The final morning came much too quickly, and followed a restless night. Nobody wanted to get out of bed and leave this amazing fantasy world.
Sadly, we had no other choice. When we got back to our room the night before, we had found our final breakfast ticket, which indicated that we were to eat at 7:00AM in Animator's Palate.
We also received paperwork explaining the disembarking process, as well as a customs form, which had to be filled out and presented along with your passport or birth certificate after you got off of the ship.
Breakfast was a quick and simple meal, with fewer options than at previous meals. They need to keep things moving quickly and so you can't make special requests today. We all ate and drank plenty of coffee, and then we gave Banjo and Phapakorn a last hug and goodbye. I missed them already!
After breakfast we walked out into a hallway full of people. People who only had hand-carried luggage were already starting to disembark, and other people had planted themselves into random spots to wait. We stood on the fringes of the Promenade Lounge for a little while, then we decided to venture to the front of the ship to see if any of the other lounges had space available.
Our first try, Wavebands, had plenty of tables, so we got a big booth and sat comfortably while we waited to hear them call the Goofy group. It started with Ariel, then Daisy...Minnie... we were starting to think it was definitely "ladies first" when a cast member came around telling everyone that the tags were only to keep things flowing evenly, and we could all head out any time we wanted.
The line to get off the ship went through the lobby, past Triton's, through the Promenade Lounge, and met up with the crowd at Parrot Cay. We went to the end and slowly made our way through. I was surprised to see how many people just jumped into the middle of the line with no regard for the others that had been waiting. Just rude!
Eventually we were off the ship and into the customs line. This part went very quickly, and I didn't see different lines for passports versus birth certificates.. just US and non-US citizens. They just looked at the customs form, which for us was pretty much a marionette and some maracas, checked our IDs, and we were through. We quickly got a very nice porter, who waited while Oliver had a quick trip to the bathroom, before taking us over to the Goofy area. All of our luggage was in the same general vicinity, so we easily grabbed it and headed outside. Mike and the kids stayed with the luggage while I ran to get the car. You exit the lot at this point, and pay your parking bill before you can circle back around and do your pick-up.
We managed to get all of our suitcases back into puzzle configuration in the car, and waved goodbye to our ship. Oliver said it best, as we drove across the bridge and lost sight of her, "I miss the boat."
Unfortunately, Oliver threw up in the car on the way home and was vomiting for about the next 24 hours. It looks like he may have gotten a norovirus, based on his symptoms, but we were just happy it had waited until we were close to home!
This truly was the vacation of a lifetime, and I am so glad I let Elliott talk me into it. In the hotel room the night before we boarded, I announced to the family that we were about to enter a place of magic, and that real world cares and worries weren't allowed. We held to that and forgot all of our problems for one lovely week. It was hard to head back to reality, but we will always hold onto the memories we made that week, and we can look at our 800+ pictures when we need a smile. In the car, Oliver has taken to asking if we can talk about what we miss about the cruise. His answer: Everything!
I did a lot of research before we left, and I packed very carefully. I didn't actually end up packing anything that we didn't find very helpful. Here are a few things that we found particularly helpful:
Clothespins (there's a line in the shower, and we also used them to hold the curtains closed for blocking out the sun)
Power strip
Gallon-size zipper bags
Collapsible laundry basket (I got one at the dollar store that was the size of a small paper plate, and we just left it behind when we left)
Foaming hand soap pump (sooooo much better than a bar!)
Potty seat (Oliver has a tiny little bottom, so we packed one that didn't take up too much room, but could fit on top of the toilet and then just got stored under the sink)
I'm sure I'll remember more things as time goes by, and I'll update the list if I do. I need to pull out my packing list and double-check it.
Another thing we really enjoyed was doing the Fish Exchange. It was a lot of fun putting everything together, and the kids loved coming back to our room to find little goodies. I'd highly recommend it! Here are some pictures of the things I put together:
For the younger boys and girls:
For older girls and women (pendants):
And for everyone (magnets):
For the men I had an assortment of Mickey-themed planners and calendars or a little English-Spanish dictionary. We had a couple of teenage boys and I picked up some word searches and movie theater candies. I also had some random Cars and princess pens, magnets, and tattoos for cabins with small kids.
And, my full Flickr set from the trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeanderinbrown/sets/72157629207986858/