How 7 Days with DCL Trumps 5 Trips to WDW~ Fantasy Eastern Caribbean, Oct 4-11

[DMGeurts]

Ha!!!

Love it so far... Yes - we have watched Jillian grow into a beautiful young woman... It's so hard to believe! And Charity and Gabe have sure grown too!

Tears of JOY for the adoption of little "E"... What a lucky, lucky girl to have such a wonderful family! I am so very happy for all of them! And what a fun way to celebrate!

Love all of the luggage lined up - that is the best part!

And all of you smooshed into the 15 passenger van! Now that looks like FUN!!!!!!! We are all going to do that some day together - you realize that, right? Suzi is going to fly into Chicago... I am going to drive down to pick up her and Mo (Kathy too)... Then it's onward and downward to TN to grab you - and everyone else who wants to join us on the way to WDW... Yah - it's my dream trip! Someday...

LOL - love the look on Charity's face... I get that face all the time... But I've learned how to give it back too.

And hahahah.... Brian's face... I'll vote for "high" - just because I can.

So excited about this TR... Now you are off writing it in "Cruise land" - so you need to text me when you do updates, or I'll never remember to look here.

Love ya!!!

D~

 

[solana131]

I'm here! Can't wait to read all about this trip....I feel like it took forever! So excited for you!!!

 

[disny_luvr]

I'm here!

I bet all of you crammed into that van was lots of fun and many memories were made.

 

[pearlunzel]

Following! I was on this cruise and can't wait to hear your report.

 

[krdotson]

Made it! Looking forward to reading your report : )
Congrats Quackattack

 

[Chicago Mo]

Ha!!!

We are all going to do that some day together - you realize that, right? Suzi is going to fly into Chicago... I am going to drive down to pick up her and Mo (Kathy too)... Then it's onward and downward to TN to grab you - and everyone else who wants to join us on the way to WDW... Yah - it's my dream trip! Someday... D~

HOLY MOLEY this would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!! I really want to do this!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yay for quackattack's adoption finally going through and them being able to take along their new daughter on the trip! I would love to have been a fly on the wall of that van. I can just imagine the fun that you had and the conversations that went on.

 

[jenpink]

Hello.

I started reading this trip report having no idea that I have a picture of your daughter Charity in my living room now

My daughter is Sulie who was friends with Charity on board and we bought a copy of a picture of Sulie, Charity and 5 boys in front of the Halloween tree

I will tell Sulie to follow the trip report too and tell Charity that Sulie said "Hi"

Jennifer

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in. Can't wait to hear all about the cruise.

 

[nolacindy]

Looking forward to this trip report! But so sad that the cruise is over We just got back on Sunday, I tried to save some sand and sun on Castaway Cay for you!

What a fantastic way to celebrate the adoption, they are all so lucky to have each other.

The expression on Jillians face it priceless!

Everyone squished in one van??!! That makes me claustrophobic just thinking about it.

 

[princessnpirate]

Joining in! Hoping to book a 2016 Eastern on the Fantasy when it comes out!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I feel like I need to clear up a misunderstanding regarding the way I told the "little E" story. The adoption has NOT gone through yet. Little E has been placed in Stephen and Rochelle's home, and the state is VERY positive that the adoption will go through. It may take months. For now, she is in the home with them and very much a part of the family. They got special permission to bring her on the cruise, and we are so glad. I got permission from them to post pictures of her on here, but not use her name. I apologize for the bad telling of the story. I will be sure to let you know when the adoption IS finalized, because it will indeed be cause for much celebration!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

This should be fun. Looking forward to re-living the adventure.
Quackattack

It was so much fun traveling with your family. My biggest "take-away" from this trip was gaining such a special friendship with you and your family! I look forward to MANY more adventures together!

Roadtrip!

No Popeyes?!?!?!? That's terrible! I don't know that I've ever eaten at Bojangles. You guys are brave to drive all night!

Congrats to your friends on their adoption.

Jill in CO

Yep, no Popeye's in Chattanooga, but don't worry... we will make up for it later in the trip. Bojangles is a lot like Popeyes, but no red beans and rice, which is my FAVORITE reason to visit Popeye's!

Night driving and I do not get along. I left that to the other "big people". But, I did try to help out with the daylight driving.

I'm so joining in Can't wait to read about your cruise. Congrats to your friend on the adoption.

And I look forward to your upcoming vacation. Now only one of us has a ticker... But I AM happy for you, really I am.

Did I make the first page?!? Yay! Off to catch up!


ETA: Love it so far! That van looks like a rocking good time! Can't wait to read more and creep on your pictures to see if I spot my neighbors! Hehe

You DID make it to the first page!

Did you neighbors participate in Fish Extenders, or were they a part of the FB group? It would be so cool if we were actually "friends" with them on the cruise.

Hi, it's Nancy from the FB cruise group. Wow, your van ride with everyone together must have been a blast!

Yay, you made it over!! Your blog helped me SO MUCH to save for this cruise. It was because of your blog that we got the Disney Rewards card and had an extra $400 to take with us! I have bookmarked your blog now to follow your TR as well.

Following you!

