Wonder(lots of pics)-8 people, 4 nights and 2 trips to CC–July 27-31 (complete w/WDW)

[Olga]

Hi and thank you for the info regarding luggage transfer times from the Hyatt.
I would also like to know if it was cool and windy on decks 9 and 10 during the sail away and pirate party? I imagine it might vary, and noticed the girls were wearing pantaloons under their adorable pirate outfits.

Enjoying your TR and pics, especially like that you post the update post number in the title.

 

[vatchr]

I love the picture of hubby with Donald, that is priceless. Donald is looking fine!

Loving your report.

Thanks! Donald is one of his favorite characters.

loving the trip report! It's making me extreamly excited for my first cruise on the wonder!!
Your girls are beautiful!!

Thanks for the comment for the girls. I wish I had another cruise planned, have fun! Maybe in 2010.

You are doing a fantastic job on your TR!!

Thanks! I'm having a lot of fun writing it!

Fabulous report - enjoying the pics and narrative - thanks for sharing it with us - can't wait to read the rest.

Thanks! Hopefully the next update will be up by tomorrow evening. I've gone back to school and have limited time now.

Lovely update - I agree that Minnie looks beautiful in her evening dress. Your family didn't scrub up too badly either

I loved your pics of Animators Palate - for some reason, I didn't take any inside the actual restaurant last year so I was glad to see those.

Thanks! I think that night at Animator's Palate was our favorite dinner. The girls were definitely entertained the whole time.

Hi and thank you for the info regarding luggage transfer times from the Hyatt.
I would also like to know if it was cool and windy on decks 9 and 10 during the sail away and pirate party? I imagine it might vary, and noticed the girls were wearing pantaloons under their adorable pirate outfits.

Enjoying your TR and pics, especially like that you post the update post number in the title.

Thanks! The Sail Away party was HOT! Only a slight breeze and very humid! The pirate party was dark (obviously ), and a little breezy. I do know we all needed our hair pulled back for both parties, or it would have been blowing in our faces. The pirate party was comfortable, not too hot and a little breeze.
Hope that helps!

 

[Olga]

Helps a lot, Thanks.

 

[shasess]

Wonderful trip report! Your girls are soooo cute!

 

[allaboutthemouse]

My DH is great with my Disneymania. He just grins and nods his head when we talk about it. Though, I think secretly he enjoys it as much as I do.

This describes my husband and I perfectly! He thinks I have some sort of Disney sickness, but he just goes along with it...I'm obsessed!
Love the report, BTW...getting me more excited for 5th DCL trip in December!

 

[vatchr]

Day 2 at Castaway Cay

We woke that morning and were not as eager to get off the boat. We had no excursions booked for today and were just going to take it easy and snorkel, float and enjoy the last day of the cruise.

We met and ate breakfast again in Parrot Cay. It was so nice in there and not very crowded at all. We disembarked at around 9:30 and again headed to the end of the family beach.

We planned our disembarking time so that we could see some of the characters on the island. We had missed them all on the first day.

As we got off, Chip and Dale were at the Post Office:

We were last in line for them, and out comes Stitch:

This made both girls extremely happy, because DD1 loves Stitch, and DD2 loves Chip and Dale. A great start to another great day!

We decided to walk to the family beach, instead of taking the tram and stopped along the way to take more pics.

We found Goofy at Mount Rustmore:

And also snapped some pics of the girls in front of The Flying Dutchman:

We then headed to the beach, got our floats and snorkel equipment, and found our spot. It was even less crowded on this day. Maybe some people decided not to get off on day 2, or maybe they were taking it slowly as we did.

Whatever the reason, we had another great day.
Don decided to go on a nature walk and explore the island on his own with his camera, so he went off and we all stayed and enjoyed the water and beach.

Here are a few pics of different flowers and things that Don saw as he explored:

The rest of us relaxed and played in the water, when he returned we headed to lunch at Cookies. It was another great lunch and then back to the beach.
DH had planned a big family snorkel trip for after lunch. Nana, Bubba, and LIzzietish wanted to head out to the snorkel lagoon, so after lunch Don led the guided tour.

Here is everyone ready to go (DD1 went again also):

Here is a cute pic of daddy and daughter ready to snorkel:

While they all were snorkeling DD2 and I headed back up to the boat to rest and get ready for dinner. I explained about the Till We Meet Again show and if she wanted to see it, she would need a rest. She didn’t argue.
Rina also stayed back and enjoyed some quiet time before heading up to the ship.

DH, DD1 and Lizzietish had a great time snorkeling and found all of the hidden gems in the lagoon including this lovely lady:

Nana and Bubba not so much! Bubba got a little panicked and decided to head back. Nana decided to follow him, but got a little turned around and ended up meeting another nice family in the lagoon. She chatted with them for a little while, and then turned to swim back to the beach. Before leaving, the nice family asked her if she had seen Mickey yet (referring to the sunken mickey in the snorkel lagoon), and Nana quickly replied, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know anyone named Mickey…..” I would have loved to have seen the expression on the family’s face.

This sign says it all...hopefully we will return some day:

Everyone finally returned to the ship after a great day of sun, water and snorkeling by around 4:30 p.m. Just in time to get ready for our last dinner on board. We would be saying goodbye to our servers tonight and eating in Parrot Cay.

Up next: Parrot Cay dinner and exploring the ship - our last photo ops....

