Cruisin' With Mickey! Disney Wonder Mexican Riviera March 4th, 2012 COMPLETE!

Lots of updates today! Your pictures from Cabo are beautiful! And your daughter saying that she was having a great day is so cute :goodvibes I love seeing kids so happy and appreciative of what they have. It really looks like you had a wonderful family trip. Are you going again any time soon? lol
 
It really looks like you had a wonderful family trip. Are you going again any time soon? lol


Well, I'm not sure if we're going again real soon, but we did book two "dummy date" cabins while were on board! It really was a fairly perfect vacation for our family, a great mix of relaxing but not boring. We had kind of resigned ourselves to the idea that, while our girls are little, vacations would involve a lot more DOING and less just relaxing. Thankfully, DCL provided enough activity for the kids and enough relaxation for us as adults. Perfection! I am hoping DCL decides to run a few fall 2013 cruises out of LA again. Otherwise, we're interested in the Med, Alaska & Eastern Caribbean, so we'll see!
 
I forgot to mention that I did a little shopping one day and got this Christmas ornament. We have a Disney themed tree each year, so this will be a perfect addition. This was actually the only souvenir we purchased the entire cruise! (Way to exercise self control, right?!)

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Saturday morning was our character breakfast at 8:30 in AP. (first sea day after your show dinner in AP) The girls were very much looking forward to it!

Our servers Art and Dan seemed frazzled this morning, and they didn't seem very "into" the whole hat-making thing. Fine by me! But DD7 had been asking about her hat all week long, so it's a good thing she got one! She and DD4 got bows. DH got the Mickey ears. I didn't get anything, which was just fine. We saw other tables getting all kinds of elaborate hats.

Breakfast was fine. Nothing memorable. Dan made a special trip somewhere to get a donut for DD4.

Note: I thought our servers were fine, but I've definitely heard of better servers here on the DIS and wouldn't request Art and Dan again. (In Dan's defense, he'd only been with DCL for two months.)

The characters were a bit slow coming. We were done eating before they all came to our table, but we waited since the girls really wanted to see them all. We saw Pluto, Minnie, Mickey and Goofy.

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On our way out of breakfast, we stopped for a few minutes at the Playhouse Disney dance party in the Promenade Lounge. Both our girls think they're great dancers (so not true), so we let them burn off a little bit of energy.

DH and I wanted to go to the Art of Entertaining: The Dessert in Studio Sea at 10:15, but the Club wasn't secured until 11:00. We checked the girls into the Lab and explained they could ask to move over to the Club as soon as it opened. Both of them were fine with that, and it worked out well.

DH and I enjoyed the presentation once again. It was the same chef from AP, and he made some crepes. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but I did take a sip of the little sample they served with our crepes. I thought the wine choice really complemented the crepe.

DH and I had dropped off our gratuities form in the box at Guest Services on our way to breakfast. When we stopped by our room before lunch, the tickets were already there. We stopped by Guest Services again to put a Disney Visa Rewards Card payment on our account. Even though our rewards card had a balance, it was getting declined. Ashley called the card company for us (at no charge to us), and they were able to get it all straightened out. I think we also did a little bit of packing/organizing.

We picked up the girls to take them to lunch. We ate at BBB again. Both girls were being extra picky. We sat outside because it was nice enough to do so, but they whined about being cold the entire time. We actually moved to eat dessert, just so they'd quit their fussing.

Note: it was probably about 65 degrees or so, though it was windy. Still, I thought that was pretty great for a sea day.

After lunch, we took the girls to the Lab for the one activity they were interested in there: Ratatouille Cooking School where they got to make their own cookies. When they finished that up, they asked to move over to the Club.

Meanwhile, DH and I packed up some more. It was sad to take our magnets and FE down. I gathered up a bunch of the candy we got in our FE and packaged it up for our stateroom host. We left him a nice little bundle of treats with his tip envelope.

