3 Peas In A Pod Post Trip Report !! - COMPLETED 10/18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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3 Peas In A Pod Post Trip Report !! - COMPLETED 10/18
Well, we are now back from the best family vacation ever! So, let me start with day 1 of the post trip report. For those of you who don't know our family, please read the pre trip report, where I introduced the family, and some other info.
Sep 26th, 08- (On our way)
We got up extra early, which was not a problem, because I don't think that any of us got much sleep that night. We were way to excited!
I was up at 2:30 am, followed by Keno at 2:45am, and Eli was up at 3 am. We figured that Eli was going to be a bear, but he was surprisingly really happy, and alert. We quickly got ready, and packed our ready to go bags into the car.
Here was Eli and Keno grabbing a quick bite to eat.
The San Antonio airport was a breeze, and we were off the ground at 5:30 am, as scheduled. Eli was really excited, and asked if we were going to see Mickey "this day". When we told him it was going to be one more day until we saw Mickey, Eli said "Oh, now the day is ruined." A bunch of people on the plane were laughing and asking "first trip?" with a smirk on their face.
On the second leg of the trip, after a slight layover in Georgia, we were riding on a huge 767 plane. The trip was the roughest either of us has ever experienced, and we hit a lot of turbulance. I think my knuckles are perminantly drained of blood, because I was holding on so tight. We finally landed in Orlando. Eli was really grouchy, because he had not taken a nap, and was still running off his very short night of sleep. When we went to baggage claim, we waited and waited, fearing the worst - that they had lost our luggage. Finally, after an hour and 20 minutes, our luggage came around. We then took a shuttle to the Best Western Suites, which was only 2 miles away.
Here was Eli playing around.
We ordered in pizza from a place that was close by, and it was great. Eli recieved his "gift from Mickey" (see in pre trip report), and was thrilled to have extra stuff to play with.
Here was him opening up the stuff.
When we were listening to him play, he whispered "I can't believe I'm in Florida" which was a really funny moment. We watched a little television, and were asleep in no time.
Up next - Our first day on the Disney Magic, and feeling the magic!
And some character meetups too!
__________________
Kelly
Last edited by elis mom 08; 10-20-2008 at 07:47 AM..
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Sep 27th-
We woke up at 6:45 am. We went to the lobby after getting ready, and ate a continental breakfast. The food was not at all good and half way attributed to my not feeling well the first day.
We went to the airport and waited and waited.
Here was Eli waiting for the bus.....
Finally, over two hours later we were able to board the bus that took us to the Port. Eli was really excited and yelled out "Yeehaw, Ride um Cowboy!" That caused more laughs from the public.
Here's what the bus looked like.
Here was Eli and Keno on the bus......
After about thirty minutes, we got the first glimpse of the Ship. It was huge, and beautiful!
The Port had a funky smell, and Eli really did not like the first smells.
When we got into the building to wait to board the ship, they gave us a number 9. This meant that we would be in the 9th out of 12 large groups to board the ship. So while we were waiting, we registered Eli for the Oceaneers Club, and got a few snacks. While we were waiting, we took some photos of a model ship that is in the middle of the building.
We also saw a familiar mouse. Here was Eli after waiting an eternity to meet him:
We finally boarded the ship, and were off (with luggage in hand) to Topsiders to eat a nice lunch. We were not overly impressed with the lunch the first day, but it was okay. After lunch, we went to our State Room. It was small, but very comfy, and in fact, the bed was really soft and nice. For a family of 3, it was perfect.
Only Eli and Keno had their luggage, mine was missing until much later. We went and checked out the ship a little, and went back to the room to get Eli ready for swimming.
The only worry was that the sunscreen was in my luggage, and Eli is very fair. So we tried to stay in the shade. We let Eli play in the squirty fountain place on the boat (which is right by the Mickey Pool. ) He really enjoyed it.
Then we got dressed, and went to the Bon Voyage Party. Eli was really fussy, and wanted to go back to the water, so we did. My luggage finally arrived.
