Day 1-Travel and Downtown Disney

Today was the day! I had finally made it… through the Winter into Spring and past the total craziness of the swine flu scare (which they are still reporting on today, but doesn’t seem as pronounced as it was a few weeks ago). It was time to leave on my 10 night long multi part Disney trip!
I woke up a bit early and finished packing my things and then left for work where I only worked for 3 hours. The time went by much more quickly that I had anticipated. While I was at work DH was mowing the lawn, doing the last minute dishes and getting him ready and his suitcase completely packed.
I was home at 11am and my parents picked us up at 11:15. Everything was moving along wonderfully… turn computer off (check), put luggage tags on (check), turn off AC (check), load bags into car (check)…. Then my Mom shared with DH and I that my Dad had decided to unpack his dressier clothes (since he wears them for work every weekend I guess) and bring only jeans and shorts to wear. I immediately began questioning them about our Palo reservation and what he would wear… he said jeans… I said no way… thus our trip started out on a wavering foot. I was upset momentarily, but decided to go ahead and cancel the reservation thus saving DH and I $30 and not having to worry if Palo might not accept my Dad in jeans. This was Friday, the cruise set out on Sunday, would I cancel it after all? Guess you will find out later!
After some silence in the car my Mom started some small talk and we moved on. We arrived at the airport and made our way through security and got a quick lunch followed by boarding the plane. My Dad has elite status on Continental and so we got to load right after first class passengers. The flight was fine; we sat in the exit row so we had more leg room.
We landed in Orlando after a 2.5 hour flight and went down to get our bags. At this point while my Dad was sitting a distance away from us I shared with my Mom that I was not upset anymore about the Palo reservation snafu, but that I would just cancel it. She said ok and just said to cancel it and not say anything else about it. My Dad had just decided that he didn’t want to dress up while on vacation and there was no talking him out of it. He can be stubborn and this was a perfect example. Oh well, moving forward…
We got our bags and proceeded to get a rental car. I had booked with enterprise, but they are not in the terminal and my Dad was returning the car later in the week by himself so we stopped at LM car rental. They will match the rate for you if you bring your other confirmation. The only catch is that the cars are a little older. Ours probably was 3 years old and had about 35,000 miles on it, but we got a minivan from an onsite rental agency for the price of an offsite agency. We piled into our minivan and drove off towards Downtown Disney where we had reservations for T-Rex.
We arrived about 20 minutes later and found a parking place. We wandered around and shopped a bit at the different stores. My Mom bought some soap at Basin and we didn’t buy anything since we wanted to save our money for later. Our reservation for T-Rex was for 8pm and I was told I could check in at 7:30. It was 7pm and we were really hungry!! So, we went over to the restaurant and it was totally packed! I stood in line just to check in. (This was a Friday night). People were talking about how upset they were that they couldn’t get reservations after I mentioned to a lady that I had reservations and I piped up that I had made one by calling the restaurant direct. Anyways, we got to the front of the line and we were told we could not check in until 15 minutes before our reservation. We were so hungry though… and the wait was already 45 minutes, (which is how long I would have to wait to check in) so I asked the girl if they could just put me in the regular line. After some thought, she decided to just go ahead and let me in since at this point I would have had to wait no matter what. We got a ticket and then got put into another line to wait to be seated. Their system is a little crazy there. Anyways, after some difficulty we got seated in the main room looking at the ice room (which looks really cool, but I am not sure I would want to eat in there because the light is such a brilliant blue). The meteor showers they do about every 20 minutes are very cool as the ice room changes colors and it looks like meteors fly across the ceiling.
We were so hungry we ordered the dual dips appetizer which was ok… no better than your “neighborhood grill” like Chili’s or Applebee’s. I think my Dad ordered the ribs and DH ordered the big burger. My Mom and I both ordered the chicken sandwich in pizza dough crust. This chicken sandwich was really good! There was a lemon olive oil as well as normal sandwich fixings inside the pizza dough pocket. I only ate half because it was so big. The fries were also really good because they are dipped in some kind of batter before they are fried. We could tell they make the food fresh there and it was better than Rainforest Café in our opinion. Our server was really good too, always kept our drinks filled! We got the donut holes that you dip in chocolate and/or caramel sauce for dessert and it was super yummy!! We were very full and waddled out of Downtown Disney and back to the rental car to drive the short distance to Cocoa Beach. My Dad booked us two rooms at the Hilton Cocoa Beach for two nights with his points (so they were effectively free rooms). This hotel is pretty nice. The beds are comfy and the rooms are clean. We were not facing the ocean, but we could still see it at an angle. I would recommend staying there unless you want to stay closer to the Cruise terminal (although it was only about 5 miles down the road). We turned in and got just ok sleep that night. I never sleep well away from home unless I am truly exhausted.

Day 2-Kennedy Space Center (not Disney yet!)

