I'm on the Disney Wonder...!

[Joe Cool]

Hey, you guys...

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! I'm writing this from the 'internet cafe' on Deck 3 of the Disney Wonder, currently en route to Nassau. This ship is AWESOME! The details, the decks, the rooms, the food...most everything is better than I thought. All 3,000+ of us are riding in a piece of art. However, I am seriously disappointed in the whole Common Grounds thing. They...say...it's...a 'New York style coffee house'...setting. They don't...serve...coffee. Uh...they don't serve anything. I think. The coffee machine is there just for show. Huh? And...apparently I fall into the grey area between 'teen' and 'adult' on this ship (much like in life...*rolls eyes*...). When I finally wandered into Common Grounds around 5:30, I found out that if I do the teen programs, I automatically waive my 'adult' priveleges on the ship. The really nice 'counselor' behind the counter told me though that I can hang out there if I make sure not to be...what was the word she used...too mature?...for the age group? Puh-leez! ME?

OK, so although these last 5 days have been memorable...things didn't exactly go as planned. They confiscated my cell phone at the airport back home...AND NEVER GAVE IT BACK. Yup. The line moved so fast that I didn't realize it until I was on the plane. After one and a half beautiful days at Portofino and Universal, my mom got a pretty serious left leg injury (a combination of rheumatoid arthritis, blood clot, and tendonitis), so we treated ourselves to a 6-hour visit to the ER at Celebration Health hospital. Hey, at least we were two of the 20-odd people who actually <i>watched</i> the oscars. After all was said and done, Mom pretty much couldn't walk for a few days, and our short-term vacation plans were dead and buried. I pushed her in a wheelchair around the Magic Kingdom on tuesday and Epcot for Illuminations on wednesday night, but it's kind of a bummer doing the 'big stuff' alone this time around. Oh, and on my second day at the Grand Floridian (or as I now call it, "home"), my driver's liscence...uh...escaped me. Yup, my one and only photo I.D. that proves I'm 18 and can get on both the ship and the plane to get home. On top of that, they found my phone in a FedEx truck in Pittsburgh (????), and...uh...<i>sniff</i>...<i>sob</i>...my guitar broke.

We worked out the photo I.D. thing, but the guitar...whooh. I hand-carried it into the cruise terminal to avoid it getting damaged, but the security guys kind of threw it down onto the platform at the checkpoint. Oof. When I opened the case in the stateroom this afternoon, I almost fell over. The entire fingerboard broke off from the top part of the neck where the tuners are...no sound, no string tension, no nothing. WAAAAAAH! At least they have an acoustic here in Common Grounds, but still. Eech.

I'll be on later from here, I'm practically falling asleep (I went to MGM and Epcot this morning BEFORE going to the ship...my feet hurt). Adios amigos, and Norah, email me at <b>koffeepothead@koffeemail.com</b> if you get a chance!

JC

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

Ok Joe I emailed you.

I miss you

 

[WDWfanatic288]

oh what a bummer!

but Im glad you are having a good time on the Wonder...im in the process of trying to get my mom to take me on a cruise!

im sorry about your phone and your mom and your guitar! i cant believe it broke...why would someone throw a guitar??

 

[dancergirl]

I'm sorry things havent worked out too great so far, but i am sure they will get better!! Have a great time!! I cant wait to hear about it when you get back!!

 

[flyingninja]

bummer

 

[Joe Cool]

Hey you guys!!

Two days down, one and a half to go. I...have pretty much been laying low this weekend, staying out of the teenagers' hair (or braids...a ton of the girls on here got them). The highlight of my day was definitely the Vista Spa. I met with Nikki, a fitness trainer, this morning for a personal training session, and did a body composition analysis and workout setup. She is REALLY good...I totally recommend her to anyone who wants to get in shape and feel good about it. Hmm...after that, I missed the boat for my first excursion in Nassau. I'm kind of going solo too, with mom staying out of the sun (she has rheumatoid arthritis and gets sick without warning...) and relaxing.

