BEAUTY & THE BEAST ( & Lindy Loo!) Wonder 15th -19th Oct 06

[Lindy Loo]

Thank you for taking the time to read this trip report, its my first ever one, so be easy on me please

We are from England, and although we are fortunate enough to come to Florida for the past 3 years we have only ever done " the parks". The cruise was my idea. Hence all the DISing, to get every single detail. I soooooooooooo wanted this to be magical for all of us.

Our family consists of me, Linda ( Lindy Loo,) my Husband Wayne ( the Beast, by his own admission ) and of course our Daughter Elouise, who is 4..... the "beauty" ...................

We are on holiday from 7th to 28th Oct, going on the Wonder on the 15th to 19th.

Before I start to ramble on, I have jotted a few observations we found as a family.

We liked

1. The terminal and the process of checking in. All very easy and calm.

2. Our room, (6135, inside cat 11) we werent really sure if it would be too small. but for the 3 of us, who were hardly in the room anyway, it was fine and it meant we could spend the $s on other things.

3. The kids club, was brilliant. Elouise LOVED it and it was hard to get her to come out some times! open 9am till midnight or 1am. It had loads of activities in a safe clean enviroment.

4. Room service, this was a huge hit for Elouise. She adorded tipping the waiter, as he elaboratly took of the silver dome, to display a plate of cookies. Chocolate milk and cookies became a 5pm treat each day.

5. The best was meeting all the DISERS. and having a great load of table mates. This and all information I got from the DIS, truely made the cruise the most magical 4 days of our holiday. THANK YOU


Things we were not so thrilled about

1. NO Photopass!! We knew this before we boarded, however we sad to find out that Shutter photos only came in the sizes they displayed the photos in. So we had a fantastic photo of Elouise with Formal Minnie ( in sparkilng dress) but Shutter would only sell in a too big 10 x 8. ???
We werent allowed to stack pictures, so "lost" some, so in the end gave up and didnt buy any! ( Still Wayne was happy, I had budgeted about $400 for this.) Actually we took just as good pictures with our digital.Thought the borders on the pictures did look nice. On the photopass in the parks we got 335 pictures on a CD for $99! Bargain

2. Pirate party was OK, very very packed and a bit dangerous for small kids. Wayne had to pick her up on his shoulders. The fireworks were a lovely touch, but I wouldnt rush to do again. Yes, you've guessed we booked a 7 nighter, whilst on board. We go on the Magic on 20th Oct 07.

3. No live band???? I have cruised before, and was expecting a steel band when in the caribean, but no nothing??? Shame, the partys ( sail away and Pirates) lacked atmosphere a bit, as it was just "dj's" which were a bit loud and repetitive at times ( Scream louder the Wonder!!!)

I will post lots of photos next, if I can get my camera to down load.

 

[Lindy Loo]

Heres Elouise in the terminal meeting Pluto, She was VERY excited!

 

[Lindy Loo]

Thank you MJ, I can now put on PHOTOS!!!

now there will be no stopping me !

 

[thmar]

What a great picture!! Your daughter is adorable!! Looking forward to the rest...

 

[oybolshoi]

Hooray, Lindy Loo Who is doing a trip report!

Keep writing - I've never been on the Wonder so I'm counting on you to bring it to life for me.

No pressure.

Brenda

 

[Lindy Loo]

Oybolshoi, you KNOW it wont be a funny as yours. I sadly dont have that skill, however I will try my best! I dont think its that bad, never been on the Wonder, as it means you must have always done 7 night cruises! ( not 3 or 4 !)

Thmar thanks for your kind words about Elouise. Like most kids, shes adorable.... especially when asleep !

Elouise hugging Mickey to death !

 

[Lindy Loo]

The sign I had dreamed about seeing!

 

[Lindy Loo]

We were lucky enough to bump into MJ Mouse and her daughter ( Allie ) and friend ( Janet) and Sue88 at the terminal. They noticed Elouise dancing and prancing around as we went into the terminal. Wayne was parking the car, so we were waiting just before the X ray machine. I was pleased to see them, after all we had been "chatting" on the DIS for months. They were so friendly from the first moment, it was brilliant. Elousie loved tickling the girls, and they let her chase them around a bit. ( She desperatly needed to burn off some "over excitment!") come to think of it so did I !


We all sat in the same area in the terminal, and it was fun to queue to see the characters together. The line did get quite long, and as we queued for Mickey, we got to the front by about 5 people,and he went for a "break!".... crisis! Pluto came out, which was fine! Phew! We got Mickey later ( after our boarding card 4 was called, but Elouise was in the queue for Mickey, so we waited!. Guess the boat wasnt going any where with out us!, as Elouise explained, it couldnt cos Mickey was driving!!

I had seen the photos of the Mickey's ears tunnel on the DIS, however, I still got tearful as we went through.

Heres Wayne and Elouise

 

[Bethipooh4]

Your name caught my attention, our DD Lindsay has the nickname of Lindsay Loo, or Lindy loo who....

Love your trip report and the pictures are adorable.

 

[Lindy Loo]

DISCLAIMER!!!!

IF ................. no, WHEN............................I dont write a correct fact, please excuse me, I didnt take notes!

Read Janes,( MJ5Mouse) trip report 4 woman, 4 days of Wonder. Its much more accurate! and as her family ( Sue 88, her sister, and her daughter Allie, and her daughters friend Janet) were our table mates, the meals info is excellent. I love the way she describes how we "borrowed" the menu from Tritions!