This was the party!!!
This was Eli at the party
After a while, when we were checking out the ship, we saw Minnie in the lobby. Eli fell into her arms, and they took a really nice photo. She also gave him an autograph.
After a little while, we had to do the safety drill. Eli was fine at first, but it was really hot, and they made us stand in line from shortest to tallest with him in the front (directly in the sun). It was really long and uncomfortable. He eventually sat against my legs, and fell asleep, life jacket and all.) Everyone thought he was so cute.
After a bit, we went to the theater, and saw a good Welcome show. Eli loved the parts with the characters, but did not really like the acts in between. Keno and I were entertained though., Eli fell asleep about half way through.
These are photos from the show. The second one is actually a guy who is half way inside of a balloon!
After that, we went and dressed for dinner. The boat was very rocky that night, and I was feeling sea sick, or just sick (not sure which) because I was fine for the rest of the cruise. I left dinner in the middle because I was not feeling well at all. These are the pictures in Animators Palet. They light up during dinner.
When I stood up, and walked a little bit, I felt better. I went back to finish up. The food was interesting that night. I say that, because Keno and I are always up for trying new things, even if we don't care for them. Our Head Server Alex was from the Phillipeans. The entire cruise, he would bring out new things for us to try. We would also get whatwe ordered, but he went above and beyond to bring us extra foods on top of our selections, even though we did not ask for them. He was great! Anyways, I started to feel sick again, but Alex urged me to stay. I'm glad I did tough it out, because we would have missed Sorcerer Mickey who came in and did a show. Eli was enamored with him. Eli was begging for Mickey ears, so we took him up to a shop, and let him pick some. He tried on the pirate Mickey ears which were so cute, but decided he wanted plain ones.
We then went to Oceaneers Club, and it was an open house to check it out. It was really neat in there, and Eli wanted to stay, but it wasn't open yet.
We went back to our room at about 10 pm, and all slept like babies! Our first towel animal was a fish.
Up next: Our first stop at Castaway Cay!
__________________
Kelly
Last edited by elis mom 08; 10-27-2008 at 10:27 PM..
We got up at about 7:30 and ate at Topsiders buffet. This time, the food was good. We really liked the mickey waffles, with strawberries and whipped cream.
After breakfast, we went and got ready, and left the ship. The sun was shining, and the water was clear and beautiful on Castaway Cay. It was fab! We did not take the tram, but instead took the walk to the beach, and took photos of Davy Jones's pirate ship, and also got a photo taken with pluto and Eli in front of some cool metal boueys (sp?).
Keno then went and rented snorkel gear while we found the perfect shady spot with chairs, to lay our stuff down. The island is very lush with greenery, as were all of the islands we saw. It was wonderful. Here's a photo of the shops.
Keno went snorkeling while Eli and I stayed in the shallow water near shore, and also played in the sand. A long while later, Keno joined us, and reported seeing a baracuda, a sting ray, and all kinds of cool and colorful fish. He also found some ship wrecks, and the sunken Minnie statue.
We all swam for a while longer, and then Keno went out again. After a while longer, we went to eat at Cookies. It was a big buffet of bar-B-Que. It was great. The ribs were tender, and delicious.
Then we went back to the beach. Eli started playing with a new buddy, and his mom started talking to me. We realized that we only live three hours apart. And the really crazy part is - we are from the same small town in Nevada, which is right next to Reno. It's a Small world, Disney was so right.
A while later we walked back to the ship, deciding not to take the tram because the sights on the island were beautiful! When we got back, we all cleaned up, and I had to do laundry already. We all hung out and watched Aladdin until the laundry was done.
Eli decided that he wanted to go to Oceaneer Club. When he was there, Keno and I went and played Bingo. We did not win, but it was really fun anyway for some reason.
