In which Hedy meet the people who live on her laptop and ipod....

[Hedy]

Hello all! I'm Heather, better known to you as Hedy. I'm Neurotic Disney Aunt #10 on the Disney driven life. I'm 26 years old, I have one cat, Oscar.
Who: This is a solo venture. I'm the only one in my party. However, as this is the Podcast Cruise, I will be joined by fellow DISers, who I am looking forward to meeting.
What: Podcast Cruise 2.0 and a few days beforehand. I'm going to let you guys in on a secret-I was booked on the first Podcast Cruise in 2009-I actually booked in January of 2008. But life happened, and I did not go. As such, there is part of me which has been planning this cruise for almost three years. I've never been on a Disney Cruise, and the last time I was on a cruise was on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas when I was 10.
Where: I;m staying at the Swan-I was not a fan of the Dolphin, but the pre-PCC rate was too good to pass up, and the Disney Wonder
When: I'll be at WDW on December 10-11 (going to MVMCP), and then cruising from the 12th-16th. I love Disney at Christmas (insert blatant plug for my old trip report in my siggie)

Stay tuned for more!

 

[jessrose18]

i'm first

 

[Hedy]

One month
One month
One month


Basic plans:
Friday: I have breakfast at Cape May Cafe first thing in the morning. Other than that, I'll probably be checking out the Epcot resorts before I head to MVMCP at 4pm. There's a DIS meet at MVMCP.
Saturday: Check out monorail resorts. I keep on changing what I'm doing for dinner. There's a meet on the boardwalk, followed by Jellyrolls.
Sunday: Breakfast at Boma. Woohoo (I like Boma a lot. Did I mention I'm a vegetarian?) Board DIS bus to port at 11am. Board ship. Grab food, explore ship. Go to room. Decorate door. I have dinner at Palo at 6pm.
Monday: Hear DIS speakers, see Jodi Benson. Once that's over, disembark ship. Go to straw market. Buy rum cakes. Re-board ship.
Tuesday: Chill on Castaway Cay. Have big meet at Castaway cay.
Wednesday: Podcast live recording.
Thursday: Drive to DTD. Hang out until 4ish, when I'm flying home. Boo.

 

[Hedy]

((brushes out cobwebs)) I leave tomorrow after work! Let's hope my TR is better!

 

[Hedy]

My bags were packed, and I was ready to go. We got to Logan easily, and I was able to print my boarding pass easily. I was a little nervous going through security-not really because of the possibility of the new body scanners as much as people's reactions to them. Judging from the mumbles of my fellow passengers, I was not alone. I got through security fine, though, and grabbed dinner at Johnny Rockets.

At the gate, I listened to Disney Podcasts on my iPod, and I read books on my new Kindle. We boarded. The flight was uneventful, and once we landed. I got my luggage easily, and I headed out to grab a cab. Getting a cab was easy, and I got to the Swan quickly.

When I got out, I was immediately greeted by a sign for a baseball conference-I hoped that that did not predict a lot of loud convention people. Check in was painless, I was upgraded to a resort-view room because of my Starwood Guest status. I headed to my room, and went to sleep.

 

[Hedy]

I woke up and got ready to go to Cape May café. Walking over to the Beach Club from the Swan was easy. I must admit that hearing the music from International Gateway made me wish I was going to Epcot. I got to the Beach Club, and checked in at Cape May café. While waiting for my buzzer to go off, I examined this year’s carousel which was really cool.
My buzzer went off, and I went to be seated. This had been my first time making an ADR using the new ADR system. As I am a vegetarian, I had checked the “other” box . Apparently this was the wrong decision, as the hostess asked if I had a food allergy. When I advised that I did not, and stated I was a vegetarian, she looked confused and asked if I needed to speak with the chef. I advised her that I did not. I was seated, and headed to check out the buffet. I was kind of meh on the selections-Tusker House, 1900 Park Fare, and Crystal palace had better ones. The biscuits were dry and the asparagus was hard and bitter. However, I had great character interaction-Minnie loved my Santa Minnie ears. I explored the gift shop. This is going to sound silly, but I passed the cruise ship they have in every resort lobby and it hit me I would be on one in mere days.
I then headed over to the Boardwalk-they were repairing the display, which was kind of cool to see. I browsed in their stores. I was pretty tired, so I headed “home” to the Swan for a nap.

