Disney Wonder Repo Cruise Sept '11 with DL/WDW back to back

[missj1975]

Saturday September 24th, my birthday and last full day on the cruise ship, Happy and sad day all rolled into one.

Ensendada had a nice welcoming area, had dancers, music, helpful people. The dock was also full of sea lions, sea lions making tons of noise but I loved it. They were sunning themselves on the dock and I took tons of pictures.

There was another cruise ship at the dock, I think it was Carnival. Lots of Cruisers walking around. It was a five to ten minute walk to the main part of town, depending on where you wanted to go.

I loved the walk but my DH wasn't liking it cause it didn't take long for panhandlers and kids of the panhandlers to start bugging us. I am very good at ignoring people but the kids were really bugging DH...in that he felt very sorry for them. He wanted to give them money but I told him no, it just encourages them to keep panhandling.

A vendor along the main walking path. I ended up buying a bracelet from one of the street vendors on the way back. I love my bracelet, which I paid $5.00 for. DH was mad, said I paid to much. I was like seriously? You want to give money to panhandlers but I can't help out a vendor who is trying to earn an honest living. He saw my point after that.

There was also bike race going on that day. Made crossing the street a little difficult but it was cool to see all the bike riders going by.

We went down by the docks to check out the non-touristy area.

A picture of the main shopping street. We went into lots of shops until I got tired of seeing the same stuff over and over again.

Isn't that a predator skull? I wanted it so bad but it just wouldn't fit in anywhere in my house. Plus I had no room left in my suitcase. Otherwise it would have made a great gag gift for a family member.

After walking around Ensenada for a couple of hours, we headed back to the ship.

 

[missj1975]

We headed back to our room and found our room decorated, yeah!!! My DH is such a sweetie.

And another birthday cake, good thing cause the other one was long gone.

We ordered room service and while we waited, DH gave me my birthday gifts. Somehow he snuck onto the ship three wrapped birthday presents for me. Plus he secretly bought stuff from the gift shop, my DH is quite clever. I was thinking I would get my presents when we got home but nope DH surprised me in a wonderful way. No wonder DH kept telling me to wait till the last day to buy souvenirs. He bought me everything I was thinking about buying for myself.

Room service arrived.

We hung out in the room for awhile, watching the sea lions from our deck and just relaxing.

The show for the night was Remember the Magic. I remember it was good, cheesy good, lol.

We also went to the Officer Pin trading in the lobby.

We then had our final dinner in Tritons.

Servers parading around the dessert Baked Alaska.

A very tasty birthday dessert.

Off to bed. The final night on the cruise ship is always so depressing. We really weren't ready to go home but we were missing our pets.

Packing our luggage took awhile. We kept our luggage because we planned on getting off the ship as early as possible. We did get off the ship early with no issues. We had a car service pick us up, as soon as we got off the ship, we called him and he was there within fifteen minutes. In no time at all he had as at the Disneyland hotel.

 

[missj1975]

Shot of the towel animals, vinyls we traded for, and my geocaching travel bug.

Shot of all my goodies from the cruise & day at Disneyland, after we got home and I unpacked. I had all the goodies spread out so my sister and nieces could check it all out once we got home. They loved all the gifts I got them, which I can't remember what i bought them now. *sigh* I really need to write this stuff down.

 

[missj1975]

View from our cabin when we woke up in the morning.

I think we got to the Disneyland Hotel by ten thirty. But we didn't get checked in till eleven. The check in line wasn't long, it just took forever for the cast members to check each person in. I don't know what the issue was but I was getting very antsy waiting. Only good thing was our room was ready so we could drop off our luggage and head to Disneyland.

Our room was in the Frontierland Tower. Scale model of Frontierland in the lobby.

I loved our room, it was so nice. We took a couple of minutes to explore the room and then we headed out.

The headboard lights up. Plus there is a music box that played a Disney song. Uggg, I can't remember but it was one of the famous ones, maybe A Dream is a wish your makes.

Landscaping outside of the hotel, they had their own little Old Faithful.

Walking thru downtown Disney on the way to Disneyland.

Maleficent is my favorite villain. I loved this banner.

My DH found a beef jerky cart. He bought several bags, said they were very good. My DH is a bit obsessed with beef jerky. DH has three brothers. At Christmas they all make their own beef jerky and exchange it among all the guys in the family. And then they all argue who made the beef jerky. My DH makes the best beef jerky but I might be biased.

I love the stretching ballerina portrait but I am not a huge snow white fan. If it would have been of Aurora or Alice I would have totally bought it.

 

[trish.]

Loving your trip report! Thanks for writing it!

 

[missj1975]

We have only been to Disneyland one other time, in 2009 when we flew down for a Haunted Mansion Event. We had a great time but we didn't love DL as much as we love WDW. So at that time we were perfectly fine with not coming back till we had kids.

But fast forward to 2011, we decided to visit DL again...why not since the cruise ship disembarked so close to DL. But the main reason we decided to visit DL was because we knew the Haunted Mansion would be re-decorated with the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. WDW does not do this, just DL so we were quite excited to see this. As soon as we entered the park we headed to the Haunted Mansion.

