Ship of Fools - Eastbound Repo - LONG!

[RobinMarie]

Sorry it took so long, but it feels like we have been unpacking and then changing from summer to winter clothes for the past month!

The players:
Me, 30something single mother of...
Victoria, 8 year old princess

Our journey began in May, 2004 when Disney announced it would be taking their ship, the Disney Magic, through the Panama Canal in celebration of Disneyland's 50th Birthday!

We spent more than year celebrating, planning, posting and chatting with a group of 500 people, affectionately named the Ship of Fools. Not only did the adults make plans, but the children exchanged ideas and greetings on the Cool Side (they didn't appreciate being called FOOLs.)

I kept a journal for my family while we were gone, and most of the postings are a variation of what appeared in my journal.

http://journals.aol.com/robinmarie/DisneyPanamaCanalCruise



Tuesday, August 16, 2005
4:13:00 AM EDT
Leaving today! It's here! It's here!


I can't believe how early I was up. I woke Victoria as late as possible then drove the van to the park and ride spot.

The amount of luggage I have is incredible. It will be a miracle if I haven't exceeded weight and size limits. I thought for sure I had the packing down to a minimum. The garmant bag is a waste, if I used another suitcase rather than a bag it would have been much better.

The garmant bag almost didn't make it. After all of that consideration the darn thing came off the belt ripped and sorry looking. Victoria handled the flight times like a champ: she napped. It didn't seem so bad, those in flight movies really make the time go.

After gathering up our luggage on a cart we wheeled it across the street. This is the only part I had not planned - how to get from the airport to the hotel. One van ride and 30 dollars later (20 dollar fare, 10 dollar tip) we arrived at the HOJO Anaheim. There was a sign in front: Welcome Ship of Fools. How cute. We got a special DL magnet too.

Our room is a nice size. It has a small balcony, two queen beds, a coffee maker and refrigerator. It is on the 7th floor facing the theme park. It is advertised as having a view of the fireworks. Victoria checked out the pool and while sitting poolside we saw the monorail go by. We met two other Fools and their daughters.

In the evening we went to Downtown Disney. It's different here; the three main areas are all within a stones throw of each other. California Adventure, Disneyland and Downtown Disney are all so close. We met more Fools and the daughters enjoyed their makeover at Libby Lus.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/442722868/442770806RgXMNJ

Our room has an excellent view of the fireworks. I had to wake up Victoria in order to see them. Tomorrow is another long day at Disneyland Magic Kingdom.

 

[RobinMarie]

Part 2
Our first Disneyland Visit!

Thursday, August 18, 2005
Disneyland Magic Kingdom


http://community.webshots.com/user/robinmcarlson

I woke up at 4am today, of course that's 7am our time. I stayed in bed until 5am. Victoria had no problems sleeping until 7am. We ate breakfast in the room and headed to the Magic Kingdom for opening. It opened at 8am on the dot. We recognized a little Cool Side kid and had a nice chat while waiting in line. This was my first meeting of BusBoyBob, official organizer of the bus from the HOJO to the ship. It was so nice to have seen the pictures of everyone posted so you can recognize them when you finally meet them.

We enjoyed an empty park for a good couple of hours. Victoria wanted to ride the Matterhorn first. She has watched this attraction on videos, brochures and the guidebook and was really hoping to enjoy it. She was afraid. We really enjoyed Peter Pan, there is definitely more magic on this attraction than the Florida one. Pirates is immensely better as well. Haunted Mansion is better in FLA as well as the castle. This park is definitely a little smaller, a little cozier but packs a lot of magic.

We met up with Arlene and family and enjoyed having lunch with them. We dined at the Blue Bayou at a waterside table. The boats to Pirates of the Carribean float on by in this dark restaruant. Food was ok, ambience excellent. BBB and his family sat at a table near us. We'd be seeing them a lot this trip.

We did a lot of other attractions in the Magic Kingdom until it was time for our tour. I was becoming concerned with the crowds anticipated for the 50th Birthday Celebration in Disneyland. Since we only have two park days scheduled for us I decided to splurge on a special tour of the Magic Kingdom. I had read a few reviews and decided to go for it.

The nice part about taking this tour was it was an ALL FOOLS TOUR. That's right! Every one of the sixteen spots was taken by the folks sailing together! several other people from our planning web site have booked the same tour. Victoria loved taking this tour with her friend Mary, whom she met and sailed with in April 2004 on the Disney Magic as well as Lara and Tanya.

