The Incredibles' Disney Magic Cruise 11/4/06 [THE END, FINALLY!! posted 7/2]

[lindaso]

Sat. 11/4…The Terminal

We all get up the next morning very excited about what’s to come. Even Chuck seems happy as he puts on his matching navy blue Disney t-shirt. We get the Boots and go down to breakfast about 8:00 or so. We get to the lobby and the place is packed. The breakfast line is long and all inside tables are taken.

We find 2 tables outside and go in shifts to get food. I grab 3 plates and wait for the buffet gridlock to subside. We come to realize that the waffle maker is in the middle of the line causing the gridlock. I pause to consider buffet line etiquette and decide that since I’m not interested in waffles, I can cut directly to the eggs where no one is standing. I load up the 3 plates with eggs and sausage and go back to the table. Kevin immediately whines that he won’t eat any of that. I stuff some eggs in my mouth and head back up to the line that is even longer this time.

I see Christine over at a cereal table that I hadn’t noticed before. I head over to get Kevin some cereal and fruit. I place a bowl underneath the Fruit Loops machine and pull the handle. Yikes, the handle comes right off into my hand! Christine shrieks, “you broke it, what’d you do?” I try to hush her before people notice and try to shove the handle back in now realizing I was supposed to turn it and not pull it. We start to giggle while the Fruit Loops are spilling all over the table but I maintain enough composure to pop the thing back in, get my Fruit Loops and get the heck out of there.

We finish breakfast while the kids run around the basketball court. Teresa, Ken and Rebecca come join us in their matching orange t-shirts. Teresa is carrying Rebecca’s American Girl Doll and getting stares from every girl under the age of 13. We chat a while and Chuck and Keith leave to go to the store. Chuck needs a book to read and we want to find some beach toys for the kids. It is soon time to go back to the rooms and get ready for the port.

I walk into the Boots’ room and see the tiny little bag Christine is carrying on board. I feel immense bag envy as I was planning to bring the big rolling duffle with us. I suddenly decide I can pack everything into my backpack and go back to get that done. I take out the DCL-issued green luggage tags and screw the first one up by not paying attention to the section that says, “peel here only”. Of course I peeled the whole darn thing! I manage to correctly tag all our bags and head back to Christine to brag about my progress. She is sitting filling out the forms for the Bahamas. I mention that I didn’t fill them out b/c we’re not going to the Bahamas. She looks up and enlightens me that Castaway Cay is in the Bahamas. “Oh.”

Back to the room to fill out 5 forms for the Bahamas. The guys come back with 5 shiny red beach buckets…score! They start loading our freshly tagged bags into the car. It’s almost time to go!!

We check out and get everyone in the car at about 10:00. We drive over the bridge and see the Magic. Oh my God, there it is!! I’ve read so many descriptions about how exciting it is to see the ship from the car and let me tell you…it’s an awesome sight! The kids spot Goofy cleaning the ship, which they absolutely love. We wait in line to turn into the parking lot and the efficient Disney employee tells us exactly which umbrella to drive to. The umbrella lady finds our name on the list and gives us directions to drive up to the curb. We get the luggage unloaded and a porter takes it from us. I don’t say the same luggage prayer as the airport b/c I have complete faith in Disney.

The guys get back in to return the cars to Budget and the rest of us enter the terminal. We go through security without beeping and head up the escalator and are handed a boarding card #4.

We see the 2 check-in lines that say “1st time cruisers” and “Castaway Cay members” and we part company. The kids take off and I start to yell for them but Christine yells from her privileged line that she can see them.

I settle in to wait and in front of me I see a little girl with a Mickey paint chip pinned to her shirt. I laugh to myself…it’s not hard to find DIS people at all. I ask her if her name is Alison and I meet another one of Stephanie’s email pals. I call Stephanie over, introduce them and the girls go off to join the other DIS “DD’s”. Nancy and I chat while the line moves quickly. I get called over for check-in and begin the process. Our reservation is split in 2 for the 2 rooms so the CM does everything twice. She looks at her computer and frowns, then looks up and asks if I’ve cruised with them before.

I hesitate and consider lying for a brief moment. I know from checking in online that our ressies are linked to the Boots and the system considers us return cruisers. But I’m standing in the line for 1st time cruisers and it’s apparent I have no idea what I’m doing so I say “no, the system just thinks we’ve cruised before.” She tells me she’ll have to take the Castaway Cay Club off our KTTW cards. Officially banished with the commoners…bummer!

Steph comes over and asks for my camera to take pictures of the Magic model. What I didn’t realize at the time was the model actually looks like a doll house on the opposite side. All those terminal pictures on the DIS and I never saw one of the doll house side. That’s the side Steph chose to take pictures of (and if I can figure out how to get pics in a trip report, I’ll show you!).

We finish checking in for the 2nd room and I get our cards. The CM informs me to go to the line by the snack bar to check the kids in for the club. Christine and I both finish checking in at the same time and she comes running over saying “look at this, we all got lanyards…with pins!” I shake my head regretting that I didn’t lie…they were NICE!!

