Resorts, Relatives & Restaurants - and a 3 day cruise!

[praisehisname]

That's awesome about booking the bounceback offer! You're gonna love Coral Reef!

Denise

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

YAY we're cruising now!!

Great pictures ~ Congrats on the upgrade! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I believe I left off after our FE group meet and we then headed back to our room to prepare for the lifeboat drill. We donned our lifejackets – yes you actually have to wear them – and headed to our muster station where we crammed together like sardines in little lines on the deck. The poor kids just hate this, they feel squashed, the jackets are like big foam bricks surrounding their necks, and frankly, it’s just not fun.
I didn’t take any pictures this time but last year I snapped a pic of the kids in their life jackets before we went to our station.

I don't seem to have put them on photobucket. I'll check at home later.

After that good time, it was just about time for the Sail Away Party!! If you ever get on the Disney cruise – you have to do this! It’s so much fun! Up on Deck 9, there is a rectangular pool and they cover it up with a floor. They have a HUGE television screen up above the stage area. During the day they will show movies up there. For the party, they had some videos like from the Captain on the bridge.
The kids love it, there’s music, dancing, characters…We had been right up close on our last cruise and one thing they do is the cruise fun guy (I can’t remember his title) calls up a few people to participate. They had a group of guys come up and don Village People costumes (head wear) and dance the YMCA. On our first cruise, they snagged DH and he went up and had to “dance” with the cruise staff. Let’s just say, dancing isn’t what attracted me to him in the first place. It was HYSTERICAL!!! I was videotaping it and you can hear us laughing and the video picture is fairly jerky from me laughing so hard! If I can figure out how, I may post it. (He might kill me, so if there’s no further updates after that, you know what happened!) They did give him a free drink in a souvenir glass for participating!
Anywho, this trip, he hung back a ways at a table with his family. Hmmm… wonder why? I got myself a fruity drink in a souvenir glass. The girls and I got right up front by the stage. It was fairly chilly and still windy, but we had fun. They had a bunch of cruise staff out dancing and played a lot of fun, upbeat music. Then our favorite Captain – MICKEY – and his pals came out and danced and sang too.

We all counted down to the sounding of the horn and we were off!! The kids were allowed to go up and dance on the stage afterwards with the staff. Sarah went up, but Paige hung by me and we danced together. I LOVE doing stuff like that. We had a blast!!

Sarah's in the dead center of the picture with a red t-shirt on looking right at the camera.
The horn is the coolest thing ever!! It plays the first 8 notes of When You Wish Upon a Star. I have it set as my ringtone for when my DH calls me.

As we were sailing away, we saw the resort at which we’re staying in August after our quick trip to the Beach Club. It’s my SIL Donna’s timeshare and you can watch the ships leave Port Canaveral from their beach.

Pictures of Cape Caribe

Sometimes there are people watching from the sides of the channel and they wave at the ship as it goes by. Last trip we bought big white Mickey gloves and we waved back! Good times!


After the sail away, it was time to get ready for dinner. Our time was 5:45. I brought a pair of black pants and a few different tops so I wouldn’t have to pack too much. Only problem was, with all the fabulous dining we had done at WDW, my pants were already tight!!! Well – I soldiered on. I had to go back to the room every night after dinner to change clothes though!! HA!

We were late to dinner on our first night because we went around and delivered our fish extender gifts. I wish I had pictures of what we gave! I had gotten every cabin a Minnesota Christmas ornament, some pirate tattoos and bandanas (for pirate night), card games and play-doh for kids, and a bookmark that I made. It’s black and says I heart (I punched an actual heart) and a Mickey head. Then it has a red and white polka dot ribbon. I have one, so I should be able to get a picture posted at some point!
So we went around delivering, which was fun. We got to see a lot of cute door decorations too.

