*Edited to Add the Members of this trip*
Me - Heidi age 33
Hubby - Ryan age 33
McKaylee - dd age 10
Miles - ds age 9
Tanner - ds age 5
Its Time, Its Time!!!!
Saturday May 1, 2004
Our wakeup call went off at exactly 8 am and we were so excited that we were up and going as soon as the phone rang. We got the rest of our stuff packed, we got the kids day bags packed for the ship and then around 9 we called for Bell Services.
Our tennis shoes were still soaked from the torrential downpour so we had to wear our sandals. Our youngest had a blister from his sandals so for him walking was quite miserable.
Bell service came and picked up our luggage for us while we were eating breakfast which was nice and convenient.
I had to go to the gift shop to buy Band-Aids since ours were packed. I could have bought 3 boxes for the price they charged me for those.
We walked out to the front of the Hotel and waited breathlessly for our Limo to show up.
At about 10:10 he pulled into the parking lot. We had reserved the Limo from Port Orleans to the Port and back to MCO. It was a white stretch and our driver George was awesome! We used Southern Elegance Limo and would never hesitate to use them again! The Limo was clean and fully stocked with soda and water. They had a DVD player for the kids with all kinds of Disney movies. George stopped at a Walgreens for some liquor for the adults and some more pop for the kids and then we were off to the port.
We arrived at the top of the hill about 11 and we were so excited it was nutty. George pulled into a parking lot across the street from the port where there was a porter with a luggage cart waiting for us. After some extreme luggage repacking and clothing movement to accommodate liquor bottles and soft drinks we bid George a farewell and we set off for our short walk to the white tent just outside the Port building our day bags loaded down with all of the refreshments we had just purchased.
After checking off our names and looking at our passports they passed us through and into the bottom part of the port where we went through the metal detectors and then up the escalator.
At the top of the escalator we were SO not prepared for the site we saw. The line was HUGE by then and the check in line was just as nuts. A woman came over and started ripping tickets out of my books and then showed me into the regular line. I quickly asked her if the Castaway Club line was shorter and instead of 50 or so people in front of me there were 3.
Got ourselves checked in (I did it while hubby took the kids to the bathroom) and then set out to the middle of the port to wait in a line that only Disney could have.
We met a whole bunch of people from our thread while in line and that helped pass the time. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before they opened up the ears and the line started to move. While we were waiting we got some video and pictures of the port building and pretty soon we were getting our Ids checked at the ears.
We walked into the ears where they scanned our Keys to the World and then we went into 1 of 2 lines *or so we were told there were only 2* but of course the line cutting people were also visiting the cruise so they of course stopped it up for the rest of us line abiding citizens and it got really frustrating.
Finally I threatened the kids if they didnt smile nice for the embarkation picture I was going to throw them overboard (just kidding just kidding!) and thankfully they listened.
We walked up the ramp and onto the ship where they announced our name. It was pretty cool considering last time no one ever even seemed to notice we walked on board. The atrium is truly a lovely site! I dont think I could ever tire of that view!
We knew our rooms were not going to be ready until 1pm so we decided to walk up to the Topsider buffet for lunch. The atrium elevators were full so we chose the stairs. *Thankfully our rooms were forward so we didnt have to do much stair climbing after today*.
We went up to deck 9 and bought a mug and 3 soda stickers for the kids. We decided the stickers were the way for us to go and getting them each one would reduce the amount of tears along the way. We had no idea how lax the bartenders would be or we would have just bought one and forgot it. The cost for the stickers was $35.00 for the week and the mug was $38.00 for the week.
We set off for Topsiders and ate a pretty decent lunch. Afterwards it was almost 1 so we went to deck 8 and waited about 10 min for them to open the floor up for us. We found our rooms no problem at all. We were upgraded from 2 connecting Category 8 cabins to 2 connecting Category 4 cabins. We were in rooms 8504 and 8506 *pretty much as far forward as you can get without getting up close and personal with the bridge crew* but they were very nice.
After going to the rooms we set off for the kids clubs to get them registered. It was fairly painless though there were quite a few people in the clubs registering. I thought it was because they didnt want to wait until later for dinner but soon found out it was because there were almost 1000 kids on the sailing this week.
Then we set out to see where our table was located for dinner. We received LAPLAPL for our seating and I had requested a table just for the 5 of us but we found out we were at a table for 8. I was actually really bummed out but decided to make the best of it and tough it out. We were at table 38 if anyone cares.
The kids were dying to swim so on our way to our room we happened upon the Palo reservations (we were too excited to notice they started taking them at 12:30) and we ended up on the huge waiting list and set out for the rooms so the kids could put on their swimsuits and we set out for the pools. They were somewhat crowded but little did we know that this time before the drill was going to be the ONLY decent time for the kids in the pools. If I had known then what I found out later I would have told them to enjoy their one and only time in the pools.
We had a Dis board meet scheduled at 3:30 at the goofy pool so once we drug the kids out of the pools we started meeting people. It was such a fun time and we had quite a turn out. At 3:50 we got told the lifeboat drill was going to start so we did the mad dash trying to find sandals, shirts and bags so that we could do the drill and then the sail away party with the kids.
