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

jenseib · Feb 9, 2013

Back out, we headed towards the hot tub.

We spotted a little critter.

Claire enjoyed the hot tub for a while.

We then headed over to the pool again and I sat in the same spot as the day before and Claire swam and swam and swam. I put the camera away for a bit and tried to facebook with my kindle and phone. I say try, because facebook kept telling me my posts couldn’t be made. I have this issue off and on. It’s so annoying.
Also the wifi was spotty and every so often I had to relog back in.
Tim (Dis That’s Nice) was over at the Coronado and he was posting how he still hadn’t made it to a park yet and he was going nuts. His daughter was swimming too. We chatted a bit via facebook, along with a few others, some who were going to be coming to WDW in the next few days as well. I was half tempted to gather up Claire and go over and visit Tim. But I knew the ride over would be long and Claire wouldn’t like getting pulled out of the pool. And Tim and I had planned to meet up later in the trip.

I had a family sitting in the loungers in front of me and they were so fun to listen to. After talking to them a bit, I found out that some of the members lived not too far from me. Small World!
After a while we heard a plane and saw some sky writing. It actually took quite a while to get the whole message up and the first word was pretty much faded before the next one even started. In fact for the last one, the plane left and came back.

God Loves You. A nice message, but seriously, why do would you have a sky writer do this? The family in front of me was laughing that someone would pay that much money to have that written. And it was kind of funny because the plane left and came back before writing “U”. Like he had to refuel and come back just for that letter. LOL

Meanwhile, Claire was having a ball swimming and watching others.

jenseib · Feb 9, 2013

The pool games had started and she sat right up there and watched, but she wouldn’t join in. I think if she had a friend with her, she would have. I think she was just too shy. She told me she did do a few things, but I don’t think she was officially playing.

The games were a huge highlight for her though. She would ask me every so often if people ever just come to Disney to just stay at the hotel and swim. I told her that I am sure a few do, but most people who come this far do want to go the parks too. I think she really liked this relaxed resort day approach we had taken.

While she swam I took a few pictures of the area from my chair.

This one came out bad. I was supposed to be focusing on the light. Not sure why I got the background instead.

Before too long it was time to get out and get dressed. She wasn’t too thrilled about this, but I reminded her we had a bus to catch and we had several more days of fun ahead of us.
We walked around and took a few more pictures.

jenseib · Feb 9, 2013

And then back towards the bathroom to change. I noticed these lockers. That’s a pretty good deal ($1).

Claire was pretty hungry after all that swimming so we stopped off and got a light late lunch. It was around 4 now and I knew we wouldn’t be eating again till much later after meeting up with the family.

I think we also called Skip once again while we were there and updated him and said our hellos.

Claire didn’t finish it all so I asked for a container to carry the rest. It was kind of a pain and I think we ended up throwing most of what was left (the crustable sandwich) away later on.

We walked around a little bit more.

We talked of walking down to Kidani and checking it out, but Claire said it would be too far. Not like she really had a clue.

We ended up going in the gift shop and Claire bought some sunglasses. We forgot to bring her a pair (really she doesn’t wear them all that often) and just looked around for a while. Sadly the glasses got lost at some point. She wanted them for the cruise, but she left them in the rental van and they were forgotten till we needed them on the ship. We saw them once when we got back and never again. I have no clue where they went, except that maybe they were left in the van somewhere.

Around 4:30 we went to retrieve our luggage and get a voucher for the Magical Express. First they sent us outside and then inside, then back outside. The girl at the outside desk knew what to do, but I thought it was strange that the guys handling the luggage didn’t know I could get a voucher there.

It wasn’t too long and our bus arrived and Claire and I were the first on again, and we took our favorite first row seat.

I took a shot of the seatbelts that are now on the new buses.

jenseib · Feb 9, 2013

Good Bye Animal Kingdom Lodge! We really enjoyed you! So much so that I think I took over 300 pictures there! Probably close to 350.

On our way to MCO! Claire kept saying how it wasn’t said being on the bus like it was for others because we still had a long trip ahead of us, and she was right. It wasn’t the Magical Depress this time around.

If course we had to make a few stops along the way to pick up more guests. I think our first stop was CBR, but I didn’t take pictures if it was.
Next up was Art of Animation.

And then Pop Century.

And off to MCO. I actually was starting to think we may be a little late, but we weren’t.

