Who lets their 7 yr old read "On Board The Titanic" before a Magic-al cruise!

[JennandJaryd]

After dropping off the lifevests we headed up to deck 10 for the sailaway party. Needless to say the place was packed The kids club CM's were handing out streamers to wave. They gave each girl 2. There was a lovely man with lots of frozen bevvies (Bon Voyage drink)near us so I went over and got 2 for Dh and I. He asked if I wanted rum in them Was he kidding?...of course I did They were great 1/2 strawberry,1/2pina colada mix, add a large splash of rum and it was heaven. Dd3 was having a blast waving her streamers and dancing, she was in her own little world. Dd7 was by the railing and disappointed when they invited all the kids on stage and I wouldn't let her go. I did lighten up later in the cruise.

The photo of Dd3 on a chair, she was put up there by a kids club CM. I didn't get her name but she was fabulous
If your kids like HSM they will get their fill of songs on board.
I think we stayed until just after 5 pm because our dinner was at Animators Palate at 5:30 pm. We were greeted by the handi-wipe person and were directed to our table. We met our server Rodel from the Phillipines and Asst server Angie from Venezuela. They were very quiet so I wasn't sure what to think. I was hoping we weren't going to be disappointed. Your serving team can make or break a vacation on a cruise. An asst. server from a neighboring table was interacting with and teasing Dd3. We enjoyed that.alot. Our table was against the wall so it was hard to see the transformation. I think I must have been tired and grouchy because I don't remember the "finale" everyone talks about. I tried to get some photos of the restaurant in general. The kids were kind of grumpy and tired at dinner. they had Mac and cheese, I had the squash soup,garlic mushrooms and a fabulous veal chop. For dessert the peanut butter-chocolate pie, yum yum.

The last picture was my Dh's chocolate cake, he said it was good.
The kids could hardly wait to get to the Oceaneer Club so after dinner we went to the"open house". It was open to look around and play or you could check your kids in. Ours wanted to stay without us so we obliged and went back to the room to finish unpacking. Dh put up the over the door shoe organizer and said how did you know about this? This is great Thanks again DIS. I felt much better after we were all unpacked and the suitcases put away. We had to lift up the bed but they did get under the bed nicely. I sent out practically everything that needed ironed out for pressing. Ike told us if we sent it out that night it would be back by 2 pm the next day. There was 2 laundry bags full and it cost about $70. I know that seems like a lot but for my sanity and relaxation it was worth it I sent out shorts and kids dresses as well as the formal stuff. I asked Ike where the laundry room was to iron our own clothes and it was all the way aft and down a floor. I thought for the time I saved it was well worth it. The kids were in the club for 2 hrs til 9:30 pm. As I was folding clothes and putting them away in the large trunk with shelves it is by the veranda window and I guess the ship sailing along out the corner of my eye made me nauseated. I thought no, this is mind over matter anyway I took a Bonine and convinced myself I would feel better after a good night sleep. We got the kids from the club, neither of who wanted to go. It was nice to know that they were happy there. We were all in bed by 10:30 pm. Tomorrow Key West and Palo.

Cute outfits!

 

[purplepeg]

That sounds like a lot of fun!!! Maybe I'll have to get into that one day. Nahhhh... any spare penny I get is going into the cruise jar 'cause I just gotta get back on board one day.



You should know better by now than to encourage me. I've posted some of them in the DCL scrap thread but maybe I'll commandeer KC's thread a bit and show some of them off.

I loved the picture of the strawberries and absolutely love the picture of the fruit loops! Hey, mom's taking pictures of the food -- why shouldn't mini Montana? And that's what's important to her! You just let that baby take as many pictures as she wants!!

$140 flops???? That sure beats the $85 pair I saw in (I think) Key West. For that kind of price they'd better do the walking for me!

I wanted to see Nat Treas 2 while on board too but I ended up not going to any movies. I guess I figured I could see it at home and wanted to do more "ship" things. And what I ended up doing was hanging out on deck 9 most of the time watching the sea go by!

Love the pic of Mickey in his grad gown. We got DS12 one of those t-shirts too. He didn't do the program (spent most of his time in Quest) but they had some on the counter when we went to turn in the beeper. I asked about them and they said we could have one. Even though he didn't do the program I didn't turn it down. How often do you get freebies from Disney, eh?

Can't wait to read more!!!!

Happy Mom's Day!

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's day. Glad your son got a t-shirt. I know I couldn't understand watching a movie on board either the first few times we cruised but then it was "well the kids are looked after and it's something we want to see so why not?" That Mini Montana sure is cute(that's what saves her most times. I often say "it's a good thing she's so cute)

More to come.

