SPOOKtacular Magical Cruise(now w/ pictures)

[Holly&Joesmommy]

This is my first TR, although I have read MANY-a-report, I have never attempted to write my own, ...but I will do my best to share the highlights.

CAST: Me (Kelly)
DH (Ben)
DD (Holly 9)
DS (Joseph 5)
my parents (Joe & Judy)
my sister & her friend (Charity 16 & Ashley 16)
DH Parents (Bob & Barbara)
Friends (Chris & Lacy & baby to be)

Thurs. Night/Friday Morning,...went to bed about 11:00 pm ..... .....tossed, turned, replayed all packing in my head,... tossed, turned,..." I'm too excited to sleep!" (gotta luv that commercial) anyway, I think I got about 1.5 hrs sleep, but who cares, WERE GOIN TO DISNEY!!!!

We arrived @ Indpls aiport @4:30 am and had a flight to Atlanta @ 5:55 ~

We made the mistake of NOT checking our bags at curbside, and the flight arrangements went down hill from there!

We went to the inside counter and just happened to get an Airtran worker that was...well lets just say she was not feel'in the same level of exceitment that we were...

it took her FOREVER to check us.... I realize there were alot of us, but her attitude stunk! OH WELL, we adjusted, and made it to our gate just as they were boarding...NOTE,...no time for breakfast, hope they serve a snack!

THe plan was to arrive in Atlanta @ 8:00ish & meet the In-Laws then catch a plane to Orlando and arrive @ 9:35...

As we enter the plane, I asked, the first flight attendant I saw,.."do we get a snack on this flight?" I noted Her response as being a little odd, but took comfort in the fact that it came with a nod in the direction of a typical yes.

After we got in the air the attendants started down the isle with the beverage cart and just as they applied the brakes,...Captain came on the speaker and anounced for everyone to take a seat & buckle up for a bumpy ride was ahead. He was not kidd'in, at one point, I actually uttered a very quick prayer OUT LOUD well finally we got our SO CALLED snack & beverage,...2 ginger snaps & diet coke for me....oh ok 4 ginger snaps & a diet coke for me,...the kids don't like ginger snaps.

I carefully explained that when we get to Atlanta we should have just enought time to grab a banna or something if we hurry....

as I felt the rumble of my childrens tummies shaking the back of the cabin I noticed the time,.... I began to panic it was now time to be landing and we were still fly'in! DH kept telling me to calm down, relax, which was making it worse for me, cuz he was just making me more aggitated!
we LANDED,...repeat,.. LANDED in Atlanta @ 9:15 ish (not too sure of the exact times, due to the fact that I had had NO sleep the night before and no substancial food and was STREESSED BEYOND MEASURE.)I called my MIL and she said HURRY they are holding the plane! needless to say, NO BANNAS
ANy way as we exited the plan the attendant at the gate says "HURRY UP, they are waiting for you!" So I in FULL PANIC break out in a sprint draggin the kids, DH says "I'm not runnin, it's their fault were late,..bla bla bla..."

Finally we get on board and all is good,...sigh....we take off and here comes the beverage cart,... everybody is starving,..you guessed it,..ginger snaps again augh! We landed about 1.5 hrs late and made our way to the Disneys Magical Express area. caught our Bus to POFQ, and We were SO ready for lunch! LUNCH,.. OH NO!!!! we have resis for Whispering Canyon Cafe' @12:05...it's 11:15.!!!....

I'll finish part 2 later,...we got a MAGICAL MOMENT!!

 

[disneypoor]

I can't wait to hear more about the magical moment! Keep the TR coming! We're doing the eastern for the first time over spring break, so I always love to hear every little detail!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hope you will finish your report soon, looking forward to reading it.
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ok, on the bus to POFQ we realize that we are NEVER going to make our 12:05 for Whispering Canyon...check in, catch a bus, catch a boat, ...not in 40 mins. Again with the stress! (We have 12 people so it's not like they can just make room, or take us as a walk in and us sit together.) I call wdwdine and talked to a cm that was sympathetic but not much help. Her advise was to HURRY! I'll do that...

OK good news, we are the first stop on the bus route, POFQ look out here we come!

We got in line, and I got a wonderful CM named Sheila, she got us checked in but our rooms were not ready yet, I guess I must have been showing signs of stress and she asked me "what's wrong? What can I help you with?"
So I explaned that our flight was delayed IN THE AIR for an extra hour and a half or so and that now we were going to miss our 12:05 for WCC,..and we were trying to hurry but that we would never make it. she simply replied, ..."oh, don't worry, you'll make it ".
I thought,..I know she works here and all, but we are NEVER going to get to WCC in 20 mins.

