"I bet they get Charmin" A May 2014 Girls Trip **04/03 THE END**

[amberg93]

Totally forgot to wish you both a wonderful cruise!

Don't forget your Flippie-Floppies!

It's okay We totes had a wonderful cruise and did not, in fact, forget our Flippie-Floppies.

Tough lunch situation at AK, but I'm so happy that Disney recovered so well with the FP and the ice cream!

I haven't met Dug and Russell since they met at DHS with Carl...maybe I can do that next week!!

I feel the same way about Kali. It's fun, but then you have to walk around soaking wet.

GUYS I'M EATING AT WOLFGANG PUCK EXPRESS TOMORROW. I love that mac and cheese, though the BBQ chicken pizza looks great...

Eeeep have fun cruising!

All that ice cream looks amazing!

Yep, getting lost in WOD is a hobby of mine. There's just so much stuff!

Ahh I can't wait to get started on your TR! I'll need to do that ASAP.

Disney did do a great job with the ice cream and FP, definitely. It helped put everyone in a better mood.

WOD should be it's own city. That's how lost I got. It's cray. I'm not sure I'm going back in September. I feel like I've spent a significant part of my life in there now

 

[geckodani]

I hope your cruise was AMAZING!

"I also learned a valuable lesson. Do not, do not, DO NOT allow people to wander freely within World of Disney without establishing a meeting time and place. The store is a death trap waiting for you to fall in and get lost from the outside world forever and spend all your money because you've given up hope of being reunited with your family again."

I'm bad and copied that to quote instead of using the quote function. This does not reduce my amusement level, AT ALL. This is so true. Every word.

 

[amberg93]

I hope your cruise was AMAZING!

"I also learned a valuable lesson. Do not, do not, DO NOT allow people to wander freely within World of Disney without establishing a meeting time and place. The store is a death trap waiting for you to fall in and get lost from the outside world forever and spend all your money because you've given up hope of being reunited with your family again."

I'm bad and copied that to quote instead of using the quote function. This does not reduce my amusement level, AT ALL. This is so true. Every word.

It was amazing. I'm trying to get an update up about it but the pictures are being a jerk so I've got to work on that

And I'm just telling it like it is for those who don't know

 

[amberg93]

Real Life Update 3: Cruise Mini-TR​

​

Oh my goodness, I know that I've been back forever without updating. I apologize. It's just that sometimes life just gets a little meh and every time I tried to write an update, I'd either get taken up by something else or it'd be horrendous.

So I've got a lot of catching up to do. And I know I was like, oh Marie has an instagram and we'll have internet. Both were true, I just forgot that my wife is a terrible instagrammer, as you probably noticed.

But Marie and I did have a fantastic time on our trip and since there was interest I'll do a quick mini-overview before getting back to our May Disney fun.

On the 4th we did end up on a beach, North beach in Miami and Elle was right, it was incredible. There were fireworks all down the coast and in our particular spot we were actually between two different sets, so that made it all the more amazing.

And then on the 5th we made our way to Port Everglades. Marie was treated as an Elite member because of her training (meaning she got the highest perks available, including priority boarding, free internet minutes, free laundry services, etc.) so before boarding we got to hang out in a special elite lounge where they had snacks and drinks. It was pretty cool.

Let me tell you, the Caribbean Princess is a beautiful ship.

It looked like this.

Our stateroom was an inside cabin and mostly looked like this:

I mean, that's basically just the bed, but there was the bed, the tables, a desk mirror area behind the bed, the closet area (which was super awesome and big) and the bathroom. If you've ever been inside and inside cabin, you know they're small.

Our room was B404 on Deck 11 and was midship which was nice.

We did traditional dining, second seating which was at 8 pm. We had the Palm Dining Room on the 6th floor and I usually got my workout of the day by walking in heels from Deck 6 to Deck 11 after dinner because I felt I should take the stairs sometimes.

As for traditional dining, I have to say, that I wish we'd done anytime dining instead because our dining conflicted a lot with activities that we were interested in, but oh well.

