Our Land/Sea Vacation Report
We are a family of 5, 2 adults and 3 kids ages 9, 7 and 3. My In-Laws went with us as well. We booked a Land/Sea Vacation through Dreams Unlimited and I should have known that the vacation would be as great as my experience with Dreams Unlimited and Misti at Dreams. We booked 2 staterooms. The In-laws booked room 7626 with a Navigator Verandah and my family of 5 booked a Family Stateroom with Verandah room number 8550. We decided to do our own airfare down since we had enough frequent flier miles with Delta. We scheduled our flight down on Thursday but since we were going on a free flight we didnt get into Orlando until 11 pm that night. We were in the Polynesian hotel for the first 3 days of this trip and it was a wonderful hotel. I LOVED being on the Monorail line to WDW and the TTC. Using the Buses wasnt bad either but the Monorail was definitely a lot more convenient for us with a 3 year old who was anything but cooperative most of the time. We also decided to book our own transportation so we contacted yourride.net and it was a really good decision on our part! I emailed Rabbit back and forth so many times and then he called me at home the night before we left! Great Customer Service from them that is for sure! We took our jogging stroller and never had any problems using it either in the parks or on the stops from the boat. It was nice to have since the 3 year old fell asleep in it many nights. The following review is my opinion only (or the opinion of my family members) and I have tried to be very fair in my opinions realizing that most of the bad was out of Disneys control and I do NOT blame them for that which they cannot control.
First the positives and negatives and then the review:
POSITIVES
Convenient to check in at the hotel for the ship and to have one key to do everything with including purchasing at the parks, the hotel, the ship and being the ticket into the parks and onto the boat and our room key it was really nice! Also having the packages delivered either to your hotel or to a package holding place was really nice as well.
The Polynesian Hotel was really nice
A lot of great Cast Members everywhere we went who were more than willing to help out when they could.
The Cinderella Breakfast! Definitely a great breakfast and if possible not to be missed!
The crowds were very minimal on most days and getting around was fairly easy to figure out but there is also a negative here as well and that will be listed below.
Pin Trading
The SHIP!
Disney Dreams
Dueling Pianos
The lotions they give you at the Hotels and the Ship.
Booking excursions before you leave
Dolphin Encounter in Freeport
Castaway Cay
Disembarkation off the ship
Finding luggage when you disembark
Port Orleans Riverside is a beautiful resort
Yourride.net for transportation
NEGATIVES
THE WEATHER!!!!!!!
Having to leave an hour before you have to be somewhere to make sure you get there on time.
Having to have a PS for any decent restaurant or else having to eat at a greasy fast food restaurant.
The prices are ridiculous
The WEATHER!!!!
Rude workers at the port running the Metal Detectors, helping to get us on the ship and Security people as well
Our wait staff was very good except that they didnt bring the kids food early enough and we never got any magic tricks or any interaction with the wait staff except to order our dinner.
Our Scuba tour was changed and not what we expected or were told we would get even after explaining the change.
The Glass Bottom Boat tour in Nassau is a waste of money and time.
RAIN at Castaway Cay along with wind
Hercules was a waste of time in our opinion
Who wants to be a Mouseketeer was also a waste of our time
The WEATHER!!!!!! Cold, Windy, Rainy yuck!
Trying to get out on the Verandah with the Murphy bed down on the ship.
Not enforcing the NO swim diaper rule in the pools on the ship. I videotaped 5 babies under the age of 1 with a parent in the Mickey and Goofy pools and they were never said a word to about it nor did I see anything posted about it anywhere.
Our room 8550 was great for our family of 5 since our kids are smaller but the one thing I did NOT like is heaing all of the action above me day and night. We could hear kids running, tables and chairs scraping on the floor above us and I think the worst part was the sailaway party at Nassau where we could hear the music in our room 1 deck down! Thankfully we brought a sound machine with us so it wasnt to bad to sleep through but I dont know if I would get a room on that deck again! I thought since the suites were up there and everything it would be really nice but listening to all that we listened to got irritating after awhile.
Things I brought with me that I am SO glad I had:
The over the door shoe holder. I didnt think we would use it but it was SO handy with 5 of us in a room to keep stuff together.
My own hairdryer
Packing my kids a complete outfit in a Ziploc bag. It made getting dressed SO much easier.
Wrinkle Releaser
A LOT of $1.00 bills
Rain Ponchos
Now on to the review:
Day 1 Thursday - We got to Orlando about 11 pm and had Mike from yourride.net waiting for us. Yourride and Rabbit were SO nice and SO easy to work with! He was amazing!! Mike was absolutely GREAT to have as a driver! He was there waiting for us at baggage claim with his bright pink sign. He also had to wait for my in-laws to show up on another flight and then wait for their bags as well. He carried HEAVY luggage for us and did so willingly. The in-laws showed up and we were on our way. We stayed at the Polynesian for the first 3 nights and it was amazing! I absolutely LOVED being on the monorail line!!! We got to the hotel about midnight and we had a bellman deliver our luggage to our rooms. Check in was very easy and quick and we were told that we needed to go to the cruise check in desk before Sunday to get all set to go on the ship. The 2 older kids and the In-laws rode with the bellman and hubby and I along with our sleeping 3 year old walked to our room. We were in the Tokelau (spelling) building on the first floor with adjoining rooms 1941 and 1942. They were great! We were only a few short steps to the swimming pool (not the one with the slide but the other one) and it was great!! We tipped the bellman and headed to bed. It was about 1 am when we finally collapsed into our beds after setting our wakeup time for 7:30.
Day 2 Friday - Got up early and got ready to head out to Cinderellas Castle for breakfast. Having NO idea what we were doing was a little stressful but the CMs were amazing for us. We hopped on the monorail line and headed out to Magic Kingdom. We went into Cinderellas Castle and only waited about 5-10 min and we were seated! This was AMAZING to say the least! The Castle at Disneyland is nice but NOTHING like this!! This was great and the characters were amazing as well!! The kids were almost too excited to eat but we forced them into gagging down breakfast and then off we went into the park. The crowds were so light it was amazing! We NEVER waited longer than 10 min for a ride the whole day! My 3 year old was addicted to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin so we rode that quite a lot! He was able to ride everything but Space Mountain and it was great!!! We stayed until Park Closing and then went to Epcot. Epcot was great and the Test Track was excellent! Even the 3 year old loved it and was able to ride! We rode it twice and then we headed out to find somewhere to eat. We found Le Cellier in the Canada pavilion but didnt realize it was reservations only so they called back to the Kona Café and they had an 8 oclock Priority Seating and it was 7:30 so we hurried as fast as possible back to the Kona after we made reservations at Le Cellier for Saturday night. We barely made it back in time to make our PS at Kona but thankfully we did. We got to the Kona and ate and then I remembered that they did the water parade every night so we headed down to the beach about 5 min until 9 and got great seats on the front row to watch the parade and then went back to the room and CRASHED for the night! We were exhausted running on nearly empty after arriving at the Poly so late the night before.