Well, after catching up on some sun (and sun<i>screen</i>), I did the 1:00 tour of the Atlantis Resort. Uh...overall, y'all might find it boring...though the Atlantis Resort itself is SPECTACULAR to the Nth degree. Going with the Disney-run tour group makes sense if you want to see the resort, though, because from where the ship docks in Nassau, you have to take the ferry to Paradise Island...OR...get lassoed by one of the independent taxi drivers to get a ride to Atlantis. The actual tour is $25 (it's run like an art museum tour), but with the taxi ride and ferry, the Disney excursion fee is less money and less hassle. Here's a huge tip. The Atlantis Beach Day excursion books up within the first two or three hours after you board. If you want access to the Atlantis beach (paradise.) and pool/slide/mini-waterpark (amazing.), and the excursion is booked, Atlantis offers discounted rooms for Disney Cruise Line guests for the day (about...$160?) If you book a room there or at the across-the-street Comfort Suites, you can use the Atlantis rec facilities free.

I hung out at Atlantis for about an hour after the tour group disbanded, and played some slots in the casino. Yes, in the Bahamas I am old enough to gamble...and drink (no comments there). It worked out pretty well...I won $26, which seems like a major jackpot when it comes out in quarters.

I got a foot-and-ankle massage and a haircut (i love that spa!!) before dinner...oh, yeah, dinner. We ate in Animator's Palate tonight, which is really beautiful. I was always wondering how they would change the colors of the restaurant like they did throughout the meal. Dinner tasted good, but the company kind of left something to be desired. We sat with these two rather...flighty families from Ohio with teenage daughters, and since we changed our rotation time (from 6 to 8) and didn't eat in Triton's last night, it was a bit...eh...odd.

OK, so after dinner they had this huge party up top for departure...they had a live band with a couple karaoke-type singers doing songs like "gettin jiggy wit' it" and "livin la vida loca", and a huge countdown with Mickey (his presence on the ship makes it all the more magical) to departure. Mom and I were on the deck 7 aft overlook waiting for the ship to depart...when suddenly, the engines lit and we began moving, though you wouldn'tve noticed it if you weren't looking down. When we FIRST shoved off at Port Canaveral, as soon as the ship started to move, I felt the ground sinking from beneath me and...toppled over. Oops. But...it's really a smooth ride, especially now that we're in calm seas and heading to Castaway Cay.

Norah, thanks for the email! I'm going to go check it now. Seeya! I'll be on sometime tomorrow. I'm probably going to catch some live jazz over at the Cadillac before bed, and then it's up at sunrise and out the door. Adios amigos~!

JC

 

[Amzey]

Hey Joe!
Glad you're having fun.. so Common Grounds is kind of lame? I'll be a month short of 18 when I go on my cruise this summer and I really have no interest in hanging out with the younger kids and doing teen stuff.. do they like ask for your ID for the adult activities? Or would they mind a 17-and-11-month-old participating in a few things? The teen stuff just doesn't appeal to me, especially since they told you not to be too "mature".. I could totally see myself not having any fun with the teen group.

 

[SDAngel101]

i didn't think Common Grounds was all that bad, i know when i went in it last year, i was 15, younger then both you guys, but i had a blast. There were alot of kids that were older then me in there, and it all really depends on the type of person and personality you have. i know my brother who is 18, plays the guitar in a band, hates pop and rap, is kinda anti-social, is not going to like Common grounds very much except for the video games. I didn't really notice the younger teens, because if they know you are way older then them, they pretty much stay out of your way. oh yeah.. for joe cool, did they have the Junkanoo Jam on the wonder cruise yur on? cuz i have been hearing on the cruise board that is was disscontinued? well i hope your having fun out there! that REALLY sucks about your guitar and your mom.. hope everything works out for you.

 

[AFgirl325]

Well it sounds overall you're having a good trip! I'm sorry about all the problems and your mom (tell her I hope she feels better!). Sorry you don't like Common Grounds, but it's good you like the spa! I'll have to try that next time!

Have a good day in Castaway Cay!

 

[Joe Cool]

And just like that, i'm back home.