Us with our waitress Maria who had served us for lunch that day too in the buffet. We weren't a fan at first, but grew to like her a lot.

The first night, we show up and we've got a table for 8 and no one else is there. Finally, after about 5 minutes sitting alone, a couple comes up that is young but they quickly leave because they were honeymooners wanting their own table. Then, 10 minutes later one couple joins us for the evening. They're super nice, but they're unsure if they're going to continue with traditional dining or go to Anytime dining.

They show up the next day because they're basically afraid we'll be sitting alone at the table for 8. However, the couple that was absent the first night shows up (they'd had a dinner reservation elsewhere the first night) and another couple who moved tables to be with our waitress Maria. This couple is Princess' most sailed couple in North America and they'd been on a month before and liked Maria so much they made another couple switch to be with her.

Want to know how many times this couple had sailed on Princess alone (they've done other cruiselines)? 169. IT WAS THEIR 169TH CRUISE (and they were staying on the next week). You can't make this stuff up.

Also on the first night, we watched a movie under the stars. Want to know what they were showing?

It was awesome.

The next day was Princess' private island, Princess Cays, and it was beautiful.

They also had a barbeque style lunch with chicken, burgers, hotdogs, etc. Typical yummy food.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay long because Marie broke her little toe getting out of a beach chair, which totally puts a damper on the whole thing.

Instead, we headed back and relaxed for a little bit on the ship and let Marie try to feel better.

And we even decided to play trivia. Which quickly became a must do activity for the rest of the trip. I won't lie. I loved trivia.

Here's a secret though: we were terrible at trivia. Our first day, we got a 6. Out of 20. To be fair most of the questions were aimed at someone with a bit more knowledge than us.

On the second day though (a day at sea), we went to morning trivia and afternoon trivia.

And here's how Marie and I became known (despite never having been there) as the Disneyland girls by our favorite cruise staff member, Ian.

So they're asking questions and Marie and I are doing fairly terrible again (except for the question about who is the Headmaster of Hogwarts school in Harry Potter?), and then Ian goes 'Name 3 cities (Marie will tell you it's 4, but it was 3) that have a Magic Kingdom park. Plus a bonus point, if you can name all 5'. And guys, I was so excited about this bonus point opportunity that I knew we'd finally get that I went 'yes!' really much louder than I expected and everyone looked at us.

We also asked if there was bonus points for naming the 6th, but since it isn't a reality yet, the answer was no.

Anyway, for the rest of the trip, Ian referred to us as the Disneyland Girls. In fact, it became enough of a running gag that the cruise director does a show each day and they ask a question and you can answer it the next day and put a shoutout (also, you can tell I have terrible handwriting as Lee struggles to read it). We did. Here's a video of what ensued:


Also, here's a picture of us with Ian on the last night:

Marie is holding in her hand a bottle we won from our team (just the two of us) winning The Liar's Club. For getting 3 out of 4 right and then for me guessing the combined ages of the liars and the host. Or, rather, being the closest at 106 when the answer was 108.

We also got into a lot of conversations with people about Disney because a lot of people on board were from Florida and most people were surprised at how much we knew.

At St. Thomas we got off but just briefly because Marie's foot wasn't great.

We didn't bother to get off at San Juan because we simply didn't feel like it. Instead we relaxed by the pool, watched The Lego Movie 'under the stars' while in the pool, did trivia, played Pictionary, and read a lot.

I did snap some pictures though from the ship of the port though.

We did, however, get off at Grand Turk because we had an excursion.

The port is like right on the beach.

Our tour was a driving tour that took us around the island and made stops at a church, the national museum, a light house and at a salt house because they used to sell salt as their main export. It was actually really interesting.

My favorite picture of Marie because it looks like the guy behind is taking a picture of her too.

Salt pool.

It was a good day at port, but we headed back onto the ship to continue doing passenger activities. I've got to say guys, I had such a blast with all the things that it's a shame I didn't do them on my first cruise. If you're going on a cruise, definitely look into the passenger activities, they are so much fun and a great way to meet new people.