There was quite a line but we didn't mind waiting, gave me opportunity to take tons of pictures.

My character experience with Jack was one of the best ever. He talked to me for like five minutes and DH took tons of pictures. Thank goodness I had watched the movie again recently cause I was totally able to talk in NBC talk (meaning using movie terms, etc) and Jack loved it. We could have talked forever but the handler was giving me the evil eye so I moved on.

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

We must of just missed each other, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel October 8th - 12th and we were also in the Frontierland Tower. I loved the newly refurbished rooms!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

I agree, I enjoy WDW a bit more than DL as well. CMs and guests are very different!

 

[missj1975]

Best popcorn bucket ever, a coffin.

After we rode Haunted Mansion, we headed back to Downtown Disney for lunch. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, loved it. A Disney trip for me is not complete without Nachos.

DH had volunteered to be the bag boy today, he was carrying around the backpack instead of me carrying around my huge purse. So guess who left his backpack at the Mexican restaurant? Luckily I noticed before anyone else did. Needless to say DH is no longer the bag boy on vacation.

We headed back to the park and this time took our time exploring the gift shops and just walking around a lot slower.

I do love all the Halloween touches. I was sad that there was no Halloween party that night. I love WDW's Halloween parties and really wanted to see what DL was like. Oh well, maybe another time.

We slowly made our way to Space Mountain. Another ride we wanted to make sure we rode on this trip because DL had it decorated differently for Halloween. The line was so long but we decided to stick it out since we really wanted to see what the Halloween changes were.

We enjoyed Space Mountain. The Halloween touches are Demon Like Aliens projected onto the Space/Sky. It was interesting but definitely not something I would ride over and over again, not at my age anyway. My tolerance for fast rides is getting lower as the older I get.

I love love love walking through Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

If you haven't walked thru the castle before, you must. It is so cool. The castle has displays that tells the Sleeping Beauty story. Plus it has several sound effects and other visual effects. If you pull the door handle, the door shakes and makes noise.

This goblin randomly appears in one of the doors. It took me several tries to catch this shot.

Aurora's dress changes color in this display.

Maleficent's shadow in one of the hallways. The shadow comes and goes so if you walk too fast thru the hallways, you won't notice. You really need to take your time walking thru the castle to get the full effect. Other visitors passed us a lot as we strolled thru the castle. I had to bite my tongue cause I really wanted to point out all the special effects they were missing by hurrying thru the castle.

I had to resist the urge to buy this. For one I have no idea what I would do with it (but I liked it so much) and I just had no room left in my suitcase. I was pushing it buying the coffin popcorn bucket.

 

[missj1975]

We must of just missed each other, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel October 8th - 12th and we were also in the Frontierland Tower. I loved the newly refurbished rooms!

Did you have a room with the lighted up headboard? That was the coolest thing. The bathrooms were so nice too. I did love the hotel, the landscaping was so cool. In 2009 we stayed at the Grand Californian. It was super nice but I'm thinking I liked the Disneyland Hotel rooms better.

 

[missj1975]

We rode most of the rides at Disneyland but I'm only mentioning the ones in my report that are different from Walt Disney World.

We rode Storybook Canal, very cool. I loved all the little villages. I was not a huge fan of the boat you actual sat in. We were put with a huge family that kept invading my space. Plus the mom was breastfeeding. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with breastfeeding. I think it is great and if I ever have kids I plan on breastfeeding...discretely. This woman had no idea what the word discretion meant. I've seen women with light blankets cover themselves where they could breastfeed comfortably with no one really knowing what they were doing. Not this woman, she wore a tank top that barely covered anything and then just whipped out her breast, showing off her nipple. It was a train wreck. I am sure I will be flamed by breastfeeding supporters. Go for it...if you have no problem whipping it out and waving it in my face...I have no problem talking about it.

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Did you have a room with the lighted up headboard? That was the coolest thing. The bathrooms were so nice too. I did love the hotel, the landscaping was so cool. In 2009 we stayed at the Grand Californian. It was super nice but I'm thinking I liked the Disneyland Hotel rooms better.

We did have the great headboard! The headboards were part of the refurbishment. The pool is very cool too, did you have a chance to check it out? While we were there it was still under construction but the slides were open, very cool, I can't wait to see it when it's complete! We have stayed at the Grand Californian a few times. We love how you can walk right into the park or DD. I'll tell you by the end of a long trip, after a long day AND night in the parks, the walk to the DL Hotel seems to be miles away!!! We have also stayed at Paradise Pier, it is also very nice and we love the theming there.

 

[missj1975]

Small World is another one of my favorite rides. I do love how DL mixed in Disney Movie dolls. I hope they eventually do that for WDW.

We rode the Haunted Mansion one more time. The line was a lot shorter. Plus it broke down for a little bit while we were in the attic. I usually follow the rules about no pictures during certain rides but I couldn't resist when the ride broke down. I did turn my flash off.

