Surf & Turf 2014 TR! (Feb. 22-Mar. 6, 2014) - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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When you were mentioning Hunter and Shana's attitudes at the tour, I figured they were probably tired from the early morning travel. I'm glad the evening was turned around for all of you. I am looking forward to you boarding the ship
Sorry you had some issues with the plane. I think travel days are so tiring!! Glad that your day ended on a good note!! Can't wait to follow along with your cruise portion!!
This was the better situation of our two flights, but that is a future update. Travel days are tiring and I should have known better than to try and do the tour, but everyone was up for it until we got there. I think the not being able to see/hear didn't help the kids. We are pretty good about doing a consequence for behavior but also knowing that there were extenuating circumstances, so to not blow it out of proportion. Just enough to make them know that this wasn't just "the kids" trip. The cruise portion was awesome and I can't wait to share.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mommapants
what a mess with the plane change. I would have really been anoid. You spent extra money so you didn't need to change planes. Don't even get me going about children being in charge and not parents. Just this morning while dropping Evan at school I saw a mom say to her kid take your hat off and put your gloves away. She reapeated 4 times and the kid sat there drinking his milk and didn't move and she saod don't lose them and then left. Let me tell you it was all I could do NOT to jump in and make this kid put his hat and gloves away. When does it say in the parenting handbook that raising children will be easy and carefree and they will always do what you ask the first time ---- It doesn't because being a parent is hard work and take ALOT of patience and disciplin and the occasional "I hate you" from your child.
I'm also a bit perturbed because I emailed SW about the "non-plane change, plane change" and have never heard back from them. I might be sending another email. I'm sure there are times with my kids that it looks like we have no control, because the kids rarely do what they are told on the first time, and they do have big issues. But the difference is I would rather deal with the meltdown, and hopefully someday they will learn and understand. Our kids even with the autism, ad/hd, sensory and anxiety both know they have boundaries and we hold them to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Eeek FOUR kids on devices without headphones would drive me INSANE. I can't stand multiple noises like that going on at once, I don't know that I would have handled it nearly as well as you managed!
Sorry the tour was a dud. I was thinking about trying it for our upcoming trip, but just never seem to find the time to squeeze it in! Glad dinner and some pool time turned the night around
The only reason I handled it well, was because Shana and Hunter had their headphones on and were not bothered. If it had started causing a problem for them, I would have said something to them and/or the flight attendants. But since the kids were handling it I didn't want to say something because then they would have been more attuned to it and it would have bothered them.
Definitely try the tour! It was very interesting (what little bit I was able to hear) and you get to try some of the food (although not very much). I have always avoided the carrot soup at Boma because it looks and sounds disgusting, but that is what we tried and it was delicious. The dinner and pool time was a much needed break.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JenniferLynneRose521
Travel days are tough on everyone I think. The plane change would have irritated me (because of the extra cost), but it was nice that it offered the opportunity to get some "non plane" food for lunch You have more patience than I do with those kids, or more so parents, on the plane. I would have had a hard time biting my tongue.
It's a shame that the adults on the tour weren't showing basic manners in letting the kids in the group in the see\hear as well - it just sets a bad example.
All that said - I'm glad the day ended on a good note. Can't wait to hear how everyone likes the cruise
Travel days are really difficult. The plane change wasn't the worst thing and it wasn't too bad. I was happy that we were able to board before anyone else on the flight and that made it a pretty smooth transition. The kids handled it really well, considering they don't usually do well with last minute changes. I had a very hard time biting my tongue, but Shana and Hunter were not upset or noticing it, and I didn't want to draw their attention to it, or it could have thrown one or both into a major meltdown.
The adults in the tour group were very annoying to me, almost more so than the kids on the plane. It didn't help that Shana and Hunter were having issues. But even when they were passing out the soup the adults took theirs and then stood there and we couldn't even get to the bowls. I had to ask them to let us through. :roll eyes:
We did manage to end on a good note and the cruise is amazing and I can't wait to share!