I called room service to order some fruit bowls, cereal and milk, so we could skip the early call for breakfast the next morning. It all stayed fine in the "cooler" overnight. I ordered a Mickey bar, too, so I got a sweet afternoon treat.

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I went up to the Club to check on the girls, as I had a feeling DD4 wouldn't want to participate in Friendship Rocks. I was right, so I checked her out. DD7 wanted to stay, so I left her there.

DD4 was happy to play in the room while DH and I did more packing up until it was time to go get a seat for the show. DD7 really enjoys performing, and it was a lot of fun to watch her. She's worn her yellow tee shirt at least once a week since we got home. The picture is her with A DIS friend who happens to live just about 25 minutes from us.

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After the show it was time to make our way to dinner at AP. We went to dinner very casual this night, and it seemed a lot of other cruisers did the same. I didn't feel out of place in jeans and tennis shoes. I thought the menu was cute with all the characters on it.

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DH and I both got the tenderloin. The potato thing that comes with that is just weird and not at all tasty either. I also asked to try the crab-stuffed roughy, as I enjoy crab with steak. I only ate part of the fish, which was good because my stomach was a little upset later on, and I think the fish was the culprit. Anyways... I think I got the dessert trio, though I don't quite remember. I'm pretty sure DH skipped dessert. The girls were impatient, so we finished up dinner and said good-bye (passing out tips) to our servers before the little parade with the international flags and the Baked Alaska.

The girls went to the Club for one last time (sniff, sniff :sad2:).

DH and I went back to the room to finalize packing and put suitcases out in the hall. When we arrived, we found an envelope stuck in our fish. Could it be? Yes! It was an invitation to a special meet and greet to be held in Studio Sea just before the Till We Meet Again show. Woo-hoo!

We decided to skip the Remember The Magic show. We went into this cruise determined to NOT try to do it all, and we definitely did that with the various shows. I guess it's something to look forward to for next time!

We picked up the girls and took them get their Mickey bands removed. I had read on the DIS to make sure you get a receipt for returning the bands, which was no problem.

Note: I was impressed with the Mickey bands and how they stayed put all week long, even through the water in Cabo. I had wanted to remove the bands prior to going ashore, but DH was sure they'd be fine. And they were! Having them on the ankles rather than wrists worked really well for us, and the bands were easier to hide in pictures.

We took the girls to the room to just settle down a bit before going to "say good-bye" to all the characters. Soon it was time to go to Studio Sea. They were definitely checking for invites. It was us and maybe 10 or so other families in there. Then someone made an announcement, and the room FILLED with all the characters and performers who were going to be in Till We Meet Again. It was a crazy, chaotic free-for-all in there! The girls took off in two different directions, so I had to chase them down. The lighting was bad and the picture-taking too quick to get any fabulous shots, but it's the memories that count, right? And the girls were on cloud nine. :cloud9: Captain Hook took DD4 aside so he could sit down and show her his hook. When we mentioned Tic Tock, he took off running like he was scared. DD4 chased after him yelling, "It's okay, Captain!" Cute memories for sure.

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Pretty amazing to get all of that in under 15 minutes!

We were ushered out and found a spot to wave to the characters and performers as they came out of Studio Sea to go down the atrium staircases. That was good-bye to the girls, so we didn't stay for the "show" part and headed back to the room. Our last towel animal of the cruise:

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We all crashed. It had been a fairly full day, and past-10:00 is definitely a late bedtime for our girls who go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 when we're home!

Next up: disembarkation (that dirty word!) and final thoughts
 
When we woke to our alarm, we were already docked in LA. I showered while DH fed the girls the cereal and fruit bowls that we'd ordered the day before. None of us was very hungry, so I'm glad we didn't bother getting up an hour earlier to go to our assigned breakfast. (7:15 is just too early to eat on vacation!)

We left the room at exactly 8:30, which is when you have to be out of there. We walked around just a little bit, but it was cool and windy outside.

