Oh the Places We Go, The People We See Photo TR

[jenseib]

Claire just LOVES Ariel, so this was another wonderful thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And you must hug before you leave.

 

 

 

And we exited and Stephanie and her son Jack were waiting for us. It was so nice to meet up with her finally. Jack was the complete opposite of Kadence. He NEVER stopped talking. He was just too cute. Claire kept talking about him too the rest of the trip and kept forgetting his name, so she would call him pirate boy, since he was dressed as a pirate for the party.

 

I got a couple of shots of the kids.

 

 

 

And then I let Claire take a picture of us. I was a bit nervous, as this was my good camera and made sure Claire had a good hold of it. Not too bad!

 

 

Jack also wanted to use my camera, but I passed on that offer. LOL

 

We headed over towards the Little Mermaid ride once again, but it was still not running. BUMMER!

 

At this point in time I was starving. I was to the point of getting a headache and I knew I would become grouchy if I didn’t eat some real food soon, so we headed towards Gaston’s to see if we could scrounge up something there.

 

We all got in line and they seemed to be moving super slow. Stephanie was just going to get one of the brews for Jack.

 

 

Our line was moving very slow, so I went over to the next one. BIG mistake. Stephanie got served and others did too and I was still waiting behind the same people. They didn’t understand the dining plan and also had some cash in the transaction and lots of money was going back and forth. I seriously was about to flip out. I think part of the problem was the cashier too, as she seemed to be a bit clueless when we finally had our turn.

 

Claire and I got the pork shank and a drink to share.

 

 

We found Stephanie and Jack and had a seat and we just totally dug into the food. Poor Stephanie probably thought we were savages. LOL

 

I didn’t even think to take a picture till it was almost gone. Sorry for the devoured picture.

 

 

I had heard from others that had gotten to try it during sneak previews that this was very good and a big portion. It was very good, but we must’ve drawn the short straw as ours was really small. I think we could’ve easily eaten another, but for the price, and the long wait, I wasn’t about to order more.

 

I tried to get a few pictures before we left, but people were in my way and the place isn’t very big, so I only got a few.

 

 

 

 

There was a big chair that I wanted to take a picture of, but these teen kids kept switching and taking photos and I just decided my patience wouldn’t last long enough to wait them out. Obviously they didn’t see me standing there with my camera.

 

We left and I got this shot of the restroom area really quickly.

 

 

And one last try at the statue in the dark.

 

 

We decided to head out of the new Fantasyland for now and trick or treat. We were talking away and Jack was REALLY talking away. He was so funny and he just cracked me up. As we were walking out, guess who we ran into? ….Carey, John and Kadence! We all decided to trick or treat at a few places and then head to the dance party.

I think Stephanie decided to go on her own at this point. Jack wanted to change out of his costume. We told her the area we had planned to be at for the parade and told her she was welcome to join us then too. She never did make it though. I think they were about to leave when the parade was on and they just watched it near the front if I remember right.

 

If you are keeping track, meeting up with Stephanie was now meet number 4. Oh the People We See!

 

 

 

So the plan was to trick or treat and then head off to a dance party. Carey said that was a big highlight for Kadence the year before, and I knew Claire was one who liked to dance too.

 

One trick or treat area was by the River boats, but this one seems to be connected to the dock with its decorations. I guess it wasn’t up and running.

 

 

We got quite a bit of candy in just the few stops we made and then off to the dance party.

At first Claire was shy again. UGH. I know she loves to dance, but she seemed like it might be embarrassing to do it now. I tried to dance a bit with her, but that was even more embarrassing.

 

 

Finally the 2 got their groove going, yet, they weren’t about to get too close!

 

 

 

As time went on, they started getting a bit closer to each other.

 

 

 

I have no clue why Claire is making such a face.

 

 

And finally success. They now were dancing officially together and they were talking!

 

 

 

You will notice I did a really good job at getting the back side of them. I swear no matter how I tired, I couldn’t get their faces in the pictures. And the few I did were blurry blobs.

 

 

 

 

 

Every time I tried to do a little sideline dancing, I got a dirty look. The DJ started playing Hammer Time. I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying, and when you are supposed to yell out “hammer time” I did so, and was the only one. I think it was partly because many kids had no clue, and then I think the other part was we were supposed to wait for his cue to do so. LOL. Yet I couldn’t seem to catch on to that and kept yelling it. Oops.

 

 

 

Finally we decided it was time to pull the kids away from dancing and do some more party fun. We headed over towards Splash Mountain/BTMRR area. I think the plan was to trick or treat there and then ride the ride, but the ride itself was not running.

 

 

The queue was decorated so cute.

 

 

It actually had a pretty long line that split at one point to have 2 lines for the same station. It moved fairly fast though. We did notice that the Dwarves were NOT out this evening. I was hoping to get a glimpse of them, but it wasn’t meant to be.

 

After we got another large handful of candy we continued one and Hallow Wishes had just started. Another thing I had forgotten about. I tried to take a couple of pictures as we walk.

 

 

 

We saw this guy dressed as Jack Sparrow as we were walking. He looked AMAZING! Honestly we were questioning whether he was the real one or not, he was that good. Perfect mannerisms and everything! Some people were stopping off and asking him to take a picture with him. But he ended up joining a scary looking bride eventually, so we knew it was a guy in costume, but Wow! He was great!

 

We made another pit stop at the same trick or treat station we had been to earlier and then over towards the Haunted Mansion for some Magic shots.

 

 

Holy cow! Look fireworks are going off right behind the Mansion! How cool is that?

 

 

While we waited in line Carey and I just kept shooting.

 

 

It was just GORGEOUS!!!!

 

 

Soon it was our turn for the Magic shot. Claire was a little iffy about this, but I told her we would be fine and no ghosts were going to show up at the moment. Carey and family went first, and then it was our turn.

 

 

 

We moved on. We saw this girl a couple of times. We loved her braid.

 

 

She was with a guy dressed as Flynn and he was pretty much dead on too. And they had a friend dressed as Jasmine. I really liked how they went all out. It makes me a bit jealous that I am not so talented.

 

We headed back to the New Fantasyland. We had to check on the Little Mermaid ride once again.

 

 

It’s really hard to get a picture of Eric’s castle in the dark.

 

 

 

It was open! Score! I think it listed the wait as 5 or 10 minutes, but basically it was walk on. BUT that queue is REALLY long. Extremely long. I would hate to wait in that! And I have heard since it has opened, the wait times have been just awful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carey and I were snapping away as we walked through the queue.

 

 

 

 

We finally got up to the omnimovers.

 

 

It stopped for a second and we panicked that it might be broke down again, but it quickly restarted.

 

[jenseib]

Our turn on the “new” Little Mermaid ride! Woohoo!

 

 

 

Our omnimovers moved us left and right, front and back and even titled at times. We started out on land and then it gave us the feeling we were going under water.

 

Carey and family are in this car!

 

 

 

We were tilted back and looking up you see Ariel swimming above you.

 

 

At some point the ride stopped. We panicked a bit again. As nice as it is to be on the ride, we were not stopped in front of anything great. In fact my view was the back of Carey’s car.

And we still had a lot we wanted to do yet, including the parade. Luckily after a few minutes we got moving again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the Sea!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poor Unfortunate Souls!

 

 

 

 

 

Sha la la la la la la laaaaaa! Kiss the Girl! That’s my favorite song from the Little Mermaid.

 

 

 

 

 

Everything works out Great for the happy couple!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was a big hit with us. We really enjoyed this ride. Now I wouldn’t wait for a long period of time to ride it, but I don’t like to wait long for ANY ride. It is worth riding and checking out though. Probably the best dark ride in the park right now in my opinion.

 

We headed out once again.

 

 

It was time to go find a spot for the parade. I like Liberty Square area, as it is usually less crowded there, so that’s the way we headed.

 

 

As we were walking a noticed a Photopass photographer doing nothing, but clearly had something set up. I asked Carey and she wasn’t sure what it was, but we figured magic shot so we made a quick stop.

Claire and I went first.

 

 

 

I love these shots!!!

 

Carey’s family was next!

 

 

And then we quickly made our way to Liberty Square, where it was a mad house! I was surprised how busy it was. I always go by the rule the 2nd parade is less busy. In fact for Spectro and MSEP many times we walk up about 15 minutes prior and find a spot to sit with barely anyone around. This WAS not true for tonight.

Carey noticed a spot that was a walk through and we positioned ourselves to stand near there and throw the kids there when the rope went up. A lot of people had this same idea though, unfortunately. Luckily the CM kept telling people to back away, but we were at a spot that we should be OK to make the dash.

Soon they roped it off and the Headless Horseman came through. The kids sat and had a perfect spot.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately after he went by, they unroped the walkway again and they had to stand back up and move out of the way. UGH! We got separated, and Claire stood with Carey’s family. I trusted Carey to get them in position though. She was eyeing people and letting them know not to mess with her. LOL!

 

 

This CM was out there dancing away and just having a great time. I really think she loves her job!

 

[jenseib]

Parade time! The rope went back up and Carey threw them girls right to the ground! They squished right in and let a few others in next to them and we stood behind them. Thank goodness for Carey!!!!

 

And on to the parade!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can hear the music as I post these pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pirates!!!!!

 

 

Doesn’t this guy look like Nicholas Cage?

 

 

 

 

Tick tock!

 

 

 

More pirates!

 

 

 

 

I swear it looks like Barbosa is looking directly at me …it’s kind of creepy.

 

 

And there is my boyfriend. SHHH! Don’t tell Skip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grave Diggers were just so cool! They were making sparks with the shovels and they just look really neat. I didn’t get too many good pictures though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the Hitchhiking Ghosts! They were too cool!

 

 

 

 

 

And the cowboys! Um ,they looked REALLY good …….So much so that I only took a couple of pictures. I might’ve been wiping drool off my chin in the meantime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

My Buddy Chip!

 

 

 

 

 

Here come the Villain’s!

 

 

 

Another great segment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After reading the Kingdom Keepers she just seems a bit more creepier!

 

 

 

 

I don’t know what I did, but I evidently made the Evil Queen mad!

 

 

 

Time to breathe a sigh of relief! Goofy is coming to save the day with lots of Candy!

 

 

 

They were handing out suckers and Claire got quite a few …and they were tasty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This parade was absolutely awesome! I am so glad that I finally got to see this in person. If you EVER get a chance to see it, do so. It has great music and is just a lot of fun!

 

After the parade, I believe we headed over near the jungle cruise and hit the jack pot of trick or treating. They had 2 lines and they were competing on how much candy each side would give the kids. The girls were happy about that.

 

At this point, I think Carey’s family decided to head up front and try to see the princesses, but Claire and I weren’t quite ready to leave, so we said good bye and headed off on our own.

 

 

My favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean, so I convinced Claire to head that way.

 

 

It looked like it was on fire with an orange glow around it.

 

 

 

 

I took some pictures on the ride, but most came out just too dark.

 

We did see the new mermaid additions and that was exciting to us.

 

 

 

We had pretty much had it after this. The lack of sleep was catching up to both of us, so we headed to the front.

