I will start our TR, but will take it slow so I can enjoy it all again 
. We had a wonderful time, and I have posted a few pictures of our favorite crew members on a thread about favorites. Our cast is as follows: me, DH49, DS26, DDIL22, DD24, DS21, DDIL21, DD18, DS16, DS8. We worked on this trip for a year and a half. Our DD24 gave this trip to us as a 30th wedding anniversary present.......she's our favorite 
. We had originally planned on driving to Nashville and flying Southwest to Orlando. As the time approached to buy the tickets, my DH and I began to get other ideas. Our family has always loved road trips, and we asked who would want to rent a bigger van (ours is just a 12 passenger with seats for 8 and room for luggage) and drive. All but DS21 and DDIL21 wanted to do that. So we called around and got a good deal on a 15 passenger, got the extra seat taken out for luggage, had seats for 10 and room for luggage. DS21 and DDIL21 flew out of Nashville and we picked them up in Orlando and drove to the port on 2-19-2010. We left home about 7ish that morning and took a slight detour. DS26 and DDIL22, who spent the night at our home the night before, had left a pair of pants at home. We drove through their town and it wasn't more than a 25 minute detour of our planned route....so no biggie. Our 2 married sons and wives live in a town about an hour away from our home, but had decided to spend the night for fun....and we are closer to Nashville . DS8 was beyond thrilled to have his whole family together....as was I .
So...another storyline is our hotel choice. I was pretty set on the Hyatt at the airport. Even when we decided to drive, I kind of thought we'd just all meet there and crash. DS21 suggested going on to the port...and that's what we did. I got CIS off priceline for 50..00/room. I got 3 rooms for the 10 of us....and it was PERFECT!!! We ended up with 3 kidsuites...that's what they tend to give to priceliners....but when we checked in I asked if one room could not be switched to a regular 2 queen room. They obliged me and were the epitome of wonderful service.
Our drive was uneventful. We saw tons of State Troopers.....tons. We ate at Chick-Fil-A because....well because we just have to. 2 of my children have worked there and they may get tired of it, but the rest of us don't. And we outnumber them 
. The flight of the 2 noncompliant children was delayed and they got to the airport at 8ish instead of 6ish. But we were ok....we killed some time on potty breaks, and then just circled through passenger pick-up several times until they came ou the SW door 
. We were all hungry but as we left the airport we kind of missed food places until we got to the port. I had read there were food places at the port so we did not panic but we were hungry. We drove to Kelsey's, a GREAT pizza place, placed an order,drove to our hotel, checked into our fabulous rooms and DH went to pick up our delish pizza. Honestly, it was the best pizza ever 
. I can answer any questions about the rooms at CIS. I found out while checking in that the park and cruise program is now free at CIS. Can we all say ? They said they would have a shuttle for the 10 of us at 10 am. We were told to meet in the lobby with our luggage at 9:45 ish. We did, and it all went like a dream. We probably got to the port a little later (like 20 minutes later) than I was hoping for but I am not complaining. Jessica set up the shuttle for us on the spot that night. Prior to me checking in, the earliest shuttle scheduled was 10:30 and it was full. So, she thrilled us by getting us a shuttle at 10. Our shuttle driver was Crystal and she was so kind and helpful. She informed us that CIS was the only hotel that had their own shuttle. The rest of the hotels share shuttle services. It was a 5 minute drive to the port.
So.....DH's turn to contribute to this TR by helping me post pics of the room, the shuttle, and of our lovely tyedyed tees
.
. We had a wonderful time, and I have posted a few pictures of our favorite crew members on a thread about favorites. Our cast is as follows: me, DH49, DS26, DDIL22, DD24, DS21, DDIL21, DD18, DS16, DS8. We worked on this trip for a year and a half. Our DD24 gave this trip to us as a 30th wedding anniversary present.......she's our favorite . We had originally planned on driving to Nashville and flying Southwest to Orlando. As the time approached to buy the tickets, my DH and I began to get other ideas. Our family has always loved road trips, and we asked who would want to rent a bigger van (ours is just a 12 passenger with seats for 8 and room for luggage) and drive. All but DS21 and DDIL21 wanted to do that. So we called around and got a good deal on a 15 passenger, got the extra seat taken out for luggage, had seats for 10 and room for luggage. DS21 and DDIL21 flew out of Nashville and we picked them up in Orlando and drove to the port on 2-19-2010. We left home about 7ish that morning and took a slight detour. DS26 and DDIL22, who spent the night at our home the night before, had left a pair of pants at home. We drove through their town and it wasn't more than a 25 minute detour of our planned route....so no biggie. Our 2 married sons and wives live in a town about an hour away from our home, but had decided to spend the night for fun....and we are closer to Nashville . DS8 was beyond thrilled to have his whole family together....as was I . So...another storyline is our hotel choice. I was pretty set on the Hyatt at the airport. Even when we decided to drive, I kind of thought we'd just all meet there and crash. DS21 suggested going on to the port...and that's what we did. I got CIS off priceline for 50..00/room. I got 3 rooms for the 10 of us....and it was PERFECT!!! We ended up with 3 kidsuites...that's what they tend to give to priceliners....but when we checked in I asked if one room could not be switched to a regular 2 queen room. They obliged me and were the epitome of wonderful service.