All of a sudden, just when I was like "common grounds isn't much to sneeze at"...welll...uh...AH-CHOO! LoL...OK so the last day on the ship, they screwed up my parasailing reservation because the well-meaning norwegian behind the desk spelled my name "Joe Edwards" instead of "DiEdwardo"...once they figured out there was no "Joe Edwards" on board, they canceled my parasailing without telling me and somone else snatched up my time. I showed them my shore excursion ticket, but they said there was nothing they could do. SO...i hung out on board and met some people, made a couple friends and FINALLY went down to the island at 3:30...as soon as we got on the beach, the captain blew the whistle to go back. WAAAAH! lol...but ok at 10 p.m. I really needed to play guitar SOMEhow...so I figured common grounds would be kind of dead, being that everyone'd be packing (all our bags had to be outside the room by 11 p.m). I walked in, and it was pretty busy.

There were a bunch of people around the wall TV watching the final four, guys playing video games, three 12-year olds playing foozeball (or however ya spell it) and getting yelled at by Jenny, the english patient (heh) teen counselor. I plopped myself down in a chair by the jukebox with the common grounds guitar and started picking at it quietly...almost immediately, people started coming over. I met this guy from omaha who thought i played better than he did (he was in a band)...he just knew more songs, though...we passed around the guitar for a while, trading music...

...but one thing about common grounds. There isn't much space in there. There was a guy who I swear looked JUST like josh hartnett trying desparately to pick up whatever girl (or whoever resembled a girl) he could find...he was holding up magazines in the center of the room comparing himself to...oy, vey. I think that was his only skill, hehe. But he was taking up an awful lot of room...So...when Jenny stepped out for a second...I managed to sneak out of CG with the guitar followed by the guy from omaha, his cousin, and a bunch of girls who were crowding around us. We ended up on deck 10 forward, right over the main bridge...hanging out, singing, talking, playing guitar, just having a great time with no one else around. But see...lol...there's this TV camera right above the sports deck on 10-forward, and every stateroom has a TV channel broadcasting the view from this camera. Whoops. Hehe...Jenny found us and uh, lassoed us back to common grounds after she apparently saw us on TV. LoL. Back at the coffeeless coffeehouse, I played (and they sang, or tried) some more until the counselors had this dating game thing...so we disbanded, and I headed back to my stateroom to pack. All of a sudden, I hear this "joe...joe...joe...joe..." coming from outside. Three of the girls I met in common grounds, Amy, Keirsten and Leanna were going up and down the hallways looking for me. Uh...I guess the world is smaller than the ship is big, cuz a bunch of <i>other</i> guys (supposedly named Joe) in their underwear appeared too, most of whom were eligible for medicare. Ya.

SO...Amy, Keirsten and Leanna were really nice; we walked around the ship for hours, hanging out on the deck 7 aft overlook, talking and making jokes about "fore" and "aft"...one of them didn't know what "aft" meant, so I um, was like "forward" (pointed to my stomach), "aft" (pointed to my butt). OK. "aft" = "***". Cool. And we were saying stuff like, "this milk kicks aft" or whatever...at one point, we ended up down on deck 4 right before the shops closed. Maaaan...you can reeeeallly feel the rocking of the ship down there at night. Oof. As much as they tried to get me to go to the last-blast dance party in Studio Sea, i was soooo exhausted that I would have fallen asleep on the dance floor. We exchanged IM's and emails...it's so awesome to meet cool people you can talk to on a trip like this. I saw all three girls leaving the ship the next morning, and I just talked to Amy on IM tonight...so this pretty much squashed my doubts about meeting people on the ship. You guys, there are two THOUSAND seven HUNDRED people on these ships at least. You're <i>bound</i> to meet someone or a whole bunch of someones...if you just try a littttle bit. The last night was hands-down the best of the whole cruise, but I wish it would've been the 7-night instead of just 3. Too many coulda-shoulda-wouldas, if you ask me, but to quote (eh...paraphrase?) a line from <i>As Good As It Gets</i>: i should have danced with her. Uh, them.

Y'all, the trip rocked. And the best part is, I'm going BACK to WDW from Nov. 29-Dec. 2nd with my best friend!!!! I think...I...might be there for part of the DISCON! Is it the first weekend of Dec? We plan to stay one night at the Boardwalk Villas, and two nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Anyone else going down that weekend that ya know of?