Day 3 Saturday - Woke up this morning and it didnt look like it was very sunny but I looked out and there were a few patches of sky out there so I went and hopped in the shower. When I got out I looked out again and it was POURING RAIN! It rained all day long and it was SO miserable! We ate at Kona this morning and we had the Tonga toast and MMMM is all we can say! It was as good as others have said. We bought the kids Mickey Rain ponchos and we had brought some from home (thanks to the wonderful people on this board) and we set out in the rain or should I say downpour to MGM. We got there and it was cold and rainy and yucky and everyone looked alike in yellow Mickey rain ponchos so at Guest Services inside MGM they had a permanent marker so we put names on the kids ponchos so we could find them. It takes A LOT longer to get around than we imagined so we didnt get to MGM until about 10:30 or so. We went to the Tower of Terror and even the 3 year old rode it. We all thought it was great except Mother in Law and 3 year old. Then we went on the Rockin Roller Coaster and left Mother in Law and 3 year old behind. WOW what a ride that was!! It was great and since there were NO lines we rode it again! LOL We then wandered around in the rain hoping it would stop (It didnt) and we decided it was time to eat somewhere. That is another thing about these parks that I dont like is you either have to eat Burgers and fries or else you have to have a PS for every place. That was tough to do considering kids and schedules and such! Finally about 2:30 the 3 year old and I were so miserable and he was crying and cold and wanted to go so he and I headed off to the hotel and the others were going to go to watch the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt show and then head to Epcot or come back to the hotel. It took us FOREVER to get back to the Poly from MGM. It wouldnt have been bad if it hadnt been pouring rain! We got back to the Poly and the 3 year old watched T.V. and I set about trying to dry our wet clothes and pants and shoes. I didnt know if they had a laundry with a dryer but didnt want to go back out into the rain so I had the hotel hairdryer going and my hair dryer going and was able to dry his clothes and mine before hubby and the other 2 kids came back. They wanted to go swimming so they all went to the pool and I kept drying clothes with the hairdryer method (and it worked really well) UNTIL I popped a breaker and we were unable to use our bathroom! LOL The whole bathroom went black and so did the light in the hall so we called maintenance and just as we were leaving to meet the in-laws at the Le Cellier steakhouse they came. We left and it had FINALLY stopped raining which was nice. It took again forever to get to Epcot and we finally figured out you have to leave an HOUR before you need to be somewhere! We got there and ate dinner. It was excellent but EXPENSIVE!! After dinner we went out into Epcot and looked at all the different lands until it was time for Illuminations. WHAT A SPECTACULAR SHOW! It was awesome!!! After that we left to go back to the hotel and get ready to pack up to get to the Ship the next day. We packed up and went to bed and set a wakeup call to get up around 7 the next morning to get to Animal Kingdom before we headed out to the ship.
Day 4- Sunday - We got up and headed up to the counter service at the Poly for breakfast. We then called Bell services and they held our luggage for us while we went to Animal Kingdom. It was FREEZING cold today at the park but not raining and still it was fun! We spent a few hours there and then Mike from yourride came to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to pick us up. We went back to the Poly to get our luggage and then headed to the ship. Doing our own transportation was great for us. We were able to decide when and where to go and it was great! At Animal Kingdom we did the Safari and walked around a little bit. The animals were out and my kids loved it. At 11:40 we left to go to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to meet Mike from yourride. He was there waiting for us on time as usual and it was much appreciated. We got in the van, got our luggage from the Poly and were on our way. When we hit the hill where you can see the ship we woke the kids up so they could see it. They were amazed at how big it was. It was exciting! No matter how many cruises you have been on there is just nothing like seeing your ship come into view that first time!! It was beautiful sitting there waiting for us. After waiting for the Port Security Officer to take his full investigation of the car in front of us as well as getting blood and urine samples (JUST KIDDING) we got our documents checked out and then headed to the curb to give the luggage to the porter. We kept our carry on luggage and went into the metal detectors. This was the first time we met a rude person and those people at the detectors were just downright rude! We had 7 of us trying to get through those detectors along with laptops for the plane ride down and carryon bags and fanny packs and such and they would NOT let the kids and in-laws wait for us. They yelled at them to get on the escalator and go upstairs. Once we finally got the clear we headed up there as well. We were in a pretty good line at this time of day (about 1:30 or so) and so we waited. The kids saw a few of the characters so we started taking pictures of them. They handed out a paper with questions on it (multiple choice) and if you got all the answers right you got a free pin so we spent the time in line figuring out what we could. We wound our way through the line and got to the point just before going into the mouse ears. They checked our documentation once again and we proceeded through the Mickey head and down to the scan place for the KTTW cards. Only 2 out of 7 worked and the others we had to go into a room on the left hand side and get new cards issued to us which was somewhat of a pain. We FINALLY got that done and were ready to board the ship when we encountered another rude woman who would NOT let us board the ship. She made us stand to the side without any explanation and they were not allowing anyone else to get on either. We stood there for what seemed to be an eternity (probably only about 5-10 min but with anticipation it felt like forever) when FINALLY a nice gentleman let us know what was going on. Apparently the cold front that went through the state was whipping the wind around and the gangplank was moving and it was unsafe to get on it so we had to wait for them to secure it before we could go onto the ship. My 3 year old was going berserk but we finally got to walk on. It was really fun to have our names announced and having people clap for us as we walked on. The kids thought that was COOL and we thought this was one of many of the nice touches of Disney! The ship is absolutely beautiful. We went to our room and in-laws went to theirs. We then headed upstairs to the Beach Blanket Buffet to eat as we were starving. We ate and then decided to go explore the ship a little bit. It was miserable to eat up on deck because the winds were so terrible but we managed. Hubby and I bought the refillable mugs on board and they were wonderful for us. We definitely got our moneys worth (probably on the first day) and then we set off for exploration. We went down to our cabin and had 2 of 4 pieces of luggage IN our room already. Our room Stewardess was Koshara and she was amazing. We then put on the dreaded life jackets and headed up to deck 4 for our station drill. I thought the 3 year old would have a hard time but it was fairly quick and painless. He cried a little bit just because the sun was in his eyes but did well. Then we headed off to the room, put the life jackets away and went up for the sail away party. This is another area where Disney KICKS BUTT! It was such a great time for the kids and adults that we were just ecstatic to be there. We had first seating so at 5:00 we went downstairs to find that the rest of our luggage was there. We hurried and unpacked, changed for dinner and set out to find Parrot Cay. That was our first restaurant and it was pretty good. Actually the food was excellent but they had a band playing and it was SO loud that we couldnt hold any kind of conversation. We had table 66 for 8 so we had our own table which was great. I think had we had to have another family with us they would have been upset because our 3 year old was terrible at meals. Our waiter was Zdrakov and our busboy was Prakash. They were fairly good but nothing too spectacular and they did NOTHING to keep the kids occupied. I was also upset because they did NOT bring the kids anything to eat until we were eating our main course and the kids were bored and hungry and we were eating and they were not. It was pretty miserable and I thought things would get better in this department but they did not. It wasnt anything huge but it was kind of disappointing. After dinner we headed out to the Kids Club to register the kids and get the pager and then off to Hercules. I was very disappointed in Hercules. My kids were bored and actually fell asleep in it for a little while. The 3 year old went to bed before it started and that was probably good since we didnt feel it would have kept his attention long enough. After the show we went up and went to bed. This was a very exhausting trip for us that is for sure but it has been a blast as well! We loved the ship and the kids were absolutely in heaven being on it with characters!