We started out the next morning at the Hilton for breakfast. Because of my Dad’s platinum guest status we were able to get breakfast for free or $6 for a hot breakfast. It really was a decent breakfast, but I had my mind on a “better” breakfast. On the way in I had seen a Dunkin Donuts on the same road as our hotel and I really wanted coffee from there. We have Dunkin Donuts about 20 minutes from our house, but it’s hard to get there since it’s out of the way, so I really wanted to enjoy their coffee while on vacation. We ate our breakfast and then headed down to Dunkin Donuts where I bought my Mom and I coconut flavored coffee. It was yummy! We then stopped at the Ron Jon Surf shop. It is huge!! I wanted a really cool Cocoa Beach souvenir without getting junk, so I took everyone there. My Dad was very impressed with the store and he bought some drinking glasses. My Mom bought a mug and DH and I got drinking glasses, a shot glass for DH’s shot glass collection, and a couple of t shirts. My Dad was really nice and bought us all the souvenirs here. We had a 15% off coupon that was printed on our room key from the Hilton.
After our hour long shopping spree we made our way in our rental car to Kennedy Space Center. A little background… I live in Houston and so we have Johnson Space Center (Mission Control) not far from us (ok, well maybe like 40 miles, but it’s just across the city) and have been there when I was younger. We had tried to visit Kennedy Space Center in 2005 but I had gotten a stomach bug and DH has lost his glasses in the Magic Kingdom and so we essentially lost our Kennedy Space Center day. Today was the day we were going to make that up. We got to the Space Center at 10am and stood in a short line to buy our tickets. This was the opening weekend of Star Trek and the Space Center was showing it on their IMAX screen! We wanted to see it, so we asked for the 4:30 show, but of course it was all sold out. We had to end up going with the 9:30 show (which by the way eventually also sold out at no surprise to us). We got our tickets and proceeded into the main building which we quickly bypassed and went straight for the IMAX shows about the space station and the Apollo missions to the moon narrated by Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks in that order. The movies were really very good! We then ate a subpar lunch at one of their lunch places and walked through the shop. DH and I bought an ornament and a shot glass for his collection. After our shopping time we got in line for some of the last busses to tour part of the facility. The first stop is the observation deck for the launch pads. There are two launch pads at Kennedy Space center and on this day there were actually two rockets. One pad had the mission that they just launched on May 11th to fix the Hubble and the second had a rocket for a “just in case” rescue mission for the astronauts at the Space Station. On the way to the observation deck you also passed the really large one story building where they build the rockets. WOW!! That building is absolutely amazing and you can see it down the coast as well.
The second stop is the Saturn VI display. First they show you a reenactment of mission control in 1964 when we landed on the moon, and then they show you into this REALLY LARGE “room” with a Saturn VI rocket on display. It was amazing to see this in person! The final stop was to show you more information about the Space Station. You got to look into the clean room where they manufacture parts for the Space Station. Even though it was Saturday, we saw one guy working in there. After this we got back on the bus and returned to the main visitor center. We did not get to see it all by any means. I think we looked inside a space shuttle they had on display, but other than that we still probably could have spend another half a day there at least. It was about 5:30 and our movie was not until 9:30 so we headed back to Cocoa Beach for dinner. We ended up at Florida Seafood. It was good, not totally amazing, but the food was decent. We went back to our hotel for about 30 minutes then went back to Kennedy Space Center for Star Trek. There were A LOT of people there, mostly locals. The movie was absolutely amazing! I have not watched Star Trek much, but I knew I wanted to see this movie as it appeals to the masses without harming the integrity of the original Star Trek. We got out of the movie at midnight and went back to our hotel to sleep to prepare for the first day of the Cruise!!

Day 3- Disney Cruise

We started the day at 8:30 and DH and I went down to Dunkin Donuts to get breakfast. My parents went down to the free Hilton breakfast and DH, I and my Mom ended up on the beach to watch the waves crash onto Cocoa Beach.

DH and I went back to the room about 10:00am to finish packing our bags back up and prepare to load the boat. We left at 10:45 and drove up to the terminal at about 11:00am. We parked the rental car and stared up at the Disney Wonder as we walked into the terminal (after dropping our bags with the baggage people). Check in was seamless (except for the fact that our check in lady was “earning her ears” and was a little short with us at first when I was looking for my online check in papers). In any case, we soon were waiting for our boarding number to be called. I think we were in boarding group 12. It didn’t take long! Oh and there were lots of Dis Unplugged Disney Podcast Cruisers running around the terminal also. They all had their t-shirts on. Not to mention, there were several doors decorated in our hallway that were podcast cruisers. It was fun seeing the decorations!!
Anyways, we soon boarded the boat and they announced our names as we came on the ship… it was so exciting to be announced!! They sent us in the direction of Parrot Cay (which is on the 3rd deck where you get on) but it was full so we went up to Beach Blanket Buffet. Now, I really don’t like buffets, but I sure ate a lot of buffets on this trip, and Beach Blanket Buffet did have pretty good selections. I especially enjoyed the peel and eat shrimp that day for lunch. We were really excited to be on the ship!