And this is where the whole trip was really supposed to start. Originally this was just going to be a 4 day cruise for the whole family, with flying in 1 day prior to sailing. Cousin Vicki was the one who wanted to sail as a group. Mom, Claire and I had sailed the Dream on March 31, 2011, shortly after she was inaugurated, and Mom had raved about the trip. Vicki thought it would be fun to do a family trip. When Mom first told me about it, I really never thought it would come to anything. Too many people to coordinate and settle on dates, etc. Also I didn’t think some members would actually ever cruise.
We met for a lunch one day in Sept. 2011 and it all started to come together and in Oct we had settled on dates that everyone agreed on and it was booked. I immediately began thinking that Claire and I would stay 3 days after and do the Christmas party and Hollywood Studios one day to see the Osborne lights. That eventually became almost 7 days. And of course we then added a day on to the beginning as well.
Then of course the family started thinking that if they were down there, they might as well hit some parks too, so this short vacation became a weeklong event for everyone.

We soon arrived at the Delta drop off and we collected our bags.
This is probably the one and only picture of Claire with her new sunglasses.

jenseib · Feb 9, 2013

I got one of those rental carts. There was no way I was lugging that entire luggage around by hand. I took note of the price, and of course now I don’t remember. I want to say it was $7. WELL worth the price, whatever it was. I do think it might’ve had a refund of like 50 cents or something like that when you returned it.

After we loaded the cart, I texted a few family members to see if they had landed. At first there was no response. Then Geoff responded and said they had just landed and he and Aunt Mary were to be some of the first off as they had upgraded to bigger seats towards the front.

Claire and I just hung outside for a bit. And then moved our way inside and took turns using the restroom. We then realized we needed to go up a floor to be near the luggage claim, so we headed towards and elevator and then waited …and waited…and waited.

Geoff let us know the number to be at, so we waited some more. But then we noticed that actually it was the one next to it that was for their flight, so we planted ourselves near that one.

It really did seem to take a long time for them to arrive. I had to keep reminding myself that they probably all made a bathroom stop and then had to take the fake monorail over.
I texted back and forth a few times with Geoff and then suddenly I saw some family!
There is Rob! ….. with Alexis behind him. I also see Mom, Dad and Geoff!

Everyone made it and they were in good spirits. The big worry was how the little ones would do on the plane. Katie’s boys were just fine …and I have to admit, they are both angels at all times. She is so lucky. Even wild 3 year old Abby did well. They said they just gave her snacks and kept movies playing for her and she was perfectly happy.

The luggage soon started and they started pulling off all the bags. Someone flagged a porter down and he had this huge cart and he just kept piling and piling the bags on.

I am not sure what everyone is looking at in this shot.

We took a few turns going to the bathroom and then made sure we had our bags loaded. Count your bags! Make sure you didn’t leave any ……dum dum dum …….make sure you read the name tags as well …..dum dum dum…….

Abby and Gail waiting for everyone to be ready.

Off to the Dollar Rental counters. The porter led the way. This guy was excellent. Very friendly and we kind of felt bad monopolizing his time, but then again, we are probably not the only people who use a porter and need to stop off at the rental counter.

We left my cart, and a few people, and kids, and porter off to the side and we got in line for the cars. Our car was in Moms name, but she wanted me to drive, so I was going to have to put it in my name and on my credit card. She said she would pay me later, which was fine (and she did).

Now let me tell you about our experience with Dollar. I will tell you, I would rent again, because they often have great deals …BUT you have to read EVERYTHING you sign or check agree too. And the counter staff was AWFUL!
We all lined up at the counter, each with a different dollar representative. We could hear what was going on with the others at the counter as well. They REALLY pushed insurance. I let them no in no terms did we want any. He kept insisting that I needed it and I kept insisting that I didn’t. I told him my SIL works for a car rental company and she has told me how it works, and I know my own insurance covers the car. He tried to tell me that I was wrong and my SIL probably didn’t know what she was talking about. I let him know she was higher up in the company and knew EXACTLY what she was talking about. I could hear this pressure going on for each family member down the line and I heard each and every one of them tell the clerk no. I will refer to my guy as Mr. Sauvo, because that is the best way to describe him …with his slicked back hair and Latin looks. Also this was pretty much how each and every guy looked right down the counter line. Listen buddy, you can smooth talk me and smile your charming smile, but I am NOT getting insurance.
So it came time to hit the agree screen. They have a long list of pages and he told me to hit agree to everything. I repeated it back to him and he said, well you should probably read it so you don’t agree do anything you don’t want. So I did, as he continued to talk to me. Yeah, that makes it hard to read when you have someone still talking. BUT I caught it! There was something about adding so much a day for some kind of security. I hit I do NOT agree.
When the print out came out, it had higher charges on it. I questioned this with 2 different people. I pointed out the amount I was to pay and asked what the others was. I was assured I was paying the right amount. I do know often rental companies have these strange charges on the list, but don’t charge you unless you agree to them, and normally I wouldn’t worry, but with Mr. Sauvo, anything could happen.

