First let me say that I had read everything I could find in the forums and Passporter about getting on the ship. I was prepared for anything they could throw at me...long lines... chaos...tight security... food choices etc... being a
Disney cruise, I'm not sure why I bothered. If airports could operate with about 1/2 the efficiency as this Disney Terminal, I might not hate flying so much! We pulled up to the well marked terminal about 10:30 and we were obviously not the first to arrive by the bags in the area, but we were pretty close! A kind porter took our bags and Mike took the Avis car to the rental place down the road. Sianna and I proceeded inside and past security with little problems. Upstairs and to the first customer service person available, there were no lines! We were assigned loading group #4, I had read enough to know that this was not the best, but also not the worse number we could get. I had Mike's passport so I was able to check us all in except for one small thing, I did not have the credit card that I had used on the paperwork for the charge account. He had it. So the lady said that he should stop by the counter when he came in, and that she would verify it and give him his KTW card. He called during this time to say that I had the rental agreement and he wasn't sure if that would be a problem when turning in the car.. it wasn't.
After that two big things then happened almost simultaneously, Mike and Mickey Mouse arrived. Of course I spotted Mickey first along with Sianna who maneuvered herself to be first in line to get a picture with Mickey in front of the model ship. At the same time I am attempting to both photograph and video tape Sianna and Mickey, Mike is calling my cell to say he is downstairs and where do I meet him. Mike comes up and I send him to the numbered agent who was holding his card. He comes back saying the lady has no clue what he is talking about. So I put Sianna in front of an old Donald Duck cartoon on the TV and go with him to the service agent, to find out the lady I spoke to had left. However, I pointed out to the new agent where she had set his card, she finds it, and we are on our way.
Now in between the fun with Mickey and Mike, I'm in line trying to check Sianna into the kid's program. Their computers are down and the line is pretty long. However, the is really nothing else to do before getting on the ship, so why not wait. It was probably the longest, slowest line I waited in all week. Probably a good 1/2 hour to get it started moving and get to me. I did get her checked in and got our beeper for the week. Mike ended up wearing it when she was in the clubs, it was like the beeper he used for EMS so he had a clue how to use it. She never had us paged the entire week.
We bumped into several Disers, who recognized us from the forum, and ended up chatting in a small group for a while. We took some pictures outside with the ship, and proceeded to wait to load the ship. About 11:30 or 11:45 they actually started calling the groups. It was a little chaotic due to the a mix of lines (one group trying to get on the ship and the other group still trying to check in kids for the kid's club).
Once our group was called it wasn't that long before we got check in. That was interesting, since apparently something was off with my KTW card, my card checked me in, when Sianna's was swiped I left..and when Mike's was swiped I was checked in again... or something to that nature. They fiddle with all the cards for a few minutes and whatever the problem was, it was fixed very quickly. Pictures taken and then boarding the ship. Yep I video taped that too! Still love hearing our name announced! The
YouTube link is on my actual site.
The first stop we made was guest services. No one in line. I got 2 tickets to Tea with Alice and then we headed off to lunch. Our original plan was to go to Parrot's Cay, but that was immediately changed once we went aft and found a huge line to get in. We spotted the aft elevators, detoured upstairs and quickly jumped in line at Topsiders. I'm glad. We actually enjoyed Topsiders many times throughout the cruise. It was nice to eat outside on the deck and know that you're on a boat rather in some of the enclosed dining rooms; plus it was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful view.
It was a quick meal, and we were done by 12:30. We changed Sianna into her bathing suit and headed off to the Mickey pool, where she proceeded to wear out the Mickey slide. By 1:30 she had enough time to play, so she was ok with getting changed and heading down to see our stateroom, #6089.
When we arrived at our room, it was generally what I expected. I read tons of opinions on the room size, so as long as it was physically bigger than my closet at home I was prepared. It wasn't bad. A good comparison is the size of a medium RV without popout sides. Certainly liveable for a week when I didn't expect to be in there much. The bathroom was TINY, but again, nothing out of the ordinary for an RV. Though in looking back, my worse cases of sea sickness came when I was standing in that bathroom getting ready. I think it was a mixture of the motion and my claustrophobia kicking in! I did get nauseous during the trip several times for the first 3 days. The Dramamine and kid's motion sickness pills I packed work fine though, and I never missed a meal or threw up. I did end up taking the Dramamine every night, but for an entirely different reason I'll mention later!
One bag had arrived, so I unloaded it while we looked around the room. Within the next 1/2 hour all our suitcases except for one was dropped off (and the stroller and car seat). We unpacked everything, grabbed our name tags, and headed up to the Dis'ers meeting at 3 in the Promenade lounge. We were a few minutes late, but certainly not the last to arrive. We got our Fish Extender list, heard the drill announcements and headed back to our room.
I knew by reading the forum that you weren't doing yourself a favor by being the first to arrive. Despite the fact both Mike and Sianna had their jackets on and were ready to bolt out the door right that second, we waited until it was closer to the time and headed up. Good thing, we were probably in the middle of the group. Not as crammed as I've read in some reports, but there were a lot of people on a small deck! I forgot to take pictures. No worries, the life jackets were not fashion statements by any means!