 

[purplepeg]

Cute outfits!

Thanks, I had bought them at the Disney Store, on sale of course They worked perfectly for the cruise. I had bought them before I knew we were going on a cruise. Wait until you see their semi-formal outfits

 

[purplepeg]

So on to dinner on our sea day. I had the shrimp appetizer, mushroom soup, then the veal and for dessert ligonberry cake. I must have been tired this night because I have no comments on dinner so I can’t remember if it was good or not. I think carrying a small notebook with you may be the key to jot things down between courses and when you have 5 min while you’re waiting for something.

The menu cover. I thought they did a good job with these every night.

Menu

Dessert menu

The veal

dd7's chocolate cake

Ligonberry dessert

After supper we went to the much anticipated High School Musical dance party. It was at Studio Sea. The girls were really looking forward to this and I have to say so were we. There were a lot of people there, lots of little girls and their parents and there were little boys there too. The girl that ran the 45 min dance party was amazing. She was dressed in a Wildcats cheerleader suit and knew all the moves. They had picked a few songs and she taught everyone the dance moves and then they would play the song with subtitled words from the movie on a big screen. She got a girl and guy that were about 9 or 10 to sing the Troy and Gabriella duet twice. They were so cute. Then she got the Dads up on stage to dance. Now my dd7 is a HSM fanatic, they watch the movie a million times and the second one. Of course dd3 loves it too by absorption. Dd7 dances to the movie a lot at home trying to perfect the moves so I expected her to be in there like a dirty shirt. No, no, no, she stood on the sidelines with her arms folded. I learned to expect the unexpected. She’s one of those kids (unfortunately like her mother) who, if she can’t do it perfectly the first time she’s not going to do it for fear of being laughed at. I felt so bad for her because it was such a fun time. I was up there dancing the whole time! I didn’t get one move right! Now our little mini Montana was in there like a dirty shirt. The pictures really don’t do it justice. You really had to be there, she was so precious! The girl invited all the dads up on stage and there was dd3 up there with them. She’s going to be a performer that one. We had such a good time. I think dd7 did but I really wish she had danced. If she would just let herself go she would have had an awesome time. As you can tell I would highly recommend this family event.

dd3 is the one in the white skirt and gold top.

More HSM dance party with the two kids who sing.

How cute are they?

See the little Peter Pan beside mini Montana? He was hitting on her!

Better shot of Peter pan beside mini Montana

dd7 at the table.

More HSM dance party.

We then went to see the show Dreams which we really enjoyed. I didn’t take any pictures of any of the shows. We always sat fairly far away from the stage and the camera isn’t its best in low light.


Chip and Dale before going in to the Dreams show.

After the show dd7 really wanted to go to “It’s a Pirates Life for me”. It was also a family event, a game show in Studio Sea. I was tired and didn’t really want to go but dd7 had that pleading look in her eyes and said pleeeease. Off we went. We were really happy she talked us into going, it was hilarious and we had a great time. You not only play one side of the room against the other (with some questionable rules “they’re really more like guidelines”) you learn all the words to It’s a Pirates Life for me. You also get to sing this song a lot and laugh a lot. Another highly recommended family event. It wasn’t even that crowded and dd3 enjoyed herself as well. After that it was bedtime but there was the gala dessert buffet being held at Lumiere’s at 11:15pm. We sent dh with the camera and instructions to bring something back for all of us. He’s such a trooper, the rest of us were all in our pj’s. There are some days that you just need to get out of your clothes and into your jammies.
After we enjoyed a few morsels we tried to go to bed but again dd7 started crying because she could feel the movement of the ship. I think I left the T.V. on for a while for her and she eventually fell asleep. Oh why oh why did I think she would enjoy seeing that lifeboat being lowered? Note to self....think of all the implications next time before mentioning something I think is a good idea!

Towel animal for the night.

The buffet shots follow.

Tomorrow is Castaway Cay day; we’ve been waiting for this one. And what am I going to do for sunscreen? Stay tuned.

 

[purplepeg]

Oh, again, remembered something, somewhere in there that night we had lifstyle portraits of the girls done. They turned out amazing and again we had to spend more money the next day. I believe I had originally bought a combo 5x7 and 8x10 package and I believe we had to buy another 8x10 package to add to it. I still have to ask Geodoc to scan some and I'll post them. When you see them you'll understand why we had to buy them.

 

[TiaMaria]

Loving every minute, peg!

