Trip Report What happens in the Cabana, Stays in the Cabana: A September 2013 Girls' Cruise Adventure

You read that correctly... we're taking you back, way back to last September! In honor of its one year anniversary, we feel the need to celebrate the best cruise ever!

Oh, you guys, this cruise was simply made of win. I mean, what could be better than a Bahamian getaway with 27 of your closest internet gal pals, a pirate party, private cabana, and endless buckets of corona?! Well, a cabana boy to deliver all those coronas, for one thing. But, as most of you already know, we had one of those, too. So, you see, it simply couldn’t get any better!

We’re going to try something I’m tempted to say has never been done before... one trip report authored by four individuals. Let’s hope it works! It only took us an entire year to write it. Here’s the thing, there’s really no reason for us to write separate reports considering we quickly found ourselves spending every waking moment of the cruise together. And besides, it took pooling our pictures to piece together the story. That’s what happens when you don’t take notes. Oh, who am I kidding?! That’s what happens when you consume a pirate’s worth of rum and spend your days bonding with new friends instead of documenting the exact minute you rode the Aqua Duck and the name of each dish served to you at dinner.

So, who’s taking you on this slightly hazy, mostly amazing, booze-infused adventure?! That’d be the four self-proclaimed awesome ladies pictured below. With cameo appearances by the rest of the awesome WDWMagic girls, of course.

Clockwise from top left, that’s me, Holly, @HollyBelle ; Courtney, @Howe ; Jess, @plaz10 ; and Shannon, @Ariel484. Don’t mind Jess’ camera. We only let her take a couple photos. Granted they turned out to be some of the most memorable of the cruise, so who are we to judge!?

Grab yourself an umbrella drink to sip on and join us for this telling of the unofficial WDWMagic Girls’ Cruise.

And if you find you need a little more sunshine in your life, be sure to check out these amazing reports by fellow girls’ cruisers!

Darolyn @derelicte19 : Anyone have change for $100? It’s all about the Benny’s baby!
Jess @PartOfYourWorld : The Real Housewives of Disney-A Sept 2013 Cruise/WDW Trip Report
Jess @jesemeca : What do you get when you mix 27 WDWMagic Ladies and the Disney Dream?
Joanna @joanna71985 : No guys, no kids, no worries!
Kelly @sweetpee_1993 : I ESCAPED!!! (part 1) - The Dream Girls
Sherry @Tiggerfanatic : 27 Ladies on a Disney ship - Yo, Ho, Ho and a bottle of Rum!
Siobhan @Tiggerish : And I am telling you, I AM going...on the Disney Dream WDWMagic Girls Cruise
Tammy @Disneyfalcon : Cruising With the 27 Ladies of Leisure!

 

[Ariel484]

Pre-Cruise

Friday, September 7, 2013

I got a pretty early flight to Orlando and was on-property just before 11AM.



Holly and I were planning on sharing a room at Coronado Springs that night, so I checked in and wandered around the resort for a bit. I texted Holly to let her know that I'd been able to check in okay - since she was the one that made the reservation we weren't completely sure how things would go - and she let me know she was probably going to get to WDW by 3:30 or so.





I dropped her room key off at the front desk (this was back in the dark ages when everyone was still getting Key to the World cards!) and grabbed a bus to the Magic Kingdom.

I had lunch in the West Wing at Be Our Guest (delicious!), got a delicious pumpkin spice latte from Main Street Bakery...Starbucks...whatever, took some pictures and just enjoyed the atmosphere. By now it was about 2:15, so I headed back to Coronado to meet up with Holly.





We'd been planning this cruise for over 2 years, and Holly and I had planned on being roommates from the beginning. I think at this point we'd been "friends" on the boards for about 3 years, and as the cruise got closer we'd been emailing back and forth pretty regularly. But this was the first time we were meeting in person, and I was very nervous!

Turns out those nerves were for nothing. She arrived just before 3PM and we chatted away like old friends! So that was awesome.

