Nana, Papa and Madison go on a Cruise!

[Madisonznana]

Cast Members: Nana (me, Karen) Papa (DH Bob) and Madison (aka the Princess, Spoiled One, and my one and only precious grandchild) age 5.

We started our trip by leaving our home in Murrieta, CA at 5:00am on May 4th heading to Ontario airport. The traffic was a lot lighter than expected and we made it to the airport by 5:45. By the time we picked up our tickets, visited with TSA and then went through screening, it was 6:40. The roads were light because everyone else was already at the airport!
We boarded our plane a bit after 7. Madison was quite excited, this was her first flight! She had no patience with slow people getting on the plane, she was going on a cruise and she wanted to go now!!!! She absolutely loved take-off.

Madison sat by the window, with Papa getting the middle seat, and they enjoyed themselves coloring for a while. It was time for the complimentary beverage, which comes with a complimentary cup with complimentary ice! They were selling wraps, cookies, chips and M & M’s. So being a good grandparent, Papa ordered his little Princess Sprite and M & M’s for a good (color balanced) breakfast.
We had a layover in Dallas. Good thing we had some time between flights. Our connecting flight was in another terminal and we had to take a monorail. We had time for a McDonalds for lunch. And then we picked up some almond Auntie’s Pretzels along with some caramel dipping sauce for our next plane snack! Okay, it’s about here you may want to start up pool guessing how much I gained on this little vacation!
We bought Madison a souvenir from Dallas, a Beanie Baby with TX flag on its chest. She named it Dallie. Quite a clever child, I must say. And of course we had to get some pictures of her in Dallas; she picked the sights out too!

We are now on the plane to Orlando. While Madison was the only child on the first leg or the trip, the plane is now loaded with kids. More coloring, more Sprite and of course those yummy pretzels. It was quite an easy trip.
We arrived in Orlando close to 6:00pm, and thank the good Lord, so did our luggage. What a nice airport! And look, the Hyatt is soooooooo close. And it really was a nice hotel. This is a view from our room.

We tried to calm Madison down a bit by taking her swimming on the roof. The water was cold, but hey she had swimming lessons and she was going to show perfect strangers what she learned!

After about 45 min. We got her out and dressed and had dinner in the hotel restaurant. We tried for an early night, because we had a date with a Mouse in the morning and we didn’t want to be late!

 

[Babs417]

gre ate job

 

[pppiglet]

Yay Karen...I'm loving it already! Our room at the Hyatt was across from you. I'm surprised we didn't see each other out on the balcony taking pictures!

Tyler also had his first flight and did better than he expected. He was scared to death to go, but did fine. On the way to Orlando we saw Disneyland as we flew over and on the flight home we flew over our neighborhood. So exciting!

Can't wait to hear the rest of your report.

 

[Madisonznana]

May 5th Cinco Dis Mayo Cruise 2007
We had our wakeup call set for 7am. Quick showers, got all the required tags on our luggage and put them outside our door. We then headed up to breakfast. At 8:35 we headed over to the cruise check in site and even though it was posted to start at 9am, they had started to check in people. Gasp!!!! But no worries, we still got our ticket for bus #1, Captain Mickey!!!! We had to sit and wait a bit.

But we looked spiffy in our Cinco Dis Mayo shirts! Slightly after 9 we headed to our bus. A great Disney Cruise Line bus filled with extremely happy people. It took about an hour to get to the terminal and on the way we saw a film about our cruise! Of course being a Disney film, it ended exactly as we pulled up to the terminal.
Security was quick and easy, and all my paperwork was filled out correctly, (yeah, me!!) At this point I was handed a #3 boarding pass. Time to relax. We walked around the ship model,

bought a drink in the snack bar, picked up Madison’s pager and got her tagged and ran into fellow Dissers, Pppiglet aka Debbie, Bloth aka Tracy and CruiseboundKy aka Karen. Oh and then there was the 1st Mickey meet!

Finally they called group number 3!! WoooHooo, that’s us, let’s go!

It is finally our turn to walk thru the ears! Our 1st time and boy are we ready. We get through the ears, get our picture taken, and then the Osborne Family is welcomed aboard!
We headed to Parrot’s Cay for lunch and saw CruiseboundKy and family and MickeyD and her family.
After lunch we explored for a while

and then went to our room to drop off our carryon luggage. No other luggage, but we did have Madison’s bathing suit in the carryon, so…….. Madison hit the Mickey pool. Minute by minute it gets more crowded. Papa was standing at the side of the pool watching her swim and go up and down the slide.