The guys arrive just then with perfect timing. They get boarding card #7 and Chuck wonders if he can sell it to someone with a higher number. (We wind up giving it to an older couple holding #9.) We gather the kids and head over to the kids club line. This line takes longer than the check-in line or maybe it just seems that way with Kevin saying over and over “I’m not going in the kids’ club.”

It’s our turn next and the CM looks up our ressie and asks for Stephanie first. She puts the wristband on her and I’m surprised at how big and bulky it is. She tells Steph that with that wristband she’s entitled to the buffet with the free ice cream. Tommy is next and I see the “not happy” look coming over Kevin’s face. Kyle comes over and I start in with how cool the “spy bracelets” are. Tommy & Kyle are all over that and immediately start talking into them and using them to shoot laser beams. Perfect. Now it’s Kevin’s turn.

The CM asks me about his milk sensitivity. I forgot I wrote that on his reservation. I tell her milk products can make his asthma flare up. She tells me to discuss it with the counselors if he will be eating meals with the kids club. Yeah, fat chance.

I then take a deep breath and say happily to Kevin “now it's your turn for a cool spy bracelet.” Kevin says “No”. I say “aw, come on, don’t you wanna be a spy too?” Kevin says “NO” a bit louder. The CM pipes in and tells him he won’t be able to go to the buffet with the free ice cream. Uh-oh, not good, abort abort…did we not just discuss the milk thing 5 seconds ago? “I CAN’T HAB ISHE PEAM!” he tells her rather emphatically. [In addition to the milk/asthma thing, Kevin has a slight speech problem]. The CM thankfully doesn’t understand a word he says and suggests putting the bracelet on his ankle. He refuses that too so she says to just talk to the counselors on board to work something out. [Here's a picture of Kevin from the cruise that sums him up perfectly]:

While this is all going on, Steph is over with Christine getting a new bracelet b/c hers is already too tight after 3 minutes. I think we now have everybody checked in and properly tagged…well, except for Kevin of course.

Chuck leans over and says “Oh there’s Jason on line”. “Huh?…Who?” I answer. “You know, Jason from the DIS Boards. I met him on the shuttle. Come on, I’ll introduce you.” I stare at him. “You met Jason?…Huh?…on the what?”

So the same person who has been making fun of me for talking to people online is now going to introduce ME to a DIS’er? I’m still shaking my head as we walk over to meet Jason who is on line waiting to ID his kids. He offers me trading pins for Stephanie and I thank him and tell him I’ll find him if we need them.

This reminds me that the last thing I need to do is call Lisa’s (disneylover5’s) cell phone. She responded to my DIS plea for help after Stephanie’s pin breakdown and offered me trader pins. I place the call to our very own Mickey fairy and she waves to me from the check-in line. Steph and I go over and Lisa gives us a Ziploc filled with pins…WOW!! Steph is thrilled to death and is ready to trade!! Thank you Mickey Fairy!!

The girls go back to hang out with their new friends. Alyssa is a little miffed to find out that kids 10 and older don’t need to wear bracelets. She asks Christine to move her up but Christine reminds her she just turned 9 3 months ago. Steph doesn’t seem bothered by it thankfully.

We wait around the terminal listening to Kevin complain that he’s hungry. We watch people get in line to see Mickey. We ask the boys if they’re interested and they all say no. The beauty of many trips to WDW!! We listen to Kevin complain he’s hungry a few more times. When is boarding?

After hearing how he wants chicken fingers about 20 more times, they finally announce boarding for #’s 1 & 2. Before we know it they call #’s 3 & 4 and we’re off. We pick a line and it moves quickly. Everyone is smiling, everyone is excited…it’s time to start our cruise!!

Next up...our 1st day on board, life preserver hell, come sail away, tossing cookies

 

[Stinasmom]

Thanks for the latest installment ... this is fun! I love hearing the details, things I haven't read elsewhere, like the model of the ship being open like a dollhouse on the other side. And it is interesting to know that 10 & over don't have to wear the kids club bracelets.
Been there done that with those silly waffle makers at hotels! Why bother when the waffles won't come out with ears!

looking forward to more!

 

[pklein09]

I'm so bummed!!! I only looked at ONE side of the model ship ....the other side looks soooo cool!!! Thanks for the pic!

 

[plutospup]

I love your TR! The story about the luggage sounds familiar. Nothing like driving with a car FULL of suitcases, etc. Can't wait for the next installment!

 

[curlybop]

What a great report so far. I am really enjoying every minute of it.

 

[discruiselovers97]

I am loving it! Keep it coming!

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Great TR report.... cannot wait for the rest.

 

[ldeninge]

Pre-trip


The kids want to have a sleepover? You’ll be spending 7 nights sleeping over on the cruise.
Shopping at Target? Hey, look at these cool Pirate t-shirts for the cruise.
Arguing with Keith at Little League? I’m spending 7 days with him on the cruise.
We have a chance to get a puppy over the summer? She’ll be 5 months when we cruise.
The boys have the same 1st grade teacher? Now we have to tell her they’re both missing school for the cruise.

It was like being pregnant and considering life with the new baby. The guys definitely didn’t get it.

That's how I feel planning our cruise right now - everywhere I go, everything I do it's factored in! I'm only going to be gone for a week, but it's a major focus to get my life IN ORDER!