 

[Hedy]

I woke up from my nap, and decided to head off to resort hop. I wanted to check out the Wilderness Lodge, so I hopped on the Magic Kingdom bus. Now, once I got on the bus to the MK< I found something out? If you know me, you know how I love POFQ. Anyway, I never realized how used to the whole cruella de ville” banjo I was until I realized the bus was playing anything goes. Once I was on the bus to the MK, the OMG I am in Orlando bug hit me. I boarded the boat to the Wilderness Lodge, after telling the MK I would be back soon.
cruise 026 by Heathertf, on Flickr
cruise 029 by Heathertf, on Flickr
Ok, maybe it’s just me, but being on Bay Lake, the fact that anyone would need to be told to stay out of the dang lakes is beyond me. Anyway, I have a confession about Wilderness Lodge-it’s always kind of been a literal also-ran in my trip planning. I think ooh, deluxe, Magic Kingdom, awesome. But then I think “But it’s not the Contemporary, why am I spending the money” and stay at POFQ. LOL. However, I stepped off the boat to Wilderness Lodge and I get why people like it. It reminded me of POFQ, in the sense that it takes you out of central Florida. I walked through the pool area and stopped at Roaring Forks. I wanted to try the infamous cookie bar. Honestly? I ate two bites of it and threw it out. However, having the first cokewithnoiceplease of the trip, plus catching up on Twitter (I get a good deal of my news via Twitter, I gotta admit) were highlights of it. I headed out into the lobby. OMG love. You take the out of Floridaness of POFQ, the style of the Grand Californian, and the exotic touches of AKL, and you’ve got Wilderness Lodge. I poked around their gift shop, and then decided to head toward the Contemporary. I think the boat went by the remains of River Country.
cruise 037 by Heathertf, on Flickr
I walked through the Contemporary. It’s my favorite resort so I loved walking through it, seeing the new food court for the first time. BUT the Christmas display Seriously? It was pretty dang pathetic. However, the Poly was a mere ride on the monorail away. I entered the Poly. It was great, but once again, the resorts were phoning in the decorations. I looked at a pair of Mickey cardi-ugg type shoes. I debated getting them, but decided that given that I wasn’t sure if they were slippers or not, I decided I was too old for them. Let me tell you, I wished I had got them.
I stopped by Captain Cooks for a linner of adult grilled cheese. I also grabbed a Monster energy drink-it was around $5, which seemed exorbitant. I charged my droid eris, and called my mom (she was watching my nephews that weekend).
I headed onto the GF. The GF totally made up for the other hotels-it was stunning. I took a bunch of photos, and got into a conversation with a Photopass photographer about my Xshot*. It was approaching 4pm, so I hopped on to the monorail. I shared a car with a blowhard who was lecturing about how the proces they give for DCL are inside cabins, and “no one wants to stay there.” It took everything in me not to tell him that I could not wait to stay in my cabin no one wanted to stay in in a few days, but didn’t.

cruise 038 by Heathertf, on Flickr

cruise 051 by Heathertf, on Flickr

cruise 054 by Heathertf, on Flickr
*My xshot always makes me think of Code and Lease, as they were the first people I saw with one.

 

[Hedy]

I entered the Magic Kingdom without any difficulty at 4pm. I quickly grabbed a MVMCP map, and planned my plan of attack. I had the Touring Plan for MVMCP for adults committed to memory, but that did not start until 7pm. I decided to live a little and get pixie dusted at the Harmony Barber Shop. I stood in line with parents who were waiting for their kid’s first haircut. I was called-I asked for the gel and glitter. I chose pink gel (they use the Beyond the Zone stuff from Sally’s).
cruise 065 by Heathertf, on Flickr The barberess combed the gel into my hair, then sprinkled the gitter on it. It was fun getting it done, and I got some smiles and comments-an easy way to literally add pixie dust to my trip. I’d definitely do it again-it was only $7.50. The glitter did not rain over my bed as much as I thought, although I did have to wash twice to get all the pink out.
I then had my first DIS meet of the trip. I met up with CherinVA, her family, and another DISer whose name escapes me. We checked out Le Chapeau, and then we headed into Tomorrowland.
We got FP’s for Buzz, and then rode the Peoplemover. I heartily approve of both the Peoplemover name returning and the return of paging Mr. Tomorrow. We ride Buzz. Everyone else was off to grab dinner, but as I had already eaten, I said I’d meet them for Wishes. I then headed over to Toontown, as I had learned of its closing earlier in the day.

cruise 079 by Heathertf, on FlickrI started off by riding the Barnstormer for the last time. I then walked through Mickey and Minnie’s houses for the last time. I felt kind of sad. I headed over to Space Mountain (first stop on the Touring Plan), but it was down.
I headed over to Adventureland, where I ride Pirates. I wanted to get a Dole Whip, but the place was closed. I headed onto to Big Thunder.
Riding Big Thunder at Night is cool, if you are in a car by yourself. The views are great. From there, I headed onto Liberty Square. I checked out the ornament store, and ride the Haunted Mansion. I have to admit that I missed the tombstones.
The construction in Fantasyland was not fun, but not as ugly as I had heard. I checked out the new Winnie the Pooh queue. I have to admit I was not a huge fan of it-it just seems too disorganized. I looped back to ride Space Mountain-I honestly did not feel like it was all that different, to be honest. I watched Wishes, followed by the second parade.