I will now skip ahead several days later. When Aunt Mary got home she found that they were indeed charged insurance. And it appeared my sister Gail had been too, but hers was a lesser charge for some odd reason. Everyone else has checked their CC statements and we all were charged the right amount. My guess is that some of us caught that part in the “I agree” list and checked no, while some just hit I agree to everything like the guys said to do. I need to check with Aunt Mary, but she was disputing it. She wrote a ton of letters and even found out that Dollar has a class action suit against them in a few states for adding this hidden insurance fee.

Back to our story……

We left Mr. Sauvo and all his Sauvo co-workers and out to the parking garage.
We were directed to the vans. Of course most of us had shoved the paperwork in a bag and had to retrieve it once again to show the attendants out there.
Our Porter pretty much knew the area and led the way again.

We picked out a few vans (we had 4 total). The vans had 3 rows and we folded down the 3rd row in each van and started loading. It was a bit chaotic, I will admit. The porter just started throwing bags in our van and helped with mine, which were still on my trusty cart as well. But then the family wanted their own bags in their own car and the porter said it really didn’t matter since we were all going to the same destination. But it did matter for most, so we tried to sort some of them out. In the end, Katie came over to our van and asked if we had any extras, and sure enough we had 2 of her bags.

I needed to return our cart, but the Porter said he would take it. Great. I was happy not to have to walk back. he was tipped a decent sum too. I think the family gave him somewhere around $50 -$60. Not bad for an hours work.

I had made folders for everyone with lots of info. Most everyone was a newbie to DCL and a few were WDW newbies as well.
I had directions to our hotel, but Rob led the way and asked at the counter and they gave him a slightly better way to get to the highway.

Off we went! It took about an hour to get to Cape Canaveral. The plan was to check in and go eat at Fish Lips. As we drove, it was dark and we pretty much kept losing sight of each other. At one point we were cursing Rob out for going so darn fast. I could barely keep up. OOOPS! It wasn’t Rob. And the next toll both Gail had called us and they mentioned being not too far behind us in the next row. LOL. Poor Rob was getting blamed for nothing.
Gail did inform us that Abby needed food soon. We wondered what was happening in their car. Abby can be a fireball when not happy.
We also had our issues in our car. I don’t remember the details, I probably blocked them out, but my Dad can be cranky at times. He has to be right about things, even if he has no clue what he is talking about and is super stubborn. (it’s so scary how much Skip is like him…..EEEK!) I just remember having a headache and being glad to be at the hotel and able to get out. I think some of the problem was food. He wanted to eat at Fish Lips and Mom said we were going to just probably hit Burger King. I think his shoes were hurting his feet as well and he was grumbling quite a bit about that. Mom assured him he had new tennis shoes in one of the suitcases and he could wear those tomorrow …….dum dum dum…….

Finally we arrived and I was happy to get away for a few minutes.

We started checking in and we took this shot of the kids.

By the time it was our turn to check in, part of our plan was not right. I had called this hotel, the Residence Inn, twice in the past 2 years to ask about the port shuttle. I was told their cost, or you could reserve a room with the park and cruise option and it included 2 tickets to the shuttle. It was an additional $6 per person. I was also told that you could not schedule the shuttle till you arrived. I had asked about getting the first one of the morning and again, was told that when we check in we could schedule what was available. OK then. I gave this info to the whole family. The plan was that the men would drive us and our bags to the port in the morning and then come back with the cars, park them and then take the shuttle over.

We were informed at check in that there is ONLY 1 shuttle per cruise line. It left at 11 (I believe), so that wouldn’t work out for us at all as that was the same time the port opened. At first this really irked me. I hated being wrong for one and telling everyone this wrong bit of info. I questioned it and the girl and guy there seemed to have been with that hotel since it had opened and said that was always their policy and not sure who had given me the info. My guess is that I probably had some housekeeper or something answer the phone and just made it up. LOL. Anyways, they apologized, we got our shuttle tickets and purchased the ones we needed and I let go of it. It was a long day and we were tired and stressed, and there was no reason for me to be so irked. I kind of felt bad for the desk people as we are sometimes a bit chaotic and we probably had them flustered.