Some of the new people helped us win at evening trivia!

It was entertainment trivia and we had a good range of ages, including a totally awesome girl in her mid 40s that I had chatted with the day before because she was wearing a dress from Star Wars weekends (she'd been there the first Friday too!) and a sweet older lady that we met playing Pictionary. A score of 31 out of 34 was a tie, but they let both of us win.

I also got picked to play passenger Pyramid after signing up which was tons of fun even if Marie didn't take a picture of me. I didn't even come close to winning because I was the second one picked and people were a bit less helpful for the first few of us.

However, there was a time when I was supposed to guess American Gladiator and one guy from the audience yelled, "It's your nationality!" and without thinking I went, "Canadian?" Which cracked up everyone and Ian (who was hosting) went "That's not how he wanted that to go."

Also, when I was signing up, Ian told me that I was probably his favorite passenger on board right then. Which was nice.

My name was also drawn to play passenger feud. I was part of the Asck (Ahh-sh-k? I'm guessing on spelling) family and we ended up winning! I got a handy water bottle which will probably be in our next TR.

Other activities we made time to be present for included: Bar Wars 2 (a bartending competition), a napkin folding class, the live art auction, Majority Rules (a game where you give an answer to the question and get points by either being in the majority or having the most unique answer), the marriage game, the egg drop challenge, a (failed) LGBT meet up, the cooking show, the galley tour, afternoon tea, and of course the evening shows.

Seriously guys, there is so much to do on board. Don't think for a moment that you will be bored. You can meet so many new people and it's just a ton of fun. Honestly, it's great.

Our last sunset at sea.

Overall, we had an amazing time. I can't even properly compare Princess to Royal Caribbean because we did things so differently from one cruise to the other. I will say that for buffet food, I'd lean toward Royal Caribbean and for nighttime shows I'd lean toward Princess (but we were on Adventure of the Seas, which is a smaller ship that hasn't had quite the updates so..).

I had a blast and I think we did a great job between doing things and relaxing.

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[amberg93]

Day 3, Part 1: Early Morning Walk
Or: All-Star Sports Appreciation Post

Fair warning, this whole post is just going to be pictures and commentary about the All-Star Sports. (I know, you were possibly excited about me updating and now you're like, oh... okay).

Our wake up call was scheduled to come in at the right time this day (I have no clue what it was) but I do know that I got up at around 7 AM and I was just ready to go.

Since no one else was, including Marie, I decided that I would go for an early morning walk and look around the All Star Sports.

Right outside the door. As you can see, we're pretty much at the end of the building.

The back of our building.

Bunny!

Staircase. I really liked it even though we never used it because it would have made zero sense to.

Tennis buildings!

This is when I started talking to a really nice woman in her late 40s who was coming back from a coffee run. She was super sweet and we just chatted for a few minutes before I went on my picture taking journey.

I like the tennis buildings.

Boys... that's not quite right.

Selfie with Louie.

Angry selfie with Donald.

During the day, they play like Beach Boys music in the Surfs Up! section.

A certain Cedar Fair park played Beach Boys in my ride operating area and in the waterpark. Maybe that's why I picked up trash in that area that morning.

Pool area.

Signs to help guide you.

Touchdown section, which we originally requested.

To tell you the truth, I'm kinda glad we didn't get it.

Not that it wasn't nice, because it was. I just liked our Hoops Hotel section a lot.

Baseball section which the name of I also forget just like I did the tennis section.

Oh well.

Pool with information board. You know, just so you can know how things were going to be that day.

Blue stars, to match the picture of the red stars from our All-Star Music stay.

Adorable use of stuffed animals.

I really wanted to get a picture up there at some point but never did. Oh well.

Finally, I made my way back to the room and waited it out for everyone to get ready to leave.

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[DisneyKid4Life]

I guess I can now officially welcome you back!!!!

