/Cruising on a Dream Full of Frights and Friends: 10/12/13-10/19/13 TR completed 4/21/2014 - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I don't have any idea how I missed this. I was following Kelly's, but never found yours, I guess.
The drive down didn't seem too bad. We drove from Oklahoma to Orlando in 2010. Which we stopped in Pensacola to pick up my mom, sot hat gave us a break. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Coming home was worse than going down.
Oh, poor Hope. That is never fun for the child or the parent. Glad the restaurant wasn't packed and you were close to the hotel.
Aww, poor Hope! It's never fun to get sick, but to have it happen like that is that much worse. Hooray for an understanding and sympathetic staff at the Cracker Barrel!
I couldn't have asked for this to happen at a better restaurant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
Oh No! Poor Hope. Do I detect some mommy guilt as well?
There was some major mommy guilt going on. No doubt about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I don't have any idea how I missed this. I was following Kelly's, but never found yours, I guess.
The drive down didn't seem too bad. We drove from Oklahoma to Orlando in 2010. Which we stopped in Pensacola to pick up my mom, sot hat gave us a break. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Coming home was worse than going down.
Oh, poor Hope. That is never fun for the child or the parent. Glad the restaurant wasn't packed and you were close to the hotel.
It's probably because I started this thing right before we left. Nothing like waiting until last minute. Coming home was definitely worse because the excitment of getting somewhere was now gone, but it wasn't torture, so that's a plus.
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**I’ve been trying to slow these updates down to once-a-week so that Kelly (OhToodles!) can catch up with me…HINT. HINT.**
Day Two: Sunday, October 13th
Part One: The Big Reveal!
I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to sleep through the night since I was so worried about Hope, but apparently we all slept like rocks, and didn’t really move until the alarm went off at 6:30am. I wanted to be on our way to the port no later than 10am, and even though this seemed like it was super early to be waking up, I wanted to make sure we weren’t rushing around getting organized and packing the car back up.
I was the first one up and in the shower. Hope was still asleep when I got in, but was awake once I got out. I asked her how she was feeling, and she told me she was really hungry, so I took that as a good sign. Plus, her overall mood seemed back to normal, so I took that as another good sign.
While I continued getting ready, Chad and Hope kept busy by looking at the sights from our window. Apparently there was a group of guys that owned antique cars who had stayed overnight, and they were all starting to pull out of the parking lot.
Then they started looking for shapes in the clouds.
The hotel had a free continental breakfast available to all guests, so once I was dressed and ready to go, I worked on getting Hope moving, which wasn’t too hard to do since she knew a BIG surprise was in her future.
We made it down to breakfast around 8:30am, and the place was pretty crowded. Luckily we found an empty table and I was able to quickly grab all of us something to eat. Hope is a big yogurt girl, so she was super excited to see they had a variety of yogurts to choose from. I definitely knew she was feeling all better when she finished two yogurts without so much as an “I’m full” from her. Chad and I had some eggs, biscuits and sausage, with sausage gravy. Plus they had Green Mountain coffee, as well as flavored coffee creamers, so I was one extra happy girl that morning. It was so nice being able to take our time instead of running around before hitting the road again.
It was a little before 9:30am when we went back up to the room to gather all of our luggage together before loading it into the car, and just as we were about to walk out the door I got a text from Kelly saying “On our way finally. Shows we get to parking lot at 10:20am”. Of course, I sent her one back, and here’s how the rest of the conversation went…
Me: It says we’re only 25 minutes away, and we’re loading up the car now. Are you excited????
Kelly: Yes! Almost still doesn’t seem real.
Me: I know! Hope still has no idea where we’re going. Can’t wait!!! See you in a little bit.
Kelly: Really?! Where does she think she’s going?
Me: I asked her, and all she keeps saying is I don’t know. We didn’t even tell her what state we were in because if she knew it was Florida she would automatically think of Disney World. All she knows is it’s a BIG surprise and she’s really excited about it.
Kelly: That’s so awesome!
Me: I’m hoping I’m good enough to record her reaction while taking a picture…all at the same time. Haha!
Kelly: Good Luck!
Me: Thanks.
Now, before we actually got back onto 95 towards the port, I had one more stop I needed to make. We packed the car up, pulled off the lot, and then immediately turned into Cracker Barrel’s parking lot so that I could run in really quick. More often than not, people tend to complain rather than compliment, however, after the wonderful service we received due to a not so wonderful experience, I wanted to make sure the manager knew how much I appreciated it.
