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

[vatchr]

We headed straight up to deck 9 to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. I love the Disney service. DD2 was first through the buffet line, so a cast member got her tray and carried it for her to the table of her choosing. The 3 of us joined her and had our first lunch onboard. You can see the cast member taking our picture in the window.

DD2 also discovered shrimp this cruise, and had a great time sharing with daddy!

After lunch, the girls were dying to get into the pools. We had told them that this would probably be the only opportunity – as our 3 days were pretty full of activities.

So we headed to the Mickey pool for some fun before our room was ready. The girls had their suits on under their clothes.

It was now close to 1:30, so they changed and we headed down to deck 6 – to our stateroom. Last summer we were on deck 7, so we knew it would be a similar room. The ropes were down and we headed in.
Waiting on the bed was the Castaway Club gift – Yay! We enjoyed opening the bag and exploring all of the goodies inside.

I had already picked up a navigator from Guest Services, and wanted to make sure that our 12:01 a.m. adventure was definitely happening, and sure enough there it was…

“Disney Premear at Sea” – The Hannah Montana Movie will premiere at 12:01 a.m. in the Walt Disney Theater. The girls were determined to make it to that movie – so…..

We decided a nap time wouldn’t be a bad idea – they actually did fall asleep for about an hour.

The girls and I wandered up to the Walt Disney Theater to see if they had anything up for the Hannah Montana “premear;” we didn’t find anything, but we did find Minnie all by herself.

She spent some time with the girls and posed for a picture before moving on. What a special Disney moment, just us and Minnie – not another person was around!

I also was amazed at all the movement at the port with the luggage. I guess I had never thought about how they get ALL that luggage onto the ship and to the rooms. I had to snap this picture:

When we returned to the stateroom, it was time to get ready for the Mandatory Lifeboat drill.

Then off to the sailaway party –

We had second dinner seating, so we were able to stay at the sail away party for the whole thing. Last year with first dinner, we had to leave early to get ready for dinner.

At the end of the party, they invite all the “junior cruisers” up on the stage to learn some of the dances.
The girls loved that:

The horn sounded

And then we were on our way to the Bahamas…..


Up next…our first dinner, meeting our servers, and what to do till 12:01 a.m?

 

[frdeb1999]

Loving your TR!! Great pics!!

 

[kfamilylovesdisney]

I'm hooked! Can't wait until there's more!

 

[anetnmike]

Hannah Premear! How exciting for your girls! DS16 has had a crush on Miley for a few years now (of course he would NEVER admit it now!!!)
I just love following along on TRs! It's like going on cruise after cruise. Thanks for sharing yours! It looks like you are off to a wonderful start!

 

[wilma-bride]

What a fantastic start to your journey. The girls look like they're having an absolute blast! And how great to get to see the 'premear' of Hannah Montana - my DD would have loved that.

 

[disneychic]

Great TR! Hope your family enjoyed themselves as much on this cruise as mine did. We couldn't have asked for a better time!

 

[vatchr]

Loving your TR!! Great pics!!

Thanks - more tonight or tomorrow morning!

I'm hooked! Can't wait until there's more!

Thanks so much!! I'm hoping to update by tomorrow morning!

Hannah Premear! How exciting for your girls! DS16 has had a crush on Miley for a few years now (of course he would NEVER admit it now!!!)
I just love following along on TRs! It's like going on cruise after cruise. Thanks for sharing yours! It looks like you are off to a wonderful start!

Thanks! It is so much fun writing it, it's like I'm back there reliving it all again.

What a fantastic start to your journey. The girls look like they're having an absolute blast! And how great to get to see the 'premear' of Hannah Montana - my DD would have loved that.

It was a fun time. It's amazing how much we packed into 3 days!

Great TR! Hope your family enjoyed themselves as much on this cruise as mine did. We couldn't have asked for a better time!

We had such a fun time. It was a great break from reality - don't you agree!!!!

 

[vatchr]

We still had 3 hours until dinner. We had second seating which meant we didn’t eat until 8:15 p.m. I was worried about that, but in hindsight, I was worried for nothing.

After the sailaway party, we headed back to the room and ordered room service. We then unpacked some more and planned our evening.
The navigators are great and give you so much information to use as you wish. We decided to wander around for a while and then change for dinner and head to Studio Sea to watch “Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer” – the Disney version of Millionaire. We got there after it started and watched for a little while.