After lunch my parents went to check out the adult pool and DH and I went to cancel our Palo reservation. Yep, I went ahead and canceled it. I wasn’t upset, it saved us some money and this way we got to have our same servers every night. Maybe I will eat there someday, but it was not meant to be this time. After this we wandered around a bit and then found my parents at the pool, where my Dad was very happy with the breeze and the quietness of the Quite Cove. By this time they had opened up the rooms and so we went to check ours out. We were in a category 12 in room 2009 on Deck 2 (so easy to remember!) The room was small (but aren’t most all of them) and was inside, so no window, but it was nice and still felt luxurious. The bathroom is fully tiled (although it smelled a little like the ocean/seaweed) and although it is small and we didn’t have the split bathrooms, we were satisfied. Our bags were not there yet, so we turned on the TV and studied our Navigator. Soon it was time for the drill. We had to put on our life jackets and report to the Walt Disney Theatre. It didn’t take long and the drill was done. We went back to our room where our bags had arrived and put our life jackets back and went up to deck 10 for the sail away party.
I should mention here that there were 2 other ships in port with us at Canaveral. The first was a Carnival ship that was a little bigger looking than the Wonder. The second was a Royal Caribbean ship, The Freedom of the Seas. I think this is still the biggest ship in the industry… anyways, this thing is absolutely huge!! I had brought a Samantha Brown show about her cruising on that ship with me on the iPod. I think that ship was sailing out of Miami but for some reason it was at Port Canaveral.
Anyways, we watched the fun sail away show from deck 10. We got to meet our cruise director, Christian who we really loved! He was so funny and just kept reminding everyone that we were there to have fun and that this was vacation and we didn’t need to lift a finger! DH said he reminded him of an Aggie Yell Leader (at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX they have male cheerleaders and they are called yell leaders) because when he came out before the shows he would do one handed cartwheels and such.
Promptly at 5pm they began sailing away. We moved to the bow and they played the ships horn again (yay!) Got to love it when the ships horn sounds “When you wish upon a star”! Anyways, we waved to the people at the restaurants below and followed the Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships out of port (they each left at 4 and 4:30, so we all left about 30 minutes apart). At this point we ran back to our rooms to change for dinner because we had early 5:45 seating. I always eat dinner right after work at home, so early dining was perfect for us. Our dining rotation was Parrot Cay, Tritons, Tritons (Pirate Menu), and Animators Palate. So, we headed to Parrot Cay for our first dinner and met our servers. We had Kecha from Thailand as our server and Slavin from Croatia as our assistant server. I can’t remember our head servers name because we didn’t see him much, but I know he was doing his job overseeing his section. Kecha was a great server, but Slavin was especially good. Maybe it was because he was the one refilling our drinks, and clearing the table, but he was very good! We made sure to compliment him to the head server near the end of the cruise because we were all so pleased. The other tables around us also seemed particularly happy with him as well. In any case, I ordered the crab dip as an appetizer, the steak as an entrée and I cannot remember what I ordered for dessert. I have to pause here and say that I thought just about every dessert on the ship was fantastic!! I liked to go to the buffets and eat a small amount of lunch and then try half of the desserts. I am a sweets lover, so having tons of desserts to choose from was fantastic. Basically my take on the all the food was that it was good, not great, but good. They are serving so many people at once all the time that although it might be prepared “fresh” they do a certain amount of prep work ahead of time that can make it seemed a little warmed over or cause the steaks to overcook. I ordered mediums when I should have ordered a medium rare in order to obtain the medium temp. They probably cook them just before orders go in and then leave them under heat lamps, which cooks them farther than they should go, because all meat and fish seemed to be dry to me.
After dinner we wandered the two shops outside the theatre which had now opened since we left port (note: if you go on a Disney Cruise, they cannot keep the shops open all the time, and especially not when they are in port at Canaveral, so you have to wait to sail away before they open the stores). The stores are right outside the theatre entrance on Deck 4. We arrived about 20 minutes early and got good seats in the middle front section and settled in to watch the red carpet interviews before The Golden Mickey’s show. The actress doing the interviews was almost Joan Rivers like but she put that “girlfriend” spin on things which made it even funnier. Soon the show started after the Captain said hello to everyone. The Golden Mickey’s is a good show because it recounts classic Disney movies and it gave us a glimpse of how wonderful the sets are. The only thing that made me not pay as good attention is that by this point I could distinctly feel the ship moving. I never got sick or anything, but the movement is definitely different. We had to go somewhat fast since we had to make it to Nassau in the morning, luckily, the seas were like glass with only 1-5ft waves the entire trip.
After the show DH and I went back to the room then decided to go check out Wavebands (the adult club). My parents had gone to the Cadillac Lounge as my Dad loves the piano music. We stayed for a bit watching the Newlywed game, but decided we were tired and so we headed back to the room where we set our wakeup call and then fell asleep while sailing through the Atlantic Ocean on our way to the Bahamas! The only thing about the inside room is that it is the same light in there no matter the time of day, so you must set a wakeup call or bring your own clock. There are no nightlights either, so it gets very dark except for the light in the hallway coming through the bottom of the door.

Day 4-Nassau Day

DH and I slept until about 8:00am when Mickey woke us up via our wakeup call. We got ready for our day and then met my parents at about 9:00 am for breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet. I made sure to get an omelet from the omelet station that morning and it was yummy! You can have one made for you after you go through the main line. Just go up to the station, they will take your order and give you a number and then bring it to your table. As we were eating breakfast they were completing the docking process at Nassau in which you could see Paradise Island and The Atlantis in the distance. It is a pretty amazing looking resort. At 9:30 they cleared the ship and we went down to deck 1 to get off. It was a partly cloudy day and very humid and hot. We walked down the pier and entered the welcome building where most of the little shops inside were still closed. We walked over to the main shopping street (after saying no thank you to the taxi and hair braiding people) and headed straight for Del Sol. I forgot to mention that the day before my Mom and DH and I had attended the shopping presentation, so at least we knew what kind of stores were there to buy from. I wanted a Nassau t-shirt that was of good quality and also some of the Del Sol nail polish. For those that aren’t familiar with Del Sol, all of their products change color in the sun (or UV rays). I got a nail polish ($10) that is a white/pink pearl color that changes to bright pink in the sun, perfect for my toenails and I got a beautiful Nassau t-shirt that has a flower on it that changes from white to red in the sunlight, which cost $25. We walked down the street and peeked into Diamonds International with my parents and then found a shop that sold mugs and shot glasses for my Mom and DH. (As you can tell, my mom gets a coffee mug everywhere and DH gets a shot glass everywhere, my mom uses the mugs, DH just displays his glasses). We admired the architecture as we wandered down to a sliver store where they sell quality sterling silver jewelry.

