Good Mornin' Mickey!

My favorite souvenir from our last trip to WDW was a can of coffee.

When you stay on DVC points, they only stock the studios with ONE packet of single-use coffee, which yields one pot - clearly not enough for a week's stay. This is a completely unacceptable practice and they really need to revisit this choice. So, on day two of our last trip , we were contemplating either getting up early each morning and fetching individual servings from the machine at Gurgling Suitcase or buying overpriced coffee and filters from the gift shop.

 Refillable mugs, while they make wonderful souvenir in and of themselves, would cost us about $45 for the three of us (because although J doesn't drink coffee, she would feel rather put out to not have her own mug). The overpriced coffee, filters, and creamer, on the other hand, would be about $15. The coffee itself was quite tasty, and the leftover filters can be brought back on future trips.  I have to say, it was money well spent.

Now that we are back home, every morning I awake to this:

And every time I open the fridge, it puts a smile on my face.

If I Were Not Upon the Sea...

     To say that I have become addicted to Disney Cruises would be an understatement. And, while I wish that they did more sailings out of New York,

I'm kind of thankful that they don't - or I'd need a second - and perhaps a third- job. As it is, we have a Western Caribbean sailing booked for this summer and a Back-to-Back scheduled on the Wonder for next spring! I'm super excited for our sailing on the Wonder, as it will mark our DCL Grand Slam - we will have cruised on all four of Disney's ships! Many folks love the bigger Dream class ships with all their fancy bells and whistles, but the Magic will always hold a special place in my heart.
      So here I sit, another day I am not upon the sea, awaiting our flight to Orlando for our next voyage on the Disney Fantasy...
 

     Why not just sail NCL, RCL, HAL, Carnival, Princess, Cunard...? Because I can't imagine not being on a Disney ship. We are not particularly interested in casinos, or nightclubs, or sailing on a floating milk carton.


We love docking in port and watching from our verandah as folks from other ships "ooh" and "aah" and take pictures of our floating Disney resort. We like seeing our ship from a distance - stunningly beautiful, majestic, timeless.

We love the extra space of the split bathrooms, the larger staterooms, the verandah. Oh, how I love our verandah.

     There is nothing like waking before the sun, pouring a cup of coffee from a carafe ordered from room service the night before - still warm, and stepping out into the brightening ocean air to watch the light rise over the horizon. The calm of the caribbean sea - bright blue and mesmerizing - lapping against the hull, while warm caribbean breezes soothe the soul.

 We have resolved to never sail without a verandah.

     And sure, there certainly is plenty to do inside the ship too! One of the things that keeps me coming back, though, are the chance encounters with Disney characters. 

   It's hard to not wish my whole summer away looking forward to our upcoming cruise. We have all of our port adventures booked. We have our adult dining reservations. I'm in the process of pre-paying our anticipated shipboard charges. Flights are booked. Ground transportation from MCO to Port Canaveral? Disney's of course: 
Pre- and post-cruise hotel nights are soon to be reserved. Then comes the packing!  Let the countdown begin. See ya on the ship!

Monday, April 21, 2008
It's a great Day at Sea, Sir!

Even though we could sleep in, I had a thing about wanting to watch the sun rise each day. But, since today's sunrise wouldn't be until 7:11, we were still sleeping in since we're all usually at work/school by that time. Once again, DH and I stroll up to Deck 9 together. This time, we decide to take the "secret" staircase - it was actually more relaxing being able to go "stealth" in our pjs and bed-heads. Coffee in hand and ready to dash back down the stairs, DH suggests we chill on the back deck for a while, so, we pulled a couple chairs up to the far aft table and watched the ship's wake for a while. Alas, no rooster tails for DH. Since we knew DD would be sleeping off her late night partying for quite some more time, we decided to enjoy the sunrise together from there. As we waited and watched, the yoga class gathered and started on the "Deck 7 not-so-secret verandah." Boy was I glad at that point that we had paid for our own. Sunrise, as always, was stunning and we refilled our coffees (clean cups of course) and headed back our stateroom - taking the main aft staircase and discovering it was further from our room and far too public for that time of morning. We enjoyed the rest of our coffee from the privacy of our verandah and DH contemplated breakfast while I perused the navigator. We took turns taking showers and leisurely approached the new day. DH and I had a spa appointment at 11am and DD, of course, wanted nothing more than to spend the day with the kids club. 

It was a little after nine by the time we were all neat and pretty, so we decided to try Lumiere's for breakfast, since we had missed dinner there the night before. We were seated right away - right next to the stairs, and our server pretty much ignored us. it took several requests and reminders to get a cup of coffee - for which we would never be offered a refill. We also asked for juice, but didn't get it until several minutes after our meal had arrived (and this is after we had asked two different people 3 times). There was a problem with one of our orders, but since no one ever came back to our table to check to see if everything was okay, we dealt with it and moved on. But it was definitely BAD SHOW.

After breakfast, DD went up to join the Lab kids on the sports deck, while DH and I headed over to guest Services to see if we could get into one the wine tasting that afternoon. Both scheduled wine-tastings were full, so we opted for the Tequila and Margarita tasting instead. We also picked up tickets for Alice's Tea Party on Thursday. We took a peek at the art being auctioned before taking the scenic route up to the SPA. We actually hadn't ventured up to the adult section of the ship, so the stark change to silence was striking. We checked in at the spa. I must say, I am NOT a "spa" person. I was never comfortable changing in a locker room and now, at nearly forty, I still feel like a bashful 12-year-old being forced to change into her gym clothes with half of her classmates in the same room. YUCK. It's kind of difficult to remove a t-shirt, shorts, and unmentionables while concealed under a robe that barely fits around your ever-increasingly rotund figure - but not impossible ;o) Of course, the gymnastics required to maintain modesty certainly goes out the window when you're about to enter the Exotic Rasul Room. Since many ask about this, here's my take on the experience: 

1. It's hot, but not inescapable - there is a shower you can use to cool off.
2. Don't bother with following the directions for the goop - unless you're really seriously there for the goop.
3. Save your money and play in your stateroom while the kids are at the club. (Unless they have sign out privileges - see below).

