Our First Disney Cruise "Double Dip Delight" Pre-TR & TR September 27-October 4, 2008

[kvaday]

sounds like you guys had a wonderful time so far. I cant wait to read more!!

 

[frdeb1999]

Loving your TR so far! Can't wait for the rest!

 

[anewmac]

sounds like a fun day! Cant wait read how the cruise was for you guys! Your kids are adorable btw!

 

[MaryAz]

Loved the pics pf CBR, can't wait to go! Looks like you guys had lots of fun!!

 

[nenner1]

The costumes turned out so cute!
Adorable!!!!

 

[dismom73]

I'm loving all the pictures...I can't wait to hear about the cruise!

 

[TiszBear]

I found your trip report today at lunch and have loved reading it. Can't wait till the next installment.

I have 192 days till I leave and I am like you with the early planning.

 

[googles111]

I Love all the pics.. Looks like you had fun!

My family is going on our first disney cruise for Halloween. I was just wondering what you guys thought of FLTours for the limo?

Drea and I had a BAD experience with them. We were supposed to be picked up by 9am after the cruise and they never showed up. When Drea called they were SO rude. Didn't say sorry or anything. She had booked a limo and we were going to surprise the kids with that. Good thing we didn't tell them

FL Tours was great. They were right on time, got us to the port very quickly (we ended up getting there by 9:00 on accident) They played a movie for the kids to make the time go by faster and there was cold pop and water on ice for us to drink. I would definately use them again.

Hey, did you get our limo?
Tonya

 

[anc22]

Love your trip report so far!!!! And I have never seen pictures of MNSSHP...
very nice! Can't wait to hear more!

MNSSHP was great. I wish that I would have taken more pics

sounds like you guys had a wonderful time so far. I cant wait to read more!!

Loving your TR so far! Can't wait for the rest!

Thanks for reading

sounds like a fun day! Cant wait read how the cruise was for you guys! Your kids are adorable btw!

Yeah, I always say that if Chase wasn't so cute, i'm not sure if he would have survived this long

Loved the pics pf CBR, can't wait to go! Looks like you guys had lots of fun!!

We LOVED CBR! The new pool was amazing and the scenery instantly put us in vacation mode.

The costumes turned out so cute!
Adorable!!!!

I thought so too

I'm loving all the pictures...I can't wait to hear about the cruise!

I found your trip report today at lunch and have loved reading it. Can't wait till the next installment.

I have 192 days till I leave and I am like you with the early planning.

Thanks for reading and there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a planner or an OVER PLANNER

I Love all the pics.. Looks like you had fun!
Drea and I had a BAD experience with them. We were supposed to be picked up by 9am after the cruise and they never showed up. When Drea called they were SO rude. Didn't say sorry or anything. She had booked a limo and we were going to surprise the kids with that. Good thing we didn't tell them
Hey, did you get our limo?
Tonya

I read that you guys had a bad experience, I think someone else from our thread did too. Maybe they are really bad and we just lucked out? I am definately going to stop recommending them now though!

 

[Goofy442]

Great trip report! Can't wait to hear more. My son who works in DHS said the lovebugs are bad this year. We went last year during September and I will never go back during lovebug breeding time. They drove me crazy they were everwhere.

 

[dismom73]

Great trip report! Can't wait to hear more. My son who works in DHS said the lovebugs are bad this year. We went last year during September and I will never go back during lovebug breeding time. They drove me crazy they were everwhere.

We went last year, the first week of October, and the only places they were really bad was our resort (Coronado Springs) and Animal Kingdom. We kind of got a kick out of them. We are from CA, where we don't really have "big" bugs, let alone ones that you see attached to eachother, so the kids thought is was fun to watch.

 

[anc22]

We woke up early Saturday morning "too excited to sleep" I. had arranged for a limo to pick us up. This was a surprise for DH & the kids, they had no idea. I had talked to the limo company (FL Tours) the evening before to confirm a 8:00 pick up time. I was more than determined to get to the terminal by 9:45! The kids put on their custom disney shirts:

and DH not-so-happily put on his Grumpy shirt that I had chosen for him

The limo showed up right on time and everyone was really excited.

The driver loaded up our mass amount of bags and turned on a movie for the kids to watch:

The limo was stocked with ice, pop and water. The ride went by really fast. There was absolutely no traffic and we ended up getting there before 9:00!

So, we had to wait, with all of our luggage for over an hour before the porters came to take the luggage. DS was hot and grumpy and we will definately never get there that early again. When the porters finally did come, it was like survival of the fittest. People literally ran over to the porters to get them to take there luggage. It was a little bit frustrating for those of us who had been there for so long............but I tried to keep the "Disney Spirit". We tipped the Porter $10 and were on our way to the cruise terminal. Thru security, up the escalator and:

SCORE!!!
We waited in line for a short time and checked in with a not-so-friendly cast member What tha?
Then the waiting part of the Hurry Up and Wait process began. I checked the kids into the club, picked up our awesome lanyards from our wonderful Dis Team (Double-Dippers) and met a few new friends:

At around 11:45 they started calling boarding numbers and we finally got to walk thru the mouse ears!

