Cass, Rob & Kira - Christmas on the Wonder, The Sequel ~ 2017

Timon

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Christmas on the Wonder - The Sequel :santa:


Hello fellow Disboarders :wave2: and welcome to my latest Trippie :goodvibes

I've entitled this one "The Sequel" because basically, it's the exact same thing as last year :rolleyes:

If you've read my trippie from last Christmas, you will find many things eerily familiar in this installment :scratchin

I've even debated on whether or not to actually write this one because it's so similar but since the main reason I write these things is to relive and remember my own vacation experience, I figured...why the heck not :p

This might be a slow-go as I have a lot of stuff going on but I will do my best to update it fairly regularly :smooth:

Let's get this baby started
:cool1:


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Check out my other trip reports

:cool: 2011 DCL Second sailing of the Dream
:cool: 2013 October WDW & DCL Fantasy
:cool: 2015 Disneyland
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2016 Christmas on the Wonder
:cool: 2017 Universal & DCL 10-Night Southern Caribbean Fantasy
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2017 Christmas on the Wonder
:cool: 2018 Summer WDW & Universal
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2018 Christmas on the Wonder
:cool:2019 Disneyland
:cool:2019 Universal Orlando
2019 Christmas on the Wonder
:cool: 2020 Galaxy's Edge
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2021 Christmas on the Wonder
:cool: 2022 UO & DCL Fantasy
🇨🇦 2022 Alaska Wonder Cruise
 
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Chapter Links


December 20th, 2017

Part 1 - Good-bye snow, hello Houston!
Part 2 - RFC and pool time.


December 21st, 2017

Part 1 - A day of traditions.
Part 2 - The Spot, snuggles & sleepy time!


December 22nd, 2017

Part 1 - Early morning fun
Part 2 - Port arrival and boarding!
Part 3
- Food and Room
Part 4 - Sailing away
Part 5 - Food and...more food!


December 23rd, 2017

Part 1 -
Breakfast, Lunch and some other stuff
Part 2
- Triton's, a swim and more food


December 24th, 2017

Part 1 - Stitch, breakfast, Key West & second breakfast!
Part 2 -
Sunset
Part 3 - Dinner at AP and the rest.


December 25th, 2017 :santa:

Part 1 - Christmas morning & Castaway Cay
Part 2 - Rest of Castaway Cay and a quiet ship
Part 3 - Sunset & Dinner


December 26th, 2017

Part 1 -
Nassau...sort of, not really.
Part 2 - Food, irked Cass, sunset and more food.
Part 3 - Pirate Night


December 27th, 2017

Part 1 - At Sea, the stuff I remember, at least!
Part 2
- Cabanas Dinner, Pool and grosstots!


December 28th, 2017

Part 1 - Last sea day morning.
Part 2 - What a bunch of characters!
Part 3 - Our last dinner.
Part 4 - We hit the
mother lode!!!


December 29th, 2017

Part 1 - And that's a wrap!


The End!


Vacation Video

 
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Day 1 Part 1

I guess I should start off by saying that we kept this cruise a secret from Kira until the morning we left. I don't know why but I LOVE surprising people, especially my kid. It's weird because I LOATHE being surprised :rolleyes:

But, I knew I would have to tell her something because I needed to pack and make arrangements, etc., and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. We told her we were going to Saskatchewan to see Rob's parents for Christmas. This would help mask a few things but it ended up being a less than spectacular idea :scared:

I won't go into the details but I will say that this will probably be the very last time we surprise her with a trip :rolleyes1

We filmed this just before we hopped in the car that morning....




Okay, so now that she was THRILLED to be going to Galveston, let's start the story of this trip. :teeth:



Here in Calgary, we were lucky enough to have a really nice Fall/Winter so far. We had a cold spell in November for a week but all of December had been amazing!

We had some snow in November but it had all melted so there was no snow on the ground until the night before we left. The forecast called for two feet of snow in the next few days with cold temps so we couldn't have left at a more perfect time, really. Well, it would have been nice if the snow had held off one more day but we knew we were going to miss most of it so lucky us :love:

Our flight left at 7am for Houston and we need to go through security and customs first and we knew the roads would be bad, so the goal was to leave the house by 4am.

Last year, we took the 10:30am flight but it got us driving in rush hour traffic in Houston so although I knew the 7am flight would make it an early morning for us, I am SO glad I booked it! Not only did we miss rush hour in Houston, we also missed the early morning Calgary rush hour, which would have been stupid crazy with the snowfall!