This is Claire’s treat bag. My wonderful Dis friend Lisa (mickeystoontown) made one for Claire and Kadence and sent them to us right before the trip. It was a huge hit with both girls.

 

 

As we approached Main Street, we noticed it was lit up for the party as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for one last photopass of the night.

 

 

 

[jenseib]

We continued down Main Street.

 

 

We decided we needed to check out the shops before leaving. I don’t think we end up buying anything though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They already had a few Christmas items out too.

 

 

We headed back out.

 

 

A few more scarecrow shots

 

 

 

As we walked by the town hall I asked Claire if she wanted to see the princesses and she said no. I really wish I would’ve insisted on doing so. After seeing Carey’s photopass pictures, I am very jealous of the shots she got.

 

I tried to get a picture of the “See Ya Real Soon” pumpkins, but it didn’t turn out too great.

 

 

We had been carrying “Flat Ben” all night and just plain forgot to pull him out for a picture, so we did get one shot before leaving.

 

 

We went to the locker and retrieved our things and then back to turn in the key. We were thirsty, so we pulled out 2 pops to purchase which basically came to the same price as what the locker deposit refund was.

 

Out to the bus stop and our legs were starting to hurt. We did get a seat, but the bus was pretty crowded. It made a stop at Kidani first and then to Jambo where we got off. Claire was dead tired at this point. She was wishing I would either carry her, or that she would sprout wings so she could fly back to the room. Neither of those things happened!

 

I guess I had enough energy to take a shot of the lobby.

 

 

And then the long hallway to our room.

 

 

It did not take us long to get ready for bed and go out. It had been such a long day, but a very fun one too. We made new memories and new friends and we couldn’t have asked for better weather either.

 

I laid my head on the 2nd pillow of the trip so far. In 2 days I had slept in 2 different spots. “Oh the Places We go”.

[jenseib]

Nov. 3, 2013 ~ Day 3

 

 

A new day!

I think I woke up somewhere around 6:30 and 7. Claire was out like a light though. I checked my email and facebook then I showered and got ready for the day.

 

I took a look out on the balcony and WOW! We had a bunch of animals out there this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The views were just gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

This guy was pacing all over and squawking so loudly. I think he wanted to be on the other side of the fence.

 

 

 

I fooled around a bit and took a few pictures of Flat Ben for my fellow Diser Dee.

And I got this one that was so cute. Claire never saw it till we got home and she was surprised to see it.

 

 

I decided that maybe I would try to do laundry. I know that staying on DVC points you get free laundry services. I headed out for a bit too look. Just so you know, Claire knows that if she wakes up and I am not there she is NOT to leave the room or answer the door. I only leave for a few minutes at a time and come back to check on her frequently if I walk out.

So I went in search and found a room not too far away. Now we didn’t have much laundry dirty, but I thought it would be nice to stay ahead of things. Well this was not for DVC members as you had to pay to use it. I went back to the room and looked at the resort map and still couldn’t find it. I wasn’t going to pay to do a few pieces of clothing, but I would do it for free. LOL

I think I snuck out a couple of times and never could find it.

In the meantime, while out searching, I was texting my Dis/Cruise Critic friend Ellen (podsnel). She had arrived yesterday as well and was staying in some fancy shmancy suite at AKL. She invited me to her room , but they were going to be leaving soon.

I told her I was going to run and get Claire dressed and we would be right over. I got Claire up and she was a little slow, well VERY slow. I put her dress on and told her we would skip brushing the rats nest and her teeth and just head over so we didn’t miss them. She could do those things when we got back.

 

She grumbled a bit, but was a little curious to see the room.

We headed out and I realized that Ellen’s room was about as far down the hall as ours was, but on the other wing.

I believe this is when, as we were walking a lady came out of her room and started walking as well and then asked me if I posted on the Disboards. I told her yes and she said she read my reports. We said hellos and she told me her name …Jedijill! It was so nice to meet her!

 

We continued on our long journey to Ellen’s room with the clock ticking. We arrived and knocked and she answered. It was a bit chaotic in her room too, as they were getting ready to leave and some of the family was walking out the door.

 

This was such an awesome fun meet though. I have been following Ellen’s reports for about a year now. She is married to Pods and has 3 boys, Sean, Tyler and Timmy. I believe her brother in-laws family was staying with them too. I got to meet them all!

It was so unreal to be saying hi to Timmy and Tyler. They were just as she writes about them. Super cute boys, btw! I bet they are breaking hearts all over.

After saying hi, all of them left except for Ellen and Sean, who was sleeping on the couch. Sean is Autistic and so is my nephew. After reading some of Ellen’s reports, it’s so funny how similar they are. I give Ellen a lot of credit, because I do know how hard it can be to raise a child like that. My nephew is wonderful too, but stubborn at times. I believe Ellen once had to take one of Sean’s favorite books ransom in order for him to get on a plane to fly to Florida one year. These are things my SIL has to do at times too.

We left Sean sleeping and Ellen gave us a tour of the place. I am going to say I was really bad and not on my game as I mostly gawked at the beauty of this place rather than taking pictures. I think it had like 4 bedrooms and a pool table room, a living room and kitchen too, if I remember right and several bathrooms. Ellen was beaming. She said it was the best place she had ever stayed at.

Here are the few pictures I did take.

 

 

This is the master bathroom.

 

 

Isn’t this just so cool!

 

 

 

 

I think this was the shower tiles in there.

 

 

They had a walk in closet that was the size of some people’s bedrooms. It was massive!

 

We headed out to see her view.

 

 

They had 3 huge balconies! It was just amazing.

 

 

We settled in for a bit and chatted.

She was telling me how they had to cancel their annual girls cruise, as one of the girls now had to work. That was a bummer, as I love reading their reports about them. They really have a good time.

She also started talking about a Diser who lived in her town and was a school teacher, but also did side work in the same industry as I. I asked her the name and she told me. Well what a small world …that girl is my co-worker Nikki!

Soon we needed to wrap things up. WE needed to check out of our room yet and have our bags taken and go to our morning ADR and she needed to get Sean going and off to meet the rest of the family.

 

Claire was a tiny bit bored too. (love the wild hair)

 

 

We had Claire take pictures of us. She brightened up when we asked her to do that.

 

 

And this was the one she took with Ellen’s camera.

 

 

As we headed out, Ellen showed me one other bathroom we had missed.

 

 

Then we said good byes. She was going to be here for several more days too and we talked about possibly meeting up later in the trip, but I was so busy, as I am sure she was too, that it never happened.

 

We rushed back the long journey to our room. Claire brushed her teeth and I made a call to bell services to pick up our bags.

I then had the task of brushing rat city out of Claire’s hair. And guess what, the darn brush broke in it! UGH! I got it kind of put back together to finish the task and then I called my mother. They were on their way to my sisters, (where most of the family was meeting to go to the airport) and her and my Dad were stopping off at the pharmacy first. PERFECT!

I asked if she would buy a new hairbrush for Claire and bring it down and she said no problem. Thinking back, I am sure the gift shop probably had something, but I was in a small panic mode thinking that I wouldn’t have a brush for the rest of the trip.

Soon we had a knock on our door and a lady was there to take our bags. She was so nice and so funny. She asked if I normally stay at Grand Floridian, and I told her no, (I wish) and she said there is a lady who had my same hair that stays there all the time and she always recognizes her by the unusual hair. So there you have it folks. I am NOT the only one who has this crazy color, as my Mom would say.

I told her I never got a voucher for Magical Express on my door and she told me just to go to Bell services later and they will be able to write one for me.

Claire and I were using Magical Express today to get back to the airport where we would meet up with the rest of the family and then rent cars to head over to Port Canaveral. I had called a few days prior, as told by ME and had it arranged and given a time to leave. Since we weren’t catching a flight, we only had to leave about an hour before their flight arrived.

 

Well there was no time to take a breath and relax. We had an ADR to get to …..Boma!

We headed down and checked right in.

 

 

We only had to wait for a few minutes.

 

 

 

We were led to a table for 2 next to a window. I will state right now, that almost all my pictures are fuzzy or blurry. I guess I didn’t have my “game” on this morning.

 

 

 

We headed up and got Claire a plate of fruit.

 

 

I got a little more than fruit. LOL

 

 

Not sure why she is making such a weird face.

 

 

 

 

 

We both headed back up a couple of times. Claire really liked the sausage and the ham from the carving station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

We finished up our meal at Boma. We really enjoyed it. The juice is pretty darn good too!

I paid the bill and we gathered our belongings and headed out. Once again, we no longer had a room, so we had to carry with us what we needed for the day till it was time to leave.

 

We made a stop to take a couple of pictures of Claire.

 

 

 

And a stop off at the bathroom.

 

 

 

 

 

MEANWHILE! …………

 

My family was preparing to head to the airport. My Mom had arranged for a bus to take 10 of them to the airport in Detroit. That left Katie, Thad and their boys to go up there on their own.

 

 

 

Mom said they came across a bad accident on the way up and quickly called Katie to tell her to avoid it.

 

They arrived at the airport and settled in till it was time to board the plane. They were flying Delta.

 

 

 

Abby is always happy if she has a good snack.

 

 

Mom said they boarded on time, but Katie and family were practically running to the plane. I guess they had run into the accident after all and were running extremely late. I do think the flight time actually might’ve been changed to a bit later of a time. I had made the arrangements for everyone and I had it all written down in my planner so I knew when to get to the airport to meet them, but they ended up landing about 10 minutes later than I had written down. Mom said it was all “on time” and she wasn’t sure if the time changed or not. LOL

 

So Claire and I had just finished a nice brunch.

We headed outside a bit. I think we checked out the hot tub and took a look at the Flamingoes again.

 

 

We then decided to go over and look at the Savanna, so back through the resort we went.

 

 

 

A few peeks out the windows.

 

 

 

A picture of my little sweetheart.

 

 

We went and admired the animals. There were a ton of giraffes out today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Claire wasn’t as into the animals today as I was. She wanted to swim. She did however find a hidden Mickey.

 

 

I made her stay a little longer though. I just really enjoyed looking at the animals out there. She did too, but she had enough and was worried about how much time she would have for swimming before we had to leave.

 

 

 

Finally I relented and we headed back towards the pool area.

 

 

 

 

A door we passed. I loved the theming here.

 

 

Down the elevator.

 

 

And we went over to the pool area bathroom to change.

 

 

We usually used this shower stall for changing. It was bigger than the other 2. It also had a stool in there to set our bags on. I noticed the other 2 didn’t and I don’t think they had hooks either, if I remember right. I thought that was dumb, as the floor was wet and there wasn’t a way to keep your things dry if you showered. The shower had a changing area then stall with curtain, but you really needed a stool to keep things dry. The bigger one also seemed to be dryer since it was bigger.

 

 

 

 

 

Isn’t this a cute hamper?

 

 

 

Back out, we headed towards the hot tub.

 

 

We spotted a little critter.

 

 

 

 

Claire enjoyed the hot tub for a while.

 

 

We then headed over to the pool again and I sat in the same spot as the day before and Claire swam and swam and swam. I put the camera away for a bit and tried to facebook with my kindle and phone. I say try, because facebook kept telling me my posts couldn’t be made. I have this issue off and on. It’s so annoying.

