GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day One Navigator
I have a WONDERful feeling about this! 2015 WB Panama Canal Trip Report, Completed 6/14/15
- Thread starter GooniesAndy
- Start date
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day One (May 1) - Part One
We learned that our efforts to pre-adjust to east coast time had paid off as we woke up by 8AM. We got ready and headed out to find breakfast and Walgreens (2-3 blocks down Biscayne Blvd. in the opposite direction from the port. We decided just to get smoothies and muffins at Smoothie King, which was on the way to Walgreens. This was a tasty and simple breakfast that was just what we needed.
After drinking our smoothies we continued up the street to Walgreens so that I could pick up some last minute items that I hadn't felt like carrying with us on the airplane (bottled water, toppings for an ice cream social we were attending, some toiletries, etc.) This was very convenient and easy to find, and they had a very exciting restroom in the back where you set off an alarm if you wanted to use it. Oliver refused.
It was about 10:30 when we got back to our hotel, but we had nothing to do so we decided to get ready to head over to the port, even though our PAT was 11:30. I put our luggage tags on, made sure everything was in the bags we were planning to carry on, and called for a porter to help with our luggage.
There were cabs lined up right outside, so we hopped right in one and were off to the port. It was about a five minute drive (catching the first glimpse of the ship!) and our driver was very impatient. He didn't want to wait to pull in where you are supposed to, so he drove all the way to the front where buses were picking people up, put our luggage in the road, and left. He told me that he didn't take credit cards, which I knew was a lie (Miami-Dade requires that all cabs take cash and cards), but I didn't feel like pressing the issue so I paid him and sent the kids over to the sidewalk while I hauled our luggage up.
Luckily nothing got crushed by oncoming traffic and we were just left to find someone that would come out to where we were to collect our things. The man who came over seemed like he was just going to leave our things there for a while, but luckily I saw him moving it onto one of the luggage carts before we entered the building. That was stressful!
Luggage dispatched, we got into the line that was slowly working its way into the building. We had to show our documentation (they wanted the book the cruise line sends you, but would accept the paperwork you print out) and then we were in!
The line wended its way up some escalators, around hallways, past a large standee for a photo op, and into the check-in area.
There was essentially no line once we got in and headed for the Castaway Club line (which was weird considering the fact that there had been a line before that!) We were quickly checked in, issued our Keys to the World, and given boarding number 6.
We headed in to the terminal to wait and decided to go straight to get the kids' their bands for the Oceaneers Club/Lab. Might as well! The line took a while, but we didn't have anything better to do. We met more new friends from the meet-up group in line, and their son Noah (5) became friends with Oliver. The boys entertained themselves by playing on their Kindles, knowing that the second we were in our room they were being locked in the safe for the entire trip.
After getting the kids their Mickey bands, we went to the next room where Minnie was posing for pictures.
That line went pretty quickly, and then we went to find a place to sit. The terminal is where I realized that I'd made a big mistake in regards to our meet-up group. People had posted photos of their families, to help us recognize each other. However, I had spent so much time studying the photos that everyone started to look the same and it messed me up for the entire cruise! There were a few people who I recognized correctly, but for the most part I was just lost. I'd have done better to just meet people, learn their names, and let it go at that. Luckily the group had decided that a lime green Mickey head (with or without your name on it), attached to your lanyard, would be a helpful identifier. That helped a lot.
However, we did find some people from the group congregating together and introduced ourselves. Everyone was so nice, and I was starting to feel slightly overwhelmed by how many of them there were! It seemed like half the people in the terminal had lime green Mickey heads on their lanyards! A bunch of them also had boarding group 6, so when they called it (didn't take long at all once they started boarding) we all got into line. A few minutes later we were posing for our boarding picture and finally boarding “our” ship after almost 400 days of anticipation.
Hearing them call your family name can be a wonderful moment for us sentimental folks. It was strange to enter on deck 4, but we didn't care where we got on, so long as we did! I wanted to make some reservations, so we walked down to deck 3. The Navigator they gave us in the terminal said that some tickets were available at Port Adventures (Princess, Anna & Elsa, and Disney Junior meet-and-greets, and the kid club sleepover) and tours were available at Guest Services. Of course, when I got to the front of the Guest Services line they told me I should have gotten those at Port Adventure. Luckily they still went ahead and issued those tickets for me.
After taking care of the preliminaries, the boys and I went down to Parrot Cay to get some lunch. Elliott ate the first of countless shrimp that would be consumed and Ollie discovered a love for DCL chocolate chip cookies.
While we were eating Elliott told me that his ear was still really bothering him. He said he was having trouble hearing and quite a bit of pain. It abated a bit and so we decided to give it a little bit more time before we'd visit the infirmary. Luckily that was the end of it and it resolved on its own. By the time we finished up it was 1:30 and our room was ready. Our first suitcase was already waiting outside, which was great!
In our room I found confirmation of my Palo dinner reservation:
And a slip letting me know my shipboard credit from the travel agency had been added:
We had a 2:00 meet-up at Diversions with our group, so I decided to get as much unpacked as I could (which wasn't much, but still!) By the time we headed out shortly after 2 all of our bags had arrived.
Diversions was absolutely packed with people, which ratchets up my social anxiety a bit, but we made our way in and chatted a bit, mostly with the people we had already met. We were having a candy exchange at the meet-up, which was awesome. San Diego isn't famous for any candy, so we brought bags of Reese's peanut butter cups and Starburst, because the kids love those. It was a lot of fun trying out new candies from people all over the country and world.
Some of our amazing group members had brought along bracelets that everyone could wear to help us find each other as we went through the week. I loved this! Many of us were also wearing lime green Mickey heads with our names on them in our lanyards as another identifier. This all worked so well! I have to admit, I am still wearing the bracelet. It makes me happy when I see it.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7697/17250738133_bb59d3355a.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5449/17844820616_35faa4d97e.jpg
We stayed at the meet-up for a while and then went back to the room to do some more unpacking. On the way we stopped in briefly for the open houses at the Oceaneer Lab and Club. The kids' spaces on the ship were never very crowded, and most of the time the boys found their friends there. It was great!
Lab:
Club:
We met our room steward, Nerissa from Jamaica, who was wonderful. We had a lot of nice chats and she and Ollie really connected. The first thing Elliott told her was that they love chocolate.
I wanted to try to have everything put away before dinner so that Nerissa would even be able to prep our room for bedtime, so I used every minute until we were called to the muster drill in a whirlwind of organization. All of our luggage fit under the bed nicely, and I kept one suitcase easily accessible with some of the random things I might need but didn't want to unpack. I also put out our magnets and Fish Extender, so that we could really feel like it was our room.
Including our Disney mantra magnet:
We learned that our efforts to pre-adjust to east coast time had paid off as we woke up by 8AM. We got ready and headed out to find breakfast and Walgreens (2-3 blocks down Biscayne Blvd. in the opposite direction from the port. We decided just to get smoothies and muffins at Smoothie King, which was on the way to Walgreens. This was a tasty and simple breakfast that was just what we needed.
After drinking our smoothies we continued up the street to Walgreens so that I could pick up some last minute items that I hadn't felt like carrying with us on the airplane (bottled water, toppings for an ice cream social we were attending, some toiletries, etc.) This was very convenient and easy to find, and they had a very exciting restroom in the back where you set off an alarm if you wanted to use it. Oliver refused.
It was about 10:30 when we got back to our hotel, but we had nothing to do so we decided to get ready to head over to the port, even though our PAT was 11:30. I put our luggage tags on, made sure everything was in the bags we were planning to carry on, and called for a porter to help with our luggage.
There were cabs lined up right outside, so we hopped right in one and were off to the port. It was about a five minute drive (catching the first glimpse of the ship!) and our driver was very impatient. He didn't want to wait to pull in where you are supposed to, so he drove all the way to the front where buses were picking people up, put our luggage in the road, and left. He told me that he didn't take credit cards, which I knew was a lie (Miami-Dade requires that all cabs take cash and cards), but I didn't feel like pressing the issue so I paid him and sent the kids over to the sidewalk while I hauled our luggage up.
Luckily nothing got crushed by oncoming traffic and we were just left to find someone that would come out to where we were to collect our things. The man who came over seemed like he was just going to leave our things there for a while, but luckily I saw him moving it onto one of the luggage carts before we entered the building. That was stressful!
Luggage dispatched, we got into the line that was slowly working its way into the building. We had to show our documentation (they wanted the book the cruise line sends you, but would accept the paperwork you print out) and then we were in!
The line wended its way up some escalators, around hallways, past a large standee for a photo op, and into the check-in area.
There was essentially no line once we got in and headed for the Castaway Club line (which was weird considering the fact that there had been a line before that!) We were quickly checked in, issued our Keys to the World, and given boarding number 6.
We headed in to the terminal to wait and decided to go straight to get the kids' their bands for the Oceaneers Club/Lab. Might as well! The line took a while, but we didn't have anything better to do. We met more new friends from the meet-up group in line, and their son Noah (5) became friends with Oliver. The boys entertained themselves by playing on their Kindles, knowing that the second we were in our room they were being locked in the safe for the entire trip.
After getting the kids their Mickey bands, we went to the next room where Minnie was posing for pictures.
That line went pretty quickly, and then we went to find a place to sit. The terminal is where I realized that I'd made a big mistake in regards to our meet-up group. People had posted photos of their families, to help us recognize each other. However, I had spent so much time studying the photos that everyone started to look the same and it messed me up for the entire cruise! There were a few people who I recognized correctly, but for the most part I was just lost. I'd have done better to just meet people, learn their names, and let it go at that. Luckily the group had decided that a lime green Mickey head (with or without your name on it), attached to your lanyard, would be a helpful identifier. That helped a lot.