We looked but did not buy here. Finally we decided to leave after only an hour. We came, we saw, we bought, and then we got back onto our lovely ship! If I go on a cruise again to Nassau, I think the only way I will get off is to go to Atlantis or to take an excursion. It is definitely an interesting place.
I had run out of money to spend in Nassau and since we only had a few days, I wanted to relax on the ship. We got back on the ship and put our bags away in the room and then wandered around the adult pool until lunch opened up at 11am in Beach Blanket Buffet. They were having their standard “American Buffet” which also included crab claws. They are especially yummy, but hard to get in to! I did my typical eat a little lunch, and then go crazy at the dessert buffet. They had these little rum cakes that were just wonderful on the dessert section. After lunch DH and I went back to our room for awhile where we took a glorious nap. Now, usually on vacation I do not nap, not one bit, even when I am tired. I can nap on Saturday or Sunday at home, when on vacation I am there to see new things! (or old favorites) However, I was tired from all the traveling and well, cruise ships are great places to nap. We napped for a couple of hours I think and then headed to the theatre to see Race to Witch Mountain. I love that Disney can show their own movies that are still in theatres and not yet released on DVD. The movie was a good movie (although I don’t think I would have paid extra to see it). After our matinee movie, it was time to get ready for dinner.
Tonight was dress up night and so I put on my black skirt and nice shirt and I “forced” DH to wear his nicer clothes. (FYI: at first he didn’t understand the whole change clothes for dinner and didn’t want to do it, but he came around later when he actually felt under dressed that night without a tie on). I know that more people are dressing casually on cruises these days, but most people were dressed like they were going to a wedding and some like they were going to the prom. It was very nice. Luckily our dining room was Tritons tonight, so we were dressed accordingly. We came in and met our servers again and ordered. I am sorry to say I can only remember the Tomato Basil soup, the trio of desserts and the chilled shrimp appetizer. I remember being satisfied.
After dinner we wandered around a little bit and went to the family game show they were having in Studio Sea called Mickey Mania. It was fun and we knew the answers to most all of the questions they asked. The cruise staff really makes it fun! Then we made our way to the Walt Disney Theatre for Toy Story the Musical. This is a really good show! I believe they could totally turn it into a Broadway show if they chose to. The sets are so creative and the actors are really very good. After this show we decided to join my parents in the Cadillac lounge for some coffee and to check out the “skyline” behind the piano player on the small stage. DH took a picture and I enjoyed a mocha that my Dad thoughtfully bought for me. After a bit DH and I decided to head to our room and get ready for bed. I also forgot to mention on the night before we had ordered room service. DH ordered the turkey sandwich and I ordered the big island cookie and the All Hands on Deck cheese and cracker plate. Tonight, DH wanted a turkey sandwich again since he loved the one so much the night before. After the food came, we got ready for bed and watched some TV and then turned in since the next day was Castaway Cay and we wanted to see the sunrise!
Coming Up-Castaway Cay (otherwise known as dream beach day)

Day 5-Castaway Cay or dream beach day

So day 5 was a long, early day for us… but so much fun! DH and I got up at 6:00am, that’s right, 6:00am! Because the sunset was coming at 6:30am. We quickly got ready by putting our swimsuits on and I got a bag ready to take onto the beach with all our necessary things. Then we went up to deck 10 to watch the sunrise. I took some pictures and DH took video which he will later speed up when he edits everything together (FYI: DH does video production for a living). After the beautiful sunrise, we wandered around (DH got into the adult pool for about 10 minutes) and waited for 8:00am when we would meet my parents for breakfast at Beach Blanket. We watched the ship pull into Castaway Cay and watched them tie it up while the seagulls annoyingly dive bombed deck 9 and 10. Soon my parent joined us and we had a light breakfast since we wanted to be hungry for the Castaway Cay lunch. We had to go back to our room and get our ID’s but we exited the ship at 9:00am, just 30 minutes after they open doors to the island.
When you first get off the ship, they offer you as many towels as you want and then you can be on your way to the beach! We took the tram to the family beach since DH and my Dad were doing an excursion later from the boat beach which is nearby. We found some chairs (and there are lots of chairs) under some palm trees and in the shade right in front of the Conched out Bar and DH and I went to swim a little in the ocean.

This is one of the best parts about Castaway Cay. You are in the ocean… but Disney built a wave barrier pretty far out to block the crashing waves from coming in and the dangerous rip tides to create a perfect swimming area. I actually now wish I had swam more than I did. When you go up to the water from the perfectly white sanded beaches, the waves that come gently lap at the sands edge (which is why lots of people drag chairs down to the water) and they have created about a 4-5 ft deep swimming area. The water is a perfect aqua marine color and the day was sunny with blue sky (no rain that day at all) and it was like heaven. This is the ideal beach day. I live close to Galveston, and that beach is very subpar anyway, which is why I am not usually a beach person. I have been to Laguna Beach in Florida on the gulf coast, and while the beach is better there, it just doesn’t hold a candle to Castaway Cay.
After swimming for awhile DH and I went back to our chairs where my Dad had purchased the little soft coolers that have Evian water in them and settled into our seats. I read and DH took a nap. My Dad took a nap and my Mom read. We all had lots of fun relaxing on the beach. Soon it was 11:30 and time for lunch. Because I ate light at breakfast, I was hungry! DH and I went back to the eating area just as they opened it. I tried the ribs and the salmon sandwich. DH had a burger and hotdogs. We both got some side items and I made sure to try the chocolate chip cookie dough soft serve (which is amazing). The food was good, the fish was a little dry as usual, but still good. We were satisfied and full so we went back to our chairs on the beach. My parents went and ate after this and then DH and my Dad went on their excursion. They went on the wave runner excursion “eco tour” which basically just takes them about 6 miles out and brings them back. They both said it was tons of fun, especially getting to jump 3 ft waves! The excursion lasted about 1 hour and they both came back soaked! While they were out on the ocean, my Mom and I read and took naps and I went out into the water 1 more time. We had planned to stay on the beach for another hour after they got back, but we were tired and it was hot, so we got back on the ship. DH and I went back to our stateroom and took naps and showers to prepare for pirate night!!
I guess I did a lot of sleeping that day… the sun sure does make you tired!

