A little less "Copa" and a little more "Cabana" Halloween on the Fantasy!

[tow-mater-1]

Pre-Trip Report

So here goes nothing…. I’ve been a TR lurker for many years now and I’ve decided that I’m going to jump on board and add my 2 cents worth. I have to say that it was a TR that finally convinced my dh to book our first cruise back in 2010... so who knows maybe I’ll be able to help some poor soul trying to convince their loved one to book. It’s all about paying it forward.

We LOVE Disney so I was sure that a Disney cruise would not disappoint! We are a family of 7 so when we booked our first cruise it was going to be a once in a lifetime trip as those of you with big families know Disney aint cheap! My DH loves Disney but he’s not quite as ….hmmm what’s the word… Obsessed? Ya I guess that fits.He even lovingly mocks me…. “So what’s going on in the DIS world today?” AND has even called it a cult! Don’t judge too harshly though…It’s all just a tough macho disguise. When it came to our first cruise it was actually HIS idea to book on board, saying we are NOT leaving without booking again. So we booked our 2nd cruise for 2011 and it had a great bunch of DISers. That’s where I met Joh … you might know Joh around here as wilmabride and Wendy aka runskyhy. There was quite a few other “characters” on that cruise that I quite enjoyed. So before leaving that cruise we booked again for THIS cruise (are you seeing a pattern here)…. Actually we had booked for a couple weeks earlier as the kids would miss one day less of school because of our Canadian Thanksgiving. However Joh bribed me with her fabulous U.K. chocolate to change our cruise date to hers and that’s all it took… so now you get what I’m all about!

So in between our Disney cruises we also have cruised Carnival on the opposite years… but we go sans kids so that’s just a whole other experience and a report that would NOT be allowed on the DIS! (OK…maybe that’s an exaggeration but we had fun.) Anyway we’ve met quite a few characters on THOSE cruises who we really enjoy.

So here is the cast for this adventure… there’s me- Char, my DH –Nate along with my DD-22, DS-16, DS-9 and DS-7. Sadly my oldest DS will not be joining us for this cruise as he is getting married next year and has too much to do… not sadly he’s getting married but that he can’t join us. lol We LOVE our DDIL to be. My parents are also coming along for the ride. We are meeting up with Joh and her DH Gary and also Wendy and Rich from our 2011 Magic cruise. Remember how I said earlier that we cruise Carnival too…. well I have some recruits! We will also be meeting up with 2 other couples that we met on last years Carnival cruise and their families. This is going to be AWESOME!


Here's a pic from our first ever cruise on the Magic in 2010. That's my oldest on the right with my future DDIL.


Here we are on formal night.


Here's one of me and my Mom in St. Maarten from our 2011 Magic cruise.


And me and my Dad on Pirate night.

Here's another from Pirate night with Wendy in the middle and Joh on the right. I look a little crazed here. lol


I was looking for a good pic with Gary and Nate sporting their lovely bras on pub night... I'll be sure to find it and share it with you all So this should keep me somewhat occupied while I impatiently wait for our turn to cruise.
Stay tuned for more to come on the "little less Copa and a little more Cabana"

 

[wilma-bride]

Hey Char, I'm here as instructed

Love the trip report title Perhaps you should be asking for suggestions for karaoke songs for this trip.

This is gonna be so much fun....

 

[tow-mater-1]

Hey Char, I'm here as instructed

Love the trip report title Perhaps you should be asking for suggestions for karaoke songs for this trip.

This is gonna be so much fun....

Thanks Joh

And thanks to you and Wendy for help with the title

Hehehe... yes we definitely need some suggestions for karaoke songs! I'm so excited!

 

[runskyhy]

Just over 23 weeks to go!

Don’t judge too harshly though…It’s all just a tough macho disguise. When it came to our first cruise it was actually HIS idea to book on board, saying we are NOT leaving without booking again.

Sounds like our house.

We will also be meeting up with 2 other couples that we met on last years Carnival cruise and their families. This is going to be AWESOME!

Can't wait to meet everyone! Has everyone signed up for a Disboard account?

Here's a pic from our first ever cruise on the Magic in 2010. That's my oldest on the right with my future DDIL.

Love it!!

Perhaps you should be asking for suggestions for karaoke songs for this trip.

Hehehe... yes we definitely need some suggestions for karaoke songs! I'm so excited!