Yay! I know you don't typically Dis very much, so thank you very much for following along. I was talking to Brian last night, and we are going to try to set up a Cookville meet in a month or so, for all of us to share stories and pictures from the trip. I want hubbies to come along too. Brian got to know Scott M. and Robin's hubby Kevin a bit. That is why I wanted to have the meet in Cookville, so our east TN folks can come too. I hope you and yours can make it. We had such a fantastic group, and I hope that we can all keep in touch!

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I JUST WON!!!!!!!!!!!
I just know this is going to be epic...​

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Oh how I wish I was a passenger in that van...I bet it was so much fun. Congrats to your friends on the new little girl...and so happy she was able to go on the cruise.

That trip was so much fun. We were friends before this trip, but so much BETTER friends now. That trip was the first of many, that I know!

Ha!!!

Love it so far... Yes - we have watched Jillian grow into a beautiful young woman... It's so hard to believe! And Charity and Gabe have sure grown too!

Tears of JOY for the adoption of little "E"... What a lucky, lucky girl to have such a wonderful family! I am so very happy for all of them! And what a fun way to celebrate!

Love all of the luggage lined up - that is the best part!

And all of you smooshed into the 15 passenger van! Now that looks like FUN!!!!!!! We are all going to do that some day together - you realize that, right? Suzi is going to fly into Chicago... I am going to drive down to pick up her and Mo (Kathy too)... Then it's onward and downward to TN to grab you - and everyone else who wants to join us on the way to WDW... Yah - it's my dream trip! Someday...

LOL - love the look on Charity's face... I get that face all the time... But I've learned how to give it back too.

And hahahah.... Brian's face... I'll vote for "high" - just because I can.

So excited about this TR... Now you are off writing it in "Cruise land" - so you need to text me when you do updates, or I'll never remember to look here.

Love ya!!!

D~

Ah D~, I was looking through my very first PTR (that you and Liddy had to talk me into doing ), and I could not believe how much my kids have grown since I stumbled into this little Dis community. It made me so sad... my babies are getting so big.

I cannot wait until we do that Disney road trip. It will indeed be such a riot! We must also include Quacakattack in that one!

Do you not subscribe to threads??? That seems to be the easiest way to keep up. And, no worries, I will have the handy dandy index on the first page should you fall behind!

I'm here! Can't wait to read all about this trip....I feel like it took forever! So excited for you!!!

Yay, the trifecta for fun is complete now that D~, Mo, AND Suzi are here!!!!

I'm here!
I bet all of you crammed into that van was lots of fun and many memories were made.

Ya, thanks for hopping over from my PTR. That road trip was a blast! More stories to come shortly..

Following! I was on this cruise and can't wait to hear your report.

Welcome!!! Were you on our FB group, Rocking the Docks? Thanks for following along.

Made it! Looking forward to reading your report
Congrats Quackattack

Yay, my bestest new friend has arrived!!! I LOVED getting to know you and Kevin better during the cruise. Brian really liked chatting with Kevin, too. He and I hope to plan a Cookville Rocking the Docks meet up, so that we can all share photos and stories. Hope Scott and Brandi can come too. Will let you know when we are ready to find a time that will work for everyone.

HOLY MOLEY this would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!! I really want to do this!!!

I totally want to do it!!!

Yay for quackattack's adoption finally going through and them being able to take along their new daughter on the trip! I would love to have been a fly on the wall of that van. I can just imagine the fun that you had and the conversations that went on.

There were plenty of antics to go around, that is for sure.

Hello. I started reading this trip report having no idea that I have a picture of your daughter Charity in my living room now

My daughter is Sulie who was friends with Charity on board and we bought a copy of a picture of Sulie, Charity and 5 boys in front of the Halloween tree

I will tell Sulie to follow the trip report too and tell Charity that Sulie said "Hi"

Jennifer

I am SO GLAD you found my TR! Charity LOVED hanging out with Sulie and Hallie. She hated saying goodbye to her new cruise friends. This trip was very memorable for her, because of that motley group of kids. Yes, we have that photo, too. I will def let Charity know you are following. I do hope the girls can keep in tough with each other.

Joining in. Can't wait to hear all about the cruise.

Welcome!!!!

Looking forward to this trip report! But so sad that the cruise is over We just got back on Sunday, I tried to save some sand and sun on Castaway Cay for you!

What a fantastic way to celebrate the adoption, they are all so lucky to have each other.

The expression on Jillians face it priceless!

Everyone squished in one van??!! That makes me claustrophobic just thinking about it.

Welcome! Are you in our FB group? I need to try to place names and faces together so I will know who I am chatting with.

Yes, that van was PACKED...not for the faint of heart.

Joining in! Hoping to book a 2016 Eastern on the Fantasy when it comes out!

Oh, I do hope you get to do the cruise...we are SOLD on Disney cruises now. I was the vacation fo a lifetime!!! ​

 

[CaseFace5]

You DID make it to the first page!

Did you neighbors participate in Fish Extenders, or were they a part of the FB group? It would be so cool if we were actually "friends" with them on the cruise.


I'm not sure! I haven't been able to chat with them since they have been home. They did post pictures. I will ask them next time I see them out to see if they were!

