Repositioning on the Wonder Sept 2014 - Happy Anniversary!!! updated 11/30/14 - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Walking through Vancouver airport was a pleasant experience as it looks very clean and modern and not at all in constant turmoil like our local LAX. Although we were among the first off the plane, we stopped to take a few photos of the beautiful waterfall, totem, and tapestries they had, which unfortunately caused us to fall to the back of the long line at customs.
See the crowd of people in the background, that is just the last (and longest) of 3 lines you go through to get out of the airport!
The line didn’t seem that long at first, because we were confused and didn’t understand the layout. They started us in one line at the side of the room that zig-zagged so quickly I thought that was it. All that happened though is that we were directed to another line on the other side of the room, which zig-zagged a bit slower. After we made it through that section, we were directed to a final line that zig-zagged so slowly I wasn’t sure we would ever get out of there! I attempted to keep order with my anxious crew by playing marching games and distracting them with the scenery, but after 45 minutes of waiting, their patience was gone (and mine was about done also). It is a lot to expect of young kids to wait and wait and wait some more. Eventually though we made it through customs without any issues or meltdowns, and then it was time to find our luggage, which had already been removed from the luggage carousel and stacked in the middle of the baggage area for us.
When I booked our cruise, I did not add ground transportations as we would only need them in Vancouver and the several hundred dollar price tag did not seem worth it. Imagine our faces though as we passed the DCL transportation sign on our way out of the airport. Had we known what awaited us outside the airport, we might've begged her to take us with her! What we found outside the airport was a LONG LONG line to what we didn’t know. We assumed it was for shuttles or something, but there really was no direction. There was a very frustrated airport employee outside who was keeping busy with yelling at everyone to keep the line straight, so we walked down a ways to see if we could find any taxis. Well, we soon found out that the long line we had just passed was the line for the taxis! It looked like it went on forever! We did not expect this! I was feeling very angry at the overpriced hotel for not offering transportation considering the price we were paying. We had heard that the sky train would get us near our destination, but despite my research online I could not figure out exactly how it worked. And we were five people with 10 bags total and 2 smallish children who were more likely to wonder than keep up. It was a frustrating moment, but as we had no choice we found ourselves at the back of another LONG line, and did our best to keep the kids from going berzerk.
Another 45 minutes later we found ourselves in a cab big enough to fit our crew and baggage, and we were finally on our way to the hotel! We really enjoyed the scenery during our 20 minute drive, Vancouver is a beautiful and clean city, and we happened to have perfect weather to enjoy.
We were dropped off right at the door to the Pan Pacific, but finding reception proved to be a little tricky, as it was upstairs and not clearly marked, and surprisingly small. I was happy that they remembered we were celebrating an anniversary when I checked in, and the girl checking us in even asked if we would like some milk and cookies sent up for the kids. Now this is more like it! She hinted that it wouldn’t be until later in the afternoon, which was fine because we just wanted to get settled in and do some exploring before dinner.
I like airports that have cultural displays from the area, but it sounds like they could do a much better job with signage and with organizing the ground transportation. Logan in Boston has taxi lines that go on forever also. Just be happy you weren't waiting outside for that taxi in winter! I'm glad once you found reception the hotel check-in process was so pleasant.
Oh my goodness, what a nightmare arrival in Vancouver!
What time of day did you arrive? We flew in about 9:30pm when we did our first Alaskan cruise and literally walked through immigration/customs and walked out to pick up a cab with no lines anywhere. I'm thinking we'll be coming into Vancouver around 11:00am for next year's cruise, so now I'm worried about the lines we might run into....
So sorry for the hassles getting from the airplane to the hotel - that is not the best way to start a trip Sounds like things were on the upswing from check in though!
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I like airports that have cultural displays from the area, but it sounds like they could do a much better job with signage and with organizing the ground transportation. Logan in Boston has taxi lines that go on forever also. Just be happy you weren't waiting outside for that taxi in winter! I'm glad once you found reception the hotel check-in process was so pleasant.
I have heard only great things about Vancouver Airport so I think we must've just come at the worst time. They did not seem like they usually have this issue.
