No Longer the SHORTEST Trip Report Ever....5/27..Pictures too!

[justmestace]

We returned to Castaway Cay and ran into the girls. Sat down at Cookies to enjoy lunch and listen to the music. There was a teeny, tiny little girl in a high chair behind us....eyes closed, swaying to the music. Yep....she already knows the pure joy.

I love the cookie dough ice cream that they have now.

Next up....parasailing. I have the smartest husband in the whole world.

He didn't go.

 

[justmestace]

We didn't know it ahead of time, but another DIS family (and our cruise ship next-door neighbors) were also parasailing at the same time.

I thought this was a mixed blessing. I thought I wouldn't be as nervous going with people I knew.
But I also was going to have witnesses if I once again made a total fool of myself.
I was just glad that the husband is a doctor. My nickname is Grace and I tend to have accidents.

Our parasailing trip was supposed to leave at 1:30 and be out there for about an hour or so.
Our boat didn't show up until after 2:15. I was a little worried, but not too much...we'd scheduled a 3:30 Banana Boat. I still thought, though, that if we were out for an hour as they say, we'd be back in time.

We started off in front of CC, a man and his little girl were going to parasail together. The crew brought them back in, though, and had them go separately because they couldn't get them up in the air high enough.
After that, with each person who went up, we just kept going further and further away from the Magic, out to sea. There were ten of us in all.
I was the last one to go. By the time it was my turn to go up, we were close enough to Abaco to see the houses. And the thunderstorm.

I kept telling myself to remember what they'd said about undoing to harness if something were to happen....Let yourself get close to the water before you lose the parachute...it's a long way down.

I actually liked it. For the first three minutes. That was long enough. After that, it's so quiet up there that you can hear the ropes squeak in a way that makes you think they're snapping. I'd asked the guys what the signal was for "get me the heck down"....but they were too far away to tell if my thumbs were up, down, or if it was just a middle finger waving.

About that time, I caught a gust of wind that jerked the parachute. That's when I found out that there is no "back" to the thing. If you're busy doing thumb signals to the boat and not holding on, you can flip backward and do your own little Cirque du Solei show.

THAT got their attention. Slowly, they started to pull me back in. I knew that they were going to dip my feet at the end, they'd done that to everyone, and I was ready. They dipped my feet and it felt pretty good. I was feeling pretty cocky. I'm forty-some years old, overweight, scared of heights and not so nimble, but I had survived!! And then they DOUBLE DIPPED me. To the knees. I had visions of the old days, when I was learning to water ski and forgot to let go of the rope. Rude. Just plain rude.

But at least I was wet and cool for what would feel like a slow boat to China ride back to Castaway Cay. The Magic was a spot on the horizon. I'd close my eyes for what seemed like a looooong time, only to open them and still just see a dot. We were out there until after 4:00. No Banana Boat for us.

 

[justmestace]

The last night on the ship. Casual dinner in Animators. No one is animated.

The tables were much quieter tonight. No one mentions going home. I think we're all hoping that if we don't say anything about it, we won't have to.

I'd gotten a lot of the packing done before dinner and was really glad that I had. I'm usually the one after dinner throwing stuff in bags like a mad woman.

At dinner, I reminded the girls that before they went out for the night, they had to have their bags ready to go. I had made up address labels to stick onto our Tinkerbell tags, so that we didn't have to sit and write on each one. I'd even printed Bag #1 of 5, #2 of 5, etc.

When Jay and I got back to the room, the girls were gone already, and so were their bags. I was almost proud. Until I saw that ALL of the Tinkerbell tags were still on the table. They'd set their bags outside, and someone had taken the bags away....with NO TAGS on them. All I could think about was that HUGE room full of bags, and having to search for the only two bags of ours that aren't PURPLE. Yessir, these particular bags are black, just like 98.6% of all the other bags. Lovely.

I found someone in the hallway and told him what the problem was. He said he'd go down (down where?) and see what he could do. I never saw him again. All I know is that I don't want to go "down"....you never come back "up".

I was going to finish packing and go to Pub Night. But as I sat and filled out the Customs form, my head hit the table. I couldn't stay awake. In fact, this week is the first time since then that I have been able to stay awake. I don't remember ever being this tired...at least since the kids starting sleeping through the night.

 

[justmestace]

The next thing I remember is waking up to some incredibly loud noises. Jay had opened the verandah door. We were back at Port Canaveral, and the loading and unloading had begun. It was still dark outside.

I don't know what time the kids had come in. They weren't in the room when I went to bed. Jared told me that he'd been up to see us just cruising into port, and gone back to sleep. At first, I thought he meant that he'd not gone to bed yet at all, but he said he had gotten out of bed to look, and then gone back. Whew. He would not have been doing the Happy Dance on the airplane with that little sleep.

The girls didn't want to get up. Neither did I, but we had to.

We were all loaded up with carry-ons and down to breakfast at 8:00. I love the APL rotation, and the fact that we were in the dining room a little earlier each night, but it also meant that we were at breakfast earlier than the old days.

Again, a pretty quiet group. One by one, each family left the dining room and headed for the gangway. After that, we lost sight of everyone.

Customs didn't even look at our stuff. Not even a glance. I stood there for an extra second or two and was going to ask him why he didn't want to look...but I thought better of it.

We eventually found our limo driver and were at the airport by 9:45. We almost could have made that 10:30 flight, afterall. But I'd booked us the only other flight, 5:30...with a day room at the Hyatt.

