Trip Report Oh, the Places We go, The People We See

Welcome to my newest Trip Report. For those who don’t know me, I am Jen.

That’s my Daughter Claire with me.



We just got back from an amazing vacation with several family members.

We traveled Nov. 1st thru the 15th, 2012. We rested our headed at 6 different places on this trip, and though it wasn’t always easy to keep moving from place to place, I am happy to have tried some new resorts out and stayed at some familiar ones as well.



This trip came about over a year ago. My Mom’s cousin Vicki wanted to take a trip with her and my Aunt Mary. Her Daughter Katie also wanted to come along.

After some talking and planning it became a group of 16 traveling. I was elected ring leader since I have quite a bit of Disney experience.

Plans were made, some were changed, and some were a little slower at making decisions than others.

My husband Skip is what is known in the Disney groups as a resistor and he decided NOT to come along. He was not so happy about the amount of time I was going to be gone.



The dates for the cruise were set first, Nov 4 through the 8th on the Disney Dream. We all planned to arrive a day early and stay at the Residence Inn near the port. Soon I decided that I must add a few Disney days, and so did everyone else eventually. I thin decide…heck lets add some more, and Claire and I ended up staying 3 more days after the rest left.

Then after doing some research and with a heads up from my good Dis-friend Carey, I was alerted to the fact that the last Halloween party was on Nov. 2nd. How could I pass that chance up? So Claire and I decided to fly in a day earlier than everyone else to hit that party. Claire and I also decided to fly out of Columbus. My family lives near the Toledo, OH area, and the best direct flights are out of Detroit. My youngest sister, who was not going on the cruise, lives in Columbus, and I was able to get a decent priced direct flight from there, so Claire and I drove down Nov. 1 and spent the night before our early flight.



Plans were finally all set in stone and we just had to wait for our time to arrive. Not an easy task, but we all managed.



Let me introduce you to the crew. This is a picture of a picture. My sister has the CD with the actual digital copy, but hasn’t yet loaded it to the computer, so I had to go with this for now till I can get a copy.

In the back row, left to right, we have my parents, Joe and Paula, next to them is my Uncle Geoff. Next to Geoff is cousin Vicki and her son in law Thad. Next to Thad is Pete, Vicki’s husband and then me. Aunt Mary is on the end, she is married to Uncle Geoff and my Mother’s sister.

Down towards the front, left to right, is my nieces Alexis and Abby with their parents Rob and Gail. Gail is my sister. Front and center is Claire. Behind Claire are Jude, and Katie. Katie is married to Thad and is Pete and Vicki’s Daughter. And then we have baby Luke in the stroller. He is only about 9 months old and what a cutie he is.



This trip had the usual ups and downs that most every family will have, but I have to admit things went much smoother than I planned. We never felt the need to kill each other for the most part. LOL

We had several cruise newbies and several Disney World newbies as well.



Please join me in reliving a very magical trip with all the places we traveled and all the people we met along the way!

 

[jenseib]

Doesn’t the Aqua Duck look so pretty all lit up?





Gail and I decided to go off on our own for a bit with Abby. Aunt Mary and Claire were going to continue golfing.



I just love how beautiful the Dream is all lit up everywhere. This is one area it trumps the Magic.







A few pictures with Admiral Donald.

I believe we saw Minnie Mouse out, but she was getting ready to leave. Abby threw herself to the floor and cried out “I want to see Minnie MOWWWWSE!” I heard someone say my name at the same time and looked to see JohnPA from my fish extender group. We exchanged hellos and he totally understood why Abby would want to see Minnie Mowwwwse.

After a bit of roaming, we decided to go to the D Lounge and watch a bit of the Karaoke to see what it was like. And guess who was sitting at a table as we walked in ….Aunt Mary and Claire!

We sat down with them and watched a bit. I was trying to get a picture of Abby and she kept telling me no.

 

[jenseib]

Claire was loving this.



Abby was jumpy.



Soon Gail left with Abby. She just wasn’t going to sit still and it was not a highlight for her.

I am guessing Gail found Geoff and Alexis shortly after, as they had this picture taken before heading back to their room.





Claire, Aunt Mary and I stuck around the karaoke for a bit. Claire kept saying she wanted to sing. Claire is shy, so I thought this would never happen ….EVER. They looked through books and discussed song options. I took pictures.





They had a few issues with deciding on songs. Many that Claire picked out, Aunt Mary really wasn’t sure how they went. Claire insisted that she did, but I knew she only knew the chorus to many. Claire decided on Hakuna Matada. Aunt Mary let her know that she really didn’t know the song well. Claire said that was ok and they submitted their request.
Before you know it, the “Mary and Claire” team were called up.