Yeah... Uh... So, you two are beginning to sound like there's actually plans for a 'reunion' performance...? As mentioned elsewhere, I probably top DCL's 'do-not-sing' list, so the best I could offer would be some back-up dancing, possibly even wearing a hat fashioned out of the buffet's fruit selection...? Or better yet, maybe its time to open singing auditions through YouTube?

 

[tow-mater-1]

So I’ll give you a little history on us and how our love for Disney began. As a kid I always wanted to go to Disney but we were more of a camping kinda family…. and while that it was fun and I have a lot of great memories of those trips, I still longed to meet the Mouse someday. It wasn’t until after Nate and I married that it would actually happen. When we would talk about trips I would always bring up Disney but Nate was not on board…. yet. His complaint was that it would be too expensive with our family of 5 at the time. So I did a little researching and worked out a budget and got a little creative. A lady that I worked with had a timeshare that was only a five minute drive from Disney and was willing to rent it to us. It slept 8 so I thought we could even invite another couple to help with that cost. Nate also works for Coke and they USED to have really nice discounts for Disney tickets. The only roadblock now was plane tickets. Well being Canadian, flights from Canada to anywhere require you to give up your first born and we rather liked him at the time so that was not an option. I was new to travelling and never thought to look at flying out of Detroit or Buffalo…my new home airports. So I looked into renting a van because driving the 24 hour drive to Florida in a little Honda Civic with kids is NOT my idea of fun.

So I presented all my cost saving measures to Nate and he sighed, saying “I have no desire whatsoever to go to Disney but since you want to so badly we will go.” YES!!! It is for this reason alone that someday I will go to Cuba for a vacation. Cuba is a popular Canadian vacation destination that Nate wants to go to and I have NO desire to go… but someday I will. I’ve seen pics and it’s beautiful but I’ve NEVER heard anyone say a good thing about their food… and I’m sorry but I like GOOD FOOD! Anyway… I’m getting a little sidetracked. That happens from time to time.

Back to the story…. so this was back in 2003 and we invited Nate’s best friend and wife along as well as my niece that we brought along for all our adventures. We rented a van and drugged the kids. What…they get a little car sick from time to time… it’s just a bonus that it knocks them out too. Oh and I love this part…we go out to Costco and buy one of those “little” tv’s with the VHS built right in… you know the ones, they are the size of a baby elephant! We thought it was so cute and small and we packed a large suitcase full of their favourite movies. We laugh at this because 5 years later when we return to Disney and while in the airport we take out their favourite movie to watch… from our POCKET! Anyway off we go on the grueling 24 hour trip to Florida with our drugged kids and the home movie theater system in the back. For the record I would not suggest driving straight though even though everybody and their brother tell you it’s no big deal and they do it all the time….they are LIARS! Ok so maybe liar is a little strong… maybe more delusional, like when women tell you that you will forget all about the labour pains once you have your baby…. WHATEVER! Anyway we made it to the condo and we were delirious from sleep depravation and CRASHED!

The next day we head out early and that first time driving under the Disney sign gave me goose bumps and made my niece and I well up with tears… my DH just laughed and rolled his eyes. So we go to Magic Kingdom that first day and it is everything and more that I imagined it would be! That first trip we did Disney commando style…we were there from open until close with lots of blisters and sore muscles but it was SO worth it! I think it was the second day when Nate grabbed me by my shoulders… so excited and said “HONEY we need to come back here WITHOUT the kids sometime” So I think it’s safe to say that Nate is converted...even though he says he’s not! Lol

Here’s a pic from our first trip to the World in 2003.




I will get to the title... eventually It's just my tactic to keep you all reading

 

[tow-mater-1]

Yeah... Uh... So, you two are beginning to sound like there's actually plans for a 'reunion' performance...? As mentioned elsewhere, I probably top DCL's 'do-not-sing' list, so the best I could offer would be some back-up dancing, possibly even wearing a hat fashioned out of the buffet's fruit selection...? Or better yet, maybe its time to open singing auditions through YouTube?

