pyramid2000
<font color=blue>Member of the DD Geek invasion of
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2005
Hello all! This may take a few days to complete since I am not feeling well and still VERY tired!
Myself, DD-11, DD-7, DD-2 (now 3 )
We started our trip 1/12 after the kids got done school. We took our local ferry to Delaware (1 and a half hrs) and got about 40 miles into South Carolina by 1am. We stayed at a very nice hotel for about $80 and had a nice continental breakfast in the morning. Luckily I didn't know they had a computer with free internet available to all guests or I may not have gotten any sleep! We got to PC at about 4:30pm on Friday and I couldn't decide if we should stay near the port or in Orlando.
So we took off for Downtown Disney and stayed until 10:30 to decide later. It was in the 70's and very comfortable. Kids had lots of fun! We did end up driving back to PC and stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suite Resort for $90 w/tax. I will never stay here again!! When we got to our room there was no way we were staying in it! It smelled so bad! I went to the front desk and got another room. This one also smelled, but we were exhausted, it was late, and it wasn't as bad as the first. I have to assume it was whatever they used to clean the rooms?!?! Luckily we crashed.
Now if you were paying attention I mentioned that it was in the 70's when we went to sleep. Well imagine my surprise when I woke up and opened the door. Brrrrrr It was about 50 and WINDY!!! As you can tell I am not much the planner and didn't check the weather We got all of our stuff together and headed to the port!!!
Since I was the only adult I couldn't drop off our stuff and have someone keep a place in line. After we parked the car and got inside, it was about 10:30. There was a line through security, but that took all of 10 min. We got number 5 and had a minute wait in the CC check in line. Eellow DIS Eeyore and her fiance were right behind us! There were absolutely NO upgrades, the boat was FULL!! This I had expected from looking on DCL before we left. Checked the kids into the club and they watched some tv. The terminal was packed! I really couldn't believe how many people were there by 11:30. Thank godness for the new #system I had never arrived at the terminal before 1 and really didn't know what to expect, but definately not this! I also meet DISer Joy and made arrangements with her for Palo brunch for the next day. I kept searching and searching for my friend and her group to no avail. I couldn't imagine where they were since their plane was due to arrive at 9:15 am.
They started boarding around 11:45 and we were on the boat a little after 12. I went right to Studio C and got our dining changed to early so mine and my friend's kids could go to the shows together. We kept our same rotation and had 5:45 dinner. We then headed to PC. We had a nice lunch and when we left, there was a long line out the door. I finally ran into my friend's DM in line for PC and can finally relax! They had a mix up at the airport (themselves, not the buses). We walked around a bit then headed to our room. It was too chilly to swim, so we headed to the club so I could see about getting DD-2 in with the 3-4 since she was a week shy of 3 and potty trained.
When I first asked about the switch, I was told that there were no managers available and I would have to wait until the next afternoon (2:30) when they had an organized activity. This did not sit well with me for a couple of reasons. First, DD was sooo looking forward to the club, what would I tell her when her sisters could go and not her?? Second, I had brunch scheduled for 10:30 that day and third, when would I get to go to Key West?? This activity was scheduled for the middle of the day!! I was told that I could try Flounders so I could go to the brunch. I am pretty easy going, so I went went to Flounders to see in case I couldn't get things changed earlier. Well, Flounders would not be open at the time I had brunch scheduled, so there went that idea. I decided to go back to the club later when a manager would be there. In the mean time, my friend, whose b-day was the next day, was waitlisted for brunch so I went down with her and gave her my time. All worked out with this because Joy had her character breakfast that morning anyway. (The only thing that didn't work out was that I wouldn't get to Palo ) I did get back later and got DD in the club after they asked her a few questions. What they wanted to get from a new 3 year old is beyond me.