After leaving the spa, we headed back to our stateroom to enjoy a cocktail. As soon as we entered, we noticed DD's wipe-off board had been written on. Oh, look! What a good girl, she's doing what we told her to do. Let's see where she went and maybe we'll meet up with her: "I am on the bed." Yep, she had written us a note after returning from kids' club to tell us she was her bed, snuggling her fuzzies and watching TV. She said she remembered that she wasn't allowed to go out on the verandah without Mom or Dad, so she just opened the curtain and looked then turned on the TV and relaxed. Why wasn't she with the kids club? "Cause they're playing basketball and I don't like basketball." We asked if she had eaten, "Yep, I went and had a corn dog." What did she want to do? Go in the pool. 

So, we let her change into her suit and brought her up to Deck 9. She didn't want to go in the Mickey pool, she wanted to try out the Goofy pool. We explained that it was 4 feet deep, with no shallow spot, but she still wanted to try it. Boy was that the biggest mistake ever. Dh and I sat on the edge of the pool while she entered the pot of people soup. I don't know what Disney was thinking when they designed that pool, but by God, that scene was downright dangerous. I saw people (mostly kids) literally climbing over others to get around. We stayed for about 6 minutes before she had had enough. She didn't want to go in the Mickey Pool, so we left. DD changed back into her clothes and went back to the kids' club. Dh and I decided it would be best to eat something before the Tequila and Margarita tasting, so we went up to Pluto's and grabbed a couple burgers. We carried them up to the adult section, pulled up a couple loungers, and watched the water and generally enjoyed the peace and quiet while we ate. We were surprised to see (and hear) children walking around the forward area, but when we asked about it, we were told that they couldn't go in the "pool area" but could be anywhere else. Well, why bother then?

DH and I took the forward elevators down to Deck 3 for the Tequila/margarita Tasting in Diversions. The tables were set up with four chairs per table, and in front of each chair were places three shots of different tequilas. We took seats up front and another couple, young DINKS joined us - can't remember where they were from, Boston? NYC? Timbuktu? The bartender was a Romanian (IIRC), who shared as much as she could about recognizing the finest quality tequilas. She said that she doesn't usually make it so much like a class, but she wanted us to have as much information as possible if we were planning on buying when we got to Mexico. We learned a tremendous amount and had lots of fun with the tasting. As soon as the Patron Silver touched my lips, I knew it wasn't for me and handed it over to DH, who graciously made sure that it didn't go to waste. I, in turn, helped him finish his Margaritas - kind wife that I am. Our favorite was the patron XO - a coffee flavored liqueur that we could definitely see ourselves enjoying with espresso. 

I took this opportunity to lead DH into the shops. I needed a sewing kit to fix the beads on my formal dress that had been loosened in transit and DH needed dress socks. So we wandered around treasure ketch, where I found the sewing kit and noticed a few things I wouldn't mind having in my home. Thankfully, for DH, I am fairly indecisive and am easily overwhelmed with too many options. This usually leads to my buying nothing. I did, however, fall in love with a blingy DCL t-shirt that I pointed to and said, I think that's the one I want, but since I hadn't really seen the other stuff available, I was going to withhold my decision until later. 

Afterwards, we went back to the stateroom to enjoy the view while DD played in the lab. Lo and behold, yet another gift from DVC!! this time it was a keepsake journal/photo abulm kind of thingie with a pen and lanyards for the three of us. We picked her up at 4:30 so that we could all get ready for formal night and make it for the Captain's reception and pictures in the Lobby. I finished securing the beads back onto the dress, got DD gussied up, freshened up my hair and make-up and slipped my dress on as DH was straightening his bow-tie. I had ordered the dress on-line and tried it on when it arrived. I had experienced some trouble with the zipper at home, but chalked it up to not having the proper undergarments. Now, at 5 minutes past 5, (the time I wanted to leave the stateroom), I couldn't get the *&%^#$%%$ zipper up. It was a side zip, so I had to twist myself like a contortionist to get it in the first place. I could feel beads of perspiration beginning to form on my face - which we all know will wreak havoc on my naturally curly hair. So, before working myself further into a frizzy frenzy, I enlist DH's assistance. Only, his fingers are too large for the zipper pull. So there we are, two fools, wrestling with this *&^%&^#$ zipper: him in my armpit, gathering the material closer together, while I try to grab hold of the zipper pull without flexing my lateral muscles, thereby making it more difficult to zip the darn thing. Finally, at 5:15, we have successfully managed to secure the seam and are off and running to the formal night festivities. 

It is as we start walking towards the elevator that I notice how dreadfully painful the shoes I have purchased specifically for formal night are. Understand that I dragged DH to approximately 15 shoe selling establishments before finally settling on this pair of shoes. So, i couldn't very well now tell him that the shoes feel like they were cobbled by Satan himself. Instead, I winced my way up to where they are taking photos and we forgo the character pictures in favor of the shorter, family only line. Thankfully, the shoes do not hurt while standing, only while walking, so I determine to do as little of that as possible henceforth. DH grabbed us a couple of cocktails while we waited. 



We decided to have a photo made with the captain, since, after all, it is his reception. 


We grabbed a second set of cocktails on our way into dinner - perhaps the additional alcohol will anesthetize the pain from the shoes. Dinner was at Lumiere's tonight. The menu was "Mexican Riviera" - although I still can't, for the life of me, figure out how this pairs with "formal night" but, whatever - and the menu was replete with seafood. Now, I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a seafood eater. I will eat shrimp - if it is peeled for me. I will eat lobster, if someone takes it out of the shell for me. And, I will sometimes eat clams if they are chopped really small and mixed to almost unrecognizable with other, stronger, ingredients like cheese, breadcrumbs, bacon, or peppers, etc. Of course, DH, who grew up on the Great South Bay, cannot fathom not eating seafood and has been trying to get me to try it for the entire 12 years we've been married. I decided that since we had already paid for the food, and if I didn't like something, I could ask for something different, I decided to be adventurous and try the ceviche as an appetizer. What's more, I even tried the scallops with the main entree - don't remember what it was. 