We'd been told we could check our bags at 1:00...and we had intended to go down and do that, but we all crashed. No one thought to set an alarm, so it's a good thing I'd turned on my cell phone, and a good thing that my oldest DD called me. Otherwise, I don't know about anyone else, but I may have still been sleeping there today.

 

[justmestace]

It was a great trip. Any time you have 100+ people who have spent a year and a half of their lives "together" and finally meet, it's a good thing.

Part of me is mad that I didn't "do" more on the ship. But the other part knows that I had a great time anyway.

 

[RachelTori]

I would have thought it was pretty entertaining......if it hadn't been MY kid!

Jared sure was entertaining -- so much fun to watch!! He was always having a good time. You have such a nice family

GREAT report, Stacey! I miss you all and can't wait to do it again!!!





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[needawdwtrip]

Great trip report!!! I guess my next hobby is to read trip reports daily to relive the memories til I can book my 2008 cruise (now we're hooked)!!! This is the first vacation I cried at the end of because I didn't want to leave. We contimplated capturing some of the crew and confiscating their uniforms so we could blend in and not leave the ship but decided that, a.) they work too hard wouldn't really be a vacation and b.) 4 year old ds would not look like a disney crew member and would give us away. Oh well.
Glad you got your pictures back. We had friends with us who lost their first two days of pictures. Shutters tried but wasn't able to recover them. Fortunatlely we brought an extra camera to let them use since their camera ate the memory from their card they did not want to use it again. Glad for that second scoop in Castaway Cay to recreate those pictures!!!

 

[kikipug]

After dinner, we went into Rockin' Bar D again....can't remember if it was 60's or 70's....60's, I think...seem to remember the Beatles.....
But when we got there, they were still doing some sort of game. I know that we walked in about the time that some men were on the dance floor, wearing women's shoes and bras. Ummm.....is this still the DISNEY Magic????

Hey... I know one of THOSE guys!!!

 

[kikipug]

As it turns out, if there are any pictures missing, I sure don't know which ones. As far as I can tell, all of the pictures are there. All 300 of them.

If only you had lost that darn bicycle picture!!!!!!

 

[justmestace]

If only you had lost that darn bicycle picture!!!!!!

That was one that I would have remembered losing!

And I wish I'd had a picture of Ray trying to put Sherry's shoes on, and then run in them.....

 

[SeaSpray]

What an excellent cruise report!! Thank you so much for taking the time to retype it!!!!

 

[kikipug]

And I wish I'd had a picture of Ray trying to put Sherry's shoes on, and then run in them.....

Considering the shoes that I was wearing that night... (little strappy heels) he was NEVER going to get those on his Fred Flintstone feet! Sherry's flip-flops, while still too small, at least wouldn't do permanent injury!!!!

I could just imagine him explaining to the orthopaedic surgeon, who asks... "HOW did you injure your knee again between the time that we did the MRI and got the results???"

 

[justmestace]

Considering the shoes that I was wearing that night... (little strappy heels) he was NEVER going to get those on his Fred Flintstone feet! Sherry's flip-flops, while still too small, at least wouldn't do permanent injury!!!!

I could just imagine him explaining to the orthopaedic surgeon, who asks... "HOW did you injure your knee again between the time that we did the MRI and got the results???"

 

[justmestace]

My memory is returning! I remembered that on the second day at sea, Jared, Matt, Little Lisa and I decided to take our personal navigator, with all of the DIS room numbers listed (thank you Mark and Mary!!) and do a tour, to look at all of the door signs.

Have to head to work, but when I get home, I'll post pics of the highlights. We have some very creative DISers!

 

[tinksdad]

I'm told there is a video of it out there somewhere......not sure I want to see it.

Quite frankly, I only remember three of the questions that were asked. Well, maybe FOUR...I do remember Hollywood asking me "Do you need another Margarita? You really LOOK like you need another margarita!"

That Darned Hollywood is a "Troublemaker"!!!

 

[Dancind]

We've done most of it, and it was nice to just kind of do "nothing" on a sea day.
Just watching the ocean go by.

Aaah, that sounds so nice. And you didn't even have to move scuba equipment to do it.

Three cruises for me, and still no Galley tour. Hope to rectify that soon!

 

[WDWLVR]

My memory is returning! I remembered that on the second day at sea, Jared, Matt, Little Lisa and I decided to take our personal navigator, with all of the DIS room numbers listed (thank you Mark and Mary!!) and do a tour, to look at all of the door signs.

Have to head to work, but when I get home, I'll post pics of the highlights. We have some very creative DISers!

Stacey - thanks for a great report! We did a DIS door tour on Cozumel day. You are right - lots of very creative DISers!

 

[tinksdad]

Aaah, that sounds so nice. And you didn't even have to move scuba equipment to do it.

Three cruises for me, and still no Galley tour. Hope to rectify that soon!

Just think, soon you will not have too........

 

[TiggerInNY]

Stacey - I love your report. Made me laugh, too. Wish I had taken a nap some days. Just never got around to putting my feet up. This being our first cruise, I guess I didn't want to miss anything. Sorry I missed Jarod dancing. I totally missed pirate night party, too. Fireworks and all. I crashed and so did the boys. Augie went up though. Another good reason to book another.

Again, thanks for the trip report.

 

[justmestace]

Well, this is my thought on having not done quite a few things...and on us as a group not doing some things that have been done on other cruises.

We may not have done it all....but as far as I'm concerned, the Blabbermouth group was a lot more about QUALITY than QUANTITY. We didn't do it all, but I've never known a group of people, and strangers at that, who cared more about eachother, and who had more fun getting to truly know eachother.