My niece sounds SO much like your oldest DD. She too got up on stage to dance, got ticked because she could not do it "perfectly", jumped down, tripped and slid halfway across the dance floor on her knees - in her semi-formal dress!

It actually looked like she "meant to do that" if you didn't know better. I was torn between laughing hysterically and making sure she wasn't hurt! She stomped up to our table, and before I could say anything (and supressing my laughter), held up her index finger and said, "Don't say a word!". Then she plopped down and drank her smoothie!

Well, I had to completely turn around in my chair because I was laughing so hard - but I knew she would have pitched a fit if she knew that!

What is it with girls between 7-10? Did we act this way?

 

[purplepeg]

Loving every minute, peg!

My niece sounds SO much like your oldest DD. She too got up on stage to dance, got ticked because she could not do it "perfectly", jumped down, tripped and slid halfway across the dance floor on her knees - in her semi-formal dress!

It actually looked like she "meant to do that" if you didn't know better. I was torn between laughing hysterically and making sure she wasn't hurt! She stomped up to our table, and before I could say anything (and supressing my laughter), held up her index finger and said, "Don't say a word!". Then she plopped down and drank her smoothie!

Well, I had to completely turn around in my chair because I was laughing so hard - but I knew she would have pitched a fit if she knew that!

What is it with girls between 7-10? Did we act this way?

I would have bust a gut too It's so hard not too laugh sometimes. I'm sure we never behaved that way Love how she used her index finger and told you not to say anything

 

[TiaMaria]

Yep, she is quite the Drama Mama.

Looking forward to your next installment!!

 

[cnj]

I keep waiting for Castaway Cay day, please don't stop now!

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Can't wait to read more!!!!!!

Those little Peter Pan's start young! LOL!!!!

 

[Hypermommy]

Oh, c'mon girl! What have you been doing since 11 May? We need more TR! We need more TR!

HSM party sounds like a lot of fun!! I do feel bad for DD7 ... took me a long time to realize that I had a lot more fun if I didn't care what people thought. Hope she gets that soon, poor thing. And as for Peter Pan hitting on Mini Montana, you know you're gonna have a lot of that with that precious darling! Daddy better get himself a gun, just to clean of course, in the next few years.

We missed the elegant dessert thing too. Glad you gave us pictures of it. Maybe next time we cruise I'll make good on my vow to nap (you know Mammy says "well brought up young ladies takes naps") so I can enjoy the night stuff.

I'll have to do the Pirate thing too.... One of these days I'm going to learn the words to that song. I know most of them but getting them all in order is more than I can handle. Maybe some rum would help?

Okay... now I've been nice, but you notice it's been WEEKS since you posted anything. Did you get over to Serenity Bay? As you may have read in my TR, I didn't so I NEED to see some pictures of this place. C'mon, girl.. I'm counting on you!

 

[purplepeg]

Yep, she is quite the Drama Mama.

Looking forward to your next installment!!

Thanks for being patient I'll explain why I haven't posted next post.

I keep waiting for Castaway Cay day, please don't stop now!

I'm not stopping, just got stalled.

Can't wait to read more!!!!!!

Those little Peter Pan's start young! LOL!!!!

He was so cute, it was funny.

 

[purplepeg]

Oh, c'mon girl! What have you been doing since 11 May? We need more TR! We need more TR!

HSM party sounds like a lot of fun!! I do feel bad for DD7 ... took me a long time to realize that I had a lot more fun if I didn't care what people thought. Hope she gets that soon, poor thing. And as for Peter Pan hitting on Mini Montana, you know you're gonna have a lot of that with that precious darling! Daddy better get himself a gun, just to clean of course, in the next few years.

We missed the elegant dessert thing too. Glad you gave us pictures of it. Maybe next time we cruise I'll make good on my vow to nap (you know Mammy says "well brought up young ladies takes naps") so I can enjoy the night stuff.

I'll have to do the Pirate thing too.... One of these days I'm going to learn the words to that song. I know most of them but getting them all in order is more than I can handle. Maybe some rum would help?

Okay... now I've been nice, but you notice it's been WEEKS since you posted anything. Did you get over to Serenity Bay? As you may have read in my TR, I didn't so I NEED to see some pictures of this place. C'mon, girl.. I'm counting on you!

Sorry sorry to all. I'll explain next post. That's why I love reading others reports so you get to live through them all the things you missed. I think I'll try napping next time too. I couldn't stay up much past 10pm most of the time there.