The tour lasted about 3-1/2 hours, and was $55 per person . I received an 11 dollar discount per person for using my Disney VISA card. There are four tours a day, and each tour can accomodate up to 16 guests. Depending on the time of day, the tour includes the following elements:

The final tour of the day has:
* "Priority Boarding" for three attractions
* Tour pin
* An illustrated replica of an A-E ticket book
* Commemorative photo
* Snack
* Preferred seating to view the Remember... Dreams Come True fireworks from the train platform

We were treated to a preview of a pretty good home video of the fireworks Brian, Mom2Belle's dh, videotaped from the concierge lounge of the DL Hotel on May 7th. We knew it would be a spectacular show!

We met at Main St and enjoyed some history lessons and fun with the guide. All ages were represented and we all had a great time. We got a pin, a photo and an eticket souvenier book. The best part of the tour was getting excellent firework seats in front of the train station 10 minutes before showtime. What an incredible fireworks show, totally awesome.

After a long day we walked back to the hotel where Victoria collapsed. She finally met up with Mary at the tour and the girls held hands the whole time. It was nice to see all the girls get along so well.

 

[RobinMarie]

Day 3
Friday, August 19, 2005
Legendary Los Angeles Bus Tour

We went on our tour called: Legendary Los Angeles. I had booked online ahead of time. Since I had never been to California, I thought this might be a great way to see a lot of sites in a little time.

I quickly learned there was no reason to book ahead of time. I had my pick of companies, brochures and expert advice at the HOJO. We went to the bus stop at our hotel and was picked up promptly at 8:30am. We were taken to the zoo of the terminal and checked in. We left the parking lot at 9:30am. Our tour guide was Miguel from Mexico City if you wanted to write praise about him to his company, and Pedro if you wanted to complain. We went to downtown Los Angeles and got out for 10 minutes to take a picture of the skyline and see town hall and the Disney concert hall. We made another stop near Little Mexico which wasn't a worthwhile stop. We stayed for about fifteen minutes. This stop is located near the VA Hospital and the area is full of vets/mentally ill homeless folks.


Next we went to Hollywood! I took a picture of the sign but because I did not bring my other lense, it's pretty small in the picture. We had about 45 minutes to see the stars on the sidewalk. I saw El Capitan Theater and Disney's new soda shop next door. We went down Melrose Avenue and had lunch in the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills Hard Rock Cafe. Lunch was terrible but the atmosphere pretty cool.

Because we made pretty good time, we were able to stop at Rodeo Drive. Pretty fancy! I took a few pictures of the signs. There is also the ambassador of Rodeo Drive who can say hello in any language you can think of! The cars sitting outside of the shops were like cars I've never seen before. A lot of teenagers getting out of fancy cars and walking around. No movie stars though!


At about 3pm we headed to Santa Monica beach and pier. We were pretty tired. The driver dropped us off a block away from the beach near a mall. We wanted to see the beach so we hiked to the beach and down the long pier. It was pretty cool having mountains and beach in the same scene. Here in Connecticut where there's beach, there's flat land! We walked down the pier and had some ice cream and a carousel ride. The carnival atmosphere is nice. We had an hour and a half here and we regretted walking down the pier because it was an uphill climb back. Back on the bus and by this time we are tired of getting on and off the bus. The same people were late boarding the bus on each stop. We stopped at Venice Beach for a half an hour. We saw the basketball courts they used in White Men Can't Jump. I kept trying to think of ten foods that start with the letter Q. We didn't see many body builders but did see a lot of folks exercising. Just looked like normal folks, no professional body builders.


There is some interesting real estate and LOTS of highways. We arrived back to our hotel at 8pm. It was a long day. I'm glad we did the tour as we've never been to California again but I don't know if I would do a full day tour again. It would have been convenient for us to go to San Diego or somewhere like that without having to drive ourselves. Victoria was excellent, couldn't have asked for a better child! I think the frequent on and off the bus works for everyone.

We were hungry and headed to Downtown Disney eventhough we were pretty tired. We went to the ESPN club and got our freebie there (thanks Jenny!) and then ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Victoria had brought her digital camera and was trying to take pictures of all the animatronics in the restaurant.
http://community.webshots.com/album/427192891ZtsyYk

We left the Rainforest Cafe and went to the World of Disney to buy our 50th Golden Mickey Ears. We also bought an antenna topper because Victoria has admired the ones she has seen on cars.

