/Cruising on a Dream Full of Frights and Friends: 10/12/13-10/19/13 TR completed 4/21/2014 About This Page:

[cubfancolleen]

What an incredibly sweet guy Jason is - not just because of the gifts, but start to finish. So glad one of the officers was made aware of what a treasure he is! I'm sure he will go far with DCL.
Sad it's coming to an end.
And I do like the matchy-matchy for the last dinner!

[honeybee723]

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

Great final night. Glad you could finally track down Jason. It was very sweet of him to get those gifts for Hope! Love the pics, too. You looked so nice! I'm sure Linny approves.

Thanks so much! I don't do the matchy matchy very much, but ever since I've started taking other people's pictures, it sort of makes me think about it when I know we'll be getting our pictures taken.

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

What an incredibly sweet guy Jason is - not just because of the gifts, but start to finish. So glad one of the officers was made aware of what a treasure he is! I'm sure he will go far with DCL.
Sad it's coming to an end.
And I do like the matchy-matchy for the last dinner!

Not only did I tell the officer, but I wrote a letter in full detail to DCL. I got a response back saying they would be sure to let Jason know and that they were also keeping that in his record.

[OneLittleSpark]

Wow, that was so sweet of Jason. Quite a cutie too. Glad you took some pics!

Sounds like a nice last evening with friends, though the kids do looked pooped.
What a great trip this has been!

[Linnynad]

Well that Jason sure is a rock star..........how sweet was that of him. I'm glad you found him, but man, sorry for all the akward-ness to get to him.

OK........you know its coming right??? YOUR sig pic is..........AMAZE BALLS. I'm done, I am truly done, you all have outdone me on the "subtle" matchy matchy, and now our upcoming cruise pics will just not do. You all look beautiful, color coordinated or not, just a really great pic. I LOVE it

[honeybee723]

Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark

Wow, that was so sweet of Jason. Quite a cutie too. Glad you took some pics!

Sounds like a nice last evening with friends, though the kids do looked pooped.
What a great trip this has been!

So far this trip has been amazing, so it's kind of understandable that the kids seem so tired...they've been having way too much fun!

Originally Posted by Linnynad

Well that Jason sure is a rock star..........how sweet was that of him. I'm glad you found him, but man, sorry for all the akward-ness to get to him.

OK........you know its coming right??? YOUR sig pic is..........AMAZE BALLS. I'm done, I am truly done, you all have outdone me on the "subtle" matchy matchy, and now our upcoming cruise pics will just not do. You all look beautiful, color coordinated or not, just a really great pic. I LOVE it

You have made my day! I've gotten the Linny seal of approval...wow! And your pics will look amazing with or without being matchy matchy. You have an incredibly beautiful family that the photographers will have a field day with. I know I would love capturing your family.

[honeybee723]

Day Six: Thursday, October 17th
Part One: Waking Up in Tears

I think I had our wake-up call scheduled for 6:30am, however, I know I was stirring a little earlier than that due to the vibration of the docking ship. I must have fallen back to sleep because I do remember answering the ringing phone telling me to get my butt off their boat. When I looked out our porthole, I noticed we were back in Port Canaveral, and it was at that moment that I got really sad all of a sudden. I was really going to miss this ship.

We had to be down to breakfast by 8am, so after Chad and I finished getting ready, Chad took over the task of waking Hope up so I could finish packing the rest of our stuff. Hope didn’t want to wake up though. This was the first time I’ve ever seen her like this. She was so exhausted that she was literally in tears at the thought of having to open her eyes. And once she did open her eyes, she pretty much cried her way through her entire morning routine. I felt so bad for her, but I couldn’t let her sleep in anymore. I finally had to tell her that if we aren’t off the ship by 9am they’re going to consider us stowaways, and then we’d either be arrested or thrown overboard. That got her tears down to a whimper, and then she asked if she could sleep in the car when we drove to Disney, and of course I gave her a very big .

We said good-bye to our stateroom, and then headed down to AP for breakfast. I think we ended up heading to Shutters first though, so that we could make our photo purchases, but I didn’t take any notes for this part of the trip, so I can’t really be sure. Either way, I know that Kelly and I both ended up buying the photo CD, and that I had to go back to Shutters after breakfast in order to pick it up.

