Oh the places We Go, The People We see

[dizneeat]

WHAT A MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy, you all were lucky that you "caught" the wrong suitcase, when you did!
This is one of my biggest fears, someone picking up my suitcase. So all my bags have brightly coloured ribbons at the handles. Looks a bit silly but easy to identify.

The pics of the kids sitting on the suitcare are just too cute, plus, as always, I just love your eye for detail.
You are getting ready to sail ...... just in time to get me REAL excited.

 

[dolphingirl47]

After this morning I am sure you were ready for the ship. I am glad that your mum was reunited with here suitcase and that they got back so quickly. The hotel looks lovely and I love your night-time photos. It was great that you saw the Dream pull in. Being able to see the Magic pull in on the day we were leaving for our cruise in November was one of the highlights of this trip.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Glad the lost luggage made its way back to your mother! I can't trust my DH to get our bags off the luggage carousel, he never remembers what our luggage looks like. I would be close to killing my DH, feel for your mother, she must be a saint!

Yes, we are lucky we caught. Actually Mom had packed everything for the first nights stay in her carryon, so if Dad hadn't needed those shoes, we migth not have caught it. I can only imagine if we didn't find out till we got on the ship!

Wow I am glad the boys got back in time with the suitcases

Yes. Thank goodness for Rob. I knew he would take care of it and get there and back without mistakes. I was too mad to think straight at one point.

What a crazy busy hectic morning! You must have been so glad to get on that bus.

It sure was. It seemed like one of the longest mornings ever too. We were ready for the ship at that point!

WHAT A MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boy, you all were lucky that you "caught" the wrong suitcase, when you did!
This is one of my biggest fears, someone picking up my suitcase. So all my bags have brightly coloured ribbons at the handles. Looks a bit silly but easy to identify.

The pics of the kids sitting on the suitcare are just too cute, plus, as always, I just love your eye for detail.
You are getting ready to sail ...... just in time to get me REAL excited.

It was pure crazy. I have sutff tied to mine as well to tell them apart, but you never know and I will be checking my luggage tag in the future.
We were all excited to get to the ship. This trip had been planned for so long (over a year) and we were ready to be there!

After this morning I am sure you were ready for the ship. I am glad that your mum was reunited with here suitcase and that they got back so quickly. The hotel looks lovely and I love your night-time photos. It was great that you saw the Dream pull in. Being able to see the Magic pull in on the day we were leaving for our cruise in November was one of the highlights of this trip.

Corinna

It was a crazy morning, but it is funny to look back on now.
Seeing the Dream pull in is so neat. In 2011 I saw her from my window and watched her fro quite some time and it was so exciting. She looks beautiful all lit up at night.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

... I opened it to start writing and taped inside was a $25 gift card to Disney. They said thanks for all the help, but honestly there was NO need to give me such a wonderful thing. I texted them both and thanked them. I used it towards a new watch purchase later in the trip!

LATER IN THE TRIP!!!
Thanks for ruining the Trip Report, you could have posted Spoiler Alert or something, now I know you buy a watch at some point and it won't be a surprise.

 

[jenseib]

LATER IN THE TRIP!!!
Thanks for ruining the Trip Report, you could have posted Spoiler Alert or something, now I know you buy a watch at some point and it won't be a surprise.

Sorry, but you actually MIGHT be surprised as I didn't tell you what it looked like or where I got it or another detail about it....the suspense is back!!!!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Sorry, but you actually MIGHT be surprised as I didn't tell you what it looked like or where I got it or another detail about it....the suspense is back!!!!

OK, there is still a little bit of suspense, but still... I know at some point you buy a watch. It's kinda like telling you that the Kingdom Keepers V book you are currently reading ends with the Kingdom Keepers all... Nevermind I won't do that to you.