Thanks for listening to my postzilla. I'll probably write something about the trip...sometime soon. OH and I'm updating my Yacht & Beach Club thread this month. I already have some new pictures, although I didn't take as many as I could have (too busy i guess). Ya know, on a bunch of short trips like this one, the 'Disney-as-a-track-and-field-event' idea really catches on. Seeya!

J.

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

YOU'RE BACK!
YOU'RE BACK!
YOU'RE BACK!

 

[SDAngel101]

my favorite part of the cruise was deffiently the last night! the exchanging of addresses and AIMs, then staying up late just talking and lauging in weird places on the ship.. for us it was the elevators by Studio Sea. We wanted to stay up and watch the sun rise... but everyone got too tired! i still talk to the chicks i bet on board...

 

[dancergirl]

It sounds like you had an awesome time!! I went on one a few years ago, I was 12 (i think) and it was fun, but i think it would have been better had i been a year younger or a few years older. I didnt go to CG except for once. I am naturally a pretty shy person, and no one else there was!! I am (prolly) going on another one for my graduation present. I cant wait!!
Welcome back!

 

[Joe Cool]

Hey, don't sweat it about the age thing. What I found is that for the most part, the kids stuck with their families until mid-morning, when they went to the organized programs, shore excursions, or the pools on deck 9. One thing. Groups of 2 aren't exactly common on the Disney Wonder...actually, I didn't meet ANYone who was traveling alone with just one parent. If you do the cruise, make sure to take 2 people with you if you can.

At lunch on the day that I was supposed to be parasailing at CC, I met these two kids from kentucky who were on the trip with their mom (their dad died 3 years ago). We ended up hanging out the rest of the day...when we got back on the ship after that lovely half hour in the sun (lol), and found out we missed the ping-pong tournament (big whoop...heh), I kind of organized an under-age-15 tournament myself. There was a bunch of under-15s just hanging out and barely staying out of trouble up by the pools, and they all started hanging around me and the two guys from kentucky...it was pretty cool how the whole thing came together. One of the teen couselors (who also did the oceaneer lab kids programs) came up and thanked me for sorta filling in where disney left off...uh...there didnt seem to be too many after-departure programs going on that these kids wanted to do.

Plus, I got to let my inner 13-year-old (or is that 6-year-old?...) bust a move in the arcade. I never was into video games (i got bored quickly as a kid), but those 'full simulation' car racing games up in Quarter Masters are a kick. After a little practice, I was seriously kicking...uh...aft.
hee hee...

Y'know, my final impressions of the Disney Wonder are pretty much that it's an awesome experience for families and couples; the ship is a work of art, but in some areas, it seems that everyone's so distracted by the "disney"-ness of it all that they don't look at the details. Who needs details, I say. When you're on vacation, it's all good. Oh, and if you're over 18, you've GOT to go to Barrel Of Laughs (the dueling pianos show is so cool) and have dinner in Palo the final night of the cruise (the night you're supposed to dine in Parrot Cay). If you have older teens in your party, they always give you Tritons dining room first, then Animator's, then Parrot Cay.

And...DON'T STAY ON THE SHIP on the Castaway Cay day!!!!! This was a HUGE mistake on my part. I should have just said "tough toenails" with the parasailing and gone to the beach anyway.

Adios amigos, and watch for the all-new Yacht & Beach Club Question & Answer Forum, coming this month.

JC

 

[Meg]

<font color=blueviolet size=3>JC you hafta got to Discon II! It'll be sooo much fun! I'll be there definately & I think Jules will be too!
Sounds like you had a great time! (well other than your mom's injury, the guitar & losing the ID)

 

[Joe Cool]

When exactly IS discon II?

Patti and I are definitely going down Friday, November 29th and coming back home Monday, December 2nd. I don't know if there will be time to do the convention, but I really wanna go and meet some of you. Patti already has all this stuff planned, but I may be able to convince her to come with me to at least one thing at the con. BUT...since it seems like there'll be a ton
of DISers there that weekend, we could always meet in the parks! If you want to contact me, try emailing me at <b>koffeepothead@koffeemail.com</b>. I know it's a little soon, but it would really be cool to hang with some people from here. Ciao,

JC