Claire looked like she was a pro at this. Well at home in the basement she is, but not in front of people.

 

[jenseib]

Well you would think this would be an easy song to sing, but it wasn’t. It had all the dialog they do in the movie and so there was lots of parts that were just talking. Claire is a slow reader and Aunt Mary just didn’t know the song well enough. That’s OK though. They were having fun.
So much fun that when they sat down Claire was ready to do another. I was in complete shock. I just couldn’t believe how brave she was. This is not like her at all.



Claire was now obsessed and wanted to sing again. Who would’ve thought that?
They decided to sing another song, but the wait was longer this time. We had to sit through quite a few bad singers out just having fun and a few good ones and a few who thought they were good, but were not. There was one young girl, probably preteen age and she got up there. I didn’t expect much, just thinking it was another kid up there for fun, and WOW! could she sing.

Soon the Team of Claire and Mary were up again. This time they sang Zippah Dee Doodah. They were much better this time as the words were a bit easier and Aunt Mary was a bit more familiar with the song.





Karaoke was running over in time so they were one of the last to sing for the night. Claire was all smiles. Aunt Mary ended up buying Claire a karaoke machine for her birthday too and it’s been a bit hit. Well a hit with her, a little noisy for me.

Family Fusion was up next in the D Lounge and Claire wanted to watch it. I needed to hit the restroom, so I left them there.
On the way back look who I ran into …..



Daisy was dressed so cute.



Some cute Duck tale.



She even posed for me.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

That is so awesome Claire got up to sing!! I've sang karaoke before and I'm always a nervous wreck before I get on stage!! haha

All the food looks SO delicious!! Someone is going to need a wheelbarrow to roll me off the ship in September I'm going to eat so much!!

 

[jenseib]

That is so awesome Claire got up to sing!! I've sang karaoke before and I'm always a nervous wreck before I get on stage!! haha

All the food looks SO delicious!! Someone is going to need a wheelbarrow to roll me off the ship in September I'm going to eat so much!!

I was shocked she did it. It's so not like her.

Yes, you will need to be rolled off.

 

[jenseib]

After my run in with Daisy, I headed back into the D Lounge and found Claire and Aunt Mary up near the dance floor in seats waiting for the Family Fusion game to start. Now it was very obvious that some people here were VERY familiar with the game. They knew where to sit and how to attract themselves to be picked and then knew a lot of the questions that were going to be asked. There was some people there doing this to WIN! It was fun and funny and we had a good time.
Close to the end of the game Alexis and Geoff showed up. Geoff said he was in bed in his PJ’s and Alexis came over (Her family had all fallen asleep) and said she needed to go find Claire and Aunt Mary. Basically she was jealous that they were still out and she was stuck in the room. Geoff said he tried to talk her out of it, but gave in and took her. I was amazed that She knew exactly where to go, but Geoff said she knew they had talked about karaoke earlier and figured they would be there and she was right.
I told Mary and Geoff they could leave and I would take her back to her room, but I think they ended up staying, even though it was clear how tired they were. I think both girls wanted them to stay and they never tell them no.

After the game show was over, there was a little bit of dancing. Claire and Alexis went out for a bit, but it didn’t last long and we then headed our separate ways.



I guess Claire and I still had energy, because we went for a walk on deck 4.



I think this area is so cute. But the downside for many is that it is a smoking area for the evening hours. I don’t know if it has always been or if it is new as I only saw it once on our last cruise.









And then we headed over to Shutters to take a look at our pictures.

 

[jenseib]

The atrium was EMPTY!











This CM looks very bored.

 

[jenseib]

Looks like Guest Services now has a rush! LOL



I think this royal chair is so pretty.





A walk down by the shops, which were closed tonight being that we still were in port.



I have eyed this sweatshirt on this cruise so much as well as my last cruise in Sept. on the Magic. I never bought it and I should’ve. It’s so cute, but I was having a hard time getting around the price tag. I was shopping last weekend and saw a lady wearing it at the store and my heart had a little pang of regret and jealousy.

 

[jenseib]

We headed back towards the elevators to go up and grab a drink before heading back to our room.







I think we might’ve gotten a little snack of an ice-cream cone as well.

 

[jenseib]

We made it back to our room and got ready for bed. I think Claire was looking through a Fish Extender Gift. I swear between the Fish Extenders, my Mom and Aunt Mary, she constantly had something new. She was pretty happy about that.





We flicked on the TV and found they were showing the evenings performance of Villains Tonight. It was about half way through and we lay down and watched it. I soon drifted off and a little bit later awoke to Claire tapping me to let me know the show was over and I could turn off the TV.
I did so ….and I really wish they had a sleep timer on the TV’s. I use ours at home every single day and love it.