 

[ampc3]

I am sorry but I was laughing so hard just imaging your poor parents!! I don't know what it is with older parents and the whole cell phone thing... I know sooo many who all do the same thing b/c of the battery lol! Your poor dad probably got an ear full... soo glad it was resolved so quickly

 

[jenseib]

OK, there is still a little bit of suspense, but still... I know at some point you buy a watch. It's kinda like telling you that the Kingdom Keepers V book you are currently reading ends with the Kingdom Keepers all... Nevermind I won't do that to you.

LOL. I am actually famous for going and reading the ending first, but I haven't with this book yet. I am not even half way through yet either. I am trying to go slowly so I will end closer to the release date of the new one. And I have felt anxious a bit reading the last bits as they have now boarded the Dream and all I keep thinking is how I want to be on that ship too.
I read it on my kindle, and last night I actually pulled out a real book that had some info I needed to refresh on for my job, and Skip was puzzled why I would read a real book after having a kindle.

 

[jenseib]

I am sorry but I was laughing so hard just imaging your poor parents!! I don't know what it is with older parents and the whole cell phone thing... I know sooo many who all do the same thing b/c of the battery lol! Your poor dad probably got an ear full... soo glad it was resolved so quickly

Yes, we never understand why he turns it off all the time. And then he turns it on and has a bunch of messages. And if he isn't sure which number belongs to who, he will just call a bunch and until he gets the right person.
I think who cares if you use your battery, thats why you have a charger ...right?

 

[SunLuvr321]

Your post is perfect timing. We are heading out on the Cocoa Beach Shuttle tomorrow morning for the Dream.

Have you ever stopped at the DIS Welcome center? I stopped by yesterday and had a great time. I met Pete Werner and many others. Had fun talking about the DIS and Disney. They were setting up for a video on door decorating.

 

[francis6306]

Okay, I have opened another tab to write anything up here as I caught up from page 19! I'm mostly just reading your updates, so forgive me!

Dumbo Queue- The middle part IS for babies! It actually clearly states that only under 4 is in the middle circle. There is quite a bit of stuff up higher for the kids to climb in and slide- so it's not all for babies. Cortlyn enjoyed it! She's still a little younger than Claire, but there were a lot of older kids playing in the area up in the ropes.

I had the same feeling with that area where you get the FP's in Storybook… it just seems like a really big area for nothing. But I can't think of any other character meets that would fit there…

What is up with the horrible lighting with the characters?!?! I mean REALLY!!!!

NFL is really dark… It doesn't make a lot of sense for it to be that dark!

Love the fireworks behind the Haunted Mansion! What a neat shot!!

That backsack for the candy was adorable! Lisa- you did a great job, as usual!!!

WOW! That suite of Ellen's was AMAZING!!! Ohh to day dream about staying there!

I'm fairly sure my girls would love to just go to Disney to swim!

Boo to mis-communication on the shuttle stuff! Glad you were able to "recover" quickly. There just isn't any sense getting too worked over about it- but that small stuff is really annoying and changes EVERYTHING.

OMG on the luggage!! I'm glad that you guys figured it out before you got on the boat!! And you know, I would have wanted to kill Corey if that was us! Thanks for the reminder that I should ALWAYS check the bags once more!!!

This Abby reminds me of my Catie!!! Very particular about what SHE wants in the moment! Cute!

Okay, well, you can hurry up and talk about the cruise now!!

 

[MEK]

How cute! I love their matching outfits and I love you T's so cute.

OMG - I can't believe your dad picked up the wrong luggage. I don't know whether to laugh or cry Those poor people from Montreal! Imagine not only having your luggage go missing but having the airliner not know where it is.

And there is a reason you have a cell phone - to keep it on! You're dad sounds like Denny. Lesson learned.

I'm so glad that you got to meet up with Rinky Tinky. Does she have a TR going for this cruise? I loved her last one.

Wow - I can only imagine how chaotic that 24 hours was for you. Sheesh.

I share you inability to sleep pre-trip. I hate it, but I have just learned to live with it.