At this point in time we didn’t even unload our bags. Abby was hungry and so were many of us. We drove over to Burger King which is right next door. Actually only Claire and I, Mom and Dad, and Gail’s family went there. This was a HUGE mistake. They had 3 people working (on a Sat. night) and they were SLOW! I swear they were cooking each thing as it was ordered. And every so often the cook and the counter girl would scream back and forth at each other. Mostly about working on a night off, or something like that.
The poor drive thru girl was running around too, and couldn’t take time to help the other 2. She looked like she had it together, but was so busy, she just kept shoving food out the window.
We made our orders and waited and waited and waited. Oh and it was filthy in there. Gail took out some baby wipes and went to town wiping off tables.
The food came out one by one and it wasn’t even that good. I think they ran out of happy meal toys and it just was a big mess. By the end of the night, we were loudly making comments about how poor the service and food was, as we just didn’t care anymore and it was like living a big joke.
In the meantime, Geoff called and said Katie needed her bags. I think he drove over to get them. If I remember right we had an issue with getting the back door open, but eventually we got it.

Alexis had been asking me about going swimming since pretty much the first moment we saw her at the airport and Claire had bragged about all the swimming she had done.
I told her several times that I wasn’t sure if the pool would still be open and whether or not I had the energy to take them. She never let up on it either. Not did Claire for that matter.

We headed back to the hotel and met up with family once again and most of them were now heading out to Fish Lips.

We got settled in our room (Claire and I were sharing with Mom and Dad), and I went to move the van to the parking lot.
When I got back, Mom was off taking the girls swimming. Those buggers had talked her into it.
But they had a great time.

Every kid has to master the handstand.

I sat with them a bit and took a few pictures.

jenseib · Feb 9, 2013

When it was pool closing time, mom took the girls back. She gave Claire a shower, which she desperately needed and I went off and walked around a bit to have some quiet time.

At one point I ran into Rob who was just sitting down at the pool bar. I decided a beer sounded really good and ordered one. I believe it was $5.75 for a bud light. HOLY COW!!!!!
We chatted a bit and talked to the bar tender, asking about Hurricane Sandy that had gone through only a week or so prior and about busy seasons, etc. Rob asked me some cruise questions. He has cruised before, but not on Disney and he wanted to know some of the differences, etc.
We both headed back to our rooms and got ready for bed. Claire was on a super high from all the excitement. We finally got her settled down. I think my Dad stayed out in the living room and fell asleep on the couch for several hours and then came to bed.

I laid my head down on the 3rd pillow of the trip. Oh the places we go!
I met a few more great Disers today. Oh the People we meet!

Sadly, this was not a restful night. If you have read my other reports, you know that I don’t always sleep well on vacation. I have anxieties that I am missing something or just too excited, or whatever the reason, and tonight ended up being one of those kind of nights.

PolynesianPrincess · Feb 9, 2013

Sounds like a very chaotic day for you!!! And the whole charges with the rental cars fiasco... I'm renting a car with Dollar in Jacksonville in a few weeks. I will definitely make sure to look out for any additional insurances they want to add. We rented with Hertz before and liked them but Dollar was cheapest so we went with them. Rental car agencies scare me a little. I feel like they always try and pressure you to get extra stuff that you don't need. I used to work for a travel consultant and we wholesaled cars in Europe and the agencies over there would ALWAYS overcharge them or charge them for things they didn't agree to.

Can't wait to read about the cruise!! This is getting me excited for my cruise in September!!

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

derelicte19 said:
Sounds like a very chaotic day for you!!! And the whole charges with the rental cars fiasco... I'm renting a car with Dollar in Jacksonville in a few weeks. I will definitely make sure to look out for any additional insurances they want to add. We rented with Hertz before and liked them but Dollar was cheapest so we went with them. Rental car agencies scare me a little. I feel like they always try and pressure you to get extra stuff that you don't need. I used to work for a travel consultant and we wholesaled cars in Europe and the agencies over there would ALWAYS overcharge them or charge them for things they didn't agree to.

Can't wait to read about the cruise!! This is getting me excited for my cruise in September!!

We do Hertz a lot too as my sister in law works for them and we get a family discount, but Dollar was even cheaper than that.
It was so frustrating, but now that I know what to look for, I probably would rent with them again if they are the cheapest.
Getting closer to the cruise now!!!