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We went to wait in Wavebands. The girls danced around on the stage for a little while. They had already called three other tags but not ours, when a crew member came around the room, telling all of us that the tags were just to regulate traffic flow off the ship but that we could leave whenever we wanted to. Hmmm. We decided to give it a try. We got in line. Cruise staff member Fiona asked us what tag we had. We told her we had red Mickey, but we told her what the guy in Wavebands had said. She let us pass with no problem.

It took a little while to get herded into the terminal, where we had to go through customs and passport control. No problems there. A porter was waiting with an empty cart, so she went with us to get our bags. We quickly found them all and loaded up.

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Since we'd parked at the port, it didn't take us very long to get to the car and head out. We pulled out of the parking garage just before 10:00AM. The parking attendant noted it, as we were within just a few minutes of rolling over into another 24 our period, which would have cost us another $12. Perfect timing!

Next up: lunch at the Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store in Hollywood with a real movie star!
 


i am loving your trip report so far... we are also going to be first time cruisers in november and we are thinking of skipping any port adventures and just staying on ship... well, except for castaway cay day. so glad to hear that another family enjoyed just being on the ship and relaxing and enjoying the vacation.
 
Wow, lots of updates to catch up on :goodvibes

Wonderful pictures and how cool that your girls got an invite to that special meet and greet :cool1:
 
Loved your trip report! Your daughters are beautiful! We also got one of those special invites. Ours was from DJ Frankie and it was magical watching my 3 year old carrying on conversations with the princesses!
 
Being fairly early on a Sunday morning, the drive to Hollywood was very quick. We parked in the parking structure attached to the Kodak Theatre and walked out onto Hollywood Boulevard.

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I should point out that we honestly weren't too interested in Hollywood. We were primarily interested in meeting DH's aunt Wendy and cousin Michael for lunch. Hollywood was about halfway between them and the port, and since I had a slight interest in Disney's Soda Fountain and Studio Store, we decided to meet there.

We told the girls we were going to see Wendy and Michael. Isabel asked if they would be able to talk and if Wendy would wear her blue dress. We weren't sure what she meant until we figured out that she thought we were meeting Wendy and Michael, the characters from Peter Pan! :lmao:

The only star I was really hoping to see was Walt Disney. Sadly, there was some construction, and a piece of scaffolding was sitting over most of his star. Oh well. We saw stars for Tinker Bell, Winnie the Pooh, Disneyland and more.

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The soda fountain and studio store are cute. It was a fun experience, but once was enough.

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A novel factor for us was that we ate lunch with a real movie star! DH's cousin is Michael May, who has been in several movies and also had a recurring role on the TV show One Tree Hill. Since the show is done taping, he and his mom were in LA for casting calls.

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Lunch was good. DH and his cousin got French dips, which they said were really good. DH's aunt got a BLT, which she ate without complaint. I got a grilled cheese, which was yummy. DD7 got a hot dog but didn't eat much. (She was complaining and acting tired. Come to find out later in the day, she had a fever.) I think DD4 had a hot dog, too. DH's cousin got a shake, which he said was really good. The girls and I shared two scoops of mint chocolate chip with hot fudge. It was really yummy.

While we were eating, a guy stopped by our table. It was Steve, the character manager from the Wonder! He recognized us from the character meet and greet the night before. I thought it was so nice of him to stop and say hi, especially since he was on a two hour break.

The store had some cute and unique merchandise, but I exercised self control. I only picked up a few souvenir pressed pennies in the store, as I collect them. (Nerdy, I know!)

Overall, it was a fun and unique way to end our trip. I wouldn't drive over to Hollywood again just to eat there or anything, but I would certainly recommend it if you're in the vicinity. :thumbsup2
 
What a great ending to your trip - it is always so sad when it is over though… I am amazed at all of the character pictures on TR's lately. When I went on my first DCL cruise, there weren't this many characters (that I recall anyway).