After dinner, we stopped by the DVC desk for the pin-of-the-day and to thank them for the book. It was here that DD met Tyler, the DVC rep, and became fast friends with him. 



He remembered me from the members meeting but was really impressed with DD. He gave us each a DVC "Lady and the Tramp" pin and asked if we were enjoyed our cruise so far. He aslo gave DD a DVC colroing book and crayons and asked if she had been to the kids' club. She told him all about her day and who her favorite character was, etc. Tyler got a real kick out of DD and invited her to come back tomorrow for a surprise. By the time we finally headed over to the Golden Mickeys, we had missed the red carpet thing, but so much the better, I wouldn't have wanted me, my sausage dress, and the facial expression produced by the footwear from Hades to show up on that huge screen anyway. The show was cute, but I found myself shaking off sleepiness. After the show, DH was exhausted and wanted to head straight back to the room. Neither I, nor DD wanted to turn in so soon, so we got a picture of her with Minnie in her formal attire and did a little shopping. 



I just love how this one looks like Uncle Walt is right in the picture with them:


DD chose a few things for her friends back home and we headed back to the stateroom together. She wasn't interested in the kids' club and I was all happy to avoid the extra steps to get there. We watched a few minutes of TV together and I checked out the new navigators while the other two fell asleep. I wasn't far behind. 

My rest was all too short as I awoke at about 2 am to "that feeling". You know the one, where your up-chuck reflex is fighting against every fiber of your being to hold what's in your stomach down. Well, the up-chuck reflex won and I sprinted to the bathroom to make the first of six trips that night. Oh, dear, I'm vomiting on a cruise ship. I'm going to be quarantined. I felt my head - no fever. Had I had too much to drink the night before? Nah, I'm not dizzy or anything. Did I get food poisoning? What the heck did I have to eat? Seafood! I wondered whether if perhaps I was allergic to something I had eaten. But wouldn't I have experienced this earlier? Was I the only one to have what I ate? No, DH had the same thing. He wasn't up-chucking. I resolved not to tell anyone. I washed my hands thoroughly, just in case. My last trip to the commode was fairly mild, I knew that was the last of it. My stomach felt right as rain again. But when I pushed the button, no flush. Just a slight goink goink goink, the water went nowhere. Maybe it needed to refill. I pushed the button again. goink goink goink nothing. Oh, great. Now I have to call custodial and they'll see the vomit and know I was sick and I'll be quarantined for sure. goink goink goink. Oh, God! Flush for heaven's sake!!!! Nothing. I went out to the bedroom to see if DH was awake. zzzzzzzz Nope. Panic, Panic, Panic. Have I reached my flushing quota because of the extra flushes for the vomiting? Oh geez, how will we make it through the rest of the cruise if we've run out of flushes? goink goink goink. DH is gonna freak! goink goink goink whoosh. Oh, thank God! (I would later come to find out on the DIS that a fellow cruiser had experienced a flood in their stateroom early that morning, so I'm guessing there was a water pressure problem associated with that. When I described the scene to DH later on that morning, He shrugged, yeah, the scallops were a little "al dente" [read: undercooked] I can handle it, but maybe since you're not used to eating seafood, it made you sick. Yeah, maybe. Thanks for the warning darling.

Coming up next:
Smile Mon! You're on Cayman Camera

Sunday, April 20th, 2008
Key West
or
It's 5 o'clock somewhere...

I forgot to mention our second surprise of embarkation day. When we came back from dinner, there was a DVC Member magnet on our door. We had meant to stop by the DVC kiosk to let them know we were sailing, but just never got around to it. But they knew! Somehow, they knew.... When we got inside, there was a card from DVC inviting us to the member Meet on Sunday at 10:00am. Well, since we wouldn't be disembarking until after noon, why not? We (I) had heard that they give stuff away and I'm all about free stuff.

As soon as I awoke and my watch showed a fairly reasonable 5:30, I tiptoed my way out to the verandah to watch the miles go by. Caribbean waters are breathtakingly indescribable. There are a bright azure - almost royal blue, that make you want to just jump off the boat and dive right in. Now, being a non-swimmer and looking at it from 6 stories above, I restrained myself. It was still gray and overcast and I wondered if we were in for a patch of bad weather. The quiet didn't last long and DH was soon out on the verandah too. I needed coffee and had forgotten about ordering the carafe from room service the night before. DH and I agreed that we wouldn't be hearing from DD anytime soon, so we decided to go up to Topsiders for some coffee. I made myself look semi-human while DH wrote a note on DD's wipe-off board that we had "gone for coffee and be back shortly". There were about 5 other people getting coffee, but thankfully, we were all of the same disposition - no one was interested in small talk - just the java. DH wanted to look around a bit, so we grabbed a stern-side table and watched the boat wake trail into the horizon as the sunbeams broke through the clouds. I wanted to share the first sunrise with DD, so we beat feet down to deck 6 to watch the sunrise from our own verandah. She awoke as we were getting ourselves settled at the railing and she came out to watch the pinks and purples turn to gold. We stayed out on the verandah for a while longer, discussing our plans for the day. Topsiders started serving breakfast at 7:30, so we headed up there. DD wanted to go in her jammies, so we let her. We also let her take two bites of this and a taste of that and if she didn't like it, or wanted something differently - fine. It truly was a vacation not having to stress over, "you ordered it, we're paying for it, you're eating it."

DD wanted to go swimming, so we went back to the room after breakfast and she changed into her suit lickety-split. It was fairly empty, just she and about 3 other kids. We watched her from some nearby chaise lounges. She splashed around in the Mickey-Pool until about 9, when it started to get super crowded. That was okay, though, since we needed to shower and get ready for the day.
Once back in the stateroom, we took turns showering and watching the waves go by. It was during the time that we caught a glimpse of this:

- We figure they were patrolling the U.S. border. That is, we *think* they were ours.