For dinner we returned to Tritons, but had the pirate menu. We had all gotten some sun (I imagine everyone does after the Castaway Cay day) and our servers commented on our red faces. I can’t remember what I had, but I know it was good. I had been looking forward to certain desserts on the old menu, but they were not there since they changed the menus back in March, so there was some disappointment. It was still really good! After dinner my Mom and I went to the shops to buy a few more things and then headed to the smaller Buena Vista Theatre to see The Hannah Montana Movie. They were showing Earth in the big theatre, but we wanted to see Hannah Montana. I had watched the show on TV a few times and like it, so I was familiar with the characters. This was a really entertaining movie, even for a 25 year old and her mom. Afterwards we raced to our rooms to put our stuff away and then up to deck 10 for the pirate dance party and fireworks and the midnight buffet!
The decks were super crowded! I’m not much for the dance parties, but they do put on a little show with characters appearing and Mickey appearing right before the fireworks. Since I got there late, I didn’t see, but my Dad and DH said that other cruise ships pulled up about 2 miles out on our sides to watch the fireworks too… so others are mooching off of Disney’s fireworks! The fireworks were really awesome… of course they are not very loud and not very big (they don’t need to be) but they are very good and classic Disney. Only at Disney can you see a fireworks show while on a cruise boat!
After the fireworks we went down to deck 9 where DH had some tacos from the Mexican food buffet and then we got in line for the desserts. One of the crew members working the dessert buffet was our assistant server that we loved so much. He said hello and asked where my parents were (I said I didn’t know because we did not watch the show in the same place) He was very nice and offered us the desserts he was serving. WOW!! The desserts on this buffet are they best on the whole ship that I had. I only tried a black forest cake and a strawberry cake, but they were amazing. After the party was over everyone cleared out and DH and I grabbed a chair to watch part of Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl on the aerial vision screen. We got tired after about 30 minutes and went back to our room and fell asleep very quickly after setting a 9:00am wakeup call. What a fabulous day!
I should mention that one of the souvenirs that I bought while at Castaway Cay was a cozie (sp?) for soft drink cans. It is lime green and has Castaway Cay Bahamas with a little picture of the beach and palm trees and the sun making a Mickey shape. I drink diet coke at work EVERY DAY… I drink one in the morning and one in the afternoon and my coke always is hot by the time I finish it (yours would be too after 3-4 hours). In fact, sometimes I don’t finish it because hot coke is not tasty. So if you need to keep your drink cold, and you drink coke like I do, then this $6 souvenir is a great idea! Now every time I drink my diet coke, I think about Castaway Cay!

Day 6-Day at Sea

Dh and I set the wakeup call alarm for 9:00am since we woke up at 6:00am the day before. We both easily slept until the phone rang to wake us up. We got up and got ready and then wandered over to Beach Blanket Buffet for a light and late breakfast. We ate out on the deck and enjoyed the blue water (we had been cruising along in the Bahamas at about 7 knots since we left Castaway Cay the day before at 5:00pm) We decided to go get our book and the Nintendo DS and go out to the Promenade deck to relax. They have the most comfy deck chairs out there! I highly recommend spending some time out there. While we were on the promenade deck, my parents were enjoying the adult pool and hot tub. After awhile it was lunch time and so we headed down to Parrot Cay where they were serving a mostly seafood but also sushi buffet. My parents had tracked us down by this time and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch together. There were peel and eat shrimp on this buffet too, as well as the crab claws again. The desserts weren’t as good at this buffet. They were serving the regular American Buffet at Beach Blanket again, so I bet they had better desserts up there. After lunch DH and I went to Diversions to play the Wii Bowling game. I just watched, but DH played. It is a different type of bowling than I have ever seen where you play several frames and each frame they add more pins. DH did ok, but a pre teen girl won because she knew this technique were you bounce the ball off of the bumpers in a certain way to knock down more pins. It was fun.
After this we met my mom at the side entrance of Tritons to take the galley tour. We were the third group of 25 (a lot of people like to do this) and were escorted by probably the only American Chef on board. He was loud and friendly and basically told us that he had accepted a lower position on Disney Cruise Line because he liked it better than Norwegian Cruise Line who he used to work for. He gave us great insight into the kitchens, and then into the lives of the crew members. He explained that foreigners love to work on ships because they have different, less independent lives (more family to take care of on one paycheck), than Americans, which means that they can work on the ships and send money home to their family and also afford other luxuries like flat screen tvs that they could never acquire by working in their own country.
After the galley tour, we went back to our room to prepare for dinner. Tonight was Animators Palate! We were most excited for this restaurant. We met my parents there and ordered our food while we looked around at the décor. The whole “show” is timed to music and the dinner service. The servers had black and white vests on until the end at dessert time when they changed to colored vests (which is when the music amps up and the whole restaurant turns colorful. In the middle of the “show” pictures will turn colorful and then revert back to black and white in time with the music until the very end. It is really very amazing and I am so glad I got to experience a dining experience like this. It is here that my Mom figured out that you really should order the pasta dishes on the menu because generally you can cook pasta a few minutes beforehand and it is still good when they serve it, unlike all the steak which tends to overcook when it is being warmed before they bring it to you. I also ordered two of the desserts tonight and enjoyed both the apple crumble and the trio of desserts.
After dinner we went out to the promenade deck (the same floor as the big theatre and Animators Palate) and watched the sunset. DH made sure to record it this time so he can also speed up the sunset for the video he will make some day. It was time to go inside once the sun had set and watch the final show, Disney Dreams, which has won several awards. This is really an amazing show; they save the best for last! My favorite part is when Tinkerbelle pixie dusts the ship at the end. After a wonderful show we ran back to our room to finish packing and put our bags out into the hallway and then set our wake up time for yes, 6:00am again and fell asleep while the boat made its way back to Cape Canaveral.

Day 7-Disney Cruise ends…. Disney World trip begins!