I should explain the dining set up on the cruise. They have three different dining rooms included on the cruise. Animator’s Palate, Parrot Cay and Triton’s. Animator’s Palate is all black and white and has an art theme. The pillars look like paintbrushes and there are framed cartoon drawings on the walls from the Disney animated movies. At one point during dinner, they do a little show and everything becomes colored. Including the server’s vests. It’s cool. Parrot Cay is tropical themed and more casual. Triton’s is more fancy and has a great big mosaic on one wall of King Triton from The Little Mermaid. I will post pictures. There is one more, Palo, that is adults only and there is an additional charge to dine there. So what happens is you get a rotation on your KTTW card and it tells you which night you’re eating at each dining room. Your servers are assigned to your table (and others) and move to each dining room with you. They will also be working at the buffets and dining rooms at other meals, but just not assigned to anyone.

Our first night we dined at Animator’s Palate. Our servers were AWESOME!!! So nice and funny and helpful! Our Server was Josipa “Josi”, from Croatia and assistant server was Steven from Hungary. His real name is something Hungarian.

Coming up...our fabulous dinner (including pictures), shopping, lighting the Christmas tree and The Golden Mickeys!!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great update!

The Sail Away party looks like so much fun!

Can't wait to see your restaurant/food pics!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Great update!

The Sail Away party looks like so much fun!

Can't wait to see your restaurant/food pics!

Thanks Shelly! The party is fun. Really good dance music and the staff is so energetic it makes me tired just watching them. But they do get everyone excited! After all, you are going on a Disney Cruise!! What's not to be excited about?

I have the most unorganized pile of pictures in photobucket! I hope to find what I'm looking for so I can update more easily. If I ever do another TR, I'm going to use a lot more folders/albums and do it by day!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Yeah, I am thinking the whole lifeboat drill does not sound like fun at all. Yick! However, the Sail Away party does sound great! What a wonderful way to set off on your cruise -- it so beats the Love Boat's way of doing it (oh, how I loved that show as a kid).

I definitely need to see a pic of the bookmark -- that sounds like a fun project to do some afternoon here.

 

[praisehisname]

We donned our lifejackets – yes you actually have to wear them – and headed to our muster station where we crammed together like sardines in little lines on the deck.

We were fortunate on our last two cruises to have our muster station in Animator's Palatte. We got to sit in the A/C instead of baking in the sun!

It’s my SIL Donna’s timeshare and you can watch the ships leave Port Canaveral from their beach.

Looks like a great place with a fabulous view!

It’s black and says I heart (I punched an actual heart) and a Mickey head. Then it has a red and white polka dot ribbon.

I would love to see this, too!

Denise

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Ask and ye shall receive:
My bookmark:

I did the design on both sides and laminated it, punched a hole and tied the ribbon. I used my cricut die-cut machine to make the "I" and punches for the heart and Mickey head. It's hard to see, but the I is yellow, heart is red and the mickey is white.

I also took a picture of the FE Stocking. It's a little messed up from laying around for a couple months, but you get the idea. I used the cricut to cut out the letters and numbers and glitter glue to make the mickey heads.

I'll dig around and see where the pictures are from the last cruise and post a few of the life jackets and some from around the ship. I took more "scenery" pictures the first time (didn't know it wouldn't be the only time!)

 

[mickeymouse108]

having a great time reading about your trip

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Yeah, I am thinking the whole lifeboat drill does not sound like fun at all. Yick! However, the Sail Away party does sound great! What a wonderful way to set off on your cruise -- it so beats the Love Boat's way of doing it (oh, how I loved that show as a kid).

I definitely need to see a pic of the bookmark -- that sounds like a fun project to do some afternoon here.

I remember the Love Boat too!! The party was really cool. Much more fun than on the Carnival cruise we did!

We were fortunate on our last two cruises to have our muster station in Animator's Palatte. We got to sit in the A/C instead of baking in the sun!

I guess that's one good thing about it being sort of cool out. No baking in the sun for us!


Looks like a great place with a fabulous view!


I'm hoping we will be able to watch a few ships coming and going.

I would love to see this, too!