Day 5 Monday - Nassau, Bahamas. Hubby and I are certified divers so we scheduled a 2 tank dive with the Disney Excursion before we left. It was VERY reasonable considering what we paid on Carnival to go diving in Belize and we were excited to go. We headed down to the meeting place and waited. The In-laws kept the kids while we went and took them swimming and to eat lunch. While we were waiting to go we were informed that our dive would be a 1 tank dive and that they took 20 dollars off the cost of the dive so even better (or so I thought) and we were still happy to go. We headed down the stairs to the exit and then walked quite a distance (not prepared for that) to the scuba boat. We headed out about 30 min or so to a snorkeling reef where we got to go scuba but here is another disappointment that I realize Disney could do nothing about but it was still somewhat disappointing when you plan one thing and get something totally different and maybe not as good. We went into the water and only went down 10 feet the whole time. There were nice fish and coral but after 10-15 min it got rather boring and it was really getting cold. We stayed down for a little more than an hour and by the end of it I was starting to get really cold. They said we couldnt do the 2nd dive because of a cold front moving into Nassau as well and the other dive site we were going to go to had waves that were 8-10 feet high and it wasnt safe (which I understand but it was still a tad bit disappointing.) We then went back to the boat where we decided to put the kids in the club while we went to Tritons and ate a sit down lunch. We had to force them to go but promised them only for an hour and then we would go on the glass bottom boat tour. We ate at Tritons for lunch and once again amazing food! We were really impressed. Another thing I loved about this is that they include soda with your meals. On Carnival and Norwegian they did not do this and we paid a fortune in bar bills just for soda. We do not drink alcohol so this is a deal for us. It was nice to get as many as we wanted for nothing. We went back up after our nice lunch to get the kids out of their clubs and of course then they didnt want to go. We had to go since we had paid for a tour but we were wishing once we got on the tour that we had left them in the clubs and not booked this tour. It was not exciting at all and the kids were cold and bored and wanted to go back up on top of the boat in the sun and get warm. There were fish and it was ok but quite boring. Definitely NOT worth the $$$ we paid to go!! After the tour we headed into the straw market. Typical junk type stuff but our 9 year old daughter bought a purse and the girl embroidered her name on it for her so she was happy. The kids and I went back to the ship to get ready while hubby and his parents went to more stores in Nassau. I wasnt interested in buying anything there but I thought that the Island was very pretty in its own way! The people wanting to do braiding were pushy but a firm no and they left us alone. My 9 year old didnt want her hair braided although I wish she would have done it. We had Tritons for dinner tonight so we got ready. This is another area of Disney that I love as well. I love having the 3 dining rooms and 2 dinner seatings so you dont feel like a huge herd of cattle going to dinner! Tritons is absolutely beautiful! We had a great dinner and we actually ended up putting the 3 year old in the club while we ate again but just as we were getting ready for dessert they paged us to come and get him. In-laws kept the 3 year old and put him to bed and we went up to the Sail away party! GREAT FUN! Another great thing Disney does! The Sovereign of the Seas was in port next to us and you could see a lot of people watching the party and I am sure they were wishing they had something like that happening as well. It was a lot of fun but we knew we needed to go to bed because we had Freeport the next day.
Day 6 Tuesday - Got up early today to go on the 8:15 Dolphin Excursion. We ate breakfast at Beach Blanket and then headed to the lounge to wait to leave. We got out of the ship and into busses and headed to the Dolphin Encounter store. Freeport is a beautiful place (or at least WE thought so) and we loved all the stores and different colors and stuff. We then boarded a boat and headed out to the Encounter where we had a great time and it was awesome!! My kids LOVED touching the Dolphins and we wished we could have spent all day there with them. They were amazing and the memories and pictures were well worth the money that is for sure!!! After, we went back to do some shopping near where the busses let us off. I bought some perfume and my boys got a plastic dolphin that squeaked (good idea there NOT) and my 9 year old daughter bought a Caribbean Dress to wear. We got on the bus at 1 and went back to the ship where the kids then swam and the 3 year old napped along with hubby. About 5 we went back to the room to get ready for our night in Animators. What a great place that is as well! It was amazing and we had a great time there! That room is truly Disney and it was fun! Tonight was Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer and we were bored so we just wandered with the kids and did some shopping and some pin buying. I got my daughter started the first day at the Poly so this was a lot of fun! We are both now hooked on it and loved it!!! Then my mother in law headed with the kids to the Buena Vista Theatre to see Spy Kids 2 and hubby and I went down to the Dueling Piano show and to look around and video some of the ship. The dueling piano show was excellent and we were wishing we could have stayed there longer. Finally we decided to call it a day since we had Castaway Cay the next day and we wanted to get off the ship pretty early and head out for our fun day at the beach. The weather in Freeport was the best of the whole trip. Really warm and not very windy considering the winds we had had earlier!