Keep up the great report!

 

[lindaso]

Sat. 11/4...we're on board, come sail away

We go through our first card scan and pick a line for pictures…our first of many Shutters pictures. I’m determined to get a decent shot to use for my Christmas cards. I will not leave this ship without a good Christmas card picture!!

We take one of the 5 of us and then one with just the kids. Notice the look of fear on Chuck's face:

The Boots went before us and waited before they boarded the ship. Keith whispers their name to the CM and she botches it. They botch our name too but we’re laughing too hard at them to notice.

The first order of business is to get the Boots a Palo brunch. I got mine but Christine forgot to book hers before the online ones were taken. We stand around for a second and I say I think we have to go to Rockin Bar D. She shakes her head and says she made the ressie right at Palo 2 years ago. I tell her I don’t think that’s the policy anymore and she counters with “OK, so where is Rockin Bar D?” As I’m standing there thinking “uuuummmm”, I see a lightning streak of orange go by. I focus my eyes and see Teresa with a fierce look of determination on her face. I yell out “Palo?” but she's IN THE ZONE and can’t hear me. So in pure Amazing Race fashion, I point and yell “FOLLOW HER!”

The streak of orange leads us right into Rockin Bar D, which was really just around the corner. Christine goes in and gets her ressie while the rest of us wait outside and sit in the big portholes. Kevin is asking for chicken fingers a bit louder now that he’s actually on the ship. I break out my camera and try to take one of those shadowed porthole pictures that I see on the DIS boards. Unfortunately we don’t have Mickey ears and I didn’t exactly get myself centered so it’s not very good. (We never did get back to take another one).

Christine rejoins us, successful in her quest for Palo and we proceed up the elevators to deck 9. The kids fight over who will press the buttons and who will stand next to the glass in the elevator (a theme that replayed itself over and over and over again for the next 7 days). We arrive at Deck 9 and walk towards Topsiders. We see the Goofy and Mickey pools on the way. I can’t believe we’re actually here!!

We go through the buffet line at Topsiders and I find plenty of things to fill my plate but the tray I’m holding for Kevin has just one roll. Uh-oh...no chicken fingers at the buffet. We follow the Boots to a table outside and I whisper to Chuck that somewhere out by the pool is a place that has chicken fingers. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s out there! He leaves to go find the one and only thing that will make the noise stop.

It’s very windy up here and I find myself eating my own hair. Yuck! I have to hold my hair with every bite, wishing I had thrown a scrunchy in my pocket. Chuck arrives with 2 orders of chicken fingers and the noise does indeed stop. Christine jumps up to take pictures of everyone and this is what we have:

I see someone walk by with a plate full of shrimp and I remember reading about that…but I didn’t see it on the buffet. I go in search of shrimp and eventually find it to the left side of the buffet. It’s not in the center of the two lines but it is off to the left after the line. I load up a plate, save a spot for cocktail sauce and I’m good to go. Back to the table to get to work peeling them, seeing the shells through the strands of my own thick hair. Boy it’s windy up here!!

We finish our lunch with the kids having chocolate cake for dessert. I skip dessert and keep eating shrimp! We eventually finish and make our way to the Mickey Pool and find chaises. Tommy looks up at the slide and says “Wow, that’s a big slide!” It doesn’t take him long to get the courage to try and he absolutely loves it. Here he is getting off the slide. And no, he's not the naked kid at the Mickey Pool you may have read about...he just needs to adjust his suit a bit!! You can also see the bulky kid's club wristband here:

Kevin won’t go near the slide but he enjoys swimming in the pool. Nancy comes over and we chat while the kids are in the pool. Kevin wants me to stay on the side and watch him and it’s a good thing because a big kid comes over and dunks him right under the water! I’m stunned. It’s not an accident…the kid put his two hands on Kevin’s shoulder, jumped up and pushed him under. Kevin doesn’t scream but comes up a bit stunned. I’m left there yelling “Excuse me, excuse me…can you NOT do that to him?” The kid eventually hears me and leaves him alone.

Chuck and I take turns watching the kids in the pool and sitting on the chaise. It’s getting more and more crowded as the minutes pass. Christine and Keith go check out the bar at the adult pool. They return and take a turn watching the kids so we can go check it out.

Chuck and I leave the Mickey pool area, which is crowded and full of screaming kids. We walk past the Goofy pool, which is crowded and full of screaming kids. We walk over the threshold into the adult pool area and hear…nothing. Aahhh, that’s what I’m talking about!! We go up to the bar and order 2 pina coladas. The lady bartender mixes it and just before she hands it to us, the man bartender comes over and adds another shot of rum right on the top. That’s what I’m talking about!! We give them our KTTW card, Chuck comes up with one of our room #’s, we sign our first charge and walk s-l-o-w-l-y back to the kids at the Mickey Pool.

Christine and Keith leave to go check out the room. We sit and enjoy our drinks. I look at my watch and see that it’s 3:10. I ask the kids if they want to go to the Goofy pool and I get a unanimous “Nahh.” So much for the DIS meet. We stay until about 3:30 and gather the kids to go back to the room, which we haven’t even seen yet!