Eventually we were all together for our final meal on the Disney Dream. I wasn’t able to take any pictures because I had packed my camera in my park bag and honestly didn’t feel like digging it out. I do remember what we ordered though. I ordered the “For a Sweet Journey - buttermilk pancakes, blueberry pancakes, whole wheat pancakes, Belgium waffles”. It sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t. And Chad ordered the “Route 66 - scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled sausage, grilled ham and hash browns”. Hope had some yogurt (that she didn’t like), and a doughnut.

While we ate, we discussed our meeting time/place at the MK, but I think we decided to just text each other when we got there. I also know that we were all really sad to be saying good-bye to the first part of our trip, but knowing that we would be seeing each other later in the day made it not as bad.

After our meal, I headed back to Shutters to pick up our CD. I do know that Kelly had already gotten hers, but when I went to pick mine up they weren’t at the table I was told they would be at, so I had to wait in line at the counter, and then be directed to another line at a different counter. The entire time this was going on, everyone else was in line to get off the ship, and I started to panic that I wouldn’t make it in time, but I finally had the CD in hand and joined the rest of them right before they were about to disembark the ship. We eventually had to split up to get our luggage and go through customs, and I can’t even tell you how weird it was knowing they weren’t just an elevator trip away anymore.

We found our car, hopped in and started on our little journey to AKL. I had the fun job of navigating our way to the hotel, as well as locating a gas station not too far off the beaten path. Meanwhile, this is what was going on in the backseat…



It didn’t take long for her to get there either. I wish she would have been awake to see this though…




But I was excited enough for all of us, and before we knew it, we were pulling up to AKL. After I woke her up, we unloaded the car, and then Chad went and parked it while Hope and I checked in. I think we walked into the hotel around 10:30am, and even though it was a shot in the dark, I was hoping that our room would be ready. It wasn’t, but that was okay because we had planned on grabbing something to eat and then possibly taking a swim. While Chad took our luggage over to Bell Services, a CM came up to me and asked if I would like to take part in this new research study they were doing by keeping a journal during our stay. I told him we wouldn’t be staying long, but he said it didn’t matter, and for my trouble I’d get a $25 Disney Gift Card in the mail after I mailed my journal back in. Sounded like a good deal to me, so I signed up. Then we went down to the Mara, and I honestly can’t remember what we ordered, but I do know that we enjoyed our food outside in the sun.

After lunch, our room still wasn’t ready, but Hope was still acting sluggish, and I was feeling a little tired myself, so instead of swimming, which would have made me even sleepier, we decided to find a nice little chair to sit in and close our eyes. Pretty soon I got a text saying our room was ready, and we even got lucky by scoring a savannah view (the savannah that is used for the DVC Club Level guests) even though I had booked a standard view.

I unpacked while Chad and Hope slept for a little bit longer…can you see a pattern here? And then I woke them up so we could all get ready for MNSSHP. We headed to the bus stop around 3:30pm and began our wait for a bus.




While we were at the bus stop I got a text from Kelly around 3:45pm saying they were walking over to MK. By that time we had already been waiting a good while for a bus, but just as I was about to text her back, one pulled up and we were soon on our way to meet up with them.

We finally had made it into MK…yay!



And soon we were on our way towards FL. I sent a text to Kelly, asking her where she was, but when I didn’t hear from her right away, we decided to take a ride on the carousel.




Kelly sent me a text while we were on the carousel saying they were getting off of Small World, but I never heard it, and by the time I noticed it, they had already made their way over to Goofy’s Barnstormer. They had dinner ressies at BOG for 5:30pm, so I sent her a text saying that we should just meet up after their dinner. So it was decided that they would text me when they were done, and hopefully we could all meet up together to get in line to meet some princesses and their princes.

We headed to IaSW next, and after that Hope wanted to ride Dumbo, so we headed over there. Chad rode this one with her, since I started getting a little headache from the carousel. I guess as you get older these things happen.




Next up was Goofy’s Barnstormer, and once again she rode with Chad because they had had so much fun together on Dumbo, they wanted to do it again. Okay…I’ll sit this one out again too, even though my head was feeling much better…no biggie. But once they were off she tells us that she wants to ride it one more time…with daddy...again. By now I was starting to feel completely left out of all the fun, but fine, let daddy enjoy more time with his little girl.

We walked back towards FL, making our way to the restrooms where Rapunzel’s Tower is. I wish we would have known about this while we were there Find Pascal and Friends, but when we go in May we’ll have to look for them.