We went to bed at 11pm. California Adventure opens at 10am so we'll relax a bit in the morning.

 

[RobinMarie]

Disney's California Adventure

Friday, our last day in Disneyland and we hit a wall. We arrived at the gates of California Adventure at 9:40am to find they were allowing people through the gates. Since the advertised time of opening was 10am, I was surprised and asked what time they opened. They said Soaring over California was open but the park was not officially open until 10am. Very smooth getting in and heading over to Soarin' Like so many other attractions in the Land, this ride was experiencing technical difficulties so we all went to the other side of the ride. We sat in the front row for the ride. Excellent experience. I did see the screen a few times and did feel a tad motion sick.

We exited the ride and headed straight for the Grizzly Rapids. They must have lockers to put your stuff, which I missed, because I was the only one with a wet bag. Much better rapid ride than Kali River Rapids but too much spinning. Feeling thoroughly ill, we went and saw a comedy improv show. No spinning, no flying, just sitting on a park bench in some shade. Victoria had a small part in the show, she loved it.

We went to talking with Crush the Turtle, pretty neat. We saw the awesome show Alladin. Excellent experience. We had terrible salads for lunch and walked around a little more, did a few attractions and headed back to the hotel where I took a nap. I got up long enough to take Victoria to the pool for an hour. Back to the room for another nap and then went to Mimi's for dinner. Decent prices and decent food. The menu reminds me of diner food.

Unfortunately I missed the MEET at the HOJO. Willie, the hotel manager, had arranged for a special room for the Ship of Fools to meet. I knew there would be plenty of time to meet up on the ship.

We went to bed exhausted and planned to get up early to pack up the stuff to prepare for our cruise! The Ship of Fools would be taking a chartered bus Captain Bus Boy Bob arranged on Saturday. It's finally here! (and finally the right spot for a cruise trip report too)

All in all, Disneyland is a great experience. I don't think I'd brave driving through the traffic alone but think combining the trip with a San Diego experience would be a fabulous trip. Disneyland has less space than the World but seems to make better use of it

 

[RobinMarie]

We boarded our BusBoyBob chartered bus at the hotel at 9:00am. Since I had missed the meet the night before, this was my first meeting of quite a few fabulous people! How great to finally meet all of these great folks I had been chatting and posting with for so long! For anyone who hesitates meeting other folks - don't - it really makes the whole vacation better!

People had so much luggage we could fit all the people but not the luggage. We arrived to the port at 10:30am. We pooled our tips and left our luggage and headed to check in. Check in was a breeze. We met up with other Fools who had spent the night at the Holiday Inn San Pedro. We checked in the kids and waited for our numbers to be called for boarding. We were group number 10.

Soon we were on board the ship! Our names were announced and many cast members were lined up to applaud. We had lunch in Topsiders and then found our stateroom. A category 9 has 2 twin beds pushed together and a couch bed. In some I think there is a pull down bed for a fourth person. We have a split bathroom which is convenient when you have several people waiting to get ready.

At 4pm we did the obligatory life boat drill. We put our life jackets back in our room and headed to a little FOOL meet. At this meet we got our lanyard we had pre-ordered (thanks Marsha!) and attached our nametags (thanks Renee). These lanyards and nametags would be the items responsible for our feeling of connectedness. Everywhere we went we'd see the lime green
SHIP OF FOOL lanyards identifying fellow FOOLS. Such fun!

We went to deck 10 for the sailaway party. We began moving a little after 5pm. Our first dinner was in Lumiere's with an ok menu. Victoria is happy to be able to sit with Mary every night. Our other tablemate, Carolsherman, was traveling with her two sons who were such polite boys.

Everyone was pretty tired, either from seasick medicine or a long journey to the port recently made. Victoria and Mary went to the kids lab. A bunch of characters went to the lab and the kids were all reporting how naughty Stitch was because he kept breaking the balloons. The girls missed the Welcome Aboard show. We were in bed by 10pm.

 

[RobinMarie]

Day 2 Cruise
A day at sea! We slept until 9am then headed for a full service breakfast at Lumiere's. I tried to dine in a lot of different places so I wouldn't tire of any one place. On the last cruise I was pretty tired of the Topsiders Buffet by the end. We did enjoy the sit down breakfast because we usually sat with other people and had a nice chat. It's always great to be served too!