We had a pretty low-key, park-free evening planned – dinner at Earl of Sandwich and drinks at the Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian with some other WDWMagic ladies, followed by watching Wishes! from the Polynesian beach. Sounds like a pretty hot date night, no?!

Holly drove us over to Downtown Disney and we found a parking spot somewhat quickly…success! We had delicious sandwiches at the Earl ran into Jess @PartOfYourWorld and her mom, Diane @LuvsTheMouse. Yay, WDWMagic ladies were taking over WDW!

After dinner we headed to World of Disney for a bit before saying a quick hi to Courtney @enchanted_belle at the stroller rental place. Shockingly enough, despite being seasoned trip reporting veterans, neither one of us took a single picture at Downtown Disney. Gasp!

Now it was time for the Polynesian! We met up with Courtney @Howe and headed out back to spend some quality time at Holly and Brett's spot, Sunset Point. I'm so glad we did this, because as we all know, the landscape of the Polynesian is changing quite a bit these days. Sadness.

 

[Howe]

I flew down to Orlando on Saturday and headed over to my hotel for the night, Pop Century. Check in was a breeze and my room was just like every other Pop room I have had in the past... except for one detail. I had put DME tags on my luggage to have it delivered to my room, and when I opened the door there it was, my purple suitcase! Such a quick delivery, my luggage beat me to the room!! Except not. It was someone else's luggage! I quickly checked my room information to make sure I didn't go into the wrong room. Next I called Bell services and informed them of the mistake, and about 20 minutes later someone came and retrieved the bags. At this point, I was getting nervous that my bags may have ended up in someone else's room. Someone less honest than me! I went and grabbed something to eat in the Pop food court and came back, still no bags. I was really nervous at this point, I needed to be getting ready pretty soon and all I could think about was someone else having my bag. All that worry was for nothing, eventually the bag showed up, unharmed!


Tambu Lounge: The Birthplace of Awesome?


When I signed up for this cruise back in April (much, much later than most of the other girls), I was, and still am, a board lurker much more than a poster. So as if signing up to cruise with a bunch of “strangers” from the internet wasn’t intimidating enough, add to that the fact that I was pretty sure no one would know who I was! Luckily we had several group chats prior to the cruise which helped break the ice. @Disneyfalcon and @sweetpee_1993 did a great job of making me feel welcome as well! I also post pretty frequently on Instagram, which is how I sort of got to know @HollyBelle prior to the cruise. We exchanged several emails, and Holly and Shannon graciously offered to let me ride along with them to the Port. Somewhere in the weeks leading up to the cruise, we made plans to meet for drinks Saturday night before the cruise along with her awesome cruise roomie @Ariel484 and my awesome cruise roomie @Tiggerfanatic. We planned to meet at the Tambu Lounge and enjoy a few island sunsets.


I have to admit at this point I was a little nervous, not only about meeting “strangers” from the internet, but meeting an internet celebrity. You all know and love her as @HollyBelle. And @Ariel484 is pretty much an A-list celebrity as well. Luckily, I met up with them at the Poly and within minutes it was like we’d pretty much known each other for years! We walked out towards Sunset Point and continued chatting and taking photos. Shannon got these great shots:







Soon after, @Tiggerfanatic texted me saying she had arrived. I was excited to meet my roommate for the cruise! Sidenote- It was repeated over and over on the cruise and after, but I totally won the random roommate jackpot! Sherry was SO much fun! We had a blast rooming together and enjoyed some late night talks on our balcony while looking out over the ocean!


We went inside and met Sherry and headed over to the Tambu Lounge. There had been talk of Island Sunsets and Lapu Lapus. But in the end, we all four went for the Island Sunset. I mean come on, who can say no to POG juice?!







Several other girls had mentioned potentially meeting us for drinks, but we weren’t sure who else may or may not be meeting us. Sherry and I would be joining a larger group of girls for dinner at 1900 Park Fare shortly after. I don’t know if it was the ambiance of the Polynesian, the #awesome conversations, or the rum, but my nerves had died down at this point and I was truly having a great time! Then, the number of awesome people went from 4 to 6 when @Tiggerish and @plaz10 showed up! They would also be dining at 1900 PF, and with little time to waste they quickly ordered a Lapu Lapu and drank it very quickly. We didn’t realize then how truly awesome this group of ladies was, but we would find out over the next week! We said goodbye to Holly and Shannon and the rest of us hopped on the monorail over to GF for dinner at 1900 PF.