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Originally Posted by chezp
Oh my goodness, what a nightmare arrival in Vancouver!
What time of day did you arrive? We flew in about 9:30pm when we did our first Alaskan cruise and literally walked through immigration/customs and walked out to pick up a cab with no lines anywhere. I'm thinking we'll be coming into Vancouver around 11:00am for next year's cruise, so now I'm worried about the lines we might run into....
We arrived around 2:40pm on a Sunday, and our flight was full. It seemed like many other flights came in around the same time? There was one lady who pushed her way to the front of the line even though she was behind us, because she had a connecting flight to catch. The line kept moving, but it was incredibly long!
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Originally Posted by xwewhisper
So sorry for the hassles getting from the airplane to the hotel - that is not the best way to start a trip Sounds like things were on the upswing from check in though!
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
Omigosh, my patience would have been completely shot after the waits for customs and taxis!
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Originally Posted by SharonK0527
So sorry about all the long lines at the airport. Hopefully your day only gets better from here!
It wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't have the kids, but they were anxious to get to the FUN stuff and I felt bad for them. I'm also incredibly proud of them for being such troopers and hanging in there without any fuss. We had so much to look forward to, that kept our spirits up. And yes, that was the worst of it. Our vacation was awesome from there on out (well, until the very end, but thats days away, lol).
We arrived around 2:40pm on a Sunday, and our flight was full. It seemed like many other flights came in around the same time? There was one lady who pushed her way to the front of the line even though she was behind us, because she had a connecting flight to catch. The line kept moving, but it was incredibly long!
That makes me feel a bit better, although it is making me think. At the moment, I'm thinking two hours in between flights and we'd need to drop our luggage at the left luggage service there. I'm hoping that's enough, but I could always go for three hours just to be really safe. Decisions, decisions!
We had to wait about 10 minutes for our room to be ready. They wanted to bring the extra trundle bed up for the 5th person. Once the room was ready, we headed up to what I’m guessing is the 14th floor (the whole layout of the building is confusing), where we quickly found our room. Inside, our jaws just dropped. The size, the view, the amenities! We had never seen anything like this. No joke, this room might be the same size or bigger than our 3 bedroom house! You open up into the open living room/dining area with a closet, massive TV, two couches, a cd station (with CD’s for us ready to listen to including the likes of Andrea Boccelli and Yani to name a few), a large table and desk. One of the couches had already been pulled out to make the bed, and the trundle was propped against a back wall.
But the most amazing thing about the room was the view! I cannot describe in words, and our pictures do not do it justice, but we had quite a panoramic of the harbor, including the cruise dock below, the pool, the convention center with its rooftop garden, and nearby Stanley Park. It was breathtaking!
But back to the rest of the room. There are two bathrooms. The first one is off the entry and is split with one portion being the sink divided from the toilet by a door.
The master bedroom is off of the living room area and includes a walk-in closet (yes, with cushy robes), a king sized bed, another enormous TV, and minibar.
Beyond that was the master bath which just went on and on. First opening to a very large and appealing bath tub, you turn a corner to a double vanity sink area with a wall of mirror and a bench and scale opposite. Another corner and you have the biggest shower I’ve ever seen. All 5 of us could’ve showered together if we wanted !
Finally, behind all that was another door to the actual toilet, and, something new for our family, a bidet!
I’m not going to lie, we are not very sophisticated. That bidet got a lot of laughs and was enjoyed solely for entertainment purposes. Its not everyday my kids get to play with their own indoor fountain!
While we were still ooing and ahhing over the room, we heard the doorbell (yes, a doorbell!). The hotel had sent up a treat for our anniversary. I was overwhelmed!
When our bags were delivered, the bell boy recommended we check out Tim Hortons for dinner, which he claimed was a very popular restaurant in Canada. Since it was now approaching dinnertime, we decided to head out to the food court and check it out. I hated leaving our cake and strawberries out, but one thing our room lacked was a refrigerator or cooler.
Most of the shops and food services in the food court were actually closed, I assume because it was Sunday? The ones available did not sound appealing. Really, we can eat at Subway and McDonalds in LA.
