Carter's Make a Wish Trip!

[Rx774]

We tried heading up to serenity for a little bit, but the boys got tired of the kids club. They enjoyed everything there, but only when we were there with them! They are both pretty shy.

My boys are younger, so more than likely, they won't be feeling this club either. And its a bit unfair to ask our then 12 YO wish kid, to babysit while we are out doing our thing, especially since this trip is about her.

Tell me one thing, so i don't feel bad. Once you are there, does the time just fly by. Last year, when we were on Christian's MAW, i never really thought the days were flying by. I made sure we paced ourselves, and we enjoyed the moment, even if we were just sitting in the hotel. But, that was different in comparison to what you've experienced. We had been to a Disney Park before, but we've never done a cruise before. To me, the experience would be so overwhelming, and you get caught up in so much of the "wow" factors at every turn, that time would seem to fly by.

So i want you to put my mind at ease, and tell me that your time on board, just doesn't go from Day 1 - 4 in a heartbeat.

Thanks.

Btw, i hope you took video too, even if it was just from you camera. Pictures tell the story, but video really helps as well IMO. Sorry for all the questions.

 

[NEmel]

My boys are younger, so more than likely, they won't be feeling this club either. And its a bit unfair to ask our then 12 YO wish kid, to babysit while we are out doing our thing, especially since this trip is about her.

Tell me one thing, so i don't feel bad. Once you are there, does the time just fly by. Last year, when we were on Christian's MAW, i never really thought the days were flying by. I made sure we paced ourselves, and we enjoyed the moment, even if we were just sitting in the hotel. But, that was different in comparison to what you've experienced. We had been to a Disney Park before, but we've never done a cruise before. To me, the experience would be so overwhelming, and you get caught up in so much of the "wow" factors at every turn, that time would seem to fly by.

So i want you to put my mind at ease, and tell me that your time on board, just doesn't go from Day 1 - 4 in a heartbeat.

Thanks.

Btw, i hope you took video too, even if it was just from you camera. Pictures tell the story, but video really helps as well IMO. Sorry for all the questions.

The time does go fast. We did take advantage of a lot of the activites on board as well as at the ports. This makes the time fly by. Plus 4 days is short, to short!

 

[goeva]

Looks like you guys had an amazing time.
Good looking family, Melissa.
LOVE all the pictures.
Thank you so much for sharing with us.

 

[NEmel]

Looks like you guys had an amazing time.
Good looking family, Melissa.
LOVE all the pictures.
Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Thanks Eva! Our door looked fantastic thanks to you!

 

[Lilfoot93]

It looks like you had an AMAZING time!! I bet 4 days did go by quickly!

Jackie

 

[Rx774]

The time does go fast. We did take advantage of a lot of the activites on board as well as at the ports. This makes the time fly by. Plus 4 days is short, to short!

I figured as much, but I guess that's to be expected under the circumstances. And i agree, it is a short time, but we can't wait.
Thanks.

 

[1971DBday]

Sorry I am quoting an old post cant figure out how to write a new one from my phone! Carter enjoyed and was surprised with a limo ride to the airport this morning! American Airlines blessed us with free luggage and also upgraded us to first class!!!! What amazing experience so far!!

I'm in tears looking at your wonderful pictures! What a wonderful and magic time for your family. This is tempting me to try a cruise...now just to work on DH.

 

[NEmel]

I'm in tears looking at your wonderful pictures! What a wonderful and magic time for your family. This is tempting me to try a cruise...now just to work on DH.

Thank you! Cruises are wonderful, go for it!

 

[NEmel]

Wednesday: Sea Day!
We woke up early again, who can sleep when a whole ship is waiting! After spending some time out on our balcony looking out at the open waters, not to mention some ships traveling also. We went to the buffet for breakfast again. We found it a lot easier than going to the sit down restaurants. Everyone had more of a choice and it was quicker. Since the line wasn’t too long for the Aqua Duck we had to try it one last time. It was so much fun!!! We headed into the atrium to check out the Farewell show. It was great! Every character was out and danced to music with all the kids. My boys are shy and won’t usually dance in front of people, but I explained to them you will never see these people again so go crazy!! We danced our booties off! We hadn’t stopped and checked out our photos yet so we went looking and bought some to take home. The boys wanted to try the kids club one more time and mom wanted some sun. They give you wave phones, which are basically cell phones that work on the ship. Anytime your kids are at the clubs you have to have it with you. Bryan and I grabbed a little food and headed to the very front of the ship that is an adult’s only area. It was very windy and very quite. Actually too quite!! It felt so good in the sun, until only 30 min after we dropped them off they were calling! I just wish they would have tried to make friends, but I also didn’t want them spending our vacation away from us either.
There is a detective game on board that works with magic pictures. It is a workout! You go from floor to floor and find the pictures so they will give you clues. We solved the case of the missing puppies! We hit the stores for a little last minute shopping. While we were getting ready for dinner there was a knock on the door and there we found Megan (MAW coordinator.) In here hand was a great big Mickey! His foot is autographed; let me tell you he has not left Carter’s side since we got home! She also gave the boys both gift cards to the arcade. The boys couldn’t wait to use them and we ran into 2 other wish families while there, so that was neat. We had dinner tonight in the Enchanted Garden again and really enjoyed getting pictures and telling our waiters good-bye. The one thing that surprised me was DCL food. I guess I am just to plain of an eater. There food was more like a 5 star restaurant. Normally stuff I would not eat. Everything I had was very good, but didn’t have a lot of choices that I liked. I always found desserts though! The kids’ choices were good, except Carter ordered and ate cheese pizza EVERY night! It is so cool; they put the ketchup in the shape of Mickey’s head.
The boys wanted to try miniature golfing one more time so we headed up and hit the balls around Mickey’s playground. Tonight’s show was Believe. All of the characters were in it and it was fantastic. We really enjoyed all of the nightly shows that they had. It was really cool that they sold popcorn for you to enjoy. We headed to the pool deck to catch a movie on the tunnel vision. We really wanted to watch Up, but we couldn’t quite make it till 11:00. We also found some time to pack up all of our stuff today as well. We had packed an extra duffle bag to bring our souvenirs home in. I actually thought we would have to buy another bag as well!!! Today was bitter sweet, such an enjoyable day but we knew we had to leave in the morning.