She finished with our room and got on the phone, the next thing I knew, she was talking to WCC and told them that our party would be about 5 mins late and to hold our table. but with the morning I had, 5 more mins was not going to make much of a difference, I said thanks and tought that was the end of it. BUT NO,....she said "hold on a second, I'm working this out for you" Then she was back on the phone...on HOLD ...
THe next thing I knew,...she is telling me that she got the POFQ 15 passenger van, and she is going to PERSONALLY drive us to WCC. I started hollering WE GOT A MAGICAL MOMENT HEY YOU GUYS WE GOT A MAGICAL MOMENT! then I paused, and as all of the other CM's were looking at us I politely asked, "can I call this a Magical moment?" They all laughed and said of course you can.

Sheila and the van

She was wonderful, and went WAY out of her way to help our family get to WCC and eased my stress level greatly! ( I should add here, if you haven't figured it out yet, when I plan things, and they do not go according to "THE PLAN" I get a wee bit crazy) Thankfully we got Sheila that morning...she was so fun to talk with on the way to the WCC and we were VERY thankful for our Magical Moment!

LUNCH ~ since we were all STARVED, most of us got the all you care to eat BBQ it was wonderful, everything, from the slaw to the BBQ...we enjoyed our visit. It was the first time for 10 of the 12 of us and it was not as funny as we thought it would be, the humor of our server came across as more rude than funny, but we ejoyed and were rude right back, which seemed to make her laugh,.... all in all we had a great lunch. It was worth the wait and the effort,...especially if you are SUPER HUNGRY!

DS Joe & DD Holly enjoying a milkshake

DH Ben tied up b/c he was too roudy and HUGE glass b/c he was too thirsty

We then got to ENJOY our boat ride & bus ride back to POFQ and then off to the pool for some R&R

We left for MNNSHP about 5:30 pm and it was everything we had hoped it would be! We all just enjoyed it so much
The decorations, the costumes of all the guests, the extras the MK had everywhere, the parade was FAB! The fireworks, everything was SPOOKtacular! I HOPE to ALWAYS make it back during this time of year. IT was by far one of the best MK experiences I have had. (We only ran into crowds after the 1st parade let out.) about 10:00pm our group was running on our last little bit of energy...(no sleep the night before) so we ate at Peco Bills (loved that, my 1st time there), watched the parade and called it a night. WOW we were wore out! but all for a good cause,.. it's DISNEY!!!

I hit those WONDERFUL pillows,..and it was la la land for me.

Later,...POFQ takes a Lesson from Atlanta International.... OMG

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

I'll try to do my best to give you the details,..or at least the important ones. I'll get to the cruise soon I promise!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Since Sheila did such a great thing for you and our family, I hope youi will take a minute and write to WDW about her and what she did for you.
My son works at WDW and the bosses really take those letters seriously and when it comes time for her review it will really help her, plus sometimes they are given other rewards when they receive nice letters about their cast members.
I know she would appreciate it!!

Love reading your report, will be excited to read the rest of it soon.

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Since Sheila did such a great thing for you and our family, I hope youi will take a minute and write to WDW about her and what she did for you.
My son works at WDW and the bosses really take those letters seriously and when it comes time for her review it will really help her, plus sometimes they are given other rewards when they receive nice letters about their cast members.
I know she would appreciate it!!
mom x4,grandma x4

ABSOLUTELY! I will check with my MIL she is up on those types of things, and she may have already done so, but if so it couldn't hurt to do it again.
thanks for reading, I'm enjoying remembering it all.

 

[JDBlair]

Great start of the report!

And I'm with mom x4,grandma x4! Even if the CM doesn't get an award or recognition from the company, just knowing that you did a great job and someone actually noticed says a lot and helps to encourage her to keep up the good job!! And even if someone else in your party wrote a letter of thanks, I think it'd be a double bonus to send 2!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Great start of the report!

And I'm with mom x4,grandma x4! Even if the CM doesn't get an award or recognition from the company, just knowing that you did a great job and someone actually noticed says a lot and helps to encourage her to keep up the good job!! And even if someone else in your party wrote a letter of thanks, I think it'd be a double bonus to send 2!

