June 18, 2012 WONDERs of Alaska

[AZDLDAD]

DD has a dance recital tonight, I better get done now. We will see everyone at the meets. Be safe getting there. Looking forward to sharing some great times and memories. -Paul

 

[LynneyPooh]

soooooo excited! we arrived in Seattle yesterday to a BEAUTIFUL day!!!! able to see mt. Rainer. we spent the afternoon downtown, then my DH and dad went to cheer on the Mainers, while I took my mom & DD to Pike Market, and Hard Rock for dinner. very good first day!

eta: Looking forward to Monday! everyone have a safe trip to the port on Monday.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

soooooo excited! we arrived in Seattle yesterday to a BEAUTIFUL day!!!! able to see mt. Rainer. we spent the afternoon downtown, then my DH and dad went to cheer on the Mainers, while I took my mom & DD to Pike Market, and Hard Rock for dinner. very good first day!

eta: Looking forward to Monday! everyone have a safe trip to the port on Monday.

Yeah! Today is the day we leave to fly into Seattle but we won't get there as early as I would prefer.. By the time we land and get to the hotel it will be about 7 PM.. enough time for dinner and a quick walk around our hotel area. Then tomorrow morning breakfast and we are off to the ship to board.. See everyone on board about 3 PM if you are making the meet and greet. Did we ever say how we would identify each other?

 

[trimix]

There goes the family of the day!

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

There goes the family of the day!

.


It wasn't. Us.....but we are on board. Eating lunch in parot cay
Very quick boarding the ship. See everyone at 3 pm.

 

[trimix]

We have been home for about an hour, after several stops enroute. On the last night I spoke with Marci; we both agreed this was our favorite DCL itinerary so far. What did the rest of you think?

I was glad to meet several of you, and sorry I did not meet all of you. I hope you all had a great time and can enjoy another Disney cruise soon!

 

[mamaT2T1T2]

Thank you I everyone for making my t1's trip extra special!!!!!!!!! Sorry we never made any of he meet ups!! Hope to next time!!!! See ya real soon!!!!

 

[Growin'upDisney]

I'll post more later but oh my I think I'll remember this cruise forever. And the weather. Couldn't have been better. Thank you to everyone for all the amazing, thoughtful FE gifts. Me and the girls were blown away with the creativity and generosity. Their eyes lit up everytime there were presents in their pouch. Sorry weissed the meets. Unpacking feverishly on Monday and seasick family on Tuesday!! Cannot wait to hear about everyone else's experience.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

We made it home about 12 hours ago. Long flights and dumb connections for us but that's what happens when you book on airline miles.

We LOVED this cruise!!! Can't say enough good things about it. I could have done without the rough seas on Tuesday but my daughter and I slept it off. We loved the weather, all our amazing excursions booked privately, room steward, dining room service, FE's and more. My 14 year old though didn't enjoy the kids activities as much as she would have liked. She tried out both Vibe and Edge and did most activities with Edge as they were scheduled vs Vibe not much schedule. Lucky for her though she could flip flop between the two groups. My DH and I went swimming in the pool several times and enjoyed the jacuzzi's too.

Have unpacked, finished laundry but still going through emails from the week. Hope to post some photos later.. Didn't run into many people during the week from our group but appreciated all the FE's and since this was our 1st time participating in a FE loved coming back to the room and having a gift waiting for us....

 

[LynneyPooh]

we arrived back to our home in sc around 1 am this morning. can't say enough about our trip. dcl was great! DD loved the FE exchange, calling it Mickey mail. loved the itinerary, but the ports of call were not long enough for us. I hated we missed the meet ups, the first one arrived and passed before I even realized it, and quite honestly I slept thru the 2 nd one I guess all my long days and nights before the trip caught up with me. DH and I really loved Seattle , especially when we arrived in hotlanta as we call it to 90 degree heat and undescribeable humidity @ 8:30 last night. they're calling for triple digits by fri, with it up to 103 by sun. DH asked if we could just move to Seattle . I said yes, DD said no.

 

[Stinasmom]

Whew!

How did we accummulate so much laundry!?

Almost ahead of it. Got through the emails, still cleaning up the house and yard.

BUT, these are such small prices to pay for the BEST CRUISE EVER!

I know we couldn't control the weather, but HOW ABOUT THAT WEATHER!! I came home with a bit of a tan and people couldn't believe I went to Alaska!

I want to reiterate all the "thank you's" for the FE gifts! Fun, delicious, creative, and very useful items... but especially the thoughfulness was the best part.

Who rebooked onboard?
We did, but I can't begin to think how to top this cruise.
It will be a couple years before we can go, so some time to think... or at least until 2014 dates are released!

I'm thinking Eastern on the Fantasy (did it on the Magic last year)... but I'd really like to do a Panama Canal crossing.
Too bad those always fall during school time. Kids are just too old now to pull for weeks at a time.

Thanks again everyone! I wouldn't change anything about this cruise, except maybe to have met more of you. But, once you are on the ship, there is so much to do, and it is such a special time with the family... so I totally understand!

Marcy

 

[LynneyPooh]

Hey guys! I was going through my pics- all -well we won't say how many- and saw the ones that I took of the FE gifts we left. It started me thinking maybe I needed to explain 1 or 2 of them...

