On the Wonder(4/9-4/12)We went back,more fun this time!Lots of pics..(new 5/11 #73)

[vatchr]

April 9-12 3-night Wonder​

Here we go again…I had so much fun writing a trip report for our July 08 cruise that I decided to do it again. First let me reintroduce the cast of characters for this cruise:

Me – mom, wife, Disney addict and planner – when I’m not thinking about Disney, I’m an elementary school teacher. I’ve planned 3 trips to Disney World and now 2 Wonder cruises

DH – my wonderful husband who puts up with my Disney addiction and also an elementary school teacher – with both of us being teachers, taking summer vacations to Disney has always been the only time to go.

DD1 – my 9 year old princess – Stitch is her favorite character and she loves Hannah Montana

DD2 – my 6 ½ year old princess – Chip n Dale are her favorites and she is a High School Musical fan (along with Hannah)

Here's our family picture from this Christmas:

So here’s the quick backstory for our cruise. We sailed last July on a 4-night Wonder and had a blast with grandma, grandpa, other grandma and Aunt. Enjoyed it, but didn’t know when it would happen again due to the cost. This December rolled around and Disney announced Kids sail free…well that announcement sent me to the website to check out prices. After about an hour of deliberation, my DH agreed (actually it was me who deliberated…) and we were booked for our Spring Break 3-night Wonder. The Kids Sail Free promo is the ONLY reason that we went – we saved almost $1500.00 off the base price.

We started our countdown chain, couldn’t wait for spring break and then it was here!

Last year we did a land/sea and then met everyone at the MCO Hyatt the night before the cruise. That worked beautifully, so we did it again (minus the land part).
We left Wednesday afternoon from northern Virginia (it has snowed here on Tuesday), and arrived at the Orlando airport a few hours later.

The girls on the bus to the airport:

The Hyatt was great!

The view from our Hyatt balcony:

It was interesting though, how they did the cruise check in for our Thursday cruise. It had changed quite a bit from last July.

We were told at check in to go to the Magical Express desk in the airport between 6:30 a.m.- 8:30 a.m. and they would check us in completely – room key cards, Castaway club lanyards, everything. We would not have to do anything at the port except for kids clubs registrations if we wanted. That sounded great, but then they told us that the first bus will leave at 11:00 a.m.

I knew that was wrong, so I walked down to Magical Express that evening and talked with them. They confirmed that the first buses for DCL leave at about 9:30 a.m. So we were set.

We had a nice dinner with some friends at the Hyatt restaurant, did some shopping in the airport mall and went to bed - eager for our next cruise to begin.

The wake –up call came at 6:00 a.m. and the day we had been waiting for was about to begin…..



Up next…our embarkation process – did it go smoothly?

 

[LMO429]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

 

[mousetravel]

So cute! Can't wait to see more pics!

 

[MissMousey]

Wow, a trip report already? I'm impressed! Sounds like you all really enjoyed your cruise. Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[Kurby]

that's so cool that you'r room over looked the airport terminal - or is that something else?

can't wait to hear more. sooo excited - we're doing our first cruise in may but we're leaving in 2 weeks to start off at wdw.

 

[vatchr]

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

Thanks! More to come tonight.

So cute! Can't wait to see more pics!

We had a blast. Next update will be tonight.

Wow, a trip report already? I'm impressed! Sounds like you all really enjoyed your cruise. Can't wait to read all about it!

If I didn't start it now, it wouldn't get done till summer .

that's so cool that you'r room over looked the airport terminal - or is that something else?

The Hyatt has two views for rooms - inside or outside. Outside looks out at the runway, and inside looks out to the airport terminal.

 

[frdeb1999]

Looking forward to your TR! Hope you had a wonderful time!

 

[amy2girls]

Love you past report and pictures- can't wait to read more!!!

 

[wilma-bride]

I loved your trip report last time - hope you had as great a trip this time and can't wait for more

 

[vatchr]

On our way to the Port!​

My DD1 and I headed to Magical Express at 6:30 a.m. and got us all checked in with passports, tickets and all. We received our Castaway club lanyards for being repeat cruisers and our Key to the World cards. We also received boarding pass #3. We were done! All checked in, boarding pass, keys…now we just had to wait until 9:15 a.m. to head back to magical express to line up for the first DCL bus to the port.