Soon we both drifted off to dreamland and ready to start another exciting and fun filled day. I had laid my head 2 consecutive nights in the same bed now. A record for this trip at this point, but I had been to another Country today.
I also met JohnPA from the disboards today as well.

Oh the Places We Go, the People We see!

 

[jenseib]

Day 6, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012

I think today I actually might have slept in till almost 7. Amazing, isn’t it.

I got dressed and headed out to see how close we were to Castaway Cay. I soon saw signs of land.





It was another beautiful morning!

I took pictures around the ship as we got closer.













I could see even from afar that the island was brown from the hurricane, but I was still excited to be here.

 

[jenseib]

After enjoying the view for a bit, I headed back towards the room.











Claire was still dead to the world, but I think I kind of nudged her to get ready.
I walked out on the balcony to see our view.

 

[jenseib]

The Cast Members from the area were arriving as well.









Down the hallway, our family members were rising and enjoying the view as well.











I headed out once again. I think Claire had gotten up and was hanging with Mom and Dad if I remember right.
I wanted to go up top and watch us dock.

I thought I would check the deck outside of the Meridian, which is the bar between Palo and Remy.

 

[jenseib]

SIGH!!!!! I wish I was there right now.













The outside deck is really a nice area.





It is a smoking area, however, for those who have issues with smoke, you won’t want to go here, especially in the evening, where I believe they have cigar smoking as well.

 

[jenseib]

Tie us up tight! We don’t want our ship to float off to sea without us.









I believe the other side of the outdoor bar seating was no smoking though and these are the chairs over on that side.



After admiring the views from the decks outside of the Meridian, I headed back inside.



Of course I shot a couple of pictures.

 

[jenseib]

A quick walk through Cabanas.







The guy posed for me!



I walked around snapping away some more.



These stairs lead up to the AquaDuck.



[/urlhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jenseib/8607645613/]

 

[jenseib]

I need this guy to come clean at my house. He actually pulls things out and cleans behind them.



Back to looking out at Castaway Cay.



A look down to where I had just been.







I just want to be there right now!



Looking down, one level is part of Cabanas outside seating and the other is Aft room balconies.





The infamous Palm tree.



Earlier when I had been on my balcony watching us dock, My Dad was next door watching as well. I pointed out that this was a fake palm tree that was really a tower for cell phones, etc. I really don’t think he believed me at first. I had to explain how it was so much bigger than the others and they just made it to look like a palm tree. And as you can see, up close, it doesn’t look real at all.
While we were talking about this, I had looked down and there was our fellow Dis member JohnPA a deck below us. What a small world. It never dawned on me when looking at the fish extender list that his room was practically right below us. We waved at each other and my Dad was all curious as to why I was waving at strangers. LOL

 

[jenseib]

More pictures of my beloved island. I am sure someone in the family would be going down these slides later.

















Here comes the parasail boat. Geoff and Pete had the first appointment of the day for this excursion.

 

[jenseib]

A few more ship pictures.







And back to Castaway Cay.

 

[jenseib]

Look at all those towels waiting for us.



I really like this shot.







After taking that shot, I headed down to the Port Adventures desk. I kept thinking about how my Dis friend Rinky had talked about the Jet Ski excursion. I knew I would enjoy it, I was pretty sure Claire would too, and I knew it would be right up Rob’s alley as well.
I inquired about it and I was told there wasn’t anything available for double riders, only singles and not for the same times. She then told me to check on the island itself, as they often have more openings there. I will tell you this now. Don’t even bother with the desk. They don’t have the correct info. All the jet skis hold 2 people for one and they had plenty of openings as well.

I headed back to the room then and got dressed for the day of activities and packed our bag. I switched over to the waterproof camera for the day as well. Claire was ready to go, but we had to eat some breakfast first. We met up with the family at Cabanas and got a little bit of breakfast. For some reason the kids were not in the eating mood this morning. But we did make them take a few bites.



Notice Claire’s Mickey waffle across the table is missing his ears? LOL

Abby was refusing to eat as well.



I made Claire take a few sips of her milk.



Geoff and Pete had already gotten off the ship and were on their way to parasailing. They were really excited about this, but it sounds a bit too scary for me. My mom actually wanted to go as well, but her bone Dr. suggested she not do it, so she passed on it.

After breakfast we decided to put the girl’s hair in ponytails and went back to Gail’s room to get the rubber bands. Abby went off with Mom and Dad.

I have no clue where I took these pictures. I do know I took the first one because the parasailing boat was just going around the front of the ship, but I just barely missed it. It almost looks like I am hanging in midair taking them.