Delayed THV/DCL/AKL Trip Report

[arthur06]

I have never done a TR before, but thought what better time then now. I thought of a live TR, but 2 major factors decided against that. 75 cents per minute for internet on the Wonder and competing with DVC_Mike's Live TR is like running the time slot opposite Seinfeld/Friends!

We bought into DVC last year, and when we purchased it was during the free cruise incentive.

I have about 400 pictures from this trip and I finally have them uploaded to photobucket (that took a while).

We have been planning this trip since last Oct, and its hard to beleive that it is finally over. I will start the TR with my next post...

 

[arthur06]

Ok, here we go!

We started off last Saturday, December 4th... We live about equal distance from Minneapolis and Des Moines, and on this trip we were flying out of Des Moines, and as it turns out, its a great thing that we did!

Here is 2 of the boys watching the planes at the airport

and our little guy in his big seat

Next stop THV...

 

[arthur06]

We had an mid afternoon flight, and didn't get to MCO until about 7pm. We used ME and hit the road.

We were in THV #7047, it was a HA unit.

Outside

Master

Master Bath

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3

Kitchen

We found the Villa to be in good shape and enjoyed our night there.

A couple of observations that we had with it were:

First, We have 3 small boys and it just seems that with no car and small children we are not even close to being able to enjoy the villa. If we had a car we would stay again, but without a car, we won't do it again.

Second, Our flight landed at 7pm, but we didn't get our bags until about midnight. I know it takes some time to get bags out, but midnight was awfully late!

Third, The lighting in the Villa is very dim. It seems as though there are few lighting sources and the ones that are there don't seem to give a well lit feeling to the room.

 

[LIFERBABE]

Great report! Thank you for sharing. Your little boys are adorable!

I miss my boys being that age

 

[arthur06]

On to Sunday...

I had set up a private van from Happy Limo to take the 7 of us from THV to Port Canaveral. Much cheaper then renting a van or using Dinsey busing. Got a call about 915am, the driver wanted to know what room.

I was shocked when he pulled up in this!

Talk about an awesome surpirse! I had a 9 year old boy who was beyond thrilled with this! We paid $143.50 for each way and got a Lincoln Navigator, not a bad deal. We gave the driver a $100 bill and told him there was another if he brought it back on thursday, and he did! It was a neat experience!

Here is one of my family in the limo...

Now on to Port Canaveral!

 

[arthur06]

We arrived at Port Canaveral about 11:15 on Sunday, got all checked in and got the boys registered for the Oceanears Club and Lab. Waited about an hour to get on board.

DW took DS2, to the room to lay down for a nap. We were in a Cat 4, room 8556. The "free" cruise was for 4, and since we had 5, we upgraded and paid the difference. While they were in the room, us 3 boys walked around the ship to see what we could find...

I had 2 boys who could no beleive how big this boat was. Infact, DS3, kept asking when we were going to get on the boat. When I told him we were on it, he kept telling me "No, we are not!" He just couldn't grasp how big this boat actually was!

 

[arthur06]

If this Midwest weather keeps up, I will have my TR done in no time. Weather delays again today and so, looks like I might have the day off, or at least the morning... I will pay for it the rest of the week tho!

Back to the action...

After the life jacket drill and everyone getting settled back in, we were scheduled for early dining. Our first night was at Animator's Palate. We really enjoyed the restaurant, it is truly a unique dining experience. Our dining crew of Richard (from Hungry) and Carlo (South Africa) were very enjoyable.

I'm not sure what everyone ordered, but I had the soup for my appetizer (Cheesy Potato) which was very good and I had the Ribeye and that was also very good. Don't remember what I had for dessert, but I ate all of that too!

My FIL, who is our real "food fanatic" really enjoyed his meal there and was so full passed on desert... which meant only one thing...

After the late night Saturday and the travel/unpacking on Sunday we were pretty tired, but we went to the 8:30 showing of the "Golden Mickeys". It was a really fun show, it fact, I thought it was the best show on the entire trip! It was a busy, but enjoyable day for all of us!

 

[arthur06]

Monday:

We arrived at Nassau about 8am and were allowed of the Wonder about 830. We waited about an hour so that it cleared out a little bit. We were told to be back by 2am, so we knew we had plenty of time.

This is the view from our room

View of the Wonder from Nassau

We took the kids on to the Bahamas for about 2 hours and just walked around and looked at the shops and such, nothing great. We were saving our shore activities for Castaway Cay. After a couple of hours we took the kids back to the Wonder with Grandpa and Grandma for some swimming. DW and I went back to Nassau as there were some shops she wanted to look around. After about another 2 hours she was done with that. By 2pm we were back to the boat and not overly impressed with Nassau.

Back aboard, we just hung around the pool and let the kids go. The weather and water were too cold for us adults.

Dinner tonight was at Parrott Cay. I was not thrilled with the selection tongiht. DW and I are not huge seafood eaters and that really limited us on what there was to choose from. It didn't really matter though, if something left us hungry there were places for Pizza, burgers, chicken strips, so we didn't go hungry at all. After dinner the show tonight was "Toy Story The Musical" it was an alright show. Just didn't measure up to the performance of the Golden Mickeys the night before.

(flash was not allowed in the theatre)

 

[arthur06]

Tuesday

We arrived at Castaway Cay about 830 on Tuesday morning. This was the day that we were really looking forward too. All our shore excursions were for today. We had parasailing and a boat trip around the island planned. The island is really a pretty awesome place.

Right off the ship they have a tree and this...

I just really enjoy that the bubbles coming at the pic look like snow.