Multi fireworks? I approve.

Holy WOW!!!! 169 cruises just on that ship?????? INSANE!!! But also... COOL!!!!

Ahhh nice to have a bit of Disney on board with Frozen.

OK that video is awesome!! Disneyland Girls. Love It!!

Sounds like such a wonderful trip Amber. I've never really had much interest in "cruising", but this sure does sound like fun.

Lovely tour of the resort, especially the selfies. I've yet to see the All Stars at all, so it's always fun to see some photos of it.

 

[courtneybelle]

The cruise looks amazing! I loved hearing about all the activities they have. The last time I went on a cruise I was in 6th grade and so I was pretty limited to the kids' activities. But all those games and classes sound so much fun! You're making me want to cruise!!

Love the All-Star Sports pics, especially the selfie with Donald. And I believe the baseball section is the Home Run Hotel or something along those lines. I stayed there in 2011 and really liked it!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise - though bummer about Marie's toe

I definitely think that in that setting (or with like an inclusive resort that has similar activities) the best is to get into it and chat with others/make friends and just have fun - sounds like you both did - and won some games too which is generally better than losing!

The Allstar Sports does look like a fun area. I think I am partial to the baseball area - probably because I am partial to baseball but also b/c the area makes it feel like Fenway park, which I think it kinda cool

 

[DisDance]

Great to see you guys back, glad you had a great time in the cruise, it looks amazing! You two seemed to be the life of the party. Any more cruises in your future?

 

[cas714]

It looks like you girls had a blast! Following along

 

[coloredimage]

Glad the trip was good! And I'm glad you got to see some of the fireworks and that my tip worked out well for you!

 

[amberg93]

I guess I can now officially welcome you back!!!!

Multi fireworks? I approve.

Holy WOW!!!! 169 cruises just on that ship?????? INSANE!!! But also... COOL!!!!

Ahhh nice to have a bit of Disney on board with Frozen.

OK that video is awesome!! Disneyland Girls. Love It!!

Sounds like such a wonderful trip Amber. I've never really had much interest in "cruising", but this sure does sound like fun.

Lovely tour of the resort, especially the selfies. I've yet to see the All Stars at all, so it's always fun to see some photos of it.

Thanks, I'm glad to be back And extra glad about our plans!!

Not on that ship alone, but with the Princess company. They have like 18 ships or so (off of the top of Marie's head) so I'm sure they've gotten a lot.

We cracked up so hard the first time we saw it (it ran on loop).

Cruising is fun, for sure. It's not for everyone and if you're interested in just like relaxing by the pool, I'd go for an all inclusive before that any day. More space and no motion sickness.

I just really like it for some reason. I don't know why exactly, but I just enjoy it. And I try with my selfies.

The cruise looks amazing! I loved hearing about all the activities they have. The last time I went on a cruise I was in 6th grade and so I was pretty limited to the kids' activities. But all those games and classes sound so much fun! You're making me want to cruise!!

Love the All-Star Sports pics, especially the selfie with Donald. And I believe the baseball section is the Home Run Hotel or something along those lines. I stayed there in 2011 and really liked it!

I recommend cruising for sure. But hey, I'm kinda jealous of all the kids activities sometimes, they also look like fun. So you could have experience in both

I think you're right, actually. Thanks for that And I really enjoyed it too. Much more than the Music.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise - though bummer about Marie's toe

I definitely think that in that setting (or with like an inclusive resort that has similar activities) the best is to get into it and chat with others/make friends and just have fun - sounds like you both did - and won some games too which is generally better than losing!

The Allstar Sports does look like a fun area. I think I am partial to the baseball area - probably because I am partial to baseball but also b/c the area makes it feel like Fenway park, which I think it kinda cool

Yeah, but it's doing better now so that's good

On a cruise I'd definitely take an outgoing approach any day. It made it better. For all inclusives, I pretty much just like to lay in the sun and read and ignore everyone else that isn't Marie.