Hiya Wendy!
You better believe there will be a repeat performance! I was not supposed to be included in the LAST one so there's no way your getting out of this

 

[tow-mater-1]

History lesson continued

After that first trip to Disney I thought I would get it out of system and happily go on able to say that I’ve been there done that, had a great time and that would be it. But I think most of you here on the DIS would agree that that doesn’t happen… it just fuels the obsession more. Anyway we returned home and life happened… we had a few extra kids so Disney was definitely out of the question for a while. During our hiatus my parents went to Florida to visit my Aunt and Uncle who are snowbirds. It was right around their anniversary so we bought them a one day pass for Disney. Well… if they don’t go to Disney almost every year now on their own! I feel a little responsible for their addiction. So we (meaning everybody but Nate) started thinking about doing a Disney trip with the whole family… my parents and my sister and her family. Nate was skeptical as our youngest DS would only be 2 and he thought it would not be much fun. So I begged and pleaded and reassured that with everyone going we would have a chance to do some “big kid” stuff. Around the same time a friend introduce me to the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World! Well I was consumed with all the information and touring guides, crowd calendars AND it was though this book I found out about the disboards! Nate finally buckled and we agreed to a family trip. It was actually one of our best trips thanks to that handy dandy book. Although I did have to withstand some mocking on that trip… “so where does “the book” say we are going today.” Complete with “air quotes” I often refer to him as the Mocker. But not even the Mocker can deny that we left that trip without any blisters or the need of Bengay AND we saw a lot more stuff without standing in lines thank you very much! It was on this trip that we decided that we would return in a few months without kids for an anniversary trip. … Now THAT was the BEST trip yet. During our anniversary trip Nate suggested that we just wing it for one day and do our own thing without doing what the book said. So we did just that one morning and encountered large crowds and long lines. I didn’t even say a word when Nate said “So…. where does that book say we should be today?” What a good wife I am…. I never said HA I TOLD YOU SO! But I was thinkin it.

Here we are in 2008 with all the kiddos!


[
Here’s one with my youngest boys at the Nemo ride.



This is from our anniversary trip with my…. Oh wait how’d that get there?!




Me and my “real” Prince…. Prince Mocker










Next Disney trip…. Disney Magic Western Caribbean 2010!

I was at work one day when a co worker had just returned from a cruise and was showing me her pics. I had never really given any thought to a cruise before but after hearing about her trip I was intrigued. So I started looking at prices of cruises and where they went. I also started looking at the DIS boards a little more and found the trip reports! I mostly looked at the pics as I couldn’t understand what was being said in these trip reports or TRs…. I didn’t know what a DH or DD was but I quickly figured it out… but there were lots more things like FE’s OBC TA. It was like a whole new culture and I needed an interpreter! I would ask the Mocker to help me out with all these abbreviations and he would…. all the while saying “it’s a cult!” I felt like Reid off of Criminal Minds cracking a complex code! Anyway I was leaning towards Disney (as I always tend to do) but the price was much more than the rest AND it’s not like Disney World where you can stay off property to save some money. Like I mentioned earlier what sold him was a trip report with lots of pics and by this time it was no longer a hard sell for Disney anyway….that’s right Mr. Mocker… I’ve got you right where I want you. Muhahaha…… (he’s not on this dis so I can write whatever I want)

So we book a cruise and for the following 14 months I research, plan, book flights and transfers, pre cruise hotel, excursions… practically LIVE on the DIS. I make my FE thingy and I get all kinds of magnets for my door. Oh and you can’t forget pirate costumes… I made my boys their costumes. It’s pathetic I know… DCL had just brought my obsession to a whole new level! It’s like that song Hotel California…(or should I say Hotel Grand California ) You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave…. Which is true if you’re like us and keep rebooking! Cruiser beware.

So that first cruise was in January of 2010 and we were completely sold on cruising… my kids even thought they preferred the cruise to Disney World! So we rebooked for October 2011, which would be around our anniversary. However our 10th anniversary was going to be THAT coming October and we booked a 4 day cruise on the Wonder… but since our kids still had not forgiven us for our Disney trip on our own AND I DID feel a teensy bit guilty still, we cancelled the Wonder and went on a Carnival cruise for 7 days instead. Funny how they were completely fine with that! It was a fantastic cruise and they also have a forum where you can “meet” people prior to your cruise. It was though that forum where we met a few couples that we have continued to cruise with and we even went to Vegas with.

Here we are in Vegas with a few of our “Carnies” There were a few more couples that couldn’t make this trip




Next segment… 2011 MNSSHP/Disney World/ DCL Magic Eastern/a little less Copa and a little more Cabana.

 

[wiigirl]

Wonderful pics!