We asked DD if she wanted to come to the member's meet with us. "No Way!! I'm going to Kid's Club!" So, we checked the navigator to make sure they were open and saw that they were in The Stack. Perfect! We needed to be at Diversions anyway. We weren't sure how check-in actually worked away from the Lab, so we sent DD up to check herself in. Turns out, she had to wait on the line, so we waited with her - until she shooed us away. "I can do this. Just go." Um, okay. Felt weird. But, whatever. We took the forward elevator down to Deck 3 and arrived right on time for the DVC meet. DH wanted to explore the restroom area, so I signed us in and asked for as many free goodies as I could hold. The hour we spent at the meet was fun and tempting - they had a great deal going for add-ons, but I resisted: I WANT MY BLT! We got DVC hats for the whole family and I did win a cool, water-resistant tote bag- very roomy - that we wound up using on port days. After the meet, DH played create-a-cocktail back in the stateroom and we explored the ship a bit until it was time to go to port. We didn't have any planned excursions in Key West, so we were in no rush to get off with the crowds. Instead, we let DD eat at Animator's Palette with the lab kids and we picked her up from there when we were ready to head into port.

Key West

It's a pretty neat experience to step off the ship and be a new place. We had no idea where we were going or what exactly we wanted to do. We did have some postcards that DD had filled out to send to her grandmothers and we figured they would get them while we were still away if we sent them from the US port - plus we wouldn't have to worry about foreign currency and stamps and such. We did have to find US stamps, though. That was our mission. Explore the island while on a quest for stamps and a mailbox - on a Sunday. On Wall Street, I suggested getting tickets for the trolley that you could get on and off at will. DH said he wanted to walk and wander around. I suggested that with an 8 year old in tow, this wouldn't be a viable option. DH said, "Let's see how it goes. Maybe we'll rent one of those electric cars." Well, don't you think we should get a card or take down the number or maybe just rent one now and be done with it? Nah, the guy tells DH they're all over the island and we'll be able to find them easily...

We walked up Duval and explored some of the shops. I'm not a shopper and DH doesn't like spending money, so I'm not really quite sure what we were hoping to accomplish. 2 blocks in: "I'm thirsty." Easily solved, we stopped at one of those open beverage counters for a smoothie and some adult beverages. We asked some locals where we might be able to purchase some stamps. The grocery store was about 8 blocks up - on Fleming. We continued window-shopping. 4 blocks later: "My feet hurt." Not to worry, we're almost there. The length of the blocks in Key West have no rhyme or reason and 8 blocks was a looooong way. We finally got there and went to the stamp-dispensing machine to buy stamps. There was a blue post box on the opposite side of the street heading back to Duval, where DD deposited her correspondence. "I'm tired." DH had heard enough. He decided to scope out the area for an electric car so he could arrange for them to pick us up. In the time it took DD and I to get up to Duval street, DH was gone. Great, we hadn't brought our cell phones and he was nowhere to be found. Surely, he would notice we weren't with him and come back to where he last saw us. So, we waited... and waited... and waited. "I have to go to the bathroom." Well, sweetie, we can't leave this spot until Dad comes back and finds us. "I really have to go." You'll need to hold it. "I gotta go...bad." Do the pee-pee dance. So, DD wiggled jumped, skipped, and jigged until DH finally made his way back to the corner where we were waiting. Before he could say a word, I blurted, "We're going to Starbucks so she can go to the bathroom" and ran across the street. DD begged the baristas for the bathroom and they happily handed us a card-key and directed us around the back and into the La Concha Hotel lobby. DD barely made it into the stall, and I figured, since I was there anyway, "One goes, we all go."
Back out on the street, DH was standing next to the driver of an electric car and waving us across. The guy was going to drive us to their office, where DH could fill out some paper work and we'd be on our way. The driver began telling Ed about not drinking and driving "obviously" and being careful about where we parked and making sure to feed the meters promptly, and not to drive too long distances and that the car wouldn't go over the speed limit, but be careful and don't go by the highway because people drive crazy coming onto the island.

Of course, we had no idea where, exactly, we wanted to go, but on the way to the office we had seen signs pointing to the Southernmost Point, so we figured we'd start there. We found a place to park the electric car on Whitehead Street. "No Standing Any Time" "We'll only be here a couple minutes." We get out of the little car and get on the fast moving photo-op line. We could see the naval base from where we were standing and DD took a peek at the sea life around the rocks at the shoreline. We made a reciprocal pact with the folks around us to take photos of each other's families.


Back in the car, no tickets, no tow, only seems to embolden DH. We drove up Whitehead Street onto Wall, and back down Duval Street. DH wanted to check out Del Sol, so we made a left onto Greene Street and tried to find parking. This was not an easy task, but we did manage to find a spot near a meter on Ann St. - a block away from where we wanted to be. The one quarter we had left after buying the stamps yielded us 10 minutes on the meter. Whatthf? We tooled around in Del Sol for a bit, but didn't really find anything that struck our fancy for the right price. We stopped at a corner kiosk selling shell and bead necklaces. The one DH had bought last summer at Animal Kingdom broke and he was wanting another one. He checked a few out, asked for prices, etc. all the while with me shaking my head no. "Oh, right. They'll be cheaper in Cozumel" he announces to everyone within a 3 mile radius. As we - quickly- make our way back down Greene Street, I explain how it kinda wasn't cool that he did that to that vendor with so many customers at her shop. I was concerned about the car and the meter, and suggested we look for somewhere to make change so we could feed the meter, or get back to the car and head somewhere else. DH opted for choice 3 - stop at Guy Harvey's Grill for an adult beverage. After he paid, I grabbed the change and jogged back to the meter to buy us some more time.

It was relaxing, sipping a margarita, listening to the soothing sounds of island music and feeling the cool breezes blow through the open end of the bar. DD was twisting around on her bar stool, swinging her legs, and simply enjoying the effects of the sugar-laden Shirley Temple she ordered. It was then, as she was twirling her lanyard around, that I noticed that the back of her Tinkerbell pouch was black. You know, the side that you slip the KTTW card into?! She can't get back on the ship without it! The last I had seen it was in Del Sol, where she asked if she could use it to purchase a souvenir there. She had been swinging her lanyard around in there too. I frantically searched around the bar, then down the sidewalk, on the ground at the jewelry kiosk, down Duval, and back into Del Sol. I freakishly furrowed around peoples' feet and finally made my way to the counter where I asked if anyone had turned in a cruise ship card for the Disney Magic. Nope, but if anyone does, they'll give it to the Cruise Ship contact and she'll bring it back to the ship for us at the end of the day. EEEKS! What do we do until then?!