Also the wifi was spotty and every so often I had to relog back in.

Tim (Dis That’s Nice) was over at the Coronado and he was posting how he still hadn’t made it to a park yet and he was going nuts. His daughter was swimming too. We chatted a bit via facebook, along with a few others, some who were going to be coming to WDW in the next few days as well. I was half tempted to gather up Claire and go over and visit Tim. But I knew the ride over would be long and Claire wouldn’t like getting pulled out of the pool. And Tim and I had planned to meet up later in the trip.

 

I had a family sitting in the loungers in front of me and they were so fun to listen to. After talking to them a bit, I found out that some of the members lived not too far from me. Small World!

After a while we heard a plane and saw some sky writing. It actually took quite a while to get the whole message up and the first word was pretty much faded before the next one even started. In fact for the last one, the plane left and came back.

 

 

 

 

God Loves You. A nice message, but seriously, why do would you have a sky writer do this? The family in front of me was laughing that someone would pay that much money to have that written. And it was kind of funny because the plane left and came back before writing “U”. Like he had to refuel and come back just for that letter. LOL

 

Meanwhile, Claire was having a ball swimming and watching others.

 

 

 

 

The pool games had started and she sat right up there and watched, but she wouldn’t join in. I think if she had a friend with her, she would have. I think she was just too shy. She told me she did do a few things, but I don’t think she was officially playing.

 

 

The games were a huge highlight for her though. She would ask me every so often if people ever just come to Disney to just stay at the hotel and swim. I told her that I am sure a few do, but most people who come this far do want to go the parks too. I think she really liked this relaxed resort day approach we had taken.

 

While she swam I took a few pictures of the area from my chair.

 

 

 

This one came out bad. I was supposed to be focusing on the light. Not sure why I got the background instead.

 

 

 

Before too long it was time to get out and get dressed. She wasn’t too thrilled about this, but I reminded her we had a bus to catch and we had several more days of fun ahead of us.

We walked around and took a few more pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

And then back towards the bathroom to change. I noticed these lockers. That’s a pretty good deal ($1).

 

 

Claire was pretty hungry after all that swimming so we stopped off and got a light late lunch. It was around 4 now and I knew we wouldn’t be eating again till much later after meeting up with the family.

 

 

 

 

I think we also called Skip once again while we were there and updated him and said our hellos.

 

Claire didn’t finish it all so I asked for a container to carry the rest. It was kind of a pain and I think we ended up throwing most of what was left (the crustable sandwich) away later on.

 

We walked around a little bit more.

 

 

We talked of walking down to Kidani and checking it out, but Claire said it would be too far. Not like she really had a clue.

 

 

We ended up going in the gift shop and Claire bought some sunglasses. We forgot to bring her a pair (really she doesn’t wear them all that often) and just looked around for a while. Sadly the glasses got lost at some point. She wanted them for the cruise, but she left them in the rental van and they were forgotten till we needed them on the ship. We saw them once when we got back and never again. I have no clue where they went, except that maybe they were left in the van somewhere.

 

Around 4:30 we went to retrieve our luggage and get a voucher for the Magical Express. First they sent us outside and then inside, then back outside. The girl at the outside desk knew what to do, but I thought it was strange that the guys handling the luggage didn’t know I could get a voucher there.

 

 

 

It wasn’t too long and our bus arrived and Claire and I were the first on again, and we took our favorite first row seat.

 

 

I took a shot of the seatbelts that are now on the new buses.

 

[jenseib]

Good Bye Animal Kingdom Lodge! We really enjoyed you! So much so that I think I took over 300 pictures there! Probably close to 350.

 

On our way to MCO! Claire kept saying how it wasn’t said being on the bus like it was for others because we still had a long trip ahead of us, and she was right. It wasn’t the Magical Depress this time around.

 

If course we had to make a few stops along the way to pick up more guests. I think our first stop was CBR, but I didn’t take pictures if it was.

Next up was Art of Animation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then Pop Century.

 

 

And off to MCO. I actually was starting to think we may be a little late, but we weren’t.

 

 

And this is where the whole trip was really supposed to start. Originally this was just going to be a 4 day cruise for the whole family, with flying in 1 day prior to sailing. Cousin Vicki was the one who wanted to sail as a group. Mom, Claire and I had sailed the Dream on March 31, 2011, shortly after she was inaugurated, and Mom had raved about the trip. Vicki thought it would be fun to do a family trip. When Mom first told me about it, I really never thought it would come to anything. Too many people to coordinate and settle on dates, etc. Also I didn’t think some members would actually ever cruise.

We met for a lunch one day in Sept. 2011 and it all started to come together and in Oct we had settled on dates that everyone agreed on and it was booked. I immediately began thinking that Claire and I would stay 3 days after and do the Christmas party and Hollywood Studios one day to see the Osborne lights. That eventually became almost 7 days. And of course we then added a day on to the beginning as well.

Then of course the family started thinking that if they were down there, they might as well hit some parks too, so this short vacation became a weeklong event for everyone.

 

We soon arrived at the Delta drop off and we collected our bags.

This is probably the one and only picture of Claire with her new sunglasses.

 

 

I got one of those rental carts. There was no way I was lugging that entire luggage around by hand. I took note of the price, and of course now I don’t remember. I want to say it was $7. WELL worth the price, whatever it was. I do think it might’ve had a refund of like 50 cents or something like that when you returned it.

 

 

After we loaded the cart, I texted a few family members to see if they had landed. At first there was no response. Then Geoff responded and said they had just landed and he and Aunt Mary were to be some of the first off as they had upgraded to bigger seats towards the front.

 

Claire and I just hung outside for a bit. And then moved our way inside and took turns using the restroom. We then realized we needed to go up a floor to be near the luggage claim, so we headed towards and elevator and then waited …and waited…and waited.

 

Geoff let us know the number to be at, so we waited some more. But then we noticed that actually it was the one next to it that was for their flight, so we planted ourselves near that one.

 

 

It really did seem to take a long time for them to arrive. I had to keep reminding myself that they probably all made a bathroom stop and then had to take the fake monorail over.

I texted back and forth a few times with Geoff and then suddenly I saw some family!

There is Rob! ….. with Alexis behind him. I also see Mom, Dad and Geoff!

 

 

Everyone made it and they were in good spirits. The big worry was how the little ones would do on the plane. Katie’s boys were just fine …and I have to admit, they are both angels at all times. She is so lucky. Even wild 3 year old Abby did well. They said they just gave her snacks and kept movies playing for her and she was perfectly happy.

 

The luggage soon started and they started pulling off all the bags. Someone flagged a porter down and he had this huge cart and he just kept piling and piling the bags on.

 

I am not sure what everyone is looking at in this shot.

 

 

We took a few turns going to the bathroom and then made sure we had our bags loaded. Count your bags! Make sure you didn’t leave any ……dum dum dum …….make sure you read the name tags as well …..dum dum dum…….

 

Abby and Gail waiting for everyone to be ready.

 

 

Off to the Dollar Rental counters. The porter led the way. This guy was excellent. Very friendly and we kind of felt bad monopolizing his time, but then again, we are probably not the only people who use a porter and need to stop off at the rental counter.

 

We left my cart, and a few people, and kids, and porter off to the side and we got in line for the cars. Our car was in Moms name, but she wanted me to drive, so I was going to have to put it in my name and on my credit card. She said she would pay me later, which was fine (and she did).

 

Now let me tell you about our experience with Dollar. I will tell you, I would rent again, because they often have great deals …BUT you have to read EVERYTHING you sign or check agree too. And the counter staff was AWFUL!

We all lined up at the counter, each with a different dollar representative. We could hear what was going on with the others at the counter as well. They REALLY pushed insurance. I let them no in no terms did we want any. He kept insisting that I needed it and I kept insisting that I didn’t. I told him my SIL works for a car rental company and she has told me how it works, and I know my own insurance covers the car. He tried to tell me that I was wrong and my SIL probably didn’t know what she was talking about. I let him know she was higher up in the company and knew EXACTLY what she was talking about. I could hear this pressure going on for each family member down the line and I heard each and every one of them tell the clerk no. I will refer to my guy as Mr. Sauvo, because that is the best way to describe him …with his slicked back hair and Latin looks. Also this was pretty much how each and every guy looked right down the counter line. Listen buddy, you can smooth talk me and smile your charming smile, but I am NOT getting insurance.

So it came time to hit the agree screen. They have a long list of pages and he told me to hit agree to everything. I repeated it back to him and he said, well you should probably read it so you don’t agree do anything you don’t want. So I did, as he continued to talk to me. Yeah, that makes it hard to read when you have someone still talking. BUT I caught it! There was something about adding so much a day for some kind of security. I hit I do NOT agree.

When the print out came out, it had higher charges on it. I questioned this with 2 different people. I pointed out the amount I was to pay and asked what the others was. I was assured I was paying the right amount. I do know often rental companies have these strange charges on the list, but don’t charge you unless you agree to them, and normally I wouldn’t worry, but with Mr. Sauvo, anything could happen.

 

I will now skip ahead several days later. When Aunt Mary got home she found that they were indeed charged insurance. And it appeared my sister Gail had been too, but hers was a lesser charge for some odd reason. Everyone else has checked their CC statements and we all were charged the right amount. My guess is that some of us caught that part in the “I agree” list and checked no, while some just hit I agree to everything like the guys said to do. I need to check with Aunt Mary, but she was disputing it. She wrote a ton of letters and even found out that Dollar has a class action suit against them in a few states for adding this hidden insurance fee.

 

Back to our story……

 

We left Mr. Sauvo and all his Sauvo co-workers and out to the parking garage.

We were directed to the vans. Of course most of us had shoved the paperwork in a bag and had to retrieve it once again to show the attendants out there.

Our Porter pretty much knew the area and led the way again.

 

We picked out a few vans (we had 4 total). The vans had 3 rows and we folded down the 3rd row in each van and started loading. It was a bit chaotic, I will admit. The porter just started throwing bags in our van and helped with mine, which were still on my trusty cart as well. But then the family wanted their own bags in their own car and the porter said it really didn’t matter since we were all going to the same destination. But it did matter for most, so we tried to sort some of them out. In the end, Katie came over to our van and asked if we had any extras, and sure enough we had 2 of her bags.

 

I needed to return our cart, but the Porter said he would take it. Great. I was happy not to have to walk back. he was tipped a decent sum too. I think the family gave him somewhere around $50 -$60. Not bad for an hours work.

 

I had made folders for everyone with lots of info. Most everyone was a newbie to DCL and a few were WDW newbies as well.

I had directions to our hotel, but Rob led the way and asked at the counter and they gave him a slightly better way to get to the highway.

 

Off we went! It took about an hour to get to Cape Canaveral. The plan was to check in and go eat at Fish Lips. As we drove, it was dark and we pretty much kept losing sight of each other. At one point we were cursing Rob out for going so darn fast. I could barely keep up. OOOPS! It wasn’t Rob. And the next toll both Gail had called us and they mentioned being not too far behind us in the next row. LOL. Poor Rob was getting blamed for nothing.