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

Nov.4, 2013, Sunday ~ Day 4

I had really hoped for a good night’s sleep, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. The time also changed during this night, so we were falling back and getting an extra hour.
I think I slept about 3-4 solid hours and then I woke up and tossed and turned for a bit. I finally just gave up and got up and dressed and went for a walk. I knew laying there with my head full of activity would do me no good, so maybe if I moved around, I would tire myself out.

I believe it was now 4:30 AM in the new time. (5:30 old time)

As I was walking around, I did see an older guy walking as well. I really tried to stay towards the front and on the sidewalk. I surely didn’t want any freaks attacking me.
After a bit, he was walking towards his car and he said hello and I said hi back. He then said he would like to point out some stuff in the sky to me if I didn’t mind. He was from Montreal and he love astronomy. I didn’t get any closer to him, just to be safe. I am sure he was perfectly nice, but crazy maniacs appear nice too. So he pointed out Jupiter and Mars if I remember right and actually told me some interesting info. We talked a few minutes and then he had to be on his way for a convention or something. I walked around the front some more and over near the Burger King parking lot I saw something fairly big move. It was either a HUGE rat, which wouldn’t surprise me one bit, or an armadillo. I am guessing armadillo since we are in FL. But it had that rat like tail. CREEPY. I quickly moved towards the hotel entrance then.

I was thinking about heading in, when I had an afterthought, maybe I should stay out here and see if I can see the Dream pull in, if it hadn’t yet already.
So I looked that way and guess what! She was pulling in, but I only saw the tail end of her before she went out of sight. That of course made my excitement level higher!

I decided to head back in and take some pictures inside. Last year I didn’t get a lot and this was the perfect time to get the lobby area fairly empty.

This is some of the tables to eat breakfast at.

A few things for sale.

Computer station. I actually ended up using this later that morning. I had 2 folders full of paperwork and plans, etc. And I for the life of me could not find my inline check in form. I was getting annoyed, so I just went to this station and reprinted it.

I don’t think we ever even looked much at this area last year. It was a nice seating area and over flow from breakfast would sit in here as well.

I took a seat for a while then and played a bit with my phone. I think I even went back to the room, which was right around the corner from the front desk, and got my kindle and I read up on a few emails and I think I even caught up reading on a Trip Report or 2.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

While sitting there a lady came in. She was the lady who put out the breakfast, so she must arrive early to set up and cook. She was kind of funny talking to a few guys and complaining about the time change and it messing her up.

I then took off towards the bathroom.

There was a door outside right by the bathrooms, so I went out through that and it led near the pool and pool bar, which is on the left in the picture, but all shut down.

The front desk

I headed back to the room for a bit and charged my kindle while I read some more. I just sat in the living room area. I think around 6:15 or so I went and took a shower and got that out of the way. After I did that my Mom and Dad also got up and took their showers. Claire slept through it all pretty much.

I think she woke up around 7:30ish and we got her dressed.

Dad started looking for his new tennis shoes and of course Mom yelled at him for asking over and over and she told them they were in HER suitcase and she would get them for him. So she pulled her suitcase out and went to a side pocket and it had a lock on it. My Mom was TICKED off. Why would security at the airport lock these after checking it? She doesn’t have a key. I suggested that if we needed to get in the pocket we may have to see if someone else had a key to fit or cut it open. She then went to open the main suitcase to see if the keys were inside and it was LOCKED! My mom doesn’t cuss much EVER, but a few words slipped out at that point in time. We then looked the bag over and that when I asked if it was her bag. It’s orange and honestly I have never seen another like it, but you never know. We looked at the bag tag and compared it to her retrieval tags and it was NOT a match! We searched and found a tag and it had someone else’s name on it and they were from Montreal. OH NO!!!!!

Talk about panic! This suitcase had all my mom’s clothes in it and it was GONE! She was in a tizzy and I don’t blame her. I just kept saying be calm and we’ll work something out, even if she had to go shopping for new clothing.
I frantically searched on my kindle for Deltas lost bag phone number. It kept glitching and taking me to another page, but finally it came up and I called. Guess what, they are closed on Sundays. Seriously? You would think this would be open 24 hours a day, EVERY day.
In the meantime, Mom is trying the number for the Montreal people and it just talks in French and from what she could gather, they were out of area to get the call.
As I am looking on the kindle for other options, my Moms cell phone rings. She answers it annoyed, but soon perks up. It’s Delta. They have her bag! Mom lets them know that she has someone elses as well. Mom handed the phone to me because she was in such a panic and took down the directions on how to retrieve it. The guy was great and said not to worry as the ship didn’t leave till later in the afternoon and we also had an extra hour to play with today.