Great updates!

 

[nannye]

Omg that was too funny. Was laughing out loud reading it. Your poor dad! What an update. I
Love those cruise headband hats! Please tell e where you got them!

The girls are adorable in their matching dresses.

 

[Beth D]

Love the days! IH ad to skip all the other comments to catch up on 13+ pages of updates!

I'm glad you got your mom's bag!

The pics with the girls in their dresses is the absolute best!

The cure for the "i'm too excited to sleep" - get up at 3:30 AM, go to airport to catch 6 AM flight. Run around MCO trying to find a darn carseat that got left in the luggage hold. Get rental car, go to DHS, and spend the ENTIRE day trying to get DS into Jedi training on standby. (Pixie dust-we did!) Leave when the park is closing, eat dinner in Orlando, and then drive about 45 min. to a hotel just south of Cocoa. Collapse into bed around 10 PM, and sleep like a light until about 7 am!

I truly don't recommend it, but that's what it took for me last year, as I'm definitely in the same category as you! Last week before I left for my trip for work, we got snow, then freezing rain overnight. DH had to wake me up to let me know it was now sleeting! Darn him! I ended up waking up every hour, and left for the airport an extra hour early!

 

[jodi90]

I love the shirt your wearing!! Where did you get it? I would love something like that for our upcoming cruise

Jodi

 

[jenseib]

Your post is perfect timing. We are heading out on the Cocoa Beach Shuttle tomorrow morning for the Dream.

Have you ever stopped at the DIS Welcome center? I stopped by yesterday and had a great time. I met Pete Werner and many others. Had fun talking about the DIS and Disney. They were setting up for a video on door decorating.

Have fun!!!

I have heard of it, but not sure where it is. IOn fact someone told me it was now closed, but I guess theyre were wrong. LOL

Okay, I have opened another tab to write anything up here as I caught up from page 19! I'm mostly just reading your updates, so forgive me!

Dumbo Queue- The middle part IS for babies! It actually clearly states that only under 4 is in the middle circle. There is quite a bit of stuff up higher for the kids to climb in and slide- so it's not all for babies. Cortlyn enjoyed it! She's still a little younger than Claire, but there were a lot of older kids playing in the area up in the ropes.

I had the same feeling with that area where you get the FP's in Storybook… it just seems like a really big area for nothing. But I can't think of any other character meets that would fit there…

What is up with the horrible lighting with the characters?!?! I mean REALLY!!!!

NFL is really dark… It doesn't make a lot of sense for it to be that dark!

Love the fireworks behind the Haunted Mansion! What a neat shot!!

That backsack for the candy was adorable! Lisa- you did a great job, as usual!!!

WOW! That suite of Ellen's was AMAZING!!! Ohh to day dream about staying there!

I'm fairly sure my girls would love to just go to Disney to swim!

Boo to mis-communication on the shuttle stuff! Glad you were able to "recover" quickly. There just isn't any sense getting too worked over about it- but that small stuff is really annoying and changes EVERYTHING.

OMG on the luggage!! I'm glad that you guys figured it out before you got on the boat!! And you know, I would have wanted to kill Corey if that was us! Thanks for the reminder that I should ALWAYS check the bags once more!!!

This Abby reminds me of my Catie!!! Very particular about what SHE wants in the moment! Cute!

Okay, well, you can hurry up and talk about the cruise now!!

Abby is a wild child and is very stubborn. She is so different than Alexis. Gail has her hands full with that girl. On day at daycare she was caught eating food out of the garbage. Yes she had already had a good lunch, but that garbage food looked better I guess.
And then one day she stuck a bead up her nose and they had to take her the Dr. to get it out. Gail says Inusrance doesn't cover bead removal.
She will drop flat out on the ground at any moment for a tantrum if need be. But she is also the cutest thing and can be so sweet too. Just a different child.

