[stardust190]

The Cast:

DS - Cameron. He’s our 5 year old adventure man. ALWAYS moving. Loves vehicles of all kinds, but has a special place in his heart for construction trucks. His favorite character is always changing as he likes a little variety in his life, but at the moment he’s been into STAR WARS. He’s got a great sense of humor and a kind heart. If only he would stop ripping holes in his pants…



DD - Mallory. She’s 3 and has the attitude that goes along with that age. There are glimpses of sweetness about her so we’re hoping that this attitude is just a phase. Like her brother the humor is strong with this one. She loves to sing and dance and all things GIRLY. Her favorite princess is Rapunzel - who (spoiler alert) is NOT on the ship.



DH - Nate. Disney is growing on him. So much so that I think he’s starting to look forward to our trips as much as me. His favorite movie is Aladdin and I think the Genie is the reason why. We have a deal at the moment where we can take a Disney trip every other year. And then he kind of gets to pick the trips for the other years. Last trip was camping. In. A. Tent. Not sure if he gets to pick anymore…

Me - Missy. Like everyone on these boards I’m the planner. The obsessive planner. The one who reads way more than needed and follows up on most every detail. Planning a cruise drove me crazy because there just isn’t that much to it. I love all kinds of things Disney. Much like my son I have a variety of favorites. My favorite princess is Belle. I love Mickey and the gang. I love Tinkerbells attitude (which is good because my daughter seems to have it!).



My Mom - Lisa. Our stowaway for this cruise. She watches my kids while I work so we took her on this cruise as a thank you/birthday present. Her actual birthday was on Star Wars Day at Sea. She’s a kid at heart and loves her some Chip and Dale and the Haunted Mansion. She is extremely crafty and made my kids a bunch of stuff for the trip. She had never been on a cruise, but grew up in Duluth, MN and spent a lot of time on Lake Superior so she was used to large bodies of water.



None of us knew what to expect from a cruise, but there is a first time for everything!

I’ll end this update with our travel day so that my next update we will be getting on the ship. We left Minnesota the day before we were to set sail. I had finished our packing the weekend before as I had to work Monday-Thursday and our flight was set to take off at 8:55 AM on Friday morning. The kids were bouncing off the walls excited, but actually went to sleep at a reasonable time on Thursday night. Which was a good thing as we needed to be out the door by about 6:15 AM as we wanted to make it to MSP by 7 AM so DH would have time to park the car.

The alarm went off at 4:30 AM and DH and I got ourselves ready and then did all the last minute packing and loading up of the car. My mother had stayed night with us so that we could all ride to the airport together. We were packed and ready by 5:45 AM which should have given us more than enough time to get the kids up and ready to be out the door by 6:15 AM. However, our anti-morning girlie wasn’t having it. Even with a fun trip on the horizon. She was in a foul mood and wasn’t agreeable to ANYTHING. She screamed and refused to get dress. Which stressed me out beyond belief as it had snowed and I had no idea how long it would take to get to the airport with traffic.

While I fought with DD to get ready DH shoveled the driveway. After lots of tears from DD and some frustration from me we were finally dressed and ready to go. DD’s hair wasn’t brushed, but pants were on and she was agreeing to get into the car. So I took it as a win.

We have a Subaru Forester and although it seats 5 with car seats in the back it was a tight fit and I was the winner of the middle back seat in the car. After the fight to get my daughter ready I was not in the mood for another delay, but my seat belt was not working. I kind of lost it. It was after 6:15 AM and I was stressed about missing the flight. I had been up since 4:30 AM after not getting much sleep (too excited). I might have had a meltdown in the car and yelled at my mother when she told me to “just chill out”. It was not a proud moment for me or a good way to start a trip, but it’s what happened.

We were finally underway and the traffic wasn’t bad. We made it to the airport a mere 15 minutes later than I had wanted so it wasn’t bad. The grumpies of the family had been replaced by excitement and the day was looking up. DH dropped me, my mom and the kids off with the luggage and then went to park the car. I had the checked luggage paid for so DD and I went to drop that off while my mom and DS sat with the carry-ons. Once we dropped that off I got a text from DH that he was on the shuttle heading back to the airport. We got in line for security, which looked CRAZY as the line was really long. By the time DH reached us they re-routed the line and turns out it was just not being routed efficiently so early in the morning. It took maybe 15 minutes to get through security and they didn’t make any of us take off our shoes or remove electronics or liquids from our bags.

We took the kids to our gate and then Nate and I went off in search of breakfast. We got Caribou Coffee (anti-Starbucks in our house!) and muffins/pastries and ate at the gate.



By the time we finished our breakfast they were boarding the flight. The flight was largely uneventful, however, we did end up sitting on the plane for over a half an hour while the wings were de-iced. The kids were excited to be on the plane.





Despite the delay in taking off while the plane was de-iced we landed only a few minutes late. We had reservations to stay at the MCO Hyatt so after getting our bags we checked in and headed to the room, which I have no pictures of. It was a bit chilly outside but it was only around 2:30 PM so we took the kids swimming anyways. The Minnesotan in them didn’t seem to mind that it wasn’t really warm enough to swim. They had fun for about an hour or two. We picked up dinner at McDonalds and watched a movie in the room before getting some sleep. The MCO Hyatt was VERY convenient for a pre-cruise stay. I’m glad we chose to stay there!

Up next: It’s off to the Mickey Boat!