When we got back to the room, I grabbed the camcorder and we headed out to the Cast Away party. What a fun party. At this point I do not have that up on YouTube, though I have been threatening Mike with it since he stepped up on stage. You see, Mike was selected to go up on stage, dance and enthuse the crowd. He was great, and it was wonderful seeing him relax and have a good time. Normally he is not the type to jump up on stage, or even dance in public (that's my daughter), but he was great up there. I regret that his fellow nurses could not appreciate Mike when he 'lets his hair down'. For the rest of the cruise, strangers would approach us and know his name from his time on stage. I watched Mike and Sianna from Deck 10 so I could get a good shot of the party and us leaving port. It worked for the most part, though they definitely seemed to be having a good time. Next cruise, I'm down there with them and will not bother filming the event. And yes, I teared up when the horn played "When you Wish Upon a Star". I knew I would.
After that we stood up on deck 10 and watched as we left the Port. Then to continue our never ending motion, we headed back down to the room to change for our first dinner, Animator's Palate. We had the 5:45 seating. For those who are interested, our rotation was APPLAPL. The 3rd night when we were back in Parrot's Cay was for Formal Night and the 2nd time in Animator's was Pirate Night. We ended up going to Palo on Thursday so never went back to Parrot's Cay.
We met our servers, Andrea from Croatia and Laki, both were very kind and likeable and did their best to help us through the week. Here is a picture of Sianna and Andrea.
We were at a table for 4 people by ourselves for the whole week. It was actually a little disappointing since we are sociable and wanted to meet others at the meals. Mike thinks it is because I'm a diabetic and that information had been sent to the ship before we arrived. It isn't like I have allergies against anything and they had wonderful sugar-free desert options so it doesn't interfere with my dining.
The meal and show at Animator's Palate was fun and kept Sianna's attention. The one criticism about the food we had the whole week was the kid's menu. Sianna loves soup so they had chicken noodle as an appetizer. She had a few bites and then refused to eat it. At first I thought she was being picky, but then I tasted it and it had no more taste than tap water. We learned as the week went on to just order her food from the adult menu. She loved the chilled fruit soups like I do, and also enjoyed the crab cakes and other appetizers from our menu. Sometimes she would try a main dish from the kid's menu, but not that often. Her Mickey Pasta with marinara ended up coming out with an alfredo instead. Luckily she likes that more than marinara, so we didn't correct the waiters. Other than that, Mike learned the first night to order his meat medium rather than medium rare, since he had to send back his meat to be cooked a little more. Medium was perfect for him the rest of the week.
We rarely drink alcohol at dinners, so the wine didn't appeal to us, and I hadn't budgeted for smoothies for Sianna, but I had heard they had soy milk. Both Sianna and I love soy milk, so the first night I asked for soy milk. It took Laki a while to find some, but he finally produced some chocolate soy, which was ok, though we preferred regular or vanilla we didn't say anything. I decided the next night to tell him regular milk would be ok if it was going to be a problem. However, every night after that we had vanilla soy milk at our table waiting for us.
After dinner we went to the kids club for welcome party for the whole family. It was so cute. They did a little show with 'characters' popping in to introduce the kids and parents to what they would do and who they would meet through the week. I don't mean the typical Mickey Mouse, but more the 'mad scientist' who taught them to make flubber, and the French chef, who cooked chocolate chip cookies with them, etc. It actually made me tear up again to see all the energy and dedication that is put into the kid's activities. It was important to me when we chose this cruise as a family, that Sianna have just as much fun as Mike and I, and I could tell by the first night it wasn't going to be an issue. I was right. The issue became more of convincing her to 'spending more time as a family' rather than her 'living in the kid's club' night and day. We did find out that we could check her into the kid's club that night. I had thought by reading the current and past Navigators that you could not, but I was incorrect. However, we already had planned to take her to the Welcome show and have an early night, so we stuck to that plan.
The show was good, there was a comedian and hypnotist along with the regular welcome aboard show. It did set a nice theme for the cruise and we made every show they had during the week.
After that it was back to the room and hit the bed. We had to get up in the morning since we were the first group to have a character breakfast the next day. A bed time note... our room was backed to the laundry. We never heard people talking, never heard the washers tumbling or running, but what we did hear while laying in bed was the beeping sound the machines made when you programmed them or when they were done. This beeping went on long into the night, and started again early in the morning as some people obviously have odd hours of doing their washing. The first two nights it kept me sleeping very fitfully, mainly trying to figure out what the noise was and where it was coming from. By the time I discovered what it was several nights later, I was taking Dramamine to knock me out and turning up the sound machine we brought along to create 'loud waves' through the night. It is the last time we book a room near the laundry!
I cant believe this is my first cruise and Im so excited. Im lucky because I travel a lot, in fact I own a US tour company that takes international families around the USA
but this is so much different! 