The luggage deal was quite something. Funny to look back on, but not so funny at the moment. I remember I kept thinking, that this stuff happens to other people, not us.

Swimming has always been a highlight for Claire. My BIL across the street has a pool and Claire wants to go every single day. I usually just sit on the deck and read.

How cute! I love their matching outfits and I love you T's so cute.

OMG - I can't believe your dad picked up the wrong luggage. I don't know whether to laugh or cry Those poor people from Montreal! Imagine not only having your luggage go missing but having the airliner not know where it is.

And there is a reason you have a cell phone - to keep it on! You're dad sounds like Denny. Lesson learned.

I'm so glad that you got to meet up with Rinky Tinky. Does she have a TR going for this cruise? I loved her last one.

Wow - I can only imagine how chaotic that 24 hours was for you. Sheesh.

I share you inability to sleep pre-trip. I hate it, but I have just learned to live with it.

Great updates!

The whole cell phone thing with Dad is crazy. He doesn't seem to catch on either that it should be on always. Some day an emergency will happen and no one will be able to get him.

The luggage thing is NOT something I ever want to go through again. We really lucked out.
Rinky told me she was not going to do one, but she might do a highlights post, but nothing ever happened and she is rarely ever on here anymore either.
Luckily I have enough adrenaline to keep me going for most of the day with out sleep. If I had that at home, I would be a zombie.

Omg that was too funny. Was laughing out loud reading it. Your poor dad! What an update. I
Love those cruise headband hats! Please tell e where you got them!

The girls are adorable in their matching dresses.

I got it from a friend of a friend off facebook. I think she has a site, I'll see if I can find out what it is.
It is funny now, at the time, not so much.

Love the days! IH ad to skip all the other comments to catch up on 13+ pages of updates!

I'm glad you got your mom's bag!

The pics with the girls in their dresses is the absolute best!

The cure for the "i'm too excited to sleep" - get up at 3:30 AM, go to airport to catch 6 AM flight. Run around MCO trying to find a darn carseat that got left in the luggage hold. Get rental car, go to DHS, and spend the ENTIRE day trying to get DS into Jedi training on standby. (Pixie dust-we did!) Leave when the park is closing, eat dinner in Orlando, and then drive about 45 min. to a hotel just south of Cocoa. Collapse into bed around 10 PM, and sleep like a light until about 7 am!

I truly don't recommend it, but that's what it took for me last year, as I'm definitely in the same category as you! Last week before I left for my trip for work, we got snow, then freezing rain overnight. DH had to wake me up to let me know it was now sleeting! Darn him! I ended up waking up every hour, and left for the airport an extra hour early!

UGH! That sounds like a day we would have. I just think I wasn't active enough the day before, sitting by the pool is probably not included in active lifestyles.
I am ready for warm weather. It's a bummer it's till early Feb and we still have a few months of this crud.

I love the shirt your wearing!! Where did you get it? I would love something like that for our upcoming cruise

Jodi

Thanks. I got the graphic off one of the Dis threads. I think it's a magnet thread or desing thread. I think on the DCL boards. I then added the year, and ship name (though some of those people are more than happy to add that stuff for you) and then I uploaded it to vista print and ordered them I made a couple of iron ons for the 2 boys.

 

[jenseib]

Omg that was too funny. Was laughing out loud reading it. Your poor dad! What an update. I
Love those cruise headband hats! Please tell e where you got them!

The girls are adorable in their matching dresses.

This is her facebook page, but I don't think she really uses it. you send a message if you are really interested. Also I am sure if you search on etsy you will find something. I have seen a lot of different versions on ships before.

https://www.facebook.com/magicalmemoriesbowtique

 

[jenseib]

Our bus driver was very friendly. The ride is very short over to the port and she announced where to go and how to find our shuttle once we got back.
And soon enough we were all gasping at our view!

Shes just so beautiful and when you pull in and see her you can just see how HUGE she is.

Parking lot shot.