We meet up with our friends and checked out each others room then did the muster drill. We were in the WD Theater and the lifevests were a lot more comfortable! DD-2 didn't have to wear the baby one this time so she was quite happy! When we got back to the room, most of our luggage was thee so we unpacked and got ready for dinner since we had early dinner before heading up on deck for sailaway. 2 of my DDs went up on deck with friends before I did since they liked to be on deck 9. Me and DD-2 went to deck 10. Boy was it windy and chilly! I couldn't find any DISers as many people were coming and going because of the cold and I was going up and down to check on the other two. There were a lot more people outside then I expected, but we had a lot of fun and always enjoy seeing the CMs with the big Mickey hands at the terminal! We were finally off!!
Our dining rotation was PLA and our servers were Sameer from India and Toni (male) from Spain. John from Scotland was our Head Server. We had a nice dinner and the surprisingly hardly felt any movement through the evening. DD-11 was determined to get in on one of the trivia games so we headed to Mickey Mania. My friend and her nephew were picked so it was pretty exciting. We then went to the All Aboard show and managed to get seats together. Michael Harrison is hilarious!! Since there was no sending the kids to the club w/o parents, we went there a little then back to the room. DD-11 has sign put privledges, but her friends did not yet so they went to Ocean Quest for a bit.
NOTE: One of my friends DD was only 9, but she was in the Lab as a 10-12 with her sister. Since she was in the 10-12 she had no problem getting in the Quest with everyone else JLK.
We were in a Cat 10 an deck 1 and found it quite roomy. Liked the layout better with the bed in the back. We had a double trunk so had more than enough storage. My friend had a Cat 9 on deck 2 and hers didn't have a trunk at all, eventhough some of her party around her did. They had quite a struggle with storage. With this being said, the layout of the room and our room steward, Sigfried from the Phillipines, were the only things we liked. Deck 1 isn't bad as far as location. The forward elevators are usually never busy. We did have a lot of kids on the floor and most were unsupervised throughout the trip. And I am talking 3-6 yr olds running the halls after midnight! We also had a group of boys who took much amusement in pushing all of the buttons in the elevators numerous times during the trip and occasionally knocking on doors and running away. They were quite surprised when they did it to me and I opened the door right away as I happened to be right there! I also missed the veranda more than I thought and the kids wouldn't wake up in the morning because they couldn't tell if it the sun was up w/o a window!! To each his own!
Boy can I ramble..............
Myself, DD-11, DD-7, DD-2 (now 3 )
We started our trip 1/12 after the kids got done school. We took our local ferry to Delaware (1 and a half hrs) and got about 40 miles into South Carolina by 1am. We stayed at a very nice hotel for about $80 and had a nice continental breakfast in the morning. Luckily I didn't know they had a computer with free internet available to all guests or I may not have gotten any sleep! We got to PC at about 4:30pm on Friday and I couldn't decide if we should stay near the port or in Orlando.
So we took off for Downtown Disney and stayed until 10:30 to decide later. It was in the 70's and very comfortable. Kids had lots of fun! We did end up driving back to PC and stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suite Resort for $90 w/tax. I will never stay here again!! When we got to our room there was no way we were staying in it! It smelled so bad! I went to the front desk and got another room. This one also smelled, but we were exhausted, it was late, and it wasn't as bad as the first. I have to assume it was whatever they used to clean the rooms?!?! Luckily we crashed.
Now if you were paying attention I mentioned that it was in the 70's when we went to sleep. Well imagine my surprise when I woke up and opened the door. Brrrrrr It was about 50 and WINDY!!! As you can tell I am not much the planner and didn't check the weather We got all of our stuff together and headed to the port!!!
Since I was the only adult I couldn't drop off our stuff and have someone keep a place in line. After we parked the car and got inside, it was about 10:30. There was a line through security, but that took all of 10 min. We got number 5 and had a minute wait in the CC check in line. Eellow DIS Eeyore and her fiance were right behind us! There were absolutely NO upgrades, the boat was FULL!! This I had expected from looking on DCL before we left. Checked the kids into the club and they watched some tv. The terminal was packed! I really couldn't believe how many people were there by 11:30. Thank godness for the new #system I had never arrived at the terminal before 1 and really didn't know what to expect, but definately not this! I also meet DISer Joy and made arrangements with her for Palo brunch for the next day. I kept searching and searching for my friend and her group to no avail. I couldn't imagine where they were since their plane was due to arrive at 9:15 am.
