celeste_rose
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2004
- Messages
- 3
May 22nd - Trip down to the Disney Magic and Embarkation: For those who haven't been following the WDW trip details here's a brief summary. Visited Disney Quest Monday night, EPCOT and MGM (for extra magic hours) on Tuesday, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom (for extra magic hours) on Wednesday, EPCOT (Innovations for DS(10)) and Magic Kingdom again on Thursday, and MGM for Star Wars Weekend on Friday. We decided to rent a car from Budget and drive down to the Port ourselves. I sent DH(35) and DS(10) over to get breakfast and I took a taxi over to the Doubletree to pick up our car from Budget. Only a $5 trip over so not bad at all. I bring the car back, they've finished breakfast, we load up and we're on the road. The drive was very pleasant and we had no problems finding the Budget location. We dropped off the car and were on the van over to the port in less than 5 minutes. There was a bit of a wait checking in, but the character visits and the things to look at in the terminal made it bearable even for DS (ADHD and not good at waiting yet). We got on the ship and went up to Topsiders to eat lunch as Parrot Cay had reached capacity just before we got there. Had a nice lunch and then went to our room right after it opened. We were in a Navigator's Veranda (7128). It was perfect for the 3 of us. We then went up to the spa to reserve a massage for me asap as I had just thrown out between my shoulder blades on the trip over in the van. I've got scoliosis so I'm used to this, just unfortunate timing. I made a reservation for Sunday after lunch and we were set. Up to the lab to sign up DS. The whole registration process took 5 minutes and that's only because we asked questions. They gave us a beeper, put a sticker on DS's card and explained to him how to sign himself in and out. Then we went back to the room and our luggage was there (Woo Hoo, it all arrived again!) I unpacked a bit while DH and DS hung out on the veranda and looked through the navigator papers. I realized that we hadn¡¦t gotten the dinner rotation I'd hoped for so I ran up to change the rotation to APLAPLA (that gave us the dress up nights in Lumiere's meaning that my husband only had to dressup on those nights) while DH and DS went to get some drinks. A little bit more unpacking and such (DS pulled out his gameboy) and then we went up to Deck 9 for the sailing out party. At first DS didn't want to go, but DH didn't give him an option and he ended up having a wonderful time and even danced a bit (shh...don't tell him I noticed). We then got ready for our show at 6:30. We had the late dinner seating which worked out beautifully for us. The welcome aboard show was fun, nothing spectacular, but fun. Then we went and played bingo before dinner. DS thought this was the greatest thing so we went. We had fun and it let out right at dinner time. By changing our rotation we got a private table (we would have been with another family at the other table we had) and had Fitz from Jamaica and Marcello from Romania as our waiters. Fitz was outstanding with our son. He was able to play with him and keep him interested in things the whole time. Even got him to eat some fruits and vegetables during dinnertime. Everyone was beat so after dinner it was off to bed.
May 23rd - Key West: Today we got up at 8 (set the wake-up call - they're fun!) so we could go to our character breakfast at 9:30. All the characters came by and let our son take pictures of them before the photographers took pictures with him. I forgot to mention that we bought a bunch of disposable cameras for DS to use during the trip. Costco sells them in 3 packs so we bought 9 and he used 8 and a half of them during the trip. No worries if he dropped them or got them wet. Haven't gotten the pictures back yet so no telling how they look though. After breakfast DS went up to the Lab and hung out there until lunchtime when he decided he wasn't hungry yet. He had the Lab use to pager to have us meet back at the room. We'd tried to give him the walkie talkie earlier, but he didn't want it. After one more time of using the pager he decided to take the walkie talkie and communicated with us that way throughout the rest of the trip. We had lunch around 1 and then off to my massage (ahhh...so much better after that) while DH and DS attempted to play ping-pong. DS was playing smack the ball, while DH was playing keep the ball from injuring passersby (quite fun to watch actually). After my massage, DS went back up to the lab and we went onto shore. DH wasn't enjoying himself very much until we saw that the coast guard clipper ship the Eagle was there and giving tours. DH took several pictures and bought a t-shirt that he adores. Came back on board, watched "Who wants to be a Mouseketeer" and found out we know more Disney facts than we thought we did, and had a lovely dinner. DS was still pretty beat after dinner so no late nights tonight.