After that, we went to pick up Eli. We took him to Deck 9, and grabbed him dinner at Pluto's. Afterwards, we went and changed him into PJs and he went back to Oceaneers for the Pumba Pajama Party. We went to the show by ourselves that night which was 2 comedians. They were wonderfully funny, and we had a good time.
Then we went and ate at Parrot Cay.
Keno tried some new foods including lamb, asparagus, seared salmon, and his favorite - smores cake. Most of the food was very good, and we were glad that we got the opportunity to try new foods.
After dinner, we did a little shopping, and then picked Eli up. We saw Stitch, and Eli wanted a photo with him. We also saw Alice and the Queen but he did not like her, so he refused to take a photo with her. I still got one though.
We went back to the room, and watched Peter Pan and fell asleep.
The towel animal that we got that night was a swan.
Our neighbors were very noisy that night. Their kid was crying all night long, and they were thudding and pounding on the walls. That night it was a tad hard to sleep.
__________________
Kelly
Last edited by elis mom 08; 10-15-2008 at 10:30 PM..
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
What a great trip report. I am enjoying hearing about how your son liked the cruise.
Sorry you had noisy neighbors. I hope they didn't ruin everything for you all.
This was the day that I called the boring day. We had so much time, we didn't know what to do with ourselves. So here's how it played out -
We got up at 8 am, and the three of us cleaned up, and then went to eat at Topsiders buffet. The food on this day was not very good.
After breakfast, Eli wanted to go to Oceaneers Club, so we went and dropped him off. We went to Shutters which is the photo center on the ship, and purchased their cheapest package, which was 10 photos that are 6 by 8 inches, for 84.00. We could choose some then, and some later, so we picked five at that time, and decided to purchase the rest after they had new photos.
Then we went and looked at the shops. There was nothing going on, so we went and took a nap. Then we went and picked up Eli. We wanted to eat lunch at one of the quick places on deck 9, but all of the chairs were taken, so we went to Topsiders again. The food was pretty good this time. Eli then went swimming in the Mickey Pool.
After that, we went and spent some time in the room. Then Eli wanted to go back to Oceaneers Club, so we took him again. We then went and caught part of the art auction, which was interesting. If I was able to afford expensive art, I would have gotten one of the beautiful paintings.
We cruised around the ship some more, and then picked up Eli to get dressed for the formal evening ahead, complete with the Golden Mickeys Show and Dinner.
The show was fabulous, and very memorable. Most of the big characters were in it, and it was amazing as were a few of the shows. Snow White,Mulan Cruela Woody and Jessie Sleeping Beauty Lion King
Eli did not want to go to dinner that night when given the choice, so he again opted to go to the kid place. They were having a party that evening. I tried to get Eli to eat before he went, but he refused at that time to eat. ( Side Note: I always said that I was going to keep Eli with me, and out of Oceaneers club as much as possible, but when the kid asks, what can you do?)
So we went and saw a comedian, which was really funny. Then we headed to Parrot Cay for diner. The apitizers were not good that night, but the dinner was great, and the dessert was brilliant! It was strawberry sundaes, and the waiter brought us an extra dessert, which was the Golden Mickey chocolate dessert. All of the food was excellent that night. Our napkins were folded like little tuxes. Keno had Beef Wellington. I had shrimp pasta.
After we went to dinner, we picked up Eli who was wearing a cinderella dress. My husband almost passed out! In fact, a lot of the boys were wearing princess dresses. On our way to our room, we saw Snow White pop out of the elevator, and nobody was around her! Eli refused to take a photo with her. He told us that he did not like the princesses. (Guess he just likes their clothing haha!)
Then we went back to the room, and watched a little tv, and fell asleep.
Our towel that night was folded like a lobster.
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Kelly
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Margaret
These are the pictures in Animators Palet. They light up during dinner.
PassPorter Guide Author
Here's a photo of the shops.
Snow White,
Mulan
Cruela
Woody and Jessie
Sleeping Beauty
Lion King
Our napkins were folded like little tuxes.
Keno had Beef Wellington.
I had shrimp pasta.
Reese
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