Traveling the WB Repo 2008 with an ex - FINISHED with PICS

[MagicMe]

Loved your pre-trip report - can't wait for the actual trip report!

 

[littleaussie]

Have a blast, I am excited to follow along!

Thank you! I'll try to entertain you all!

have a awesome trip

We will do our best. . .

Can't wait to hear about all the fun and adventures!!

Woohoo, it begins soon!

i'll be reading.
stay out of RBD though. nothing but trouble there.
for me anyway.

Duly noted, but will I comply?

Loved your pre-trip report - can't wait for the actual trip report!

Aww, thanks! It starts now!

 

[poohmomof5]

HAVE FUN TOMORROW!!!! I am so excited for you!!!

Wave at the Webcams!

 

[littleaussie]

OK guys, the fun starts now!

I picked up my ex at the airport on Tuesday night, happily we do not have battle scars so that bodes well for our trip

Last night we drove down to MSP (about 5 hours) after I got done with work. We were supposed to leave by 5 but got away just before 6. Not too bad!

I didn't get time to pack so I just threw a bunch of clothes up in the air and caught them in my suitcase. I figured I remembered the important things like kids, passports, money, etc. . . We stayed with my aunt and uncle last night.

We got caught in rush hour traffic in the cities on the way to the airport this morning at 7 a.m. Now, in the tiny town where I come from, rush hour traffic consists of the neighbor driving his tractor down the road and being stuck behind him. So it wasn't fun but we made it to the airport in one piece.

I did the online checkin for us yesterday. So we decided to use the curb-side check-in. We tipped the guy about $1.50 for each of our 7 bags. We had 9 pieces of carry ons between us!

The flight was about 3 hours long, really got antsy on the plane. We arrived to 90 degree weather in Orlando about 2:30 p.m. I booked us on Cocoa Beach Shuttle and received 10% off for being a disboard member.

The guy was quick, went about 85 in a 70 zone but he didn't cut anyone off so I didn't complain. We tipped him too for the ride to the Best Western in Cocoa Beach because he was very helpful with suggestions on where to go and what to do.

The Best Western is a pretty nice motel, several miles from the port on the main street. The beach is right in our backyard and we have a 2 room suite for the 6 of us.

I dumped everyone in the room and then decided to go to the Dis meeting at Fishlips. I paid about $10 for a taxi ride over there and our Dis meet had several tables reserved.

It was fun seeing the people from the boards who had pictures posted. My lanyards and bracelets weren't sent to the meet but I will be able to pick them up at the port tomorrow morning

I met 2 very wonderful couples at the meet. The first couple have a boy and a girl who are 6 & 4, close in age to my 2. We hope to meet up some day and let the kids play together. They ended up giving me a ride back to my motel so I am glad I brought extra surprises with to put in their fish extender. Shhhh, don't tell them. . .

Everyone seemed really friendly and we are all excited about tomorrow! I HAD to get seafood since the restaurant is right off the water and decided on my all-time favorite, Calamari. But when they brought it out, it made me pause. Every single time I have ordered calamari, it comes out as breaded rings, so I don't have to think about the fact that I am eating squid. Well perhaps the restaurant does it the "real" way for when I got my plate, about 1/2 of it was rings and the other 1/2 looked like baby squids that were battered and fried on my plate. I ate all the rings but didn't touch the babies, now I question if I will be able to eat it ever again

Well, that's all for today. This time tomorrow we will be sailing away

 

[MagicMe]

Gather you're a little busy what with getting on the ship, making last minutes ressies, eating lunch, enjoying the sun, etc, etc. Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[littleaussie]

Our shuttle arrived at 10:00 instead of 10:30 like they had told us. We were ready to go and arrived at the port at 10:10. There didn’t seem to be too many people there yet but they were just opening the gates for us to go inside. Last time we had been dropped off right up at the curb. This time, the gates were shut and you had to walk through them to get up to the terminal. We tipped a porter $15 for 8 bags and proceeded through security. My roll of quarters were opened from their bag, as I guess it screws with their screening system or something.

We checked in and got boarding pass 5. I had done online check-in and we received our KTTW cards and lanyards for returning cruisers. I found our bracelets, lanyards and mini-navigators. Lots of lime green running around the terminal. I also got a pager for the kids club.