 

[jesemeca]

I'm first! I think writing this trip report together is a great idea. Unfortunately we didn't make it for drinks or dinner. We were on a mission meeting Mickey in all 4 parks.

I believe we just missed Holly and Shannon at Earl's.

 

[HollyBelle]

@jesemeca That's right... when we saw Diane and Jess they mentioned you two were on a mission!

 

[jesemeca]

@HollyBelle We only succeeded because Mickey was faster than us! He always knew when and where we were going next. He's just so awesome like that!

I will be back in January for a few days before my next cruise. Maybe we can meet up?

 

[LisaBelle]

I am already loving this! What a great idea to write a group trip report. I've enjoyed your individual trip reports in the past and can't wait to read more.

 

[Jae99]

This should be very very interesting! I am looking forward to following all of your adventures.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

OMGoodness. I'm a little nervous about the cabana. 'Specially those little "gifts" we left for @HollyBelle on her camera.....

Lovin it, ladies. This should be a fun read!

 

[FlaggNL]

On older trip in a new TR! Great to watch and read! Thanks for sharing!

 

[plaz10]

1900 Park Fare

After a few hours solo at MK - I went back to my room at Bay Lake Tower to wait for my awesome WDW roomie Siobhan to arrive. Color me shocked when I walked out onto our balcony to see Spaceship Earth in the distance! SQUEE. I legit thought about sleeping on the balcony. The view was fantastic!

(Stolen from Siobhan)


Siobhan came (and brought with her a rain storm) and then we oogled Spaceship Earth a bit more and then got ready and headed to Top of the World lounge for some pre dinner drinks...drinks. After some bubbly and beautiful views of Magic Kingdom - we hopped the monorail to the pre dinner drinks at the Poly. Siobhan had never had a Lapu Lapu before...so being the great roommate I am - I was on a mission to getting us one to split. But first...we ran into some fabulous ladies enjoying some beverages of their own in Tambu Lounge! Holly, Shannon, Courtney and Sherry were enjoying some Island Sunsets (POG juice cocktails...more on them later...) It was great to finally meet some of these great WDWmagic friends in person!

After quickly slurping down our Lapu Lapu...we left Holly and Shannon to continue to enjoy the Poly while Courtney, Sherry, Siobhan and I headed over to the Grand Floridian for dinner at 1900 Park Fare!
This was my first time eating here and I was excited/nervous to meet some other wdwmagic ladies. It's weird that even though I've "known" these ladies for years - it was crazy to finally be meeting! Meeting us for dinner was Joanna @joanna71985 , Kelly @sweetpee_1993 , Christina @Kerby626 and Tammy @Disneyfalcon . So many new awesome friends!


(Stolen from Tammy)


(Stolen from Kelly)


We were all a bit timid (in comparison to the rest of the trip) at first but we were able to bond over excitedness for the cruise! So much fun!
After enjoying some yummy buffet items and chatting it up some more - we all decided to call it a night since we all had a big morning ahead of us!

Siobhan and I jumped back on the monorail and headed to BLT. We headed to bed while visions of cruise ships danced in our heads! Tomorrow was THE day!"

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

What a creative idea to all write a TR together! It's been far too long since ANY of you wrote TRs!! It's hard to believe a full year has passed already. Doesn't seem like it! I'm sure you all will finish this before I finish mine... and I started way before you! haha.

Can't wait to read more!! Woooooooo!!

 

[jesemeca]

@derelicte19 Maybe we should make it our mission to finish ours before they finish theirs! Lol.

 

[Ariel484]

@HollyBelle We only succeeded because Mickey was faster than us! He always knew when and where we were going next. He's just so awesome like that!