When I walked in, I was greeted by an employee at the door, so I asked her if I could speak to the manager on duty, of course she seemed a bit hesitant, and I immediately told her it was for a good thing, not a bad thing. Geez. After waiting for about 3 minutes, the manager came out, and I quickly explained what had happened last night. I told her that before Hope had even gotten sick, Stephanie (our waitress) had treated us so sweetly, but then she went above and beyond after the vomit hit the fan. The manager thanked me for taking the time to come in and tell her that, and she told me she would make sure to pass it along to Stephanie as well.
With that now done, we were on our way to the port.
My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest with excitement. I had my camera ready for the pictures and my cell phone ready for the video, but my hands were shaking so much I didn’t think I was going to be able to do any of it. Once we began to cross over the first bridge, I told Hope to put away her video game because her surprise was coming up. For the first time she didn’t argue with me about doing that.
Then once we started crossing over the second bridge, and I knew we had a good view of the ship in the distance, I told her to look out the window for her surprise. I asked her what she saw, and she said “a Mickey head” , and then I asked her, “what is it?” and she replies with “Disney”. Okay …but “what do you see?” And once again she says, “I see Mickey”. Ugh! "I know you see Mickey, but what's he on?" "A boat." Finally! Chad gets all excited and yells, "Yeah!!!! That's right! Do you know what that means?!?!" Still not getting it, she says, ":No". So finally I try to clarify what exactly this surprise is because by now it seems to have gone way over her head. "We're going on a Disney Cruise!" And all I get is a little "Yay". So then I ask her, "Aren't you excited? Because you don't seem excited?" And once again, all I get is a little "Yes". Needless her reaction wasn’t really what we were going for.
I think she was more confused than anything, but once we started pulling up past the ship, and we began explaining everything that she was going to see, her excitement started to build. Especially after we mentioned the word “princesses”.
Parking at the port was great because once you drive through the gates, you pull up to the curb, and a CM comes over to take the luggage that has your cruise tags on it. Then you’re free to park in the garage, and head into the terminal to check in. Even with us getting there before our scheduled port arrival time a line had already formed, but I wasn’t too worried about the crowd affecting the time we were going to be able to board the ship. The reason being is that once you’re finally able to check in, your assigned ship boarding number is based on that scheduled PAT, and not the time you actually check in at the desk.
While we were standing in line to get into the terminal, I had nothing to do, so I sent Kelly another text.
Me: We’re here! Waiting in line to get into the terminal.
Kelly: We’re waiting to get on the shuttle.
The line really started moving after that, so I put my phone away, grabbed a quick pic of Hope, and then we were herded through security before being ushered into the terminal building.
Once we were inside, they pointed us to the Castaway Club check-in line, and before I knew it we were being assigned boarding group #2! We were going to be the 2nd group on the ship. How did we get so lucky?!?! Of course, boarding wasn’t supposed to begin until 11:30am, and we still had 30 minutes to go. I decided to use that time wisely, and took Hope over to the Kids Club queue so she could get her wrist band. As we were standing in line they started calling boarding group #1, and just as we were taken at the desk, they announced boarding group #2. As soon as Hope had her wrist band, I found Chad where I left him, and then we all got in line to board the ship. I was hoping to see Kelly and her family in the terminal, but it didn’t happen, and things were getting a little too crazy for me to give her a call. I knew I’d be seeing her soon enough though, but until that time came, I was enjoying every second of this special moment with my family.
Geez! I'm beginning to know how Dawn feels - and it's not good! Things have been crazy and I just haven't found time to work on the TR, but I'm going to try and get one out soon.
I remember that day like it was yesterday! And I love that you have our whole text conversations down. It still didn't feel real then - almost still feels like a Dream. The next part is going to be great! And made me a little teary at the 'up next'.
Great update! So nice that you stopped to give some positive feedback to the crew at Cracker Barrel. I love the excitement bouncing between both families and Hope's reaction is great! I think a lot of kids don't realize they're getting on a boat until the boat is sailing away. The scale is so much bigger than any boat they'd imagine. Don't you just love walking through the Mickey Head doorway onto the ship?
Nice that you gave some kudos to your angel of a waitress. You are right that too often we forget to say good things.