However, we did find some people from the group congregating together and introduced ourselves. Everyone was so nice, and I was starting to feel slightly overwhelmed by how many of them there were! It seemed like half the people in the terminal had lime green Mickey heads on their lanyards! A bunch of them also had boarding group 6, so when they called it (didn't take long at all once they started boarding) we all got into line. A few minutes later we were posing for our boarding picture and finally boarding “our” ship after almost 400 days of anticipation.
Hearing them call your family name can be a wonderful moment for us sentimental folks. It was strange to enter on deck 4, but we didn't care where we got on, so long as we did! I wanted to make some reservations, so we walked down to deck 3. The Navigator they gave us in the terminal said that some tickets were available at Port Adventures (Princess, Anna & Elsa, and Disney Junior meet-and-greets, and the kid club sleepover) and tours were available at Guest Services. Of course, when I got to the front of the Guest Services line they told me I should have gotten those at Port Adventure. Luckily they still went ahead and issued those tickets for me.
After taking care of the preliminaries, the boys and I went down to Parrot Cay to get some lunch. Elliott ate the first of countless shrimp that would be consumed and Ollie discovered a love for DCL chocolate chip cookies.
While we were eating Elliott told me that his ear was still really bothering him. He said he was having trouble hearing and quite a bit of pain. It abated a bit and so we decided to give it a little bit more time before we'd visit the infirmary. Luckily that was the end of it and it resolved on its own. By the time we finished up it was 1:30 and our room was ready. Our first suitcase was already waiting outside, which was great!
In our room I found confirmation of my Palo dinner reservation:
And a slip letting me know my shipboard credit from the travel agency had been added:
We had a 2:00 meet-up at Diversions with our group, so I decided to get as much unpacked as I could (which wasn't much, but still!) By the time we headed out shortly after 2 all of our bags had arrived.
Diversions was absolutely packed with people, which ratchets up my social anxiety a bit, but we made our way in and chatted a bit, mostly with the people we had already met. We were having a candy exchange at the meet-up, which was awesome. San Diego isn't famous for any candy, so we brought bags of Reese's peanut butter cups and Starburst, because the kids love those. It was a lot of fun trying out new candies from people all over the country and world.
Some of our amazing group members had brought along bracelets that everyone could wear to help us find each other as we went through the week. I loved this! Many of us were also wearing lime green Mickey heads with our names on them in our lanyards as another identifier. This all worked so well! I have to admit, I am still wearing the bracelet. It makes me happy when I see it.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7697/17250738133_bb59d3355a.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5449/17844820616_35faa4d97e.jpg
We stayed at the meet-up for a while and then went back to the room to do some more unpacking. On the way we stopped in briefly for the open houses at the Oceaneer Lab and Club. The kids' spaces on the ship were never very crowded, and most of the time the boys found their friends there. It was great!
Lab:
Club:
We met our room steward, Nerissa from Jamaica, who was wonderful. We had a lot of nice chats and she and Ollie really connected. The first thing Elliott told her was that they love chocolate.
I wanted to try to have everything put away before dinner so that Nerissa would even be able to prep our room for bedtime, so I used every minute until we were called to the muster drill in a whirlwind of organization. All of our luggage fit under the bed nicely, and I kept one suitcase easily accessible with some of the random things I might need but didn't want to unpack. I also put out our magnets and Fish Extender, so that we could really feel like it was our room.
Including our Disney mantra magnet:
Last edited:
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day Two (May 1) - Part Two
We were in stateroom 5513, which is one of the sideways cabins. I'd originally booked a GTY, but we were assigned a room without the upper bunk, which was problematic after the Wonder's staterooms were upgraded to the new non-splitting queen beds. Both of the kids roll around a lot, and I decided that I couldn't handle sleeping with one of them for two weeks, so I switched to this room. We loved it! Even though the square footage is smaller than the outside room we had previously, the layout made it feel larger. You entered into the middle of the room, facing the sofa. Directly to the left of the door was a wall unit with the TV in the middle (two outlets behind, one of which had the TV plugged into it), a cabinet with two shelf slots in it above, and the mini fridge underneath. I did not feel that the fridge was cold enough for anything perishable, so be warned. Beyond that was a single steamer trunk, the desk area, and a queen-sized bed, with a curtain to separate that section from the rest of the room. I loved the new bed so much! It had built-in nightstands, one side with two outlets, the other with one and a phone jack (which had a hotel-style phone on it). No clock in our room. There were the standard two outlets at the desk.
The outlets built into the bed are weird and turned sideways, which may confuse some people, but they were definitely regular old 2-prong US outlets. You can see one right behind the phone in this picture.
To the right of the door was a small hallway with the closet on one side and the bathroom on the other. Beyond the bathroom door was an area about a foot deep which was perfect for the laundry basket or other storage. I loved not tripping over the laundry basket! The bathroom was not the split-style, which was fine. There were only one or two times when someone was in the shower, someone else was brushing their teeth, and the third decided they needed to use the toilet, when the split would have been nice. The only bummer about this bathroom, really, is the lack of shelves. I made up for this by using the desk as more of a dressing table and just keeping true bathroom things in the bathroom.
Soon it was time for the muster drill. We were at station G, which was out on deck, a quick walk down one deck and the third boat back on the starboard side. We were facing the gangway, so we got to watch the few stragglers coming on board as they conducted the drill. They only announced a few names of people who weren't present at the drill and then they finished up pretty quickly.
As soon as they released us we headed up to deck 9 to get in place for the sail away party, which really gets us into the vacation spirit. We found a spot near the front where the kids would be able to see, and Elliott ran to get them some drinks. The heat was really getting to them, along with the excitement of the day. After a few minutes the party got started. The boys danced and cheered and were joined by new friends.
Toward the end of the party, our wonderful cruise director, Clayton, came out and got the crowd even more pumped up. Soon we were counting down to the moment for which we'd all been waiting: the ship's horn. Whenever I hear it I tear up, and this was no exception. At that moment I just could not believe we were really there. And when Clayton asked, “Who's on vacation?” we all screamed, “WE'RE ON VACATION!”
After the party wrapped up we went back down to our room for a little while, where I did some more organizing. We had early dinner (5:45), so we didn't have a whole lot of time. We lucked out on our rotation: TAP, which put us in just the right dining room on the right night (Triton's on formal night and Mother's Day, Parrot Cay on pirate night, etc.)
We went down to Triton's to find table 51 and met our wonderful servers, Beata from Slovakia and Joseph from India. Our head server was Deniz, from Turkey, though we didn't meet him until the following night. We really loved Beata and Joseph. They had a brother-sister type of relationship, which was really funny, and they just took such good care of us.
The first night's menu, as always, was “Let the Magic Begin.” Elliott, who was rather sleepy, had the kid's menu mac and cheese, though he didn't eat very much.
Oliver ordered the kid's turkey meatloaf, which he polished off. I need to find out what they put in that, because he doesn't usually love meatloaf that much!
I am a picky eater. I don't eat any fish and I'm not really a huge fan of most vegetables. I'm a meat-and-potatoes sort of girl, so you will notice a theme in my meals. This night I had the arugula and spinach salad and the New York strip steak. I like my meat to be pretty rare, but I usually start out ordering medium-rare so that I can judge for the future. My meat this night came more like medium (maybe even medium-well, so after this I ordered rare and it was always perfect. I started out ok about taking pictures of the food, but I started to slip a lot later on.
The steak has already been cut into, so on the lower side you are seeing the inside of the steak.
Our room hadn't been turned down yet, so Oliver decided to head off to the Oceaneer Lab on his own for a while. Elliott and I went up to deck 9 and hung out for a while. Since he hadn't eaten much dinner and I hadn't had dessert, I grabbed a plate of chicken strips and fries (and I have to admit, I ate some... so good!)
Then we had some hot chocolate and watched Pixar short films on Funnelvision. At last we headed back down to our room, because Elliott was absolutely dying to see what our towel animal was going to be. He was thrilled to find both that the room was ready, that our towel animal was a swan, and that Nerissa took him seriously when he told her that he loves chocolate.
Later in the week (not exactly sure when) a bar would appear at the foot of the bed, which I liked. I didn't even notice that it wasn't there at the beginning, so it must have been within a day or so.
After a little while we ran over to the Oceaneer Lab (which was conveniently near our room on the same deck) to pick up Ollie and we all settled in to bed. I signed up for the free 50MB internet package, since it was only available on the first day and then I read on my Kindle for a while. I am a terrible insomniac, but I slept so incredibly well this trip. The bed was very comfy and between the dividing curtain (which I pulled to block out light and so that I could read after the kids were asleep) and the thick comforter, sound was dulled.
I was nervous about the kids tripping on the bathroom threshold during nighttime potty trips, so I started out with overkill – left the light on in the bathroom (door almost shut) and a nightlight plugged into the extra outlet behind the TV. They wanted music while they fell asleep so I also turned on the navigation channel, which plays Disney songs and shows your current location on a map. After a few nights I ditched both the bathroom light, which was bright and landed right across their faces, and the nightlight, because I realized that if I muted the map channel after they fell asleep it provided just the right amount of light without being too much.
One thing... tonight we already had to turn the clocks back an hour, so our efforts to pre-adjust to east coast time only lasted for one night! We actually never had any trouble with time changes the entire trip, which was wonderful. I don't think it would have been as easy going the other direction.
It had been a great first day and we were so excited about what was still to come!
We were in stateroom 5513, which is one of the sideways cabins. I'd originally booked a GTY, but we were assigned a room without the upper bunk, which was problematic after the Wonder's staterooms were upgraded to the new non-splitting queen beds. Both of the kids roll around a lot, and I decided that I couldn't handle sleeping with one of them for two weeks, so I switched to this room. We loved it! Even though the square footage is smaller than the outside room we had previously, the layout made it feel larger. You entered into the middle of the room, facing the sofa. Directly to the left of the door was a wall unit with the TV in the middle (two outlets behind, one of which had the TV plugged into it), a cabinet with two shelf slots in it above, and the mini fridge underneath. I did not feel that the fridge was cold enough for anything perishable, so be warned. Beyond that was a single steamer trunk, the desk area, and a queen-sized bed, with a curtain to separate that section from the rest of the room. I loved the new bed so much! It had built-in nightstands, one side with two outlets, the other with one and a phone jack (which had a hotel-style phone on it). No clock in our room. There were the standard two outlets at the desk.