 

[vatchr]

Helps a lot, Thanks.

You're welcome!

Wonderful trip report! Your girls are soooo cute!

Thanks! They had the best time, big smiles all the time!

This describes my husband and I perfectly! He thinks I have some sort of Disney sickness, but he just goes along with it...I'm obsessed!
Love the report, BTW...getting me more excited for 5th DCL trip in December!

Obsessed is a good way to put it...luckily my family appreciates it and they just let me be! We've got our reservations for Oct. 09 already and I can't wait!

 

[jns]

Thanks again for sharing
would love to hear about WLV and your time at WDW too

 

[poffles]

I absolutely love your pictures, they are so clear, bright and colourful.

Keep them coming

 

[Disneynut71]

I am loving your trip report. Thank you so much for sharing

 

[CapnJackGroupie]

I'm just joining in & have caught up on your TR...it's fantastic!! Thanks so much for sharing! I still have post DCL depression and it's been 1 1/2 years! That's why I live vicariously thru these wonderful TRs - thanks!!!

 

[jenseib]

Don't have time to read much right now, so subscribing. I did a qucik look at pics on the first page. those are great. Your girls are gorgeous. Seing the characters jsut made up my mind. I think I want to go on disney for sure! LOL!

 

[wilma-bride]

Another great day at CC. Lovely pictures

 

[jenseib]

How did you get the free tote bag at Del Sol? I think I got on there on our NCL cruise. I think we jsut showed them our ship card? Is that all you did? Does it have a Disney ship on it?
So You ate at Animators palette twice? The first night they didn't do the while light thing then?
Your pics are just amazing.
How was the food? And deserts? LOL!
I hope I can talk DH into doing this cruise. He is leary of cruises, and though we went on one, and he loved it, he still has fears we are going to be kidnapped or something.

 

[JBurke]

I am loving your report! I really want to take my 3 kids on a Disney cruise.

I have to tell you, your girls have the MOST beautiful smiles!

Cant wait to read more.

 

[murcor]

Fantastic trip report!! Love the pictures! Lots of fun!

Would you get the cat 5 again?

 

[vatchr]

Thanks again for sharing
would love to hear about WLV and your time at WDW too

Thanks for reading...I might give a quick our family at WDW update at the end of our Trip Report. We had such a great trip, I would love to share those pics too.

I absolutely love your pictures, they are so clear, bright and colourful.

Keep them coming

Thanks - more pics and an update tomorrow!

I am loving your trip report. Thank you so much for sharing

You're welcome - thanks for reading!

I'm just joining in & have caught up on your TR...it's fantastic!! Thanks so much for sharing! I still have post DCL depression and it's been 1 1/2 years! That's why I live vicariously thru these wonderful TRs - thanks!!!

It's only been close to a month for us, but I still miss it horribly! I don't know what I'll do when this TR is done.

Don't have time to read much right now, so subscribing. I did a qucik look at pics on the first page. those are great. Your girls are gorgeous. Seing the characters jsut made up my mind. I think I want to go on disney for sure! LOL!

A Disney Cruise was the ONLY way we were going to cruise...I even had to be convinced to do this cruise. Now, I can't wait to go on another. The interaction with the characters was fantastic. It sure beat standing in the hot lines at the parks.

Another great day at CC. Lovely pictures

It sure was! Thanks!!

 

[vatchr]

How did you get the free tote bag at Del Sol? I think I got on there on our NCL cruise. I think we jsut showed them our ship card? Is that all you did? Does it have a Disney ship on it?
So You ate at Animators palette twice? The first night they didn't do the while light thing then?
Your pics are just amazing.
How was the food? And deserts? LOL!
I hope I can talk DH into doing this cruise. He is leary of cruises, and though we went on one, and he loved it, he still has fears we are going to be kidnapped or something.

The Del Sol tote bag just sort of happened, I think I spent enough to "earn" it. I'm not sure, but I didn't complain when they offered it to me. On the four night cruise you have two nights in the same restaurant, one is the Pirate night menu and the other is the menu for that restaurant. So, in Animator's the first night was Pirate and the second night was the animation show. The food was fantastic, but as I said in one of the updates, my family isn't hard to please. We aren't that picky! The desserts were just as good! Some evenings we had to force ourselves to eat them, but it wasn't that difficult!

This four night with the double dip, was perfect for our first time family. We were on land every day, and only sailed basically during sleeping hours. I wasn't sure how we would do, so I wanted to make sure we had lots of "land" time. It was great!!!

 

[vatchr]

I am loving your report! I really want to take my 3 kids on a Disney cruise.

I have to tell you, your girls have the MOST beautiful smiles!

Cant wait to read more.

Thanks so much for reading. I see you are a "WL vet" - I love the WL! That's where we stayed before the cruise and going back to in Oct. 09. Thanks for the comments about the girls.

Fantastic trip report!! Love the pictures! Lots of fun!

Would you get the cat 5 again?

It definitely was lots of fun! The Cat 5 was perfect for us - I loved the Verandah, even though we didn't use it much - and the space was tight, but just enough for the four of us.

 

[SCRAPBOOKQUEEN]

What time were the characters on Castaway Cay? I want to get a lot of character pictures. Is it posted in the Navigator? Your pictures are great!!!
Thanks,

Scrapbookqueen
Kellie