DisneyMomforLife
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2006
- Messages
- 1,034
It's over ... but wow, are we ever glad we were able to experience a Disney cruise ... and it certainly won't be our last, that is for certain. "We" are myself, 34, DH, 36, DS16 and DD9. I'll apologize now if any of the pictures I post are huge. SORRY!!
Day 1 - Wednesday, October 18
Our trip started out on my DDs 9th birthday. We flew JetBlue with no issues and were in FL by about 1:30pm on 10/18. We got our rental from Budget and since we were so early, I called the Renaissance Inn in Cocoa Beach and they happily found us a room that was ready for us so early. We went to the hotel (about 45 minutes from Orlando) and got checked in and changed our clothes. We were taking the kids to see the Orlando based Cirque du Soleil show La Nouba that is in Downtown Disney so we headed out after a great meal at TGIFridays. The show was fantastic (but I knew that since my husband and I had seen it 3 times already without the kids!) and the kids absolutely loved it. We headed back to Cocoa Beach after walking around for a bit in DD and we were back at the hotel by about 10pm. I finally got the kids into bed around 11pm. Gee, they couldn't sleep ... it reminded me of that Disney commercial where the kids and the husband say that they are too excited to sleep!
Day 2 - Thursday, October 19th
The day started off great and only got better from there. I woke the earliest and went out to get some breakfast at Dunkin Donuts which was about a mile down the road. When I was driving back, I was just about to turn into the driveway of the hotel and I looked up and saw the stacks of the Wonder off in the distance behind a Carnival ship and literally screamed out loud
even tho I was the only person in the car!! I had goosebumps on my goosebumps and after parking the car, I ran so fast up to the room that my bag of breakfast sandwiches ripped and they all went flying all over the sidewalk!! 
But I didn't care!! I saw the ship for the first time and couldn't wait to tell the kids!
When I got up to the room, my daughter was using the bathroom. Did that stop me? NO! I stormed in jumping up and down telling her I saw the ship and she started screaming and jumped up off the toilet!
They were a little sluggish and that was JUST the push that they needed to re-motivate them. I explained the boarding procedure to them like this ... "suppose Mommy has to go to the bank ... but there is a carnival outside ... we can't go to the carnival until we do what we need to do at the bank ... would you rather be first in line at the bank or last in line at the bank??" That was followed with an enthusiastic "what can we help you with????"!!
We left the hotel and went to Budget to return the car and get our ride to the port. That was quick and painless to say the least. They are very in tune with people who want to get to the port quickly!! A fellow DIS friend from our meet thread recognized us in line at Budget so we were off to a great start with fellow friends and DISers already!!
This was our first view of the ship as we were on our way to the port ... what a sight to see!!
We arrived at the port right around 10am and I can say with ease that we were at least within the first 10 people inside. The kids made a B-line for the model of the Magic ...
At about 10:15, I went and got in line for the registration which was to open at 11am. They actually started much sooner than that so it wasn't that bad. Taking the time to register online helped out a lot ... the check-in process went so fast, we were done before we knew it. Once we had our KTTW cards, nothing could touch us!!
We had another interesting DIS meeting at the terminal while in line to check in as well. I was standing next to a couple who were talking to some other people in line and I overheard them talk about their grandchildren Emily and Lexi and I knew instantly who they were speaking of. My daughter had become email pen pal friends with Emily for a few months before the cruise via our cruise meet thread and we were planning to meet at the mickey pool but here I was in line right next to her grandparents. I introduced myself and Gabi was so thrilled to learn that she would meet Emily in the terminal in just a short time. Needless to say, they were inseparable the whole trip. I was so glad that they got to know each other beforehand so that they had a friend while on board.
We also met another couple and their two sons while in the terminal as well so we were well on our way to having plenty of DIS friends on hand!
After a short time, the characters started appearing and it was a lot of fun! It definitely helped to keep the kids occupied and pass the time.
