*~*All Aboard*~*
We breezed through security and soon found ourselves at the
Castaway Club check in desk. Check in was smooth and we were given boarding group number 5. I planned on checking to see if there was any port upgrades available so we headed over to the line to see what there might be. There were absolutely no rooms left open on the ship in a higher category than what we already had (5A – Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom With Verandah) so that was easily settled!
As we waited for boarding Zoe was face timing her best friend who we usually travel with. I took a pic of her "coming on the cruise" with us. Hi there BFF! See her on the phone?
I absolutely love the model ship in the port. It's really neat if you look up close at all the details. You can see Minnie in the background but her line was huge and the girls didn't want to wait so I just took some pics by the model ship.
Isn't the ship neat?
There is a small outdoor waiting area near the concierge area that may be for smoking etc. but we stepped out to look at the ship. They were loading supplies and it entertained the girls for a little while.
There was another cruise ship in port and I couldn't help but think about how pretty the Fantasy was. So exciting!
We discussed going over to get Piper's wristband for the kids clubs - we figured we could check it out and if the line was long we would wait until we were onboard but if it was short we'd get it out of the way. The line was HUGE! Just as we were thinking about hopping in line, they announced that boarding was about to begin. So much for that! Most likely Piper wouldn't spend much time in the kids clubs but she really wanted the magic band as it unlocks extras on Disney Infinity and last cruise she had turned it back in at the end. Since she'd be 13 by the next cruise this was her last chance to get one for her collection.
They announced boarding groups 1-6 by the time we made our way over to the Mickey Cruise ears entrance. I had visions of a super cute entrance photo happening before we went through the ears. Can you tell how exciting the girls thought that idea was?
After pausing momentarily for that outstanding photo op
we headed down the hall to happiness. We stayed to the right to skip the photo opportunity they have when you go through the hall. I knew we wouldn't be purchasing it and we couldn't wait to get on the ship and begin our trip!
We started talking about what family name we should use for the boarding announcement. We definitely wanted it to be Star Wars related so we ended up deciding on the Skywalkers. We were next to board when the family in front of us was announced - the Skywalkers! UH OH! We momentarily went into panic mode and quickly decided we would be the Solo family instead.
As soon as we entered we saw the Star Wars Day at Sea photo background. We knew it would be here the whole trip and there was a line at that time so we all agreed to try it another time. But the excitement really set in then. We were on a Star Wars sailing!
At this point we split up so Andy could take Zoe and Piper to Cabana's to get some lunch while i headed to the Port Adventures desk to get tickets for the princess and Frozen meet and greets and the Disney Jr. character breakfast.