I told Mom I would run down to Gail and Rob’s room and ask if Rob would drive Dad to airport to make the switch. No one was going to trust Dad to do this on his own and he drives like a snail. If I went, I probably would’ve killed him somewhere along the roadside.

Side note ….my suggestion to you when packing. Pack by day and not by person. Which is something I have started doing the last few years. Just in case a suitcase does get lost, at least you have a couple of days’ worth of clothes in one bag for everyone!

Claire and I ran down the hall to Gail’s room. We knocked and heard Alexis ask who it was. She opened the door and we asked if her Dad was up. Abby piped up, “I go get him”. So she went into the bedroom and jumped on Rob to wake him up. Gail and Rob had a 2 bedroom suite, not sure how they lucked out on that ….. and Gail came out of the other bedroom and asked what was up and I told her and she knew the horror of what must be going on in our room.
Rob got right up and dressed and I headed off back to our room to let Dad know to be ready when he got there.
Dad turned on his cell phone then (this is a sore subject with Mom as he keeps it off all the time and thinks he only needs to turn it on every so often to check messages and save his battery. He wasn’t even going to bring his charger along for the whole trip and Mom insisted he did) and low and behold there was a message from Delta the night before letting us know they had our bags. Yeah, it was a tense moment in the room then. I thought I might witness my Mother killing my Father and I would have to defend her. After all he was the one who pulled the wrong bag off the carrousel and didn’t turn his phone on. The thing I wondered though was how did they get his number? We put everything under my Moms number. My only guess is she had both numbers on her luggage tag.

Dad was ready and I walked him down to Rob’s room. They took off and we let them know if they were late for the shuttle to just drive over to the port and park the van. Rob wanted to get back for a shower too before they went to the port and though we had plenty of time till we needed to head over (thank God for the time change), it did take an hour each way to get to and from the airport.

They were off and Gail made the comment that Rob had said “I am sure glad I am not in ‘that’ room this morning. I can only imagine what is going on.” LOL!

Yeah, I didn’t want to be there either.

We met back up with mom and headed to get a bite to eat to calm our nerves.

We headed back to Gail’s room then and the girls were dressed. Alexis answered the door showing off her lanyard. She asked if Claire had one and Claire panicked a minute. I let her know that we would be getting ones when we checked in for the ship, so we would have them later that day. Collecting pins became a very fun hobby for the 2 girls.

Abby was NOT happy about the headband and was trying to take it off.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

We decided to head off for a walk. I think we left Gail in the room to finish getting ready.

After a bit of walking around and fooling around we headed back inside. The girls loved this water feature.

We then headed off to our room for a bit.

I believe Gail met us here and we fooled around a bit more. Gail was worried as Abby was pulling at her ear. This is a telltale sign that she has an ear infection. Abby gets them ALL the time. Gail was worried. We would be heading out to sea for 4 days, it could get ugly. She asked about Dr.’s on the boat and I told her yes, but they are very pricey. Then it dawned on me. Katie is a pediatrician! Gail said Katie and Geoff had made a run to a nearby store, so she quickly called Geoff and let him know the situation. Katie said she would write a script and pick it up. Wonderful!

We kind of just chilled a bit and went in and out of the room for a while. I ran back to the room at one point to use the bathroom and realized I had left my phone on the counter. I picked it up and had 2 missed calls and a couple of texts. With all the excitement happening this morning I had forgotten about a Dis meet. Rinky Tinky Tink (she has asked me not to use their names) was getting off the Dream this morning and she said they would stop off at the hotel to meet up. I quickly called her (Or maybe I texted) and she was on her way. I ran back to the lobby and soon they arrived.
She probably thought I was a complete nutcase. With all the stuff going on, I was an utter scatter brain.