Denise

having a great time reading about your trip

Thanks!! I'm having a great time writing it too! It's helping my post-Disney and winter doldrums!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

This is the Mickey pool - pretty shallow, lots of little kids

We wore these matching shirts when we boarded the ship (both trips). The swirly part is our last name.

I found some more pictures of the ship from our last cruise

In the terminal, we got to see Goofy.

And here is the cut out of the ship on the other side.

This is along the walkway before you get on the ship.

The big Ariel View Television

The Goofy Pool - it's really not very big (that's a picture of Goofy on the floor of it)

The atrium

This is outside the big Walt Disney Theater and often is a character meeting spot.

I found the lifejacket picture!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Again, these are from our Feb 2009 trip, but the ship is the same. If you see anything with Christmas decorations, it is from the Dec. 2009 trip!

The slide goes down into a flat at the end, it doesn't empty into the pool. This trip, Sarah decided to try it. Adults are not allowed and I was sure she would back out. She DID it!! I was so nervous for her, and she turned and said, bye, I'm going again! She went about 10 times!
On the left is a splash zone for little ones. On the right is the Mickey Pool.

This mural is near the elevators midship.

 

[praisehisname]

Great job on the bookmark and stocking!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

More great pictures ~ Love them all!! You are really making me want to take a cruise!

 

[Charleston Princess]

The bookmark is great! I will definitely be making some of those some weekend soon!

Enjoying all the cruise pictures! I really want to take a Disney cruise just from looking at them all!

 

[manntra]

Love all of your cruise pictures! Ohhh that firedrill was the worst! It was so hot for us and there were crying kids everywhere! I couldn't blame them!!
The sail away party was so much fun....I felt like Samantha Brown walking around with my fruity drink! Mmmmm I am having a flashback of sitting by the adult pool drinking a mojito

Tracy

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

READING THIS TR IS SO BAD FOR MY SANITY RIGHT NOW!!!!! I am soooo wanting to go on a cruise right now!!! Everything looks amazing!!! I LOVE the bookmark! Paige looks so different now with shorter hair!! Your girls are both such cuties! btw - Em says Thanks for the birthday message!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Great pics!!!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Great job on the bookmark and stocking!

Thank you. It was a nice simple project and the kids helped!

More great pictures ~ Love them all!! You are really making me want to take a cruise!

That's what I'm trying to do! I should work for Disney travel. '

The bookmark is great! I will definitely be making some of those some weekend soon!

Enjoying all the cruise pictures! I really want to take a Disney cruise just from looking at them all!

Fun, easy project for sure!
I recommend the Disney cruise, it really is a great vacation. I'm hoping to try to get a 7 day in the Eastern Carribean someday. I need to win the lottery!

Love all of your cruise pictures! Ohhh that firedrill was the worst! It was so hot for us and there were crying kids everywhere! I couldn't blame them!!
The sail away party was so much fun....I felt like Samantha Brown walking around with my fruity drink! Mmmmm I am having a flashback of sitting by the adult pool drinking a mojito

Tracy

I didn't get the chance to sit by the adult pool with a mojito, but I'm thinking that would have been great! I guess it was good that it wasn't hot for the drill, but it takes too long for the kids.

READING THIS TR IS SO BAD FOR MY SANITY RIGHT NOW!!!!! I am soooo wanting to go on a cruise right now!!! Everything looks amazing!!! I LOVE the bookmark! Paige looks so different now with shorter hair!! Your girls are both such cuties! btw - Em says Thanks for the birthday message!

I'm doing this to encourage all of you to take a Disney Cruise! Paige just got her hair cut in September. Sarah also used to have really long hair. After Kindergarten, it was down to her waist (which isn't that long since she's so short) but she donated it to Locks of Love and has kept it fairly short. She wants it a bit longer for styling now.

Great pics!!!!!

Thanks hon! I know I took less on the ship this trip but for the character shots. I have a lot from Castaway Cay though.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

The sail away party sounds like a lot of fun!! Cute bookmarks and stocking. You're much more crafty than me. I'm so far from Martha Stewart that it's laughable!