Our drive was uneventful. We saw tons of State Troopers.....tons. We ate at Chick-Fil-A because....well because we just have to
. 2 of my children have worked there and they may get tired of it, but the rest of us don't. And we outnumber them . The flight of the 2 noncompliant children was delayed and they got to the airport at 8ish instead of 6ish. But we were ok....we killed some time on potty breaks, and then just circled through passenger pick-up several times until they came ou the SW door . We were all hungry but as we left the airport we kind of missed food places until we got to the port. I had read there were food places at the port so we did not panic but we were hungry. We drove to Kelsey's, a GREAT pizza place, placed an order,drove to our hotel, checked into our fabulous rooms and DH went to pick up our delish pizza. Honestly, it was the best pizza ever . I can answer any questions about the rooms at CIS. I found out while checking in that the park and cruise program is now free at CIS. Can we all say ? They said they would have a shuttle for the 10 of us at 10 am. We were told to meet in the lobby with our luggage at 9:45 ish. We did, and it all went like a dream. We probably got to the port a little later (like 20 minutes later) than I was hoping for but I am not complaining. Jessica set up the shuttle for us on the spot that night. Prior to me checking in, the earliest shuttle scheduled was 10:30 and it was full. So, she thrilled us by getting us a shuttle at 10. Our shuttle driver was Crystal and she was so kind and helpful. She informed us that CIS was the only hotel that had their own shuttle. The rest of the hotels share shuttle services. It was a 5 minute drive to the port.So.....DH's turn to contribute to this TR by helping me post pics of the room, the shuttle, and of our lovely tyedyed tees
.
. We headed straight to Topsiders! It was yummy, and we got there before the crowd hit. We had no problem finding seats. We wandered around the ship to get acclimated. The rooms were ready in no time. We met our room steward Edgar. DS26 and DDIL22 had a different room steward, which made it a little tricky at tip time. Our bags were delivered to our rooms in shifts. But we eventually got them all. We unpacked, and toured a little more. The boys tried to play a little football in the netted sports area. On the kickoff, DS16 accidentally found the one hole in the net, and kicked the football through and off the ship 
. We saw a Disney employee at the port find the football and pick it up. Well never know if he figured out where it came from! Then it was time for the lifeboat drill. 
. He struggles with that. But after that we were off to dinner....no time to mope 
. 
. Dinner was great. We did take pictures of some of our menus, but not this night. We were still new and not organized. Richard was our assistant server and got our drink orders and had them ready each night after that. The theme was Island Dinner. We ordered lots of different things from chicken to steak to seafood. Choosing a dessert was our favorite part! It was nice that they always offered a trio
a small selection of three of the desserts on the menu.
. I will tell more about our dinner celebration later. It was a great day.
. We all enjoy walking, but 6-10 people who dont know where they are going is not a good idea. So we went back to the huts and rented two 4 passenger golf carts because they were all out of 6 passenger carts. We rode in a golf cart to the rental place, signed the paper work, and were off to tour. It was drizzling by then, and it was chilly. It really spit the whole time we were driving, but it was still pleasant. We saw Hemingways home, and went to The Southern Most Point to take pictures. We saw the train or tram that rides along and it looked nice, we just like the idea of driving ourselves and stopping where we wanted. We also went to CVS. I needed toothpaste and vicks. I wish I had thought to pick up several pairs of reading glasses because I lost mine shortly thereafter and never found them at the lost and found. I cant read a thing without them, and was annoyed. I mean, you can buy them on 
. But, I digress. 