We make our way down the aft elevators (or lifts for those on cruise-speak) and our rooms are only 2 doors away from the elevators. There is a horrible sewage smell out in the hallway and I pray that it goes away (which it does once we set sail). We enter room 2624 and look around. It seems pretty small so we open up room 2622. The kids run between the 2 rooms and Kevin shuts the door behind him. Uh-oh…did we just lock ourselves out? I’m having flashbacks of last year’s Girl Scout overnight where not only did we lock ourselves out but an engineer had to come break through the deadbolt. No problems this time…Chuck has Stephanie’s KTTW card in his pocket. We put Tommy’s pool shoes in between the doors to keep them from slamming shut. The note inside says Elsa is our stateroom hostess so I plan to ask Elsa for doorstops as soon as we meet her.

We have one bag so far so I try to unpack as much as I can. We put our door signs out and they look cute. I have to admit that the first time I go into the bathroom and close the door it feels like I’m in an airplane bathroom. (Needless to say, the room (and bathroom) felt bigger as the week went on. The only problem we had was the foot of the bed where we kept running into each other, causing one person to back up. We needed a traffic light!)

It’s soon time to get ready for the drill. We find the life preservers in the closet and wonder how many pounds 32 kgs are. We have no idea if Stephanie is over or under 32 kgs. She tries on both and is more comfortable in the adult one. As expected, Kevin has a fit when we try to put the life preserver on him. We tell him he has to wear it and we listen to him cry all the way to Animator’s Palate.

Once seated, he eventually stops crying. Now I realize that I don’t have my camera for the obligatory life jacket picture. I look around for Christine who goes nowhere without her camera but I don’t see them. The CM calls our room # and we raise our hands. She then goes on to read a page full of instructions that we can’t hear. We are dismissed and I rip the jacket off of Kevin as fast as I can.

Back down to the room where we meet the Boots who yell at us for missing the drill. Huh? Turns out we were not at the same muster station even though our rooms are right next to each other. They are happy to find out we are not in trouble for missing the drill.

The luggage is coming fast and furious now with a bang on the door every few seconds. There’s no time to unpack b/c now it’s time for the sail-away party. Back up to deck 9 we go. It’s pretty crowded but we find a spot next to the platform. The music is blasting and everybody’s dancing…except for Kevin. He’s crying with his fingers in his ears. We try to get him dancing but he won’t let go of those ears.

We do the Hey Baby oooh aaaah, the cha cha slide, the upside down bouncing off the ceiling and have loads of fun…except for Kevin. We also play our first game of Hidden Friends. It’s like Hidden Mickey but it involves trying to find Cheyenne and Rebecca instead of mouse ears. Chuck thinks he saw them on the big screen so Stephanie and Alyssa try to wiggle their way through the crowd to reach them. They don’t get very far and give up and come back.

Alyssa gets tired of dancing and stands there with her arms folded. A CM sneaks up behind her, mimicking her folded arms and frown and she doesn’t see him for the longest time. She stands there long enough for me to get a picture of it:

I ask my crew if they want to go up to deck 10 and I get another unanimous “nahh”. So I don’t get to see the waving or us moving through the channel. But we are having fun right on deck 9. The ship is moving and we’re on our way. We’re already making fun of Chuck asking him if he’s going to throw up. It’s been 5 whole minutes!

It didn’t take much longer...

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Your TR is going great! I like how you write,...very detailed,

I am a sucker for detail. We just came back from the Eastern 11/4/06,.. I am still writing my TR.

I noticed Alyssas T-shirt the one in the picture of her & CM Doug ( who is great by the way we made friends w/ him on our western in 04, and got to see him again in 06 nice guy),.. my 9yr DD has the same shirt ...and, I wanted the matching t-shirts you guys have inyour embarktion picture,..but they did not have any Mens sizes left when I found them. I TOO insisted on the CHRISTMAS picture....and we worked on it every night!
I like the way you think,.. must be why I am enjoying your TR.
Keep it coming, can't wait for more.

 

[lindaso]

Sat. Nov. 4th cont… what kind of water? Tossing of the cookies.


We make our way back to the room after the sail-away party. The ship is already rocking pretty good but I figure we just have to get used to it. Back at the room, I have time to unpack for all of 15 minutes before it’s time to get ready for dinner. When exactly do you unpack on this cruise? I haven’t had a free moment all day!!

We’re still missing one bag and I’m wondering if it’s back on the curb at Port Canaveral. Maybe I should have said that luggage prayer after all. Luckily, I listened to the advice on the boards and packed something for everyone in each suitcase. Well, Chuck’s stuff is all in one suitcase but that made it to the room.

We all change for dinner and make it out into the hallway where we wait for Christine to finish up. Our last suitcase is delivered while we’re standing there. We have a 5:45 dinner at Parrot Cay and we make it there closer to 6:00. We give them our tickets and they lead us to table 49. The kids grab seats at one end with Kevin sitting next to Tommy of course. But he winds up at the other end of the table from me and I don’t have the energy to make everybody move. The restaurant is rocking back and forth feeding my now-growing migraine. I keep stealing glances at my husband who is growing sweatier by the minute.