After breakfast we went to a Panama Canal talk. It was interesting for me but boring for Victoria. I dropped her off at the lab where Mary was, and the girls did not enjoy it because the programming was all over the ship including deck 10 and Animator's Palate. The girls just wanted to stay in the lab and they beeped us to pick them up. I left my beeper in the room so Lynn picked up both girls. I bumped into Lynn, who was looking for me, to let me know Victoria and Mary were both back in the club (sorry Lynn!). Lynn was headed to her Martini tasting. I went to check on the girls to see if they wanted to stay and they both begged me to take them out. This was a different experience for me; the last cruise I carried the darn beeper everywhere and she NEVER used it. This cruise she wanted out of the Lab a lot. She definitely enjoyed the CLUB better than the LAB.

Our travel agent left us a gift of a tote bag with water wallets and a sun visor. Thanks All Seasons Travel! We also received an invitation to a Princess party. Victoria looked forward to that.

We headed over to the shops where nothing really caught our eye. We went back to my stateroom where they played dolls and watched little television. Victoria had been to Lynn's stateroom and was impressed they had a "porch." Lynn and her husband picked up Mary at 5pm. We got ready for dinner and dined in Animator's Palate.

The dining room did not change colors as expected. Instead all of the staff wore black and white and blended in with the dining room which is all done in black and white. As dessert was served the dining room staff put on their black Mickey ears and the Mickey Mouse March proceeded all around the room. The fab five joined in the march and all the kids followed. We were all given a Mickey Mouse Club pin.

After dinner we watched a juggling show followed by an acrobat show in the main theater. When we got back to our stateroom there was a Panama Canal coffee book as a gift. We had big plans for Cabo the next day but Hurricane Hillary was looming.

 

[RobinMarie]

Day 3

The boat was rocking pretty good at 3 in the morning. The closet door kept opening and closing. At 7am Captain Tom announced they had passed Cabo San Lucas about an hour ago and the swells were very high and the weather was poor. This was a port we were to use tenders at and rough seas aren't pleasant when in a small boat. They promised we'd be stopping the next day n Manzanillo. This was the port I was looking forward to the most. By the time I got to the excursion desk, all of the Sea Turtle encounters were booked so I booked the resort getaway.

I expected more grumpy people on board having missed Cabo. Most people took the news pretty well, and others were just too seasick to care. The weather started clearing up around noon but still pretty overcast. We went upstairs to the pools so Victoria can see the water slosh out of the pool and onto the decks. After lunch Victoria wanted to take a nap so we headed to the stateroom to take a nap and do some laundry.

We had dinner at Parrot Cay, the most colorful and tropical themed dining room. Lynn and her family chose the beach break option in Manzanillo. The girls are excited, the resort has a slide in the pool. We found out the beaches of Manzanillo were the setting for the movie 10 with Bo Derek.

After dinner we saw the show in the theater; it was the puppet master from the Welcome Aboard show. The girls laughed and laughed. It was a great show for all ages. After the show we headed back to the stateroom. We could not find the remote control and asked for another which arrived in about five minutes. Wow!

Victoria watched Beauty and the Beast before going to sleep. She loves the ship's television programming.

 

[RobinMarie]

Day 4 - Manzanillo

We woke up to a Mickey wake up call at 8am. We have turned the clocks ahead an hour twice now, our systems are all confused. We dressed and went to Topsiders, deck 9, for breakfast. Victoria is enjoying the massive choices for breakfast. She had a pancake, bacon, juice, doughnut, hash browns and fruit. We grabbed a couple of apples for later.

After breakfast Victoria went to the lab. The lab and the ship are pretty empty. I went and bought 100 minutes of internet time. The speed stinks and the photos I wanted to load were too slow so I opted to cut and paste into the journal. I tried to add photos later but it was impossible to upload.

The port that we are in is pretty commercial. I see a lot of Mexican folks riding scooters, motor bikes and bicycles. We probably won't get to see the town much but heard the resort and beach area we are going to is nice. We shall see!

We all met at 12:15pm for our beach excursion. We took towels and boarded open air buses. We waited for a train to pass for about fifteen minutes while we sat in the sun. After the slow moving train finally passed, we drove through the town where lots of school children waved to us. Everyone in town seemed happy to see us. We arrived at the Karmina Palace at 1:30pm. http://www.karminapalace.com We were told the bus left at 4:00pm. This is where I learned when an excursion is listed as 4.5 hours it means from when you get off the ship to when you arrive back.