THanks, and I have already taken care of Sheila. Talked to POFQ & gave her a HUGE THey noted and told me that it would be given to her + put in her file.

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ok, to back up & give a very important detail, Friday night after MNSSHP my DH called down to the baggage office and sched. a pick-up for 8:00 am for sat. Our limo (Southern Elegance, who I might add was FAB!!!) was arriving at 8:30 am...so 8:00 gave us enough time to get to the limo as we were assured by the cm.

Sat came and everyone was so excited to get to the "MICKEY BOAT" as my DS calls it. : We were all packed & ready to go waiting for the porters to come and get our bags so we could head out to see our kool limo.

we waited & waited, : 8:15 my DH calls and they tell us to go ahead and put all of the bags in one room, b/c they are on their way, so we did, left our tip on the bags,...(prob not the smartest idea..?)but some of us still had to check out and needed to go.

We all get down to the lobby and there she was a pretty white Excursion limo just waiting to take us to see Captain Mickey!

We all got checked out, potty breaks, and into the limo we went,...but wait...where's the luggage? oh no,....not again, another DELAY!!!!
I'm begining to think that Atlanta Intl and POFQ are conspiring against me to throw me & my family off of my well planned sched.
You see, there is a reason why we have our limo service for 8:30 am, I have spent many-a hour to the dis, and I'm telling you, WE HAVE TO GO!

8:45,...no bags....9:00 NO BAGS!!! SO, DH & DFIL get out and go check w/ the baggage office again,.."oh, we are sorry,..we will check on that for you, we are sure it's on it's way"

Our limo drivers were SO PROFESSIONAL! (one of them,...(we had 2 cars) was the owner) They never bad mouthed Disney not one time over making them wait,...they stood there with such grace, and continued to assure us that everything would work out fine.

FINALLY after much complaining on my DH's part here came our bags,...9:20....1 HOUR and 20 Mins after sched. pick-up time. AUGH!!! we still have to make a store stop for water, WE'LL NEVER GET THE "COVETED #2" we are off sched by 1.5 hours AGAIN!!!
any how, off we went.

once we were on our way, all of the frustration of being an hour & a half behind sched left, and we were just so anxious to see the ship! Here comes the bridge!
(keep in mind that 3 of the 12 of us have never been on a cruise)
OH LOOK,...THERE IT IS!!!! I scream!

windows roll down and camera are flashing,
..."were coming!"... someone yells
there is just NO way to explain the feeling you get when you see that ship.

we pull in to the lot in no time appox. 11:45, hop our of our limo, grab the luggage, tip, & hug our limo guys(ok, we were just really happy to be there hugs may have been a little over the top) and off we run to get in line.
"What # boarding pass are we going to get".....?????

up the escalator, and then... there he was...the man holding all of the cards, or boarding passes in this case. ??? He hands me a card,...but wait, it's turned over wrong side up, I can't see the #!!.... hurry and flip it!

sigh.... #12

that's ok,... were still going to get on.

next to the lady who checks your info....we'll since I had done all of the paper work online this part was gonna be a breeze. we all take out our doc.s and uh oh, mrs smith, (that's me) I need the paper that you printed off with your signature....uh,.....I forgot to print it.

I remembered to tell all of the other family members to print theirs, gee I even printed them off for them ,and made them sign while I watched,(control freak)...but I forgot to do mine. So she hands me a pen & I start ta write 'in, while everyone else in the family is on with the sched. process of check-in.
I finally got all of the doc taken care of, DH checked the kids into club and in NO TIME, really,... they called #12. Just as I was next to check-in in the Castaway club line, they called Family of the day to be first to step on board, and by the time I was finished with check-in they were on #'s 8-9, it went super fast.

"DCL would now like to welcome those holding boarding pass #12"

Mother in-law, sister Charity, & sisters friend Ashley

Everybody in for group picture, and then, the famous "DCL would like to welcome the SMITH family"

friends Chris & Lacey (1st cruise)
We all opted for Parrot Cay buffet, it was not super sunny, and we didn't feel the need to sit in the wind on a cloudy day. As we got to PC they offered for us to go to Topsiders b/c they were FULL. WHAT? yes, they were full, now we have never been this late checking in, so we had never had this prob before...what to do??? then I thought, well how long is the wait? so I asked, and I'll have you know that w/in 2 mins they were able to seat a party of 12,...THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! we were all given the special hand treatment,.. wipeies.
THe food was very good, I did not take notes on what we all ate, but I do remember that we had some super good food. I think at this point we were just so happy to be there that we would have ate just about anything.

off to check on our rooms, we were on deck #2 cat 9 we had a total of 5 rooms 2602 & connecting 2604, cabin steward named Rita and 2644, 2646 & connecting 2648 with cabin steward TABAH who was the Best steward our family has ever had period. My inlaws have taken 7 Disney cruises and they also agreed that TABAH is FABA!

