GooniesAndy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
Day One Navigator
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!
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.
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!
Hi Erin, sometimes Disney trivia partner on this cruise and Ultimate Disney Trivia co-champion
Joining in...
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.
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
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 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.
Hi,
Where did you get your laudary bag that is in one of the pictures you posted? Thanks!