Hello to Saratoagirl ( Jules and Ian, from Wales) who became our drinking partners on a couple of nights and Sparkelly ( Kelly and Jake) who were our honeymooners. These great guys also shared our table !

 

[Lindy Loo]

Bethipooh4 thanks for the comments. LOADS more photos to come !!! We took over a 1000 pictures in the 3 weeks holiday. about 300 are of the cruise

Heres a picture of the Mickey pool. Before it was open. *GREAT tip* about having your kids swimsuit on under their clothes, so many people, when Elouise and about 4 others kids were in the pool, asked me, had I got my case already? I said no, we wore our swimsuits on ! I THOUGHT all these "tips" wouldnt work, as everyone would be doing it. But when you think I estimate only 40 people on the whole cruise were Disers, I guess these "tips" really do help out!
and make you more organised that others.

 

[Lindy Loo]

Heres Elouise in the pool !
She loved the slide, and it was very safe and easy to see your child queuing up the stairs. It was fun for us adults to see her "whoozing down" as she describes it !

I was surprised even on sea day it didnt get over crowded, busy but managable. I am always very careful around water, so I sat on the side of the pool and watched her. Even though its only about waist height on her ( shes 41 inches tall, we know this cos she needed to be 40 inches for Terror towers, and was so peased to be tall enough! ) I was shocked how many parents seemed to allow their kids to run wide, while they sunbatched perhaps on a sun lounger quite a way away. Twice that day, I helped "lost" chidren.

 

[tchrmom]

YEAH!!!!

Lindy Lou.............I was thinking about you the other day, as we just came off the Magic on Saturday. I was wondering how your cruise was. Remember me? I sent Elouise the postcard about the trip.

I loved looking at the pictures.........a picture is worth a 1000 words!
Fran

 

[Lindy Loo]

Tchrmom, Hello.... how are you??? THANK YOU soooooo much for sending Elouise the post card, the build up to the cruise was sooo much fun. We "played in forward" and posted soame Castaway Cay postcards from Florida for other DISers kids. I had great fun doing this !

Here's Elouise receiving her postcard "Mickey" sent. You know what, she has it in her "precious" box in her room. And even talked to Mickey in Magic Kingdom about how kind he was to send a post card to her. !!

 

[Lindy Loo]

I forgot to mention, we loved the announcement of our family as we entered the attrium. Elouise said she felt like a princess, cos they said, welcome to Elouise and with her the Noakes family!

We went up to the BB buffet, and I was impressed with the choice of food. We grab a few bits of everything, and them went outside in the sunshine. The food was good, and we loved the self serivce soda too. The waiters work very hard to clear the tables and keep the place clean. so much so, Elouise and Wayne went upstairs to "explore" while I soaked up the atmosphere. Elouise yelled with delight that she had found the pool. Wayne came to sit by our carey ons, so I could go up the stairs. in the short "swop over time" my plate was taken, with half a cookie still on ! Hey, I might starve I thought!!!! (NO chance I hear all the experienced cruisers shout! )

 

[Lindy Loo]

Whoops thats not the right photos, Waynes got his beer class, which he didnt get until 3pm, when we meet up with all the Disers by the Mickey pool Thanks Ian the beer mug was a great tip !!! Buy a beer glass once and the refills were very cheap.... under $3??? ( Remember I have no journal to refer too) Ive asked Wayne and his useful reply was " Havent a clue, but it was a good deal !"

 

[Lindy Loo]

We were the first cruise after DRY DOCK, so we had the large TV screen on deck 9 and the great little splash area for the toddlers, by the Mickey pool. There were teething problems with this area, and it had to be turned off on the first afternoon as very hot water was coming out of the water jets. It was soon sorted and lots of little ones seemed to be enjoying this area.

 

[oybolshoi]

Linda, I have to ask....how long did it take Wayne to find and buy that DCL beer mug after you guys boarded the ship?

 

[Lindy Loo]

I think we boarded about 1pm and he had it in his sticky mit ( hand ) by 3pm !!!! so not bad! He is actually drinking out of it now, whilst on the X box 360 !!! Hard life these men have eh?

Im bummed I didnt get a photo of the four of us at the Grand Floridian now, I could have added it onto my TR.

Whilst talking drink, we LOVEd the fact we could bring on our own wine, and i will find the picture of Wayne setting up our "bar" ( 3 litre box of wine) on our room.for reference we brought one bottle of wine on the first night ( $63!) then we drank the 6 litres we had in the stateroom! Believe me we will be doing this again on the 7 nighter .

 

[oybolshoi]

Linda, when you have time, PM me with your email address and I will send you a copy of the picture that that nice man took with our camera so you can have a copy. It turned out pretty good, but I wish we would have taken more than one.

BTW - if Jason and I (mainly me!) didn't scare you guys off, let me have your reservation number and I'll add you guys to our table for dinner on the cruise, too. We've got extra room and would love to have you!

B.

I think we boarded about 1pm and he had it in his sticky mit ( hand ) by 3pm !!!! so not bad! He is actually drinking out of it now, whilst on the X box 360 !!! Hard life these men have eh?

Im bummed I didnt get a photo of the four of us at the Grand Floridian now, I could have added it onto my TR.

Whilst talking drink, we LOVEd the fact we could bring on our own wine, and i will find the picture of Wayne setting up our "bar" ( 3 litre box of wine) on our room.for reference we brought one bottle of wine on the first night ( $63!) then we drank the 6 litres we had in the stateroom! Believe me we will be doing this again on the 7 nighter .