They started boarding shortly before 12, I think??? Our passes were called around 12:15. By this time, the terminal was a mad-house, standing room only. We went up the gangplank and didn’t get our picture taken. This is what I saw:

My family went to Parrot’s Cay and I went to try to get Palo’s brunch reservations. The line was way past the hallway so I waited about 1 minute and then left. Another Diser showed up right after and I asked her later how long she waited, she said about an hour!!!

So we had a leisurely lunch and about 45 minutes later, I went out to take my daughter to the bathroom and pick up a navigator. The line to get to Parrot’s Cay was back to the beginning of the Promenade Lounge by then! So glad we got there early. I also looked and saw the Palo’s line was longer, up to guest services by this time.

The time was about 1:15 so we went up to the pool. It was pretty empty. I talked to a cast member and she mentioned there were about 400-500 kids on this sailing. She also had to laugh when she saw I was from the Disboards, she said she knew all about us.

Around 2 or so, we went to our staterooms. Category 11 on deck 7. It was pretty small for 4 people but I don’t think we will be in there much. We couldn’t unpack all our suitcases so they are alongside the beds and stuff.

My ex took the kids and I went down to guest services to put some credit on it and also check out Palo’s again! This time, there was no line but I knew everything was gone. The gentleman was very friendly and told me he would put me on the “priority” wait-list. Which I think is a load of Bull but he did write that word on the list.

I went to the Dismeet at 3 at the promenade lounge and received the rest of the bracelets (I am on that team) to put in staterooms. My girls and I will enjoy that. I got a DOD called Anchors Away.

My older daughter and I went to the sail away party and I got a strawberry daiquiri. It was pretty good.

Our dining rotation was PLA at 5:30. So this night we went to Parrot’s Cay. We had a table for 6 and it was very noisy. I saw a ton of sleeping/sleepy kids, including my own. Our servers are Pieter from South Africa (assistant) and Adrian from the Philipines. Head guy was Allessendro from Italy and he did stop by our table. The menu was Welcome Aboard. I ordered the Calamari (yes, I broke down and ate it again) which was sort of hard, the Watermelon and yogurt soup (which was served cold and had a different taste to it but I liked it) and the main course was a seasoned steak with Chedder baked potato (I really liked it). The first night is always hectic/long so I wasn’t disappointed by how long it took to get drinks ordered and meals served. Pieter cut my steak because at this time I was holding a sleeping child. I asked him if he was going to feed me too but he said he didn’t want to get in trouble. I did not order dessert.

I left the table around 7:00 for some reason, I can’t remember what. I left my sleeping 3 year old with my ex and my 6 year old and I delivered bracelets. That was a lot of fun walking around but most fish extenders weren’t up yet.

At 8:30, my 3 year old was awake then so we went to the Welcome Aboard show. Since I am a dance teacher, I really noticed the choreography and I thought it was terrific. We got a sneak peak at Sunday night’s entertainment and it is going to be hypnotist Ricky Kalmon. He looks really good so far and funny. But we had to leave around 9 because my 3 year old had a meltdown.

We all crashed early this night after I got the room steward (can’t remember his name yet) to separate the queen bed into 2 single beds.

Random thoughts: I saw people onboard lugging around cases of water they had gotten through. Some weren’t even in a cooler or carry-ons. Just a box of water they were carrying and it wasn’t the ship’s water.

 

[CapnJackGroupie]

Great start!! That first day is exhausting, especially for the kids. Hope you slept well and renewed your energy level for the rest of the trip!

 

[CBJHockeyNut]

Thanks for the reports. Another EB Repo'er living through your reports and waiting for our turn!! Wishing you the best of times.

 

[lvstitch]

 

[littleaussie]

Whew, what an exciting day! Was so hoping today would be a relaxing day on the beach but it wasn’t to be, I guess.
The morning started at 7:15 a.m. with a rude wake-up call. Hello? Oh, it’s you dad, well what do you want? Turns out he was wondering if we wanted to eat breakfast. Umm, no we are still in bed. We’ll call you when we are ready to disembark for CASTAWAY CAY!

It took a while to get everyone ready and all the bags ready. We then went down to Lumieres for breakfast and that took a while. I had the Cogsworth express (Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, ham) and 6 year old had the mickey waffles and nothing else. My 3 year old shared my plate.

I forgot to mention that I bought a sand castle gift from The Perfect Gift. They had a medium sized sand pail filled with smaller sand toys and some candy, snacks and 3 bottles of water.

Oh yeah, we also got the Castaway gift in our stateroom. A tote bag, 2 drink holders and a mesh bag. Not too bad and we used the tote today at Castaway.