Barely made it to the lifeboat drill and surprisingly my 5 year old did really well and it was over very painlessly and quick. We set off to the room to get dressed for the sail away and dinner but instead of going up to deck 9 we opted to just sit on our 2 balconies and enjoy it as a family. It was such a great time just us on the balcony watching the people at the port wave with the Mickey hands and all the people that were lined up to watch us set sail.
At 6 we finally got our act together and started off for Lumieres. We met our tablemates who had a 6 year old daughter. They were nice enough but we just hate sitting with other people especially at the very first couple of dinners. Our server was Cyprian from India and Arile from Chile *and they were heads and tails better than our servers on the 4 day Wonder in 2002*.
After dinner (which was to be only one of the 3 meals we did enjoy) we set off to put the kids in their clubs since we had heard that this night was a very important night. We left them and decided to go see what was happening on the ship. We decided about an hour later to go check on the kids and make sure they were doing ok. When we arrived at the Oceaneers Club our youngest was sitting on one of the sea creatures on the side and was sobbing. No one even noticed him apparently because we never got a page and he had snot running out of his nose, his eyes were red and puffy and he was doing the sniffle thing every few seconds. THAT was the end of the clubs for him. It was so insane in that Club tonight that I didnt blame him one bit for hating it. It seemed very hot, crowded and discombobulated (for lack of a better description).
We then went to check on the older kids and to see if they wanted to go to the Welcome Aboard show with us. Our oldest did not want to go but both boys were more than eager to leave their clubs and go.
It was a GREAT show and we really enjoyed the whole thing. It was a ventriloquist and a juggler who were both excellent.
Went to get our oldest out of the clubs and go to bed since we had been through a very long day.
About the time we got to the Oceaneers Lab the motion hit and I got sick. I had been taking Meclizine for 4 days beforehand but the winds were picking up and so was the pitch and roll of the ship. Of course I thought THIS night was bad for rocking and movement but had no idea what was in store for us tomorrow or the next day.
We met our stateroom hostess Maricar who was just lovely and did an excellent job for us all week long keeping our 2 rooms *with 3 pig pen like kids* in order. Off to sleep with an extra Meclizine and some melatonin.
Heidi
Click here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=566876 for our first at sea day
Click here http://community.webshots.com/user/hydster to see our pictures. Still waiting for regular film to come back these are just the digitals (and I didn't upload many that included me!)
Me - Heidi age 33
Hubby - Ryan age 33
McKaylee - dd age 10
Miles - ds age 9
Tanner - ds age 5
Its Time, Its Time!!!!
Saturday May 1, 2004
Our wakeup call went off at exactly 8 am and we were so excited that we were up and going as soon as the phone rang. We got the rest of our stuff packed, we got the kids day bags packed for the ship and then around 9 we called for Bell Services.
Our tennis shoes were still soaked from the torrential downpour so we had to wear our sandals. Our youngest had a blister from his sandals so for him walking was quite miserable.
Bell service came and picked up our luggage for us while we were eating breakfast which was nice and convenient.
I had to go to the gift shop to buy Band-Aids since ours were packed. I could have bought 3 boxes for the price they charged me for those.
We walked out to the front of the Hotel and waited breathlessly for our Limo to show up.
At about 10:10 he pulled into the parking lot. We had reserved the Limo from Port Orleans to the Port and back to MCO. It was a white stretch and our driver George was awesome! We used Southern Elegance Limo and would never hesitate to use them again! The Limo was clean and fully stocked with soda and water. They had a DVD player for the kids with all kinds of Disney movies. George stopped at a Walgreens for some liquor for the adults and some more pop for the kids and then we were off to the port.
We arrived at the top of the hill about 11 and we were so excited it was nutty. George pulled into a parking lot across the street from the port where there was a porter with a luggage cart waiting for us. After some extreme luggage repacking and clothing movement to accommodate liquor bottles and soft drinks we bid George a farewell and we set off for our short walk to the white tent just outside the Port building our day bags loaded down with all of the refreshments we had just purchased.
After checking off our names and looking at our passports they passed us through and into the bottom part of the port where we went through the metal detectors and then up the escalator.
At the top of the escalator we were SO not prepared for the site we saw. The line was HUGE by then and the check in line was just as nuts. A woman came over and started ripping tickets out of my books and then showed me into the regular line. I quickly asked her if the Castaway Club line was shorter and instead of 50 or so people in front of me there were 3.
Got ourselves checked in (I did it while hubby took the kids to the bathroom) and then set out to the middle of the port to wait in a line that only Disney could have.
We met a whole bunch of people from our thread while in line and that helped pass the time. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before they opened up the ears and the line started to move. While we were waiting we got some video and pictures of the port building and pretty soon we were getting our Ids checked at the ears.
We walked into the ears where they scanned our Keys to the World and then we went into 1 of 2 lines *or so we were told there were only 2* but of course the line cutting people were also visiting the cruise so they of course stopped it up for the rest of us line abiding citizens and it got really frustrating.