Before going, we stopped to get some pictures done in the Atrium.

I loved the lifestyle portraits from last summer, so we did some of those again.

We also headed outside to watch the sunset and get some pictures.

We spent a lot of time in Studio Sea during this trip. It is one of the “clubs” on the ship that is geared to families. They do have a bar and waitress service, but all of the events are family friendly.

After Mouseketeer we headed to dinner. We were anxious to meet our servers, as last summer, we were blown away by Nyoman and Oliver.
Our first meal was at Animators Pallete.

The restaurant is beautiful and so much fun. I was also worried about the new menus, but it all turned out fine.

We had a great first dinner, and secretly DH and I had decided to celebrate DD1’s ninth birthday on this trip. We had given her the Nassau Dolphin Encounter as a present in March. I prearranged for the servers to bring her a birthday cake and sing to her.

She was so cute and so excited. The cake was gorgeous! (and free!!)

Dinner ended about 10:00 and we still had two hours until Hannah Montana. What to do? We knew if we went back to the stateroom, that we’d all fall asleep, so off to Studio Sea again…..

They were having Family Disney Karaoke!

The girls didn’t hesitate to put their name on the list to sing.

The first song that they sung was “Bop to the Top” from HSM.
The hosts allowed the kids to do a second song, so they quickly signed up again with “Supercalifragilis…..” from Mary Poppins.

It was a great time, and not crowded at all. There were maybe 10 families in the Studio Sea during Karaoke. It was so nice, and the cast members were fantastic.

Well, Karaoke was over at 11:30 p.m., so we were getting closer and DD2 was getting tired. She openly admitted that daddy would probably be carrying her back to the room after the movie, but she didn’t want to miss it.

We headed over to the Walt Disney Theater and there was already a line of girls and families waiting to get in. They opened the doors at about 11:45 and we were in.

I love that Theater – we saw the big shows there last summer. I ordered a drink and the girls had sprite and some cookies to eat during the movie.

The theater filled up and Ray the cruise director came on stage to pick the “biggest Hannah Montana fan in the world” to start the movie.
Then he counted down and the show began.

The cruise director counting down to the movie:

It was a very cute movie, and worth the “event” of staying up and being the first people in the world to see it (except for those on the Magic- as Ray stated). The theater was maybe half full.
1:45 a.m. and the movie was over. DD2 lasted until about 1:00, but DD1 made it all the way through. We walked back to the stateroom and I don’t even remember falling asleep.

What a GREAT first day on the ship – and two more left…..

Up next….will we sleep in, and what to do until Dolphins at 12:45 p.m.?

 

[Eeyore18]

Can't wait to read more! A second grade teacher here! We're going on our first 7 day in July. Your TR is helping the time go by faster!

 

[NurseHope]

I love reading these trip reports, thanks for sharing with us! Can't wait to post my own, only 2 weeks to go till our wonder cruise! Your girls are darling and it looks like you all had an awesome time, can't wait to read more!

 

[LC30]

I can't wait to get the next installment of your trip! This is getting me even more excited for our trip in May. Your girls are adorable. What a wonderful way for your DD to celebrate her birthday.

 

[anetnmike]

What a cool way for your daughter to celebrate her birthday! You are going to have a tough time topping that next year! Your girls look like they are having a great time! You are reminding me of things I want to do on our upcoming trip! Thanx!

 

[kdiszy]

Love your TR! I think Im addicted to these things. We will be on the Wonder the 23rd with our girls for our first cruise so I am taking notes! BTW, love the pic of your girls looking out at the water. They are too cute!

Do you pay a sitting fee for the lifestyle portraits or do you just decide later if you want them?

 

[wilma-bride]

What a great first day on the ship - thos portraits are amazing, I just love the one of the girls with Tink

Presumably, having sailed before, you weren't too bothered about seeing the shows? We have seen them (except Toy Story) before but our friends, who we are travelling with in October, haven't so we will probably go again - we do love them anyway.

I am pleased to hear that late dining suited you as we also have late dining in October and was worried how my 6 yo would cope.

 

[vatchr]

I can't wait to get the next installment of your trip! This is getting me even more excited for our trip in May. Your girls are adorable. What a wonderful way for your DD to celebrate her birthday.

It was a fun time! Unfortunately, we didn't even touch the birthday cake. We took it back to the room and never ate it.