Day 7 Wednesday - Castaway Cay - Got up and went to breakfast at Beach Blanket. It was overcast but not too bad. A lot of wind came up as we were eating breakfast and by the time we were ready to get off the ship of course MORE RAIN! It was yucky and they were giving away free Rain Ponchos (that we paid more than 6 bucks for at the Poly only days before) so we snagged 7 of them, 10 towels and went off the ship in the rain. We rode the tram to the family beach and snagged some chairs. The kids immediately went swimming and I got them free life jackets. Hubby and his dad went snorkeling and I went to take videos and pictures. We met up and decided to go eat lunch and buy the kids some souvenirs. I was SO proud of myself that I bought the 4 pin set at Castaway and it was only $10.50. I had NO idea how good I had done until we got back in the parks on Thursday and Friday! We went to lunch at Cookies BBQ and the food there was ok. I dont like seafood so the lobster burger was out. The hamburger I got wasnt very good so I ended up eating some fruit (which I loved the fresh fruit stand there) and a ½ a hot dog and then we went to make sandcastles with our 40 dollar sand toys we purchased on the island! Not a good idea but something we did! Our 3 year old loved it. Then we went to rent our bikes (also rented floats but it was too cool to use them in my opinion so we let them go to waste) and went out on our ride. It was ok but I wasnt too impressed with the bikes or the ride. My 9 year old, mother in law and I walked back to the ship around 2:15 so we could get seats for Disney Dreams and the boys were going to follow. My 9 year old and I took showers and got ready and went down to the theatre. We got some snacks (cost me 20 dollars for them) and watched the show! It truly is as incredible as people say! I thought it was an excellent show as did my kids!! After Disney Dreams we went down to get ready for dinner at Parrot Cay and then off to see Santa Clause 2. What a great show! We had a great time. Afterwards we went to pick up the pictures we had taken of the kids with some of the characters like Cinderella, Belle and Mickey. We then went to the room to pack up and get ready for bed so we could be off the next morning. It was a very depressing thought of leaving the ship and we decided that 4 days is definitely NOT enough time! We are going to go again in Feb of 2004 when our youngest is almost 6 and we dont have to worry about strollers and naps!
Day 8 Thursday Disembarkation came and down to breakfast we went. They said 6:45 but we didnt show up until about 7:10 and still had no problems. We ate our breakfast and were off the ship about 8 am. Another plus for Disney is their disembarkation process! No color calling, waiting in lounges or anything else! We loved that part too. The luggage was all together in the same spot and it was very well organized! We had a green Tinkerbell tag and they were easy to find. We gave the customs official our form. Customs is a joke if you ask me. My Father in Law forgot his declaration form and so he told the Customs officer that and they let him off the ship without filling one out! They asked him if he bought anything and he told them no (he hadnt but how did they know?) and they didnt even have his name or anything! I think that is one of the biggest jokes of the trip (and this is on ANY cruise line not just Disney) but it is a waste of time if you ask me. One other joke that I forgot to mention was the security checks at the parks. What a waste of time and effort there. They never checked our stroller and I had my fanny pack on the top of it and they didnt check that either. Anyway, we left the building and went outside and waited for hubby to go get Mike from yourride again to take us back to our hotel to stay another few nights and this old rude security guy got in my face about why we were sitting on the bench and who was coming to get us and I told him my husband went to get Mike at the tent in the parking lot and then he would be there to pick us up and he went into a rant about how it would happen ONLY if my driver knew the ropes and blah blah blah. He was really rude and I dont know if he is a Disney employee or what but he was out of line that is for sure! My Mother in Law and kids had to go to the bathroom and they would NOT let them back inside to use a restroom at all. I think that is terrible when you have a cruise line that is dedicated to children and kids arent that predictable when it comes to using the bathroom and they had NOWHERE for you to use the restroom. It was really bad in my opinion! Put a Port a Potty out there for people if it is a security concern but come on. Finally Mike from yourride and hubby came, we got the luggage and begged Mike to stop for a bathroom break. He did and then we went to the In-laws off property hotel since they were leaving early the next morning and we were staying. We were then on our way to Port Orleans Riverside where we would stay 2 nights before heading home. We got there, tipped Mike and he told the In-Laws that Bob would be there in a Town car to pick them up at 9pm at Port Orleans to take them back to their airport hotel. We walked the 400 blocks (or so it felt) to our room at Port Orleans and got ready to go to the parks. I bought length of stay passes at the hotel and it was simple. We had to walk forever to get to our building in Alligator Bayou building 27 room 2715. It was a nice room with 2 double beds and a trundle bed. In-Laws went to Epcot for the day and we headed to WDW for the day with plans to meet them at Epcot at 8pm to watch Illuminations one more time before they went home. We had a pretty good day at WDW and the lines werent too long but a little longer than they had been the week before. We stayed there until 6 and we watched the firework show and it was fantastic behind the castle. We had PRIME seats for it and it was great! We then walked out with the herd of others to get the Epcot monorail and finally made it to Epcot about 7. Of course we couldnt find anywhere decent to eat so we ate at the Electric Umbrella and 3 year old fell asleep while we ate. We met the in-laws at 8 and were going to watch the Illuminations but our kids were just too tired and so were the adults so we left and went back to Port Orleans where yourride would pick up the inlaws. They left to go to their hotel and we went to bed with NO wakeup call set and decided that we would get up when we woke up, eat breakfast at the counter service at Port Orleans and then head to Animal Kingdom for the morning at least.
Day 9 Friday - We ate at the counter service at Port Orleans and then headed out. It was a nice warm day and we went to AK. What a great park. We really enjoyed our time there and I was glad that people talked me into going there. We originally thought we would skip it and stay at Disney and maybe MGM but we didnt and we are so glad! That afternoon we went back to Disneyworld for the day and then we went to Epcot after Magic Kingdom and were going to ride Test Track so we got fast passes, had a snack and then went back to use the passes. Of course we got into line, got into a car and the thing broke down while we were sitting in the car ready to go. It really stunk but that is what happens sometimes so we decided to go back to the hotel and eat dinner and pack up and go to bed since we were all exhausted by this time.
Day 9 Saturday Today is the day we come home and surprisingly we are ready for it. We left the kids in the room watching cartoons and ran over to the counter service area to grab some breakfast but we were NOT prepared for the crowds. I guess the Thanksgiving crowds were coming in because we were there the same time the day before and it took us 5 min to get our breakfast but today it took us almost 30 to get it. We walked back to our room and ate in our room and then went down to the store in the lobby and shopped. We had yourride scheduled to pick us up at 11 and so at 10:30 hubby set off to get bell service to bring the luggage up from our room. Mike was there as prompt as usual and we headed to the airport. We got there about 11:30 and checked in for our flight home.
This was a GREAT trip for all of us and our kids absolutely LOVED cruising on the Disney ships! It is definitely something we will do again with them when they are a little older but we will do a 7 day cruise because 4 was just too short! And we will probably book 2 rooms that either adjoin or are across from each other (maybe a balcony for mom and dad and an inside room for the kids?) because while the room was bigger than any other ship having 5 in it was claustrophobic and somewhat hard.
I am so sad we are home and back into the same old same old routine but we had a great trip and I am so thankful for all of you and your help and ideas and thoughts! Without your help I dont think our trip would have been as great as it was and without the help of our agent at Dreams I dont think it would have been as good either!
If you have any questions please feel free to ask them I will do my best to answer!