May 24th Day at Sea: Such a nice relaxing day. DS finally got really involved in the Lab and swimming and was gone most of the day. DH and I did the navigators tour of the ship and spent some time playing ping-pong and just hanging out which was wonderful. We decided to do laundry late afternoon and had no trouble finding open washers and dryers on the 7th floor. But we did run into a problem that the last dryer doesnt really work. We got the other 2 loads out, but had to put the last one back on and go back to get it after the Golden Mickeys. Id sent the suits and shirts and my dress out to be ironed and we got them back at about 5:30 in plenty of time. The Golden Mickeys are really well done. Theyre the most fun of the Disney shows I think. After a quick dash back to the laundry room to collect the last load of laundry we went up to the captains reception. DS got a Shirley Temple with a cherry at the bottom. The cherry at the bottom actually made him drink the whole thing because he couldnt figure out any other way to get the cherry out. I think I need to put more cherries at the bottom of his drinks since its always a struggle to get him to drink anything (he likes the idea of juice and soda and such, he just never drinks more than 2 swallows of anything normally). We then went and got professional photos done. The family ones didnt turn out well (someone always looking wrong), but the one of DS turned out well so we bought that later in the week along with the one of us with Captain Tom. Dinner at Lumieres was fun. We got to give DS a lesson in sitting up straight in a suit and not putting your elbows on the table. After dinner, DS and I went back to the room to change while DH went to check his email. Unfortunately, the only bad thing on the trip happened now. When we got back into the room, there were HUGE ants on the desk. Only a couple but enough that I totally freaked out. My son had been planning on going to the lab, but he decided to hang out and wait to see what happened I think. I called the front desk and they had someone from housekeeping come down. He caught one of the ants (Id already squashed about 4 of them) and told me that unfortunately the environmental officer couldnt come until morning, but that we could have a deep cleaning of the room done. DH came back during this and I left him to deal with it while I went and took a walk to calm down. Its funny, Ive spent years backpacking and can handle bugs in the outdoors, but I freak out with them indoors. I know, Im weird. Anyway, housekeeping came and vacuumed everything including the veranda (which apparently had a few more ants on it). Tired and a wee bit stressed we headed off to bed.
May 25th Grand Cayman: The environmental officer came this morning and put out some ant bait in the corners of the room and on the veranda. He says that most likely they walked across the veranda and either crawled in when we had the door open while going in and out or they came in on something we carried in from out there. The assumption was that someone brought them onboard in something from Key West and it just took a while for them to hit our room. He was very kind and we didnt have any more problems with ants during the trip so Im hoping that someone else didnt. Guest services called back later on to check with us to make sure that the room was okay now. We had breakfast and sent DS off to the lab again until lunchtime. At lunchtime we grabbed DS and ate and then went onto Grand Cayman. Wed expected there to be a beach area near the dock but there wasnt so we just wandered through the shops a bit and the Cayman museum before our shore excursion. We went to Stingray City and loved it. DS made some friends on the boat trip out there and loved feeding the stingrays. We got back to the dock just in time to make the last tender over to the ship. We showered and got ice cream from scoops and then went to see Hercules. DH raved about Hades stealing the show. Went to see a wonderful juggler after the show (I dont have my navigator with me so I cant remember his name). Dinner was wonderful as always and DH and I decided to go out to the deck party after dinner while DS went off to the lab. We had a wonderful time and so did DS.
May 26th Cozumel: We live very close to the Mexico border and were not as excited about Cozumel as some other people on the cruise were, but we were excited about going on the Dolphin excursion. We didnt tell DS until that morning because we knew hed obsess over that and not have as much fun on other things if he knew that was coming up. We left DS on board in the morning while DH and I went on shore to buy the obligatory bauble for my mother (she was taking in our mail and watching the house and such). After that we came back onboard and had lunch with DS before taking off to our Dolphin Encounter and the Chankanaab (or some such spelling) Park. We rode in taxi vans over there without incidence and had a lovely walk through the archeology area (fake ruins) before our time with the dolphins. DS was practically beside himself at first but behaved very, very well. DH and I considered ourselves fortunate that we were in the shade during the encounter (trying desperately not to get burned), but DS kept bouncing under the water and making himself cold due to the slight breeze. We were going to go snorkeling after the dolphins, but decided not to due to DS shivering. We bought some great pictures of us with the dolphin and a beach towel. Took a short stroll around the rest of the park and took another taxi (price included in the excursion) back to the ship. Showered up, got more ice cream, played ping-pong some more and then went to watch Home on the Range. Cute movie, hadnt had a chance to see it in the theaters. DS went back to the lab between dinner and DH and I relaxed with some quiet time before dinner. Dinner was in Parrot Cay and was lots of fun. DS went to a piñata party and the lab after dinner and closed out the lab that night.
May 23rd - Key West: Today we got up at 8 (set the wake-up call - they're fun!) so we could go to our character breakfast at 9:30. All the characters came by and let our son take pictures of them before the photographers took pictures with him. I forgot to mention that we bought a bunch of disposable cameras for DS to use during the trip. Costco sells them in 3 packs so we bought 9 and he used 8 and a half of them during the trip. No worries if he dropped them or got them wet. Haven't gotten the pictures back yet so no telling how they look though. After breakfast DS went up to the Lab and hung out there until lunchtime when he decided he wasn't hungry yet. He had the Lab use to pager to have us meet back at the room. We'd tried to give him the walkie talkie earlier, but he didn't want it. After one more time of using the pager he decided to take the walkie talkie and communicated with us that way throughout the rest of the trip. We had lunch around 1 and then off to my massage (ahhh...so much better after that) while DH and DS attempted to play ping-pong. DS was playing smack the ball, while DH was playing keep the ball from injuring passersby (quite fun to watch actually). After my massage, DS went back up to the lab and we went onto shore. DH wasn't enjoying himself very much until we saw that the coast guard clipper ship the Eagle was there and giving tours. DH took several pictures and bought a t-shirt that he adores. Came back on board, watched "Who wants to be a Mouseketeer" and found out we know more Disney facts than we thought we did, and had a lovely dinner. DS was still pretty beat after dinner so no late nights tonight.
