Macnjac87
got disney?
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2000
- Messages
- 740
Cast of Characters:
Jackie (Me) - 38- Disney obsessed Mom and DW of 18 years to
DH Ken (43)
DS Jeremy (15)
DD Mallory (12)
DS Liam (8)
We are just back from our 2 week adventure. We left at 4 am on Friday 4/22 to start the drive down from Southampton, New York. Drove to Santee, SC where we had reservations at the Hampton Inn at Exit 98. We arrived around 5 pm. We have stayed here twice before and it is clean, reasonable and has a lot of restaurants to choose from for dinner. We checked in, hit the whirlpool for a little bit and went out to Clark's Family Restaurant for dinner. Dinner was good; service slow but we're from New York and here everything is rushed so maybe it was us! Back to the room and everyone asleep by 9 pm. We were up early the next morning, had the free breakfast downstairs and on the road by 8:30 am. We drove to the Radisson at the Port and made it there by about 1:00 pm. We spotted the Magic in port when we came over the bridge onto A1A and WOW!!! Everyone was beyond excited that her sister ship the Wonder would be in this very spot tomorrow for us to be boarding!!! Anyway, onto the Radisson. This was our first time staying here and I was happy with the resort. Very tropical. Big resort. Nice pool area with bar and table service for lunch. We changed into our suits and hit the pool while waiting for some friends from Southampton who were flying into Orlando and going on the cruise with us. They arrived around 5 pm, had a drink at the pool with us then we all headed out to the Outback Steakhouse on Merritt Island for dinner. Everyone was exhausted after dinner and we basically went right to bed after getting back to the Radisson. Everyone except me, that is. Crazy person that I am, I had to do laundry (we are a family of 5 and the laundry that had accumulated since leaving home was driving me nuts) So, I hit the laundry down by the pool area and was done around midnight. But I felt great about getting it done. (This is going to be a recurring scene; me and the laundry room
)
We were up at about 8 am, I packed up and everyone else headed down the breakfast buffet which was a huge dissapointment. They brought me up a yogurt and coffee, we went downstairs to check out and hopped in the car for the quick ride over to the port at 10:30 am. I know this has been said a thousand times, but when you see the Wonder up close for the first time, it is daunting!! Unbelievably huge and beautiful. Right away, you experience the Disney quality. The security staff CM's were very polite, directed us exactly where to go- DH dropped us off at the terminal with the luggage and he scooted across the street to park the 'burban. We waited for him outside and just ogled the ship some more. The RCCL Mariner of the Seas was right next door. My sister and her family are taking a cruise on her next January and my DD is going with them
(Lucky!!) so I took a picture of her in front of that mammoth ship. huge!! DH arrived a few minutes later and we all entered the terminal together. Wow. Every CM I encountered on this trip was truly wonderful. We went to the info desk where they directed us to the concierge check in- I was issued the KTTW cards very quickly and headed over to join everyone else in the line to board. We were about the 20th family on line. I left DH and kids and went to check them into the kids clubs. Note- your kids must be with you to get their bracelets on so make sure you tell them to come with you!! Only certain ages wear them, my dd 12 didn't need one but DS 8 did. They issued the pager right away also. This was done very smoothly and quickly. I headed back over the boarding line and in no time at all, were were heading down the gangway. I think it was about 11:45 when they started the boarding process. We stopped for the picture before entering the ship and then it was our name they announced!! Wow!! I started crying (mostly because I'm a freak 
) and then we headed up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. The selection was awesome. We sat outside where it was a bit breezy but who cared? We were on the Wonder!! Yay!! The food was great!! After lunch we headed down to the Mickey Pool where we met up with our friends, kids changed into suits and swam- we went back and forth between Goofy and Mickey for a while and then it was time to see our stateroom. We were in a Category 4, Stateroom 8012. Unbelievably spacious and lovely. Loved the split bath, our bed was so darn comfy I'm heading out to buy a new mattress this week!! Kids loved it- we had a lovely memory box from All Seas Travel (thanks guys!!) and our gift basket from our REAS package was also there. After checking out the stateroom for a bit; our luggage started arriving. Our attendant was Lorenzo - we loved him!! The kids went exploring and DH went to sign DD up for her hair braiding on the Day At Sea while I unpacked. Before you know it was time to head for the safety drill. Very efficiently done and over before you know it!! After that we enjoyed the sailaway party, tried to find the Dis'ers for our mini meet but there were soooo many people on deck it was impossible!! We headed down to our room to get ready for the Hercules show and dinner. I, of course, had to go iron in the laundry room on Deck 7. There was a line of a few people waiting for the 2 irons (I couldn't believe there were more people like me!!! 
) After ironing I headed back up to the room to get everyone dressed. DD and DS 8 opted to go to the Oceaneer's Lab, so DS 15 came with us to see the show. It was great, very funny. We met up with our friends and the rest of our family at the Promenade Lounge for a drink before dinner. It was slightly rocky onboard, every once in a while you would find yourself tilting to the left or right but nothing to think we would get sick. We had the TAPP Rotation (exactly what I wanted) so we headed to Tritons. Dinner was excellent and our servers were Mark from the Philippines and Nyoman from Indonesia.They were a blast, the kids loved them, they did magic tricks and were very attentive the entire trip. The kids were falling asleep since we had all taken Bonine and it was late and a big day so we headed back to the room and found that Lorenzo had turned down all the beds, made cute towel animals and left chocolates. The curtain room divider was a really nice touch, it actually felt very private. We all went to bed immediately. Again, our bed was sooooooo comfortable; there is nothing like sleeping with the sound of the ocean (we left the slider open) and a gently rolling ship to rock you to sleep. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
More to come................................