Gail did inform us that Abby needed food soon. We wondered what was happening in their car. Abby can be a fireball when not happy.

We also had our issues in our car. I don’t remember the details, I probably blocked them out, but my Dad can be cranky at times. He has to be right about things, even if he has no clue what he is talking about and is super stubborn. (it’s so scary how much Skip is like him…..EEEK!) I just remember having a headache and being glad to be at the hotel and able to get out. I think some of the problem was food. He wanted to eat at Fish Lips and Mom said we were going to just probably hit Burger King. I think his shoes were hurting his feet as well and he was grumbling quite a bit about that. Mom assured him he had new tennis shoes in one of the suitcases and he could wear those tomorrow …….dum dum dum…….

 

Finally we arrived and I was happy to get away for a few minutes.

 

We started checking in and we took this shot of the kids.

 

 

By the time it was our turn to check in, part of our plan was not right. I had called this hotel, the Residence Inn, twice in the past 2 years to ask about the port shuttle. I was told their cost, or you could reserve a room with the park and cruise option and it included 2 tickets to the shuttle. It was an additional $6 per person. I was also told that you could not schedule the shuttle till you arrived. I had asked about getting the first one of the morning and again, was told that when we check in we could schedule what was available. OK then. I gave this info to the whole family. The plan was that the men would drive us and our bags to the port in the morning and then come back with the cars, park them and then take the shuttle over.

 

We were informed at check in that there is ONLY 1 shuttle per cruise line. It left at 11 (I believe), so that wouldn’t work out for us at all as that was the same time the port opened. At first this really irked me. I hated being wrong for one and telling everyone this wrong bit of info. I questioned it and the girl and guy there seemed to have been with that hotel since it had opened and said that was always their policy and not sure who had given me the info. My guess is that I probably had some housekeeper or something answer the phone and just made it up. LOL. Anyways, they apologized, we got our shuttle tickets and purchased the ones we needed and I let go of it. It was a long day and we were tired and stressed, and there was no reason for me to be so irked. I kind of felt bad for the desk people as we are sometimes a bit chaotic and we probably had them flustered.

 

At this point in time we didn’t even unload our bags. Abby was hungry and so were many of us. We drove over to Burger King which is right next door. Actually only Claire and I, Mom and Dad, and Gail’s family went there. This was a HUGE mistake. They had 3 people working (on a Sat. night) and they were SLOW! I swear they were cooking each thing as it was ordered. And every so often the cook and the counter girl would scream back and forth at each other. Mostly about working on a night off, or something like that.

The poor drive thru girl was running around too, and couldn’t take time to help the other 2. She looked like she had it together, but was so busy, she just kept shoving food out the window.

We made our orders and waited and waited and waited. Oh and it was filthy in there. Gail took out some baby wipes and went to town wiping off tables.

The food came out one by one and it wasn’t even that good. I think they ran out of happy meal toys and it just was a big mess. By the end of the night, we were loudly making comments about how poor the service and food was, as we just didn’t care anymore and it was like living a big joke.

In the meantime, Geoff called and said Katie needed her bags. I think he drove over to get them. If I remember right we had an issue with getting the back door open, but eventually we got it.

 

Alexis had been asking me about going swimming since pretty much the first moment we saw her at the airport and Claire had bragged about all the swimming she had done.

I told her several times that I wasn’t sure if the pool would still be open and whether or not I had the energy to take them. She never let up on it either. Not did Claire for that matter.

 

We headed back to the hotel and met up with family once again and most of them were now heading out to Fish Lips.

 

 

We got settled in our room (Claire and I were sharing with Mom and Dad), and I went to move the van to the parking lot.

When I got back, Mom was off taking the girls swimming. Those buggers had talked her into it.

But they had a great time.

 

Every kid has to master the handstand.

 

 

I sat with them a bit and took a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When it was pool closing time, mom took the girls back. She gave Claire a shower, which she desperately needed and I went off and walked around a bit to have some quiet time.

 

 

At one point I ran into Rob who was just sitting down at the pool bar. I decided a beer sounded really good and ordered one. I believe it was $5.75 for a bud light. HOLY COW!!!!!

We chatted a bit and talked to the bar tender, asking about Hurricane Sandy that had gone through only a week or so prior and about busy seasons, etc. Rob asked me some cruise questions. He has cruised before, but not on Disney and he wanted to know some of the differences, etc.

We both headed back to our rooms and got ready for bed. Claire was on a super high from all the excitement. We finally got her settled down. I think my Dad stayed out in the living room and fell asleep on the couch for several hours and then came to bed.

 

I laid my head down on the 3rd pillow of the trip. Oh the places we go!

I met a few more great Disers today. Oh the People we meet!

 

Sadly, this was not a restful night. If you have read my other reports, you know that I don’t always sleep well on vacation. I have anxieties that I am missing something or just too excited, or whatever the reason, and tonight ended up being one of those kind of nights.

[milst1]

Cute report.

[jenseib]

Cute report.

 

Thanks. It takes me a while to write them ,but I enjoy really enjoy reliving them as I write.

[jenseib]

Before I go on I want to add something that I forgot from the previous day.

While Claire was swimming I pulled out the new journal that was from Carey and Janet. I opened it to start writing and taped inside was a $25 gift card to Disney. They said thanks for all the help, but honestly there was NO need to give me such a wonderful thing. I texted them both and thanked them. I used it towards a new watch purchase later in the trip!

 

On to…….

 

Nov.4, 2013, Sunday ~ Day 4

 

I had really hoped for a good night’s sleep, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. The time also changed during this night, so we were falling back and getting an extra hour.

I think I slept about 3-4 solid hours and then I woke up and tossed and turned for a bit. I finally just gave up and got up and dressed and went for a walk. I knew laying there with my head full of activity would do me no good, so maybe if I moved around, I would tire myself out.

 

I believe it was now 4:30 AM in the new time. (5:30 old time)

 

 

 

As I was walking around, I did see an older guy walking as well. I really tried to stay towards the front and on the sidewalk. I surely didn’t want any freaks attacking me.

After a bit, he was walking towards his car and he said hello and I said hi back. He then said he would like to point out some stuff in the sky to me if I didn’t mind. He was from Montreal and he love astronomy. I didn’t get any closer to him, just to be safe. I am sure he was perfectly nice, but crazy maniacs appear nice too. So he pointed out Jupiter and Mars if I remember right and actually told me some interesting info. We talked a few minutes and then he had to be on his way for a convention or something. I walked around the front some more and over near the Burger King parking lot I saw something fairly big move. It was either a HUGE rat, which wouldn’t surprise me one bit, or an armadillo. I am guessing armadillo since we are in FL. But it had that rat like tail. CREEPY. I quickly moved towards the hotel entrance then.

 

 

 

I was thinking about heading in, when I had an afterthought, maybe I should stay out here and see if I can see the Dream pull in, if it hadn’t yet already.

So I looked that way and guess what! She was pulling in, but I only saw the tail end of her before she went out of sight. That of course made my excitement level higher!

 

I decided to head back in and take some pictures inside. Last year I didn’t get a lot and this was the perfect time to get the lobby area fairly empty.

 

 

This is some of the tables to eat breakfast at.

 

 

A few things for sale.

 

 

Computer station. I actually ended up using this later that morning. I had 2 folders full of paperwork and plans, etc. And I for the life of me could not find my inline check in form. I was getting annoyed, so I just went to this station and reprinted it.

 

 

I don’t think we ever even looked much at this area last year. It was a nice seating area and over flow from breakfast would sit in here as well.

 

 

 

 

I took a seat for a while then and played a bit with my phone. I think I even went back to the room, which was right around the corner from the front desk, and got my kindle and I read up on a few emails and I think I even caught up reading on a Trip Report or 2.

 

While sitting there a lady came in. She was the lady who put out the breakfast, so she must arrive early to set up and cook. She was kind of funny talking to a few guys and complaining about the time change and it messing her up.

 

I then took off towards the bathroom.

 

 

 

There was a door outside right by the bathrooms, so I went out through that and it led near the pool and pool bar, which is on the left in the picture, but all shut down.

 

 

The front desk

 

 

I headed back to the room for a bit and charged my kindle while I read some more. I just sat in the living room area. I think around 6:15 or so I went and took a shower and got that out of the way. After I did that my Mom and Dad also got up and took their showers. Claire slept through it all pretty much.

 

I think she woke up around 7:30ish and we got her dressed.

 

 

Dad started looking for his new tennis shoes and of course Mom yelled at him for asking over and over and she told them they were in HER suitcase and she would get them for him. So she pulled her suitcase out and went to a side pocket and it had a lock on it. My Mom was TICKED off. Why would security at the airport lock these after checking it? She doesn’t have a key. I suggested that if we needed to get in the pocket we may have to see if someone else had a key to fit or cut it open. She then went to open the main suitcase to see if the keys were inside and it was LOCKED! My mom doesn’t cuss much EVER, but a few words slipped out at that point in time. We then looked the bag over and that when I asked if it was her bag. It’s orange and honestly I have never seen another like it, but you never know. We looked at the bag tag and compared it to her retrieval tags and it was NOT a match! We searched and found a tag and it had someone else’s name on it and they were from Montreal. OH NO!!!!!

 

Talk about panic! This suitcase had all my mom’s clothes in it and it was GONE! She was in a tizzy and I don’t blame her. I just kept saying be calm and we’ll work something out, even if she had to go shopping for new clothing.

I frantically searched on my kindle for Deltas lost bag phone number. It kept glitching and taking me to another page, but finally it came up and I called. Guess what, they are closed on Sundays. Seriously? You would think this would be open 24 hours a day, EVERY day.

In the meantime, Mom is trying the number for the Montreal people and it just talks in French and from what she could gather, they were out of area to get the call.

As I am looking on the kindle for other options, my Moms cell phone rings. She answers it annoyed, but soon perks up. It’s Delta. They have her bag! Mom lets them know that she has someone elses as well. Mom handed the phone to me because she was in such a panic and took down the directions on how to retrieve it. The guy was great and said not to worry as the ship didn’t leave till later in the afternoon and we also had an extra hour to play with today.

 

I told Mom I would run down to Gail and Rob’s room and ask if Rob would drive Dad to airport to make the switch. No one was going to trust Dad to do this on his own and he drives like a snail. If I went, I probably would’ve killed him somewhere along the roadside.

 

Side note ….my suggestion to you when packing. Pack by day and not by person. Which is something I have started doing the last few years. Just in case a suitcase does get lost, at least you have a couple of days’ worth of clothes in one bag for everyone!

 

Claire and I ran down the hall to Gail’s room. We knocked and heard Alexis ask who it was. She opened the door and we asked if her Dad was up. Abby piped up, “I go get him”. So she went into the bedroom and jumped on Rob to wake him up. Gail and Rob had a 2 bedroom suite, not sure how they lucked out on that ….. and Gail came out of the other bedroom and asked what was up and I told her and she knew the horror of what must be going on in our room.

Rob got right up and dressed and I headed off back to our room to let Dad know to be ready when he got there.