I agree with you that places like the studio store would be great to see, but aren't something that you need to see over and over again (unlike DCL :rolleyes1)
 
Our drive home from LA to Phoenix was uneventful. When I walked into my bedroom that evening, I actually thought, "Hmmm, where's my towel animal?" :rotfl: Even worse, I went into our bathroom to brush my teeth and seriously thought, "Why didn't someone clean this?" :lmao: Back to reality!

I had "the sway" for about three days after the cruise. It wasn't bad enough to impair my driving or daily activities, but I definitely still felt it! A free souvenir, I guess. :laughing: DH and the girls didn't have any swaying.

The cruise was a really great vacation. Between the Kids Sail Free offer, not having to purchase airfare, and not booking any DCL excursions, it was a really good value, too. Including everything (our gas, one night hotel pre-cruise, meals off the ship, souvenirs, tips, Palo brunch and dinner, cruise fare [9A oceanview] and trip insurance) we came in right around $3500. For a nine day vacation, I think that's pretty reasonable for a family of four. (especially considering the quality of DCL)

As mentioned before, the cruise really was a fairly perfect vacation for our family, a great mix of relaxing but not boring. We had kind of resigned ourselves to the idea that, while our girls are little, vacations would involve a lot more DOING and less just relaxing. Thankfully, DCL provided enough activity for the kids and enough relaxation for us as adults. Perfection!

I am hoping DCL decides to run a few fall 2013 cruises out of LA again. Otherwise, we're interested in the Med, Alaska & Eastern Caribbean, so we'll wait and see where our dummy bookings eventually land! As of next year, DH will have been with his company for 5 years, which gives him another week of vacation. With that, we could possibly even swing a transatlantic! I have our travel agent on the lookout for any Kids Sail Free offers or any significantly discounted cruises. One thing is for sure, we loved cruising DCL and plan to definitely do so again!
 
I realized I never posted a picture of our signed photo mat. It was returned to our room on maybe Thursday or so? Here's what it looks like in the frame. (purchased at Target for about $20) Notice the DCL picture's border is slightly cut off at the bottom. We had this problem with the other 8x10 we got to frame also. Oh well.

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We also received a blank autograph book as a FE gift. We dropped that off at Guest Services to have signed, too. We got a couple extra signatures in there that we didn't get on the mat: Peter Pan, Captain Hook & Smee. I think it is because when we dropped off the photo mat, the GS person checked the boxes indicating the classic characters and the princesses. When we dropped off the autograph book, a different GS person helped us. She checked both of those same boxes, but then also added a note that said, "EVERYBODY!" Still, I think the frame and mat turned out pretty cute. The girls were so excited when we hung up the new photos from the cruise. Good memories!

I think it's safe to say that I'm a bit obsessed with DCL right now. I can't seem to stay off their website! :confused3 Hopefully the fall 2013 itineraries for the Wonder and Magic are released soon!

Thanks so much to all of you who commented here! :goodvibes
 
I can't believe you busted out that report so quick! Unlike me.. :rolleyes1

AWESOME report! Your family is so adorable, especially your children :cloud9: I'm so happy that you guys had a great time, and that the girls especially, had a wonderful time. I can't wait to bring my child on a Disney cruise!

I'm also hoping that DCL will have some itineraries out of LA again. It's just so convenient not having to fly!
 
I thought I'd add a note about packing. I overpacked on clothes (and shoes), but mostly due to not knowing what the weather would be like. And also because, as cruise newbies, we didn't know how casual or dressy we'd feel comfortable being. One of the best clothing pieces I packed was a lightweight drapey black sweater that was easy to throw on over just about anything to take off the chill from either the AC or the sea breeze.

I packed several packs on hand wipes, and we didn't use one the entire trip. Hand wipes are pretty much available all over the ship, so there is really no need to pack your own, unless you're really germaphobic.

I packed a couple Yankee brand odor-eliminating ultimate car jar air fresheners. We hung one on the towel bar in each side of the split bath. While we never had any odor issues, it was nice to have a pleasant coconut smell in the room. The air fresheners were still good after the week, so I hung them in our car. The smell reminds me of the cruise, so it's kind of like a little souvenir! That said, we totally could have survived the week without the air fresheners.

