Epilogue (debarkation and the day home):
We had the early seating for dinner, so breakfast was at 6:45. It was serviceable, but not great given that they had to get a zillion people off the boat in a short amount of time. But the coffee was hot and good, the bacon crisp and the blueberry pancakes were actually quite good. Wed then made the tactical error of my son needing a bathroom note that your stateroom is often a better place to use the bathrooms than the crowded public areas but we wanted to leave Tara time to get the stateroom ready for the next guest (you are able to get into your stateroom until 8:00 am). Leaving the boat involved more standing in line but is pretty effortless. You may want to remember this when packing your daybags again! Especially with little kids, hauling a lot of luggage wasnt good. The advice to pack old jammies and just leave them behind is very good for this day.
We picked up our luggage from the luggage warehouse. One, two, three, four where is the fifth bag? We spent half an hour searching for the missing bag (with Disney and the porters help) and finally filed a claim with Disney. According to their records it never got off the ship. It was a black medium carry on size roller bag like every one elses. The porter took the luggage over to the Northwest counter for us and we got ticketed I went to go find our towncar and let him know we were running late. This left my husband without me when he went to get ticketed which Northwest was kind enough to overlook as long as I came back with my id. So I made three trips from the Northwest luggage area to the towncar area one by myself to let Omar know we werent standing him up (our Cartier driver on our last trip to Disney apparently decided we werent there and left without us two minutes before we showed up we were ten minutes EARLY so I was a little nervous about getting stranded), one to get the kids to the towncar so my husband didnt have to deal with them. And a third trip to show the ticket agent I matched my passport.
The trip to MCO was uneventful and we were at the airport by 10:00. Our flight wasnt leaving until 3:00. The kids had muffins, and then I took them shopping for an hour or so while my husband relaxed and watched the stack of carryons. (the line for security at 10:30 on Thursday morning was half an hour if you take an early flight, get off that boat as quickly as you can grab a roll from Deck 9 and move out). The kids enjoyed poking through the Disney, Seaworld and Universal stores. We had lunch at Chilis around 11:30, and afterwards it was my husbands turn he took them down to the moving walkways and they found the OTHER Disney store. By that time it was time for us to head through the security line and down to the gate.
Wed brought along a portable DVD player, the kids watched SpongeBob for an hour while we read our books. We boarded the plane, took off, and I got the DVD player out again .but within ten minutes had two sleeping children. Then slept for most of the plane ride.
We got home, waited to watch all the luggage off the plane as Disney had said if they found it they would be able to get our bag our on plane. It didnt come, so we took our four remaining bags and took a cab home.
When we got home, we discovered a call from ComAir my bag had made it to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Delta was kind enough to get it on a plane to Minneapolis where Delta baggage was kind enough to drop it off at my house this morning. When I called DCL lost and found to report my lost bag found, Laura said this was quite unusually usually they ship them back to DCL and make it their problem. Apparently, another passenger ended up with my bag instead of hers and took it to Ft. Wayne. I had her name and gave it to Laura (if you live near Ft Wayne and are missing a bag but had an extra one that was supposed to go to Minneapolis, Laura said shed call you she has two of them but DCLs lost and found number is 407-566-3734).
We didnt get to do any dancing other than the Sail Away party. We did see all the mainstage shows. The kids spent less time in the kids clubs than I thought they would, but enjoyed the time they did spend. We drank less alcohol than I thought we would, and didnt shop at all in Nassau (which I expected to). We did go ahead and book a seven day while onboard to get the discount but wont travel until 2006. We had a bill when we left of $700 $400 shopping (princess dresses, pirate coat, a watch for me, photos some other miscellanous stuff), nearly $130 in port charges (around $17 a person) and the rest in liquor (and a smoothie or two for the kids). We tipped in cash (more than the recommended amount). We didnt get mugs for pop and didnt drink pop other than in the restaurants.
We had the early seating for dinner, so breakfast was at 6:45. It was serviceable, but not great given that they had to get a zillion people off the boat in a short amount of time. But the coffee was hot and good, the bacon crisp and the blueberry pancakes were actually quite good. Wed then made the tactical error of my son needing a bathroom note that your stateroom is often a better place to use the bathrooms than the crowded public areas but we wanted to leave Tara time to get the stateroom ready for the next guest (you are able to get into your stateroom until 8:00 am). Leaving the boat involved more standing in line but is pretty effortless. You may want to remember this when packing your daybags again! Especially with little kids, hauling a lot of luggage wasnt good. The advice to pack old jammies and just leave them behind is very good for this day.
We picked up our luggage from the luggage warehouse. One, two, three, four where is the fifth bag? We spent half an hour searching for the missing bag (with Disney and the porters help) and finally filed a claim with Disney. According to their records it never got off the ship. It was a black medium carry on size roller bag like every one elses. The porter took the luggage over to the Northwest counter for us and we got ticketed I went to go find our towncar and let him know we were running late. This left my husband without me when he went to get ticketed which Northwest was kind enough to overlook as long as I came back with my id. So I made three trips from the Northwest luggage area to the towncar area one by myself to let Omar know we werent standing him up (our Cartier driver on our last trip to Disney apparently decided we werent there and left without us two minutes before we showed up we were ten minutes EARLY so I was a little nervous about getting stranded), one to get the kids to the towncar so my husband didnt have to deal with them. And a third trip to show the ticket agent I matched my passport.
The trip to MCO was uneventful and we were at the airport by 10:00. Our flight wasnt leaving until 3:00. The kids had muffins, and then I took them shopping for an hour or so while my husband relaxed and watched the stack of carryons. (the line for security at 10:30 on Thursday morning was half an hour if you take an early flight, get off that boat as quickly as you can grab a roll from Deck 9 and move out). The kids enjoyed poking through the Disney, Seaworld and Universal stores. We had lunch at Chilis around 11:30, and afterwards it was my husbands turn he took them down to the moving walkways and they found the OTHER Disney store. By that time it was time for us to head through the security line and down to the gate.
Wed brought along a portable DVD player, the kids watched SpongeBob for an hour while we read our books. We boarded the plane, took off, and I got the DVD player out again .but within ten minutes had two sleeping children. Then slept for most of the plane ride.
We got home, waited to watch all the luggage off the plane as Disney had said if they found it they would be able to get our bag our on plane. It didnt come, so we took our four remaining bags and took a cab home.
When we got home, we discovered a call from ComAir my bag had made it to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Delta was kind enough to get it on a plane to Minneapolis where Delta baggage was kind enough to drop it off at my house this morning. When I called DCL lost and found to report my lost bag found, Laura said this was quite unusually usually they ship them back to DCL and make it their problem. Apparently, another passenger ended up with my bag instead of hers and took it to Ft. Wayne. I had her name and gave it to Laura (if you live near Ft Wayne and are missing a bag but had an extra one that was supposed to go to Minneapolis, Laura said shed call you she has two of them but DCLs lost and found number is 407-566-3734).
We didnt get to do any dancing other than the Sail Away party. We did see all the mainstage shows. The kids spent less time in the kids clubs than I thought they would, but enjoyed the time they did spend. We drank less alcohol than I thought we would, and didnt shop at all in Nassau (which I expected to). We did go ahead and book a seven day while onboard to get the discount but wont travel until 2006. We had a bill when we left of $700 $400 shopping (princess dresses, pirate coat, a watch for me, photos some other miscellanous stuff), nearly $130 in port charges (around $17 a person) and the rest in liquor (and a smoothie or two for the kids). We tipped in cash (more than the recommended amount). We didnt get mugs for pop and didnt drink pop other than in the restaurants.
.