Quote:
Originally Posted by num1DVCfan
When you were mentioning Hunter and Shana's attitudes at the tour, I figured they were probably tired from the early morning travel. I'm glad the evening was turned around for all of you. I am looking forward to you boarding the ship
I knew the travel was a part of their attitudes, but they also are a bit self-centered (comes with their disabilities) and we hadn't laid down the groundwork enough that this trip was about all of us. We took care of it that night and the rest of the trip was fine. I can't wait to share about the cruise, we had so much fun on the cruise!
What a mess with the unexpected plane change. I have been looking at SW, but they are not cheap for us her in OK to Orlando, so I don't think I will be going that route. Also, the very loud people behind you on the plane, that is just rude!
Glad you got a Savannah view and got into dinner early.
Sorry you got some adults who were less than accomodating to the kids in the back.
What a mess with the unexpected plane change. I have been looking at SW, but they are not cheap for us her in OK to Orlando, so I don't think I will be going that route. Also, the very loud people behind you on the plane, that is just rude!
Glad you got a Savannah view and got into dinner early.
Sorry you got some adults who were less than accomodating to the kids in the back.
This was the better of our SW problems, but I will share that later. I actually have very mixed feelings an will share that in the end. The family behind us was just awful. I really wanted to smack "Dad", he was completely disconnected. I told Pat if he didn't help at all with the kids on the flight I would kick his butt!
The Savannah view was such a wonderful surprise and the early dinner helped us readjust everything and get us back on track.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Sorry about the plane change, and that the tour didn't go over so well. It sounds like things turned around though! Great pictures!
I was happy to get some food during the plane change, but I won't be visiting Wendy's in Houston ever again, they were so slow for an airport. The tour would have been nice if the kids were more amenable and the other adults were a little more friendly. But it did let us get some rules down and got us on track for not only that night but the rest of the trip as well.
What a mess with SW. I would think one of the assitants on th eplane would hav said something to the parents' of the children.
My DD can get into moods too and make for a rough day. Glad your evening was enjoyable. I know DH and I were just talking this morning some of out best nights are at the pool. Some of the best memories too!
I would have been frustrated with all the iPads/iPods running without headphones. Glad you managed it. Sorry the tour didn't go so well, but dinner at Boma sounded like a success. Nice relaxing end to the day with the pool, too.
What a mess with SW. I would think one of the assitants on th eplane would hav said something to the parents' of the children.
My DD can get into moods too and make for a rough day. Glad your evening was enjoyable. I know DH and I were just talking this morning some of out best nights are at the pool. Some of the best memories too!
It really was a bit of a hassle. I wish the parents would have done something. It did seem to keep the kids quiet for the most part, but having 4 different shows playing at the same time was quite awkward.
Even with all our experience in dealing with the kids moods and their disabilities sometimes we forget and try to do something that we shouldn't. I really should have known going on a "culinary tour" after a day of travel would not go over well, especially since we only had about 20 minutes to prepare. We have found we really enjoy the pool evenings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
I would have been frustrated with all the iPads/iPods running without headphones. Glad you managed it. Sorry the tour didn't go so well, but dinner at Boma sounded like a success. Nice relaxing end to the day with the pool, too.
I'm just glad I had a book on tape to listen to instead of trying to read. I was able to drown out most of it. Dinner was wonderful and ending the night at the pool was just what everyone needed.
I am so sorry about the delay in my next update. I had to make a trip to Denver which was suppose to be about 3-4 days and turned into a week. We have been renting our house there since moving to NM and have decided to put it on the market. The renter's left it in pretty good shape, but I still had to do a lot of work to get it in pristine condition to sell. Please send pixies that it sells quickly and for at least our asking price.
Now on with my trip!
Today's Update: The Dream is Calling Our Names! - Sunday February 23, 2014
After our relaxing evening at the pool we were all refreshed and ready to get going. We all got up at about 7am and Pat and I got showers (the kids had them the night before after the pool) and we got dressed and ready to head to breakfast. We had a breakfast ADR at Boma starting at 8:30am. We have been to Boma many times for dinner but have never had breakfast there. I can't remember everything we ate, but we loved everything. I especially liked the eggs with goat cheese, and it made me think that when we get home we need to get a goat to go with our chickens.