Dad turned on his cell phone then (this is a sore subject with Mom as he keeps it off all the time and thinks he only needs to turn it on every so often to check messages and save his battery. He wasn’t even going to bring his charger along for the whole trip and Mom insisted he did) and low and behold there was a message from Delta the night before letting us know they had our bags. Yeah, it was a tense moment in the room then. I thought I might witness my Mother killing my Father and I would have to defend her. After all he was the one who pulled the wrong bag off the carrousel and didn’t turn his phone on. The thing I wondered though was how did they get his number? We put everything under my Moms number. My only guess is she had both numbers on her luggage tag.

 

Dad was ready and I walked him down to Rob’s room. They took off and we let them know if they were late for the shuttle to just drive over to the port and park the van. Rob wanted to get back for a shower too before they went to the port and though we had plenty of time till we needed to head over (thank God for the time change), it did take an hour each way to get to and from the airport.

 

They were off and Gail made the comment that Rob had said “I am sure glad I am not in ‘that’ room this morning. I can only imagine what is going on.” LOL!

 

Yeah, I didn’t want to be there either.

 

We met back up with mom and headed to get a bite to eat to calm our nerves.

 

 

 

We headed back to Gail’s room then and the girls were dressed. Alexis answered the door showing off her lanyard. She asked if Claire had one and Claire panicked a minute. I let her know that we would be getting ones when we checked in for the ship, so we would have them later that day. Collecting pins became a very fun hobby for the 2 girls.

 

 

 

Abby was NOT happy about the headband and was trying to take it off.

 

 

 

We decided to head off for a walk. I think we left Gail in the room to finish getting ready.

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

After a bit of walking around and fooling around we headed back inside. The girls loved this water feature.

 

 

We then headed off to our room for a bit.

 

 

 

I believe Gail met us here and we fooled around a bit more. Gail was worried as Abby was pulling at her ear. This is a telltale sign that she has an ear infection. Abby gets them ALL the time. Gail was worried. We would be heading out to sea for 4 days, it could get ugly. She asked about Dr.’s on the boat and I told her yes, but they are very pricey. Then it dawned on me. Katie is a pediatrician! Gail said Katie and Geoff had made a run to a nearby store, so she quickly called Geoff and let him know the situation. Katie said she would write a script and pick it up. Wonderful!

 

We kind of just chilled a bit and went in and out of the room for a while. I ran back to the room at one point to use the bathroom and realized I had left my phone on the counter. I picked it up and had 2 missed calls and a couple of texts. With all the excitement happening this morning I had forgotten about a Dis meet. Rinky Tinky Tink (she has asked me not to use their names) was getting off the Dream this morning and she said they would stop off at the hotel to meet up. I quickly called her (Or maybe I texted) and she was on her way. I ran back to the lobby and soon they arrived.

She probably thought I was a complete nutcase. With all the stuff going on, I was an utter scatter brain.

 

We talked a bit and they had a gift for Claire. UGH! I had a gift for Rinky Jr (her daughter who is Claire’s age), but it was left in my room. Luckily our room was the first one around the corner, so I quickly ran back and got it. We talked about their cruise. They were so much fun. Mr. Rinky was so funny. Claire and Rinky Jr. pretty much just eyed each other up and down though. They were NOT about to get friendly in the short time we had.

They told me about the damage from Sandy at Castaway Cay, which wasn’t too bad at all in their opinion. They said a few excursions had been canceled, one being the stingray one. We had that booked and it was all Claire wanted to do and she totally shut down after that. She was fighting tears. I let her know we would check once we got on, as I had called prior to going and it was still scheduled, but she wouldn’t listen to me.

Mr. Rinky also told us they did the jet ski excursion and how awesome it was. They all seemed to love it though Rinky Tinky said it was a bit too fast, Mr. Rinky said it wasn’t fast enough. They suggested us looking into it, and it did sound like a lot of fun.

Some family members had walked by and I introduced everyone. Rinky got a whole family meet with me! LOL

It came time where they had to leave as they were driving home and I wanted to get a picture. Shoot! My camera was in the room. So once again I ran back and got that. I think Claire took our picture. She REFUSED to be in it and so did Rinky Jr.

 

 

 

We talked a bit more and guess who walked in! Dad and Rob!

Holy Cow that was fast! It was only an hour and a half since they left!!!!!

I introduced them to Rinky’s family and they walked on. I think Rob and Dad went off for a bite to eat.

 

We said our good byes and they left for home after having a wonderful vacation at Disney World and ending it with the Dream and we were just starting ours.

 

We joined the family who was eating outside and we got a bit to snack on as well.

 

 

 

 

We sat there for a while and chatted. Rob told us how he made the 2 hour plus drive in 1 ½ hours. He said NO ONE EVER passed him on the road. LOL! He said he pulled up and told Dad to stay in the van and watch it while he ran in to make the switch. He said it was waiting right where it was supposed to be and YES, the bags were almost identical. He said the only difference was that the one had a silver zipper and the other had a gold one. I sure hope those poor people got their bag back too.

 

Some of us girls headed off for another walk. Katie joined us this time as well as Gail, if I remember right. Mom stayed back to chat with everyone else.

 

We spotted a turtle in a little pond nearby.

 

 

We watched him a bit and headed off again.

 

 

 

Jude was a wild thing! Katie said that when he is lacking in sleep, he gets pretty jumpy and wild. He was like a crazed little man running all over, but having a great time!

 

 

We tried to get the kids together for a group picture. That wasn’t so easy.

 

I guess Jude is feeling the music….though there wasn’t any playing!

 

 

Another attempt! Abby does not want a boy in the picture.

 

 

Ok, this one isn’t so bad!

 

 

We all chatted some more and then headed back to our rooms to be sure everything was packed. Rob talked to the bus driver and found out that she could take us over then as there weren’t many Carnival passengers riding. Sadly we couldn’t all get out there before it was time for her to leave, but she would be back shortly for us.

 

 

We all just hung out and waited.

 

 

 

After a bit we moved our stuff outside as a few more guests had gathered in the lobby as well.

 

 

 

Abby and Jude sat down on a suitcase together and it was the cutest thing. I was behind a bunch of suitcases and couldn’t get out to get a good shot.

 

 

I decided to climb out and get them.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the bus arrived. This was a BIG bus, just like the Disney buses. We left our luggage for the girl to load. All the guys insisted on helping her, but she said she had a system and wanted to do it herself.

 

Claire and I once again got the front seats! Everyone else piled in behind us.

 

 

 

And soon we were on our way to the port.

 

Our bus driver was very friendly. The ride is very short over to the port and she announced where to go and how to find our shuttle once we got back.

And soon enough we were all gasping at our view!

 

 

She’s just so beautiful and when you pull in and see her you can just see how HUGE she is.

 

 

 

Parking lot shot.

 

 

 

 

Soon enough we were stopped and getting off the bus and waiting for the luggage to unload.

 

 

A shot of the terminal.

 

 

And finally we were off to get in line.

 

 

We had to stop here and show ID’s.

 

 

Aunt Mary and Geoff were right behind Claire and I.

 

 

Claire and I made it through and then started walking. After a bit we noticed that Aunt Mary and Geoff and the rest of the gang was still held up. Claire and I kept going, figuring they would catch up with us shortly.

 

 

 

 

We looked back again before entering the building and they were coming, but as they reached a set of stairs they turned and went up them. I guess this is another entrance and the CM had directed them to go that way. Claire was a little worried we wouldn’t find them again, but I assured her we would all end up in the same place.

 

 

We went through security and made our way towards check in.

 

 

 

 

It was very fast and easy. We got boarding pass number 6 and they were already boarding! You don’t know how bad I just wanted to leave the family behind in the dust and run onto the ship! But we still had to wait for the rest of the family who still had not shown up.

 

I think at one point I texted Geoff who said they were just going through security. When they did arrive, Mom scolded me for going off on our own ahead of everyone.

 

While they all got in line, I took a few pictures.

 

 

 

Abby had spotted Mickey and Gail had prepared her for so long about this trip and she just kept saying “I want to see Mickey MOOOOOWSE!”

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Soon Mom and Dad were at the check in desk. They could use the castaway club check in line since Mom has sailed Disney before.

 

 

I kept eyeing the ears doorway. I was so ready to make the mad dash there and get on the ship!

 

 

While waiting, I took a picture of my cards.

 

 

 

Claire is patiently waiting.

 

 

Gail’s family was the last to get checked in and once she arrived we made our way to the ship.

 

 

Abby was not so happy about this. She still wanted to see Mickey MOOWSE! I started to laugh and say how cruel we were. After all we had prepared her for this for a year and got her excited about meeting characters and then the first one she sees we say she can’t.

 

We made our way on the gangway towards the ship. I was so excited. This was my 2nd time sailing the Dream, but my 3rd time being on her. I was lucky enough to take a ship tour of her in Aug. of 2011.

 

 

And we stopped for a group picture, which surprisingly went well for as many people as we had. They took like 3 or 4, but only one actually showed up on the CD my sister bought.

 

 

Notice our matching shirts. This was actually my Mom’s idea. When we sailed in March 2011 I had bought us matching shirts for our boarding day. Mom said she would wear it, but didn’t seem overly excited about it. I guess she liked it, as she was excited to have us all wear them on this day. She then bought the girls their matching outfits to wear and I had the headbands made (which Abby refused to wear). Some of our family members who did not sail with us and were still back home were mortified that we were doing such a thing. LOL!

 

Time to board the ship! Come on you slow poke family! Let’s get a move on!

 

Needless to say, Claire and I were the first ones to board.

 

Next came Gail’s family.

 

 

And Vicki and Pete were behind them.

 

 

Mary and Geoff and Mom and Dad were slowly making their way on as well.

 

 

 

And finally Katie’s family made their way on as well.

 

 

This one cracks me up with this lady looking right at my camera.

 

 

 

 

We oohed and ahhed over the atrium. It is just gorgeous!

I believe they suggested we head to Enchanted Garden to eat. I said I wanted to go to Cabanas, and Mom did too.

 

 

We spotted Donald doing a meet and greet a floor up and Abby got anxious again. We decided we would head up there and see him and the rest of the family was going to make their way towards Cabanas.

 

 

The line wasn’t long at all. Mom sat off to the side with our carry ons.

 

 

And then it was announced that Donald had to take a break! I could see Gail’s eyes panic. But they announced someone else would be out shortly! Thanks goodness. We HAD to get Abby to a character or there could be a meltdown.

 

 

The girls are waiting patiently.

 

 

And I took a few shots while we waited.

 

 

 

 

And then we saw him!

 

 

Pluto was coming!!!!

 

 

The wait for Pluto was not bad at all and soon Gail’s girls were meeting him. I have given both girls autograph books last Christmas. Gail says she had no clue where she put them and search and searched, so at this point they didn’t have any. They planned to buy one when the shops opened.

 

 

 

 

Abby was not scared at all.

 

 

 

Then it was our turn. I handed my camera to Gail and went up towards Pluto. No I am not telling Gail she is a loser, though I am sure growing up I might’ve made that sign once or twice ….. but she couldn’t figure out how to use my camera and I was telling her to look through the view finder.