 

[NEmel]

Our towel monkey!

We finally found Pluto!

Chip-n-Dale at the Farewell party!

Daisy Duck!

We LOVE goofy!

Thats it for now, I need to upload more pictures to my photobook. We had a total of 484!!! So I have lots more!

 

[JWCJ]

Thanks for sharing! I love all the pics <3

 

[cantwaittoseemickey]

I enjoyed your TR! Looks like you all had a great time! I love the pictures with the characters. Mickey dancing is priceless!! I love the picture of Carter and his dad looking up at the fireworks. Precious!

 

[kdtass]

I love love love all of the pics!!! Y'all look like you had a BLAST!!!

 

[NEmel]

Thanks for sharing! I love all the pics <3

Thanks for following along, you guys are so close!

 

[NEmel]

I enjoyed your TR! Looks like you all had a great time! I love the pictures with the characters. Mickey dancing is priceless!! I love the picture of Carter and his dad looking up at the fireworks. Precious!

Thanks for following along! It surprised me a little that the boys were so into the characters! They are at the ages that you never know. They sure did love them! That is my favorite picture out of all of them too!

 

[NEmel]

I love love love all of the pics!!! Y'all look like you had a BLAST!!!

Thanks for following. We sure did!!

 

[NEmel]

Thursday: The Last Day 
Since we had early dinner we were supposed to go to breakfast at 6:45! Yes way early, but they told us that the buffet only had cold items plus we wanted to see our servers one last time. We also didn’t put our luggage outside of our room the night before. We knew from previous experience that it is easier to just take it off the ship ourselves. Plus then we didn’t have to pack an extra bag for the stuff we needed. After enjoying our last meal we grabbed our luggage and headed down to the atrium. It was hilarious as we were waiting forever for the elevator, Carter and I hoped on and instead pushing the door open button so Bryan and Austyn could get on he pushed the door closed!! Whoops, it took them another 10 minutes for an elevator!!
Going through customs was fast and simple. We didn’t have to find our luggage, since we had it with us. We had filled out of customs form the night before. A quick check of our passports and we were on our way. We had DCL transportation back to the airport which is about 45 min away. We got on the bus and the only seats were towards the back. I knew we should have waited for another bus so Austyn didn’t get sick but went ahead anyway. Long behold poor Austyn spent all but 10 min of the ride in the bathroom. Poor thing got sick as we pulled into the airport. 
Our flight didn’t leave until 3:00pm and it was only 9:00. Unfortunately we couldn’t check our bags until 3 hrs before. So we grabbed a seat by all the shops. This gave me time to go through all 484 of our pictures. We were told by MAW that when we landed in Omaha they would take our SD card from us and print our pictures for us! The time actually flew by. Plus being able to be connected to the world again was nice. DCL did provide us with 100 free min of internet time on board, but we opted not to use it. It’s nice to not have interruptions and spend time with just us! We grabbed some lunch and then we were able to board.
About half way through our flight to Dallas the pilot came on and said that we were going into some storms and the flight attendants would be taking their seats! Oh crap is what I said!!! I knew there were tornados in MS and LA. Well… we flew right by them! It was rough for a while, but we all made it fine. We only had an hour and 45 min layover in Dallas so we grabbed some food and found our gate. Our flight was to leave at 6:15 and when I looked at the board again it said 6:45. Something about the pilot flying in from Houston and not getting there on time. Our plane was there though. So long story short we finally boarded about 7, after all of us were on (full plane) they told us our plane was broke. So off we all went. We stole another plane and were finally in the air about 9. Our 3 airport greeters were supposed to meet us in Omaha at 830 plus the limo was picking us up. After a couple of phone calls everything was taken care of. Oh the joys of flying!! Since it was almost 11 when we landed only 1 of our greeters was there. We grabbed our bags, got a fun ride in the limo back to the hotel and our van. We were sooo tired, not quite sure how we made it the hour drive home.
No words can describe how special this trip was. Every little detail and every moment were the best. It is something that our family will remember and cherish forever.


Ok I promise to add some more, but I think I have rambled enough for now! I appreciate you all sharing this very magical and wonderful experience with us!

 

[blessedmom4]

What a FABULOUS TRIP! Thanks for sharing it ALL with us!!

 

[girangel]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! It was exciting to be able to read all about it.

 

[Moodyzblu]

What a wonderful trip and amazing memories !!

I really want to do this some time !!