Since we were starting to get , we decided to take a quick break and grab something to eat at CHH. While we were eating, we saw 2 girls dressed up for the party. One was Rapunzel and one was Tinkerbell, and their costumes were amazing. Hope kept asking me if they were the real deal, and I kept telling her , they were just people dressed up for Halloween. After watching her stare at them for a while, I decided to just take her over to meet them. We told them both how much we loved their costumes. They thought that was so nice of us, and just as we were about to leave, their parents came over with their food. The mom was dressed up as Cruella and their dad was Jack Sparrow, and as soon as Hope saw “Cruella”, she started to get a little scared and back away towards Chad. They thought that was even cuter, so the mom decided to explain to Hope that she was just dressed up for Halloween, and that she doesn’t really hate puppies.

By now it was getting close to 6pm, when the party would officially start, and that was when we wanted to be in line for Rapunzel. As we were on our way over there, Kelly sent me a text saying they were on their way too, and finally after playing phone tag for so long, we were able to meet up with our friends again. Let the party begin!

Up Next: Halloween at Magic Kingdom

[MayraLR]

Aww, poor Hope she was so exhausted. But the nap was pretty good for her.
You guys got quite a few things done before the party.

[lauriep]

Poor Hope! She was just tuckered out. Too bad it's not good form for adults to cry because they don't want to get out of bed-- I've had mornings like that myself. I think it's a great idea to have a little WDW time after the cruise. It's just too sad otherwise.

[honeybee723]

Day Six: Thursday, October 17th
Part Two: Halloween at Magic Kingdom

I think the wait time for Rapunzel and the other visiting princess was around 30 minutes. While we waited, I snapped a picture with my phone of three of the four Ninja Turtles and a happy little girl.



I will say that this line didn’t move as quickly as I thought it would. They didn’t take very many guests back each time, which I guess is good while you’re in there meeting with them, but not so good while you’re out there waiting. Once you did reach the end of the line, you could get a glimpse of Cinderella’s glass slipper.



Then you’re taken back to meet the princesses, and because it was MNSSHP, the Princes were there with them. We found out that Snow White and Prince Charming (that’s what he signed in her autograph book) were Rapunzel’s guests for the evening, and that made Hope even happier. I was happy just to be able to see Flynn Rider, and even though he wasn’t as handsome as I had hoped he’d be, he was definitely a good match for his personality…smolder and all.

Hope asked Rapunzel if she had her frying pan with her, and believe it or not she did. She reached into Flynn’s satchel and pulled it right out! She even taught Hope how to swing it a few times…making sure to perfect her aim.




When she went over to meet with Snow White she started off by telling her she was afraid of the witch (she really is too), and well, that lead to a major conversation between all three of them. It was such a big conversation that we started hearing comments from the peanut gallery (ahem…Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike) still waiting in line, saying things like, “this is why the line is so long to get in here”. Hey, Snow White was giving my child some very good advice at that moment, so keep quiet back there!

Snow White told her that whenever she gets scared to just think of something that makes her happy, and that should take all the bad thoughts away. Meanwhile, Prince Charming just sort of sat there looking all…well, charming and also very, very sweet. Notice how he kept his hand on Hope’s back, as if he was trying to comfort her.




The interaction was incredible in there, and I highly recommend a trip into the new meet-n-greet princess area the next time you visit WDW.

We all wanted to ride the VotLM next, but before we got in line, we did our first candy pull at one of the Trick-or-Treat stations along the way. Then we pretty much walked onto the ride. I think Dylan hopped into our clam with us this time, which was ummm, very cozy. Haha!

Then, because we were right there, we got in line to meet Ariel.




Now this is where my notes (or should I say memory) gets a little hazy. I think we headed over to Storybook Circus next and got in line at another Trick-or-Treat station. After that I think we headed over to Tomorrowland and got in line to ride Buzz, but Kelly will need to confirm that one.

I think it was getting close to Hallowishes, so we grabbed a really nice spot where they usually hold the Wishes Dessert Party and settled in.



I know while we were waiting, there were some trips to the bathroom, as well as a drink run, and then the show began.




I didn’t get very many shots of the fireworks, and the few I did get were horrible. With that being said, the show was wonderful, and even though it doesn’t compare to the regular Wishes (at least for me), it was still extremely well done.

Because the parade would be starting soon, we headed over to Main Street and found a good viewing spot. We were actually standing behind people, but because they were sitting down it wouldn’t block the views for the kids. It was at this moment I decided to take Hope over to Space Mountain so she could ride it. I still had plenty of time to kill, and Chad would hold down the fort with the rest of them.