We sit down and meet our server for the week…Glenn from the Philippines. He welcomes us and explains how the meals will work but between his strong accent and the loud restaurant, none of us could understand him very well. So we all do that smile and nod thing and pretend to understand him. He introduces us to his assistant, Melroy from India. Melroy introduces us to the wine package, which we decline. None of us are wine drinkers. We struggle to hear him too…either they’re talking too low or it’s just a noisy restaurant. Then Melroy offers an Evian package, explaining the whole thing and ending with “or you can just have ship water.” Keith tries to be funny and says “what kind of water? Sh*t water?”

We start laughing and Melroy just stares at him. Uh-oh, I guess that wasn’t funny? Glenn chimes in and asks if anyone has any food allergies and Christine reminds me that my son has dietary restrictions. Glenn goes and gets Ronald our head server. I try to explain to Ronald that Kevin has a sensitivity to milk, it’s not an allergy but that we monitor it day by day. If we find he’s coughing a lot, he won’t be having any Mickey Bars. Ronald starts listing what recipes have milk and I stop him, saying that the child will eat chicken fingers at every meal for the next 7 days. He frowns and says there’s milk in the batter. I tell him I’m sure he’ll be OK with that as I’m thinking that if they refuse to serve him chicken fingers, the boy will starve.

We order our meal and I tell Glenn I want “ship” water. We all get another good laugh over that but Glenn doesn’t smile. They definitely don’t like the water joke! I order the Spice Island Chicken wings and the Caribbean Roast Chicken. We make small talk while we watch the restaurant sway…back and forth and back and forth. Food…that’s it, once our food comes, we’ll feel better (I hope!).

The appetizers come and the chicken wings are really good. I polish them off and consider asking for more but it’s just the first night so I need to pace myself. The kids’ food comes and I regret not having Kevin next to me cause Chuck and I have to jump up every two minutes to cut his chicken and pour more ketchup. The kids finish quickly and our main course hasn’t arrived yet. We encourage them to be quiet by coloring their menus. Kevin gets cranky and eventually comes over and whispers that he has to pee. I suggest that Chuck take him. I’m thinking it might help get his mind off the fact that the restaurant is swaying. Ohhhh, big mistake.

Our main course arrives while they’re in the bathroom. I take 2 bites of my chicken before they arrive back. They’re 2 very good bites and they wind up being my only 2 bites. I know as soon as I see him. I can tell by the bloodshot look in his eyes. Apparently the tiny closed-off smelly bathroom stall rocking back and forth is way worse than a big dining room rocking back and forth. Who knew?

He takes a big drink and tries to eat. Meanwhile Kevin gets a whiff of something and starts crying that he’s going to throw up. He starts to gag, I hold a napkin under him and run him out of the restaurant. I take him into the bathroom but he doesn’t need to toss anything. I guess he just needed to try out what he learned on his previous bathroom break.

We go back and Chuck has finished his meal true to his pre-cruise word. He told me no matter how many times he throws up, he’s getting his money’s worth in food. Kevin will only sit on my lap now and I don’t feel like having any more chicken. Time for dessert! The only thing that speaks to me on the menu is the ice cream sundae. Another big mistake. Kevin, who is sitting on my lap, now has ice cream sitting right in front of him. He begs me for some, my headache is getting worse and I just want to get out of there. Ronald sees the commotion and offers to bring rice ice cream. OK, let’s try that.

Everyone is done with their dessert and the rice ice cream is taking a long time. We all really want to leave, we’ve been in this restaurant forever. Glenn finally comes with the rice ice cream…plain ice cream in a regular bowl with no chocolate sauce. Of course that’s not what Kevin had in mind and lets everyone know. I’ve now had enough of whiny 4 year old whose 50 pounds have been on my lap for 25 minutes (maybe that’s why the suitcase in the car didn’t bother me much?). But Chuck finds his second wind and calls Melroy over to ask him for a sundae dish and chocolate sauce. I just want to leave but we wait to see if that will make a difference. Melroy comes back with said ice cream in a sundae dish with chocolate sauce. Kevin takes one bit and says “yuuuuck”.

It’s now officially time to leave. Glenn gives us instructions for tomorrow night and I can already understand his accent much better. Keith still doesn’t understand a word he says and I enjoy watching him try to understand. He turns his head so his ear faces toward Glenn and he furrows his brow in deep concentration. (This became our favorite past time at dinner over the course of the cruise. Glenn would leave and we’d all look at Keith to see if he understood.)

Overall, it wasn’t the most successful dinner. In addition to the bathroom trips, we didn’t feel a connection with our servers. They didn’t have much of a sense of humor but we’ll see how the rest of the week goes. It’s so late now that we just go to the Walt Disney Theatre and get ready for the show. The kids pick seats in the front row to the right facing the stage. Chuck tries to convince them to pick seats in the middle but they want the front row.

We settle in behind them and talk. Chuck and I discuss whether the heavy stage curtains should be swaying from side to side. We discuss the state of the Magic’s ship stabilizers and whether they actually exist. We talk for a few more minutes and he excuses himself back to the bathroom to continue the bulimic cruise plan.

