Day 7, would you believe that it is even a nicer day today
It was really something to see the ship backed into port, and was I thinking how I hate parallel parking,
and how do they back something so big in without hitting the dock.
We had a leisurely breakfast in Parrot Cay and then headed out.
I have read so much about
Castaway Cay that I was sure it could not live up to it the expectations, but boy was I wrong, I found a little piece of heaven
.
We stopped and mailed letters to daddy (DD7 wrote, I am having a ton of fun and you can teach me to surf now, I like the ocean) and got pictures with Captain Hook and Minnie with no line up.
The girls were too scared to get their picture with Jack Sparrow, but I did, the girls laughed
when Jack asked them if it was me they were scared of and not Jack Sparrow. Too much togetherness can be an issue on vacations, but it was not a problem on this trip.
We were meeting up with disneyfaninaz for lunch so we found some chairs nearby and headed into the water. DD7 loves monkey bars so she was on a mission to head to the climbing structure,
the one on the left side with too intimidating for DD but the one on the back was not as high out of the water and she was able to climb across and drop into the water
. She had a blast with that.
We still had some time before lunch and the girls noticed people with ice cream cones so we went in search of the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cones. We had taken some chairs down to the waters edge, the girls sat in the water eating ice cream and DD 5 looks at me and says this is heaven, it was a great morning.
It was now lunch time and the girls met up with their friends for lunch. After lunch it was back into the water, I think the girls bobbed around the water for a couple of hours, and I just sat there enjoying the beautiful beach, with the fun music in the background. There are a lot of people on the beach but it did not feel crowded, and if you were in the water it was almost deserted.
I could not believe when the staff was starting to pack up everything, where did the day go.
We decided to head back.
Lilo and Stich were near the ship but for the first time on the trip DD5 did not want to get her picture take, so no picture with Lilo and Stitch.
What a perfect day.
The girls lounged around the room and we headed up for dinner. As I mentioned previously dinner was the most stressful part of the trip and tonight was the worst. Everyone was tired and it was another slow dinner, so I ended up leaving as soon as the girls were done (I left all the tips with the server, I sure hope he passed them on). I am sure many people enjoy their dinners with new friends , but I found the Dining rooms so crowded and noisy. Next trip I may request a table to ourselves, I just found it too much work trying to have a conversation with the other family and also look after the girls, especially when the meals dragged on. We were surrounded by small tables and they would be finished their dinner before we got our main courses and I thought that would be so much easier.
We took a last wander around the ship and a last meeting at the porthole windows with our new friends. DD5 hates saying goodbye and it was a slow walk back to our room.
We ordered room service for the last time and went to sleep.
Sat.
We were scheduled for a 6:30 breakfast on Saturday and I knew there was no way we would make that, I had a wakeup call for 7:30 and it was hard getting the girls up then, no one wanted to leave.
I had ordered some extra fruit and milk with the previous nights room service order so the girls munched on that while I packed up. We were out of the room by 8:15 and it was slow getting off the boat, we did not make if off until about 9:15, they were holding people on the walkway off the ship into the area with the escalators.
I tend to follow the rules and did not bring any food off the ship with me, I wish I had put in an extra cereal box. I was not able to get direct flights on AirTran between noon and 7:00 so I decided we would stay at the Pop Century and take a morning flight home on Sunday, which meant we were taking the
DCL transfers.
Boy were they slow, it took us over 2 hours to get to the hotel and the kids were hungry
. The bus left pretty much as soon as we got on, but we were the 6th hotel they dropped off at..
We get to the Pop Century and there was a huge line up to store luggage, so we get into that line and store our bags as I knew a room would not be ready. By this time the kids are exhausted so we get something to eat and decide to forget minigolfing and spend the afternoon at the pool.
The girls got Webkinz for Christmas and had been asking for clothes for them. The clothes are hard to find in Canada so I had gotten some on line delivered to the hotel, and the girls were thrilled to have them, unfortunately DD5 lost one of her outfits within a 5 minute time frame. An employee at the Gift shop there was so helpful in looking forward it. We had no luck but the young girl felt sorry for DD and gave her a lovely pin. A couple days after I returned home I got a message from the Pop Century and the outfit was found and they had sent it out
.
Disney service is top notch, I know the hotels I have worked in we would charge the guest for the shipping of lost and found items and Disney does not. Working in the hotel industry I think the Customer Service at Disney is what impresses me the most, and I can just imagine the training they receive.
We spent the afternoon at the Pools, it was a beautiful hot afternoon. The girls had lots of fun, but I was surprised how empty the pools were.
Our room is ready, and once again the we are upgraded to a preferred room this time.
The best part was it was really close to the airline check in desk, which was wonderful as we had a 5:45 AM magic express pick up, and way too much luggage. I guess I have to admit I have become a bit of a hotel snob, the grounds were fun for the kids, it was a great pool for me to keep track of the girls, but the room was in dire need of a good cleaning. If it was a longer stay I would never have stayed in that room, and I dont think I will be staying there again.
I tried to convince the girls that we should go to Downtown Disney for dinner, but none of us land legs yet so headed back to the pool.
This is one thing not mentioned on the DIS boards often and that is affects of cruising and getting back on still land. My head was rocking for 4 days, really badly, DD7 said the same thing and I wonder if this is normal, or did I just have really bad post holiday depression?
So I though I had a hard time getting the girls up on the Saturday , it was nothing compared to trying to get them up at 5:00 AM on Sunday, they were dead to the world, and it took a good 15 minutes to wake them up. The original flight I had booked was for 11:30 and it had been changed to 8:45 and I knew it was too early, but the good thing was they slept pretty much the whole flight home.
Resort Airline Check in is wonderful and I will always book a participating airline for the flight home, the check in area at MCO was a zoo, and we got to by pass that. Security was not terribly bad, we had time for breakfast and then we were off.
Living in Southern Ontario I have just discovered flying from Buffalo, wow what a treat that is, we were out of the airport and on the way home with in 30 minutes, and the fare was $1700 less than flying from Toronto, for US flights I will never fly from Toronto again.
The cruise was a perfect vacation for us and it is hard to be home.
I learned so much from the boards, I dont think there was one tip that was more important than another, it was everything put together made it seem like your know what to expect, you know that saying Knowledge is King
Not once during the trip did I stress about the safety of the girls, as I did not feel like I was in a strange place.. I was most surprised about the lack of time we spent at the pools, DD7 before the trip said she was spending 5 hours a day at the pool and in actuality we did not make it to the pool after the Monday, there is just too much to do.
If I could give a few tips it is to go in with the mindset that you cannot do it all, and take lots of pictures because it goes so fast you will have no idea where the time went. Also go to your Cruise Dis Meet thread and get involved, you never know who you will meet and it is nice to see a familiar face in the crowds.
Things I will do differently is not go to the parks prior to the cruise and head home on the Sunday, also pack less, I had way too many clothes, dinners are very casual even the formal and semi formal nights.
Thanks everyone for all the great advice and if anyone has any questions ask away, now I am really sad as the trip is really over.
but today was the day the ship was going on daylight savings time, so we ended up at Topsiders at around 10:45 and they were starting to take breakfast down, so basically the morning was a write off.
) and walk around the top deck.
Thanks so much for your trip report! It was lovely!
You did an awesome job! Thank you so much for sharing. You're such a great mom! Your girls are very lucky! 