We completely the kids club registration process, got the bands and pager and were all set. Now we just had to hurry up ... and wait!! We were in the coveted group 2 for boarding and the kids knew exactly what that meant so they were very eagerly listening for us to be called.
When it was time for us to board, the kids were thrilled. Gabi a little more than Shawn but still ... we were having fun!! We had our boarding picture taken (the first of MANY, I would learn) and then we were off!! Or on, I should say!!
After we boarded, since it was our first time on the ship, we took that opportunity to walk around and see the sights. We immediately headed to the Mickey Pool which was closed and being filled. We were surprised at this as I thought that would have been done, but it really didn't matter. We were just so excited to be on board. We then decided that we should eat so we went to Parrot Cay and I excused myself to go to the door decorations (which were a surprise to the kids) and darn it, they were all roped off so I had to go back and wait to do it later (ropes are down at 1:30pm, no exceptions). When I got back, I saw that I missed out on our first magical moment ... a CM from PC made my son a hat out of his napkin and he was patiently wearing it waiting for me to come back and see it!
After we ate, we did some more exploring of the ship. We found the big mural of Walt Disney and the kids stepped in for a picture because I am the worst tourist with a darn camera. This shot ended up being one of my favorites because we didn't tell the kids how to stand, but they both ended up really cute with Gabi with her hand on his shoulder and Shawn sort of holding hands with him ...
It was after 1:30 and we were all at the pool with many of our DIS friends and I was able to once again sneak away and put up our door decorations and see the great baskets that Shirley put together for the kids. Here are some shots of our door:
The kids loved the room, loved the baskets and were just so happy to be there that I was really overcome with happiness.
Shortly after that time, after some more exploring, we went to the mandatory drill and that went pretty quickly, thankfully because it was HOT and we were all squooshed together and I was not loving life at that exact second. I had the great idea of sending my husband back to the room with the lifejackets while the kids and I went to secure a spot for the sail away celebration. I highly recommend that procedure as we were some of the first people on the covered pool deck and the kids had front row seats for the entire thing.
We had the early seating and our rotation was T, AP, PC so we were off to get ready for dinner at Triton's. We met our servers who were Gusti from Indonesia and Adam from Australia. They were great!! Fantastic the whole time and we truly did enjoy our time with them.
Gabi was wearing her birthday pin so she had her singing celebration at Triton's and we all shared this fantastic dessert:
When we got back to the room after dinner, we met Paulton from Jamaica who was our room host. He was so friendly and sweet - we really enjoyed getting to know him over the time of the cruise. Our first towel animal that the kids LOVED:
Gabi decided that she would take the upper bunk for the entire cruise, which was just fine with Shawn ...
After dinner, we went to go see Hercules the MUSE-ical and it was a great show! We really enjoyed it. It was hysterically funny and very well done. After the show, we were thrilled to see that the characters had begun to hang out in the Atrium. A word of advice and maybe I need not really say this but hey, it was our first trip and we didn't think of it right off the bat ... treat your autograph books like an Am Ex card ... don't leave the room without it. At peak autograph times, the elevators are packed and two flights of stairs for each floor from the 3rd mid-ship to the 7th aft is a long way to RUN while your kids are in line with puppy dog faces because their books are back in the room. My husband did it the first time and seeing as tho we didn't learn that time, I offered to do it the 2nd time, but trust me, there was NO 3rd time ... I saw to that! Those books were plastered to my side at all time because you just do NOT know when they are going to pop up as needed, which is a great thing!!
Character interactions really make any Disney trip worth it all. Kids who know darn well that they aren't REALLY two huge chipmunks that know how to write all dressed up hugging them really do turn into all smiles!!
After our first day, we were pretty tired ... and really excited to be there. We were so excited that we forgot to order milk and cookies before going to bed that night. Like our other previously noted mistake, we would do that twice as well before getting it right!!
Hope you've enjoyed reading so far ... next installment ... Nassau, Bahamas!!