We woke up super early at 6:00am and got ourselves back to Animators Palate at 6:30am for breakfast. We sat at the same table with the same servers and had a nice breakfast. Afterwards we walked down to level 3 and prepared to leave. Just as we got there, they opened up the doors and we were headed off the boat. I felt sad because the Cruise was over, but not too sad, because our WDW trip was just beginning!
Getting our bags and going through customs was super easy! Just rolled our bags on through and handed our declarations to the customs agent and then we were out in the sunshine walking to the rental car.
We got on the road and drove the hour distance to WDW and arrived about 8:30 to 9:00am to check in at All Star Music Resort. Now I should mention here that my Dad was flying back to Houston today (to then turn around and drive to Dallas) for work that weekend, but my Mom had booked her own room and DH and I had booked a room to stay at WDW for 4 nights, this night being the first. My Dad and DH waited in the car while my Mom and I checked into our respective rooms. After check in we headed over to Downtown Disney and had an early lunch (since breakfast was at 6:30) at Wolfgang Pucks Express. We were on the Deluxe Disney Dining plan for the trip, but this meal was out of pocket. DH and I tried their pizzas (which were great) and I wanted to have the Crème Brule, but they didn’t have any that day for some reason. The plus was that we paid with our Disney Visa card and they gave us 10% off! I didn’t know that you could get that perk at that specific restaurant.
After lunch my Dad had a little extra time so he went ahead and took us to Hollywood Studios where we were going to start our tour of the parks. He dropped us off and then he was off to the airport. I did not get us park hoppers this time because our trip to WDW itself was short and I wanted to save the money so we could more easily afford the deluxe dining plan.
As we walked into Hollywood Studios I took some pictures of the icon (the sorcerer Mickey hat) and as I was taking a 2nd picture, the cast member who acts like Liza Minnelli got right in front of my camera and posed for me! I didn’t know who it was at first, but after I figured it out, I took the picture of the hat with her in the foreground. It makes for a great pic for my computer background. We headed straight for Toy Story Mania in which we expected to wait in line. It was 12:30 and there were fast passes left for 8:00pm, but that’s when our dinner reservation was, so we just decided to wait in line (as I expected we would). The wait said 60 minutes, but we only waited about 40. We loved the line with all the big toys. DH and I rode this last year, but my Mom had not yet been on it and she absolutely loved it! After Toy Store Mania we headed over to the new American Idol Experience attraction. It really is very “real” feeling and it’s so cool to see real park guests competing. The girl who was last for our show was very good (although I’m not sure if she is good enough for the TV show or not). We ended up voting for her. The second contestant was a guy (about 40 something) from somewhere in South America who spoke very little English, but he sang La Bamba in Spanish. He was good, but it reminded me of Tex-Mexican restaurant music a little too much.
DH wanted to see another American Idol show, but I reminded him of all the other attractions we wanted to see and he agreed to go see something else. We walked right over to The Great Movie Ride where we enjoyed the gangster scene. (DH actually guessed this is the one we would get and he was right!). After this we went over to Muppets (Dh’s favorite 3D show in WDW) and then we were able to go to the 2nd and final showing of the day of Lights Motors Action Stunt show. While we were at the show, it started to cloud over and cool off a lot so that by the time the show was done, it was probably about 10 degrees cooler outside and the sun was hidden. We walked over to the Hat area and got ourselves some water and snacks and then went to the Animation Studio. Here’s a tip: If you don’t want to go through the line and see their little movie before you go into the area with the Characters and stuff, then just go in through the gift shop. We took this little shortcut because we were running short on time DH likes to go to the drawing class. He has always loved to draw and it’s so cool that they teach you how to draw Disney characters. We learned how to draw Donald Duck (which we had learned before in Disneyland back in 07). I think my Mom really enjoyed it. After our drawing class, we wanted to go back outside because it was almost time for us to go…. But it was raining!! I have been to WDW every year for several years and this is the first trip since August 05 that I have needed the poncho I faithfully bring with me every time. I will just preface by saying that it rained a decent amount while we were there, but it really only adversely affected us one time.
My Mom and I put ponchos on and DH didn’t have one to wear. He didn’t ask for one at this point because it wasn’t raining too hard or maybe I just asked him to tough it out since I didn’t want to spend our Disney Dollars on a $7 poncho… in any case, he didn’t have one the whole trip. I (gently) reminded him at one point how by his 07 trip (number 3 for him) he decided not to carry around a bag with a poncho in it anymore. In fact, this trip he wouldn’t even carry our little digital camera around! I carried everything for us. He remembered and agreed that he would have to carry it around, so he just decided to do without.
Anyways, we wandered into the shops a little and then exited the park to wait in line for the bus to the Grand Floridian Resort because we were eating at Narcosseess. This is my absolute favorite restaurant in WDW and it still is! The only real bad part was our strange waitress. She was like one of those people who probably don’t like their job, but are told to be nice to the customers and so she is “fake” nice. This was just very obvious to us. On Deluxe you can get an appetizer, entrée and dessert. I got the crab bisque, my Mom got the cheese plate, and DH got the salad appetizer. We were all very satisfied. For the entrée DH and I got the Surf and Turf which included two small filet mignons and a small lobster. My Mom got the whole Maine lobster. This is like one of the best steaks on property!! We get them cooked medium and they are like butter…. I was not able to eat everything even though I wanted too. DH and I were full, but still wanted dessert and so we shared the Almond Cheesecake (which they have dressed up for the celebration with hard sugar Mickey balloons and sprinkles) and my Mom ordered the Key Lime Crème Brule. We were all in dessert heaven. I suppose all the wonderful food in WDW spoiled my review of the cruise ship food. Everything is just so much better made in smaller batches and made completely fresh. We look forward to Narcosseess (2 dining credits) every year as we believe it is the best restaurant on property. I will go to one less table service reservation in order to eat at this restaurant and eat subpar food at the food court instead. It’s one of those restaurants that is always busy, but it is easy to get a reservation at because people pass it up for California Grill instead (which we did go to later and I will do a review on as well). The hardest part for us when the check came was trying to explain how DH and I were on one reservation and my Mom was on another. Most servers didn’t care, our “fake” nice server did seem to care though, she was a little short with us when she had to go back to redo our ticket.
A side note: We were so grateful for our Disney Visa card and all our Disney Dollars. On this entire trip we spent only about $250 of our own money because of onboard credits on the Cruise and our Disney Rewards card loaded with Disney Dollars from 1.5 years of saving (and signing up for 5X Disney Dollars promotions). We were able to tip all our servers from our Rewards Card, so none of it came out of our pocket (at least not directly). To give you an idea of the expense of this meal… we tipped a “standard” 18% (we usually tip about 15% at home) on every meal since all the service was pretty good or wonderful and this meal called for a $26 tip for just the two of us! When she first rang up the bill for the three of us (Mom included) the bill was for $250!! (due to the $58 and $59 plates). It was well worth it though. This is one of the reasons we got deluxe dining, so we could eat these really great meals.
We left the restaurant and caught the monorail to MK and took a bus back to All Star Music. We crashed since it had been such a long day… after we “purchased” our refillable mugs (which comes with the Deluxe Dining). I loved the fact that they have Gold Peak Tea now at the drink station and I filled my cup up with some.
To sleep we went with an early wakeup call of 7:00am to make our 8:15 Tusker House Breakfast.