I love Hope's reaction! Especially when you were ready for the big scream. Next time she'll understand how awesome a surprise like that is.
Looking forward to your actual boarding and then meeting up with Kelly's family!
Hope's reaction sounded exactly like my kids' reaction to their surprise Disney trip. Not exactly what I was expecting. My oldest even said he doesn't like surprises. All righty then! I'm still planning on suprising them next year but this time I'll be doing it the day of. We'll see how that goes...
Great update.
Glad you let the manager at Cracker Barrel know how great your waitress was. I don't think the good things are noted enough now a days.
Sorry Hope didn't get as excited as you had hoped. Hopefully she got more excited once you were on the ship.
LOL... Hope's reaction reminds me of the one time we surprised my kids with a trip to WDW... it was a bit underwhelming. Glad Hope got more excited when she heard about the princesses on board!
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My girls had the same kind of reaction as Hope when we surprised them with a WDW trip a couple of years ago. Kind of a let down when they don't jump up and down and yell like you think they are going to. I'm glad she got excited after the confusion wore off! You're almost on board, yay!!
Lexi's reaction to our last Disney trip was a bit like Hopes reaction to your cruise. It took a while for the excitement to build. Can't wait for more!
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Nothing like waiting until last minute. Coming home was definitely worse because the excitment of getting somewhere was now gone, but it wasn't torture, so that's a plus.
I wanted to be on our way to the port no later than 10am, and even though this seemed like it was super early to be waking up, I wanted to make sure we weren’t rushing around getting organized and packing the car back up. 
so I took that as a good sign. Plus, her overall mood seemed back to normal, so I took that as another good sign. 
I definitely knew she was feeling all better when she finished two yogurts without so much as an “I’m full” from her. Chad and I had some eggs, biscuits and sausage, with sausage gravy. Plus they had Green Mountain coffee, as well as flavored coffee creamers, so I was one extra happy girl that morning. 
It was so nice being able to take our time instead of running around before hitting the road again. 
After waiting for about 3 minutes, the manager came out, and I quickly explained what had happened last night. I told her that before Hope had even gotten sick, Stephanie (our waitress) had treated us so sweetly, but then she went above and beyond after the vomit hit the fan. The manager thanked me for taking the time to come in and tell her that, and she told me she would make sure to pass it along to Stephanie as well. 
I had my camera ready for the pictures and my cell phone ready for the video, but my hands were shaking so much I didn’t think I was going to be able to do any of it. Once we began to cross over the first bridge, I told Hope to put away her video game because her surprise was coming up. For the first time she didn’t argue with me about doing that. 
, and then I asked her, “what is it?” and she replies with “Disney”. Okay 
…but “what do you see?” And once again she says, “I see Mickey”. 
"I know you see Mickey, but what's he on?" "A boat." Finally! 
Chad gets all excited and yells, "Yeah!!!! That's right! Do you know what that means?!?!" Still not getting it, she says, ":No". So finally I try to clarify what exactly this surprise is because by now it seems to have gone way over her head. "We're going on a Disney Cruise!" 
And all I get is a little "Yay". 
So then I ask her, "Aren't you excited? Because you don't seem excited?" 
And once again, all I get is a little "Yes". 
Needless her reaction wasn’t really what we were going for. 
but I wasn’t too worried about the crowd affecting the time we were going to be able to board the ship. The reason being is that once you’re finally able to check in, your assigned ship boarding number is based on that scheduled PAT, and not the time you actually check in at the desk. 
How did we get so lucky?!?! Of course, boarding wasn’t supposed to begin until 11:30am, and we still had 30 minutes to go. I decided to use that time wisely, and took Hope over to the Kids Club queue so she could get her wrist band. As we were standing in line they started calling boarding group #1, and just as we were taken at the desk, they announced boarding group #2. As soon as Hope had her wrist band, I found Chad where I left him, and then we all got in line to board the ship. I was hoping to see Kelly and her family in the terminal, but it didn’t happen, and things were getting a little too crazy for me to give her a call. 
I knew I’d be seeing her soon enough though, but until that time came, I was enjoying every second of this special moment with my family. 
It still didn't feel real then - almost still feels like a Dream. 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Not exactly what I was expecting. My oldest even said he doesn't like surprises. All righty then! I'm still planning on suprising them next year but this time I'll be doing it the day of. We'll see how that goes... 
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