Day 1 - Wednesday, October 18
Our trip started out on my DDs 9th birthday. We flew JetBlue with no issues and were in FL by about 1:30pm on 10/18. We got our rental from Budget and since we were so early, I called the Renaissance Inn in Cocoa Beach and they happily found us a room that was ready for us so early. We went to the hotel (about 45 minutes from Orlando) and got checked in and changed our clothes. We were taking the kids to see the Orlando based Cirque du Soleil show La Nouba that is in Downtown Disney so we headed out after a great meal at TGIFridays. The show was fantastic (but I knew that since my husband and I had seen it 3 times already without the kids!) and the kids absolutely loved it. We headed back to Cocoa Beach after walking around for a bit in DD and we were back at the hotel by about 10pm. I finally got the kids into bed around 11pm. Gee, they couldn't sleep ... it reminded me of that Disney commercial where the kids and the husband say that they are too excited to sleep!
Day 2 - Thursday, October 19th
The day started off great and only got better from there. I woke the earliest and went out to get some breakfast at Dunkin Donuts which was about a mile down the road. When I was driving back, I was just about to turn into the driveway of the hotel and I looked up and saw the stacks of the Wonder off in the distance behind a Carnival ship and literally screamed out loud
even tho I was the only person in the car!! I had goosebumps on my goosebumps and after parking the car, I ran so fast up to the room that my bag of breakfast sandwiches ripped and they all went flying all over the sidewalk!! But I didn't care!! I saw the ship for the first time and couldn't wait to tell the kids!When I got up to the room, my daughter was using the bathroom. Did that stop me? NO! I stormed in jumping up and down telling her I saw the ship and she started screaming and jumped up off the toilet!
They were a little sluggish and that was JUST the push that they needed to re-motivate them. I explained the boarding procedure to them like this ... "suppose Mommy has to go to the bank ... but there is a carnival outside ... we can't go to the carnival until we do what we need to do at the bank ... would you rather be first in line at the bank or last in line at the bank??" That was followed with an enthusiastic "what can we help you with????"!!We left the hotel and went to Budget to return the car and get our ride to the port. That was quick and painless to say the least. They are very in tune with people who want to get to the port quickly!! A fellow DIS friend from our meet thread recognized us in line at Budget so we were off to a great start with fellow friends and DISers already!!
This was our first view of the ship as we were on our way to the port ... what a sight to see!!
We arrived at the port right around 10am and I can say with ease that we were at least within the first 10 people inside. The kids made a B-line for the model of the Magic ...
At about 10:15, I went and got in line for the registration which was to open at 11am. They actually started much sooner than that so it wasn't that bad. Taking the time to register online helped out a lot ... the check-in process went so fast, we were done before we knew it. Once we had our KTTW cards, nothing could touch us!!
We had another interesting DIS meeting at the terminal while in line to check in as well. I was standing next to a couple who were talking to some other people in line and I overheard them talk about their grandchildren Emily and Lexi and I knew instantly who they were speaking of. My daughter had become email pen pal friends with Emily for a few months before the cruise via our cruise meet thread and we were planning to meet at the mickey pool but here I was in line right next to her grandparents. I introduced myself and Gabi was so thrilled to learn that she would meet Emily in the terminal in just a short time. Needless to say, they were inseparable the whole trip. I was so glad that they got to know each other beforehand so that they had a friend while on board.
We also met another couple and their two sons while in the terminal as well so we were well on our way to having plenty of DIS friends on hand!
After a short time, the characters started appearing and it was a lot of fun! It definitely helped to keep the kids occupied and pass the time.
We completely the kids club registration process, got the bands and pager and were all set. Now we just had to hurry up ... and wait!! We were in the coveted group 2 for boarding and the kids knew exactly what that meant so they were very eagerly listening for us to be called.
When it was time for us to board, the kids were thrilled. Gabi a little more than Shawn but still ... we were having fun!! We had our boarding picture taken (the first of MANY, I would learn) and then we were off!! Or on, I should say!!