After breakfast we all went to the Ziwadi Marketplace to do a little shopping. I didn't plan to make any purchases this night, knowing we would be back for dinner at Jiko after the cruise. But we did buy one little hippo, which happens to be similar to the ones Pat has picked up for me in Africa. I will have a picture of him a little later because I am still working on getting all our souvenir pictures uploaded.
We all went back up to the room and I finished packing while Pat worked on his expense report for work. Since he only returned home a few days before the trip he did not have time to finish this before we left and he had to have it submitted before the end of the month. I called bell services at 10am and they arrived at 10:15. I told them which bags we were taking with us and which ones we were having transferred to the Beach Club for our return on the 27th. The kids and I went downstairs and waited for the town car while Pat finished up. The car showed up very close to 10:30 and we got all the bags loaded up and the kids and I climbed in the car. Pat was just about 5 minutes late, but was able to successfully submit the expense report and we wouldn't have to worry about it after the cruise.
The drive to the port was very relaxing. The kids played on their iPods and I continued listening to my audio book. When we got close to the port the driver told us to keep our eyes open and all of a sudden there was the ship!
I cannot even begin to express the excitement at this point. I was like a kid on Christmas morning! We were all so excited and just couldn't stop staring at the ship and talking about it. I really wanted the driver to hurry it up a little bit!
Our driver got us into the drop off area and we unloaded the bags. The stewards came over and took our checked bags and we started off to the terminal. This was all a little awkward for us and since we had no knowledge of how things proceed we had to wing it. Hunter started getting a little frustrated because he really needs to know what to expect and since I didn't know I really couldn't help him. But the excitement won over and we made it through.
Once we got into the terminal the line to check in was very long, but it was moving really quickly. We were soon checked in and given a boarding number, but to be honest I didn't even pay attention to it. We were all so excited to get on the ship. The kids didn't even want to meet Mickey. I did manage to get them to let me get a picture of them in front of the ship model.
I asked if we had to wait to board and if we had to check in for the Oceaneer's Club/Lab in the terminal but they said we could check into the club on the ship (we had done the online registration) and they said we were good to board. So, I'm guessing our boarding number was already boarding. Who cares, they said we could get on, we were getting on!!!
I have to admit we didn't really like the pre-boarding picture and would have been just fine skipping that. It was fun having them announce our family, but also a little awkward, I'm not really a person that likes to stand out in the crowd.
We were all just amazed at the ship, and I'm sure looked like complete dorks staring with our mouths wide open. But we quickly got over it and decided that we were starving! This is where my lack of planning for this part of the trip started to bother us. We really had no idea what we were doing. But we found out lunch was being served in the Enchanted Garden and this sounded like a good option to us. Mostly because we didn't know any other options. :roll eyes:
Shana was really excited to try crab legs. She loves shrimp and lobster, so I knew this would be a quick favorite for her. She didn't like the amount of work involved to get to the good stuff though.
I am terrible about remembering to take meal pictures, but I did actually remember to get a picture of my plate before I dug in.
The kids loved all the offering at the buffet, especially the shrimp and desserts. My meal was delicious and Pat seemed to enjoy his as well. During the meal a gentleman came by and asked if we were interested in the wine & dine package. Turns out Pat was, so we got a 3-day package. We finished up lunch at about 1:15 and decided to see if the rooms were ready.
This is where understanding the ship plans would be helpful. We took the mid-elevators to the 6th deck and we only had a few minute wait before they opened up the halls. What we should have done was make our way to the aft-elevators and then gone to deck 6. The long walk down the halls crowded with people and luggage almost did me in. I have mild claustrophobia and my main problem is when I feel trapped and all the people and stuff did not help in the small halls. I started feeling nauseated and dizzy before we got to our stateroom. Luckily we got to our room and I decided to put on my SeaBands even though I don't think at this point it was sea sickness it seemed to help. I took some advil and we stayed in the room for a few minutes. I'm really glad we did not get an inside stateroom, having the large porthole made me feel a lot better.