Heidi
We are a family of 5, 2 adults and 3 kids ages 9, 7 and 3. My In-Laws went with us as well. We booked a Land/Sea Vacation through Dreams Unlimited and I should have known that the vacation would be as great as my experience with Dreams Unlimited and Misti at Dreams. We booked 2 staterooms. The In-laws booked room 7626 with a Navigator Verandah and my family of 5 booked a Family Stateroom with Verandah room number 8550. We decided to do our own airfare down since we had enough frequent flier miles with Delta. We scheduled our flight down on Thursday but since we were going on a free flight we didnt get into Orlando until 11 pm that night. We were in the Polynesian hotel for the first 3 days of this trip and it was a wonderful hotel. I LOVED being on the Monorail line to WDW and the TTC. Using the Buses wasnt bad either but the Monorail was definitely a lot more convenient for us with a 3 year old who was anything but cooperative most of the time. We also decided to book our own transportation so we contacted yourride.net and it was a really good decision on our part! I emailed Rabbit back and forth so many times and then he called me at home the night before we left! Great Customer Service from them that is for sure! We took our jogging stroller and never had any problems using it either in the parks or on the stops from the boat. It was nice to have since the 3 year old fell asleep in it many nights. The following review is my opinion only (or the opinion of my family members) and I have tried to be very fair in my opinions realizing that most of the bad was out of Disneys control and I do NOT blame them for that which they cannot control.
First the positives and negatives and then the review:
POSITIVES
Convenient to check in at the hotel for the ship and to have one key to do everything with including purchasing at the parks, the hotel, the ship and being the ticket into the parks and onto the boat and our room key it was really nice! Also having the packages delivered either to your hotel or to a package holding place was really nice as well.
The Polynesian Hotel was really nice
A lot of great Cast Members everywhere we went who were more than willing to help out when they could.
The Cinderella Breakfast! Definitely a great breakfast and if possible not to be missed!
The crowds were very minimal on most days and getting around was fairly easy to figure out but there is also a negative here as well and that will be listed below.
Pin Trading
The SHIP!
Disney Dreams
Dueling Pianos
The lotions they give you at the Hotels and the Ship.
Booking excursions before you leave
Dolphin Encounter in Freeport
Castaway Cay
Disembarkation off the ship
Finding luggage when you disembark
Port Orleans Riverside is a beautiful resort
Yourride.net for transportation
NEGATIVES
THE WEATHER!!!!!!!
Having to leave an hour before you have to be somewhere to make sure you get there on time.
Having to have a PS for any decent restaurant or else having to eat at a greasy fast food restaurant.
The prices are ridiculous
The WEATHER!!!!
Rude workers at the port running the Metal Detectors, helping to get us on the ship and Security people as well
Our wait staff was very good except that they didnt bring the kids food early enough and we never got any magic tricks or any interaction with the wait staff except to order our dinner.
Our Scuba tour was changed and not what we expected or were told we would get even after explaining the change.
The Glass Bottom Boat tour in Nassau is a waste of money and time.
RAIN at Castaway Cay along with wind
Hercules was a waste of time in our opinion
Who wants to be a Mouseketeer was also a waste of our time
The WEATHER!!!!!! Cold, Windy, Rainy yuck!
Trying to get out on the Verandah with the Murphy bed down on the ship.
Not enforcing the NO swim diaper rule in the pools on the ship. I videotaped 5 babies under the age of 1 with a parent in the Mickey and Goofy pools and they were never said a word to about it nor did I see anything posted about it anywhere.
Our room 8550 was great for our family of 5 since our kids are smaller but the one thing I did NOT like is heaing all of the action above me day and night. We could hear kids running, tables and chairs scraping on the floor above us and I think the worst part was the sailaway party at Nassau where we could hear the music in our room 1 deck down! Thankfully we brought a sound machine with us so it wasnt to bad to sleep through but I dont know if I would get a room on that deck again! I thought since the suites were up there and everything it would be really nice but listening to all that we listened to got irritating after awhile.
Things I brought with me that I am SO glad I had:
The over the door shoe holder. I didnt think we would use it but it was SO handy with 5 of us in a room to keep stuff together.
My own hairdryer
Packing my kids a complete outfit in a Ziploc bag. It made getting dressed SO much easier.
Wrinkle Releaser
A LOT of $1.00 bills
Rain Ponchos
Now on to the review:
Day 1 Thursday - We got to Orlando about 11 pm and had Mike from yourride.net waiting for us. Yourride and Rabbit were SO nice and SO easy to work with! He was amazing!! Mike was absolutely GREAT to have as a driver! He was there waiting for us at baggage claim with his bright pink sign. He also had to wait for my in-laws to show up on another flight and then wait for their bags as well. He carried HEAVY luggage for us and did so willingly. The in-laws showed up and we were on our way. We stayed at the Polynesian for the first 3 nights and it was amazing! I absolutely LOVED being on the monorail line!!! We got to the hotel about midnight and we had a bellman deliver our luggage to our rooms. Check in was very easy and quick and we were told that we needed to go to the cruise check in desk before Sunday to get all set to go on the ship. The 2 older kids and the In-laws rode with the bellman and hubby and I along with our sleeping 3 year old walked to our room. We were in the Tokelau (spelling) building on the first floor with adjoining rooms 1941 and 1942. They were great! We were only a few short steps to the swimming pool (not the one with the slide but the other one) and it was great!! We tipped the bellman and headed to bed. It was about 1 am when we finally collapsed into our beds after setting our wakeup time for 7:30.
Day 2 Friday - Got up early and got ready to head out to Cinderellas Castle for breakfast. Having NO idea what we were doing was a little stressful but the CMs were amazing for us. We hopped on the monorail line and headed out to Magic Kingdom. We went into Cinderellas Castle and only waited about 5-10 min and we were seated! This was AMAZING to say the least! The Castle at Disneyland is nice but NOTHING like this!! This was great and the characters were amazing as well!! The kids were almost too excited to eat but we forced them into gagging down breakfast and then off we went into the park. The crowds were so light it was amazing! We NEVER waited longer than 10 min for a ride the whole day! My 3 year old was addicted to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin so we rode that quite a lot! He was able to ride everything but Space Mountain and it was great!!! We stayed until Park Closing and then went to Epcot. Epcot was great and the Test Track was excellent! Even the 3 year old loved it and was able to ride! We rode it twice and then we headed out to find somewhere to eat. We found Le Cellier in the Canada pavilion but didnt realize it was reservations only so they called back to the Kona Café and they had an 8 oclock Priority Seating and it was 7:30 so we hurried as fast as possible back to the Kona after we made reservations at Le Cellier for Saturday night. We barely made it back in time to make our PS at Kona but thankfully we did. We got to the Kona and ate and then I remembered that they did the water parade every night so we headed down to the beach about 5 min until 9 and got great seats on the front row to watch the parade and then went back to the room and CRASHED for the night! We were exhausted running on nearly empty after arriving at the Poly so late the night before.