 

 

 

 

And then we headed off. I got about here when I realized I had left my carryon over by the couch where Mom had been sitting.

 

 

I ran back and got it and we headed towards the elevator. Gail, Rob and Abby made it on one and took off and we waited and waited and waited. We were a floor above the main atrium and there was just no way we were going to get an elevator that wasn’t full already. I told Mom that we should go to the aft of the ship and take those up as they go right to Cabanas. OK, that sounded good. Dad immediately said NO! (Dad says this often and it annoys the heck out of us. Usually he has no clue what he is talking about when he says it and just says no for no reason)

What? Why?

We can’t go that way.

Oh yes we can!

No, I am not taking the stairs.

I snapped a bit then. I told him that we all had been on the ship before and knew exactly where we were going. The aft elevators would lead us right to where we were going and that if we couldn’t get an elevator, we could take stairs as another option.

He said Gail and Rob would be waiting for us at the top near the elevator.

I told him that they would soon give up if they were when they didn’t see us arrive.

And then we left him standing at the elevator.

WE slowly made our way down the hall and I took a couple of shots of the girls that would not turn out no matter how hard I tried. I even tried a flash to counteract the sun coming in, but it bounced off the glass and made it 10 times worse.

 

 

 

Since we were going so slowly, we eventually saw that Dad was making his way behind us.

We got to the elevators but still had a little wait. Though it wasn’t as bad as the midship ones.

 

 

In the meantime, the rest of the family had made it to Cabanas and Geoff took a couple of shots off the back of the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Grandfather was a tugboat Captain, so this is such a nice shot.

 

[jenseib]

We were heading to Cabanas after finally getting to the aft of the ship, ….even though all did not agree with this move, …..and up to Cabanas. We did not see the rest of the family at all and I just chose a couple of tables out on the back deck.

I took a few pictures just like Geoff’s!

 

 

 

I took Claire and Alexis to get some food and then sat them down at the table. Soon Gail and Rob had found us. They said they waited at the elevator for a short time, but knew we would find our way and left.

 

We took turns going to get food and sat down for a feast.

 

 

YUM!

 

 

I did make more than one trip. At some point Rob showed up with a tropical drink in his hand. He told Gail he bought it for her, but he had done a pretty good job at drinking himself. LOL

 

I took a few more pictures off the back of the ship.

 

 

 

Someone had finally found the rest of the family inside eating. We were now going to head to our staterooms as it was just about time.

We headed down, but actually had to wait a couple of minutes for them to drop the ropes. Actually the other side got dropped but our side was still up for a minute longer. I almost panicked that they had forgotten us!

 

 

We entered our room and soon saw our Castaway Club Member gift!

 

 

But wait! There is also something else on my bed as well.

 

 

It was from Gail! It contained a frame, a flash drive and a picture album. It was so nice of her! She said it was a thank you for arranging all the details of the trip.

 

We scoped out the room then.

 

 

 

 

We had to take a look inside our bag.

 

 

Our room connected to Mom and Dads and we opened the doors and checked their room out as well. Pretty much identical to ours only facing the other way.

Mom and Dad also got a gift from Gail. I can’t remember what it was though. I know part of it was onboard credit. We found out Mary and Geoff also got a gift, including champagne, from Gail too.

Mom and Aunt Mary had inherited some money after their Uncle had died and they paid a big portion of our cruise with that.

 

Our bags were already in our room, all except Moms. Last time we cruise, Mom’s bag was the last to make, so I reassured her it was still on its way. She mentioned that she wondered if it had been delayed because she packed an iron! WHAT!!!!!!! She knew irons were not allowed. I had told her the time before and we used the laundry room to iron when needed. I had also told Geoff and Mary this as well because Geoff likes everything perfect and wanted to bring one. I told him it was a big no-no, and he asked about a steamer and I told him that was frowned upon as well.

Well Mom said her and Geoff decided they were going to each bring one anyways. UGH!

 

We got Claire’s swimsuit out and I took a few pictures from our balcony.

 

 

I would love to try a Royal Caribbean cruise out some day too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think I mentioned this before but I have become a verandah snob. LOL! Once you sail with one, it is so addicting. The view is amazing and just sitting there and relaxing is wonderful.

When I had met with Rinky earlier this day she had told me that they had a verandah this time, while last time they had an inside room. She said I was so right about the verandahs. She doesn’t know how she could ever go back to an inside room!

 

After we had our suits on, we headed down to Gail and Robs room.

 

 

Rob, Alexis, Claire and I were on a mission to go on the Aqua Duck.

 

Their room was connected to Aunt Mary and Geoffs, so we headed in through the connecting door. We didn’t want Abby to see what we were doing.

 

This is the view from their room.

 

 

 

This is the hot tub above them.

 

 

 

 

Geoff and Mary and Gail and Rob, Katie and Thad, and Vicki and Pete were a bit down the hall from us and had bigger rooms. I was kind of jealous. It wasn’t a lot more room, but still it was nice.

 

 

 

Mary and Geoff’s room had a murphy bed in it, but it was never needed or used.

 

We snuck out of the room and headed up through Cabanas.

 

 

We found a lounger and set our stuff down and headed to the Aqua Duck. The line was about 20 minutes, not too bad. The girls were measured and they got a wrist band saying that they could only ride with an adult.

Rob and Alexis went first and then it was our turn! It was super fun once again. The cold water does go up your back, but it still is really a fun thing to do.

I just wish there was a graceful way to get off the thing. I am sure if you videoed me getting off my raft, it would be a winner on Americas Funniest Home Videos. HA!

 

We then hopped in the pool a bit. It was packed. Pure people soup! The girls were bummed that they couldn’t actually swim, but I told them cruise pools just aren’t made for real swimming.

The girls decided then to go on the slide.

 

I went up to the top deck and watched.

 

 

 

Rob went off to find something to drink. I had to laugh a little later when I saw him carrying a bucket of beer. I had thought he meant he was getting something from the drink station like I had.

I sat up top and kind of watched the girls from there.

 

 

 

Rob handed me a beer. I took it, but I couldn’t get it opened.

 

 

I had to get a cast member to open it for me. I then sat with my feet in the water drinking my beer. Well that’s a no-no! I was soon tapped by a CM and told I had to take my drink away from the pool. No problem.

 

While standing off to the side I took a quick shot of the area and Aqua Duck.

 

 

I turned around and look who I found!

Vicki, Mom and Geoff starting off the cruise with special drink.

 

 

The girls wanted a snack at this point and ice-cream was calling to them. I took them to get a cone and they were happy. Gail is a little strict with the amount of junk that the girls have, so you have to sneak it in when you can. LOL! Actually Gail let them eat quite a bit on this trip, much to Alexis’ delight!

 

 

Before you knew it, it was time to head to our muster stations. I guess I took this on the way. LOL!!

 

 

I think we made a stop in the room first and then off to the muster drill. This was the first Disney cruise where I had an outside muster station. It was pretty warm out there and they really cram us together. I kept a look out for my parents, but never saw them. I would’ve assumed we had the same spot since we had connecting rooms, but they must’ve been further down or something, because I did not see them at all. I know I asked if they went, and they did, but I don’t remember where they said they were.

I got to talking a guy and his wife standing next to us. They were part of the pod cast group onboard. They were fun to talk to and the guy was very passionate about Disney. My kind of person! I think this was their 5th cruise, if I remember right. I love finding people who are geeked up about Disney like I am.

After we went through the drill and directions we were released and it was a mad house. They had us using crew stairs as well as the public ones.

Claire and I made our way up to the top of the ship to find a spot to watch the sail away show. This was exciting. Last time we sailed the Dream, our embarkation day was rainy …I mean pouring buckets rain, and our sail away party was in the atrium. We now were going to get to see it outdoors on the Dream for the first time!

[jenseib]

We found a spot up top. I was amazed at how busy the top area was already and people were squeezing right in. I kept my eye out for family members, but never did see any of them during the whole party.

As we stood there waiting for the party, I thought how different this day was compared to the day I boarded the Magic. On that day I had toured so much of the ship in the few hours before we sailed away. Today I ate and hung at the pool! LOL Both were fun though.

 

We stood on the lookout for family members, but never saw any.

 

This is a picture from that time period that Geoff took of Alexis and Abby. This was taken after the muster drill I believe.

 

 

From what I gathered later on, Gail’s family did come up on deck to watch the sail away, but Geoff, Mary, Pete, Vicki, Mom and Dad all headed towards Geoff and Mary’s room and drank some champagne. I am not sure what Katie’s family did.

 

Anyways, Geoff took a few atrium pictures on his way to back to the room.

 

 

 

 

Claire and I on the other hand were waiting on a PARTY!

 

 

I didn’t even think about it earlier, but I should’ve changed lenses on my camera. I had a shorter one on and the rest were back in the room. Oh well, I did the best I could.

 

The party has started!!!!

 

 

 

 

I noticed that the big screen must be on a delay because they it is slightly off one what the dancers on stage were doing.

 

 

 

 

I spotted some people from the podcast group.

 

 

 

 

It was a fun party and we were ready to cruise!! Our vacation was officially underway.

 

Claire and I then moved over to the side to watch us pull out.

 

 

 

In the words of Bugs Bunny ….Bon Voyageeeee! And with a blare of the Disney horn it makes it all the more exciting.

 

 

After waving to everyone, we decided to head down to our room and wave from our balcony. Also with early dinner, we needed to already start getting ready.

I never did find Gail and her family but she said she did see us walking down the stairs as we were heading to our room.

 

As we walked through Cabanas I made a quick stop for the mural …and then as I am clicking the picture I got a little photobomber!

 

 

Meanwhile …while Claire and I were boogying our booties off up top, the “older” crowd were taking it easy in their rooms.

 

Geoff took pictures of their experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They all look excited to be on our way!

 

 

 

Geoff played with some settings on his camera and got some neat sun pictures.

 

 

 

Claire and I made it back to our room and we took some pictures from the balcony. Evidently Geoff and I have the same likes, because many of our pictures are very similar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sky was just gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner. I will tell up right now, I do NOT like early dinner. I much prefer to go to the show first and then eat. We often eat late at home too, so I am used to eating later. Another disadvantage with early dinner is that they do not offer dine and play. If that had been offered for this meal, I think I wouldn’t have minded it so much. But our kids got a little jumpy before we all finished. They brought the kids food out fast and then they were bored waiting on us. Some nights, some got a little more feisty than other nights.

 

So Claire and I made our way to the dining room. We had the same rotation as we did last cruise. Our first night was Enchanted Garden, which I think is such a pretty restaurant.

 

They had the table set up, but they had all the kids at one end. This doesn’t work well for our family, and probably most others. Kids like to be by each other, but we do need an adult in the mix to help them out. And in the case of little ones like Abby and Jude, you just have to have an adult near them.

 

I took these before I sat down.

 

 

 

Soon the family all arrived and we settled into our spots and looked over the menu.

Rolls were brought out right away.

 

 

 

 

And we met our servers!