We talked a bit and they had a gift for Claire. UGH! I had a gift for Rinky Jr (her daughter who is Claire’s age), but it was left in my room. Luckily our room was the first one around the corner, so I quickly ran back and got it. We talked about their cruise. They were so much fun. Mr. Rinky was so funny. Claire and Rinky Jr. pretty much just eyed each other up and down though. They were NOT about to get friendly in the short time we had.
They told me about the damage from Sandy at Castaway Cay, which wasn’t too bad at all in their opinion. They said a few excursions had been canceled, one being the stingray one. We had that booked and it was all Claire wanted to do and she totally shut down after that. She was fighting tears. I let her know we would check once we got on, as I had called prior to going and it was still scheduled, but she wouldn’t listen to me.
Mr. Rinky also told us they did the jet ski excursion and how awesome it was. They all seemed to love it though Rinky Tinky said it was a bit too fast, Mr. Rinky said it wasn’t fast enough. They suggested us looking into it, and it did sound like a lot of fun.
Some family members had walked by and I introduced everyone. Rinky got a whole family meet with me! LOL
It came time where they had to leave as they were driving home and I wanted to get a picture. Shoot! My camera was in the room. So once again I ran back and got that. I think Claire took our picture. She REFUSED to be in it and so did Rinky Jr.

We talked a bit more and guess who walked in! Dad and Rob!
Holy Cow that was fast! It was only an hour and a half since they left!!!!!
I introduced them to Rinky’s family and they walked on. I think Rob and Dad went off for a bite to eat.

We said our good byes and they left for home after having a wonderful vacation at Disney World and ending it with the Dream and we were just starting ours.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

We joined the family who was eating outside and we got a bit to snack on as well.

We sat there for a while and chatted. Rob told us how he made the 2 hour plus drive in 1 ½ hours. He said NO ONE EVER passed him on the road. LOL! He said he pulled up and told Dad to stay in the van and watch it while he ran in to make the switch. He said it was waiting right where it was supposed to be and YES, the bags were almost identical. He said the only difference was that the one had a silver zipper and the other had a gold one. I sure hope those poor people got their bag back too.

Some of us girls headed off for another walk. Katie joined us this time as well as Gail, if I remember right. Mom stayed back to chat with everyone else.

We spotted a turtle in a little pond nearby.

We watched him a bit and headed off again.

Jude was a wild thing! Katie said that when he is lacking in sleep, he gets pretty jumpy and wild. He was like a crazed little man running all over, but having a great time!

We tried to get the kids together for a group picture. That wasn’t so easy.

I guess Jude is feeling the music….though there wasn’t any playing!

Another attempt! Abby does not want a boy in the picture.

Ok, this one isn’t so bad!

We all chatted some more and then headed back to our rooms to be sure everything was packed. Rob talked to the bus driver and found out that she could take us over then as there weren’t many Carnival passengers riding. Sadly we couldn’t all get out there before it was time for her to leave, but she would be back shortly for us.

We all just hung out and waited.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

After a bit we moved our stuff outside as a few more guests had gathered in the lobby as well.

Abby and Jude sat down on a suitcase together and it was the cutest thing. I was behind a bunch of suitcases and couldn’t get out to get a good shot.

I decided to climb out and get them.

Finally the bus arrived. This was a BIG bus, just like the Disney buses. We left our luggage for the girl to load. All the guys insisted on helping her, but she said she had a system and wanted to do it herself.

Claire and I once again got the front seats! Everyone else piled in behind us.

And soon we were on our way to the port.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

Our bus driver was very friendly. The ride is very short over to the port and she announced where to go and how to find our shuttle once we got back.
And soon enough we were all gasping at our view!

She’s just so beautiful and when you pull in and see her you can just see how HUGE she is.

Parking lot shot.

Soon enough we were stopped and getting off the bus and waiting for the luggage to unload.

A shot of the terminal.

And finally we were off to get in line.

We had to stop here and show ID’s.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

Aunt Mary and Geoff were right behind Claire and I.

Claire and I made it through and then started walking. After a bit we noticed that Aunt Mary and Geoff and the rest of the gang was still held up. Claire and I kept going, figuring they would catch up with us shortly.

We looked back again before entering the building and they were coming, but as they reached a set of stairs they turned and went up them. I guess this is another entrance and the CM had directed them to go that way. Claire was a little worried we wouldn’t find them again, but I assured her we would all end up in the same place.

We went through security and made our way towards check in.

It was very fast and easy. We got boarding pass number 6 and they were already boarding! You don’t know how bad I just wanted to leave the family behind in the dust and run onto the ship! But we still had to wait for the rest of the family who still had not shown up.

I think at one point I texted Geoff who said they were just going through security. When they did arrive, Mom scolded me for going off on our own ahead of everyone.

While they all got in line, I took a few pictures.

Abby had spotted Mickey and Gail had prepared her for so long about this trip and she just kept saying “I want to see Mickey MOOOOOWSE!”