 

[petals]

And I look forward to your upcoming vacation. Now only one of us has a ticker... But I AM happy for you, really I am.

Don't worry I will cry alot when I get home because I don't know when the next time we'll be going. I want to go back to Florida though because I haven't seen new Fantasyland and new the Harry Potter stuff yet

 

[Benchley]

Looking forward to the report. Glad I'm in at the start

 

[FeFeMJ]

Yay! I'll be following along. Unfortunately, it never worked out that I was able to introduce myself on the cruise, but I did see your family a few times (in front of us in line to get on the ship and getting off in St. Maarten). I can't wait to read about the fun times you guys had on the cruise!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I'm not sure! I haven't been able to chat with them since they have been home. They did post pictures. I will ask them next time I see them out to see if they were!

Very cool. I will be interested to see if I know who they are. My daughter had me do a
shout out" on our cruise FB page yesterday to find a friend she made on the cruise, but did not get contact info for. I was actually successful! Found the mom, who passed on the email address. Really cool.

Don't worry I will cry alot when I get home because I don't know when the next time we'll be going. I want to go back to Florida though because I haven't seen new Fantasyland and new the Harry Potter stuff yet

Well, it is going to be quite some time before we can experience that Disney magic again too. We can mourn together, friend!

Looking forward to the report. Glad I'm in at the start

Welcome!!! I look forward to getting to know you better as the story progresses!

Yay! I'll be following along. Unfortunately, it never worked out that I was able to introduce myself on the cruise, but I did see your family a few times (in front of us in line to get on the ship and getting off in St. Maarten). I can't wait to read about the fun times you guys had on the cruise!

OMGoodness!!! I cannot believe we were that close, and no introductions!!! I LOVED seeing so many familiar faces while we were on the cruise, one of the best parts of it for us!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

We last left off with a nice dinner and settling in for the looong overnight ride to Port Canaveral. We all tried to sleep, but really the only ones to be able to sleep consistently were the teenagers...imagine that.

We did make a night time stop at the Florida Welcome Center, but we were all exhausted and looked pretty frazzled from trying to find comfy positions to rest in the van. I didn't want to tick anyone off by asking for pictures, LOL!

The sun finally rose in the sky, and we knew we were close!!! Well....maybe. (forshadowing) Rochelle had printed out mapquest directions to get there by avoiding toll roads. Sounded like a fantastic idea... 12 hours before. We were all tired and getting hungry by then, so the big people in the van decided to just ditch the cheap route in favor of the Turnpike. We hopped on it, and should be there in no time....




Over an hour later, we were still cruising along the turnpike. Brian and I had taken this route many times, and I knew that Port Canaveral should only be about an hour away from Disney....




I then noticed that the exit towns popping up on the signs were beginning to sound less and less familiar to me....




Rochelle was driving, and Stephen was navigating....




When we saw the sign that said "next exit Ft. Pierce 40 miles", I sensed something was amiss. I am smart like that, yes I am.






So, I asked Rochelle, "do we know what exit we should be taking?" Rochelle just looks over to her navigator... Stephen looks at the signs, looks at the odometer, looks at the useless mapquest directions in his lap, and then looks like this...




GREAT navigationg going on!!!

So, after taking the scenic route for a while, we pulled off at the next exit, and had some breakfast...in Ft. Pierce.... an hour PAST Port Canaveral. Yep, we knew this road trip would be fun!!!

At least we found a GREAT place for breakfast, as we were all STARVING by then! We had breadkfast at Cracker Barrel. Since we WERE starving, I failed to get photos of our food before we devoured it. But I did take a couple of photos while we were there:



And proof that the navigation snafu did not ruin our trip:



And that right there, folks, is Stephen and Rochelle in real life! They are the most kind, loving, affectionate couple we know. They are ALWAYS so happy and in love like little newlyweds... even having been married for over 20 years!

After some nourishment, we were back on the road to finish out the last leg of our trip...or would it be an extra appendage, since it ended up being 120 miles added on to the trip? Anywho, it wasn't long before we were FINALLY THERE!!!! We had requested early check-in, but did not know if our rooms would be ready or not...


They WERE!!!!

Not to waste any time on the suspense, our room for the night was fantastic!

Front entry (bathroom door closed on the right):



That open doorway led to the kids' room for the night:





It was a really cute room all decorated in cars, and had its' own TV. The kids loved that, since we do NOT allow them to have tv's in their rooms at home.

On down the hall, past the closet was this little area:



Then you have mine and Brian's place for the night:



The room was very spacious. We also had a great view from the window:



Before I close this update, I had one more tidbit to share with you about this room. I turned on the TV...and guess who was on!!!!!




STACEY!!!!!! We were an hour away from Disney, staying in a non-Disney hotel; but we still got to have our "must do Disney" fix! That right there is pixie dust at its' finest!!

 

[solana131]

Stacey!!!!! How fun! That room looks huge......compared to Disney rooms at least

I love Cracker Barrel for the store, the food is just so so in my experience. Bradey loves their fried okra

Sorry you "overshot" your destination, but look at the fun extra memories you have!