The outlets built into the bed are weird and turned sideways, which may confuse some people, but they were definitely regular old 2-prong US outlets. You can see one right behind the phone in this picture.
To the right of the door was a small hallway with the closet on one side and the bathroom on the other. Beyond the bathroom door was an area about a foot deep which was perfect for the laundry basket or other storage. I loved not tripping over the laundry basket! The bathroom was not the split-style, which was fine. There were only one or two times when someone was in the shower, someone else was brushing their teeth, and the third decided they needed to use the toilet, when the split would have been nice. The only bummer about this bathroom, really, is the lack of shelves. I made up for this by using the desk as more of a dressing table and just keeping true bathroom things in the bathroom.
Soon it was time for the muster drill. We were at station G, which was out on deck, a quick walk down one deck and the third boat back on the starboard side. We were facing the gangway, so we got to watch the few stragglers coming on board as they conducted the drill. They only announced a few names of people who weren't present at the drill and then they finished up pretty quickly.
As soon as they released us we headed up to deck 9 to get in place for the sail away party, which really gets us into the vacation spirit. We found a spot near the front where the kids would be able to see, and Elliott ran to get them some drinks. The heat was really getting to them, along with the excitement of the day. After a few minutes the party got started. The boys danced and cheered and were joined by new friends.
Toward the end of the party, our wonderful cruise director, Clayton, came out and got the crowd even more pumped up. Soon we were counting down to the moment for which we'd all been waiting: the ship's horn. Whenever I hear it I tear up, and this was no exception. At that moment I just could not believe we were really there. And when Clayton asked, “Who's on vacation?” we all screamed, “WE'RE ON VACATION!”
After the party wrapped up we went back down to our room for a little while, where I did some more organizing. We had early dinner (5:45), so we didn't have a whole lot of time. We lucked out on our rotation: TAP, which put us in just the right dining room on the right night (Triton's on formal night and Mother's Day, Parrot Cay on pirate night, etc.)
We went down to Triton's to find table 51 and met our wonderful servers, Beata from Slovakia and Joseph from India. Our head server was Deniz, from Turkey, though we didn't meet him until the following night. We really loved Beata and Joseph. They had a brother-sister type of relationship, which was really funny, and they just took such good care of us.
The first night's menu, as always, was “Let the Magic Begin.” Elliott, who was rather sleepy, had the kid's menu mac and cheese, though he didn't eat very much.
Oliver ordered the kid's turkey meatloaf, which he polished off. I need to find out what they put in that, because he doesn't usually love meatloaf that much!
I am a picky eater. I don't eat any fish and I'm not really a huge fan of most vegetables. I'm a meat-and-potatoes sort of girl, so you will notice a theme in my meals. This night I had the arugula and spinach salad and the New York strip steak. I like my meat to be pretty rare, but I usually start out ordering medium-rare so that I can judge for the future. My meat this night came more like medium (maybe even medium-well, so after this I ordered rare and it was always perfect. I started out ok about taking pictures of the food, but I started to slip a lot later on.
The steak has already been cut into, so on the lower side you are seeing the inside of the steak.
Our room hadn't been turned down yet, so Oliver decided to head off to the Oceaneer Lab on his own for a while. Elliott and I went up to deck 9 and hung out for a while. Since he hadn't eaten much dinner and I hadn't had dessert, I grabbed a plate of chicken strips and fries (and I have to admit, I ate some... so good!)
Then we had some hot chocolate and watched Pixar short films on Funnelvision. At last we headed back down to our room, because Elliott was absolutely dying to see what our towel animal was going to be. He was thrilled to find both that the room was ready, that our towel animal was a swan, and that Nerissa took him seriously when he told her that he loves chocolate.
Later in the week (not exactly sure when) a bar would appear at the foot of the bed, which I liked. I didn't even notice that it wasn't there at the beginning, so it must have been within a day or so.
After a little while we ran over to the Oceaneer Lab (which was conveniently near our room on the same deck) to pick up Ollie and we all settled in to bed. I signed up for the free 50MB internet package, since it was only available on the first day and then I read on my Kindle for a while. I am a terrible insomniac, but I slept so incredibly well this trip. The bed was very comfy and between the dividing curtain (which I pulled to block out light and so that I could read after the kids were asleep) and the thick comforter, sound was dulled.
I was nervous about the kids tripping on the bathroom threshold during nighttime potty trips, so I started out with overkill – left the light on in the bathroom (door almost shut) and a nightlight plugged into the extra outlet behind the TV. They wanted music while they fell asleep so I also turned on the navigation channel, which plays Disney songs and shows your current location on a map. After a few nights I ditched both the bathroom light, which was bright and landed right across their faces, and the nightlight, because I realized that if I muted the map channel after they fell asleep it provided just the right amount of light without being too much.
One thing... tonight we already had to turn the clocks back an hour, so our efforts to pre-adjust to east coast time only lasted for one night! We actually never had any trouble with time changes the entire trip, which was wonderful. I don't think it would have been as easy going the other direction.
It had been a great first day and we were so excited about what was still to come!
Last edited:
ShellB8585
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2013
Just found this and looking forward to reading along in anticipation of our EBPC in Oct 
Now to head back and start reading
thanks for sharing with us!
Now to head back and start reading
thanks for sharing with us!
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2005
Wonderful first day Erin, it seems like a lifetime ago although I can still remember how excited we all were and the buzz in the terminal and at the meet & greet. Such a fabulous group of people.
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Just found this and looking forward to reading along in anticipation of our EBPC in Oct
Now to head back and start reading
Welcome! Hopefully it helps!
I know! It hit me that it's a MONTH ago now that we were getting ready to head out! That kills me.
We did have the most amazing group ever! I hope I'm not forever spoiled!
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Some Random Stuff I Scanned
So, there is a LOT of stuff in your room when you get there. I scanned a bunch of it in case it helps anyone. I forgot to grab the current laundry/dry service price list as I didn't use it at all this trip, so sorry about that! My Flickr account uploaded everything today in completely random order, so hopefully I can get it in here in the correct order.
Spa Brochure
Duty Free Price List
Rebooking Info
Ship Internet Info
So, there is a LOT of stuff in your room when you get there. I scanned a bunch of it in case it helps anyone. I forgot to grab the current laundry/dry service price list as I didn't use it at all this trip, so sorry about that! My Flickr account uploaded everything today in completely random order, so hopefully I can get it in here in the correct order.
Spa Brochure
Duty Free Price List
Rebooking Info
Ship Internet Info
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day Two Navigator
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day Two (May 2, At Sea)
We decided to hit the breakfast buffet this morning. The boys love the fact that they have easy access to Fruit Loops and donuts, which they don't get at home. I lean more in the direction of eggs and fruit with whatever breakfast meat strikes my fancy that day. Love the buffet, as everyone is satisfied and I don't have to do anything more than pile it onto the plates!
I noticed that we were passing by Havana, Cuba, so the kids and I had a breakfast chat about embargoes and old cars and oppressive governments. Light stuff to start the first full day of vacation!
After breakfast we had tickets to see the princesses at 9:15am followed by Anna & Elsa at 9:30.
We got into line for the princesses in the atrium right at 9:15 and it was pretty long! We must have been about the last ones in our group to get in. We chatted with some of our cruise group friends along the way, which helped to pass the time, particularly considering the fact that I was stressed out by the fact that we were going to be at least fifteen minutes late for Anna & Elsa. I figured they would be ok with it since they'd assigned us the times, but I just hate to be late.
Elliott refused to meet the princesses, so he hung out around the fringes while Ollie and I went through the lines.
As soon as we hustled through the princess area we grabbed Elliott and dashed off to Animator's Palate for our Anna & Elsa meet and greet. They are two of the few characters Elliott enjoys meeting, because they are a lot of fun, so he was happy to go. As expected they didn't care a bit about the fact that we were twenty minutes late. They had each group entering sit at a table where the kids could entertain themselves with coloring and puzzle pages while they waited. When the line got down to just a few waiting groups they'd grab the next table to get at the end. It was only a few minutes before it was our turn and this line went very quickly.
Anna and Elsa are always great to meet and have great banter with the kids. The boys enjoyed a fun chat with them before posing for some pictures.
We dropped Oliver off at the Oceaneer Lab and then Elliott and I sat down and had a talk about the fact that I was going to be going to a couple of events during the cruise that involved drinking adult beverages. I reassured him that on the very rare occasions when I have a cocktail I never drink to excess, never get behind the wheel of a car, and that there is no danger of me becoming like his father. For a long time I felt guilty having anything to drink, as if somehow my husband's disease was an indictment of me. However, I have always been responsible and I think that's actually good for the kids to see. I don't want them to panic if I'm offered a glass of wine at a dinner party. It is really hard to figure some of this stuff out and no decisions ever feel like they are entirely correct!
After that the two of us went to a Boy Scout council patch trading event that had been organized by our group. Elliott is in his second year of Cub Scouts and this was his first time trading patches, so we only brought six, but he had a great time and got some very cool patches to start off his collection. It was fun for me to get a chance to chat with more members of our group in a smaller setting. The meet-up was right next to the ice cream machines, so of course we had to grab cones. We pretty much did that any time we were in the vicinity.
After we finished up there, I dropped Elliott off at the Lab with his brother and headed off to Diversions for some adults-only movie quotes trivia. I was already so uncomfortable going to a team trivia and not knowing anyone, and to make matters worse I approached someone who looked just like one of our group members (from her picture!) However, it was not her and I think this woman thought I was crazy.
