Me, Muffin and WDW for Xmas stuff!! PTR - Page 15 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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View Poll Results: Notice that I have been quiet for two whole days! Why do you think this is?!
You have been very busy delivering babies!
10
19.23%
You have once again completely changed things around!
Something else I forgot to tell you guys about!! Mike finished his White House Tour yesterday and on Wednesday, he got invited to the Oval Office along with Gabby to have his picture taken with the President.. He also received a special service pin and gets to keep his flag pin with the hole in the center as well! They were both talking a mile a minute to us and said they spent about 15 minutes talking with President Obama. The President thanked Mike for his service and asked where they were headed and wished them luck and safe travels. Gabby said she was so nervous that she didn't even realize until afterwards that she was actually in the Oval Office! Anyway, it was a thrill for both of them and they are having the picture sent here while they move. They leave in just two days to begin their cross country trek to Spokane. Muffin told him the picture might get misplaced.
Our Plans for Day 5-December 4th
We plan to spend the entire day in AK today. We are getting up early for EMH and hope to have FP's for Kilimanjaro Safari's, Expedition Everest and the Kali River Rapids if it's not too cold!! We also plan a visit to Conservation Station and we plan on doing the Maharajah Jungle Trek and the Pangani Forest Trail. We would love to see the parade. Today, we would really like to focus on enjoying the animals and the beauty of this park. I plan to take a gazillion pictures. We have dinner scheduled at 7:15PM at Jiko. We have eaten here before and we both love it and we haven't been here in a while.. I think it is the most beautiful restaurant at WDW.
When we are done with dinner, we are planning on just enjoying our last night at AKL!!
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How for Mike & Gabby!!! Maybe we'll get to see this picture?.....
And good luck to them as they make the long drive cross-country!
Jiko is another restaurant I'd love to try, but I've had a hard time tearing myself away from Boma. When I finally did, it was to try Sanaa, and now I'm not sure I can give that one up! Such trials and tribulations....
How exciting for Mike and Gabby to meet the president! Hope their move goes well.
Nice plans for your AK day!
Thanks, Donna!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What an awesome experience for Mike and Gabby! Pixies that everything goes smoothly with their move!
Thanks, Marnie!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
How for Mike & Gabby!!! Maybe we'll get to see this picture?.....
And good luck to them as they make the long drive cross-country!
Jiko is another restaurant I'd love to try, but I've had a hard time tearing myself away from Boma. When I finally did, it was to try Sanaa, and now I'm not sure I can give that one up! Such trials and tribulations....
Of course you will, Colleen!! you should try Jiko!! It's yum!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Oh my goodness, what an amazing moment for Mike and Gabby!
Thanks, Cheryl!!. They loved it!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
What an honor to meet to the President and in the Oval Office!
Your AK day plans look good, except your won't be able to make the parade because it is gone. Jiko's is an wonderful way to finish this day.
Thanks, Cam!!. That's a bummer about the parade, but we'll find something else wonderful to do there, I'm sure!!!
Today, I am down another two pounds!! I have been following the first phase of South Beach with the one exception of my delicious dinner on Wednesday night and walking/running 5 miles a day for the week. I work this weekend and I even forced myself to do it yesterday and Thursday after work(which is the last thing I felt like doing)!! Now, I am so glad I did it and plan to do it again tonight and tomorrow! I feel great!!!
. Our Plans for Day 6- December 5th
Our last day we will start out at Epcot with breakfast at the Garden Grill. We are so excited about this new breakfast!! We will stay until we have finished seeing what we want to and then head over to whatever park we feel we need to see a little more of. Wherever that may be (my guess is MK), we will finish up this leg of our journey. One awesome thing about just having been to WDW in July is that we did lots of stuff and won't feel like we are missing out if we don't get to do everything! Our FP's will be for Test Track, Spaceship Earth and Living with the Land. We will probably have lunch at Epcot as well.
We plan to head over to the airport in the evening and check in to the Hyatt. We are very glad to hear some good reviews of it!! We will probably just grab a nightcap and head to bed for our big day tomorrow.
If you guys are okay with it, I will also post my cruise plans here. I plan to put that TR in Globetrotting. If not, will Cam or Marnie please let me know and I will write up a separate PTR for that portion of our trip.