 

 

Benjamin was our server and Rasheeta was our assistant. Of the 3 DCL cruises I have taken, they were my least favorite servers. They weren’t horrid, just not as good. And Rasheeta was SLOW. She was REALLY nice, but she was not very fast with anything. She seemed to take a liking to me right away and I felt bad because she was just so nice, but service wise, this did not seem to be her calling.

 

Our Menu for this evening.

 

 

Cheers Geoff!

 

 

We made our orders and soon the appetizers arrived. It was funny, because Pete was just impressed that you could order more than one thing if you wanted to. Rob was all for this as well.

I took several pictures of the foods brought out tonight. As the cruise went on, I usually only took mostly my food, and sometimes another picture of something else here and there.

 

I had the North Atlantic Lobster Ravioli with roasted garlic and sweet basil in a light tomato broth.

 

 

I have no clue what this is, but I think Pete ordered it.

 

 

I believe this is mine and I think it’s the Thyme and Garlic Brioche filled with chanterelle, hedgehog and black trumpet mushrooms and leek stew in a light buttermilk cream.

 

 

I am not sure who ordered this, probably Pete, as he sat across from me and let me take pictures of his food.

 

Romaine Wedge; Fresh crisp romaine topped with a creamy Romano dressing and homemade spiced croutons.

 

 

And these are all from family members around me as well.

 

 

 

 

The menus online don’t appear to have all the same items, so I am thinking the menu has changed slightly since the last time it was updated online.

 

The kid’s meals came out right away. This is nice if you have late dining and the kids can leave for the kids clubs after they eat. For early dining, it just makes for a lot of extra time the kids have to wait for the parents to finish up.

 

Claire went with her trusty chicken strips.

 

 

Jude was adventurous tonight. Katie asked him what he wanted and he said fish. She said he never eats fish and wasn’t sure if he knew what it even was, but he was insistent that he wanted fish.

 

 

 

 

I ordered 2 entrees this evening.

 

First was the Caramelized Sea Scallops with roasted asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, and pearl pasta, garnished with caramelized leeks and veal jus reduction. I don’t care for the pearl pasta at all, but I like the scallops.

 

 

I think both Rob and I had the Grilled NY Strip Steak; Thyme roasted vegetables, double-baked potato topped with handmade herb butter. I took pictures of both. Mine being the one that is rarer.

 

 

 

 

Dessert time!!!!

Most of the kids got Mickey bars!

 

 

 

I believe I got strawberry cheesecake.

 

 

A few of the other desserts ordered tonight.

 

 

 

Katie’s birthday was on Halloween and I had it noted to celebrate it on her reservation. She was totally shocked they knew. They brought out a cake for her and though she seemed happy, I think she was a bit embarrassed too, more because she didn’t know.

 

 

 

Jude was VERY happy with his choice of the Mickey bar.

 

[jenseib]

After we all finished up with dinner, I took a few more pictures around the dining room. This is when we found that Rasheeta was extra slow. Our drinks did take quite a while to arrive with our meals, and those who had ordered specialty drinks had to wait for the bill. Many nights she just would tell us she would give it to us the next night as it wasn’t ready, and many nights the bills never showed up. Gail ended up going over hers with a fine tooth comb one night from the ship account and found several that were charged to her that she didn’t actually get.

 

 

 

 

We tried to get a picture of the girls in front of the fountain. Claire of course never looks at the camera.

 

 

 

We needed to get Abby in there.

 

 

Abby has a different idea on how to pose! She was lifting her dress up for all the world to see that she wears undies! Gail quickly ran over and told her she can’t do that here.

 

One more try.

 

 

We gave up. 3 squirmy kids does not make for a nice picture.

 

 

 

After dinner, we headed out to get the kids their bands for the kids club. We had to go to the Fantasy Convention room to do so. And boy the line was LONG!

 

 

We finally got up there and the computers kept going down so it even took longer, but we did get them all officially signed and ready for the clubs.

 

A quick stop off in the bathrooms and it was time to head to the show.

I just love the different bathrooms on the Dream. This is one area where they are better than the Magic. Each area seems to have a different theme.

 

 

Golden Mickeys was the show tonight. This one is my favorite I think of all the shows I have seen so far. As you can see, Claire’s dress was themed for this night’s show.

 

 

 

It was Gail and I and our girls. Mom and Dad mentioned that they would be coming and we did see them walk in with Geoff, but they were on the other side and made their way to different seats.

 

 

 

The show was great. The girls did have a few moments of being scared, but they did fine. I had tears in my eyes at the end when Abby just gasped. It was so precious.

 

After the show, we headed out and found Donald. Mom, Dad and Geoff met up with us as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abby was not scared one bit.

 

 

 

 

She also did not want to leave.

 

 

We walked around a bit and spotted Chip and Dale.

 

 

Abby took a seat to watch them while we waited in line.

 

 

 

The line was kind of long, so Geoff and Gail took Abby and headed up to see Mickey while we waited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I waited, I took a picture of the light fixture. You can never have too many of those!

 

 

Geoff took a couple of us while we were waiting.

 

 

We were getting close and they were done, so we waved to them to hurry so Abby could be in with the 2 older girls.

 

She made it just in time. Chip had walked off with the family in front of us. It was the girl’s birthday and I think he was giving her some extra attention, so for a while we only had Dale.

 

 

 

See the pen in Abby’s hand. Well that was my pen. For some reason she wanted a blue pen. Blue is her favorite color. Gail had given her a pen with blue ink and she threw a fit. We realized that she saw our blue colored pen so I handed it off to her. We had an extra pen or two and no need to fight that battle right now.

 

 

UH OH!!! We have a rebel passing the characters and trying to go up the stairs. Not allowed during character meets!

 

 

BUSTED!

 

 

 

 

Chips back, but no one seems to notice.

 

 

Since He was going unnoticed, I guess he decided to eat Claire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, Abby didn’t want to leave.

 

 

[jenseib]

We said Good Bye to Chip and Dale.

 

 

 

We spotted Donald and he was giving us a little performance of his own.

 

 

 

We separated from the rest. I think Gail wanted to get Abby to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire and I went off on our own and roamed around freely. I think we checked out the stores a bit and then we HAD to get a picture of her in the Golden Mickey dress with the Golden Mickey.

 

 

 

Another bathroom stop, and I just had to take a few more pictures.

 

 

 

More exploring.

 

 

 

 

 

I just love how colorful the deck of the Dream is. The Magic was pretty, but this is better.

 

 

 

A stop for a drink.

 

 

 

And we headed back towards the room for a minute. I don’t remember why for sure, but I probably wanted to drop something off, change my clothes or pick something up.

 

 

 

 

Claire’s bed all turned down.

 

 

We did whatever it was we headed to the room to do and then went back out again.

We ran into Pluto and stopped for a picture. The handler there noticed Claire’s dress and complimented it and said “You guys have sailed Disney before, haven’t you”. Yes we have!

 

 

 

 

 

We then headed up a flight of stairs and got in line for Captain Mickey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I need to get in the habit of carrying my big flash with me on the ship. I really think my pictures would come out better if I did.

 

We wandered a bit more, going through the art gallery.

 

 

 

And then we went into D Lounge to see what was going on there.

 

There was a game that was getting close to the end and we sat down to watch it a bit.

 

 

 

 

I really was getting tired now. It was close to 11 and I swear I was nodding off as I sat there. I mentioned to Claire that we needed to leave, but she had seen Donald lingering out in the hall and wanted to see him come in first.

 

 

Donald was teaching Salsa Dancing.

 

 

 

 

He then went out on the dance floor with the kids. I tried to get Claire to go out, but she was too shy. She preferred to watch.

 

 

I couldn’t last any longer, so we headed back to the room.

 

 

Before I went in the room, I decided to get a picture of our door. I went the whole time on our previous Dream cruise and never once took a picture of out decorated room door.

 

 

 

And that was pretty much it for the night. We got dressed in our PJs and turned the TV on for a few minutes and laid our head down on the 4th pillow of the trip. Oh the Places We Go!

We also met some new friends! Oh the People We See!

[jenseib]

Nov. 5, 2012, Monday, Day 5

 

The nice thing about the short cruises is that you arrive at your first port pretty darn fast.

I woke around 6ish this morning and took a look outside.

 

 

What a beautiful morning. And this is one reason I love the verandah. It’s so nice to just sit out there and take in the early morning.

 

But you know me, I can’t sit still too long and I got dressed, cracked the connecting door from my parents room for Claire and I went off to explore.

 

 

Wow, Look at that sunrise!

 

 

A few others were out and about too, but really, not many people are out early in the mornings.

 

 

This is an adult area, and as you can tell by the ashtrays on the tables, one of the few smoking areas on the ship. I don’t believe this was smoking last time when we sailed, but I could be wrong. I do know another area that used to be smoking is no longer one though. I noticed a few things that had changed since last sailing this time around.

 

 

Who could ever get tired of views like this.

 

 

I continued to walk around and got a quick shot of this shower stall.

 

 

 

 

That’s the teen club. I still think Disney goofed with this one. This should be the adult area.

 

 

I see land ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

The adult pool.

 

 

This area was poorly planned. So many people use this area as a walk through. It’s almost impossible not to at times. And as for the sun worshippers, well there isn’t much of an option to get a good tan here as most of it is in shadows.

 

 

 

I decided to head into the spa area and explore while it was quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few were up and working out already.

 

 

 

Continuing through the spa and gym.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the shower area. I have heard from others that some prefer to come here and shower rather than their rooms, as it is a bit roomier here. Also if you have several people in your room, this is a good spot to come too.

 

 

They had these plastic sandals to wear around. I have huge feet and I tried a pair on….um these are super narrow and tiny. I couldn’t even squeeze my foot in if I tried hard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenseib]

Continuing on with my tour of the Spa area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love to check out the salon as I am licensed to do hair as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was really pretty.

 

 

 

It’s amazing all the services they have onboard. They even had teeth whitening.

 

 

 

 

 

I was done there and headed out to explore a bit more.

 

These are the pool bar stools at the adult pool.

 

 

I love the artwork all over the ship.

 

 

And a peek into the Quiet Cove Café.

 

 

I love this décor.

 

 

 

You could grab a quick snack here if you wanted to.

 

 

 

I just love this blue color here in the Cove Café. When we toured suites on the ship in 2011, this was the color scheme in the room and I loved it there as well.

 

 

 

 

Onward now.

 

 

This is where you get the ice-cream ….when it’s open. The girls loved this spot.

 

 

 

 

I LOVE this shot.

 

 

Well, and this one too!

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of those items that I just can’t stop taking pictures of. I have about 7 hundred and 50 zillion pictures of the Aquaduck sign.

 

 

This is where the Auqaduck spits you out at. Obviously when it’s running there is water and that gate isn’t covering the opening.

 

 

 

This area was smoking last time I sailed. I am betting they changed it because it had kind of a wind tunnel effect through here at times. ….just a guess.

 

[jenseib]

I next headed up to the sports deck.

 

 

The putt putt course is just too cute!

 

 

 

A quick look at the ping pong table.

 

 

I learned about the sports simulators while touring the Dream in Aug. of 2011. I think they are pretty popular.

 

 

Back to more putt putt.

 

 

 

 

A look off the back of the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Love this clock!

 

 

Foosball!

