noahsmom
17 and counting
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2002
- Messages
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The 1st part of this day includes the end of our stay at the Polynesian, we were there for 4 nights prior to the cruise. Cast for this trip is myself (42) DH (39/40) and DS 6.
Today is DH's 40th birthday. He got up very early to go golfing at the Magnolia course (Disneys signature golf course). DS slept in a little bit, he was awake by the time I finished getting ready for the day. We had 8:30 reservations for the character breakfast at Ohana, the restaurant at the Polynesian. After getting ready I made sure everything was packed and called for a bellman. They came and took our bags and it was time for us to go to breakfast.
We had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and Mickey waffles. Since the meal is all you can eat we got 2nds on the scrambled eggs and the waffles (I love the waffles!). The characters made the rounds, the restaurant was very crowded, I thought we would be early enough to avoid a crowd, I was wrong. There was a huge tour group of teenagers from Brazil taking the entire middle section of the restaurant. There must have been at least 50 of them. During the meal the characters have a parade with all the kids. They carry maracas and march and dance around the restaurant. To DS's surprise Dale came and took him by the hand. He held DS's hand through the entire parade; DS was very pleased since Chip and Dale are his favorites.
After breakfast we took the monorail to the Comtemporary to finish our penny press quest. We heard there were many machines by the monorail station there. We found 5 machines and DS had a field day with them. He almost filled his entire penny book, he has room for 4 more pennies and 3 quarters. After the machines we shopped a little in there stores (the machines are close to them also). After shopping we got back on the monorail and went back to the Polynesian. We had about an hour wait for either DH or our car (Happy Limo) to come but it was nice out and there are comfortable benches at the entrance of the Polynesian so we just hung out. DS was occupied playing his gameboy. At one point a big white limo pulled up and DS was very impressed. He said Mom, look at that limo, isnt it cool? I said that it was. He then wondered who was in it and watched with much anticipation to see who would get out, it was a large family just arriving at the resort. After the limo left he said thats really cool. Little did he know .
Right at 11:30 another white limo pulled up. DS didnt see it at first so I pointed it out to him, he said cool. I asked him if he know who it was for, he said no, I said that I did. He then said who. I said us! He looked at me and said it is not, youre teasing. I said no and went and talked to the driver. DS was in shock. Unfortunately DH wasnt back yet so I asked the driver if we could just go and get him. He was done with his round but waiting for a cab to bring him back. The Magnolia course is almost within walking distance to the Poly. The driver called someone and then said wed go get him. Unfortunately whoever he was talking to gave him the wrong directions. So after a short delay we finally got DH and we were off to the cruise.
Once we were all in the limo we gave DH his birthday presents. Which he liked very much. We then settled back for a very nice ride to Port Canaveral. The limo came equipped with a TV/DVD player with Finding Nemo ready to go. It was a very nice ride.
Once at the ship the driver took our picture next to the limo with the ship in the background, very nice. We then gave our bags to the check-in area and walked to the ship. They changed security so you actually go through the security equipment as soon as you walk in the terminal doors. DH set off the alarms due to his birthday buttons. After security we went to check-in. Because we were repeat cruisers we belong to the Castaway Club, which meant we had a separate check-in with no line! Soon we had our Key to the World cards and walking the gang plank. Its so cool to hear your name announced as you walk into the atrium. Then it was off to lunch. I told the boys I really needed to go to the bathroom so I took the bags and went to our cabin. I had made magnetic signs to put on the cabin door. They said things like Bill is 40 today , the entire door was covered in signs.
I met them for lunch which is a very nice buffet with lots of peel and eat shrimp, big ones! During lunch Captain Mickey came over and wished the birthday boy a happy birthday. I had made a t-shirt for DH, on the front it said Today is my Birthday! and on the back it said Ask me how old I am today. He wore for most of the day but was happy to change out of it at dinner time.