I then noticed a small group of people wearing the cruise group bracelets and awkwardly approached them to ask if I could join their team. I explained that I didn't mind not getting a prize if we won (and had too many players). I just enjoy playing and movie quotes trivia really needs multiple brains! They were very kind and let me join them. I found out that one of them was Sue, who had made lovely weekly (and daily as we got close) countdown images for our group. It was nice to be able to thank her in person! Sadly we didn't win, but trivia is always fun.
I went to the Lab to pick up the boys so that we could go get some lunch. We decided to hit the buffet (which is where we went almost every day). With early dinner we found that a reasonable breakfast and small lunch (with ice cream cones sprinkled in here and there) suited us for the most part. The buffet was perfect for that.
We were eating and a very nice man and his wife were sitting at the next table. They started chatting with the boys, and we found out it was Captain Puckett, a retired canal pilot who does the transit to give lectures throughout the cruise. His lectures (all of which I watched on TV due to scheduling and children) were wonderful and I highly recommend them! He told me he has eight grandchildren, which I'm sure is why he enjoyed the boys. I enjoyed every conversation I had with him throughout the cruise.
After lunch the kids wanted to go back in the pool, so we did a quick half hour at the Mickey pool, followed by some hot pretzels from the pizza place. Ooooh yum! We got one each of salted and cinnamon cream cheese. If you can get one, do! We ate a bunch of these throughout the cruise and they were always delicious.
At 3:00 I had a group-arranged pub crawl, so the kids headed off to the Oceaneer Lab.
Oh, poor Diversions, it had no idea what was coming its way. There was a trivia event starting there at the same time as the crawl, so the room was just packed. I found some friends from the cruise group and we stood around a table with drinks of the day, chatting. Some of the other members of the group were playing the trivia game, so I offered to grade their paper for them. The pub crawl moved on before we were finished, so we hung back for a few minutes. They didn't win, but they did really well!
We rejoined the group down in the Promenade Lounge, which luckily wasn't occupied! I had a delicious mojito (my favorite) there and then the group was off to Signals at the (not) Quiet (anymore) Cove for one last stop. Some people headed to Diversions to see the Kentucky Derby, but most of us went up top. No more drinks for me, but it was fun to hang out with everyone and a poor cast member was roped into climbing the furniture to get a group shot of us.
At 4:30 the kids and I wanted to play Disney trivia, so I ran down to pick them up and we headed back to Promenade. There we ran into Shelley and her mom, Jo, from our cruise group. We joined up with them and had a great time playing some trivia. Having so many nice people running around all over the place was so nice!
After trivia we decided that it was about time to get ready for dinner, so we went back to our room. Most nights I didn't make the kids change their clothes, but I still wanted to. Most people in the dining rooms were very casual, so as long as you aren't wearing your swim clothes you are probably ok. I just felt more comfortable, personally, throwing on a sundress. Mostly because it was very hot and humid and by dinner time I just felt kind of gross.
Tonight's dinner was in Animator's Palate and was the “Taste of the Caribbean” menu. Both of the boys ordered the kid menu whole wheat penne pasta (which they really loved), but my photos tell me that a mystery plate of chicken fingers also showed up. I can't remember if there was an error or if Beata and Joseph were just trying to fatten them up a bit!
Ollie ordered his first (of many) Mickey bars for dessert, and Elliott decided on strawberry ice cream with sprinkles.
I ordered the field greens salad and the Hand Cut Delmonico Rib Steak, rare. I asked if I could substitute the roasted potatoes from the veal dish for the sweet potatoes that were meant to come with mine, and they very kindly accommodated me. All of my food was delicious and the steak was cooked perfectly.
Tonight's show was going to be “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron,” which had just opened the day before. I knew lots of people were planning to see it and I'd heard some late dining people say that they planned to skip dinner to see it twice, so I was a bit worried that the theater would be packed and we might miss out. The kids were REALLY looking forward to it. So, I skipped dessert in the interest of getting in line for the movie on the early side.
The film started at 8:00 and we got there around 7:15. We were the first ones there as the last stragglers left the early show. Of course, no problem. But, we had nowhere else to be, so we figured we might as well have our pick of seats. Very quickly we were joined by a couple from Canada and then another family showed up with their son, who was feeling very seasick.
I had an uncomfortable moment when out of nowhere the father started ranting loudly about imaginary political stuff, but I have a policy of only discussing politics and the like with people I know well and know can take it. Plus, the couple from Canada looked incredibly uncomfortable. So rather than engaging or reacting in any way I tried to divert the conversation to other things. I always feel like I'd rather be pleasant and friendly so that if somehow my politics become known and are not in line with yours, maybe you have had an experience that makes you realize that there are good people in every walk of life. I sure hope that poor little boy started to feel better, because that's not a great way to start your vacation! His mom was trying everything for him, but he looked miserable.
Soon enough they opened the doors, and the adults in line behind all of us basically trampled the children in order to get in first. It was crazy. I'd say that despite being first in line the theater was a quarter to a third full before we managed to get our 3D glasses and push our way in. I like to sit near the end of a row, but Elliott really wanted to sit center, a couple of rows from the back of the front section. We ordered a popcorn bucket and a bottle of water. We collect the buckets from Disneyland, so we thought it would be fun to have one from the ship. It's a cool bucket, generic enough to
My plan was better. Oliver had to use the bathroom not once, but twice. Since we were dead center we stumbled over different irritated people each time, so at least that was good! The second time I stumbled on the weird stairs (there is a gigantinormous lip on each step, several inches deep, which makes it really easy for a foot to get caught down there) and full-on tumbled to the ground. That was embarrassing and painful! At least it was dark and while everyone in the back of the theater surely saw me go down, they probably didn't recognize me. When Elliott told me he needed to use the restroom I told him to go ahead, but he's old enough to go alone!
Despite missing chunks of it, the movie was great. Being Marvel movie aficionados, we knew to stay for the mid-credits scene (Avengers did not have one at the very end as they usually do). Excited but tired, we decided to call it a night and went back to our room to find our next towel animal, an elephant.
We also started finding goodies in our Fish Extender, which made the kids so happy. We signed up for a traditional FE group, with 12 cabins in our group. With so few kids traveling I had a lot of extra kid items I'd collected through the year, and a bunch of other people had the same thing, so I created a “Pixie Dust” list for kids. Put your kids' names, cabin number, and any other helpful information (favorite characters, dietary restrictions, etc.) on the list and that's that. No rules, no expectations. Anyone could use the list as a resource. I had found myself really stressed out about the traditional FE this time. In the three years since we last sailed things had changed – lots of complaining that gifts received weren't good enough, that people hadn't spent enough money, and competitive behavior where gifts got crazier and more elaborate. Personally, I do it for my children and it isn't really about what we get. It's grown-ups that judge, while children get excited about any gift they receive. Creating the pixie dust list allowed us to have the fun of giving little things to a ton of people, while alleviating the stress of choosing just the right thing for the main list.
Now, I will say this... we did get some absolutely amazing things in our FE. We all felt very spoiled by the generosity of our cruise group. For the people that worry about their gifts not being appreciated, my children absolutely ADORED things like sundae and root beer float kits. They could have gotten one every day and they would never have gotten tired of them. They loved getting candy and little toys and every single thing they found in their FE pockets was greeted with excitement and happiness.
People even pixie dusted me, as I found lovely things like homemade jewelry and the gift that made me cry, a beautiful laundry bag. It came in very handy on this trip, too, because I was determined not to do laundry, and we filled up our little pop-up hamper by halfway through the trip. This picture was taken later on, after I'd transferred our laundry into it for the trip home, but look at how cute this is!
When I took it out of my FE, first I cried because it was just so lovely, and then I felt guilty because I felt like my gifts were too small! But then I thanked the incomparable Mari for it, and I realized that she is just a wonderful and caring person, and she spread love and pixie dust everywhere throughout the trip. We spent a good deal of time with her entire family, as her son and daughter are close in age to Elliott and Oliver, and they're just a great group of people. We were really lucky to meet them.
I wanted to give gifts that would travel well and not take up too much room in luggage (both for me and for the recipients), and after going over about a hundred possibilities I finally decided on a package containing some postcards from Coronado and San Diego (since everyone was getting off the boat here, it seemed like a good idea) and a nice vinyl decal of the DCL logo that could go on their car. For cabins with no children I included airplane bottles of rum, and for cabins with children I gave various items appropriate to the age of the child. The decal company sent me extras (yay, because when I opened up the package I was wishing I'd gotten an extra for myself), so I had some for adult pixie dusting, and I also had made up packages for all of the kids on the pixie dust list. I am already feeling stressed out about our next FE and seriously contemplating dropping out of it. We will see!
To everyone in our FE group and to everyone that pixie dusted us, a huge thank you. You all made our vacation that much more magical!
While the kids fell asleep I went over the next day's Navigator and then read for a while before nodding off myself for another great night of sleep.
We decided to hit the breakfast buffet this morning. The boys love the fact that they have easy access to Fruit Loops and donuts, which they don't get at home. I lean more in the direction of eggs and fruit with whatever breakfast meat strikes my fancy that day. Love the buffet, as everyone is satisfied and I don't have to do anything more than pile it onto the plates!
I noticed that we were passing by Havana, Cuba, so the kids and I had a breakfast chat about embargoes and old cars and oppressive governments. Light stuff to start the first full day of vacation!
After breakfast we had tickets to see the princesses at 9:15am followed by Anna & Elsa at 9:30.
We got into line for the princesses in the atrium right at 9:15 and it was pretty long! We must have been about the last ones in our group to get in. We chatted with some of our cruise group friends along the way, which helped to pass the time, particularly considering the fact that I was stressed out by the fact that we were going to be at least fifteen minutes late for Anna & Elsa. I figured they would be ok with it since they'd assigned us the times, but I just hate to be late.