Day 8-Animal Kingdom Day

We started our day out bright and early by catching a bus to Animal Kingdom for our 8:15am reservation at Tusker House. We hightailed it into the park (you have to enter at a separate entrance and they check your name on a list) and all the way back to Africa. We checked in and they took our picture… just like Chef Mickey’s, they offer your picture to you for a steep price later in your meal (we did not buy). We were some of the first to get there and while we got our food (and Frunch… which they call Jambo Juice at Tusker House) the restaurant quickly filled up. There are some yummy things to try here, but I just went with basic breakfast fare. Something I really love to do is drown my (crunchy) bacon in syrup. And eat my waffle and then sweet/salty bacon. The syrup really gives the bacon a better taste since it complements the salty of the meat so well.
Anyways, soon the characters were coming around and greeting everyone. Some kids just were so excited they couldn’t stay in their seats to wait their turn… in fact there was an Asian family (maybe Japanese) and the Mom and Dad were way more excited than their kids! I thought they might actually be from Japan or China… wasn’t absolutely sure though. We took some pictures of us with the characters and finished our breakfast. Just as we were finishing the crowds began to flood through Africa to the safari because the park had officially opened! We exited Tusker House and followed them into a 15 minute wait.
WOW! I say this all the time, but this ride is amazing and once again, I felt like I saw more animals than before. DH tried to take some pictures, but the vehicle is so jerky that he only got a few that turned out. After the Safari, we headed to Its Tough to Be a Bug for a 5 minute wait. DH and I “never” get stung anymore in this show… we carefully avoid it… but I do love it when the bugs get to leave first! Oh, and “take your little grubs by their grubby little hands”, we get a kick out of that every time. We walked over to Dinoland next to wait for the Nemo show. While waiting to get inside we noticed that you could see Everest very clearly from the theatre entrance, and how well the foliage looking toward the mountain represented Asia (as opposed to the foliage in most of Dinoland) You really end up waiting about 30 minutes for this show to start and they filled the whole place up too! This is just an amazing show and I would love to see this on Broadway… only a little longer. You must see this show if you have not!! The costumes and songs and actors are just amazing!
After Nemo, it was time for Dinosaur… my Mom’s favorite. Not my favorite… I am always afraid I am going to get “stuck” on this ride and it is very scary to me! DH and my Mom made fun of me and talked about how the Dinosaurs would eat me…. Hello, they haven’t read Kingdom Keepers where the It’s a Small World Dolls do actually come to life and bite the heroes! (Good book by the way, even if you aren’t “young adult”, just need to be a Disney World fan like myself to like reading it) Anyways, my worst nightmare came true… well, sort of… in all the times I rode this ride it was never stopped or delayed… until this time! At one point in the pitch black it was stopped! Just for about 30 seconds like the ride was momentarily suspended, but it stopped… and I survived!
After Dinosaur, we walked to Yak and Yeti for a delicious lunch. DH and I went here last year and it was really delicious! We got there on time and were seated about 15 minutes later (it was very busy). We were seated inside on the first floor but we could still look through the various openings and see the park outside. I started with the Wok-Fried Green Beans… I hate green beans, but anything fried is good as we say in the south, and so I got them (I have tried these at TGI Fridays here at home) and they were great! (And a good way to work in some vegetables to my indulgent vacation diet) For my entrée I had the steak and shrimp which was very delicious. This is a skirt steak which is usually very tough, but they marinate it and so it is surprisingly tender. It comes with jasmine rice which I nibbled on and veggies, which I forwent in order to finish my fried green beans. For dessert I had the cream cheese wan tans and pineapple with ice cream. My Mom had the prawn crisps and peanut sauce, the fried shrimp skewers and the cream cheese wan tans. DH had the eggrolls, the steak and shrimp, and the cream cheese wan tans. Everyone was very satisfied with their meal. Writing about it makes me want to go back right now, but sadly I am in Houston and Yak and Yeti is far away in central Florida.
After lunch we decided to go over to the Maharaja Jungle Trek in Asia. DH and I went on the Africa trail last year, but we never made it over to the Asia trek. This is a really amazing walk through. The best part has got to be the tigers. We got a really close up picture of one walking right by the glass at one part. They also have a bird display which we quickly walked through and did not investigate much. They also have a Komodo Dragon at the front (which is a HUGE lizard) that is awesome to see. We really enjoyed all the detail on the trail such as the plant life and the “Asian ruins”. The theming is just so awesome on both the trails. After the trail, DH wanted to ride Expedition Everest, so he went over to the single rider line. My Mom and I went into the shop where they spill into after the ride and picked out two shirts for him to choose from. This was the only t-shirt he wanted from WDW this year and I have to say that the Expedition Everest shirts are amazing. After he got off and chose a shirt he was feeling a bit faint and needed some water so he and my Mom took a seat outside and I went off to get some Smart Waters and a Mickey Bar for myself. After our little cooling off break we walked to the exit of Asia where the parade was blocking our exit of the area and just sat on a bench admiring the detail of Asia. The imagineers did an amazing job on this part of Animal Kingdom. What I love about Animal Kingdom is that they do such a good job of making Africa and Asia so authentic feeling, but of course much cleaner than the real thing. After the parade had passed, we went back up to the front of Discovery Island and DH bought a Pirates of the Caribbean poster. By this time the park was about to close (almost 5:30) and so we left to get a bus to the Polynesian Resort!
Once we arrived at the Poly we decided to kill the hour of time before our Ohana reservation down on the beach. We all grabbed a chair and took some pictures of the resorts and the castle that are in your line of sight and just relaxed for awhile. Soon it was time to check in and so we trekked back up to the main building. We checked in for Ohana and DH ordered a non alcoholic version of the Lapu Lapu (pineapple and all). I think he just wanted to drink out of a pineapple, which was a lot of fun. We soon got seated and began our feast! We learned the key to really enjoying yourself at Ohana…. Don’t eat a lot until the meat comes! We nibbled on everything… I especially love the bread… and tried everything until the meat came. The steak this time was cooked perfectly medium and I was super happy dipping it in the peanut sauce… I need to learn to make an Ohana style meal at home! We stuffed ourselves and then still managed to eat some bread pudding for dessert.
After our wonderful dinner, we took the monorail to MK and then took a bus back to All Star Music. We had an early night, which was good, because the next day was going to be even earlier!
Up Next-Magic Kingdom