We got off the ship around 9:00 a.m. Wandered about ½ way down the beach and parked our stuff. It just didn’t seem as busy this time, probably because there aren’t as many kids. The day was nice, high 80s-low 90s. The kids played on the beach a long time. I had been reading another thread and so I watched the hammocks that were in the area. The one closest to us had a guy in it for at least an hour after we got there. After that, there was just a shirt on it for most of the time after that until we left at 12:30 p.m. After we had eaten, we wandered around and I would say the majority of the hammocks had stuff on it, oftentimes a towel. Now I am NOT a hammock police. None of us really cared about them. I just was more aware of them after reading that thread. And I certainly didn’t see the circumstances of every hammock so I don’t know what was going on with most of them.

We had lunch at Cookies around 12:30. It was great! Burgers, hot dogs, roast chicken, BBQ ribs, salads and potato chips. We all came away satisfied.

After we ate, the 6 of us (me, girls, ex and my parents) headed back to the ship. I cleaned up DD 3 and my mom watched her for the rest of the afternoon. I delivered a few more odds and ends around the place and we headed back to the island where DD6 and I had a stingray encounter at 3 p.m. We were early so waited on the beach. Much to my surprise, my dad shows up in a golf cart with a cast member! I don’t know how he did it but he talked some guy into giving him a ride out to the Stingrays right off the ship and then had him coming back at 4 p.m. for us!!!

The Stingrays were pretty good. The woman who gave the talk beforehand was very knowledgeable and interesting to listen to. My dad and ex got to sit in with us and listen to the talk, even though they didn’t book the excursion. Then they came right down to the water and took pictures. DD6 was too scared to let them suck the food out of her hands and really couldn’t snorkel very well but she still enjoyed seeing the stingrays up close and petting them. I wonder if because we were the last group of the day that the stingrays were not hungry anymore. Our cast member had a hard time coaxing stingrays up to us. All in all, it was ok. But I don’t think I would do them again.

We boarded the ship and had less than an hour to get ready for our 5:30 dinner. Tonight was Lumiere’s and the menu was French. I had some type of roast and it was done pretty well. I asked that I get a baked potato instead of the puree peas and baby carrots. Again, no dessert.

We had plenty of time between our meal and the show to wander around. We did take the kids to see the hypnotist Ricky and he was fun. He asked for volunteers in the audience but his version was whoever ran up to the stage first got to be in. 9 people did and then a reluctant 10th person went up. He also asked people to play along for the first part to see if anyone in the audience could be hypnotized from their seats. I have been hypnotized before and found myself responding to his soothing voice. But my 3 year old kept breaking my concentration so I didn’t go onstage when he asked other people to come up. He had them speak weird languages, pretend to be Hannah Montana and gave them napkins that they thought were $100 bills. I really enjoyed it.

Nothing else exciting to report. I had to take a time out around 9:00 p.m. and hung out at the Promenade Lounge for about an hour. Drink of the day was High tide and I had one on the beach while waiting for the Stingrays. It was very strong.

Random thoughts: There are photographers everywhere! I started checking the restrooms because I am sure it is only a matter of time before Disney thinks of this new money making opportunity.

 

[POOHWHORH]

Love it can't wait till the next one. You know they will make any dessert to go. That way you have it around 1:00am

 

[littleaussie]

This morning we woke up at 8:00 a.m. We still were pretty tired from the beautiful day at Castaway Cay. The ex took the kids up to Topsiders for breakfast and I headed to the Vista Spa for my 9:15 appointment.

I chose to do the Ionithermie Cellulite Reduction. I registered at the front desk and answered all the routine questions. My spa lady was named Isabel. We went back to a private room and I had to get undressed into a pair of disposable panties. They were sooooo trendy! We talked about my lifestyle and what I wanted to accomplish today. Then she measured my thighs and stomach around and rubbed 3 different types of treatments on the areas. She made up some kind of green mud paste and put it on the bed with the little shock pads. She had me lay down on the bed, made another paste in a towel and laid that on top of me.

She put 2 shock pads on my stomach and 1 on each thigh. Then she turned on the torture instrument. At first, I really hated the sensation. It felt like I had fallen on an electric fence. The sequence was 3 seconds on and 3 off. I had that on for about 10 minutes while she talked about toxins and what this treatment would do to my skin. Then she upped the shock factor, more intense. It definitely felt strange but it didn’t hurt as much as in the beginning. It still felt like a shock on an electric fence but I was used to it by then. But the intensity of the shock was so high at this point that my legs were lifting off the bed with each wave. I could only stare in amazement at the involuntary reaction. My stomach didn’t feel as intense and she said that was normal.