 

[purplepeg]

I am sincerely sorry that I haven't posted. Last weekend we away to Fargo N.D. It was our long weekend in Canada so why not spend some time spending money in the U.S.? Mini Montana kept asking (while we were out shopping) "when are we going swimming?, is it time to go swimming yet?" Multiply that by 50 and that was our day. Then we went back to the hotel, put on her bathing suit and she said "what's this for?" Can you say "couldn't stop laughing?" Geodoc and the girls did some geocaching after they dropped me off at Kohl's. We had a very nice weekend. I was looking for those mister fans and a "neat sheet" to cover the stroller when we're at Disney this summer. We couldn't find either. I then had a very busy week at home and spent all of this weekend teaching a trauma nursing course. I was so tired yesterday I was in bed at 8:30 I was then woken at 10:30 by thunder and lightening but managed to get back to sleep. I will spend this evening working on the tr and get it posted tomorrow. Please don't give up on me, I promise the end is coming.

 

[Hypermommy]

LOL @ Mini Montana!!!!!! That girl is so precious!!!!!

We won't give up on you, girl, but we need our fix.

must..... have....... more........ trip......... report...........

 

[TiaMaria]

Well, we don't want your TR to end...(just like being on the cruise!)...but we are anxious to hear more.

No pressure (how dare real life get in our way). Just good to know you are OK - we get worried here, you know!

 

[purplepeg]

Well here it is, sorry about the delay. You have to enjoy it without pictures for now. I can't find my CC pictures from the water camera. I have some of the pro ones but I want to get this posted tonight so you all have something to read tomorrow or I might start getting nasty messages. Enjoy.



We’ve all been looking forward to this day. Sun, sand, water, what more could you ask for? Oh yeah, people bringing you frozen Pina Coladas! We left the digital camera on board so we didn’t have to worry about it getting stolen or damaged. We brought 2 water cameras, one for each girl and I used them the most. I would post the pictures but I can’t find them! I have to do some serious organization around here.