Head down and still searching, I made my way back to DH and DD at Guy Harvey's. No dice. I told DH what the cashier at Del Sol had told me and suggested that maybe it was in the car. We ordered beverages to go and went back to the car to search for the card. No luck. What should we do, go back to the ship now? We opted to do some more exploring. No sense in worrying about it now. We'll get it sorted. Disney isn't going to leave our child stranded on Key West because of a card. We'll just ask them to cancel it and issue a new one - just like last time at Disney World. (Of course, in the back of my mind, I worried that someone may use her card to get onto the ship - Then what?) We decided to take a round trip tour of the island. We went all the way to South Street and followed the roads around the island. As we passed the White Street pier, we resolved to stop there and check out the view before we left. It was fun driving all the way around the island, even if regular cars were passing us left and right. Electric Car guy was right when he said that people were crazy coming off US1 - but we're New Yorkers - they needed to watch out for us! We honestly had no idea where we were going or what was available, but we were certain of one thing: As long as we didn't find ourselves on a bridge, we couldn't be too lost. We did wind up in a busy commercial area with super stores and such and we did want to know where we were in relation to the pier. As we headed further south, we noticed the change in the buildings and the neighborhood feel and stumbled upon a tourist center. Wait, I read in the navigator that they have a "Ship's Agent" on the island. Maybe the tourist center knows where it is and we can go there and handle the problem with the card. DH agreed to stop cause he needed to explore the lavatory. The tourist information guy didn't have much in the way of tourist information for us, but he did give us a map and tell us where the pier was. (Yeah, cause a humongous cruise ship is so difficult to spot in a town of two-story buildings.) We thanked him for his "help" and headed on our way. We found the cruise ship pier and DH parked the car while DD and I headed towards the ship to check and see what we needed to do to get DD a new card. I approached the custom's guy: "We have a really big problem." "No you don't." "We'll yeah we do. See, my daughter lost her card somewhere on the island..." he cut me off before I could finish: "What's your name?" he asks DD. "Jordan." He reaches into his clipboard and lo and behold, he has her card.  I thank him profusely as he hands it to ME. "See. I told you. No problem." DD and I praise God as we head back to find DH. We find a bench to wait on and put her card into the zippered part of her pouch. As we are sitting, still praising the Lord, JPMTECH and family pass us. "There she is! That's my friend!" says John's DD. I chatted with John and Deb while the girls hug and chat too. DH finally finds us, is thrilled by our good-fortune, and John and Co. head back onto the ship while we go back to the car because it's in a "questionable spot" according to DH. DH was feeling those adult beverages and got a little saucy as we walked past the Custom House:

We were getting a little hungry, but we really weren't very interested in going back to the ship anytime soon, most especially not just to eat dinner at 6- when we could get Topsiders whenever we wanted. According to our cards, it was night 1 of 3 at Lumiere's so it was no big loss if we missed it. We drove back up Duval Street seeking a kid-friendly place to get a snack. We were able to find another parking space on Ann Street, south of Greene, this time with no meter! DH decided a second trip to Guy Harvey's was in order. We ordered some buffalo wings to tide us over. They were super-spicy, but delicious. DD got an order of chicken strips with french-fries that we all shared. We knew we wanted Key Lime Pie from Key West, so we walked over to Duval and did some window-shopping on our way up to where the Blond Giraffe was. $30 later, we had two slices of key lime pie, a key lime ice cream cone, and DD got a package of key lime cookies to bring home. Yikes!
We went back to where the car was parked and I made an interesting discovery as we approached the vehicle:


Apparently, this was not an unmetered parking space, just a spot where some industrius islander had taken a hacksaw to base of the sign pole. 
We drove back down to the south side of the island and visited the pier DD had her eye on.



It was interesting to see people clamming and gathering other sorts of edible sea creatures so close to shore. Where we are, people may fish or drop crab traps from the marina piers, but generally, we take a boat out into the bay or the ocean and drop anchor. We walked to the end of the pier, admiring the beauty of the unadulterated landscape.




Except for the radar and communication towers at the base, the seaside town looked refreshingly quaint. We peered into the clear ocean lapping up against the pier and one of the locals spotted a shark in the water and pointed it out to us.



By this time, we were ready to head back to the ship. We took another lap around the island, brought the car back to its office back on the south end of Duval Street and from there got a lift back to Mallory Square. All aboard was at 7:30, so when the driver dropped us off, we decided to do a little more exploring and shopping before getting back onto the ship. We walked through the mall and bought some souvenir T-shirts on our way out the back to the pier. The Sunset Celebration had already begun and we listened to the live band pumping out soothing island tunes as we strolled over to the gangway and back onto the ship. Rather than head straight back to our stateroom, we took the elevator up to deck 9 and walked up to deck 10 to catch a glimpse of that legendary sunset.

Skipping the comedian's show altogether, we enjoyed dinner at topsiders before heading back to the room to freshen up and go play Who Wants to Be a Mouseketeer?DD wanted to visit the Lab afterwards, but we when got there, she realized it was the girls' pajama party, so she came back to the stateroom with us to change into her pjs then join the party. She headed out on her own and we stayed on the verandah until DH climbed into bed, exhausted, at 11. I sat out a while longer watching the lights on the horizon as the ship passed Cuba. It was strangely eerie to be passing so close. I kept a sharp eye out for handmade rafts floating on the rippling water under the bright full moon. Alas, there was no such excitement to be found and I tumbled into bed at about midnight. DD came back from the Lab at 1am. No worries - she had nowhere to be the next day.

up next,
It's a Great Day at Sea, Sir!