May 24th Day at Sea: Such a nice relaxing day. DS finally got really involved in the Lab and swimming and was gone most of the day. DH and I did the navigators tour of the ship and spent some time playing ping-pong and just hanging out which was wonderful. We decided to do laundry late afternoon and had no trouble finding open washers and dryers on the 7th floor. But we did run into a problem that the last dryer doesnt really work. We got the other 2 loads out, but had to put the last one back on and go back to get it after the Golden Mickeys. Id sent the suits and shirts and my dress out to be ironed and we got them back at about 5:30 in plenty of time. The Golden Mickeys are really well done. Theyre the most fun of the Disney shows I think. After a quick dash back to the laundry room to collect the last load of laundry we went up to the captains reception. DS got a Shirley Temple with a cherry at the bottom. The cherry at the bottom actually made him drink the whole thing because he couldnt figure out any other way to get the cherry out. I think I need to put more cherries at the bottom of his drinks since its always a struggle to get him to drink anything (he likes the idea of juice and soda and such, he just never drinks more than 2 swallows of anything normally). We then went and got professional photos done. The family ones didnt turn out well (someone always looking wrong), but the one of DS turned out well so we bought that later in the week along with the one of us with Captain Tom. Dinner at Lumieres was fun. We got to give DS a lesson in sitting up straight in a suit and not putting your elbows on the table. After dinner, DS and I went back to the room to change while DH went to check his email. Unfortunately, the only bad thing on the trip happened now. When we got back into the room, there were HUGE ants on the desk. Only a couple but enough that I totally freaked out. My son had been planning on going to the lab, but he decided to hang out and wait to see what happened I think. I called the front desk and they had someone from housekeeping come down. He caught one of the ants (Id already squashed about 4 of them) and told me that unfortunately the environmental officer couldnt come until morning, but that we could have a deep cleaning of the room done. DH came back during this and I left him to deal with it while I went and took a walk to calm down. Its funny, Ive spent years backpacking and can handle bugs in the outdoors, but I freak out with them indoors. I know, Im weird. Anyway, housekeeping came and vacuumed everything including the veranda (which apparently had a few more ants on it). Tired and a wee bit stressed we headed off to bed.
May 25th Grand Cayman: The environmental officer came this morning and put out some ant bait in the corners of the room and on the veranda. He says that most likely they walked across the veranda and either crawled in when we had the door open while going in and out or they came in on something we carried in from out there. The assumption was that someone brought them onboard in something from Key West and it just took a while for them to hit our room. He was very kind and we didnt have any more problems with ants during the trip so Im hoping that someone else didnt. Guest services called back later on to check with us to make sure that the room was okay now. We had breakfast and sent DS off to the lab again until lunchtime. At lunchtime we grabbed DS and ate and then went onto Grand Cayman. Wed expected there to be a beach area near the dock but there wasnt so we just wandered through the shops a bit and the Cayman museum before our shore excursion. We went to Stingray City and loved it. DS made some friends on the boat trip out there and loved feeding the stingrays. We got back to the dock just in time to make the last tender over to the ship. We showered and got ice cream from scoops and then went to see Hercules. DH raved about Hades stealing the show. Went to see a wonderful juggler after the show (I dont have my navigator with me so I cant remember his name). Dinner was wonderful as always and DH and I decided to go out to the deck party after dinner while DS went off to the lab. We had a wonderful time and so did DS.
May 26th Cozumel: We live very close to the Mexico border and were not as excited about Cozumel as some other people on the cruise were, but we were excited about going on the Dolphin excursion. We didnt tell DS until that morning because we knew hed obsess over that and not have as much fun on other things if he knew that was coming up. We left DS on board in the morning while DH and I went on shore to buy the obligatory bauble for my mother (she was taking in our mail and watching the house and such). After that we came back onboard and had lunch with DS before taking off to our Dolphin Encounter and the Chankanaab (or some such spelling) Park. We rode in taxi vans over there without incidence and had a lovely walk through the archeology area (fake ruins) before our time with the dolphins. DS was practically beside himself at first but behaved very, very well. DH and I considered ourselves fortunate that we were in the shade during the encounter (trying desperately not to get burned), but DS kept bouncing under the water and making himself cold due to the slight breeze. We were going to go snorkeling after the dolphins, but decided not to due to DS shivering. We bought some great pictures of us with the dolphin and a beach towel. Took a short stroll around the rest of the park and took another taxi (price included in the excursion) back to the ship. Showered up, got more ice cream, played ping-pong some more and then went to watch Home on the Range. Cute movie, hadnt had a chance to see it in the theaters. DS went back to the lab between dinner and DH and I relaxed with some quiet time before dinner. Dinner was in Parrot Cay and was lots of fun. DS went to a piñata party and the lab after dinner and closed out the lab that night.