The theatre starts to fill up and the girls play another game of Hidden Friends. I don’t recall if they find Chey and Rebecca tonight. The show starts and the magician comes on. I know others weren’t too impressed with his show but I don’t get out much so it was pretty good to me. The kids enjoy it. Then Gary DeLena comes on and he rocks the house. Peeeensylvaaaaniaaaaaaa!!! Pink Pajamas, penguins on the bottom. Pink Pajamas, penguins on the bottom. You know Gary’s good cause even Kevin is cracking up. We all enjoy the New Jersey references, especially since they’re sarcastic and we New Yorkers always enjoy Jersey sarcasm!

The show ends and we head towards the kids clubs. I take the boys in the club while Christine takes the girls to the lab. I go in and talk enthusiastically about how much fun it will be to hang out in here. Kevin replies that he’s not going in the kids club. We find the back room that has some computer games and Tommy plays a little Spongebob. Kyle keeps asking how come the slide is closed. I tell him we’ll make sure he comes back when it’s open. The girls come back and say the lab was so crowded they couldn’t even get in. The club is pretty crowded too so we decide to leave and see it tomorrow.

Back to the room to get the kids in bed. It’s been a long day. We walk through the deck 2 hallway and I get slammed into the wall. Yup, ship’s still swaying. We walk into the stateroom and see the beds turned down, our first towel animal, lots of yummy chocolate and our navigator for tomorrow. Elsa put doorstoppers in the doors without our even asking. I knew then she’d be great. She guessed as to which beds we wanted made up but unfortunately she guessed wrong. The kids are going to sleep in 2622 so we need the ceiling bed down in that room and back up in our room. I press the stateroom button on the phone and someone comes by within minutes to fix the beds. He couldn’t have been nicer.

We get the kids in pj’s (the whole time singing pink pajamas, penguins on the bottom). Kevin does his nebulizer in bed and I’m glad I threw the extension cord in the suitcase cause there’s no outlet near the bed. They all enjoy watching the Disney movie on TV as he does his treatment. I hear Chuck christening the stateroom bathroom and I wonder if he’s going to hit every toilet on the ship. It’s lights out for the kids and the 3 of them fall asleep instantly. It’s nice having the 2 rooms so we can keep the light on in our room while they fall asleep.

I spend the rest of the night unpacking. I’m determined to get these suitcases under the bed to keep the room from seeming even smaller. Chuck takes a Bonine hoping that will help. He tells me he’s thinking about getting off in Key West. I reply that I want to watch the Giant game tomorrow.

He says, “no, I’m getting off at Key West.”

“What? Like leaving?

“Yeah, I can’t take a whole week of this.”

OK…remain calm…I tell him I don’t think it will be like this the whole time. It’s just a rough patch of weather right now and it will ease up soon. I have no idea what I’m talking about but I feel like I’m talking someone down from the ledge.

He says he can’t take much more of this. He goes to sleep hoping he makes it through the night without his new porcelain best friend. I finish unpacking, trying to avoid hitting his feet hanging off the end of the bed every time I walk past.

I finish all but one bag and call it a night after taking another Bonine for myself. I fall into bed and fall asleep instantly. I slept like a dream the entire night.

Next up…adventures in shaving, where is the internet café?, who needs Key West when it’s football Sunday

 

[spsneman]

Just got home from Florida yesterday (Nov 21st) We were on the same cruise and I had the same problem with nausea. (with the wind that morning, I figured we were bound to hit some rough seas) Was fine until we were sitting at our dinner seating at 5:30 at Animators Palate. (basically when the boat left port ) Could feel the ship swaying and my steak did not have any taste whatsoever. Excused myself from the table and barely made it back to our stateroom. Figured I would go up on deck and get some fresh air. Big mistake. Deck 9 was vacant due to the high winds and the motion was definitely stronger there. Luckily I had something with me as I did not make it back to the room fast enough this time around. Ran into our hostess and she advised just to lay flat on the bed and that should help. Said I would definitely try that as I did not want to have to go through a week of this and ruin the entire trip for my family. Wanted to have a quick bath first and good thing for the sink in the split bathtub area is all I can say. Laid down and within 15 mins felt much better. Soon after my DH bought out daughter back to the room who was also not feeling so well. Then 30 mins later our son. I gave them the same advice I was given and they were fine within no time and we all fell asleep hoping the winds would die down for our jet ski excursion at Key West. And thats a whole other story.....

 

[DiaLady]

lindaso -

Thanks for sharing!! Can't wait to read the rest!

Oh and by the way, I thought we were the only folks to argue on vacation . . .LOL. Best thing that could have happened on our Western Magic last year was me being seasick for two days. It was the best of times (for DH); it was the worst of times (me!). But DH really enjoyed getting a lay of the land. I love it when he takes charge!

Only 49 days for us . . . Oh and thanks for the reminder about the extension cord. I think after Thanksgiving & the state FIRST LEGO competition, I'm going to download that spreadsheet list again and decide what to bring. Was there anything else you thought was important to bring from home?

Oh and I loved your t-shirts. I've been thinking about doing that for our Jan cruise. Where did you get them?

Have a super Thanksgiving!