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The plans are shaping up! Your dinner sounded very good the other night with a great outdoor setting! That was quite amazing for Mike and Gabby to meet the president in the oval office!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Good job with the running! The weather last week certainly made outdoor activities more manageable!
I'll bet breakfast at Garden Grill would be delicious, and filling!
Thanks, Colleen!!. I need all the encouragement I can get! The weather has been beautiful. We haven't been to the Garden Grill since 2012!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
The plans are shaping up! Your dinner sounded very good the other night with a great outdoor setting! That was quite amazing for Mike and Gabby to meet the president in the oval office!
Thanks, Dave!! dinner was to die for and Mike and Gabby were totally wowed!! It's been a really good week!!
We are just as excited about this leg of our trip as I am about WDW!! First of all, we are cruising with awesome friends!! This will be our third cruise with this wonderful couple and they are easy and compatible travel buddies! My friend, Natalie, is another labor and delivery nurse whom I have known for 26 years!! She was the nurse for Katie's delivery and a year later, I started working at my hospital and we quickly became friends!! Her husband, Lou, is a doll and also worked at our hospital as the head of Support Services and just retired in July. Muffin and he became friends through me and Natalie and had an almost instant bond.
We have never been able to do a December cruise before due to the fact that Lou could never take off as it is a big auditing season at the hospital. Now that he is retired, it is no longer an issue and Nat and I can both have time off as long as it isn't over Christmas week. Muffin is slower in the winter, so it is never an issue for him.
As you know, this is a free cruise for us!! That came about through our loyalty program with Royal Caribbean and using my RCCL Visa for everything under the sun!! This will be our 12th cruise and our 10th with Royal. We have also done one Disney cruise on the Dream and one Celebrity cruise on the Equinox. We have no problems with either of the other cruise lines, but Royal Caribbean has a fantastic loyalty program and does some amazing itineraries!! This will be our 8th different ship with RCCL and so far, we have been to the following ports of call:
Cozumel
Grand Caymen
Belize
Jamaica
Nassau
St. Thomas
St. Maarten
San Juan
Labadee
Castaway Cay
St. Kitt's
St.John
Barbados
St. Lucia
Ketchikan
Skagway
Juneau
Icy Strait Point (Hubbard Glacier)
Vancouver
Kona
Hilo
Maui
Honolulu
Barcelona
Toulon
Rome
Venice
Florence
Naples
Dubrovnik
Corfu
Some of the Caribbean ports we have been to many times!! Anyway! We love to cruise!! We feel that this is a wonderful way to see the world a little bit at a time. We love the all inclusive nature of cruising, the food is delicious and the shows are Broadway quality and phenomenal!! Besides, you pack and unpack once!! We love formal nights and getting dressed up for dinner. Since I wear scrubs all day, I welcome the opportunity to look glamorous!! :. We realize that many people now do not get all decked out anymore, but we love it!! Muffin no longer wears his tux , but I can at least get him to wear a suit and tie and I get dressed to the nines!!
It's funny because it took me fifteen years to convince Muffin to go on a cruise and after the first one, he was instantly hooked!! Our first cruise was with three of my kids. Sean was in AP classes and could not come. Mike, Chris and Katie were 17, 15 and 14. It was over Easter week and my children were awful!! There were more kids than adults on the cruise and they did stuff like finishing people's adult beverages on the elevator, pushing every elevator button and throwing balls to each other over the Atrium. Much of this we did not find out until a few years ago and I am more than sure that we still don't know (or want to) some stuff. The absolute worst thing happened on the first night.........
We had adjoining cabins and we let them go to the kids club while we enjoyed the evening show. This being our very first cruise, we did not think to give them a curfew and just figured they would be back to the cabin when their activities were over. When we came in from the show, it was around 11PM. Both of the boys were in their beds, but my daughter was nowhere to be seen. We asked the boys where their sister was and they said they had no idea. I immediately freaked out and thought she was either dead in the Sea or trapped somewhere with older boys or kinapped!! Muffin called the ship's operator and she calmly told him he should first walk the ship looking for her and if he didn't find her to call back and they would have everyone evacuate their cabins. She told him that if it came to having everyone evacuate, we would be tossed off at the next port! Did she really think that we would want to continue our vacation with a dead or missing daughter?!?!?!