 

Saturday, April 19th, 2008
Our First Night of Magic

Our most-wonderful TA was able to get us switched to main-dining, so our dinner time was at 6pm. After wandering around deck 10 for a bit, we went back to the stateroom to enjoy our verandah and freshen up before dinner. Since had cabin 6138, and Parrot Cay wasn't far from where we were, I believe we actually left the stateroom at 6pm. - This is the biggest difference between WDW and the Cruise that I absolutely adore. You are never from where you need to be.

As we made our way across the center floor, we could really feel the boat rockin- and rollin'. So much so, that our assistant server, Eniko, spread her arms out, like an airplane, and veered from side to side on the way across. We followed suit and it was really fun. We were the first to arrive at our table. Our tablemates were a couple in their early 40's who left their triplet girls home. They were big Disney fans, this was their second cruise, they went to Disney often, but weren't sure if DVC was right for them. We and our other tablemates - a family of three from NJ that included a state senator, his wife, and their 10-year old son, who were also DVC members- spent the next few nights explaining how great DVC would be for their family. From what I understand, they eventually met with the DVC reps on board and even made an appointment to see the models when they got off the ship.

Our server, Rolly, was difficult to understand, had trouble getting our food orders straight, and was pretty dull. The one thing I had been looking forward to from all the hype on the boards was how great the dining staff was and how they got to know you and knew your preferences and were entertaining and took care of the kids. He did nothing of that sort. Eniko was the shining light, and was more attentive than he was. (We wound up tipping her more than we tipped him.) I truly do not remember what I had for dinner. It was tasty, but I wouldn't write to Tom Colicchio about it. After dinner, Rolly told us about that evening's show and how we would be at Key West tomorrow and dining at Lumiere's that night.

We went back to the stateroom to relax on the verandah before the show. I was looking at the navigator when Jordan said she wanted to check out the kids club that night. Since the show said it was a "variety show", I figured she wouldn't be missing much. This would be a great opportunity for her to practice navigating around the ship. We told her where the kids club was and had her lead us there. We taught her how to look at the signs, follow the arrows, and look for "landmarks." We taught her about "aft", "forward", "mid ship", "port" and "starboard" and how our stateroom was "level 6 aft, port side" and the kids' club was "level 5 midship". She led us to the aft elevators; but since it was taking so long, we decided to take the stairs. Once we got up the stairs, we helped her figure out which direction to walk to get to the kids' club. She was so excited to get to use her "big kid" privileges." We got there and watched and waited while she checked herself in. Good Girl! Off to the show.

I must say, it felt really strange not having her there beside us. That feeling would wear off around day 3. The show was really cute. I certainly wasn't expecting it have the whole song and dance and characters. I was disappointed that Jordan missed it. I must say; we are morning people. We are up at 5:30am and in bed by 9pm every day. We were really tired by the end of the show and, although we had no child in tow, we really weren't interested in "clubbing it". We stopped by the kids club on the way back from the show to check on Jordan. The kids' club staff was really great and let us right in to see her. She was having a ton of fun and wasn't interested in leaving with us, so we told her to check herself out and have them page us when she was on her way back to the stateroom.

Our stateroom hostess, had been in and Jordan's webkin and manatee were on her made bed and a cool Mickey head towel arrangement with chocolates was on ours. I wasn't in the mood for any sweets, so I tucked them away - so DH wouldn't gobble them down  We sat on the verandah for a while. The moon was full (well almost it was full the next night) and bright and lit up the ocean as we went by. I think it was in those moments in the ocean air, watching the light from the moon dance across the ripples on the water, that DH decided that we would most-definitely be doing this again. We went inside after a while and DH explored the TV and I perused Sunday's navigator while waiting for the pager to alert us that DD was on her way. We fell asleep waiting. At 12:01, the pager finally buzzed. We decided to see how she did making it back and using her key card. By 12:03 we heard the card in the slot and the clicking of the lock. "Back so soon? Were you getting tired?" "No. They made me come back. They said they were closing." I smiled as she changed into the jammies I had laid out for her and climbed into her bed hugging her fuzzy friends. She was snoring before her head hit the pillow - and I wasn't far behind.

up next: Key West or It's five o'clock somewhere...

 

Saturday, April 19th 2008 cont.
Embarkation

The embarkation process seems really strange to me - disorganized almost. Everyone gathers at the entrance to the roped off queue and as the boarding card numbers are called, people shove their way through to get on the line. Realizing there was no semblance of order, I shuffled our family up to the front so that A) I could watch the process and 2) we would be the first of the 6's. It worked well for us, as DH quickly picked up on how they cue the CMs directing boarding. So, before the announcement was even made, we had picked up our luggage and were moving toward the queue. Now, this line was a bit more organized and it was quite clear what the CMs were looking for - to me. Unfortunately, maaaannnny of the people ahead of us had not picked up on the "have ALL keys to the world cards and photo ID OUT and ready for inspection." I cannot tell you how many folk ahead of us were sitting there struggling with taking their card out of the plastic lanyard holders and shuffling around (going into wallets) for their photo ID - you know, if you hear the CM asking every single group ahead of you for the same thing, over and over and over again, you would think you might have it ready for them???!!! (Rant over - no pun intended). The funny thing is, the majority of those folks taking their cards and ID out of the lanyards and such were CASTAWAY CLUB MEMBERS - who have DONE THIS BEFORE! (okay I'll stop ranting - can you tell I needed this vacation ? lol) 
Anyhow, the next 5 minutes were a blur. I wasn't really able to process or take much in because of trying to make sure that I followed all directions and understood what was expected. (A personal flaw I guess) Anyhoo, as we passed through the Mickey-head threshold, we showed our cards one final time, then it was: Wash your hands with the wipes (I had heard about the wipe stations on the DIS, so, while this didn't come as a complete surprise, I was shocked at how soon it began. Then it was time for pictures. Take this card, stand over here, smile, stand here, smile, now just the child, smile. In all this haste, I forgot to make sure my watch was facing forward, so that little bit of the embark picture bothers me. but, whatever. 