 

 

An artsy look at the Aquaduck!

 

 

 

I then headed back to the room to get ready for the day. Some of the family had started to stir. Dad was really enjoying the balcony as well. I think he really loved this trip. I know he did as he had friends ask if he would ever do it again and he said in a heartbeat!

 

 

I just love watching us pull into port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were birds all over the place, but they seemed to be attracted to one area of the ship. I am not sure if someone was eating over there or if someone had thrown food, but the birds were going crazy!

 

 

 

 

 

CRAZY BIRDS!!!!!

 

 

I must’ve popped into the room a minute as I have this picture next. I guess I wanted to be sure to get a picture of our room picture.

 

 

 

 

 

And while I was going picture crazy with us pulling into port, Geoff was as well down in their rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all got ourselves dressed and ready and were going to have breakfast at Enchanted Garden. No one had to be anywhere early. Pete, Vicki, and Jude originally had a port adventure for this morning, but after the hurricane came through, it had been canceled, so they changed their plans and booked the same one we were all going on, which wasn’t till this afternoon.

 

I’m sure in the midst of getting dressed and ready, we probably ventured down the hall to the others rooms to see if all was ready. Eventually we all did make it down to Enchanted Garden.

 

I took a couple of quick shots of the buffet as I walked by. This was my first time eating here for a meal other than dinner. I think other family members ate here a couple more times throughout the trip.

 

 

 

 

We got a table off to the side in an area all to ourselves. I guess they know we can be kind of loud.

 

 

This next picture cracks me up. Dad is putting his napkin on his head ….always the life of the party! And there isn’t even a grandchild near him to show it off to. Abby has such a cute little look on her face, Alexis is about to fall asleep, and Claire is grabbing the spoon, which for some reason she is mesmerized by.

 

 

 

Jude looks scared at my picture taking …and see, Claire has that spoon.

 

 

 

I am not sure if she is looking at herself or what? LOL

 

 

The ceiling above us was so pretty.

 

[jenseib]

After we all got settled in at our table and made some drink orders, we headed up to get some plates of food.

 

 

 

 

A light fixture on the wall.

 

 

We had a nice breakfast and discussed the day’s plans. After breakfast, I was going to take Alexis and Claire to play the Detective Agency game. And then drop them off at the kids clubs for a while. I think Gail’s plan to was to take Abby there as well for a bit.

 

We headed to go get our card set up and ran into the Princess meet and greet and it was a bit crazy.

 

 

The girls got their instructions and learned how to play the game (though Claire has played this before).

 

 

While they were learning how to play, I peeked into the Podcast groups head quarters to see if anyone famous was in there. ……Ok, I really was looking for Richard Sherman, who was on our cruise, but I never did see him.

 

 

 

On to the fun!

 

 

The girls took turns at each picture to make it fair.

 

 

 

 

While playing, I spotted this Mickey and had some fun with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t remember if we finished off the mission or not, but I know the plan was to take them to the kids club by a certain time, so I did. I am thinking we got close to done, and maybe someone else finished the mission with them at a later time.

 

 

 

Time to get washed up.

 

 

 

I said good bye and went off on my way.

 

After leaving the girls, I headed up to the top of the ship and relaxed and took in the view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lighthouse is one of those things that I tend to take a lot of pictures of.

 

 

 

I saw Gail and Rob come up …alone. It seemed so weird to see the 2 of them without a child. They were married for several years before Alexis arrived and it was the norm to see just the 2 of them back then. Now it seemed strange. I let them walk around together and have their romantic moment. (if that’s what it was ! LOL).

 

 

 

 

Originally I had planned to go to Atlantis to the aquarium on this day. But I changed my mind and decided that it could wait for another time. If Skip ever does sail with us, I would like to do it with him. Years ago (actually about 10), we sailed NCL and this was one of the things we did while in Nassau. He really enjoyed it and we have talked of doing it again in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to go scope out the area where we would be meeting for the excursion later on. I believe we were meeting in the District Lounge. I think I might’ve stopped and gotten an ice-cream cone on my way down too. It was time for a morning snack!

 

 

 

 

 

This is 687.

 

 

 

Here is the District Lounge.

 

 

[jenseib]

I toured the District a bit more and looked in on what I think is the prettiest of the places, Pink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I headed back up top. I do believe I found Gail and Rob then and we chatted a bit.

 

 

 

Helloooooooo up there!

 

 

 

 

Another lighthouse shot.

 

 

At some point in time, I think Rob left us. I don’t remember why or where he went, but after a bit Gail and I decided to go pick up the girls and get them some lunch before we headed off to meet for our port Adventure.

 

We arrived at the kids club and asked for our girls and Rob showed up with them. He said he was able to sign out his 2, but they wouldn’t let him sign out Claire. I had never thought about giving Rob permission. I had Mom and Gail listed, but not Rob. Abby had a princess dress on and the cast member told her she had to go take it off and he went to help her and she pushed him. Ok, it’s not funny at all, but it was hysterical. She was NOT about to leave if she couldn’t take the dress with her. Rob wasn’t too happy and tried and she pushed him away too. She got a lecture and with some effort, the dress was taken off.

In the meantime I had lifted my camera to take a picture, as it was so cute and funny and I got a lecture as well ….from one of the cast members. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of kids in the clubs. I was standing outside and our kids were still inside, even though right at the gate. I said it was my child and nieces and was still told no, it wasn’t allowed. Now I had done so earlier without a blink of an eye by any cast member and I had taken pictures inside the actual club on my last Dream cruise, so I don’t know if the rules have changed, or some CM’s are stricter with policies over others, but needless to say, I didn’t get a shot of Abby pouting. And the CM did get a big giant eye roll!

 

We got the girls a light lunch and really they weren’t too hungry, but we made them each take at least a bite of a few things. And cookies do count as part of lunch!

 

I got adventurous and tried sushi.

 

 

Let’s just say …yuck, gross, and never again! It was just nasty. I don’t know if you are supposed to eat the black thing around the edge, but I did, and blahhhhh! The rice was no better either. Dry and sticky and not tasty at all. Maybe this is not the best spot to try it, but it will be a long time before I decide to give it a try again.

 

This is the overhang at Cabanas. I thought it was cute.

 

 

A shot of the dessert choices.

 

 

When we finished up, we headed down towards the District Lounge and Claire and I made a pit stop in the fancy round bathrooms.

 

 

 

 

The family was all waiting and we went and checked in.

 

 

The girl in blue was some person who did arrangements for the excursions, or something like that. Today she was going to be joining us on ours.

 

We got a few instructions and then were led off the ship. Our excursion today was to the Ardastra Gardens and City Tour.

 

We had to walk down several flights of stairs to exit the ship and we all joked with Dad about it. He had been anti stairs this whole trip and of course we had to get a couple of digs about whether he was going to make it or not.

 

Once we exited the ship, we had to wait a few minutes before we proceeded on.

 

 

You know me ….I started taking pictures.

 

 

On my last trip to Nassau, I had lost my memory card sometime during the trip and the pictures on that card were mostly from this day. So I needed to make up for lost time now.

 

 

 

You could clearly see the damage that Sandy had done the week before. Many of the plants were brown and had a burned out look.

 

 

Taking care of the garbage problem. Amazing how much is dumped off after less than 24 hours of ship time.

 

 

As we were standing there, a girl walks by and says “Hello Jennifer” all excitedly. I looked and had absolutely no clue who she was and I looked puzzled and asked who she was. “It’s me, Rasheeta, one of your servers”! I said hello and really thought it was nice she recognized me, but I instantly felt bad too, as Gail and I had just recently been discussing her poor service.

Like I said, she was REALLY nice, but just not a good server. I did notice if I asked for something, it got done, but if Gail asked, it seemed to get ignored. LOL

 

 

We were on the move now. Walking towards the area to find our busdrivers.

 

 

 

 

 

It was so sad to see the plant life so burned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the family was a little slower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were directed to the buses. They had a couple of them waiting for us.

 

[jenseib]

Some of us lagged behind a bit before heading to the bus and took a few more pictures.

 

 

 

 

We passed by the certified Hair braiders. Now really, how do we know they are certified? LOL.

 

 

We got on our bus, which was like a big van. 2 seats on one side and 1 on the other. Since we had such a big group, we took up the majority of our bus. We also got the Disney CM in our bus as well. I can’t for the life of me remember her name nor our bus drivers name, but both were very nice.

 

We learned that our bus driver had a secret and it would be shared with us at the end of the tour. Now I know I am going to forget to mention it later, so I will spill the beans now.

This was our drivers first day on the job. He had recently retired from another occupation completely different than this one and we were his first bus load. I will tell you when we found that out, I was STUNNED! He did an amazing job and was very knowledgeable too. He did a FANTASTIC job!

 

Off we went. We drove around the city a bit on our way to Ardastra Gardens. He pointed out a few places, and honestly, I don’t remember any of the details anymore.

 

 

The famous sign I see in so many other Trip Reports. I just had to get my own version.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Government Building. I can’t think of the official name right now, but I have seen it a few times.

 

 

 

 

 

There was damage throughout the city too. Some from the hurricane and some from storms of the past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then arrived at Ardastra Gardens. Our bus driver did tell us that they were not in the best shape right now because of the hurricane. Most of the flowers had blown off during the storm, and though it would still be nice, it wasn’t at its full glory right now.

 

 

 

 

Right as we walked in we saw the Lemurs, or as Claire calls them , the “King Julians”. They were a huge hit for her and we ended up going back to look at them after a bit.

 

 

 

 

And this was one of the main reasons I picked this excursion.

 

 

Parrots! Ok, they might be technically called Macaws, but they will always be parrots to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water was so nasty looking. I am not sure if this is normal or a leftover from the hurricane.

 

 

Claire and I had separated from the family while we looked around, but the place isn’t too big and we easily found them after a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

HELLO!

 

 

Yes, this guy said that to us and it scared the crud out of me at first. Then we both laughed.

 

 

 

Aren’t these guys just too cute?

 

[jenseib]

Here are a few of Geoff’s pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were having a budgie feeding, so we all decided to check that out. We had to wait for the OK to walk in and then we got apples to feed the birds with. The birds would come right to you and eat, but you weren’t supposed to let them eat the skin. We had to throw those in a bucket and then we could get new apples. We had a lot of fun here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete was the bird man. They loved him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it, though Abby didn’t want the birds to touch her. She was more into watching them eat. Even Alexis was squeamish at times about them touching her too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was a cool shot.

 

 

 

Claire and I ended up being some of the last ones in there. As people left, they kept handing off apples to Claire and she decided she was done, so she handed them off to me. I finally just took them to the lady as I wanted out too. It was fun to do, but I didn’t want to spend my whole day in here with the birds when there were other things to look at as well. And the Flamingo show was going to start after a bit, so I wanted to scope out the rest of the area before that.

 

 

We spotted Flamingos running freely and we had to check those out. Warning, between Geoff and I, we took about 40 zillion Flamingo pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of these Flamingoes had a bit of an issue with each other. It was funny to see them yell at each other. It just made me think of 2 women having a fight, with lots of nasty words and head bobbing going on.