Elliott refused to meet the princesses, so he hung out around the fringes while Ollie and I went through the lines.
As soon as we hustled through the princess area we grabbed Elliott and dashed off to Animator's Palate for our Anna & Elsa meet and greet. They are two of the few characters Elliott enjoys meeting, because they are a lot of fun, so he was happy to go. As expected they didn't care a bit about the fact that we were twenty minutes late. They had each group entering sit at a table where the kids could entertain themselves with coloring and puzzle pages while they waited. When the line got down to just a few waiting groups they'd grab the next table to get at the end. It was only a few minutes before it was our turn and this line went very quickly.
Anna and Elsa are always great to meet and have great banter with the kids. The boys enjoyed a fun chat with them before posing for some pictures.
We dropped Oliver off at the Oceaneer Lab and then Elliott and I sat down and had a talk about the fact that I was going to be going to a couple of events during the cruise that involved drinking adult beverages. I reassured him that on the very rare occasions when I have a cocktail I never drink to excess, never get behind the wheel of a car, and that there is no danger of me becoming like his father. For a long time I felt guilty having anything to drink, as if somehow my husband's disease was an indictment of me. However, I have always been responsible and I think that's actually good for the kids to see. I don't want them to panic if I'm offered a glass of wine at a dinner party. It is really hard to figure some of this stuff out and no decisions ever feel like they are entirely correct!
After that the two of us went to a Boy Scout council patch trading event that had been organized by our group. Elliott is in his second year of Cub Scouts and this was his first time trading patches, so we only brought six, but he had a great time and got some very cool patches to start off his collection. It was fun for me to get a chance to chat with more members of our group in a smaller setting. The meet-up was right next to the ice cream machines, so of course we had to grab cones. We pretty much did that any time we were in the vicinity.
After we finished up there, I dropped Elliott off at the Lab with his brother and headed off to Diversions for some adults-only movie quotes trivia. I was already so uncomfortable going to a team trivia and not knowing anyone, and to make matters worse I approached someone who looked just like one of our group members (from her picture!) However, it was not her and I think this woman thought I was crazy.
I then noticed a small group of people wearing the cruise group bracelets and awkwardly approached them to ask if I could join their team. I explained that I didn't mind not getting a prize if we won (and had too many players). I just enjoy playing and movie quotes trivia really needs multiple brains! They were very kind and let me join them. I found out that one of them was Sue, who had made lovely weekly (and daily as we got close) countdown images for our group. It was nice to be able to thank her in person! Sadly we didn't win, but trivia is always fun.
I went to the Lab to pick up the boys so that we could go get some lunch. We decided to hit the buffet (which is where we went almost every day). With early dinner we found that a reasonable breakfast and small lunch (with ice cream cones sprinkled in here and there) suited us for the most part. The buffet was perfect for that.
We were eating and a very nice man and his wife were sitting at the next table. They started chatting with the boys, and we found out it was Captain Puckett, a retired canal pilot who does the transit to give lectures throughout the cruise. His lectures (all of which I watched on TV due to scheduling and children) were wonderful and I highly recommend them! He told me he has eight grandchildren, which I'm sure is why he enjoyed the boys. I enjoyed every conversation I had with him throughout the cruise.
After lunch the kids wanted to go back in the pool, so we did a quick half hour at the Mickey pool, followed by some hot pretzels from the pizza place. Ooooh yum! We got one each of salted and cinnamon cream cheese. If you can get one, do! We ate a bunch of these throughout the cruise and they were always delicious.
At 3:00 I had a group-arranged pub crawl, so the kids headed off to the Oceaneer Lab.
Oh, poor Diversions, it had no idea what was coming its way. There was a trivia event starting there at the same time as the crawl, so the room was just packed. I found some friends from the cruise group and we stood around a table with drinks of the day, chatting. Some of the other members of the group were playing the trivia game, so I offered to grade their paper for them. The pub crawl moved on before we were finished, so we hung back for a few minutes. They didn't win, but they did really well!
We rejoined the group down in the Promenade Lounge, which luckily wasn't occupied! I had a delicious mojito (my favorite) there and then the group was off to Signals at the (not) Quiet (anymore) Cove for one last stop. Some people headed to Diversions to see the Kentucky Derby, but most of us went up top. No more drinks for me, but it was fun to hang out with everyone and a poor cast member was roped into climbing the furniture to get a group shot of us.
At 4:30 the kids and I wanted to play Disney trivia, so I ran down to pick them up and we headed back to Promenade. There we ran into Shelley and her mom, Jo, from our cruise group. We joined up with them and had a great time playing some trivia. Having so many nice people running around all over the place was so nice!
After trivia we decided that it was about time to get ready for dinner, so we went back to our room. Most nights I didn't make the kids change their clothes, but I still wanted to. Most people in the dining rooms were very casual, so as long as you aren't wearing your swim clothes you are probably ok. I just felt more comfortable, personally, throwing on a sundress. Mostly because it was very hot and humid and by dinner time I just felt kind of gross.
Tonight's dinner was in Animator's Palate and was the “Taste of the Caribbean” menu. Both of the boys ordered the kid menu whole wheat penne pasta (which they really loved), but my photos tell me that a mystery plate of chicken fingers also showed up. I can't remember if there was an error or if Beata and Joseph were just trying to fatten them up a bit!
Ollie ordered his first (of many) Mickey bars for dessert, and Elliott decided on strawberry ice cream with sprinkles.
I ordered the field greens salad and the Hand Cut Delmonico Rib Steak, rare. I asked if I could substitute the roasted potatoes from the veal dish for the sweet potatoes that were meant to come with mine, and they very kindly accommodated me. All of my food was delicious and the steak was cooked perfectly.
Tonight's show was going to be “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron,” which had just opened the day before. I knew lots of people were planning to see it and I'd heard some late dining people say that they planned to skip dinner to see it twice, so I was a bit worried that the theater would be packed and we might miss out. The kids were REALLY looking forward to it. So, I skipped dessert in the interest of getting in line for the movie on the early side.
The film started at 8:00 and we got there around 7:15. We were the first ones there as the last stragglers left the early show. Of course, no problem. But, we had nowhere else to be, so we figured we might as well have our pick of seats. Very quickly we were joined by a couple from Canada and then another family showed up with their son, who was feeling very seasick.
I had an uncomfortable moment when out of nowhere the father started ranting loudly about imaginary political stuff, but I have a policy of only discussing politics and the like with people I know well and know can take it. Plus, the couple from Canada looked incredibly uncomfortable. So rather than engaging or reacting in any way I tried to divert the conversation to other things. I always feel like I'd rather be pleasant and friendly so that if somehow my politics become known and are not in line with yours, maybe you have had an experience that makes you realize that there are good people in every walk of life. I sure hope that poor little boy started to feel better, because that's not a great way to start your vacation! His mom was trying everything for him, but he looked miserable.
Soon enough they opened the doors, and the adults in line behind all of us basically trampled the children in order to get in first. It was crazy. I'd say that despite being first in line the theater was a quarter to a third full before we managed to get our 3D glasses and push our way in. I like to sit near the end of a row, but Elliott really wanted to sit center, a couple of rows from the back of the front section. We ordered a popcorn bucket and a bottle of water. We collect the buckets from Disneyland, so we thought it would be fun to have one from the ship. It's a cool bucket, generic enough to
My plan was better. Oliver had to use the bathroom not once, but twice. Since we were dead center we stumbled over different irritated people each time, so at least that was good! The second time I stumbled on the weird stairs (there is a gigantinormous lip on each step, several inches deep, which makes it really easy for a foot to get caught down there) and full-on tumbled to the ground. That was embarrassing and painful! At least it was dark and while everyone in the back of the theater surely saw me go down, they probably didn't recognize me.
When Elliott told me he needed to use the restroom I told him to go ahead, but he's old enough to go alone!Despite missing chunks of it, the movie was great. Being Marvel movie aficionados, we knew to stay for the mid-credits scene (Avengers did not have one at the very end as they usually do). Excited but tired, we decided to call it a night and went back to our room to find our next towel animal, an elephant.
We also started finding goodies in our Fish Extender, which made the kids so happy. We signed up for a traditional FE group, with 12 cabins in our group. With so few kids traveling I had a lot of extra kid items I'd collected through the year, and a bunch of other people had the same thing, so I created a “Pixie Dust” list for kids. Put your kids' names, cabin number, and any other helpful information (favorite characters, dietary restrictions, etc.) on the list and that's that. No rules, no expectations. Anyone could use the list as a resource. I had found myself really stressed out about the traditional FE this time. In the three years since we last sailed things had changed – lots of complaining that gifts received weren't good enough, that people hadn't spent enough money, and competitive behavior where gifts got crazier and more elaborate. Personally, I do it for my children and it isn't really about what we get. It's grown-ups that judge, while children get excited about any gift they receive. Creating the pixie dust list allowed us to have the fun of giving little things to a ton of people, while alleviating the stress of choosing just the right thing for the main list.
Now, I will say this... we did get some absolutely amazing things in our FE. We all felt very spoiled by the generosity of our cruise group. For the people that worry about their gifts not being appreciated, my children absolutely ADORED things like sundae and root beer float kits. They could have gotten one every day and they would never have gotten tired of them. They loved getting candy and little toys and every single thing they found in their FE pockets was greeted with excitement and happiness.
People even pixie dusted me, as I found lovely things like homemade jewelry and the gift that made me cry, a beautiful laundry bag. It came in very handy on this trip, too, because I was determined not to do laundry, and we filled up our little pop-up hamper by halfway through the trip. This picture was taken later on, after I'd transferred our laundry into it for the trip home, but look at how cute this is!