Next was the entrance. I knew about this too, but it was totally cool how it all happened. Now, please know, I am sick of being the family photog and dislike seeing all of every important event through the lens of a camera, so I packed the camera away because I wanted to soak in all the magnitude of the day. But it was like a whirlwind. A CM leans over and asks our name DH and I both answer and it comes out over the loudspeaker: "DCL welcomes The Ranches Family" umm ok we'll be the "Ranches."
From there I was on a mission. It was late and I needed to make it to Rockin Bar D to make Palo ressies. We decided on brunch; but somehow wound up with brunch and dinner. cool. Until we found out that pirate night had been changed! whatthf? So we needed to try for another night. I looked at our KTTW card ( PLLPLAP) - yes you are seeing it correctly, Our dining rotation definitely showed us in Parrot Cay and Lumiere's 3 times each and Animator's once for the whole trip. Okay, whatever, I guess missing Parrot Cay on Tuesday won't be a huge loss... We got tuesday night also and left RBD feeling pretty proud of ourselves. It was about 12:15 now and we headed up to Topsiders for lunch and to allow DD into the Mickey pool. Thanks to the DIS, I knew to bring our suits. DH and I caught sight of our first poolside CM who had a tray full of the "drink o the day" in reusable plastic cocktail glasses. Perfect! We were going to ask our room steward for wine glasses for our aforementioned adult beverage cache, but these would foot the bill so much more aptly - and we could start the party right away - BONUS. We grabbed a table on the port side near the Mickey Pool and I watched our bags and sipped relaxation step #1 while DH took DD to Topsiders. When he returned, I headed in to get my lunch. We sent DD into the bathroom to change into her suit and let her splash around. They finally opened the slide at about 1pm and she had a blast. We would not see it this empty again unless we were at the pool by 8am - we did that only once. 
We relaxed until 1:30 and headed down to our room. It didn't take much to get DD out of the pool because she was just as excited to see the room as we were. We were even more surprised when we opened the door and saw all those wonderful "Bon Voyage" decorations and the cake our TA had arranged for us! Thanks Keri from LBAC! In my excitement, I neglected to get a picture, but I DID call her and leave a message to thank her for her thoughtfulness while DH went on a quest to fill the ice-bucket and let our room steward know that we would need an ongoing supply of ice. DH wasted no time unpacking the um, err... provisions and mixed us up a refill of our souvenir glasses (cups). We settled out on the verandah with our cocktails and did some people watching before our 2:00pm DIS meet at the Promenade Lounge. 

We arrived a few minutes late, but it wasn't difficult to find our group. There were about 6 or 7 families there, positioned in chairs and tables arranged in a circle. 

We arrived as Maryann (Madgomez of TGM fame) was introducing herself and family and I took that opportunity to enter the circle and finally meet someone I had "known" for so many years on those boards. 
Everyone was filling out lime green Mickey-head nametags that many of us wore for the remainder of the cruise. 
I introduced our family and many more DISers arrived and introduced themselves as the rest of us chatted and got to know one another. The yankee swap was awesome. In my haste to pack, I had managed to forget the homespun yankee swap gifts from LI - but since many of us were actually from LI, it probably was so much the better. LOL DH picked out some apropos gifts at DTD and they became some of the most coveted items of the swap. DD fell in love with her gift, a Tallahassee manatee - from Hypermommy and Co. - and made fast friends with the little girl who chose the gift that she picked out for the swap. 
John (TECHJPM) and Deb's DD, Leanne, and Jordan spent a LOT of time in the lab together and we ran into each other often on the ship and off. DH got a lovely tote - the blue stripes really accent his eyes - 
and I got the much-coveted DCL litho!!! yay me!!! By the time we finished our yankee swap, we had taken over the entire Promenade Lounge. We took a few group photos and bid adieu - but this certainly wouldn't be the last anyone would see of each other.

Back at our stateroom, I took the opportunity to unpack our luggage before the muster drill. The drill was a non-event that was over before we figured out what was going on. They started call stateroom numbers, but I never heard ours. It didn't matter though, they released us super-quick and we finished our unpacking before the beginning of the sail-away party. I must say, I don't really quite understand all the complaints about the stateroom size or the storage space. We had plenty of space and loads of storage. I don't know if it was because I packed light, or that I'm a pack-rat by nature and adept at hiding things away while still having them accessible, but, we could've brought tons more stuff and still had room to spare. Nothing was ever all over the place and there was plenty of space in the bathroom for all of our toiletries. I didn't bring the much-touted "over the door shoe organizer" and never felt that I needed one. We were all moved-in by the time we left the stateroom for the Sail-away party. DH mixed up yet another batch of Bahama Mamas for the Sail-away party and off we went.

It was hot, hot, hot on deck and I really don't know how those CM's do all that jumping around for so long. But then again, these are also the bunch that keep all of our little ones entertained while we all chillax:

We got a spot right up front and waved our mylar streamers around for the 45 minutes until that much awaited, always imitated, never duplicated, Disney Cruise Line ship's horn.

it truly is a surreal moment when you hear that horn and realize you've pushed off from the dock and you're moving. The party ended with an appearance from the characters.


Then we went up to deck 10 to watch as the ship sailed out of the canal. People on shore are truly awed by the magnificence of this ship and they watched and waved as we passed.
Wilted by the heat, we headed back to the stateroom to relax and get ready for dinner.

up next... it's dinner time... already?.