Theresa

 

[jsfein]

He told me no matter how many times he throws up, he’s getting his money’s worth in food.

I knew I liked Chuck. I'm made from the same mold (but thankfully didn't suffer any sea sickness).

 

[lindaso]

Was there anything else you thought was important to bring from home?

Oh and I loved your t-shirts. I've been thinking about doing that for our Jan cruise. Where did you get them?

Have a super Thanksgiving!

Theresa

I got the shirts on clearance at Disney shopping...or Disney Direct (or whatever they are calling their website these days. I can't keep track of these things, I still use the name Price Club!).

The extension cord was definitely used. I also brought my own hair dryer but that had to be plugged in by the desk mirror. I found the over the door shoe holder very useful for everything besides shoes. I brought a travel alarm clock but the hands didn't light up enough so I just used the glow on my Timex wristwatch. I need to have a waterproof/resistant watch for pools/beach.

The beach buckets were nice to have and we didn't have to pay too much for them. That's all I can think of at the moment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[love2travel]

Happy Thanksgiving Linda!

 

[lindaso]

Happy Thanksgiving Linda!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your "orange" family. Enjoy the day!

 

[t&m+5]

loving it! Please don't wait too long to finish

 

[lindaso]

Sunday Nov. 5…bathroom adventures, internet café adventures, football Sunday

I wake up at 6:30 and immediately appreciate the fact that Kevin stayed in bed all night. There are not many nights where he doesn’t come and snuggle between us (and kick us in his sleep). I figure that I should start to get ready before everyone else wakes up. Time to try out the shower.

I contemplate the shower curtain in the bathroom. You see, I have a problem with hotel showers. I never know if the curtain should be outside or inside of the tub and have flooded many a floor picking the wrong way. I figure out how to get the water on, adjust the temperature and push the lever for the showerhead. Swooooshhhh, oh crap, the showerhead is pointing right at me...the bathroom floor is already soaked. I quickly close the curtain and reach in to adjust the showerhead. It moves right back to where it started. So I get in to adjust it from the tub. I push it as far as it will go and it finally stays put in the middle of the tub.

I decide to keep the shower curtain inside the tub…we’ll see what happens. Just then I realize I jumped in the shower without my razor. Let’s think about this…the razor is in my makeup bag which is in a compartment of the over-the-door shoe holder which just so happens to be on the outside of this bathroom door and may be within reach. I reach out of the shower, open the door, lean over and grab my makeup bag (trying not to flood the floor even more or get my make-up wet). I find a razor and put the bag back. Crash! Uh-oh, I didn’t zip it all the way and something smashed on the floor.

Hold the razor in my hand and contemplate what I’m about to do. The shower is making sudden and unexpected dips due to the rough seas and I am about to put a RAZOR BLADE to my SKIN. How come I never read about this particular problem on the DIS? I take a deep breath and get through it without making a bloody mess.

Turn the water off and pull back the curtain for the moment of truth. D*mn, the towel mat is soaked, I did it again! I lay down another towel and try to soak up as much water as I can. I guess next time I’ll try the curtain on the outside.

Open the door to survey the damage…my blush smashed but the mirror didn’t break and there’s still half of it intact. Could have been worse.

Chuck gets up and gets sick. Lovely. He takes a Bonine and I have a silent talk with King Triton as I watch the whitecap waves outside our porthole. OK Dude, work with me here. I’ve waited two years for this trip, spent an unbelievable amount of money and told my husband that we would have the best family vacation ever. You are ruining it for me and now he’s going to leave. You need to calm the seas down. I’m sorry I didn’t buy the Little Mermaid DVD, I am, but Steph is past the princess stage and my boys wouldn’t be caught dead watching a princess movie. But I’m still a big fan and you’re making a comeback with Steph with Ashley Tisdale’s “Kiss the Girl” video. So please calm things down for me, please.

I finish with King Triton and help the now-awake kids find clothes. We leave for breakfast and knock on the Boots’ door. Elsa is in the hallway and tells us that they left already. We finally meet her and I thank her for the doorstoppers. She is extremely nice.

We head up to Topsiders for our first breakfast on board. Steph goes crazy over the Krispy Kremes while Tommy goes crazy over the McDonald’s style hash browns. I go in search of the omelet station and find it in the same place I found the shrimp from the previous day. I love this omelet station because you don’t have to stand there while they cook your omelet. They take your order and give you one of the table numbers and they come find you where you’re sitting stuffing yourself with the rest of your breakfast.

Kevin eats some grapes and a bagel and he’s happy. Chuck feels the Bonine kick in and he enjoys breakfast as well. We pick an inside table so no one has to eat hair. Yeah, we’re doing much better at this meal!

We finish up and head straight to the Buena Vista Theatre for Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest. We pick seats in the back row and Chuck and Steph head up to deck 9 to get some drinks for the movie. I sit in my seat and smash my knees into the seat in front of me. I look around the theatre and realize that there is way more leg room in every other row other than the one we picked. There is no way Chuck’s legs will even fit in the back row. The boys and I climb over the seat and get comfortable.