(note, these last 3 rooms are aft and at the end of the hall, they are pretty noisey at night. I do not normally have trouble sleeping on board, and I have always been on deck 2 but this was our 1st time to be this far aft...I took a tylenol pm the 2nd night and that worked just fine the rest of the cruise.)

Next insert will be dinner w/ APL rotation.
the rest of my tr will prob not be so detailed as I seem to lost some memory after my FRANGIPANI

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

EXPLOREING
Off we go to explore the ship with our DFriends chris & Lacey, (this being their 1st cruise, we wanted to enjoy the ship through their eyes.

DH & DFIL had already arranged our Palo dinners & brunch to all be together, PLUS they hooked us up with "Private Dinning Room" both times!
SO we were on our way to make Spa reservations, and after that we wondered the ship enjoying all of the excitement around us.
Then I cleverly arranged for us to wind up at the spa so we could take a tour....(I had to show my friends the rain forrest..)all along I wanted to see the new Villa Spas and let me just say WOW! I had been saying for a year that I wanted to do one of these villa spa treatments,...but DH was NOT into it, or the $$$, so...I figured I could at least take a peek.
They were lovely I would say that my guess would be....DO IT! buget for it and DO IT!

ok,... by now it was time for our magical life boat drill.

we all put on our orange jackets, and I will say that they are better than the old ones !! This time our munster station was in AP that was nice! sat down at a table, and with in mins. we were done!

DECK PARTY

We like the deck party , but our group got spilt up and we were not able to blow our bubbles together but it was still a nice party! (MIL always brings Mickey Gloves and Bubbles,...nice added feature to the party)

Do you see my hidden Mickey?

Dinner was at 5:30...so HURRY UP it's time to eat!

Dinning rotaion APL
Now making our Palo reservations in coordination with Halloween,and Pirates Night was tough, so we missed our 1st rotaion to L, but Palo was worth it, but I am skipping ahead.

ok, dinner at AP...again I do not remember what everyone ordered, but I kept a theme of Beef most of the week, as I am not much of an adventureous eater. most everyone else in our party tried it all. We did have our own table and we had WONDERFUL ~ repeat ~ WONDERFUL servers!
I must say even our head server Jasper(SP?) from Italy made a noticable attempt to speak to us nightly, and he even pulled off a wonderful treat for our anniversaries. (more on that later)
our Server, was MAHENNDRA he was from, Bali, Indonesia and our assitant server was ANA & she was from Lima, Peru....WONDERFUL PEOPLE! I miss them terribly.

Mahenndra & my parents

Ana taking our drink order

Joe snoozing

Off to take the kids to club & Lab,..our children LUV CLUB!!!! and so do we.

Then on to the evenings show ~ variety tonight.. and very good. we enjoyed it and then we all were so tired, one stroll around deck 10, a stop off at deck 9 beverage station, and to pick up a snack for the kids, then to club & lab, and NIGHTY NIGHT ok, it wasn't so much sweet dreams, as it was toss & turn due to the noise, but hey who cares, it's a good excuse to get up and see the sun rise right?....well maybe not.

next installment will be sunrise no,....is the sun going to rise ?

 

[kritter]

Great report wish we were still onboard!!!!!!!!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Great report wish we were still onboard!!!!!!!!

Thanks,..and you can say that again!! I sure do miss,........EVERYTHING!

 

[msaseifert]

I LOVE reading these reports - thanks so much for sharing!!!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

I LOVE reading these reports - thanks so much for sharing!!!

I love sharing,...I should have done this for every trip, it just keeps everything fresh in my mind, and makes me feel like I'm still enjoying our trip.

 

[JDBlair]

THanks, and I have already taken care of Sheila. Talked to POFQ & gave her a HUGE THey noted and told me that it would be given to her + put in her file.