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

Soon Mom and Dad were at the check in desk. They could use the castaway club check in line since Mom has sailed Disney before.

I kept eyeing the ears doorway. I was so ready to make the mad dash there and get on the ship!

While waiting, I took a picture of my cards.

Claire is patiently waiting.

Gail’s family was the last to get checked in and once she arrived we made our way to the ship.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

Abby was not so happy about this. She still wanted to see Mickey MOOWSE! I started to laugh and say how cruel we were. After all we had prepared her for this for a year and got her excited about meeting characters and then the first one she sees we say she can’t.

We made our way on the gangway towards the ship. I was so excited. This was my 2nd time sailing the Dream, but my 3rd time being on her. I was lucky enough to take a ship tour of her in Aug. of 2011.

And we stopped for a group picture, which surprisingly went well for as many people as we had. They took like 3 or 4, but only one actually showed up on the CD my sister bought.

Notice our matching shirts. This was actually my Mom’s idea. When we sailed in March 2011 I had bought us matching shirts for our boarding day. Mom said she would wear it, but didn’t seem overly excited about it. I guess she liked it, as she was excited to have us all wear them on this day. She then bought the girls their matching outfits to wear and I had the headbands made (which Abby refused to wear). Some of our family members who did not sail with us and were still back home were mortified that we were doing such a thing. LOL!

Time to board the ship! Come on you slow poke family! Let’s get a move on!

Needless to say, Claire and I were the first ones to board.

Next came Gail’s family.

And Vicki and Pete were behind them.

Mary and Geoff and Mom and Dad were slowly making their way on as well.

And finally Katie’s family made their way on as well.

This one cracks me up with this lady looking right at my camera.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

We oohed and ahhed over the atrium. It is just gorgeous!
I believe they suggested we head to Enchanted Garden to eat. I said I wanted to go to Cabanas, and Mom did too.

We spotted Donald doing a meet and greet a floor up and Abby got anxious again. We decided we would head up there and see him and the rest of the family was going to make their way towards Cabanas.

The line wasn’t long at all. Mom sat off to the side with our carry ons.

And then it was announced that Donald had to take a break! I could see Gail’s eyes panic. But they announced someone else would be out shortly! Thanks goodness. We HAD to get Abby to a character or there could be a meltdown.

The girls are waiting patiently.

And I took a few shots while we waited.

And then we saw him!

Pluto was coming!!!!

The wait for Pluto was not bad at all and soon Gail’s girls were meeting him. I have given both girls autograph books last Christmas. Gail says she had no clue where she put them and search and searched, so at this point they didn’t have any. They planned to buy one when the shops opened.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

Abby was not scared at all.

Then it was our turn. I handed my camera to Gail and went up towards Pluto. No I am not telling Gail she is a loser, though I am sure growing up I might’ve made that sign once or twice ….. but she couldn’t figure out how to use my camera and I was telling her to look through the view finder.

And then we headed off. I got about here when I realized I had left my carryon over by the couch where Mom had been sitting.

I ran back and got it and we headed towards the elevator. Gail, Rob and Abby made it on one and took off and we waited and waited and waited. We were a floor above the main atrium and there was just no way we were going to get an elevator that wasn’t full already. I told Mom that we should go to the aft of the ship and take those up as they go right to Cabanas. OK, that sounded good. Dad immediately said NO! (Dad says this often and it annoys the heck out of us. Usually he has no clue what he is talking about when he says it and just says no for no reason)
What? Why?
We can’t go that way.
Oh yes we can!
No, I am not taking the stairs.
I snapped a bit then. I told him that we all had been on the ship before and knew exactly where we were going. The aft elevators would lead us right to where we were going and that if we couldn’t get an elevator, we could take stairs as another option.
He said Gail and Rob would be waiting for us at the top near the elevator.
I told him that they would soon give up if they were when they didn’t see us arrive.
And then we left him standing at the elevator.
WE slowly made our way down the hall and I took a couple of shots of the girls that would not turn out no matter how hard I tried. I even tried a flash to counteract the sun coming in, but it bounced off the glass and made it 10 times worse.

jenseib · Feb 11, 2013

Since we were going so slowly, we eventually saw that Dad was making his way behind us.
We got to the elevators but still had a little wait. Though it wasn’t as bad as the midship ones.

In the meantime, the rest of the family had made it to Cabanas and Geoff took a couple of shots off the back of the ship.