He's pretty magical when you think about it. I thought that was such a great idea that you ladies had!

I will be back in January for a few days before my next cruise. Maybe we can meet up?

The rest of us will be there in early January too

I am already loving this! What a great idea to write a group trip report. I've enjoyed your individual trip reports in the past and can't wait to read more.

Thanks!! Separately we are normally on our A-game when it comes to trip reports...not this time. It had to be a group effort!

This should be very very interesting! I am looking forward to following all of your adventures.

Thanks!! I'm posting a few updates here in a minute.

OMGoodness. I'm a little nervous about the cabana. 'Specially those little "gifts" we left for @HollyBelle on her camera.....

This IS a family site, Kelly...we'll see what happens!!

Lovin it, ladies. This should be a fun read!

Ahhh you're flying down today!!! You ladies are going to have such a great time. Have a drink (or two) on us!!

On older trip in a new TR! Great to watch and read! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for reading!

What a creative idea to all write a TR together! It's been far too long since ANY of you wrote TRs!! It's hard to believe a full year has passed already. Doesn't seem like it! I'm sure you all will finish this before I finish mine... and I started way before you! haha.

You're right, it HAS been awhile since any of us have written a TR! Not good!! We're planning on wrapping this puppy up quickly...relatively speaking since it took so long to actually start posting it.

Can't wait to read more!! Woooooooo!!

Woooooo!!!!!

It's here!!!!

Love it so far.

Yay!! Thanks!

@derelicte19 Maybe we should make it our mission to finish ours before they finish theirs! Lol.

Challenge accepted!!!

 

[Ariel484]

Saturday, September 8, 2013

Kona breakfast!!

Embarkation day!! After over 2 years of planning, the cruise was finally here!

I forget what time we woke up, but it was decently early. We loaded up Holly's car and headed over to Pop to pick up Courtney. The three of us arrived at the Polynesian just in time for our 7:30 ADR with our big group (20+ of us!) at Kona Cafe. It was fun to finally put so many names to faces after years of chatting on the boards! Holly, Courtney and I had left our bags in Holly's car while everyone else had theirs piled up outside of the restaurant. And it was quite the pile!



It was so hilarious to sit down and have everyone whip out their cameras. I was just like, "Ahh...I'm with my people!"

Courtney's breakfast:



My breakfast:

 

[jesemeca]

He's pretty magical when you think about it. I thought that was such a great idea that you ladies had!

The rest of us will be there in early January too

Challenge accepted!!!

It was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

When in January will you be there? I arrive January 19th.

It's on!

 

[Ariel484]

It was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

When in January will you be there? I arrive January 19th.

It's on!

Ah! You'll just miss me. I'm there January 7-12.

And it is SO ON.

 

[jesemeca]

Ah! You'll just miss me. I'm there January 7-12.

And it is SO ON.

Well that just stinks! One day we will meet up again.

I will be working on mine as soon as I get home tonight. What does the winner get? Lol.

 

[plaz10]

Port Arrival

Some groups broke off - driving themselves or hitching rides with each other to get to the ship.

My ride to port was this bad boy...

Huzzah! Talk about riding in style! It was pretty hilarious to see this awesome Hummer Limo...with an attached trailer to hold all our luggage!

Chillin w/ @derelicte19 in the limo. Probably talking about booze...or Adam Levine...or @blackthidot


We piled in there pretty well! Lots of talk about the cruise and such...and a good bit of talk about booze as well! We had 1 pit stop to make and that was a booze run! We stopped at a liquor store which was closed so we had to turn around to find one that was open - SUCCESS! We loaded up on essentials and headed to port!

Check in process was quite quick - I was so lucky I had Tammy and Kelly guiding me every step of the way - since I had never been on a cruise before! If I had any questions they were quick to help! (and to ease my nervousness!)

Before I knew it...we were on the ship!

 

[Ariel484]

Well that just stinks! One day we will meet up again.

I will be working on mine as soon as I get home tonight. What does the winner get? Lol.

Most definitely we will!

The winner gets...I don't know. Pride? That's not a great prize.