So while the roads were bad, at 4am, there were only a few of us on them. :thumbsup2

This meant that I was up at 2am, showering, getting last minute stuff packed up and the car loaded.

I don't mind getting up early when we're going on vacation :rolleyes1

With our dog Boo safely at her uncle's house already, we said good-bye to our house and braved the slick roads to the airport just before 4am.

Look how deep our tracks are! And the snow continued to fall all day that day :scared:

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It took a little longer to get to the airport but we made it safely!

Rob dropped Kira and I off, as usual. Kira nearly froze with just a light jacket. We left her winter jacket in the car for the return trip because we didn't want to drag it all the way to Houston.

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A quick pic before Rob headed to Park2Go. It was windy as well as cold but that didn't stop me from wearing my spring jacket, capris and skechers :laughing:


Where we're going, we don't need....r̶o̶a̶d̶s̶ socks. :rotfl2:


Sorry, I make a lot of weird movie references, it's all part of my...ummm, charm. :p

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Kira and I headed into the terminal (well, she ran!) and got ourselves checked-in.

The new terminal is all techie so we checked ourselves in, got our luggage tags printed and then did the whole automatic bag drop thing. It's pretty cool actually, it takes a pic of your bag, weighs it and then sends it off to (hopefully) your plane!

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Just as we were wrapping up, Rob showed up and we headed for security.

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Made it through security, Rob got stopped as usual and then we headed for the Nexus machines at US Customs.

Once again, Rob got the big old X on his paper so we took a few extra minutes getting through. It's all because he was once rejected at the US border (he shouldn't have been!) The Customs agent we spoke to said that if he had time he would fix it in the system so that it shouldn't give him an issue going forward. Gosh, I really hope he did it! ::yes::

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Now in the terminal, we headed for our favourite spot, The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck!

We were all starved so we grabbed a booth and ordered some food. Kira and Rob were sad that they didn't have any french toast left but we were all happy with what we ordered.

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While we were waiting, I handed out a little gift for Kira. Previously I have bought her a stuffed animal for each trip but I told her that I am DONE with stuffies!!!

But, I did get her something even better. :rolleyes:

There it is, still wrapped...oh by the way, both Rob and I put DCL shirts on that morning, walking around the house, sending subliminal messages to Kira before we told her about the cruise :lmao:

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And here she is opening it...

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In case you haven't read previous reports, Kira is a HUGE Stitch fan, well Lilo and Stitch but mostly Stitch and we had all just gotten new phones a month before so this phone case was perfect for her!!! Relatively cheap too! :thumbsup2

I bought it at Hot Topic for $20, which is amazing since everything else I buy in there is ridiculously expensive! When I saw it, I was so happy because I knew she would love it and the case has a place for cards, which would be perfect for hotel and cruise keys :cool1:

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She was over the moon about it and still uses it now and loves it!

We ate our food...

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Which was delicious, as always and then we bought some waters, hit the washrooms and headed down to our gate.

Nice to see that they are listening to their passengers and have installed more seats down near the new gates.

We didn't wait long before we boarded our plane and took our traditional selfie..

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I watched the plane next to us get de-iced...

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And then it was our turn!

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I watched the sun rise shortly after we took off.

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I always pack snacks for the flight as my kid is still like a toddler and likes to nibble on food every couple of hours :rotfl:

This would be Kira's first trip with braces. We had delayed them a bit in order for her to be braces free during our summer cruise on the Fantasy so she got them as soon as we got back from that trip.

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They watched a movie together and I think I snoozed for a bit. I watched a little bit of a movie and then it was time for our descent into Houston! :cool1:

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We grabbed our luggage, hopped on the rental car shuttle and then made our way to the Alamo section of the garage to pick out our car.

I cannot tell you enough how much I LOVE the online check-in and choosing your own vehicle and the whole skipping the counter thing! :love::worship:

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We were hoping for another Murano since we loved it the last two trips but they didn't have any left so we opted for a Rogue. It was fate because it had Florida license plates :laughing:

Rob did his usual amazing packing thing and then we were off!

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Since we just did this last year, it was easy for me to navigate!

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I also freaking love that Houston has the highway numbers on the lane that you will need, what freaking genius is responsible for this??? :worship:

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While there was a small amount of traffic as we approached the core, it didn't last long.