Soon enough we were stopped and getting off the bus and waiting for the luggage to unload.

A shot of the terminal.

And finally we were off to get in line.

We had to stop here and show IDs.

Aunt Mary and Geoff were right behind Claire and I.

Claire and I made it through and then started walking. After a bit we noticed that Aunt Mary and Geoff and the rest of the gang was still held up. Claire and I kept going, figuring they would catch up with us shortly.

We looked back again before entering the building and they were coming, but as they reached a set of stairs they turned and went up them. I guess this is another entrance and the CM had directed them to go that way. Claire was a little worried we wouldn't find them again, but I assured her we would all end up in the same place.

We went through security and made our way towards check in.

It was very fast and easy. We got boarding pass number 6 and they were already boarding! You dont know how bad I just wanted to leave the family behind in the dust and run onto the ship! But we still had to wait for the rest of the family who still had not shown up.

I think at one point I texted Geoff who said they were just going through security. When they did arrive, Mom scolded me for going off on our own ahead of everyone.

While they all got in line, I took a few pictures.

Abby had spotted Mickey and Gail had prepared her for so long about this trip and she just kept saying I want to see Mickey MOOOOOWSE!

 

[dolphingirl47]

This is her facebook page, but I don't think she really uses it. you send a message if you are really interested. Also I am sure if you search on etsy you will find something. I have seen a lot of different versions on ships before.

https://www.facebook.com/magicalmemoriesbowtique

I wondered if this was from her. I have a bunch of her hair bows. Unfortunately the website has been closed down.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Soon Mom and Dad were at the check in desk. They could use the castaway club check in line since Mom has sailed Disney before.

I kept eyeing the ears doorway. I was so ready to make the mad dash there and get on the ship!

While waiting, I took a picture of my cards.

Claire is patiently waiting.

Gail’s family was the last to get checked in and once she arrived we made our way to the ship.

Abby was not so happy about this. She still wanted to see Mickey MOOWSE! I started to laugh and say how cruel we were. After all we had prepared her for this for a year and got her excited about meeting characters and then the first one she sees we say she can’t.

We made our way on the gangway towards the ship. I was so excited. This was my 2nd time sailing the Dream, but my 3rd time being on her. I was lucky enough to take a ship tour of her in Aug. of 2011.

And we stopped for a group picture, which surprisingly went well for as many people as we had. They took like 3 or 4, but only one actually showed up on the CD my sister bought.

Notice our matching shirts. This was actually my Mom’s idea. When we sailed in March 2011 I had bought us matching shirts for our boarding day. Mom said she would wear it, but didn’t seem overly excited about it. I guess she liked it, as she was excited to have us all wear them on this day. She then bought the girls their matching outfits to wear and I had the headbands made (which Abby refused to wear). Some of our family members who did not sail with us and were still back home were mortified that we were doing such a thing. LOL!

Time to board the ship! Come on you slow poke family! Let’s get a move on!

Needless to say, Claire and I were the first ones to board.

Next came Gail’s family.

And Vicki and Pete were behind them.

Mary and Geoff and Mom and Dad were slowly making their way on as well.

And finally Katie’s family made their way on as well.

This one cracks me up with this lady looking right at my camera.

We oohed and ahhed over the atrium. It is just gorgeous!
I believe they suggested we head to Enchanted Garden to eat. I said I wanted to go to Cabanas, and Mom did too.

We spotted Donald doing a meet and greet a floor up and Abby got anxious again. We decided we would head up there and see him and the rest of the family was going to make their way towards Cabanas.

The line wasn’t long at all. Mom sat off to the side with our carry ons.

And then it was announced that Donald had to take a break! I could see Gail’s eyes panic. But they announced someone else would be out shortly! Thanks goodness. We HAD to get Abby to a character or there could be a meltdown.

The girls are waiting patiently.

And I took a few shots while we waited.

And then we saw him!

Pluto was coming!!!!