When I took it out of my FE, first I cried because it was just so lovely, and then I felt guilty because I felt like my gifts were too small! But then I thanked the incomparable Mari for it, and I realized that she is just a wonderful and caring person, and she spread love and pixie dust everywhere throughout the trip. We spent a good deal of time with her entire family, as her son and daughter are close in age to Elliott and Oliver, and they're just a great group of people. We were really lucky to meet them.
I wanted to give gifts that would travel well and not take up too much room in luggage (both for me and for the recipients), and after going over about a hundred possibilities I finally decided on a package containing some postcards from Coronado and San Diego (since everyone was getting off the boat here, it seemed like a good idea) and a nice vinyl decal of the DCL logo that could go on their car. For cabins with no children I included airplane bottles of rum, and for cabins with children I gave various items appropriate to the age of the child. The decal company sent me extras (yay, because when I opened up the package I was wishing I'd gotten an extra for myself), so I had some for adult pixie dusting, and I also had made up packages for all of the kids on the pixie dust list. I am already feeling stressed out about our next FE and seriously contemplating dropping out of it. We will see!
To everyone in our FE group and to everyone that pixie dusted us, a huge thank you. You all made our vacation that much more magical!
While the kids fell asleep I went over the next day's Navigator and then read for a while before nodding off myself for another great night of sleep.
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chunkymonkey
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 27, 2009
I love your TR and your very honest, emotional story. I can't wait to see how this trip unfolds for you all. I wish I had kept all my Navigators. I thought I did but when I unpacked I realized I only had 2 out of our 5 nights. Whoops. Looking forward to more of your TR!
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Thanks.
Spoiler alert: it was wonderful! I don't know what I'll do with all of my Navigators, but I have them!
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day Three Navigator (Cozumel)
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day Three (May 3, Cozumel, Mexico)
We were to be at Wavebands at 8:45 for our excursion (Cozumel Ruins and Beach Tour), so I had ordered a very light breakfast via room service. I thought 7:30 would be too early, so I made an error in judgment and selected 8:00-8:30 for our delivery, banking on them being on the earlier side. I knew it would only take us a few minutes to eat cereal and donuts.
Well, we were up and ready early, but our food didn't arrive until just after 8:30. We ate as fast as we could and ran down to Wavebands. They were already announcing tours when we got there, and I was worried that we would get left behind somehow. I was so embarrassed to interrupt them to get the stickers that would identify our group and slink back to our seats. Lesson learned for next time.
Our group was the next one called, so I guess it was a good thing I hadn't waited. We were escorted down to deck 1 where our Key to the World cards were scanned (so they know who is not on board) and walked down the pier, through a shopping center, and to the parking lot where our bus awaited us.
We were docked at Porta Langosta.
The bus was comfortable and air conditioned and we got on our way quickly. Elliott was in a bit of a weird mood, which threw me off, but I thought maybe he was just tired. Hoooo boy, no, that was not it at all.
Initially we drove through the city and through the interior of the island, learning a bit about life in Cozumel. It took maybe 20-30 minutes to get to our first stop, San Gervasio Ruins. If you want to see serious Mayan ruins you need to take the non-affectionately nicknamed vomit ferry to the mainland. Since we had no interest in doing that, we decided that the smaller local ruins were good enough for us. As soon as we got off the bus and our tour guide offered everyone bug spray, Elliott started to freak out.
Apparently a negative experience in Cabo on our last cruise (he became slightly ill as a result of the extreme heat) had soured him on all foreign travel. We were very lucky that the day was a bit cloudy (though beautiful) and not crazy hot, but it was muggy due to recent rain and they warned us that this weather tends to bring out the mosquitos. Well, this, combined with being in a place where he didn't know the language, caused Elliott to start to panic. When I told him to be careful not to touch the spots where he'd been sprayed he just started saying that he wanted to go back to the ship. He was scared of bugs, of the unknown, of everything. I explained that we could not just go back to the ship and that our stop at the ruins would not be that long, but it didn't really help.
I spent most of the time at the ruins hanging back, watching Ollie to be sure he didn't suddenly start climbing on something (everything there looked like something a six-year-old would want to climb) and comforting Elliott. There was another little boy and every time he did something that I wouldn't let Oliver do, of course Oliver didn't understand why. It was beautiful there, and I'd love to go back without children so that I could actually learn something!
Soon enough we were told we could have twenty minutes to get a snack or do some shopping, and that there would be cold drinks waiting for us on the bus. Elliott had no interest in looking around, so we just went to wait on the bus. Once he had a Coke in his hand, he calmed down and felt much better.
After everyone was back on the bus we drove the perimeter of the island, which is just so beautiful! The boys were a bit bored, but I loved it. After maybe 45 minutes we got to Playa Mia Beach, where we were going to spend the next couple of hours. My first choice for an excursion had been the chocolate factory tour (private, not through DCL), but we were unfortunately there on a Sunday and most things were closed. Well, of course Playa Mia had their own version of a chocolate tour! We didn't have time to do it, but I'd have just gone to Playa Mia on our own if I'd known we could do the chocolate tour and then hit the beach club. Filed away for next time.
Anyway, they gave us each a drink ticket, so the boys and I went over to the restaurant area to use them before they got lost. The boys got sodas and I got a mai tai. The drinks were very small but they were included and they hit the spot. We also ordered a plate of quesadillas to tide us over until we were back on the ship. Very tasty!
Luckily Elliott was fine at the club. I guess it didn't feel so foreign and scary to him. It was a bit chilly, so we just went down to the beach for a few minutes so the boys could officially dip their toes into the Caribbean Sea. It had to be done!
Then I took them over to the kids pool area, because that was going to be a lot more comfortable for them. Elliott saw the giant water slides and decided he was going to spend the whole time there. Oliver wanted to play in the pool for smaller children, so I got to find the spot that put me right in between the areas so that I could monitor both of them. My boys are not the best swimmers, particularly Ollie, so I am very careful with them. Elliott was easy as he had several flights of stairs to climb in between trips down the slide, and kids were supposed to get right out of the pool, but I still wanted to be there. Oliver, on the other hand, kept trying to run off to a different area and I had to get the timing down perfectly so that we were back in the right spot when Elliott came down the slide.
The time went very quickly and it was time to go back to the bus. We sat for about twenty minutes waiting for one last family, and just as the driver was getting close to leaving them behind they strolled up. After that it was a relatively short drive back to the ship. We decided to go into Starbucks for drinks and free wifi. I wanted to try to text some photos back to Granddad.
And before we got back onto the ship we had to take some pictures. Who could resist?
We took one last look at Cozumel...
And then got back onto the ship. They had an area set up outside under a tent where they had ice water and damp towels to help cool you down. Then you had to go through security, bags scanned, and run your Key to the World card through to check back in. Pretty quick and painless.
We got back on the ship just in time to make it to Disney trivia, which was fun as always. After that Elliott wanted to go to the Lab and Oliver wanted to go back to the room to rest for a while. We turned on the TV and Oliver's absolute favorite movie was on – Robin Hood. He was thrilled, so we settled in to watch that.
After the movie finished up we went to pick up Elliott so the boys could get changed for dinner. Tonight we were in Parrot Cay for its rotational menu. The boys both ordered the mini burgers and I requested the ahi tuna and avocado towers for them off of the adult appetizer menu. Both boys are sushi fiends, so I figured they would like that one! They did! Oliver told Beata, “I want the ahi every night!” I made sure she knew that he didn't really need it, because I know she would have made it happen when we were in the other restaurants for rotational nights, and I did not want her to go out of her way. He was just fine eating off the menu!
Ollie also fell madly in love with the banana bread they served that night. After that we were on a constant hunt for banana bread at every buffet!
Since I'd barely eaten that day I was ready for a big dinner! I ordered the fried Jamaican jerk-marinated chicken tenderloins (a bit dry, probably will skip them next time)...
I also had the West Indies romaine salad, which was very good, and the slow roasted prime rib, rare. That one was really good, and I'm pretty sure I ate all of it. My notes just say, “Oh yum!”
Oliver was chilly, so Deniz (head server) brought him a tablecloth to wrap up in.
I finally ordered dessert, the strawberry cheesecake off of the “no sugar added” menu. I ordered from that section quite often and I was always very happy with my choices. This was very tasty!
While we were eating dessert Minnie came to do a little dance. Fun!
The boys really wanted to go to the Lab for the Pinata Party, which was apparently a birthday party for Donald. While they did that I went up to the Cove Cafe with my Kindle for some brewed chai tea and reading. Just heavenly.
After their event was over I picked up the kids and we went to the top deck to get some ice cream cones and sat watching Ratatouille on Funnelvision. When the movie ended we decided to head back to the room. On the way there we saw Stitch hanging out by himself a deck down. He noticed the boys watching him and came running up the stairs for a visit. Let's just say this cemented Stitch as the favorite cruise character.
When we got back to our room we found that night's towel animal, a dog...
And an invitation from Ariel to attend a Princess Party at Triton's on Saturday. I RSVPed for all three of us, even though Elliott had already indicated that he wasn't going to attend. I figured there was always a chance he would change his mind.
With that it was bedtime for the Brown family!
We were to be at Wavebands at 8:45 for our excursion (Cozumel Ruins and Beach Tour), so I had ordered a very light breakfast via room service. I thought 7:30 would be too early, so I made an error in judgment and selected 8:00-8:30 for our delivery, banking on them being on the earlier side. I knew it would only take us a few minutes to eat cereal and donuts.
Well, we were up and ready early, but our food didn't arrive until just after 8:30. We ate as fast as we could and ran down to Wavebands. They were already announcing tours when we got there, and I was worried that we would get left behind somehow. I was so embarrassed to interrupt them to get the stickers that would identify our group and slink back to our seats. Lesson learned for next time.
Our group was the next one called, so I guess it was a good thing I hadn't waited. We were escorted down to deck 1 where our Key to the World cards were scanned (so they know who is not on board) and walked down the pier, through a shopping center, and to the parking lot where our bus awaited us.