 

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

After about 45 minutes of driving, we were on the bridge. I had heard about the view from the bridge, but no words can express the absolute giddiness I felt when I saw those two beautiful red stacks when we reached the apex. As excited as I was, I couldn't seem to drum up the same level of enthusiasm from the others in the vehicle. "Oh, yeah cool," was the extent of the response from Dh and DD, well, let's just say, "zzzzzzmmmmmmmhhhpf" was all I could muster out of her. She had fallen asleep and Mickey Mouse himself couldn't have roused her. What I wasn't prepared for, however, was the wait - from the first sighting to actually arriving at the port was interminable. The ship is mammoth, so it is easily spotted from afar - apparently veerrrryyy afar. But we had another 10 minutes of driving before we were actually there. 
But when we pulled into Port Canaveral and saw the magnificence of the Magic from up close, DD and I were ready to jump out of the still-moving car and climb aboard. Of course, we had to be directed to the drop off, where we unloaded the luggage and DD and I proceeded to the terminal while DH made his way to the rental car place to drop off the car. It was 10:50 and I was NOT a happy camper. There was a line to check in before entering the building. I really wanted to avoid the crowds, and instead we were right smack dab in the thick of them. But, we really NEEDED that cell-phone charger this week, you see. grrrrr. But I had his passport, so I was gonna check us all in. 
I got to the first desk where they check your paperwork. I explained that as I was pulling the papers out of the bag, I noticed that I must have packed the brown booklet because the lady at the cruiseline desk at Animal Kingdom Lodge said I wouldn't need it.
"Let me see what you have." I handed her the paperwork.
"This isn't it. You'll need to fill out..."
"Whaddya mean? They checked those papers at the cruiseline desk at Animal KingdomLodge. They said they were fine. Even put everything in order." I was about to lose it.
"These aren't what you need. Do you have the little brown booklet" I attempted a knowingly fruitless search of my bag. "No, they're in the other bag." While checking my bag, I realized that I had handed her the printed contract, instead of the cruise documents she needed. I sheepishly handed them over to her. "Looks great! All set" Excellent, I thought, now we can take some pictures of the terminal and with the characters. I wondered which boarding number she'd give us. We're not that late. Maybe 3 or 4? "Just go right over to that line over there and they'll give you your boarding card." Huh? That was just pre-check-in. Great. tick...tick...tick.
I dragged the two heavy carry-ons and DD over to the serpentine line and was handed card #6 as we entered. Ugggh! Check-in was painless. The terminal was crowded and DH wasn't back from the rental place yet, so I didn't mind standing in the kids' club line. It kind of made the time pass more quickly than wandering around. DH finally found us on the line and we checked DD in. The lady was mean - bordering on nasty, when I told her that DD would have sign-out privileges. I know my kid. It's your rules. Stop eyeballing me. then she asdked for the password. I gave it to her. "Nope. that's not it." Yeah. That's it. Nope, starts with a 'd'" WhattheF... 
Turns out, when I checked something for DMIL on her DVC account, I must've been logged into DCL and it changed the password. It shouldn't do that. Fixed the password. Got our pager. A quick trip to the restroom for all and they began to call numbers. Hooray!!!

Next up...Disney Cruise Line invites all guests with boarding card #6...

Saturday, April 19, 2008 - Embarkation Day

I couldn't force myself to sleep any longer, so I rolled over and put some coffee on. (The studios at AKV are small). DH has this thing about coffee when we're at Disney - it must be made with bottled water. So, we had picked up a gallon during our Publix adventure the day before. I used the rest to refill some 1-1/2 liter bottles to take to the port with us. Ah, the port. Just a few more hours and we'd be climbing aboard the Disney Magic...

It was 6 am. I slid past still sleeping DD and opened the drapes. She's usually getting up for school at this time, but she's on vacation too. I tried to be as quiet as possible pushing the glass doors to the balcony and taking a seat outside in the dark. I couldn't see any animals, but I sure did enjoy the quiet. All ten seconds of it. DH stomped his way out, crashed into the door-frame, tripped over the table and plopped himself down in the other chair. Well, "Good Morning" to you! Almost immediately, he spied a family of kudu who had wandered onto the path right up close to the hotel. I had heard some rustling in the bushes, but figured it was some birds. Nope, a few of them had managed to get past the hot wire and were exploring the zookeepers' areas. It wasn't long before the animal caretakers drove up in their jeep with a searchlight and spotted the three. Then they left, so I figured that maybe there wasn't a hot wire at all and that they were just tracking their whereabouts. 

DD heard us chatting about the goings on and was soon in my lap, watching the antics of the adventurous kudu family. As the animals tried to find an entrance to the hotel, we enjoyed the sunrise together.
The kudu wandered over to what was apparently a nesting area for the geese and the birds made their displeasure known by stretching their wings, stomping their webbed feet, and honking and hissing frenetically at the larger beasts. The birds won and each time one of the kudu took an odd step in that direction, the geese would start their bullying behavior again and chase them away. It was hysterical and DD will still spontaneously break into the goose bully dance to get a laugh.
The zookeepers were back shortly after sunrise and tried to "drive" the animals back onto the savannah with the jeep. That didn't work so they got out of the jeep with very large shields and sticks and I became concerned. I needn't have been. The sticks were to bang the shields with - the noise was supposed to make them run away. All it managed to do, however, was act as a "human call" and soon all the balconies on the Uzima savannah were filled and watching the action. They did, eventually, get them around the wire and back where they belonged, which signaled, for us, the start of our own day.

We needed to get everyone showered and dressed and all the toiletries into the checked luggage. I needed to clean up the room and pack all of DDs new treasures, find a place for the laundry, keep out our paperwork, swimsuits, sunblock, etc. I needed to pack a carryon with whatever we would need until our stateroom was ready at 1:30. DH needed to pack the carryon with the adult provisions. We also needed to eat breakfast. It was now 7:30 am and we needed to be on the road by 9:30 at the latest. We were. We pulled away from AKL at 9:15 and we just needed to make a quick stop at the gas station before hitting the open road. But, when we stopped at the gas station on I-drive to fill the gas tank (so we wouldn't have to do so near the port) DH realized he had left his cell-phone charger plugged in behind the coffee pot. He tried the typical blame it on the wife game, but I countered with the "I didn't put it there, how was I supposed to know" card. I suggested simply calling the resort, alerting them it was there, and asking them to put it aside until we returned next Saturday and we'd pick it up then. No. We had to go back and get it - now. Grrrrr. So, instead of being on the road by 9:30, we were heading back to AKL at 9:30 so Dh could walk those loooooong hallways back to our room on Uzima trail to get his cell-phone charger - that he wouldn't need for the next week. It was 9:45 when we finally got on I-4. 

coming up next...
Have you seen the view from the bridge? and other stories...