After riding more rides, we browsed some more shops and then headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we had time to kill before the shuttle picked us up so we had breakfast. There was a little counter service type restaurant near the Frontierland lobby. It had the new fangled touch screen computers to place your order. I hated it. Just give me someone to talk to, it was too early to have to actually think.

Oatmeal pancakes, looks bad but actually tastes very good.

Leaving the Disneyland Hotel.

We were not impressed with the shuttle service, can't remember who it was thru but next time we will stick with the personal driver. I can't stand waiting for people, especially people I don't even know. Yeah at this point I was just ready to get home. We were missing our pets, missing our home, missing our family, etc. I think this was the longest we had been away from home for a vacation.

I really don't remember much about the plane trip home so it must have been easy. The only issue I had was some of my items in my checked luggage was broken. Two glasses were broken. I was bummed but the glasses were on clearance so I wasn't out a lot of money. I was just surprised cause I've flown at least a dozen times without having anything broken. I guess it was my time.

So we got home just in time to unpack...and then pack again. We got back on Sunday, I had to work Monday thru Thursday, and then Thursday night we were flying to Orlando for Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion Event. I didn't realize it when I booked the trips but technically we were visiting both DL and WDW in the same week. Shouldn't Disney give me some kind of button for that milestone? LOL.

So I am done with my cruise portion of this report. But if you love WDW come back and visit cause I will be posting pictures from the Haunted Mansion event, Halloween Party, and the Food & Wine festival in this thread. I still have to download the pics to photobucket but I should have time this week.

Plus in three weeks I will be on the Maiden Voyage of the Fantasy. I will definitely be taking notes this time and I am sure I will have tons of interesting stories to write about. I will create a new thread for my MV trip report.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my report. I loved sharing and hope you enjoyed my pictures.

To be continued...

 

[missj1975]

We did have the great headboard! The headboards were part of the refurbishment. The pool is very cool too, did you have a chance to check it out? While we were there it was still under construction but the slides were open, very cool, I can't wait to see it when it's complete! We have stayed at the Grand Californian a few times. We love how you can walk right into the park or DD. I'll tell you by the end of a long trip, after a long day AND night in the parks, the walk to the DL Hotel seems to be miles away!!! We have also stayed at Paradise Pier, it is also very nice and we love the theming there.

No we didn't even think about checking out the pool. There were a lot of construction walls so we didn't try and look around too much.I do agree the walk from DL to the hotel is a bit long, we walked back and forth several times. My feet were killing me.

 

[CrystalS]

Wonderful trip report, loved all your photos!
Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us

 

[taaren]

Hi Jen!

You took some beautiful pictures! I started a TR back in Dec but never finished it so never published. Gravy fries sound good to me but Hawaii people like gravy on a bunch of stuff, especially starches like rice. I'll have to try it next time I go to Vancouver.

Your TR was very well done, made me very nostalgic for that cruise, even though I got sick the same night as your DH (I was better by our first sea day, but missed Golden Mickeys because of it).

In fact, its made me miss the Wonder so much now I'm impatient again to be able to book the southbound 2013 Repo ... wish they would just release the dates already!

Enjoy your Fantasy cruise! You'll have to do another TR on that one.

 

[Linda67]

Great TR, I've really enjoyed reading along

 

[missj1975]

Hi Jen!

You took some beautiful pictures! I started a TR back in Dec but never finished it so never published. Gravy fries sound good to me but Hawaii people like gravy on a bunch of stuff, especially starches like rice. I'll have to try it next time I go to Vancouver.

Your TR was very well done, made me very nostalgic for that cruise, even though I got sick the same night as your DH (I was better by our first sea day, but missed Golden Mickeys because of it).

In fact, its made me miss the Wonder so much now I'm impatient again to be able to book the southbound 2013 Repo ... wish they would just release the dates already!

Enjoy your Fantasy cruise! You'll have to do another TR on that one.

Great TR, I've really enjoyed reading along

Thanks for the kind words. I love writing trip reports about Disney!!!

 

[jenseib]

You have been the updating Queen!!!!
I love the Haunted Mansion shots. It looks so neat all decorated...Thats quite the line though. The coffin popcorn bucket is too cool.
I have ti agree with the breakfeeding. Do it descreetly. I have no problem with anyone doing it...but I don't want to see body parts.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

This trip report was a big help Jenny. Especially the Dland part. I am definitely staying at the DL hotel for sure. I considered the GC because of its closeness to DCA but DL is gorgeous. We are planning October so HM will be all done up, and Goofy.....OMG he is cute in his bone gear.

I loved all of the cruise pics too. The resorts ya'll stayed in were very nice looking upscale places. The food presentation was very nice at the second one.

Robert! The birthday surprise was pretty darn cool and who can argue with two cakes? Win, win.

I'm going to pay Leanne to make me one of those fish extenders for cruising. Of course we always leave last second so I may not have time to join in with a group but still. It will be nice to have one for a future planned out cruise. I hope everything works out so we can sail with you and Robert this fall. I'm looking forward to an Eastern Caribbean getaway. We enjoyed the Western route but Eastern looks so much nicer....I like the whole mountain meets ocean thing.