I unpacked our carryon suitcase and was amazed at the amount of storage space in the room. For as small as the room was, I never felt like we had a cluttered mess like we often have in our 1-bedroom villas in Disney! We decided that it was time to go check out the ship. We decided to go and get Hunter all set for the Oceaneer's Club/Lab and we ended up all playing there together for a little while. When we were checking the kids in they had messed up the kids pictures and when they pulled up Hunter it was Shana's picture and vise versa. We would have to stop by Guest Services to fix that.
I thought this was the perfect opportunity for me to drop off the Vinylmation and Photo Matte to be signed at Guest Services. I left Pat and the kids in the lab and went back to the room to pick up the items. This is when I discovered how close we were to the club/lab which was nice because it comes in very handy later in the trip. When I got to guest services I dropped off the two items for character signatures but found out they couldn't just switch the kids pictures, they would have to get new pictures of the kids.
I made my way back to the lab and found everyone still playing and joined in for a little bit. We finally decided we needed to check some more stuff out and we were walking around when Hunter found the Mid-Ship Detective Agency. We started working on it while checking out some different areas of the ship. To be honest the game really helped us start figuring out how to get around the ship. I also managed to get a few pictures while we were running around.
You can tell in this picture that the humidity really affected Shana's hair!
We managed to solve the case just a bit before 4 and we made our way back to our room for the safety drill. I have to say that I really don't think that in the case of an actual emergency that all the people will be standing in neat little rows. I picture something a little more like the chaos of the Titanic! But I tried not to think about that part. It was nice to think that maybe, just maybe it would be as calm and collected in the case of an emergency. :roll eyes:
Next Update: Villains, Souvenirs and Dinner! Sunday February 23, 2014 Cont.
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WooHoo! You've made it aboard the ship. Lunch looked delicious. Sounds like you all were getting acclimatized.
It was so exciting when we got aboard the ship. It was something new for all of us and I think that was really fun. Lunch was great! It took a little bit, but I would say by the middle of the second day we had the ship figured out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
It's definitely a little confusing getting on the ship and finding your way around. The game sounds like a great way to get antiquated
My problem with the ship was I kept either getting turned around and not knowing what side of the ship I was on or I would think I was on a low deck and I was on a higher deck. I won't mention the couple times I pushed the wrong elevator button thinking I needed to go up, when I needed to go down.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
yeah! You've boarded!!!! Lunch looked good!!!
It was so exciting to get on the ship. I feel a little like we should have spent a few minutes checking out the terminal, but oh well. I'm glad we ended up at Enchanted Garden for lunch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad you finally made it to the ship! Great pictures so far!
I didn't take near as many pictures on this trip as I expected to, but I got some good ones when I did.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Glad you're on the ship and found your cabin! The first afternoon is definitely a bit overwhelming. The kids look right at home in that porthole.
It was so nice to get aboard. After months of anticipation, it definitely did not disappoint. It was a bit overwhelming, but we really had fun together in the Oceaneers Lab and it was nice that we got to spend some time with the kids there. The kids loved the large porthole. Hunter tried to sleep in it one night, but it didn't work out so well.
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Travel days are tiring and I should have known better than to try and do the tour, but everyone was up for it until we got there. I think the not being able to see/hear didn't help the kids. We are pretty good about doing a consequence for behavior but also knowing that there were extenuating circumstances, so to not blow it out of proportion. Just enough to make them know that this wasn't just "the kids" trip. The cruise portion was awesome and I can't wait to share. 
I would have had a hard time biting my tongue.
Liz 
Sorry the tour didn't go so well, but dinner at Boma sounded like a success. 
Nice relaxing end to the day with the pool, too. 
Who cares, they said we could get on, we were getting on!!! 
This is where my lack of planning for this part of the trip started to bother us. We really had no idea what we were doing. But we found out lunch was being served in the Enchanted Garden and this sounded like a good option to us. Mostly because we didn't know any other options. :roll eyes:
We decided that it was time to go check out the ship. We decided to go and get Hunter all set for the Oceaneer's Club/Lab and we ended up all playing there together for a little while. When we were checking the kids in they had messed up the kids pictures and when they pulled up Hunter it was Shana's picture and vise versa. We would have to stop by Guest Services to fix that. 
Sounds like you all were getting acclimatized. 
I didn't take near as many pictures on this trip as I expected to, but I got some good ones when I did. 
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