"I'm lovin'"the Maple Leaf in the logo!
We found Tim Hortons outside. This did not look like a dinner place. It was pretty small and it looked like all they sold were sandwiches and breakfast items. Since we’d had sandwiches for lunch, we decided to look for something a bit heartier for dinner.
We did enjoy many photo opps and beautiful views as we made our way around the Convention Center.
We had passed a restaurant called Tap and Barrel a couple times at this point. Everyone was eating outside and it looked casual and relaxed, but the name really threw me off. I thought for sure this was a bar and not a child friendly restaurant. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The menu was perfect for them, plus they had children’s menus if they wanted, which they could color and play with. The servers were attentive and interactive with the kids, and we ended up having a great meal! Benjie ordered a kids cheese pizza, Elijah ate a giant pretzel, Louie had mac n cheese with pork belly which he couldn’t finish and shared with the kids, and I had a delicious burger with fries. Jonny shared with all of us.
With our bellies full, we strolled back to our hotel, feeling the exhaustion of the day. With it being nearly 8, we expected the promised cookies and milk to have arrived already, but they hadn’t. We slowly settled in the room and got the kids ready for bed, knowing we had the luxury of being able to sleep in and take our time in the morning, since our check-in time for the cruise wasn’t until 11 and would take us mere minutes to get there. The boys watched some TV and we enjoyed some more of the view, but slightly after 8 I thought I better call and see if the cookies could be brought up soon. I was told they were busy at the moment and would bring them up later. Unfortunately, we were all drooping and by 8:30 we called again to let them know that the kids would be going to bed soon if they wanted to just cancel the treat. Instead they brought them right up. It was a sweet end to their day.
Somehow we had managed to forget to pack the boys pajama’s, Jonnys Mickey Mouse swim shirt (which you know we bought just for this trip), and Louie’s razor. We hoped we could find these things the next morning.
The day was sunny, in the upper 70’s, low 80’s.
Favorite thing – the view from our room!
Least favorite thing – the endless lines at the airport
Next – Our boat is here!
Whoa, what a hotel room! It looks like it's many times bigger than my 1-bedroom apartment, and a whole lot nicer, too. That view is amazing. It's exciting that the cruise is the next day, but it's too bad you didn't have more time to enjoy that hotel and Vancouver.
What an amazing room! You're bringing back great memories of Vancouver with your photos - I can't wait to get back there next August!
It is so pretty there. I was nervous about being in a strange city in another country, but we felt perfectly safe and comfortable once settled. Are you staying at the Pan Pacific again?
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Originally Posted by lauriep
Whoa, what a hotel room! It looks like it's many times bigger than my 1-bedroom apartment, and a whole lot nicer, too. That view is amazing. It's exciting that the cruise is the next day, but it's too bad you didn't have more time to enjoy that hotel and Vancouver.
We loved that room so much, I would move in in a heartbeat, lol! One night was such a luxury, but we could never afford more than that. (The one night cost almost as much as our airfare to Vancouver - for all 5 of us!).
Wait until you see what the view looks like in the morning!
It is so pretty there. I was nervous about being in a strange city in another country, but we felt perfectly safe and comfortable once settled. Are you staying at the Pan Pacific again?
That's my plan, as we really enjoyed our stay there and thought it was so convenient for joining a cruise.
Well after about a week of not sleeping well due to stress/excitement of getting ready for our trip, I again found myself awake much earlier than I should have. Around 4am I kept hearing clicking noises in our room, and we never did identify the source, but I suspect the air conditioner. After another couple hours of off and on sleep, I thought I heard the kids stirring in the other room so quietly made my way out there to check. Low and behold they were all fast asleep (a surprise as they don’t usually sleep away from home and I expected them to visit our bedroom many times during the night). Well, since I was up, I made my way to the window to peek outside. The dock was empty, no Disney ship yet and none in sight. I somehow made it back to sleep until I was sure I heard the kids up and at ‘em at 7:30. Sure enough, the three of them were cuddled on the couch together watching T.V. I excitedly peeked out the window again, and this time this is what I saw:
Some more views of sleepy Vancouver waking up:
One of the many sea planes we saw from our window:
We were in awe. We didn’t have to be at the cruise terminal until 11am, which gave us plenty of time for a lazy morning getting ready. While I took care of our stuff in the room, the boys went down to that Tim Hortons and brought back breakfast – donuts and muffins, breakfast of champions! The food was way sweeter than what we’re used to. Around 10:30 we called Bell Services and they came to fetch our bags and brought them straight to the Wonder for us! We wouldn’t be seeing them until that afternoon.