We were given bracelets to wear allowing us full access to the resort. We found some chairs and everyone hit the beach. http://community.webshots.com/photo/444409345/449766814IqpJaT

The waves were strong. Victoria was sitting in the sand when a large wave hit and it pushed her almost into a stone wall. After that Mary and Victoria went to a calmer part of the beach with Mary's father. The girls wanted to go on the slide. Mary's father, Peter, stood watch at the stairs and I remained in the water when the girls came down the slide. The girls met up with their friend, Sandy, and enjoyed themselves in the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

We did not eat or drink from the resort. Lynn had packed bottled water and cookies which held the girls until dinner. We had a quick ride back to the resort where we headed to Pluto's dog house to feed the girls. After chicken fingers they washed up and went to the Lab. I joined Lynn and Peter at Palo for dinner. I had the fried calamari, filet mignon and seafood risotto for dinner. They put out bread and breadsticks with three spreads: roasted red pepper, black olive and flavored mayonaise. They also put out a dish of different types of olives with sundried tomatoes.

We had the chocolate souffle for dessert which was to die for! After dinner we picked up the girls on deck 10 in the basketball area. Mary and Victoria were not playing basketball and were happy to be picked up. It would seem like each time we wanted to do an adult activity the LAB programming was on deck 10.

We watched a Disney movie on television and hit the hay.

 

[RobinMarie]

Day 5 – Accapulco

We received a Mickey wake up call at 7:00am. Mickey promised big doings but he must not have known what excursion we had booked. I was surpised to see we were still moving. The sky was overcast and it was raining. We pulled into port at 8am. I had run up to deck 9 to get breakfast for us since we were meeting for La Roqueta Island at 8:45am. Victoria ate her breakfast in bed saying she's never had breakfast in bed before. She was in heaven!

We lugged our stuff to our designated meeting area. They cancelled our excursion due to windy weather. All other excursions were on. I was relieved we would not be spending the day at the beach but disappointed we had nothing to do. Lynn and I took the girls up to deck 9 where it was completely empty. They had great fun going down the Mickey pool slide, then going to the Goofy family pool and hitting the hot tubs to warm up. We had a nice time for about 5 hours just hanging out and meeting other Fools. In retrospect, this was one of my favorite days on board!

We confirmed Mr. Roy Disney boarded the ship in port and was not staying in the Roy Suite, but a category 4. Our travel agent, Chuck, stopped by the table and was quickly put to work by many Fools who had rebooking questions. Thanks Chuck!


We showered and dressed for our Tropicalifragalisticexpealidocious dinner. Lots of families wore matching tropical Mickey outfits. Victoria wore her Mexican blouse and skirt. Both Mary and Victoria love to play with a little 2 year old girl named Addison. We are all on the EEAYOR (Eat Early At Your Own Risk) rotation. The girls wanted to babysit Addison. Victoria had paced around the stateroom practicing her speech to Addison's mother to convince Amanda, Addison's mother aka GassMandy, she should go to the spa while they babysit Addison.

After dinner we headed out to our privately arranged excursion to see the cliff divers. Erica, DisneyElf, worked hard at organizing this Fools Only excursion. We boarded a bus where Jorge announces the divers are on strike from the restaurant. We had paid for transportation, dinner and two drinks per person at the restaurant. What we got was a bus ride to the site, two tickets for drinks from a person standing outside a cooler which held cannned drinks. We had no seating, only standing on a platform. We later saw our assistant server, Lisa who said she and other crew members had taken a taxi to the restaurant where they paid 12.50 per person that included a meal and drinks. She said the food was not very good.

We arrived to the site at 8:45pm. We had just missed the 8:30 show. We stood on the urine-smelly platforms until the 9:30 show. At 9:30pm we watched four divers jump and it was over. Some people had to pay to use the bathroom then we headed for the bus back. I grabbed a can of Dos Equis for the five minute ride back. This excursion was disappointing. Acapuloco is known for cliff diving and it may have been worthwhile to do alone or with another family but definitely not at the cost we paid. Be prepared for people to approach you constantly to sell you items. You could hear a chorus of 'no gracisas' from our group.


We got back to the ship at 10pm and headed to bed. Thanks for your efforts Erica!

Part II
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=928408