We were docked at Porta Langosta.
The bus was comfortable and air conditioned and we got on our way quickly. Elliott was in a bit of a weird mood, which threw me off, but I thought maybe he was just tired. Hoooo boy, no, that was not it at all.
Initially we drove through the city and through the interior of the island, learning a bit about life in Cozumel. It took maybe 20-30 minutes to get to our first stop, San Gervasio Ruins. If you want to see serious Mayan ruins you need to take the non-affectionately nicknamed vomit ferry to the mainland. Since we had no interest in doing that, we decided that the smaller local ruins were good enough for us. As soon as we got off the bus and our tour guide offered everyone bug spray, Elliott started to freak out.
Apparently a negative experience in Cabo on our last cruise (he became slightly ill as a result of the extreme heat) had soured him on all foreign travel. We were very lucky that the day was a bit cloudy (though beautiful) and not crazy hot, but it was muggy due to recent rain and they warned us that this weather tends to bring out the mosquitos. Well, this, combined with being in a place where he didn't know the language, caused Elliott to start to panic. When I told him to be careful not to touch the spots where he'd been sprayed he just started saying that he wanted to go back to the ship. He was scared of bugs, of the unknown, of everything. I explained that we could not just go back to the ship and that our stop at the ruins would not be that long, but it didn't really help.
I spent most of the time at the ruins hanging back, watching Ollie to be sure he didn't suddenly start climbing on something (everything there looked like something a six-year-old would want to climb) and comforting Elliott. There was another little boy and every time he did something that I wouldn't let Oliver do, of course Oliver didn't understand why. It was beautiful there, and I'd love to go back without children so that I could actually learn something!
Soon enough we were told we could have twenty minutes to get a snack or do some shopping, and that there would be cold drinks waiting for us on the bus. Elliott had no interest in looking around, so we just went to wait on the bus. Once he had a Coke in his hand, he calmed down and felt much better.
After everyone was back on the bus we drove the perimeter of the island, which is just so beautiful! The boys were a bit bored, but I loved it. After maybe 45 minutes we got to Playa Mia Beach, where we were going to spend the next couple of hours. My first choice for an excursion had been the chocolate factory tour (private, not through DCL), but we were unfortunately there on a Sunday and most things were closed. Well, of course Playa Mia had their own version of a chocolate tour! We didn't have time to do it, but I'd have just gone to Playa Mia on our own if I'd known we could do the chocolate tour and then hit the beach club. Filed away for next time.
Anyway, they gave us each a drink ticket, so the boys and I went over to the restaurant area to use them before they got lost. The boys got sodas and I got a mai tai. The drinks were very small but they were included and they hit the spot. We also ordered a plate of quesadillas to tide us over until we were back on the ship. Very tasty!
Luckily Elliott was fine at the club. I guess it didn't feel so foreign and scary to him. It was a bit chilly, so we just went down to the beach for a few minutes so the boys could officially dip their toes into the Caribbean Sea. It had to be done!
Then I took them over to the kids pool area, because that was going to be a lot more comfortable for them. Elliott saw the giant water slides and decided he was going to spend the whole time there. Oliver wanted to play in the pool for smaller children, so I got to find the spot that put me right in between the areas so that I could monitor both of them. My boys are not the best swimmers, particularly Ollie, so I am very careful with them. Elliott was easy as he had several flights of stairs to climb in between trips down the slide, and kids were supposed to get right out of the pool, but I still wanted to be there. Oliver, on the other hand, kept trying to run off to a different area and I had to get the timing down perfectly so that we were back in the right spot when Elliott came down the slide.
The time went very quickly and it was time to go back to the bus. We sat for about twenty minutes waiting for one last family, and just as the driver was getting close to leaving them behind they strolled up. After that it was a relatively short drive back to the ship. We decided to go into Starbucks for drinks and free wifi. I wanted to try to text some photos back to Granddad.
And before we got back onto the ship we had to take some pictures. Who could resist?
We took one last look at Cozumel...
And then got back onto the ship. They had an area set up outside under a tent where they had ice water and damp towels to help cool you down. Then you had to go through security, bags scanned, and run your Key to the World card through to check back in. Pretty quick and painless.
We got back on the ship just in time to make it to Disney trivia, which was fun as always. After that Elliott wanted to go to the Lab and Oliver wanted to go back to the room to rest for a while. We turned on the TV and Oliver's absolute favorite movie was on – Robin Hood. He was thrilled, so we settled in to watch that.
After the movie finished up we went to pick up Elliott so the boys could get changed for dinner. Tonight we were in Parrot Cay for its rotational menu. The boys both ordered the mini burgers and I requested the ahi tuna and avocado towers for them off of the adult appetizer menu. Both boys are sushi fiends, so I figured they would like that one! They did! Oliver told Beata, “I want the ahi every night!” I made sure she knew that he didn't really need it, because I know she would have made it happen when we were in the other restaurants for rotational nights, and I did not want her to go out of her way. He was just fine eating off the menu!
Ollie also fell madly in love with the banana bread they served that night. After that we were on a constant hunt for banana bread at every buffet!
Since I'd barely eaten that day I was ready for a big dinner! I ordered the fried Jamaican jerk-marinated chicken tenderloins (a bit dry, probably will skip them next time)...
I also had the West Indies romaine salad, which was very good, and the slow roasted prime rib, rare. That one was really good, and I'm pretty sure I ate all of it. My notes just say, “Oh yum!”
Oliver was chilly, so Deniz (head server) brought him a tablecloth to wrap up in.
I finally ordered dessert, the strawberry cheesecake off of the “no sugar added” menu. I ordered from that section quite often and I was always very happy with my choices. This was very tasty!
While we were eating dessert Minnie came to do a little dance. Fun!
The boys really wanted to go to the Lab for the Pinata Party, which was apparently a birthday party for Donald. While they did that I went up to the Cove Cafe with my Kindle for some brewed chai tea and reading. Just heavenly.
After their event was over I picked up the kids and we went to the top deck to get some ice cream cones and sat watching Ratatouille on Funnelvision. When the movie ended we decided to head back to the room. On the way there we saw Stitch hanging out by himself a deck down. He noticed the boys watching him and came running up the stairs for a visit. Let's just say this cemented Stitch as the favorite cruise character.
When we got back to our room we found that night's towel animal, a dog...
And an invitation from Ariel to attend a Princess Party at Triton's on Saturday. I RSVPed for all three of us, even though Elliott had already indicated that he wasn't going to attend. I figured there was always a chance he would change his mind.
With that it was bedtime for the Brown family!
shelbell77
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2009
That parrot cay banana bread is a favorite of ours. When we were in magic I'm 2008 they brought it to us every night. And then when we had the same head server years later on fantasy he surprised us with it nightly along with having loads of it in our cabana on castaway cay.
Krissy22222
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2013
Hi Erin, My family was on this cruise with you and reading your report brings back such wonderful memories! My kids recognize your older son from the club or lab. And I loved seeing one of my favorite CMs, Joshua in your pics with Stitch. This was the best cruise ever!
Thanks for your efforts! I am looking forward to your next installment
Thanks for your efforts! I am looking forward to your next installment
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Hi Erin, sometimes Disney trivia partner on this cruise and Ultimate Disney Trivia co-champion
Joining in...
Hi Kari! I miss all the trivia! Watching Jeopardy on TV just doesn't cut it!
Wow, they spoiled you! The next time we have overripe bananas I am going to make him a batch of bread. Hopefully it still tastes good when it isn't served at sea!
Hi! Elliott spent most of his time in the Lab, so I'm not surprised other kids would know him! It really was just the best vacation. I don't think we can ever top it!
plutos1fan
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2014
Hi,
Where did you get your laudary bag that is in one of the pictures you posted? Thanks!
Where did you get your laudary bag that is in one of the pictures you posted? Thanks!
Day Two (May 2, At Sea)
We decided to hit the breakfast buffet this morning. The boys love the fact that they have easy access to Fruit Loops and donuts, which they don't get at home. I lean more in the direction of eggs and fruit with whatever breakfast meat strikes my fancy that day. Love the buffet, as everyone is satisfied and I don't have to do anything more than pile it onto the plates!
I noticed that we were passing by Havana, Cuba, so the kids and I had a breakfast chat about embargoes and old cars and oppressive governments. Light stuff to start the first full day of vacation!
After breakfast we had tickets to see the princesses at 9:15am followed by Anna & Elsa at 9:30.
We got into line for the princesses in the atrium right at 9:15 and it was pretty long! We must have been about the last ones in our group to get in. We chatted with some of our cruise group friends along the way, which helped to pass the time, particularly considering the fact that I was stressed out by the fact that we were going to be at least fifteen minutes late for Anna & Elsa. I figured they would be ok with it since they'd assigned us the times, but I just hate to be late.
Elliott refused to meet the princesses, so he hung out around the fringes while Ollie and I went through the lines.
As soon as we hustled through the princess area we grabbed Elliott and dashed off to Animator's Palate for our Anna & Elsa meet and greet. They are two of the few characters Elliott enjoys meeting, because they are a lot of fun, so he was happy to go. As expected they didn't care a bit about the fact that we were twenty minutes late. They had each group entering sit at a table where the kids could entertain themselves with coloring and puzzle pages while they waited. When the line got down to just a few waiting groups they'd grab the next table to get at the end. It was only a few minutes before it was our turn and this line went very quickly.
Anna and Elsa are always great to meet and have great banter with the kids. The boys enjoyed a fun chat with them before posing for some pictures.
We dropped Oliver off at the Oceaneer Lab and then Elliott and I sat down and had a talk about the fact that I was going to be going to a couple of events during the cruise that involved drinking adult beverages. I reassured him that on the very rare occasions when I have a cocktail I never drink to excess, never get behind the wheel of a car, and that there is no danger of me becoming like his father. For a long time I felt guilty having anything to drink, as if somehow my husband's disease was an indictment of me. However, I have always been responsible and I think that's actually good for the kids to see. I don't want them to panic if I'm offered a glass of wine at a dinner party. It is really hard to figure some of this stuff out and no decisions ever feel like they are entirely correct!