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I love highways in big cities in the USA, they have highways on top of highways on top of highways :laughing:

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We had a bit of traffic about half-way to Galveston once we turned onto the 45 but nothing bad and we still got to Galveston in an hour.

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PALM TREEEEEEES!!!!!! :love::cloud9::love::cloud9:
 
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Looking forward to reading the sequel as I ironically just finished the last one!
 


Whoooo hooooo!! Count me in!
Loved Kira’s reaction to the news of cruising. I’d love it also, however, you know my love of Saskatchewan too! Lol!!!!
 
Oh Boy! Here we go!
Don't you just love the painted road signs? We have them here in San Antonio too.
 
Yay! Been looking forward to this trip report! I`m a fellow canadian :) I think I`ve read through all your other trip reports, you really rock at this trip report thingy!! I`ve been snooping through them again recently because in early March we are going on our very first Disney cruise on the Dream!!! Yeah, I`m just a tiny bit excited. :yay:
 
Love Kira's reaction in the video :love:

Cripes, that's a lot of snow. Glad it didn't hold you guys up at all.
 
Yay! We were on the Wonder the week before you, so I'm looking forward to reliving our wonderful vacation through your TR!
 
Day 1 Part 2

I loved the Hilton last year so much that I didn't hesitate to book it again. I did the online check-in again and requested a digital key originally (I was actually able to book the same room we had last year!) but then I received an upgrade offer to a balcony room via email a couple of days before we left. It's not a guarantee but it was a good price and if they had availability at check-in then we would get it. Although I had read that the balcony rooms were smaller and not as nice (older maybe?) I thought it would be nice just to try it once.

I am so glad I did because we LOVED our room!

We stopped at the desk to see about the upgrade and she called housekeeping to see if the room was ready, it was and it was awesome! Top floor (which is floor 6 for the balcony rooms) and the first room in, YES! :cool1:

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The room was a little smaller but we didn't miss the additional space and we absolutely loved the balcony!We spent a lot of time on that balcony and I will be booking it again if we ever stay there in the future.

It did seem in need of some updating but I am not picky about hotels, as long as it's clean then I am happy and it was clean, indeed!

Kira changed into a t-shirt and then tested the beds for us :rotfl2:

I told her she had better stop doing that as she's getting too big :rolleyes:

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I unpacked a little and then we headed downstairs because we were all starving by now!

The valet guys usually have Rainforest Cafe cards good for a free kids meal with adult entree purchase so we stopped there on the way out. They seemed to be out but did some searching and found one for us. They were great, always so friendly when we passed by.

Another reason we love the Hilton is the location, across from the Gulf, close to 61st Street and of course, next door to the Rainforest Cafe :banana:


Loving the warm weather and the lack of snow, we slowly walked over to where the Volcano is.

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Stopped for a quick pic with Cha Cha...

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And since I got this pic last year with just Kira, I figured I just had to re-enact it :p

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It was all decorated for Christmas.

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We asked for a booth and lucked out and got one right next to the aquarium, which Kira loved!

Notice the 'ol bunny ears Rob is wearing here. Thus began a war :lmao:

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Mind you, this booth was huge and it felt like I was a million miles away from them :rotfl2:



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I got the burger. Just as good as I remembered ::yes::

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Cooked perfectly, no pink!

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Rob's salmon...

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And Kira's chicken nuggets that she just loves...

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We were full and content as we headed back to the Hilton to our car. Passing by the convention center as we headed over to Walmart.


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We got some Diet Coke and Dasani for the cruise as well as a few other items, including new shoes for Kira. Her feet grow so fast and the shoes we bought her at this Walmart last year were too small for her but she loved them so we picked up two new pairs. They are like Skechers Go Walks but much cheaper and they are her favourite kind of shoes.

Back to our hotel, I was able to grab a pic as last time I was recording our arrival.

If you look at the left side of the hotel, you can see our balcony, very top floor, closest room.

You can also see the elevator shaft, it has glass windows so you can see out to the ocean, which I will show you in a second. Also, if you look at the very left of this pic, behind that palm tree, you will see a balcony with white railings. That is a nice little lookout point where you can go outside and take in views of the Gulf, which I will also show you in a second...

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Here is Rob and Kira in the elevator...

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And here I am on that balcony, checking out the sunset.