What a cool way for your daughter to celebrate her birthday! You are going to have a tough time topping that next year! Your girls look like they are having a great time! You are reminding me of things I want to do on our upcoming trip! Thanx!

It was such a fun filled trip! My DD1 very rarely gets her birthday celebrated in a unique way because it is in March, so this was a treat for her!

Love your TR! I think Im addicted to these things. We will be on the Wonder the 23rd with our girls for our first cruise so I am taking notes! BTW, love the pic of your girls looking out at the water. They are too cute!

Do you pay a sitting fee for the lifestyle portraits or do you just decide later if you want them?

You don't pay a sitting fee at all - that is what is so great! You just go during the hours every evening, and then the next night look for your pics and pick the ones that you want.

What a great first day on the ship - thos portraits are amazing, I just love the one of the girls with Tink

Presumably, having sailed before, you weren't too bothered about seeing the shows? We have seen them (except Toy Story) before but our friends, who we are travelling with in October, haven't so we will probably go again - we do love them anyway.

I am pleased to hear that late dining suited you as we also have late dining in October and was worried how my 6 yo would cope.

We made the choice to not see any shows this trip, and to try different things. We had so much fun in Studio Sea every night, and wouldn't have been able to do that if we went to the shows.

I was very worried about the late dining also. We eat at 5:30 every night at home, but it worked great. We ordered room service at 5:00 every night and had a big snack - then played until 8:00 - then off to dinner.

 

[Momof4girls]

So great to see, since this is our first and somehow the images all make it more manageable for me!

Now, pray tell, what did you eat!?? I'd love to have some menu recommendations. I'm a little skittish, seeing the new menus.

 

[vatchr]

The rocking of the ship certainly helped us all sleep. I’m an early riser, so the sun woke me up at about 7:00 a.m. and I quietly went out onto the verandah. I could see Nassau in the distance. We were getting close.

We purposely planned our Nassau day to be uneventful until 12:45 when we would have to meet for our Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter. DD2 is a sleeper, so I wanted to make sure after Hannah Montana, that she would be able to wake up on her own. After about 30 minutes of wondering what to do, I decided to order room service and get some coffee and pastries. At about that time DD1 woke up and joined me for some juice, donuts, croissants and coffee on the verandah.

We watched the ship pull into Nassau and leisurely let everyone wake up. It was wonderful!!!

In looking at the navigator – there were characters starting at 8:45 in the Atrium. I didn’t think we would make those, but Chip n Dale and Stitch were there at 9:45 – so that was our goal!

I showered, the girls and DH got dressed in shorts and t-shirts and we headed out.

We found all of the favorite “friends” of the girls, plus some:

Then we headed to Parrot Cay for breakfast. It was great – they serve breakfast there until 11:00 a.m., so there was no rush.

We had a great breakfast and DH got his salmon and capers that he had been looking forward to:

After our late breakfast, it was already 11:00, so we headed up to deck 9 to “play” for a little while.

The girls knew that they would be swimming during the Dolphin adventure, so they were fine with no pool.

We also found Daisy hanging out on Deck 9.

It was now about 11:45, so we headed back to the room – changed into our bathing suits, packed the bag and went to get another quick “lunch” before meeting for our excursion.

Lunch was on deck 9 at Goofy’s Galley – hot dogs for the girls and then across the way at Pinocchio’s Pizzeria – pizza for DH and I.

It was now time for the “big event” of our trip – playing with Dolphins. This excursion was actually DD1’s birthday present. She was so excited!!

Up next…our time with the dolphins and another late night!

 

[JavaJackie]

We leave in 12 days for the Wonder!! I am soo excited and your TR is making it even more real. We went on a cruise 4 years ago and my two youngest don't remember it very well. I showed them all your pictures this morning and now they are jumping up and down soooooo excited!

Cant wait to see more!!!

 

[wilma-bride]

What alovely, relaxing morning - it was good that you were able to sleep in some after your late night. Great planning

It was now time for the “big event” of our trip – playing with Dolphins. This excursion was actually DD1’s birthday present. She was so excited!!

Looking forward to reading all about this as I am thinking about it for my DDs on our next trip

 

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

We just did a 4-day this past February and we're doing our 3-day Bounce Back this November, so I'm really feeling your vibe on this trip report!

Keep it comin' - I it!