After that the two of us went to a Boy Scout council patch trading event that had been organized by our group. Elliott is in his second year of Cub Scouts and this was his first time trading patches, so we only brought six, but he had a great time and got some very cool patches to start off his collection. It was fun for me to get a chance to chat with more members of our group in a smaller setting. The meet-up was right next to the ice cream machines, so of course we had to grab cones. We pretty much did that any time we were in the vicinity.
After we finished up there, I dropped Elliott off at the Lab with his brother and headed off to Diversions for some adults-only movie quotes trivia. I was already so uncomfortable going to a team trivia and not knowing anyone, and to make matters worse I approached someone who looked just like one of our group members (from her picture!) However, it was not her and I think this woman thought I was crazy.
I then noticed a small group of people wearing the cruise group bracelets and awkwardly approached them to ask if I could join their team. I explained that I didn't mind not getting a prize if we won (and had too many players). I just enjoy playing and movie quotes trivia really needs multiple brains! They were very kind and let me join them. I found out that one of them was Sue, who had made lovely weekly (and daily as we got close) countdown images for our group. It was nice to be able to thank her in person! Sadly we didn't win, but trivia is always fun.
I went to the Lab to pick up the boys so that we could go get some lunch. We decided to hit the buffet (which is where we went almost every day). With early dinner we found that a reasonable breakfast and small lunch (with ice cream cones sprinkled in here and there) suited us for the most part. The buffet was perfect for that.
We were eating and a very nice man and his wife were sitting at the next table. They started chatting with the boys, and we found out it was Captain Puckett, a retired canal pilot who does the transit to give lectures throughout the cruise. His lectures (all of which I watched on TV due to scheduling and children) were wonderful and I highly recommend them! He told me he has eight grandchildren, which I'm sure is why he enjoyed the boys. I enjoyed every conversation I had with him throughout the cruise.
After lunch the kids wanted to go back in the pool, so we did a quick half hour at the Mickey pool, followed by some hot pretzels from the pizza place. Ooooh yum! We got one each of salted and cinnamon cream cheese. If you can get one, do! We ate a bunch of these throughout the cruise and they were always delicious.
At 3:00 I had a group-arranged pub crawl, so the kids headed off to the Oceaneer Lab.
Oh, poor Diversions, it had no idea what was coming its way. There was a trivia event starting there at the same time as the crawl, so the room was just packed. I found some friends from the cruise group and we stood around a table with drinks of the day, chatting. Some of the other members of the group were playing the trivia game, so I offered to grade their paper for them. The pub crawl moved on before we were finished, so we hung back for a few minutes. They didn't win, but they did really well!
We rejoined the group down in the Promenade Lounge, which luckily wasn't occupied! I had a delicious mojito (my favorite) there and then the group was off to Signals at the (not) Quiet (anymore) Cove for one last stop. Some people headed to Diversions to see the Kentucky Derby, but most of us went up top. No more drinks for me, but it was fun to hang out with everyone and a poor cast member was roped into climbing the furniture to get a group shot of us.
At 4:30 the kids and I wanted to play Disney trivia, so I ran down to pick them up and we headed back to Promenade. There we ran into Shelley and her mom, Jo, from our cruise group. We joined up with them and had a great time playing some trivia. Having so many nice people running around all over the place was so nice!
After trivia we decided that it was about time to get ready for dinner, so we went back to our room. Most nights I didn't make the kids change their clothes, but I still wanted to. Most people in the dining rooms were very casual, so as long as you aren't wearing your swim clothes you are probably ok. I just felt more comfortable, personally, throwing on a sundress. Mostly because it was very hot and humid and by dinner time I just felt kind of gross.
Tonight's dinner was in Animator's Palate and was the “Taste of the Caribbean” menu. Both of the boys ordered the kid menu whole wheat penne pasta (which they really loved), but my photos tell me that a mystery plate of chicken fingers also showed up. I can't remember if there was an error or if Beata and Joseph were just trying to fatten them up a bit!
Ollie ordered his first (of many) Mickey bars for dessert, and Elliott decided on strawberry ice cream with sprinkles.
I ordered the field greens salad and the Hand Cut Delmonico Rib Steak, rare. I asked if I could substitute the roasted potatoes from the veal dish for the sweet potatoes that were meant to come with mine, and they very kindly accommodated me. All of my food was delicious and the steak was cooked perfectly.
Tonight's show was going to be “Avengers 2: Age of Ultron,” which had just opened the day before. I knew lots of people were planning to see it and I'd heard some late dining people say that they planned to skip dinner to see it twice, so I was a bit worried that the theater would be packed and we might miss out. The kids were REALLY looking forward to it. So, I skipped dessert in the interest of getting in line for the movie on the early side.
The film started at 8:00 and we got there around 7:15. We were the first ones there as the last stragglers left the early show. Of course, no problem. But, we had nowhere else to be, so we figured we might as well have our pick of seats. Very quickly we were joined by a couple from Canada and then another family showed up with their son, who was feeling very seasick.
I had an uncomfortable moment when out of nowhere the father started ranting loudly about imaginary political stuff, but I have a policy of only discussing politics and the like with people I know well and know can take it. Plus, the couple from Canada looked incredibly uncomfortable. So rather than engaging or reacting in any way I tried to divert the conversation to other things. I always feel like I'd rather be pleasant and friendly so that if somehow my politics become known and are not in line with yours, maybe you have had an experience that makes you realize that there are good people in every walk of life. I sure hope that poor little boy started to feel better, because that's not a great way to start your vacation! His mom was trying everything for him, but he looked miserable.
Soon enough they opened the doors, and the adults in line behind all of us basically trampled the children in order to get in first. It was crazy. I'd say that despite being first in line the theater was a quarter to a third full before we managed to get our 3D glasses and push our way in. I like to sit near the end of a row, but Elliott really wanted to sit center, a couple of rows from the back of the front section. We ordered a popcorn bucket and a bottle of water. We collect the buckets from Disneyland, so we thought it would be fun to have one from the ship. It's a cool bucket, generic enough to
My plan was better. Oliver had to use the bathroom not once, but twice. Since we were dead center we stumbled over different irritated people each time, so at least that was good! The second time I stumbled on the weird stairs (there is a gigantinormous lip on each step, several inches deep, which makes it really easy for a foot to get caught down there) and full-on tumbled to the ground. That was embarrassing and painful! At least it was dark and while everyone in the back of the theater surely saw me go down, they probably didn't recognize me.
Despite missing chunks of it, the movie was great. Being Marvel movie aficionados, we knew to stay for the mid-credits scene (Avengers did not have one at the very end as they usually do). Excited but tired, we decided to call it a night and went back to our room to find our next towel animal, an elephant.
We also started finding goodies in our Fish Extender, which made the kids so happy. We signed up for a traditional FE group, with 12 cabins in our group. With so few kids traveling I had a lot of extra kid items I'd collected through the year, and a bunch of other people had the same thing, so I created a “Pixie Dust” list for kids. Put your kids' names, cabin number, and any other helpful information (favorite characters, dietary restrictions, etc.) on the list and that's that. No rules, no expectations. Anyone could use the list as a resource. I had found myself really stressed out about the traditional FE this time. In the three years since we last sailed things had changed – lots of complaining that gifts received weren't good enough, that people hadn't spent enough money, and competitive behavior where gifts got crazier and more elaborate. Personally, I do it for my children and it isn't really about what we get. It's grown-ups that judge, while children get excited about any gift they receive. Creating the pixie dust list allowed us to have the fun of giving little things to a ton of people, while alleviating the stress of choosing just the right thing for the main list.
Now, I will say this... we did get some absolutely amazing things in our FE. We all felt very spoiled by the generosity of our cruise group. For the people that worry about their gifts not being appreciated, my children absolutely ADORED things like sundae and root beer float kits. They could have gotten one every day and they would never have gotten tired of them. They loved getting candy and little toys and every single thing they found in their FE pockets was greeted with excitement and happiness.
People even pixie dusted me, as I found lovely things like homeade jewelry and the gift that made me cry, a beautiful laundry bag. It came in very handy on this trip, too, because I was determined not to do laundry, and we filled up our little pop-up hamper by halfway through the trip. This picture was taken later on, after I'd transferred our laundry into it for the trip home, but look at how cute this is!
When I took it out of my FE, first I cried because it was just so lovely, and then I felt guilty because I felt like my gifts were too small! But then I thanked the incomparable Mari for it, and I realized that she is just a wonderful and caring person, and she spread love and pixie dust everywhere throughout the trip. We spent a good deal of time with her entire family, as her son and daughter are close in age to Elliott and Oliver, and they're just a great group of people. We were really lucky to meet them.
I wanted to give gifts that would travel well and not take up too much room in luggage (both for me and for the recipients), and after going over about a hundred possibilities I finally decided on a package containing some postcards from Coronado and San Diego (since everyone was getting off the boat here, it seemed like a good idea) and a nice vinyl decal of the DCL logo that could go on their car. For cabins with no children I included airplane bottles of rum, and for cabins with children I gave various items appropriate to the age of the child. The decal company sent me extras (yay, because when I opened up the package I was wishing I'd gotten an extra for myself), so I had some for adult pixie dusting, and I also had made up packages for all of the kids on the pixie dust list. I am already feeling stressed out about our next FE and seriously contemplating dropping out of it. We will see!
To everyone in our FE group and to everyone that pixie dusted us, a huge thank you. You all made our vacation that much more magical!
While the kids fell asleep I went over the next day's Navigator and then read for a while before nodding off myself for another great night of sleep.
GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
It was a gift we received on the cruise. Isn't it amazing?
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