DH and the kids went to Parrot Cay and I went to Rockin Bar D to confirm that our Table would be a 4 top (I didn't want ANYONE to have to experience a sit-down dinner with DS/3, more on that later ) We ended up with a 4 top table, table #64, 8:00 seating LAAPPLA. Exactly what I had wanted! I was somewhat disappointed with the food selection at the buffet that first day, so we were finished fairly quickly and off to explore. First stop, Oceaneer Club. The first councelor we met took DS's hand and they raced over to knock down a castle made of blocks (how ever did she know that he would love that? ):

DS was instantly in love with the club and raced around like a maniac for a few minutes as we watched:

We made a quick stop at DD's club and then we were off to the pool and in search of my very first (of many) DOTD:

My kid's were the very first ones in the Mickey Pool and down the waterslide. Ummm, what's up with the Mickey Pool? No matter how fresh the water is, it ALWAYS looks......well..........not-so-fresh

Soon it was time to go and see our room for the first time. We dragged (literally) Ds out of the pool and headed to our room on Deck 6, 6108. The room was great, LOVE the split bath! There was a bottle of champagne on ice and a gift (2 robes & chocolates) waiting for us in the room (REAS package). There was also a gift for DD from Dreams Unlimited. It was a really neat memory box. A nice surprise.

As the bags were delivered, I was a woman on a mission. I wanted everything put away! The lifeboat drill seemed to take FOREVER! We watched part of the sailaway party and then it seems as though dinner time came very quickly. DS was extremely tired and we decided not to even attempt taking him to dinner with us, so to the kid's club he went. Our first dinner was in Lumier's (this ended up being our least favorite menu) Our server was Hemant, asst. server was Aswald and Head server was Jeff. They were all wonderful! DH had the beef tenderloin and I had the lamb. They were both just o.k.
It had been a long day and we were all exhausted. We walked around the ship to take some pictures:

Got a page to pick up DS and headed back to the room around 10:30ish:

Our towel animal tonight was a swan:

NEXT UP: OUR FIRST (BUT NOT LAST) DAY AT CASTAWAY CAY:

 

[anewmac]

awww you guys did get there early. We tried but my boys never woke up... like waking the dead LOL so we got #5.. next time I leave without them LOL

 

[2beaprincess]

Love the trip report so far! And the pictures are wonderful! I see that you stayed in room 6108 on deck 6...how was that?? We are booked for 6008.
TIA
Cindy

 

[alleluia5]

Awesome TR

 

[Amy7979]

Subscribing! Can't wait to see how you manage to get all those gifts delivered. On my last cruise we had about 30 cabins and I thought THAT was a lot!

 

[nenner1]

Love the trip report so far! And the pictures are wonderful! I see that you stayed in room 6108 on deck 6...how was that?? We are booked for 6008.
TIA
Cindy

2Bea Princess, 6008 is far away from 6108.

6008 (Cat 8, correct?) is way forward. We were in 6018 which is 5 doors down from 6008. Its only an OK area of the ship, I did not much care for being so far forward. We had a killer SR Host though! Calvin from Trinidad, he was the best!!!

6108 (Cat. 6, right Arin?) is same side of the boat but waaaaay aft. And I know this cause I had to find Arin's room (and SR Host! ).

Lovin' your update!! What great pics!!!

 

[anc22]

Love the trip report so far! And the pictures are wonderful! I see that you stayed in room 6108 on deck 6...how was that?? We are booked for 6008.
TIA
Cindy

We loved the location of our room

Subscribing! Can't wait to see how you manage to get all those gifts delivered. On my last cruise we had about 30 cabins and I thought THAT was a lot!

Yeah, DD and I just did a couple of decks per day. I will definately tone it down the next time. I was a little bit out of control this time around

awww you guys did get there early. We tried but my boys never woke up... like waking the dead LOL so we got #5.. next time I leave without them LOL

2Bea Princess, 6008 is far away from 6108.

6008 (Cat 8, correct?) is way forward. We were in 6018 which is 5 doors down from 6008. Its only an OK area of the ship, I did not much care for being so far forward. We had a killer SR Host though! Calvin from Trinidad, he was the best!!!

6108 (Cat. 6, right Arin?) is same side of the boat but waaaaay aft. And I know this cause I had to find Arin's room (and SR Host! ).

Lovin' your update!! What great pics!!!

Yes, Cat. 6, great location and awesome SR Host: Erwin!

 

[Goofy442]

Can't wait to hear how you liked Castaway Cay. My kids wanted to camp out on the island. Trying to decide which cruise to take again. We did the three day and it seemed to short. So reading all the trip reports helps out in deciding which one to take.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Arin, loving your trip report! The pictures of you and your family are great!