Finally I threatened the kids if they didnt smile nice for the embarkation picture I was going to throw them overboard (just kidding just kidding!) and thankfully they listened.
We walked up the ramp and onto the ship where they announced our name. It was pretty cool considering last time no one ever even seemed to notice we walked on board. The atrium is truly a lovely site! I dont think I could ever tire of that view!
We knew our rooms were not going to be ready until 1pm so we decided to walk up to the Topsider buffet for lunch. The atrium elevators were full so we chose the stairs. *Thankfully our rooms were forward so we didnt have to do much stair climbing after today*.
We went up to deck 9 and bought a mug and 3 soda stickers for the kids. We decided the stickers were the way for us to go and getting them each one would reduce the amount of tears along the way. We had no idea how lax the bartenders would be or we would have just bought one and forgot it. The cost for the stickers was $35.00 for the week and the mug was $38.00 for the week.
We set off for Topsiders and ate a pretty decent lunch. Afterwards it was almost 1 so we went to deck 8 and waited about 10 min for them to open the floor up for us. We found our rooms no problem at all. We were upgraded from 2 connecting Category 8 cabins to 2 connecting Category 4 cabins. We were in rooms 8504 and 8506 *pretty much as far forward as you can get without getting up close and personal with the bridge crew* but they were very nice.
After going to the rooms we set off for the kids clubs to get them registered. It was fairly painless though there were quite a few people in the clubs registering. I thought it was because they didnt want to wait until later for dinner but soon found out it was because there were almost 1000 kids on the sailing this week.
Then we set out to see where our table was located for dinner. We received LAPLAPL for our seating and I had requested a table just for the 5 of us but we found out we were at a table for 8. I was actually really bummed out but decided to make the best of it and tough it out. We were at table 38 if anyone cares.
The kids were dying to swim so on our way to our room we happened upon the Palo reservations (we were too excited to notice they started taking them at 12:30) and we ended up on the huge waiting list and set out for the rooms so the kids could put on their swimsuits and we set out for the pools. They were somewhat crowded but little did we know that this time before the drill was going to be the ONLY decent time for the kids in the pools. If I had known then what I found out later I would have told them to enjoy their one and only time in the pools.
We had a Dis board meet scheduled at 3:30 at the goofy pool so once we drug the kids out of the pools we started meeting people. It was such a fun time and we had quite a turn out. At 3:50 we got told the lifeboat drill was going to start so we did the mad dash trying to find sandals, shirts and bags so that we could do the drill and then the sail away party with the kids.
Barely made it to the lifeboat drill and surprisingly my 5 year old did really well and it was over very painlessly and quick. We set off to the room to get dressed for the sail away and dinner but instead of going up to deck 9 we opted to just sit on our 2 balconies and enjoy it as a family. It was such a great time just us on the balcony watching the people at the port wave with the Mickey hands and all the people that were lined up to watch us set sail.
At 6 we finally got our act together and started off for Lumieres. We met our tablemates who had a 6 year old daughter. They were nice enough but we just hate sitting with other people especially at the very first couple of dinners. Our server was Cyprian from India and Arile from Chile *and they were heads and tails better than our servers on the 4 day Wonder in 2002*.
After dinner (which was to be only one of the 3 meals we did enjoy) we set off to put the kids in their clubs since we had heard that this night was a very important night. We left them and decided to go see what was happening on the ship. We decided about an hour later to go check on the kids and make sure they were doing ok. When we arrived at the Oceaneers Club our youngest was sitting on one of the sea creatures on the side and was sobbing. No one even noticed him apparently because we never got a page and he had snot running out of his nose, his eyes were red and puffy and he was doing the sniffle thing every few seconds. THAT was the end of the clubs for him. It was so insane in that Club tonight that I didnt blame him one bit for hating it. It seemed very hot, crowded and discombobulated (for lack of a better description).
We then went to check on the older kids and to see if they wanted to go to the Welcome Aboard show with us. Our oldest did not want to go but both boys were more than eager to leave their clubs and go.
It was a GREAT show and we really enjoyed the whole thing. It was a ventriloquist and a juggler who were both excellent.
Went to get our oldest out of the clubs and go to bed since we had been through a very long day.
About the time we got to the Oceaneers Lab the motion hit and I got sick. I had been taking Meclizine for 4 days beforehand but the winds were picking up and so was the pitch and roll of the ship. Of course I thought THIS night was bad for rocking and movement but had no idea what was in store for us tomorrow or the next day.
We met our stateroom hostess Maricar who was just lovely and did an excellent job for us all week long keeping our 2 rooms *with 3 pig pen like kids* in order. Off to sleep with an extra Meclizine and some melatonin.
Heidi
Click here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=566876 for our first at sea day
Click here http://community.webshots.com/user/hydster to see our pictures. Still waiting for regular film to come back these are just the digitals (and I didn't upload many that included me!)
, I REALLY enjoyed reading it.