I was sitting in the shade sipping a Bahama Mama. It was getting close to the time for our Dis meet, so I got Papa’s attention and let him know it was time for Madison to get out of the pool. Good thing I like to be early or at least on time, so we started this with 30 minutes to spare. I had planned on taking her up to change. After close to 10 minutes trying to get her attention it was now my turn. I walked around and around that pool. Every time I would call she would mysteriously swim in the opposite direction.

We are getting close to meet time. More drastic measures are needed. I started calling louder, and waving my arms, while walking around in circles around the pool. Anyone else not notice me at the pool like Madison? I finally asked a little girl coming out of the pool if she could please go tell Madison to get out NOW!!! And this also took a bit of time, because I could swear the little imp was trying to duck out of site every time I tried to point her out. Finally, success! The wonderful little girl found her prey. Madison finally caught my eye and the grrrrr on my face and thought it wise to get out of the pool. So with four minutes to go, as I towel off “Trouble”, throw on her cover up, I explain how it is not wise to ignore Nana and Papa if she ever wants to go swimming again, and we head to the Promenade Lounge for our Dis Meet!
How fun to put faces to names! So many of us showed up for the meet.

There were meet and greet gifts for the kids and we all tried to quickly visit, laugh and talk. We joked about husbands that were quite hesitant about the meet.

They were unsure as to what to call us, internet junkies, a cult or just a bunch of crazy women? I so enjoyed our meet. I think everyone that participated in our Cinco Dis Mayo thread were wonderful people.

I enjoyed all we shared. The tips, the ideas, the family news and just the general gabbing.
It’s getting close to life jacket time, so we have to say bye for now and head up to our rooms. Still no luggage! We get our life jackets and head to Animators Palate for the drill. Madison was pretty intrigued with the whole sitting around in a “big fat orange jacket”. We are finally excused and head back to our room, hopefully to luggage, to get ready for the sail away party. No luggage, is it time to start worrying yet? I put Madison’s clothes back on and we headed up to the deck to party! The music is starting up and Madison is getting ready to boogie!

Madison is my granddaughter. I am probably one of the worst dancers on this earth which goes along with being so totally uncoordinated. She is so like me, but I think she is the best dancer in the world. It just tickles my heart to watch her little eyes light up while she is dancing away.

So it is now time to start up the video camera. I got 20 good seconds of the best dancing in the world and it just goes black. You can hear whirring and when I try to re-wind it re-winds, there is no playback picture, just black. I so can’t believe it, on day 1. Sail away is going to be late, so we need to head down to our cabin to get ready for dinner. Will we have luggage? To be continued.........

 

[dreamcometrue]

great start! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[sherrie]

Wonderful start Karen, Your pics are wonderful, I can't wait to hear more. I laughed about the part with madison ignoring you in the pool katie did the same everytime we needed her to go out. She decided it was time to go underwater and go to the other end when she saw me coming.

 

[MickeyD]

Great start Karen. I am loving the pics (except for the one with me in it...can't you just photoshop me out?)

More. More...we want more!

Lisa

 

[sherrie]

waiting... NANA

 

[BLTOH]

you all are starting off awesome. almost in the mood to do mine

 

[LiserAnn]

I live in Murrieta too!!!! How funny. So far I'm enjoying your trip report!!!

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Awesome TFS

 

[Tink rules]

Karen...

Before I even started reading I subscribed!!!!

Great start and good to see pictures!!!

I could tell right off we're fellow Jersey girls!!!

Glad to see Madison did great on her plane trip!!! They just really get into it don't they???

Waiting to hear more!!!

 

[Madisonznana]

Thanks all for the kind words and support. I had hoped to get another chapter out today, but I may have the kids pop in. Tomorrow I have to work, but at least I have started the next installment!
Thanks Michelle. I forgot to tell you, right after we had PMed, I walked into a clothing store nearby called Fashion Bug and right there on the front table were T-shirts with Jersey Girl on them. Right here in CA!
Better get off here, I am supposed to be doing the bill.

 

[Kurby]

HEY where's the rest??

i'm on pins and needles to see when the luggage arrived and i'm left out in the cold.



please come back, pretty please

ok - i'm begging now - come back and finish. i can't imagine the three of you wearing the same red shirt throughout the entire trip.

 

[anewmac]

Cast Members: Nana (me, Karen) Papa (DH Bob) and Madison (aka the Princess, Spoiled One, and my one and only precious grandchild) age 5.