We stopped on the way back and got breakfast for everyone, got to the room showered, packed up and headed down to the ME counter. We put our luggage tags on, left the luggage in the room as we were instructed and were on our way.

We were about tenth in line and waited about 15 minutes, boarded the bus and we were on our way. The FIRST bus out of MCO on our way to the Wonder!

It’s about a 45 minute ride to the port and they show a fun video about the cruise ship with all of the characters in it.
It wasn’t long before we saw this in the distance:

And then we got closer…

The bus parked and we got off, went through security for the port and we were there. It was about 10:40 a.m. and last year they started boarding around 11:45 a.m., so we didn’t have long to wait.

We walked around the port and saw this guy:

We also went outside on the balcony and took some pics of the ship before boarding:

The girls were hungry, but we convinced them to wait for the “free food.” Right on time they started the boarding process. Group 1 is the family of the day, and then Group 2 was called, and then it was our turn.

We walked through the big Mickey ears to begin our trip.

Across the gangway into the beautiful Atrium – I had been envisioning this scene ever since we booked the cruise in December. It had helped me get through those cold, Virginia days all winter.

Then they called our name…we were on the Wonder!


Up next….where to eat lunch and what to do until 12:01 a.m. that evening?

 

[wilma-bride]

Fantastic I love your girls' Minnie shirts - so cute

Can't wait for more.

 

[cakesnjammom]

YAY waiting for more

 

[OurOhana]

Nice trip report. We're doing our first Wonder cruises in September. Can't wait to hear more aobut your cruise.

 

[bpate]

I saw that both of your dds are Hannah fans as is my dd (5). We leave for the 4 night Wonder cruise on the 19th and she has her fingers crossed that they will be showing the new Hannah Montana movie. What movies were playing when your family was cruising?

Brandy

Anxiously awaiting Thursday (4/16) - Land and Sea

 

[kimkreis]

We were on the same cruise with you. Looking forward to hearing how it all went for you!

 

[3Bells]

We will be cruising for the first time June 4th on the Wonder. We'll be staying at the Hyatt the night before too. You mentioned that you left your luggage in the Hyatt room as instructed. The thought of doing that makes me very nervous. Please assure me that everything turned out okay. Do you have the option of bringing the luggage with you on the bus?

 

[vatchr]

Fantastic I love your girls' Minnie shirts - so cute

Can't wait for more.

Thanks! The shirts were part of the Christmas surprise for the girls.

YAY waiting for more

Hopefully I'll update tonight!

Nice trip report. We're doing our first Wonder cruises in September. Can't wait to hear more aobut your cruise.

It was so much fun! You'll have a blast!

I saw that both of your dds are Hannah fans as is my dd (5). We leave for the 4 night Wonder cruise on the 19th and she has her fingers crossed that they will be showing the new Hannah Montana movie. What movies were playing when your family was cruising?

Brandy

Anxiously awaiting Thursday (4/16) - Land and Sea

The Hannah Montana movie will definitely be playing. That's the only one that we saw, but Jonas Brothers, Bolt, Witch Mountain, Shopaholic were some of the others that were playing.

We were on the same cruise with you. Looking forward to hearing how it all went for you!

Wasn't it great!!! So much fun.

 

[vatchr]

We will be cruising for the first time June 4th on the Wonder. We'll be staying at the Hyatt the night before too. You mentioned that you left your luggage in the Hyatt room as instructed. The thought of doing that makes me very nervous. Please assure me that everything turned out okay. Do you have the option of bringing the luggage with you on the bus?

I was VERY nervous about the luggage. I must have asked at least 5 times to different people that morning about the luggage being picked up. We had no problems. It actually arrived at our stateroom earlier than it did last summer. We had all of our luggage by about 3:00 p.m. outside our stateroom. I think you do have the option of bringing it with you, but it would be a big hassle. My husband told me to trust them , and it worked out fine.

 

[anetnmike]

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[hannah_montana]

Reading all this is getting me very excited for my 3-day Wonder cruise in 14 days!