 

[The Mocker]

Well hello there everyone! now someone needs to be aware of what she says about certain people! Lol This should be a great read!

 

[tow-mater-1]

Wonderful pics!

Awww...thanks wiigirl

 

[tow-mater-1]

Well hello there everyone! now someone needs to be aware of what she says about certain people! Lol This should be a great read!

Bahahaha YOUR A DISER NOW! There's no turning back now baby!

 

[wilma-bride]

Well hello there everyone! now someone needs to be aware of what she says about certain people! Lol This should be a great read!

Bahaahaa, welcome to the cult

Wait until I tell Gary that you've crossed over

 

[tow-mater-1]

Next trip…. Disney World!

So we return from our Carnival cruise which meant it was now time to get into full planning mode for our next cruise. And while I love cruising I was starting to miss Disney World… it had been 2 years since our last visit. So I got to thinking… why not go to Disney for a few days before the cruise! It’s like saving on a whole flight! If we went separately we would have to buy flights for each trip so this was killing 2 birds with one stone…right?? (well that’s my logic anyway) By now all I had to say was “hey, so what do you think about spending 5 days at Disn.” and it was yes before I finished the sentence. Now that I was a little more familiar with the DIS I decided that I was going to rent DVC points for our pre-cruise stay. Well I lucked out and we got a 1 br at AKV! I also read on the DIS that if you ordered your tickets from Disneyyouth.com and sign your kid up for a free 3 hour educational session you can get HUGELY discounted tickets for your whole group! So we pimp out our 14 year old DS for cheap Disney tickets and he got to learn about Chemistry!

For the pre trip to the world it was only going to be Nate and I and the 3 youngest DS’s… my parents and DD along with my sister and her family were flying out the day before the cruise. I was so excited that the little boys were older and they would really get to enjoy Disney this time around!! I also decided that since we were going to be there so close to Halloween we should go to MNSSHP AND since we scored a great deal on accommodations and tickets we could fit it into the budget. This was going to be the BEST trip EVER!!!

In the mean time over on our Dis cruise meet things were quite active over there…. I’d have to say the most action I’ve seen on a meet thread. Our thread had so many “meets” we had a “sweet” meet with people bringing their favourite chocolate for everyone to try… we had a “smoothie” meet at the Cove Café. We had a “princess” meet where the ladies came with their plastic tiaras lol and Peggy, Joh and Wendy were planning on doing a little Karaoke “meet”…sounded like fun. I would definitely go to see THAT show. AND speaking of “meets” a lot of our “Carnies” are from Orlando so we made plans to meet with the locals for supper on the day we arrive….ya gotta eat right?

So the day finally comes and we make our way to Detroit for an overnight stay before we fly out in the morning. Everything goes as planned and we get to MCO right on schedule. We pick up our rental car from Downtown Disney area and head out to meet our Carnival friends.

Here’s a pic of us with the local Carnies Nate hates this one... he CANNOT keep his eyes open with a flash! lol



So the next day we are heading to the parks. Before I start I have to give you a little background on our then 7 year old DS. He was diagnosed with a global development delay with autistic traits. Anyway a friend of mine who’s son is severely autistic told me that you can go to guest services and show your medical documentation and get a special pass which will get you on the attractions through the exit. I said that I didn’t think he would need it since it was low season and the lines should not be too long. I also would have felt a little guilty passing everyone in the line especially since you can’t tell by looking at him that he has any difficulties. So during the whole trip Nate and I waffled about getting the pass…one day he would say lets get it and I would object. The next day I would suggest it and he would say no we don’t need it. Well we SHOULD have got it. Like I anticipated the lines were never longer than 15- 20 mins at the most, but for him it might as well have been 3 hours! It was our last day in the park when my little Luke said to me “ Mom… I don’t think Disney is for me” and I did what you all just did right now… I GASPED and clutched my heart… I looked at him and said “Who’s child ARE you!” My son may have a global development delay but he gets my sense of humor and thought it was funny… so no need to call Children Services…not yet anyway. Actually neither of my 2 little ones enjoyed Disney. Where did we go wrong!?! I know I know… it’s punishment for that trip we took without them… maybe if we did things a little differently our kids may have turned out to be happy, productive little Mouseketeers. (cue the sad music here). All is not lost though and we haven’t given up on our sweet children… we have been working on our brainwashing tactics and we have been making progress. Before I leave you with the wrong impression of my kids I can say that they LOVE cruising with Disney…so we are not COMPLETE failures as parents. I do have to say though that the pre Disney World trip did have a negative effect on my little Luke….every time we saw Mickey or any character on the ship he would have a melt down thinking that it would mean a 20 minute wait in line for a pic! Sadly I would have to say that the highlight of the Disney part of the trip for my boys was the Lego store in DTD and us buying them those stupid little Lego Nijago characters!