They started boarding around 11:45 and we were on the boat a little after 12. I went right to Studio C and got our dining changed to early so mine and my friend's kids could go to the shows together. We kept our same rotation and had 5:45 dinner. We then headed to PC. We had a nice lunch and when we left, there was a long line out the door. I finally ran into my friend's DM in line for PC and can finally relax! They had a mix up at the airport (themselves, not the buses). We walked around a bit then headed to our room. It was too chilly to swim, so we headed to the club so I could see about getting DD-2 in with the 3-4 since she was a week shy of 3 and potty trained.
When I first asked about the switch, I was told that there were no managers available and I would have to wait until the next afternoon (2:30) when they had an organized activity. This did not sit well with me for a couple of reasons. First, DD was sooo looking forward to the club, what would I tell her when her sisters could go and not her?? Second, I had brunch scheduled for 10:30 that day and third, when would I get to go to Key West?? This activity was scheduled for the middle of the day!! I was told that I could try Flounders so I could go to the brunch. I am pretty easy going, so I went went to Flounders to see in case I couldn't get things changed earlier. Well, Flounders would not be open at the time I had brunch scheduled, so there went that idea. I decided to go back to the club later when a manager would be there. In the mean time, my friend, whose b-day was the next day, was waitlisted for brunch so I went down with her and gave her my time. All worked out with this because Joy had her character breakfast that morning anyway. (The only thing that didn't work out was that I wouldn't get to Palo ) I did get back later and got DD in the club after they asked her a few questions. What they wanted to get from a new 3 year old is beyond me.
We meet up with our friends and checked out each others room then did the muster drill. We were in the WD Theater and the lifevests were a lot more comfortable! DD-2 didn't have to wear the baby one this time so she was quite happy! When we got back to the room, most of our luggage was thee so we unpacked and got ready for dinner since we had early dinner before heading up on deck for sailaway. 2 of my DDs went up on deck with friends before I did since they liked to be on deck 9. Me and DD-2 went to deck 10. Boy was it windy and chilly! I couldn't find any DISers as many people were coming and going because of the cold and I was going up and down to check on the other two. There were a lot more people outside then I expected, but we had a lot of fun and always enjoy seeing the CMs with the big Mickey hands at the terminal! We were finally off!!
Our dining rotation was PLA and our servers were Sameer from India and Toni (male) from Spain. John from Scotland was our Head Server. We had a nice dinner and the surprisingly hardly felt any movement through the evening. DD-11 was determined to get in on one of the trivia games so we headed to Mickey Mania. My friend and her nephew were picked so it was pretty exciting. We then went to the All Aboard show and managed to get seats together. Michael Harrison is hilarious!! Since there was no sending the kids to the club w/o parents, we went there a little then back to the room. DD-11 has sign put privledges, but her friends did not yet so they went to Ocean Quest for a bit.
NOTE: One of my friends DD was only 9, but she was in the Lab as a 10-12 with her sister. Since she was in the 10-12 she had no problem getting in the Quest with everyone else JLK.
We were in a Cat 10 an deck 1 and found it quite roomy. Liked the layout better with the bed in the back. We had a double trunk so had more than enough storage. My friend had a Cat 9 on deck 2 and hers didn't have a trunk at all, eventhough some of her party around her did. They had quite a struggle with storage. With this being said, the layout of the room and our room steward, Sigfried from the Phillipines, were the only things we liked. Deck 1 isn't bad as far as location. The forward elevators are usually never busy. We did have a lot of kids on the floor and most were unsupervised throughout the trip. And I am talking 3-6 yr olds running the halls after midnight! We also had a group of boys who took much amusement in pushing all of the buttons in the elevators numerous times during the trip and occasionally knocking on doors and running away. They were quite surprised when they did it to me and I opened the door right away as I happened to be right there! I also missed the veranda more than I thought and the kids wouldn't wake up in the morning because they couldn't tell if it the sun was up w/o a window!! To each his own!
Boy can I ramble..............