The USC gear for the guys- well I have to say- many people think that clemson is the university of SC- NOPE! the Gamecocks get that honor - But I wanted to add for those who may or not keep up with baseball- our Gamecocks won the college world series in 2010 & 2011. In addition, they unfortunatly were knocked out as the 2012 champions by Arizona Monday night Our family are huge Carolina fans, so that was our biggest obsticle on the cruise- finding the game and score.

the calendars in the CD cases-you'll need to prepare the jewel case. First, gently remove the door of the jewel case, flip it around, and put it back on, so that the current month is sitting where a cd cover usually is, and where the cd is is sitting as the back

like this.

Hope you can use these. I thought it would be a great way to remember our travels

Thanks all for our gifts, many were put to use before we ever arrived home!!

 

[Holden17]

I graduated from Kent State, so I was searching for those results as well.

Thank you all for the wonderful gifts. I cant tell you how excited the kids were to check and receive such thoughtful items. I am pretty sure if they had to list the top 3 things from trip that would be one of them!
I was so nervous and excited to put the gifts in the FE, that we totally forgot some of them. (just a little game and candy)

And it was nice to meet a few of you!

Thank you again for making our first Disney Cruise so special!!!

 

[AZDLDAD]

Yep, I agree this Alaska Wonder cruise WAS one of the most memorable events in our families lives.

From yelling at the "late" family to hurry up that held us up at Seattle, to the roughest sea night ever, to meeting you all, the scenery, the weather, excursions, the ports, the on-board shows it was worth it. Now its back to paying the bills and the scorching Arizona summer. It seemed to take so long to get here and now its over.

We decided not to re-up to another cruise just to keep pushing for that perfect itinerary. We will probably go explore our own state and other US destinations that we've always wanted to see or cross off our bucket lists. We may even take a gander at the Disney Adventures offerings from time to time. We still have our Disneyland AP's to fall back on for our occasional DISNEY FIX.

Stay in touch and take care- The Johnson's - Paul Cyndi and Bailey

 

[LynneyPooh]

Yep, I agree this Alaska Wonder cruise WAS one of the most memorable events in our families lives.

From yelling at the "late" family to hurry up that held us up at Seattle, to the roughest sea night ever, to meeting you all, the scenery, the weather, excursions, the ports, the on-board shows it was worth it. Now its back to paying the bills and the scorching Arizona summer. It seemed to take so long to get here and now its over.

I think we missed the fact about the "late" family. I hadn't heard about that, but knew we didn't sail on time.

I agree with everything else. This was one of our best vacations, and I think we've been very fortunate with our travels. The weather was AWESOME! Perfect for this southern girl... I like to think it was a gift to us, especailly my parents who I was a little worried about prior to arriving. The scenery was beautiful, and it was truly an experience we'll never be able to re-create. DH and I have asked my parents to travel with us more than once, and they've always turned us down. Dad hasn't flown since his discharge from the AirForce in '75, and wouldn't. Alaska was a bucket list item for him. His rational for this trip was if the plane went down then at least most of his family was with him. (We left my brother and his family home.) That being said, my mom's health issues probally won't allow for another trip this big. As it was she was really wiped by the time we got home. Our last day in seattle they stayed at the hotel while we hit a few more things, and the travel home day was extremely rough, I'm really thankful for all the help we received from DCL and the airline helping get us from point to point with her.

But, I bet SC is close to the Arizona heat at this moment. Our car registered 112 when we went to grab a quick lunch a while ago. In reality it was 105. UGH!!!! Moving to seattle has come up in conversation more than once the past couple of days!! BTW congrats to your Arizona baseball team's college championship... Here in SC we were hoping for a 3-peat as we were calling it. As much as I wanted my gamecocks to win, going in I knew it would be a well fought battle.

We waited and prepared for so long for this trip, when Thurs evening my DH looked up and said this time last week we were in Scagway I was a littled shocked (really!) I couldn't believe that we had only been home 2 days, but a week earlier our cruise was halfway over!!! SO wish I was still traveling! My only regret from our trip was missing the meet-ups! I really enjoy popping in here to "see" everyone-I was so hoping to put names and faces together.

 

[AZDLDAD]

But, I bet SC is close to the Arizona heat at this moment. Our car registered 112 when we went to grab a quick lunch a while ago. In reality it was 105. UGH!!!! Moving to seattle has come up in conversation more than once the past couple of days!! BTW congrats to your Arizona baseball team's college championship... Here in SC we were hoping for a 3-peat as we were calling it. As much as I wanted my gamecocks to win, going in I knew it would be a well fought battle.

Yes, most of the US is experiencing the high temps unfortunately. But at least we do not get much above 40% humidity during our upcoming monsoon/ha-b-o-o-b season. We certainly feel the increased moisture in the air.

I wish I could take the accolades for the CWS, but alas I married into their arch rival and an Arizona State family which is nearby in Tempe. We do not like the kitties from the south. Maybe, like you do not care for SCSU or Clemson perhaps? Dare I say I still have a part of me that watches from afar for my Arkansas Hogs due to my upbringing? I do love baseball, but we lost heart once the local boys were put on probation because of the previous coaches bad decisions.