Muffin walked the ship, while I freaked out, and found her on the top deck playing cards with some boys!! It was well after midnight at this point!! We could only hug her and tell her to go to bed. We decided this whole episode was our own fault for being naive and not giving our kids a curfew. We talked about it and decided we would have a talk with the three of them in the morning.
We told them that they could have their own time but that they needed to be at dinner with us every evening and their curfew would be at midnight unless they had a specific activity that went later. We told them that they needed to stick together and all had to come in in the evenings together or they would have to stay with us at all times. They all agreed to this plan and gave us no issues for the remainder of the cruise.
The only other incident we had was in Cozumel. Once again, involving Katie!! I swear that girl has given me more gray hair than her three brothers put together!! We had a family parasailing excursion and had a wonderful time. We then went to a nice beach and let the kids go off with their friends. Muffin and I took a walk on the beach and who do we see, but Katie...... Trying to buy a Corona....... At 14. She didn't know we were behind her and we quietly hung back to watch in horrified fascination as she was buying her beverage. She was about to give the beach dude her money (who, mind you, was totally going to sell her the beer!) when she turned around and saw us. She smiled, said never mind and got stuck hanging around with her parents for the rest of the day.
Despite all of this, we fell in love with cruising on this trip. Even though there were more kids than adults on the ship. Even though my kids were less than stellar. Even though it was crazy crowded.
There was just something about being away for a week and seeing four beautiful Caribbean Islands. We loved being treated like royalty. We loved the food and the festive atmosphere. We loved that our waiter knew us all after the first night and had our drinks waiting. We loved the shows. Most of all, we loved sailing.
We learned a lot on this cruise. We learned first and foremost that while we loved our kids, we would never take three teenagers on a cruise again. In fact, we are just now thinking-and I do mean thinking about another family cruise. We learned that you don't have to book an excursion in every port to enjoy yourself. We learned that we loved the Caribbean in the Winter.
Anyway! Back to present day. We are so looking forward to cruising during the holiday season. My BIL and SIL (Muffin's sister and her husband) took a cruise last year at virtually the same time that we are doing this one and told us that the ships are all decked out and there are Christmas music and festive activities the whole month of December!! I talked to Natalie and she talked to Lou and they said that they would go!! They are meeting us onboard as they are coming down on the 6th through the cruise line.
We just got our transfer situation from the airport taken care of so we are all set!! We will get up, have breakfast and head over to the Royal Caribbean transfer window on the morning of the 6th. When we get to Port Canaveral, we'll go through the embarkation process and, hopefully, board the beautiful Freedom of the Seas around 11AM. We will set up a meeting place to find Nat and Lou and then find some lunch!!
Next: Our Itinerary
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Last edited by Tara O'Hara; 08-29-2015 at 10:34 PM..
About This Page: 
Mike finished his White House Tour yesterday and on Wednesday, he got invited to the Oval Office along with Gabby to have his picture taken with the President.
. He also received a special service pin and gets to keep his flag pin with the hole in the center as well! They were both talking a mile a minute to us and said they spent about 15 minutes talking with President Obama. The President thanked Mike for his service and asked where they were headed and wished them luck and safe travels. Gabby said she was so nervous that she didn't even realize until afterwards that she was actually in the Oval Office! Anyway, it was a thrill for both of them and they are having the picture sent here while they move. They leave in just two days to begin their cross country trek to Spokane. 
Muffin told him the picture might get misplaced
. 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Pixies that everything goes smoothly with their move! 
for Mike & Gabby!!! Maybe we'll get to see this picture?.....
PassPorter Guide Author
)!! Now, I am so glad I did it and plan to do it again tonight and tomorrow! I feel great!!!
Did she really think that we would want to continue our vacation with a dead or missing daughter?!?!?! 
It was well after midnight at this point!! We could only hug her and tell her to go to bed. We decided this whole episode was our own fault for being naive and not giving our kids a curfew. We talked about it and decided we would have a talk with the three of them in the morning.
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