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Back up to the room to change into our swimsuits!! Kira and I love our evening pool time together. :love:


She asked me just the other day if I liked the Galveston or the Wonder part of our vacation better. I told her that I liked them both but that the cruise is always my favourite part and she said she liked the Galveston part better because of the pool :p

So, that shows you just how much she loves our pool time. :rolleyes:

We had a visitor checking out our balcony, whom we discovered in time, was actually the owner of said balcony and we were the visitors :laughing:

Rob took this pic while Kira and I were in the pool and we had actually seen this little guy fly onto our balcony from the pool. He pretty much remained there for the rest of our stay.


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Rob took a nice shot of the sun going down over the Rainforest Cafe.


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Then a pic of Kira and I in the hot tub :lmao:


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He finally made his way down to the pool although he never actually got in with us. He is not a pool guy :rolleyes1


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Kira and I stayed in there for hours, it was so gorgeous! The pool was very warm, like warmer than some hot tubs I have been in! Much warmer than last year and while I enjoy a cooler temp for the pool, Kira loved it!

Rob went back up to check his email and much later we were still having fun together in that glorious pool! :cloud9:

Yup, just us! :flower:

*ETA, now that I am editing my photos from the following day, I realized that the next two pics were actually taken the next evening! Ooops!

Sometimes Rob's pics get me all mixed up because he doesn't take many. My bad! :rolleyes:

I should have known, looking at Kira's swimsuit, as it changed :rolleyes2

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We had spent hours in that pool and since we had been up so early, we were all exhausted by now.

I will say that the only part of the Hilton that I don't like is that they have double beds. We knew this obviously before booking since we had stayed here last year so I came up with a plan. Rob and I didn't fit so well in the bed together last year so it was decided that the first night Rob would sleep with Kira and then I would sleep with her on the second night. Normally she is a crazy sleeper and flips all over the place so at home, this would not be an option for us but I knew after a long travel day and then long pool days, she would pass right out and hardly move. She only sleeps like this on vacation though.

It mostly worked out, Rob said that she did flip over once and smacked him in the face but overall it was a good choice and he had a better sleep than last year. And well, I had an awesome sleep, alone in the very comfortable bed :lovestruc
 
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I am so excited to read along!! Miss you, my friend! xoxoxoxo
 
Yay!! Love your TRs!

Thanks :flower:

Looking forward to reading the sequel as I ironically just finished the last one!

Perfect timing :cool1:

Yay!! I'm in like Flynn, baby!! :rotfl::banana::banana:

Yay! :goodvibes

Yay-I've been waiting for this one to show up!

I've been so busy trying to replace all of the links of my pics in all of my trip reports as PB sucks and they will all be lost soon! I managed to get them all done except for my Dream one :cool:

Love love love your trip reports!! Thank you for writing another one!

Thanks for being here :wave2:

I'm here!!!!

Woo hoo :woohoo:

Whoooo hooooo!! Count me in!
Loved Kira’s reaction to the news of cruising. I’d love it also, however, you know my love of Saskatchewan too! Lol!!!!

Hahaha, well, you wouldn't love it so much after you visited perhaps :scratchin :lmao:

Oh Boy! Here we go!
Don't you just love the painted road signs? We have them here in San Antonio too.

Love them!!!! Nice! In all the big cities in Texas?

Yay! Been looking forward to this trip report! I`m a fellow canadian :) I think I`ve read through all your other trip reports, you really rock at this trip report thingy!! I`ve been snooping through them again recently because in early March we are going on our very first Disney cruise on the Dream!!! Yeah, I`m just a tiny bit excited. :yay:

Welcome my fellow Canadian :banana:

And thank you :flower3:

You will love it and you will get addicted :rolleyes:

I’m in!!! :banana:

I knew you would be :flower1:

following

:jumping3:

Love Kira's reaction in the video :love:

Cripes, that's a lot of snow. Glad it didn't hold you guys up at all.

It was a fun moment :love:

Yeah, it snowed even more after we got back and it's still here! :crazy2:

Yay! We were on the Wonder the week before you, so I'm looking forward to reliving our wonderful vacation through your TR!

How was your cruise?

I am so excited to read along!! Miss you, my friend! xoxoxoxo

Thanks hun and I miss you too :hug::hug::hug:
 
We also stayed in a balcony room on the 6th floor of that Hilton! We were the very last room on the hall. We were only there one night pre-cruise, though. It was too chilly to swim, but DD enjoyed decorating cookies with Mrs. Claus. And we ate at the Rainforest Cafe, too! It's very convenient.
 

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