Here’s a few pics of that trip to the World.



This one the waiter yells..."Attention everybody, heavy drinker over here!"



Here's some from MNSSHP!





And of course the Lego Store



So we head into Port the night before and meet up the rest of the family. I am so pumped I can hardly sleep and I’m up at 5:00 in the morning! So I was texting Joh and we were both giddy with excitement… I knew she had early boarding so I asked if she could pick up our tickets for the Martini tasting since we had planned on doing that together.

So we board the Magic and she is just as beautiful as I remembered. It certainly did not feel like 21 months since the last Disney cruise. We named our cruise “Parley… will this get us on the ship any faster?” And for short we called ourselves “Parleyers” lol. So we meet up that first day for our DIS meet/ Sweet treat meet and “met” Joh and Wendy along with the other DISers that we had bonded with over the course of a year and a half. It was here that I was introduced to Cadbury Flakes. Oh and Wendy, for those of you who don’t know of her, is very creative and made most our designs for our “Parleyers” cruise (she actually came up with the name)…. she also made my avatar, which I made into a button … I’m a dork, I know.

So we meet up periodically with our new friends over the course of the cruise and usually meet up at the pub at night. Joh and I would laugh as we would always get the reminder texts from our wave phones to pick up our kids at the club…. They were always the last to leave but they LOVED it and WE loved the fact that they would sleep in a little the next morning. So on Pirate night after the party we meet up at our usual place…and it’s Karaoke night. So I’m all for watching my new friends embarrass themselves with a karaoke performance. This was all pre-arranged by Wendy, Peggy and Joh on the DIS…. I would NEVER voluntarily sign up to embarrass myself… I can do that quite easily WITHOUT trying thank you very much. Anyway I somehow get roped into participating against my will and with a few extra shots of something or other. The one good thing is it was not hugely attended as it was after the Pirate party and people were probably still on deck watching Pirates of the Caribbean under the stars…exactly where I wanted to be at that moment. Anyway the song that was chosen was… you guessed it… Copacabana. Well that song is forever long! It might as well have been Stairway to Heaven…Actually I think it’s longer than that! Joh’s husband Gary got a video of that train wreck… Not sure if I can get it on here or not… but I’ll give it a whirl….nope seems like I can’t get it from facebook to here… just as well. It will save your ears and what little dignity I have left. So hence the name of this report… we have planned to do a repeat performance but we have to think up an equally ridiculous song and we are always looking for recruits!

I do have pics though!

Here's Joh and Wendy in the middle of our "performance"



Here's one of me and Peggy



Here's one of most of my family... my oldest DS and future DDIL couldn't make it to this cruise either



I love this one because you can see how my Luke had been crying because of the possible wait. Well this guy wasn't even the "real" Captain Jack. When we heard the line for Disney's Captain was going to be over 20 minutes I looked across the room and saw this "Captain" and grabbed him for a pic and voila crisis averted...you can see the "real" Captain in the background. It turned out this Captain was a fellow Parleyer! He was better than Disney's if you ask me.

 

[ThinkTink91]

I think you should do Wannabe by the Spice Girls

 

[wilma-bride]

I think you should do Wannabe by the Spice Girls

Be very careful Cassie, you could get roped in to join the group this year

 

[ThinkTink91]

Be very careful Cassie, you could get roped in to join the group this year

I don't think so! It's a pretty big ship. You'd have to find me first.

 

[wilma-bride]

I don't think so! It's a pretty big ship. You'd have to find me first.

As if you won't be in the bar with us

 

[ThinkTink91]

As if you won't be in the bar with us

... darn. well I'll find away to watch and not get roped in.

 

[wilma-bride]

... darn. well I'll find away to watch and not get roped in.

We'll see

 

[tow-mater-1]

I think you should do Wannabe by the Spice Girls

I like it but not sure if it falls under "ridiculous" or not... that may require some skill! Maybe if we dress up like the spice girls it could classify as ridiculous....