I suppose it lasted another 15 minutes or so and then was finished. She rubbed the after-lotion all over and then measured me again. Then I got dressed and she came back and discussed the results. Most people lose about 1-8 inches total on their problem spots. I lost 6. She wanted me to purchase the treatment packs that ranged from 200-400 dollars. I said no thank you and that was it.

On my way out, I toured the fitness facilities. I was impressed by the equipment and there weren’t too many people there. Tip: they have ipods to use if you want to listen to music.

Afterwards, when I told everyone what I had done, my ex made me a generous offer. He said he would have used his cattle prod (shocker) on me for ½ the price. How sweet. . .

We went to Topsiders for lunch and my daughter had her first of 500 servings of ice cream.

Next up to the Panama Canal presentation by Ken Pucket. It was in the Walt Disney Theatre and was packed!!! Ken was a pilot and port captain on the Canal so he had a lot of information to share. It was interesting but I had to leave about 10 minutes early.

I went to the Margarita/tequila testing at 2:00 p.m. in Diversons. It was filled also. The lady who did it was very informative. We tried a silver and a gold kind of tequila (sorry I don’t remember the name because I am not a tequila drinker). We also had 2 margaritas to drink and I thought they were very good. Then of course, they tried to get us to buy the tequila by offering us 10% off. I left then.

I spent some time with the kids in the pool before we got ready for formal night. Both girls wore their Easter outfits. I did too. We didn’t get any photos done. My sister is a professional photographer so we do a lot of portraits at home. So all the photo opportunities are lost on me. Yes it would be nice to get a photo with Mickey but just for myself, it’s not a dealbreaker for my trip.

Tonight was Animator’s Palate and it was Golden Mickey’s menu.

They did not do the show at dinner, that is for next time. I just ordered the broccoli and blue cheese soup, excellent! Skipped the appetizers and had a roast chicken for the main menu. Again, I had to leave the table early with the girls, do you see a pattern evolving here??? This time, I had ordered dessert – a chocolate, chocolate mickey or something like that – and it was brought back to the room so I could eat it.

We went to the Golden Mickeys and DD 3 fell asleep before it ended. I have to admit, I am very distracted at the shows. There are 2 sign language interpreters down in the front and they are so animated and involved that I like to watch them sign. They make sign language look so beautiful and signed in time to the music. I think they are fantastic at their job. The Golden Mickeys was excellent as usual. I still watched the choreography and would like to meet whoever does it for Disney.

After that, we got the kids to bed and then I went to Ricky Kalmon’s Adult Hypnotist show in Rockin’ Bar D. I got there ½ hour early, ordered a DOD called Golden Start (good!) and by the time the show started, it was packed. I have never seen so many cast members in white uniforms before. They were constantly walking around and scanning the crowd, looking for trouble I think? Ricky’s adult show was very good and had “adult” themes to it like naked people in the audience and presidential candidates and strumming the air guitars for a contest. I enjoyed it a lot, more so than the other night.

Tomorrow is another Sea day with Mickey Dreams Show and a galley tour scheduled.

Random Thought: So far, there has been plenty of sun loungers around the Mickey pool to use. No hogs on this trip, although it is early in the cruise still.

 

[GOS]

Enjoying your trip report. Thanks for taking the time. August can't come soon enough.

 

[mzspaz]

I am also enjoying your trip report.

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise!

 

[BDDisney]

Great report. It sound like you're having a wonderful time

 

[Marypoppinsiam]

Thanks for letting us tag along with you on your Magical Adventure. You are so lucky to be there!!

 

[MagicMe]

This is absolutely great! I'm really enjoying living vicariously through your adventures.

 

[always on vacation]

Really enjoying this. We will embarking 5/25, the day you disembark, for the first 7 night mexican riviera cruise. I envy your long cruise & hope to be able to do one in 5 years.

 

[kyirish25]

So nice to have a live report!

Have you considered taking your girls to the kids club after they eat there dinner so you can enjoy the rest of your dinner?

 

[rkandmjsmommy]

Great trip report, I am loving readign about this cruise, If disney goes thru the Panama Canal again, I am on it,I told dh even if we have to sell a child, that way our total cost is even less