One last look at the view and then we were on our way:
On our way out I dropped off our keys in the quick check-out box and we grabbed a few photos of the boat that awaited us.
We easily found our way to the terminal, but it was not busy at all and so we stopped at the small gift shop we passed along the way for some last minute souvenirs. The way to the terminal seemed endless and was set up for long lines, but fortunately for us we had no wait. With every corner I thought we would see the check-in area, but each time we seemed no closer to our destination. It felt like some crazy maze!
Finally we were directed to the waiting area and check-in lines. From what I remember of Port Canaveral, the area seemed much more efficient than this. The check-in lines were in the middle of the room, and then there were two waiting areas off to each side. The right side had no chairs but was closer to the boarding area and speakers. The left side had many chairs set up and a photo opp area with Minnie Mouse. We were given our Navigator but I had no time to browse it as we had no wait in the Castaway Club line. The excitement was building, we were so close! But had to get our KTTWC and other official stuff taken care of.
The clerk also gave me 4 Silver Castaway Club lanyards, but Jonny wasn’t allowed to have one because this is his first cruise (he wasn’t born when we went on the last one). I thought that was kinda silly, and felt bad that he might feel left out, so I just gave him mine since I didn’t need one. I prefer to use my passporter pouch for holding my card and other important items anyway. The boys had gone over to the waiting area on the left to get a picture with Minnie, and I joined them. As soon as we were done with that I saw a lady walk over with a sign for boarding group 4, which was us, so off we went. We couldn’t hear the speaker in our waiting area so I guess they had been boarding for a while and we just didn’t know it.
Jonny with his Silver Castaway lanyard:
Boarding was a series of more photo opps down a long hallway, and no clear indication of which gangway to take (there were 2). We followed some women to one of them, but waiting there was an employee who told us to go back the other way. Many many people did the same thing, I wonder why they didn’t indicate which gangway to take rather than make us walk all over. Not a big deal, but we just wanted to get onboard and make this vacation official!!! Finally, we made our way over the water and heard our family name announced to cheers and applause. The best feeling!
I had noticed on our KTTW cards that our dining rotation would be Animators Palate, Parrot Cay, and Tritons. I knew we would hit Parrot Cay twice which meant Tritons would be our last night. This was the same exact rotation we had on our first cruise, and a bit of a problem as we had Palo reservations on our last night and would miss Tritons, exactly the same situation as our first cruise when we also missed Tritons due to our Palo ressies. I didn’t know if there was anything at all they could do to change our rotation, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask since I had to visit guest services anyway. I also needed to add money to our onboard account, check to make sure our other credits were there, and find out about the cruise excursions (I’d had a last minute change of heart and wanted to do the double decker bus tour in Victoria).
Guest services was able to help me with my account inquiries, but directed me to Wavebands for dining questions and the Port Adventures Desk for the excurision. I headed there next because I wasn’t sure where Wavebands was, and securing the excursion was more important to me. It was a good thing I did because then I found out about the special Anna and Elsa Meet and Greet that required tickets. As I hadn’t had a chance to even open my Navigator yet, I didn’t know about this special event. All 3 of my boys love Frozen, Jonny especially, so I knew we would want to get those tickets. I had my pick of days and times for that, but unfortunately we were not able to get on the double decker bus tour. Sabastian (aptly named) told me to check back after dinner that evening to see about any openings, so that was that.
At this point, my crew had already headed up to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch and a swim, so I headed up deck to join them rather than worry about our dining rotation. I was ready for some all-you-can-eat buffet, and everything else could wait!
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Sounds like things were on the upswing from check in though!
You're bringing back great memories of Vancouver with your photos - I can't wait to get back there next August! 
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