As soon as we got off the boat we saw that all our excurison were cancelled for the day. The wind was too strong to be safe and the temp was only in about the low to mid 60's.

So we set off for some other things to see and do.

We walked all the way to the look out area of CC. It was a really long walk with a 3 year old. I would say it was about 1 mile from the ship and about 3/4 of a mile from the main beach areas. The view from the top was less then spectacular. But there really is alot of land for future developement if Disney decides it ever wants to do that.

We just wound up buying some shovels and buckets and let the kids play in the sand. We sat around the beach for about 2 hours and just relaxed. The have a couple of BBQ spots on the island that had a pretty nice selection of BBQ meats and slaw, corn, chips and other picnic style items. The food was pretty good.

Our sit down dinner was at Tritons. I thought that this was the worst night of food selection. It was French selections. I had the lamb and potatoes. It was just alright.

I really wish there was a way that Disney could set up the island in the future for uses other then a cruise excursion. I would love to go back to CC with out the stops of the rest of the cruise. I guess someday maybe...

 

[Dacky619]

Those Pics of the cruise are awesome. Thanks for sharing, I'm looking forward to seeing more.

 

[arthur06]

Wednesday

Wednesday was our day at sea. It was a pretty uneventful day for us. Kids did some swimming, then the kids spent some time at the Oceanears Club and Lab. MIL, FIL, DW and I, went up to Deck 10 and just got some chairs and just laid there and watched the water and got any sun that would shine through. MIL and DW had a few fruity frink and FIL and I got a buck of Bud Lights and just enjoyed the quiet.

I spent some time walking around the Wonder later in the day and here are a few just random pics...

Dinner tonight was at Tritans again. Tonights was so much better then last night. FIL had the escargo for his appetizer and said it was wonderful! I had the beef tenderloin, and it was very good!

Tongiht was also the Pirate Party on deck and fireworks. It was INSANE how packed it was up there. The food looked delicious! But the lines were simply too long for us to get anything. We were on deck 8 and had a good view from our virandah of the fireworks, wo we just all went outside and watched them from there. At times the view was obstructed, but so much better then those crowds!

This was our last night on board. If any one wants pictures of certain things let me know, I have many more.

Tomorrow, we check out and on to AKL!!!

 

[jamie@dvcstore]

Hi arthur06,
Thanks for the trip report. Great job and your pictures are fantastic. I can not wait to cruise with Disney next year! Thanks again for sharing.

 

[arthur06]

Thursday

We had breakfast at 7am at Tritans for our last meal on board. We finished, got off the boat, collected our bags and waited for our ride. We were picked up at 9:30 at Port and were on our way to AKL for the remainder of our trip.

We got to AKL about 11am, and as our luck goes, rooms were not ready. We had 2 studios booked (WL for a 2br at 7 months and had no luck) and requested them close together. We got into our rooms about 3pm. And they were close together! We were in 7748 and 7749. They were right across the hall from each other. So we had views of double the animals.

We got to MK about 11:30. Picked up our AP's that I bought online a few weeks ago! I snapped a few photos of the tree and castle, don't compare these to others better photos of the castle and tree.

Now, on to the rides...

It seemed like MK was PACKED. We have never traveled this time of year, so wasn't sure what to expect. But, Pop Warner was going on, so that seemed to add a ton of people to the parks. So, we just did a few rides and took what we could get on without huge waits.

We walked over to Buzz Lightyear Star Command and waited about 15 minutes for that. After that, we got a FP for Space Mountain and went on People Mover and then over to the Raceway. Then it was time for our FP for Space Mountain.

If you see this boy driving...WATCH OUT!!!

We then headed over to Mickey's Toon town as we "had" to see Mickey and Minnie's house...

After Toon Town, we headed over to Haunted Mansion, the ride was operating rather slowly. Stopping during the ride at times and never really a good ride this time. DW and DS3 decided that they were off to go shopping, so DS9 and I headed over to Splash Mountain, there was no wait at all, walked right on!

We left MK and headed over to DHS for the evening about 5:30, it was a MVMCP night, so we would of had to be gone by 7 and DS9 really wanted to do TSM. The line said it was an 80 minute wait, but we got thru it in about 35-40 minutes.

After TSM, we walked over to Rockin Roller Coaster, but the 100 minute wait scared us off! So, we walked over to see the Osborne Lights, and boy was it packed! Would have loved to actually walk thru and really enjoy them, but just so packed.

After all this, we had our fill for the day and back to AKL for the night!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Loving your TR and all the great pictures! What dates did you go? We were on the Dec. 2nd Wonder and at the parks Dec 1st through 13th. Your experience so far is similar to ours.

Funny, my favorite restaurant on the Wonder as far as menus are concerned, was Tritons and least favorite was Animator's Palate. I'm not a seafood fan either and have pretty plain (also Midwestern!) tastes.

I've yet to even make it to the Pirate Party (our 2nd cruise) because I always have a little one who is too tired. DH took our boys and they like it. They skipped the food too. Last time they tried it and brought back a plate of desserts for me. We all agreed it wasn't worth waiting in line.

 

[arthur06]

Loving your TR and all the great pictures! What dates did you go? We were on the Dec. 2nd Wonder and at the parks Dec 1st through 13th. Your experience so far is similar to ours.

We were on the Wonder Dec 5th to the 9th

I've yet to even make it to the Pirate Party (our 2nd cruise) because I always have a little one who is too tired. DH took our boys and they like it. They skipped the food too. Last time they tried it and brought back a plate of desserts for me. We all agreed it wasn't worth waiting in line.

I was just staring at a big turkey leg thinking, I would love one of those!