After lunch we went to our cabin (category 6) where DH was surprised with door signs and room decorations, right down to a cake! DS was very excited about all of it. DS wanted to go swimming but our luggage hadnt arrived yet, he was not happy about that. We walked around the ship for awhile and then headed back to the cabin. At 4:00 is the mandatory life boat drill. At about 3:30 DS started to panic over this. I think he thought we actually were going to be loaded into the life boats. He insisted that we put the life jackets on right away. He was nervous about every noise saying is that the alarm? Finally it was time to muster and he soon found out that it was nothing to be upset about. When we got back to our room the luggage was there so I was able to unpack. We just relaxed a little, watching activities from our veranda. We had main seating so at about 5:30 we got dressed for dinner.
The 1st restaurant was Animators Palate. We actually had the same dining rotation that we had before(APTA). We were seated at our table (number 66) and waited for our table mates to appear they never did. We had 4 empty seats across from us the entire cruise. We were sad about that, we sat with a great family on our last cruise and were looking forward to meeting new people. Dinner was terrific. I had a butternut squash soup that was out of this world, I almost licked the bowl! Unfortunately our server left something to be desired. He was efficient and polite but not very warm or friendly. DS did not like him which made meals difficult. The asst server was a little better, he would engage in conversation but wasnt very attentive to our drinks (that his main job). We often had to ask for refills. Oh well the food was good anyway. It surprised me how the relationship with the servers impacted the dining experience. We actually didnt look forward to meals just because of him.
After dinner we went back to the room and changed out of the dinner clothes. DS wanted to go to the kids club so off he went. DH and I just kind of wandered the ship. By the shops there is a silent auction set up. DH found the one we knew we had to have, a complete set of Disney Cruise Line pressed coins, double matted and framed (DS was totally into collecting pressed pennies on this trip, we had a penny press quest day - all we did was search for the machines!). DH talked to one of the clerks in the store and found out that this was the very last set. They removed the machines about 4 years ago and this was the last set they had. DH said wait until Noah sees this!
We decided not to go to the show, we just walked around and relaxed. About 9 we went to get DS and headed back to the cabin. We were all tired so went to bed early. Tomorrow is Nassau and Im shopping for some bling-bling!!
Today is DH's 40th birthday. He got up very early to go golfing at the Magnolia course (Disneys signature golf course). DS slept in a little bit, he was awake by the time I finished getting ready for the day. We had 8:30 reservations for the character breakfast at Ohana, the restaurant at the Polynesian. After getting ready I made sure everything was packed and called for a bellman. They came and took our bags and it was time for us to go to breakfast.
We had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and Mickey waffles. Since the meal is all you can eat we got 2nds on the scrambled eggs and the waffles (I love the waffles!). The characters made the rounds, the restaurant was very crowded, I thought we would be early enough to avoid a crowd, I was wrong. There was a huge tour group of teenagers from Brazil taking the entire middle section of the restaurant. There must have been at least 50 of them. During the meal the characters have a parade with all the kids. They carry maracas and march and dance around the restaurant. To DS's surprise Dale came and took him by the hand. He held DS's hand through the entire parade; DS was very pleased since Chip and Dale are his favorites.
After breakfast we took the monorail to the Comtemporary to finish our penny press quest. We heard there were many machines by the monorail station there. We found 5 machines and DS had a field day with them. He almost filled his entire penny book, he has room for 4 more pennies and 3 quarters. After the machines we shopped a little in there stores (the machines are close to them also). After shopping we got back on the monorail and went back to the Polynesian. We had about an hour wait for either DH or our car (Happy Limo) to come but it was nice out and there are comfortable benches at the entrance of the Polynesian so we just hung out. DS was occupied playing his gameboy. At one point a big white limo pulled up and DS was very impressed. He said Mom, look at that limo, isnt it cool? I said that it was. He then wondered who was in it and watched with much anticipation to see who would get out, it was a large family just arriving at the resort. After the limo left he said thats really cool. Little did he know .
