was fun having you guys as our lock-off neighbors!

 

[BWVPam]

Thanks Mary -- we enjoyed you guys as well. My son Dale really liked you and Mark both. This was an unusual comment from him, because he normally doesn't say anything really about anyone. Not to say you guys are unusual or anything (hmmmmmm) just kidding