Day 3 Saturday - Woke up this morning and it didnt look like it was very sunny but I looked out and there were a few patches of sky out there so I went and hopped in the shower. When I got out I looked out again and it was POURING RAIN! It rained all day long and it was SO miserable! We ate at Kona this morning and we had the Tonga toast and MMMM is all we can say! It was as good as others have said. We bought the kids Mickey Rain ponchos and we had brought some from home (thanks to the wonderful people on this board) and we set out in the rain or should I say downpour to MGM. We got there and it was cold and rainy and yucky and everyone looked alike in yellow Mickey rain ponchos so at Guest Services inside MGM they had a permanent marker so we put names on the kids ponchos so we could find them. It takes A LOT longer to get around than we imagined so we didnt get to MGM until about 10:30 or so. We went to the Tower of Terror and even the 3 year old rode it. We all thought it was great except Mother in Law and 3 year old. Then we went on the Rockin Roller Coaster and left Mother in Law and 3 year old behind. WOW what a ride that was!! It was great and since there were NO lines we rode it again! LOL We then wandered around in the rain hoping it would stop (It didnt) and we decided it was time to eat somewhere. That is another thing about these parks that I dont like is you either have to eat Burgers and fries or else you have to have a PS for every place. That was tough to do considering kids and schedules and such! Finally about 2:30 the 3 year old and I were so miserable and he was crying and cold and wanted to go so he and I headed off to the hotel and the others were going to go to watch the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt show and then head to Epcot or come back to the hotel. It took us FOREVER to get back to the Poly from MGM. It wouldnt have been bad if it hadnt been pouring rain! We got back to the Poly and the 3 year old watched T.V. and I set about trying to dry our wet clothes and pants and shoes. I didnt know if they had a laundry with a dryer but didnt want to go back out into the rain so I had the hotel hairdryer going and my hair dryer going and was able to dry his clothes and mine before hubby and the other 2 kids came back. They wanted to go swimming so they all went to the pool and I kept drying clothes with the hairdryer method (and it worked really well) UNTIL I popped a breaker and we were unable to use our bathroom! LOL The whole bathroom went black and so did the light in the hall so we called maintenance and just as we were leaving to meet the in-laws at the Le Cellier steakhouse they came. We left and it had FINALLY stopped raining which was nice. It took again forever to get to Epcot and we finally figured out you have to leave an HOUR before you need to be somewhere! We got there and ate dinner. It was excellent but EXPENSIVE!! After dinner we went out into Epcot and looked at all the different lands until it was time for Illuminations. WHAT A SPECTACULAR SHOW! It was awesome!!! After that we left to go back to the hotel and get ready to pack up to get to the Ship the next day. We packed up and went to bed and set a wakeup call to get up around 7 the next morning to get to Animal Kingdom before we headed out to the ship.
Day 4- Sunday - We got up and headed up to the counter service at the Poly for breakfast. We then called Bell services and they held our luggage for us while we went to Animal Kingdom. It was FREEZING cold today at the park but not raining and still it was fun! We spent a few hours there and then Mike from yourride came to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to pick us up. We went back to the Poly to get our luggage and then headed to the ship. Doing our own transportation was great for us. We were able to decide when and where to go and it was great! At Animal Kingdom we did the Safari and walked around a little bit. The animals were out and my kids loved it. At 11:40 we left to go to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to meet Mike from yourride. He was there waiting for us on time as usual and it was much appreciated. We got in the van, got our luggage from the Poly and were on our way. When we hit the hill where you can see the ship we woke the kids up so they could see it. They were amazed at how big it was. It was exciting! No matter how many cruises you have been on there is just nothing like seeing your ship come into view that first time!! It was beautiful sitting there waiting for us. After waiting for the Port Security Officer to take his full investigation of the car in front of us as well as getting blood and urine samples (JUST KIDDING) we got our documents checked out and then headed to the curb to give the luggage to the porter. We kept our carry on luggage and went into the metal detectors. This was the first time we met a rude person and those people at the detectors were just downright rude! We had 7 of us trying to get through those detectors along with laptops for the plane ride down and carryon bags and fanny packs and such and they would NOT let the kids and in-laws wait for us. They yelled at them to get on the escalator and go upstairs. Once we finally got the clear we headed up there as well. We were in a pretty good line at this time of day (about 1:30 or so) and so we waited. The kids saw a few of the characters so we started taking pictures of them. They handed out a paper with questions on it (multiple choice) and if you got all the answers right you got a free pin so we spent the time in line figuring out what we could. We wound our way through the line and got to the point just before going into the mouse ears. They checked our documentation once again and we proceeded through the Mickey head and down to the scan place for the KTTW cards. Only 2 out of 7 worked and the others we had to go into a room on the left hand side and get new cards issued to us which was somewhat of a pain. We FINALLY got that done and were ready to board the ship when we encountered another rude woman who would NOT let us board the ship. She made us stand to the side without any explanation and they were not allowing anyone else to get on either. We stood there for what seemed to be an eternity (probably only about 5-10 min but with anticipation it felt like forever) when FINALLY a nice gentleman let us know what was going on. Apparently the cold front that went through the state was whipping the wind around and the gangplank was moving and it was unsafe to get on it so we had to wait for them to secure it before we could go onto the ship. My 3 year old was going berserk but we finally got to walk on. It was really fun to have our names announced and having people clap for us as we walked on. The kids thought that was COOL and we thought this was one of many of the nice touches of Disney! The ship is absolutely beautiful. We went to our room and in-laws went to theirs. We then headed upstairs to the Beach Blanket Buffet to eat as we were starving. We ate and then decided to go explore the ship a little bit. It was miserable to eat up on deck because the winds were so terrible but we managed. Hubby and I bought the refillable mugs on board and they were wonderful for us. We definitely got our moneys worth (probably on the first day) and then we set off for exploration. We went down to our cabin and had 2 of 4 pieces of luggage IN our room already. Our room Stewardess was Koshara and she was amazing. We then put on the dreaded life jackets and headed up to deck 4 for our station drill. I thought the 3 year old would have a hard time but it was fairly quick and painless. He cried a little bit just because the sun was in his eyes but did well. Then we headed off to the room, put the life jackets away and went up for the sail away party. This is another area where Disney KICKS BUTT! It was such a great time for the kids and adults that we were just ecstatic to be there. We had first seating so at 5:00 we went downstairs to find that the rest of our luggage was there. We hurried and unpacked, changed for dinner and set out to find Parrot Cay. That was our first restaurant and it was pretty good. Actually the food was excellent but they had a band playing and it was SO loud that we couldnt hold any kind of conversation. We had table 66 for 8 so we had our own table which was great. I think had we had to have another family with us they would have been upset because our 3 year old was terrible at meals. Our waiter was Zdrakov and our busboy was Prakash. They were fairly good but nothing too spectacular and they did NOTHING to keep the kids occupied. I was also upset because they did NOT bring the kids anything to eat until we were eating our main course and the kids were bored and hungry and we were eating and they were not. It was pretty miserable and I thought things would get better in this department but they did not. It wasnt anything huge but it was kind of disappointing. After dinner we headed out to the Kids Club to register the kids and get the pager and then off to Hercules. I was very disappointed in Hercules. My kids were bored and actually fell asleep in it for a little while. The 3 year old went to bed before it started and that was probably good since we didnt feel it would have kept his attention long enough. After the show we went up and went to bed. This was a very exhausting trip for us that is for sure but it has been a blast as well! We loved the ship and the kids were absolutely in heaven being on it with characters!