We got in line, and started talking to a few people in line behind us. Hope told the woman that she like her Dalmatian pin she had on her shirt, and she told Hope that she thought she was very brave to be getting on this ride, but because I hadn’t checked out the height requirement before we left, when the CM went to measure her, we realized you had to be 44”, and Hope was only 42”. I have to hand it to Hope because she didn’t cry. All she asked me was if she could get on it when she turns 5, and I told her I hope so. However, the woman we were talking too still felt really bad for her, so what did she do? She gave Hope her Dalmatian pin.

We made our way back to our group, and to Hope’s disappointment, Dylan was now sitting in her stroller. The outrage! This was the only time Hope threw a mini-fit about not sharing, and I had to pull her away and tell her to cool it. Meanwhile, Kelly was trying to get Dylan to move, even though I told her not too, but once again, Hope got her way, and she promptly plopped herself back in her stroller.



I made a quick Starbucks run before the parade started, and when I got back, Hope was starting to get sleepy. I think Lukas had actually fallen asleep, but I can’t remember. We kept trying to wake her up, but we were failing miserably. Then the parade started, and wouldn’t you know it…the people that were once sitting in front of us decided to stand up. So Chad picked Hope up, which might have been the best thing for her because once she saw all of the characters, she woke right up and started waving and blowing kisses to all of them.

Here are a few pictures of the parade, but because of the oh-so-nice people standing in front of us, they weren’t as good as they could’ve been.









To me, the parade was the best part of the night, or as Linny would say, it was AMAZE-BALLS! Everything about it was incredible!

After the parade we made our way over to PotC, where Chad and I ended up getting soaked! Okay...maybe not that bad. Thank God I moved my camera as we went down that baby hill because as we hit the bottom, the water just came right over the side of the boat, and our shorts were drenched. I guess it was the weight placement that did it, but I was definitely not expecting that. Kelly grabbed a picture of us, but I made sure she only got from the waist up.



Then we walked over to HM. It was now getting close to the end of the party, so the Opera Singer wasn’t out anymore. I was a little disappointed that we missed her, but hopefully I’ll have another chance to check her out in the future.

Once we were finished with that ride we had no other choice but to head out of the park because the party was pretty much over. We actually stayed until closing, and you can see how empty it was in Liberty Square.



As we made our way past the castle in all of its spooky glory, I took a few pictures.




And then it was time to say good-bye…again. We actually thought this would be our very last good-bye, and it was hard to do. I missed them after the cruise, even with knowing I would be seeing them later in the day, so how was I going to get through it this time? We walked to the bus stop and watched them make the trek back to BLT, and then they were gone.

As we waited for our bus you’d never guess who ended up getting in line with us. It was Rapunzel, Tinkerbell, Cruella and Jack Sparrow! So we got to talking to them again, and because of the pleasant conversation, we were distracted from our sadness for a bit. Plus, the time spent waiting for a bus went a lot quicker as well.

Hope fell asleep on the ride back to AKL, and once we were actually back in our room, we all pretty much crashed…hard! We didn’t have time to think about our last full day coming up, or the fact that we wouldn’t see our friends anymore…or would we?

Up Next: So Much for Being Bored!

[chezp]

It's always so sad whenever you leave a Disney cruise, but at least you had WDW to look forward to!

[cubfancolleen]

Love the colors on the castle for MNSSHP!!
Too funny running in to Cruella and crew in line at the end of the night!
I cannot believe people who have front row seats for the parade would stand up IN FRONT OF A BUNCH OF KIDS!!! Just so selfish....Glad you were all able to enjoy the parade despite that rudeness.
And I don't think people realize how exhausting a cruise can be - you all did well to hit a party, and stay to the end, the same day you were forced off the ship!

[mcc0313]

Finally trying to catch up on everyone's reports, just such a fun cruise for all of you. How great that you were able to share with Kelly and her family....I still cannot get over how grown up Hope looks, she is just adorable.

[xwewhisper]

Sounds like a great day despite some goodbyes and tiredness!

[OhToodles!]

That party was the BEST ever! We had so much fun hanging out with you that night! I'll try to get to my TR soon so I can fill in those gaps.

[KMB733]

So sad the cruise is over with, but at least the Disney fun continues!! Love the interactions between the princesses and Hope!!