Yeah, I could have explored it a bit more cause it did look cool but it was getting tight on time so I headed back.

 

[amberg93]

Great to see you guys back, glad you had a great time in the cruise, it looks amazing! You two seemed to be the life of the party. Any more cruises in your future?

Thank you! It was really a great experience. I'm very blessed to have such opportunities. And we tried. As much as people can party without actually, you know, partying.

I don't know when we'll cruise next but we'll definitely do it again. I'm starting school soon though so that'll change our availability schedule. We are planning one for either 2016 or 2017 with Merranda, Veronica, and Traci.

It looks like you girls had a blast! Following along

Glad to have you here!

Glad the trip was good! And I'm glad you got to see some of the fireworks and that my tip worked out well for you!

Thanks And it really did, it was amazing and I'd have to agree with you that it was one of my best 4th of July memories as well!

 

[MarieLightning]

Day 3, Part 2: "I work for Disney, I don't have 21 dollars either"

Once Amber returned to the room, we were all pretty much finishing up getting ready. She, Merranda and Veronica ended up heading out first, as they were all done, and the rest of us followed soon after. We headed over to the front of the resort, and got in line for our park selection of the day - Hollywood Studios!

While waiting in line, Amber got a picture of Merranda and Veronica looking adorable

And so of course the rest of us ultimately joined in. Including a strange lady waiting behind us

After this, we congratulated her on her photo bombing skill. She was in line with her young daughter, and informed us she was already teaching her to jump into those kind of stranger pictures already, which we all established was good parenting.

Soon enough, the bus got there and we all got on. The bus driver was great, chatting with the bus crowd over the speaker as people filed on. At some point, he was giving people tips, and mentioned something (an activity of some kind I believe, which we can't remember what it was exactly) that people could do for just about 21 bucks. Which Traci responded to with "I'm a college kid, I don't have 21 dollars"

And that's when he replied with the chapter's title - "I work for Disney, I don't have 21 dollars either."

It was pretty funny

Soon enough (because although the All-Stars are closest to Animal Kingdom, they're actually not that far from Hollywood Studios either) we arrived at the park and made our way over to the entrance

We walked by the Fantasia topiaries, which was looking pretty cool

We decided to bypass it and not get a picture just then though, instead moving on to get in line to enter the park

It's Mickey on top of the world!

It didn't take too, too long (we were there just around opening time, after all, so you know) until we did get in, and we headed straight over to Guest Relations

We had to buy our Tables in Wonderland card! We hadn't had a need for it thus far, seeing as we hadn't done any table service meals yet, but today, we had one planned, so we figured we'd go ahead and buy it so we could make us of our discount! (Maybe. Spoilers)

With that done, we headed further into the park on a mission. We'd purposely not eaten anything for breakfast that morning (well, okay, we didn't eat breakfast much at all any morning, but that morning was a knowing decision) because we had plans. Delicious plans.

Starring Rolls cafe, of course! We were there a couple of weeks or so after Earth Day, but I'd found out online that they would still be serving the Earth Day cupcake in the park until the 15th of May, so of course we had to get us some of that!

Amber, Merranda and I all got one of our own. Traci and Veronica decided to share one, which admittedly was the more reasonable decision. But I regret nothing, though Amber will tell you we should have shared

It was delicious. Dirt cake cupcake with chocolate pudding filling, so yummy. Very rich though, and obviously very chocolatey

Which is why Eli, not being a fan of chocolate unless it's brownies or oreos, went for something different. I'm not a hundred percent what it was, I think it was marked as a strawberry parfait

Unfortunately, she didn't end up liking it, was it was pretty similar to vanilla pudding, which she doesn't like

The rest of us, however, were pretty happy with our decision!

We stuck around for a few more minutes, relaxing at the table and talking over the plan of action

And making fabulous faces

Once we were reading to go, we headed on our way over toward our first ride of the day!

Star Tours!