Day 5 Monday - Nassau, Bahamas. Hubby and I are certified divers so we scheduled a 2 tank dive with the Disney Excursion before we left. It was VERY reasonable considering what we paid on Carnival to go diving in Belize and we were excited to go. We headed down to the meeting place and waited. The In-laws kept the kids while we went and took them swimming and to eat lunch. While we were waiting to go we were informed that our dive would be a 1 tank dive and that they took 20 dollars off the cost of the dive so even better (or so I thought) and we were still happy to go. We headed down the stairs to the exit and then walked quite a distance (not prepared for that) to the scuba boat. We headed out about 30 min or so to a snorkeling reef where we got to go scuba but here is another disappointment that I realize Disney could do nothing about but it was still somewhat disappointing when you plan one thing and get something totally different and maybe not as good. We went into the water and only went down 10 feet the whole time. There were nice fish and coral but after 10-15 min it got rather boring and it was really getting cold. We stayed down for a little more than an hour and by the end of it I was starting to get really cold. They said we couldnt do the 2nd dive because of a cold front moving into Nassau as well and the other dive site we were going to go to had waves that were 8-10 feet high and it wasnt safe (which I understand but it was still a tad bit disappointing.) We then went back to the boat where we decided to put the kids in the club while we went to Tritons and ate a sit down lunch. We had to force them to go but promised them only for an hour and then we would go on the glass bottom boat tour. We ate at Tritons for lunch and once again amazing food! We were really impressed. Another thing I loved about this is that they include soda with your meals. On Carnival and Norwegian they did not do this and we paid a fortune in bar bills just for soda. We do not drink alcohol so this is a deal for us. It was nice to get as many as we wanted for nothing. We went back up after our nice lunch to get the kids out of their clubs and of course then they didnt want to go. We had to go since we had paid for a tour but we were wishing once we got on the tour that we had left them in the clubs and not booked this tour. It was not exciting at all and the kids were cold and bored and wanted to go back up on top of the boat in the sun and get warm. There were fish and it was ok but quite boring. Definitely NOT worth the $$$ we paid to go!! After the tour we headed into the straw market. Typical junk type stuff but our 9 year old daughter bought a purse and the girl embroidered her name on it for her so she was happy. The kids and I went back to the ship to get ready while hubby and his parents went to more stores in Nassau. I wasnt interested in buying anything there but I thought that the Island was very pretty in its own way! The people wanting to do braiding were pushy but a firm no and they left us alone. My 9 year old didnt want her hair braided although I wish she would have done it. We had Tritons for dinner tonight so we got ready. This is another area of Disney that I love as well. I love having the 3 dining rooms and 2 dinner seatings so you dont feel like a huge herd of cattle going to dinner! Tritons is absolutely beautiful! We had a great dinner and we actually ended up putting the 3 year old in the club while we ate again but just as we were getting ready for dessert they paged us to come and get him. In-laws kept the 3 year old and put him to bed and we went up to the Sail away party! GREAT FUN! Another great thing Disney does! The Sovereign of the Seas was in port next to us and you could see a lot of people watching the party and I am sure they were wishing they had something like that happening as well. It was a lot of fun but we knew we needed to go to bed because we had Freeport the next day.
Day 6 Tuesday - Got up early today to go on the 8:15 Dolphin Excursion. We ate breakfast at Beach Blanket and then headed to the lounge to wait to leave. We got out of the ship and into busses and headed to the Dolphin Encounter store. Freeport is a beautiful place (or at least WE thought so) and we loved all the stores and different colors and stuff. We then boarded a boat and headed out to the Encounter where we had a great time and it was awesome!! My kids LOVED touching the Dolphins and we wished we could have spent all day there with them. They were amazing and the memories and pictures were well worth the money that is for sure!!! After, we went back to do some shopping near where the busses let us off. I bought some perfume and my boys got a plastic dolphin that squeaked (good idea there NOT) and my 9 year old daughter bought a Caribbean Dress to wear. We got on the bus at 1 and went back to the ship where the kids then swam and the 3 year old napped along with hubby. About 5 we went back to the room to get ready for our night in Animators. What a great place that is as well! It was amazing and we had a great time there! That room is truly Disney and it was fun! Tonight was Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer and we were bored so we just wandered with the kids and did some shopping and some pin buying. I got my daughter started the first day at the Poly so this was a lot of fun! We are both now hooked on it and loved it!!! Then my mother in law headed with the kids to the Buena Vista Theatre to see Spy Kids 2 and hubby and I went down to the Dueling Piano show and to look around and video some of the ship. The dueling piano show was excellent and we were wishing we could have stayed there longer. Finally we decided to call it a day since we had Castaway Cay the next day and we wanted to get off the ship pretty early and head out for our fun day at the beach. The weather in Freeport was the best of the whole trip. Really warm and not very windy considering the winds we had had earlier!