For some reason I didn’t write down where we ate this morning but I’m pretty sure it was probably Parrot Cay. We really liked the buffet and when your plate was full you didn’t have to find a place to sit while your breakfast got cold. It was cloudy but we were going to get off anyway because we heard it often starts out cloudy and then improves which is exactly what happened to us. When they announced the all clear to go ashore we were ready and headed down our forward elevators to deck 2 and we were the only ones on the elevator. The ship backs in so I assume everyone was at the aft elevators. Sure you have to walk a little more but you’re walking it either on the ship or off. We got off about 09:45 and had the obligatory picture taken with the ship behind us. We had to wait for a few people but I really wanted that shot. We then got on the tram to take us to the beach. We passed Captain Jack but we did already have a picture with him from pirate night. As we got off the tram and started following the crowds to the family beach, just before Mount Rustmore, we spied wagons, lots and lots of wagons, so we took one. I thought this was a brilliant idea. We found a few chairs on the beach and we had brought the sand buckets and toys we had received in our room from the “princesses” aka The Perfect Gift. The girls started playing in the sand, I ordered us a couple of Pina Coladas, which were fabulous. The sun came out and we were in heaven. I thought I’d better go check out She Sells and bought 2 watertight containers. I got back to our spot and went to put mine on and the string was defective so I had to take it back and get another one. I was disappointed I didn’t get the color I wanted but it worked fine. I browsed while I was there and looked at a lot of stuff but just bought pins and pens. I went back there a few more times so I believe I made all those purchases separately. Geodoc decided to go geocaching now while the heat wasn’t too bad because he knew he had a long walk for one of them. We had the two way radios with us so we were good. The girls spent a lot of time walking back and forth to the water to bring water back to make sandcastles with. I kept reapplying sunscreen and they had fun playing in the sand and finding little tiny sea shells. I had filled out a couple of postcards I wanted to mail, a couple for family and one for us so I would know how long it took to arrive, I did another for bobbi565 who has her own TR from her Magical vacation from earlier this month. Check it out. I checked at the post office first thing and it wasn’t open so I thought I would come back later. When geodoc got back the girls had been bugging me to go to Scuttles Cove. I thought they would want to be with us and play in the sand and water all day but apparently the counselors are more fun! So off we went to Scuttles Cove to sign them in but it was lunchtime so I had to go find them all in a special lunch area. I got them signed in and the counselors got them lunch right away. I think there was hamburgers, hotdogs, corn on the cob, and lots more. I’m sure they didn’t eat much but they know when they’re hungry. I think I had their pictures taken with Mickey and Goofy and Max en route to SC but it could have been on the way back. Details, details, I thought I would remember everything but I guess when it takes you 4 months to write the darn thing, you forget little details. After the kids were looked after we headed to Cookies and it lived up to the hype. I love potato salad and it was great, I wondered if they used the left over baked potatoes for it. I think I had a hot dog and Dh had a burger. The selection was good, several salads, usual hot dogs, burgers, chicken and ribs, dessert. I didn’t have any of the soft serve cookie dough ice cream. I was actually too full, but really wish I had gone back for some. I believe we had another Pina Colada instead! After lunch I went to mail my postcards. This was at 1 pm. The post office is closed until 1:30. I didn’t want to hang around that long so I went back and got sunscreen and went to see the girls. SC isn’t really sheltered and they weren’t real great about making sure the kids hats were on. I reapplied for them and they were having a water fight with a hose for dd7’s crowd. The kids were having a great time and weren’t ready to leave yet. I took the sunscreen back to geodoc and then headed back to the post office. I really hadn’t sat for very long at all so far this day. Things were a lot more relaxing before we had kids but also not nearly as fun. I picked the kids up on the way back and we went into the water. It was a hot day but man was that water cold! You warmed up once you were in there a while but brrrrr! The kids didn’t seem to mind. We played for a bit and then decided to dry off and head back to the ship. This is my favorite day of relaxation but you also have all the packing and stuff to finish when you get back so it ends poorly! We left at 3 and were back on board by 3:20. I think we brought back half of the beach from CC in our water shoes! We both showered and the girls fell asleep. That’s what a long day in the sun does for you. We packed while they slept and got most of it done. Wouldn’t you know we found my sunscreen for sensitive skin still in one of the suitcases! Apparently it was “accidentally” left in there somehow. We woke them for dinner at 5:15; remember we eat at 5:30. I believe mini Montana slept through dinner and woke in time for her Mickey bar. I had the artichoke dip and the crab bisque which was awful. The chicken Wellington was really hot and good. I had the celebration cake that was the best dessert of the entire cruise IMO. We had brought bags of Hershey kisses and mini Hershey bars for the staff as an extra little gift for the staff. We gave a bag to Nemin (he was the asst server at the next table) He gave dd3 a hug when she gave them to him. He seemed genuinely touched. Rodel and Angie really liked them too. Angie kept saying she had run out of chocolate and it was really hard to find. Arnold gave both girls hugs and we were sad to leave him. He’s a fabulous head waiter. Dd7 had been crying all through dinner because she could feel the ship movement and said she was homesick. I think the Titanic was really doing her in at this point and she realized we’d be home soon and I just think she wanted to get there now rather than later. She really wanted to go to the club though because she said she didn’t feel the ship motion there. Whatever makes her happy. We dropped them both off there, finished packing and bought one more DCL embroidered bag. We then went around and handed out the rest of our chocolates, to Ike our room steward, fabulous, Iya the photographer we just loved. We also picked up the rest of our pictures and we left a lot behind and took a lot home, $600 worth! We went up to Palo and gave Sabucci chocolates and he was so touched. I really enjoyed seeing the looks on people’s faces when we would give them their chocolates. It was like you had given them more cash. It felt really good to do it.
After we went back to the room, I filled out the survey because I wanted to be sure to give good feedback for the people that deserved it. I also had to fill out more postcards to send to friends and relatives from the airport. I was so tired. We went and got the girls before the final atrium show ‘til we meet again was on. I knew I would be a blubbering idiot so thought we could miss that. I was so sad to be leaving; we all were, well except Titanic dd7. I had the best sleep last night, my itching was finally gone and I think I got used to the rocking/shaking. We had such an awesome day at CC and a great vacation in general.

Tomorrow debarkation day and back home. Back to reality.

 

[bobbi565]

Good to have you back, purplepeg! I was missing the continuing adventures of Mini Montana and crew. Find those photos...gotta see them!

 

[cnj]

Thank you for updating! I am glad you guys had such a good time. Can't wait for pictures. Next time, you have got to try the cookie dough ice cream (although I had pina coladas there too. ) When we went, I got a cone and ended up giving it to my daughter. I went back for another one and they were closing up. So, next time I am getting one early.

 

[poffles]

I just found your TR and read the whole thing through, my eyes are tired now.

What a wonderful report, your pictures are awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to do such a great report, it is a lot of work but very much enjoyed and appreciated. I am anxiously awaiting my first DCL cruise, actually I am beyond anxious ... I"m obsessed. It will not only be first on DCL but first on any cruise so it will be a lot of new.