Right at 11:30 another white limo pulled up. DS didnt see it at first so I pointed it out to him, he said cool. I asked him if he know who it was for, he said no, I said that I did. He then said who. I said us! He looked at me and said it is not, youre teasing. I said no and went and talked to the driver. DS was in shock. Unfortunately DH wasnt back yet so I asked the driver if we could just go and get him. He was done with his round but waiting for a cab to bring him back. The Magnolia course is almost within walking distance to the Poly. The driver called someone and then said wed go get him. Unfortunately whoever he was talking to gave him the wrong directions. So after a short delay we finally got DH and we were off to the cruise.
Once we were all in the limo we gave DH his birthday presents. Which he liked very much. We then settled back for a very nice ride to Port Canaveral. The limo came equipped with a TV/DVD player with Finding Nemo ready to go. It was a very nice ride.
Once at the ship the driver took our picture next to the limo with the ship in the background, very nice. We then gave our bags to the check-in area and walked to the ship. They changed security so you actually go through the security equipment as soon as you walk in the terminal doors. DH set off the alarms due to his birthday buttons. After security we went to check-in. Because we were repeat cruisers we belong to the Castaway Club, which meant we had a separate check-in with no line! Soon we had our Key to the World cards and walking the gang plank. Its so cool to hear your name announced as you walk into the atrium. Then it was off to lunch. I told the boys I really needed to go to the bathroom so I took the bags and went to our cabin. I had made magnetic signs to put on the cabin door. They said things like Bill is 40 today , the entire door was covered in signs.
I met them for lunch which is a very nice buffet with lots of peel and eat shrimp, big ones! During lunch Captain Mickey came over and wished the birthday boy a happy birthday. I had made a t-shirt for DH, on the front it said Today is my Birthday! and on the back it said Ask me how old I am today. He wore for most of the day but was happy to change out of it at dinner time.
After lunch we went to our cabin (category 6) where DH was surprised with door signs and room decorations, right down to a cake! DS was very excited about all of it. DS wanted to go swimming but our luggage hadnt arrived yet, he was not happy about that. We walked around the ship for awhile and then headed back to the cabin. At 4:00 is the mandatory life boat drill. At about 3:30 DS started to panic over this. I think he thought we actually were going to be loaded into the life boats. He insisted that we put the life jackets on right away. He was nervous about every noise saying is that the alarm? Finally it was time to muster and he soon found out that it was nothing to be upset about. When we got back to our room the luggage was there so I was able to unpack. We just relaxed a little, watching activities from our veranda. We had main seating so at about 5:30 we got dressed for dinner.
The 1st restaurant was Animators Palate. We actually had the same dining rotation that we had before(APTA). We were seated at our table (number 66) and waited for our table mates to appear they never did. We had 4 empty seats across from us the entire cruise. We were sad about that, we sat with a great family on our last cruise and were looking forward to meeting new people. Dinner was terrific. I had a butternut squash soup that was out of this world, I almost licked the bowl! Unfortunately our server left something to be desired. He was efficient and polite but not very warm or friendly. DS did not like him which made meals difficult. The asst server was a little better, he would engage in conversation but wasnt very attentive to our drinks (that his main job). We often had to ask for refills. Oh well the food was good anyway. It surprised me how the relationship with the servers impacted the dining experience. We actually didnt look forward to meals just because of him.
After dinner we went back to the room and changed out of the dinner clothes. DS wanted to go to the kids club so off he went. DH and I just kind of wandered the ship. By the shops there is a silent auction set up. DH found the one we knew we had to have, a complete set of Disney Cruise Line pressed coins, double matted and framed (DS was totally into collecting pressed pennies on this trip, we had a penny press quest day - all we did was search for the machines!). DH talked to one of the clerks in the store and found out that this was the very last set. They removed the machines about 4 years ago and this was the last set they had. DH said wait until Noah sees this!
We decided not to go to the show, we just walked around and relaxed. About 9 we went to get DS and headed back to the cabin. We were all tired so went to bed early. Tomorrow is Nassau and Im shopping for some bling-bling!!