Jackie (Me) - 38- Disney obsessed Mom and DW of 18 years to
DH Ken (43)
DS Jeremy (15)
DD Mallory (12)
DS Liam (8)
We are just back from our 2 week adventure. We left at 4 am on Friday 4/22 to start the drive down from Southampton, New York. Drove to Santee, SC where we had reservations at the Hampton Inn at Exit 98. We arrived around 5 pm. We have stayed here twice before and it is clean, reasonable and has a lot of restaurants to choose from for dinner. We checked in, hit the whirlpool for a little bit and went out to Clark's Family Restaurant for dinner. Dinner was good; service slow but we're from New York and here everything is rushed so maybe it was us! Back to the room and everyone asleep by 9 pm. We were up early the next morning, had the free breakfast downstairs and on the road by 8:30 am. We drove to the Radisson at the Port and made it there by about 1:00 pm. We spotted the Magic in port when we came over the bridge onto A1A and WOW!!! Everyone was beyond excited that her sister ship the Wonder would be in this very spot tomorrow for us to be boarding!!! Anyway, onto the Radisson. This was our first time staying here and I was happy with the resort. Very tropical. Big resort. Nice pool area with bar and table service for lunch. We changed into our suits and hit the pool while waiting for some friends from Southampton who were flying into Orlando and going on the cruise with us. They arrived around 5 pm, had a drink at the pool with us then we all headed out to the Outback Steakhouse on Merritt Island for dinner. Everyone was exhausted after dinner and we basically went right to bed after getting back to the Radisson. Everyone except me, that is. Crazy person that I am, I had to do laundry (we are a family of 5 and the laundry that had accumulated since leaving home was driving me nuts) So, I hit the laundry down by the pool area and was done around midnight. But I felt great about getting it done. (This is going to be a recurring scene; me and the laundry room
)We were up at about 8 am, I packed up and everyone else headed down the breakfast buffet which was a huge dissapointment. They brought me up a yogurt and coffee, we went downstairs to check out and hopped in the car for the quick ride over to the port at 10:30 am. I know this has been said a thousand times, but when you see the Wonder up close for the first time, it is daunting!! Unbelievably huge and beautiful. Right away, you experience the Disney quality. The security staff CM's were very polite, directed us exactly where to go- DH dropped us off at the terminal with the luggage and he scooted across the street to park the 'burban. We waited for him outside and just ogled the ship some more. The RCCL Mariner of the Seas was right next door. My sister and her family are taking a cruise on her next January and my DD is going with them
(Lucky!!) so I took a picture of her in front of that mammoth ship. huge!! DH arrived a few minutes later and we all entered the terminal together. Wow. Every CM I encountered on this trip was truly wonderful. We went to the info desk where they directed us to the concierge check in- I was issued the KTTW cards very quickly and headed over to join everyone else in the line to board. We were about the 20th family on line. I left DH and kids and went to check them into the kids clubs. Note- your kids must be with you to get their bracelets on so make sure you tell them to come with you!! Only certain ages wear them, my dd 12 didn't need one but DS 8 did. They issued the pager right away also. This was done very smoothly and quickly. I headed back over the boarding line and in no time at all, were were heading down the gangway. I think it was about 11:45 when they started the boarding process. We stopped for the picture before entering the ship and then it was our name they announced!! Wow!! I started crying (mostly because I'm a freak ) and then we headed up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. The selection was awesome. We sat outside where it was a bit breezy but who cared? We were on the Wonder!! Yay!! The food was great!! After lunch we headed down to the Mickey Pool where we met up with our friends, kids changed into suits and swam- we went back and forth between Goofy and Mickey for a while and then it was time to see our stateroom. We were in a Category 4, Stateroom 8012. Unbelievably spacious and lovely. Loved the split bath, our bed was so darn comfy I'm heading out to buy a new mattress this week!! Kids loved it- we had a lovely memory box from All Seas Travel (thanks guys!!) and our gift basket from our REAS package was also there. After checking out the stateroom for a bit; our luggage started arriving. Our attendant was Lorenzo - we loved him!! The kids went exploring and DH went to sign DD up for her hair braiding on the Day At Sea while I unpacked. Before you know it was time to head for the safety drill. Very efficiently done and over before you know it!! After that we enjoyed the sailaway party, tried to find the Dis'ers for our mini meet but there were soooo many people on deck it was impossible!! We headed down to our room to get ready for the Hercules show and dinner. I, of course, had to go iron in the laundry room on Deck 7. There was a line of a few people waiting for the 2 irons (I couldn't believe there were more people like me!!! ) After ironing I headed back up to the room to get everyone dressed. DD and DS 8 opted to go to the Oceaneer's Lab, so DS 15 came with us to see the show. It was great, very funny. We met up with our friends and the rest of our family at the Promenade Lounge for a drink before dinner. It was slightly rocky onboard, every once in a while you would find yourself tilting to the left or right but nothing to think we would get sick. We had the TAPP Rotation (exactly what I wanted) so we headed to Tritons. Dinner was excellent and our servers were Mark from the Philippines and Nyoman from Indonesia.They were a blast, the kids loved them, they did magic tricks and were very attentive the entire trip. The kids were falling asleep since we had all taken Bonine and it was late and a big day so we headed back to the room and found that Lorenzo had turned down all the beds, made cute towel animals and left chocolates. The curtain room divider was a really nice touch, it actually felt very private. We all went to bed immediately. Again, our bed was sooooooo comfortable; there is nothing like sleeping with the sound of the ocean (we left the slider open) and a gently rolling ship to rock you to sleep. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzMore to come................................