We started our trip by leaving our home in Murrieta, CA at 5:00am on May 4th heading to Ontario airport.

Well Hello Neighbor, we are in French Valley, Ca. I read the Nana and Papa and instantly thought of my parents. My boys call them that also. Your GD is adorable! Cant wait to read the rest of it!

 

[Tink rules]

Karen...

My brother came to visit today and brought REAL hard rolls!!! I don't think I could grab the butter fast enough!!!

Jersey girl's at heart!!!

SO..............

Where did you leave Madison last?????

 

[LiserAnn]

Well Hello Neighbor, we are in French Valley, Ca. I read the Nana and Papa and instantly thought of my parents. My boys call them that also. Your GD is adorable! Cant wait to read the rest of it!

Goodness...there's a few of us from the area, aren't there?!?!

 

[JDBlair]

I can't wait to read the rest of your TR!

 

[LovableGluttons]

Oh wow!!!

What a beautiful family you have!

Thanks so much for writing this.

I am in serious need of a cruise lately!

This is therapy!!

 

[Madisonznana]

No Luggage??????? How could this be? Thankfully we have the PLAPLAP rotation, so Parrot’s Cay is a bit more casual and we should be good. Did I mention yet, that I have not stopped sweating (in the future, I would prefer to use the word glisten, but if you saw me you know it looked more like rivulets pouring down my face!) more than minutes at a time since I set foot in Florida? So really, I needed new clothes for reasons other than trying to just look stylish. I needed dry clothes. Just as I was about to get Madison into her boarding outfit, there was a knock at the door. What a glorious sound, could it be? YES!!! We have luggage!
As this was our 4th cruise (1st on Disney), Papa and I had quite a system down for unpacking and we had it done in less than 15 minutes. Oh, yeah, we are good! Madison decided she wanted to wear Jasmine for dinner. It’s off to Parrot’s Cay for dinner and to meet our table mates!
We sat at a table for 8. Our table mates were Rick and Iris from Maryland and Anthony, Heather and their son Nicholas from NY. Nicholas and Madison were just a month apart in age. Our server was Dwight from Jamaica and his assistant was Ana from Peru. I liked them both very much!
Madison ordered Mickey mac and cheese for dinner. Before her dinner got there, she had 2 pieces of bread, ½ of my Martinique Baked Lump crab, and almost all of my iced mango, melon and passion fruit soup! I ordered the baby back ribs. It wasn’t a rack, there were 5 ribs and Madison wanted one! Then she proceeded in eating her Mickey Mac and cheese. Now those of you in the weight gain pool, don’t start feeling sorry for me, and downsizing your guess, this was the last time she ate that good!

And this is the night Madison had her first Mickey bar……..WoooooHoooooo!! (I really like the little woohoo guy, but I am writing this out in WORD and in case I forget to plug him in well wooohooo) And I was quite happy not having to share my crème brulee cheesecake. On the way to the show we met Donald

It was time for our first show. I love all things Disney and I have tried to instill that love into my family. So Madison was so excited too. The show was All Aboard

along with Jeff Civillivo a juggler/comedian and Gary DeLena a fun rock n roll comedian! We all really enjoyed the show and watching Madison get so excited whenever a character came on made the night special too.

No I never used my flash at any show!! I am still learning to use my camera, some nights I got great shots at the shows and sometimes not.

Of course after the show let out, Papa and Madison went back to the room and I had to stop at the shops! I am very glad I did. TIP FOR FUTURE SCRAPBOOKING CRUISERS: I had read on another thread that there was a 2007 Cruise scrap book available. I happened to see it in the Treasure Katch and since I only saw 3 more behind it, I decided to grab one. I figured they would put more out during the week. I also went over to Mickey’s Mates and noticed they had 2 more. While I was there I saw Seeboo and mention the Scrapbooks and she grabbed one too. By the next night I did not see any more. Nor did I notice any at all through the rest of the cruise. They had plenty of photo books, but not scrapbooks. So anyone who scrapbooks and would like a 2007 cruise book, check right away. I don’t know if that is normal, if they usual have more, but don’t take a chance!

When I got back to the room Papa said Madison fell asleep the second she laid down. She did not even get into her jammies. Between the two of us we got her Jasmine outfit off and she never even opened an eye. She was like dead weight, poor baby. Laurel had left us a wonderful towel critter

that she was quite jazzed with, but for that baby to ignore the chocolate, let me tell you she was pooped with a capital P……
Wow, look at that! Four pictures without a short in them!
Next stop Key West….