After we boarded, since it was our first time on the ship, we took that opportunity to walk around and see the sights. We immediately headed to the Mickey Pool which was closed and being filled. We were surprised at this as I thought that would have been done, but it really didn't matter. We were just so excited to be on board. We then decided that we should eat so we went to Parrot Cay and I excused myself to go to the door decorations (which were a surprise to the kids) and darn it, they were all roped off so I had to go back and wait to do it later (ropes are down at 1:30pm, no exceptions). When I got back, I saw that I missed out on our first magical moment ... a CM from PC made my son a hat out of his napkin and he was patiently wearing it waiting for me to come back and see it!
After we ate, we did some more exploring of the ship. We found the big mural of Walt Disney and the kids stepped in for a picture because I am the worst tourist with a darn camera. This shot ended up being one of my favorites because we didn't tell the kids how to stand, but they both ended up really cute with Gabi with her hand on his shoulder and Shawn sort of holding hands with him ...
It was after 1:30 and we were all at the pool with many of our DIS friends and I was able to once again sneak away and put up our door decorations and see the great baskets that Shirley put together for the kids. Here are some shots of our door:
The kids loved the room, loved the baskets and were just so happy to be there that I was really overcome with happiness.
Shortly after that time, after some more exploring, we went to the mandatory drill and that went pretty quickly, thankfully because it was HOT and we were all squooshed together and I was not loving life at that exact second. I had the great idea of sending my husband back to the room with the lifejackets while the kids and I went to secure a spot for the sail away celebration. I highly recommend that procedure as we were some of the first people on the covered pool deck and the kids had front row seats for the entire thing.
We had the early seating and our rotation was T, AP, PC so we were off to get ready for dinner at Triton's. We met our servers who were Gusti from Indonesia and Adam from Australia. They were great!! Fantastic the whole time and we truly did enjoy our time with them.
Gabi was wearing her birthday pin so she had her singing celebration at Triton's and we all shared this fantastic dessert:
When we got back to the room after dinner, we met Paulton from Jamaica who was our room host. He was so friendly and sweet - we really enjoyed getting to know him over the time of the cruise. Our first towel animal that the kids LOVED:
Gabi decided that she would take the upper bunk for the entire cruise, which was just fine with Shawn ...
After dinner, we went to go see Hercules the MUSE-ical and it was a great show! We really enjoyed it. It was hysterically funny and very well done. After the show, we were thrilled to see that the characters had begun to hang out in the Atrium. A word of advice and maybe I need not really say this but hey, it was our first trip and we didn't think of it right off the bat ... treat your autograph books like an Am Ex card ... don't leave the room without it. At peak autograph times, the elevators are packed and two flights of stairs for each floor from the 3rd mid-ship to the 7th aft is a long way to RUN while your kids are in line with puppy dog faces because their books are back in the room. My husband did it the first time and seeing as tho we didn't learn that time, I offered to do it the 2nd time, but trust me, there was NO 3rd time ... I saw to that! Those books were plastered to my side at all time because you just do NOT know when they are going to pop up as needed, which is a great thing!!
Character interactions really make any Disney trip worth it all. Kids who know darn well that they aren't REALLY two huge chipmunks that know how to write all dressed up hugging them really do turn into all smiles!!
After our first day, we were pretty tired ... and really excited to be there. We were so excited that we forgot to order milk and cookies before going to bed that night. Like our other previously noted mistake, we would do that twice as well before getting it right!!
Hope you've enjoyed reading so far ... next installment ... Nassau, Bahamas!!
Thankfully we walked into TK at 7:20 just 5 minutes after he sat down and we bought the clock from the room and a water painting and the book on the history of the Magic and had him sign all three and got a picture with him. I didn't see it in print anywhere that he would be there ... we just happened upon him by chance.
Thanks for taking the time to post!
I only have 1 more year and a day to go for my next trip
I love the Princess photos!! Still a great report!