Day 7 Wednesday - Castaway Cay - Got up and went to breakfast at Beach Blanket. It was overcast but not too bad. A lot of wind came up as we were eating breakfast and by the time we were ready to get off the ship of course MORE RAIN! It was yucky and they were giving away free Rain Ponchos (that we paid more than 6 bucks for at the Poly only days before) so we snagged 7 of them, 10 towels and went off the ship in the rain. We rode the tram to the family beach and snagged some chairs. The kids immediately went swimming and I got them free life jackets. Hubby and his dad went snorkeling and I went to take videos and pictures. We met up and decided to go eat lunch and buy the kids some souvenirs. I was SO proud of myself that I bought the 4 pin set at Castaway and it was only $10.50. I had NO idea how good I had done until we got back in the parks on Thursday and Friday! We went to lunch at Cookies BBQ and the food there was ok. I dont like seafood so the lobster burger was out. The hamburger I got wasnt very good so I ended up eating some fruit (which I loved the fresh fruit stand there) and a ½ a hot dog and then we went to make sandcastles with our 40 dollar sand toys we purchased on the island! Not a good idea but something we did! Our 3 year old loved it. Then we went to rent our bikes (also rented floats but it was too cool to use them in my opinion so we let them go to waste) and went out on our ride. It was ok but I wasnt too impressed with the bikes or the ride. My 9 year old, mother in law and I walked back to the ship around 2:15 so we could get seats for Disney Dreams and the boys were going to follow. My 9 year old and I took showers and got ready and went down to the theatre. We got some snacks (cost me 20 dollars for them) and watched the show! It truly is as incredible as people say! I thought it was an excellent show as did my kids!! After Disney Dreams we went down to get ready for dinner at Parrot Cay and then off to see Santa Clause 2. What a great show! We had a great time. Afterwards we went to pick up the pictures we had taken of the kids with some of the characters like Cinderella, Belle and Mickey. We then went to the room to pack up and get ready for bed so we could be off the next morning. It was a very depressing thought of leaving the ship and we decided that 4 days is definitely NOT enough time! We are going to go again in Feb of 2004 when our youngest is almost 6 and we dont have to worry about strollers and naps!
Day 8 Thursday Disembarkation came and down to breakfast we went. They said 6:45 but we didnt show up until about 7:10 and still had no problems. We ate our breakfast and were off the ship about 8 am. Another plus for Disney is their disembarkation process! No color calling, waiting in lounges or anything else! We loved that part too. The luggage was all together in the same spot and it was very well organized! We had a green Tinkerbell tag and they were easy to find. We gave the customs official our form. Customs is a joke if you ask me. My Father in Law forgot his declaration form and so he told the Customs officer that and they let him off the ship without filling one out! They asked him if he bought anything and he told them no (he hadnt but how did they know?) and they didnt even have his name or anything! I think that is one of the biggest jokes of the trip (and this is on ANY cruise line not just Disney) but it is a waste of time if you ask me. One other joke that I forgot to mention was the security checks at the parks. What a waste of time and effort there. They never checked our stroller and I had my fanny pack on the top of it and they didnt check that either. Anyway, we left the building and went outside and waited for hubby to go get Mike from yourride again to take us back to our hotel to stay another few nights and this old rude security guy got in my face about why we were sitting on the bench and who was coming to get us and I told him my husband went to get Mike at the tent in the parking lot and then he would be there to pick us up and he went into a rant about how it would happen ONLY if my driver knew the ropes and blah blah blah. He was really rude and I dont know if he is a Disney employee or what but he was out of line that is for sure! My Mother in Law and kids had to go to the bathroom and they would NOT let them back inside to use a restroom at all. I think that is terrible when you have a cruise line that is dedicated to children and kids arent that predictable when it comes to using the bathroom and they had NOWHERE for you to use the restroom. It was really bad in my opinion! Put a Port a Potty out there for people if it is a security concern but come on. Finally Mike from yourride and hubby came, we got the luggage and begged Mike to stop for a bathroom break. He did and then we went to the In-laws off property hotel since they were leaving early the next morning and we were staying. We were then on our way to Port Orleans Riverside where we would stay 2 nights before heading home. We got there, tipped Mike and he told the In-Laws that Bob would be there in a Town car to pick them up at 9pm at Port Orleans to take them back to their airport hotel. We walked the 400 blocks (or so it felt) to our room at Port Orleans and got ready to go to the parks. I bought length of stay passes at the hotel and it was simple. We had to walk forever to get to our building in Alligator Bayou building 27 room 2715. It was a nice room with 2 double beds and a trundle bed. In-Laws went to Epcot for the day and we headed to WDW for the day with plans to meet them at Epcot at 8pm to watch Illuminations one more time before they went home. We had a pretty good day at WDW and the lines werent too long but a little longer than they had been the week before. We stayed there until 6 and we watched the firework show and it was fantastic behind the castle. We had PRIME seats for it and it was great! We then walked out with the herd of others to get the Epcot monorail and finally made it to Epcot about 7. Of course we couldnt find anywhere decent to eat so we ate at the Electric Umbrella and 3 year old fell asleep while we ate. We met the in-laws at 8 and were going to watch the Illuminations but our kids were just too tired and so were the adults so we left and went back to Port Orleans where yourride would pick up the inlaws. They left to go to their hotel and we went to bed with NO wakeup call set and decided that we would get up when we woke up, eat breakfast at the counter service at Port Orleans and then head to Animal Kingdom for the morning at least.
Day 9 Friday - We ate at the counter service at Port Orleans and then headed out. It was a nice warm day and we went to AK. What a great park. We really enjoyed our time there and I was glad that people talked me into going there. We originally thought we would skip it and stay at Disney and maybe MGM but we didnt and we are so glad! That afternoon we went back to Disneyworld for the day and then we went to Epcot after Magic Kingdom and were going to ride Test Track so we got fast passes, had a snack and then went back to use the passes. Of course we got into line, got into a car and the thing broke down while we were sitting in the car ready to go. It really stunk but that is what happens sometimes so we decided to go back to the hotel and eat dinner and pack up and go to bed since we were all exhausted by this time.
Day 9 Saturday Today is the day we come home and surprisingly we are ready for it. We left the kids in the room watching cartoons and ran over to the counter service area to grab some breakfast but we were NOT prepared for the crowds. I guess the Thanksgiving crowds were coming in because we were there the same time the day before and it took us 5 min to get our breakfast but today it took us almost 30 to get it. We walked back to our room and ate in our room and then went down to the store in the lobby and shopped. We had yourride scheduled to pick us up at 11 and so at 10:30 hubby set off to get bell service to bring the luggage up from our room. Mike was there as prompt as usual and we headed to the airport. We got there about 11:30 and checked in for our flight home.
This was a GREAT trip for all of us and our kids absolutely LOVED cruising on the Disney ships! It is definitely something we will do again with them when they are a little older but we will do a 7 day cruise because 4 was just too short! And we will probably book 2 rooms that either adjoin or are across from each other (maybe a balcony for mom and dad and an inside room for the kids?) because while the room was bigger than any other ship having 5 in it was claustrophobic and somewhat hard.
I am so sad we are home and back into the same old same old routine but we had a great trip and I am so thankful for all of you and your help and ideas and thoughts! Without your help I dont think our trip would have been as great as it was and without the help of our agent at Dreams I dont think it would have been as good either!
If you have any questions please feel free to ask them I will do my best to answer!
Heidi