We actually had a FastPass for it, though clearly it was not needed

But then, what else are you gonna FastPass at Hollywood Studios with their stupid tiering? And with the addition of being able to make additional FP+ selections later in the day by the time your first three fastpasses are used up, we tried to schedule ours a bit earlier in the day so we'd be able to get more

We pretty much just walked along the whole length of the queue, because obviously it was empty

And then we went onto our intergalactic journey! According to the TR notes, Eli was not impressed. I don't remember her being outwardly unimpressed with it or saying anything, but it's in the notes, so I guess she may have been, just not within my earshot. She's not a fan of Star Wars anyhow, so I had figured she may not care for the ride that much. Everyone else seemed to like it well enough

With that done, we headed back toward the other side of the park (clearly, that's a pattern we can't seem to get out of) to go on our next adventure! First though, we had to stop by and get pictures of busts, because obviously that's just the thing to do

Eli then wanted a picture with Bill Cosby

And with Oprah (who really doesn't look much like herself)

So I figured I might as well get me a picture with Walt Disney himself!

As we made our way through the park, we decided to get a PhotoPass picture, because that Memory Maker is not cheap and so we wanted to make the most of it!

We're not entirely sure why Merranda was posing like a flamingo, other than the fact that she's adorable and does things like that

Look fabulous!

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[DisneyKid4Life]

Ah yes, photobombing is an art form. The trick is to enhance without ruining another's photo. The lady here did it perfect.

"I work for Disney, I don't have 21 dollars either." Ouch... yet

Starring Rolls is a perfect excuse for skipping breakfast. Always.

 

[MarieLightning]

Ah yes, photobombing is an art form. The trick is to enhance without ruining another's photo. The lady here did it perfect.

"I work for Disney, I don't have 21 dollars either." Ouch... yet

Starring Rolls is a perfect excuse for skipping breakfast. Always.

She really did. Amber is trying to make it her goal to photobomb as many pictures as possible - I guess we'll see how she does in September!

That really was a good one, honestly. That bus driver was golden

And it is, it really is. I have yet to try any of their regular cupcakes though! Every time I go they have a seasonal one and I get tricked into getting that one

 

[courtneybelle]

HAHA I love the photobomb!! Great parenting indeed

I love Starring Rolls! That Earth Day cupcake looks delicious!

 

[HarkiQuinn]

New and joining (I have a lot of catching up to do!) Hello name twin, looks like you all are having fun! I love the photobomb and I'm curious about her daughter's photobombing skills!

And I agree, I don't know which Oprah they reference that bust after..but it's not Oprah Winfrey.

 

[DisDance]

*gasps* an update?!? It's been so long! Bet you guys have been busy huh? Loved the photo bombers, that child will grow up to be one great photo bomber, I always want to do it but I get scared, I'm a chicken! Love the group photos of you all

 

[amberg93]

HAHA I love the photobomb!! Great parenting indeed

I love Starring Rolls! That Earth Day cupcake looks delicious!

Parenting goals. I saw the lady and took the picture anyway knowing she was in it and then talked to her about it because I admired how she inserted herself in

It was too good. But I stand my ground that Marie and I should have split one cause we both threw roughly half of one away

New and joining (I have a lot of catching up to do!) Hello name twin, looks like you all are having fun! I love the photobomb and I'm curious about her daughter's photobombing skills!

And I agree, I don't know which Oprah they reference that bust after..but it's not Oprah Winfrey.

Hi Amber, it's nice to have you here! We are having fun but (dun dun dun, spoilers: drama looms in the near updating future!)

And I want to see the daughter's skills too. The poor dear just looked uncomfortable when we all turned to her.

Agreed. I don't get it either

*gasps* an update?!? It's been so long! Bet you guys have been busy huh? Loved the photo bombers, that child will grow up to be one great photo bomber, I always want to do it but I get scared, I'm a chicken! Love the group photos of you all

We have. But, I promise that we're going to be on set to get back to a normal updating schedule until our trip in September.

Hey, you should just go for it! I believe in you. Achieve your photobombing dreams

And thanks, we did get some really great ones