The over-the-door organizer was really handy. If we didn't have split bath, it would be indispensable! We'll take it again on future cruises. I purchased this one on clearance at Walmart for $5. It had bigger pockets and a lot more storage than a show holder type one. Even DH commented that this was worth packing.

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A lot of DIS'ers say to bring a power strip. We did not, and we never missed having one. That said, we're not a really tech-oriented family, so we didn't have a bunch of stuff to plug in. Other than charging my camera battery or blow-drying my hair, the only thing we plugged in was the wave phone.

Speaking of the hair dryer, I took my own. I only dried my hair twice, I think, but the onboard hair dryer would have taken at least an hour to do my long, thick hair. If in doubt, take your own.

I probably packed just a few too many snacks (granola bars, fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, etc.), but with DD4, I pretty much have to have food readily available. It was convenient to have easy snacks for the girls to take into the shows, too. Next time, I'll still pack snacks... just less of them!

I packed a small canvas tote bag, which came in handy for delivering FE gifts and then as a pool and beach bag. Would for sure pack something similar on future cruises.

I did not let the girls bring toys. I figured they'd stay busy without any, and I was mostly right. They did, however, really enjoy playing with the little trinkets and toys they received as FE gifts. Those were nice for any downtime in the cabin, but there wasn't too much of that!

I had a few ziplock baggies leftover after I emptied FE gifts out of them. The bags came in handy to hold all of the little FE gifts the girls got.

I know many people just wear their KTTW cards on a lanyard, but I carried around a small cross body envelope style bag almost the entire cruise, as I always wanted to have my camera with me. I also liked to carry chapstick and a wave phone, so having a small (hands-free style) purse worked well for me.

Those are the few "unusual" packing things I can think of right now! Feel free to ask any questions!
 
A note about our room category:

As mentioned before, we booked a 9A. (7514... perfect!) Being first time cruisers, we weren't sure if the verandah was worth the extra expense for us or not. We were very happy with just having a port hole window and didn't miss a verandah at all. It was so easy to go to deck 4 or 9 from our room. I noticed that on some of the cruises on the new ships, there is very little price difference (maybe only about $100) between oceanview and verandah categories. In that case, we'd probably go for a verandah. However, I think we'd also be willing to sail in an inside stateroom under certain circumstances. But for us, an oceanview room was just perfect!
 
I realized I never posted a picture of our signed photo mat. It was returned to our room on maybe Thursday or so? Here's what it looks like in the frame. (purchased at Target for about $20) Notice the DCL picture's border is slightly cut off at the bottom. We had this problem with the other 8x10 we got to frame also. Oh well.

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We also received a blank autograph book as a FE gift. We dropped that off at Guest Services to have signed, too. We got a couple extra signatures in there that we didn't get on the mat: Peter Pan, Captain Hook & Smee. I think it is because when we dropped off the photo mat, the GS person checked the boxes indicating the classic characters and the princesses. When we dropped off the autograph book, a different GS person helped us. She checked both of those same boxes, but then also added a note that said, "EVERYBODY!" Still, I think the frame and mat turned out pretty cute. The girls were so excited when we hung up the new photos from the cruise. Good memories!

I think it's safe to say that I'm a bit obsessed with DCL right now. I can't seem to stay off their website! :confused3 Hopefully the fall 2013 itineraries for the Wonder and Magic are released soon!

Thanks so much to all of you who commented here! :goodvibes

Very nice! What size is that photo mat? The photo in middle was an 8x10 right? May have to add this little deal to our upcoming trip :thumbsup2
 
What a sweet family you have :goodvibes

I'm glad you had a great time, we were there on December & I have to agree that for the price we paid it was a magical vacation & a good $ deal (we live in Chandler, AZ ;))

I'm daydreaming about our next cruise :cloud9:
 

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