They come back with drinks in hand and we are ready for the pirates! We haven’t seen this movie yet because we were saving it for the cruise. It is very cool seeing this movie on board the Magic. Kevin gets a little scared in the middle but he just buries his head in my lap. There is a teenage guy sitting behind us watching with a little girl. This guy is a huge Capt. Jack fan and says every Jack line a second before Jack says it on the screen. It gets really annoying and I can’t hold back turning around to look at him…I waited as long as I could. The little girl notices and has enough sense to smack him the next time he does it.

The movie ends about noon and we meet up with the Boots at the rooms. We discuss the afternoon plans. I’m watching the Giant game in Diversions. I would love for Chuck to continue his family vacation and watch it with me. The Bonine is working, he hasn’t blessed a toilet since he woke up and he says he wants to watch the game. Yeah!! He doesn’t talk about leaving so I keep my mouth shut! (Hard for me to do as you can imagine!)

We work out who is going where, who is taking who where and who is responsible for who.

Keith and Christine are going to walk around Key West. I take Steph and Alyssa to the lab for Improv Games and Free Time. The boys can’t be checked in to the club until they transition back from lunch at 1:15 so they all go up to deck 9 for food. I need to find the internet café and sign up for the internet package. This has to be done by 1:00 kickoff because we need to check our starters for fantasy football.

I head up to deck 3 and look for signs for the internet café. They point toward the Promenade lounge so I walk through and wind up at the lobby. I walk through the nightclub area (find Diversions for later) but don’t see the internet café. Back out to the lobby and I see the signs pointing in the other direction. Walk past the Promenade lounge again, look up and see the sign for the Promenade lounge and wind up back at the aft elevators. Where the heck is this place??

I walk toward the Promenade lounge, AGAIN see the sign saying Promenade lounge and wind up in the lobby where the signs for the internet café are pointing in the direction I just came from. Holy cow, I really can’t find it and it’s getting close to 1:00! I go up to a CM standing in the lobby and say “where is the internet café? I’m having the hardest time finding it.” He starts to tell me and then decides he will show me. He leads me past the Promenade lounge and points out the computers sitting right UNDER the sign saying Promenade Lounge. OMG, I feel like a moron. Every time I walked past these computers, I was looking UP at the sign and never saw them. I thank the nice CM and tell him that I’m an idiot and he just smiles and wishes me a nice day. In my defense, there is no sign saying internet cafe…it says Promenade lounge, causing me to look up every single time I walked past b/c I was looking for a sign saying Internet café. Weak defense I know, I admit to being a moron.

Having now found the computers, I follow the directions to sign up for the unlimited package. It takes a couple of tries to remember my room # (I am really losing it!!) but I manage to get on. I open internet explorer and nothing happens. I wait a few minutes and nothing happens. It’s really getting close to 1:00 now and I need to check our starters. I sign on to another computer, same thing. Someone gets up to leave and I grab their computer. This one works! Go right into our fantasy league’s website and get set for the weekend’s games. I can’t resist checking my email while I’m here so I get that done too.

Back up to deck 9 where I find the crew finishing lunch. Keith and Christine head out for Key West and leave us their walkie talkies. I take Tommy and Kyle to Animator’s Palate for Animation with the club. Kevin won’t go to the club so he and Chuck go down to the room to get his gameboy so he will be entertained during the Giant game.

I head over to Diversions after dropping off the boys. That’s not hard to find, you just need to follow the smell of chicken wings. I walk in and see the Giant game on the big screen. I grab a table right in front of Jason and Spanky (who I didn’t know was Spanky at the time but now I can give him a name). I start to watch the game but it’s way too blurry. I ask Jason if the TV looks blurry, he looks at me funny while saying “no” and I mumble that I’m used to watching football in high definition. He becomes the second person in the past half hour to think I’m a moron.

I try to tough it out but I’m just sitting too close to the TV so I move over to the only open table on the side of the room. Chuck and Kevin come in and we hit the food table. I’m disappointed b/c the wings are barbeque instead of Buffalo but I enjoy them anyway. I also have 2 plates of nachos, which are outstanding. Chuck is feeling better now that the ship is docked and there is football. He has a hotdog and sucks it up by buying a coke from the bar. (Stuff like that is hard for us “frugal” (read “cheap”) people to pay for something that can be had for free up on deck 9.) But hey, it’s vacation!

Kevin is happily playing his gameboy. The Giants are winning. Chuck gets the bartender to put the Chiefs game on the TV in front of us so he can watch Larry Johnson, his fantasy RB. From our seats, we can see 5 different games in the room. This cruising thing is pretty good after all!! Who needs Key West?

Up Next…the party’s over, “the pools are closed”, EEWW BOYS, EEWW BOYS, EEWW BOYS!!

 

[t&m+5]

Sunday Nov. 5…bathroom adventures, internet café adventures, football Sunday

I wake up at 6:30 and immediately appreciate the fact that Kevin stayed in bed all night. There are not many nights where he doesn’t come and snuggle between us (and kick us in his sleep). I figure that I should start to get ready before everyone else wakes up. Time to try out the shower.

!

We feel your pain!! Our 4 1/2 son does the same thing - we are praying that when he gets married he will move into his wife's bed and out of ours!!!