Good job! I'm very proud of you!!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ok, sat night, everyone was sound asleep except for me,...to much noise,..excitement,...I don't know, but I toss & turned all night. Finally 5:00 am came, and I thought that I was safe in saying,.."ok, I'm not going to get any sleep, so just use this as your excuse to see a sunrise for the 1st time in your life!" I got up and rattled around the room trying NOT to wake the kids & DH. no worries, all slept like rocks. Grabbed the camera and off I went to check out deck 10.

SUNRISE ~
If I can get it figured out, I'll post my lovely sunrise pics later.
I wondered up to 10 very quiet ship @ 5:50 am. me and about 6 other non-sleeping shipmates waited,... and waited,....
Finally I saw my DIL's and then, we saw it. The beautiful sunrise I had stayed up all night to watch for... yea, we saw about a sliver of yellow between many massive clouds! I kept waiting thinkin that any min the coulds would move and then I could snap a FAB pic. not happenin.

SO, me & the (SHOCKED to see ME that early) DIL's went to check out the MUCH TALKED about Cove Cafe'. yes, it was very nice especially that early.
Then it was off to get the family up for our Character breakfast.

CHARACTER BREAKFAST

This is my least favorite character meal, it just all happens so fast, (I understand why) but then I am so consumed with taking pics of my children that I can't enjoy the food. I have to remember this meal is NOT for me, and that makes it all worth it.

DH takes the children to club & I am off to grab a chairs on deck 10 for me Lacey & mom and catch some of that that I might add is SHINNING BRIGHTLY NOW!

I love to turn my chair and watch the water go by.....ahhhh that is SO relaxing.

DINNER: Parrot Cay & Picture Attemps

Again our service was wonderful. I can't remember what we ate .
Our DS(5) fell asleep before dinner came, so we woke him at dessert time and that worked out well for him. He ate his dinner, got a and finished all by the time we were ready to go. Then it was off to club for him, he still wants no part of the shows, "I just want to go to CLUB!"

(another important note I need to add here. This week my DH & myself were celebrating our 12th anniversary. I ONLY asked that he coordinate his clothes with the rest of the famliies so I could get good family pics. You see his idea of a good time is to embarrass his family by drawing attention to himself with his clothing, always the )

down to get pic taken before our 5:30 dinner. ( I might add that this is a bit tough due to the fact that I wanted the lifestyles background and they are not always open by 5:30pm so then after dinner, the children are a wreck. So a TIP, check your navigators carefully if you are trying to PLAN picture backgrounds.) my poor family we attempted to get these pics everynight, and everynight something would go wrong. By the end of the cruise I had to bribe my children to smile and constantly remind my DH that this was his gift to me. We finally got a couple of good ones, but it didn't happen until FRIDAY!

GOLDEN MICKEYS

Another GREAT performance! I can't say enough about the shows. They're the BEST

Again with our nightly deck 10 stroll and then to deck 9 to get the kids a snack,...stop by the club drag our DS out kickin & screamin(not really but it felt that way sometimes) and off to bed. AND I TOOK THE TYLENOL PM !

Monday @ Sea again....yea!
Did I mention that I REALLY like the Eastern itenerary? Well I really like it! LUV the days at sea all in a row, especially when there is plenty of sunshine!

This day was no different than yesterday except we ate breakfast in L. That was nice. Met another great server,...forgive me I can't remember his name.

took the kids to the pool, then back to club, and SUN for MOM I met my mom & Lacey on 10, in our normal spot, watching the ocean roll by.

Trick or Treat DIS STYLE!

There will be NO topping this ToT for our family! WOW! it was so nice. DS was OF COURSE in club and would not come out, but DD or "Mulan" was with us and we had a fab time. TONS of candy,& VERY WELL ORGANIZED. Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a great memory. We didn't even think about doing the DCL ToT....no need. ( I have to say it was a special feeling everytime our group would pass some poor souls in the hall who were not a part, and were wondering "how did we miss out on that?" We would just sympathize and say it's our dis group, sorry.

Oh I did leave out an important event, Sunday morning (I think?) Holly did The Mickey 500 race. (vegies made into race cars) she DD 9 made it to the finales, but then lost to a better vegi driver. She really enjoys that time w/ her DH & Dgrandfathers.

I think the adults have more fun than the kids...vegi racecar

next I'll share Monday night & our Palo dinner in the private dinning room.

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

JDBLAIR ~ Inoticed that your family will be taking you 1st Dcruise in 10 more months! WooHoo! Are you going east or west?

 

[kritter]

So glad that your daughter enjoyed the TOT...I was shocked at how much candy they got.....

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

yes, everyone out did themselves. it was lovely.