Day 9-Magic Kingdom

Our Magic Kingdom day came super early because we had a Crystal Palace reservation at 8:05. We met and took the bus to MK and made it in good time. They let us in the gate and then opened another rope to guide all of us with early breakfast reservations into the park. We wandered with everyone down Main Street and then stood in line to check in at Crystal Palace. Once they officially opened, we were some of the first to be called. This was my most favorite breakfast buffet ever… in fact whenever we get to return to WDW, I will be making another reservation here just for the food, which is better than any other buffet I have been too, including the Cruise. My new favorite was the smoked salmon (eating with sliced fresh tomatoes!) I ate several slices of the salmon as well as the puffed French toast, which reminded me of Tonga toast without the Banana and not as rich. It was nice to see the Pooh characters (Eeyore is my favorite). I watched that animated show all the time when I was little and so this character breakfast is pretty awesome.
After breakfast we went to Fantasyland as this part of the park gets super busy as the day goes on and the lines get really long. We rode Peter Pan, It’s a Small World (which they are redoing the outside of, but the ride itself is still open), Snow White’s Scary Adventures and Mickey’s Phiharmagic all in about 1 hour or so. Next, we moved over to Liberty Square and rode Haunted Mansion and then took a leisurely cruise in the riverboat… where I figured out I had lost my earring, which made me sad because my Mom had given those earrings to me for Christmas. After the boat, we went over to check in to Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. They quickly called us and we ate in the Thomas Jefferson room where I remember having a great server (who reminded me of a friend of mine in the way she looked and sounded). I had the crab cakes for appetizer, the salad for entrée and the special celebration toffee cake for dessert. The desserts in Liberty Tree are really the best! I collect drinking glasses (and use them) and they have their own glasses here with Liberty Tree Tavern printed on them. We wanted to buy one, but they were running a little low themselves and didn’t have any for sale this time. I can’t remember what everyone else had to eat, but I know they all enjoyed it. This is a really good lunch to have in Magic Kingdom and I recommend it to everyone!
After lunch we rode Pirates and Jungle Cruise (which we actually waited in line for 45 minutes for) and then saw the Tiki Room Show. We still really enjoy the original that is still in Disneyland better. By this time the 3pm parade was approaching and so we grabbed a spot in Frontierland behind the rope. DH went and got water and popcorn and we watched the parade. They seem to have some new floats, and some have been repurposed from the previous parade and of course the music is new. It was enjoyable. We walked over to Tomorrowland last to ride Buzz Lightyear and see Carousel of Progress. By this time we decided to walk back to Main Street and then take our time exiting the park for our reservation at California Grill.
We decided to walk to the Contemporary resort from MK since it’s only about 10 minutes. We arrived at The Contemporary and then took the elevator up to the check in desk on level 2. They checked us in then took us up to the 15th floor. We sat down for about 2 minutes then they took us to our table, which had an excellent view of the Magic Kingdom! I wished we could have eaten here later, closer to fireworks time and had this table because it would have been great! FYI: You can see Space Ship Earth in Epcot from other windows, but MK is obviously much, much closer. We took some pictures out our window and then settled in for dinner. I had a sushi plate for appetizer that included two “cooked” types of sushi which is not on the menu but that our waiter offered to me when I said I wanted cooked sushi. One was the California Roll and the other was a roll with tempura shrimp. They were both really good. I had the steak for my entrée and so did DH. I am very disappointed to say that the steak was not that great (compared to other steaks). DH said that his was cut into… and if you know about grilling steak, you never cut into the steak to check the temp because then all the juices leave the steak and then it can overcook. Both our steaks were dry. However, the desserts were really good. I ended up with the chocolate molten cake which I really loved. Our waiter was great… bringing us multiple iced teas to keep us hydrated. He also told us about how he had come to Houston after Hurricane Ike to volunteer because his brother has a business here. We thought that was very nice. During our meal we watched a huge thunderhead develop and rain in the distance (it never rained where we were). As the cloud was breaking up close to dessert time, an amazing thing happened (I need to post some pictures!) The clouds formed a Mickey silhouette with sunshine streaming all around the cloud as the sun set. It was really amazing and we have the picture.
After dinner we walked back to the MK to watch the parade and see Wishes. It was 45 minutes before the parade and so we ended up sitting behind the people that were on the curb, but it was still a good view. I really love Spectromagic, especially the music. Wishes came not too much later. This is the first time DH watched it without taking pictures and I think he enjoyed it much, much more. After the fireworks were over, we headed out and back to our resort. We had decided to go ahead and cancel our early Spoodles reservation the next day to sleep in and meet at 8:45 to go to Epcot!!
Up Next-Epcot

Day 10-Epcot

We met up with my Mom at 8:45 and took a bus over to Epcot to begin our day. We arrived by 9:20 and rushed over to Soarin’ to ride before it got too busy. The wait was really only about 10 minutes. I absolutely love this ride… this is my favorite ride in all of WDW and it made me happy and then sad that I didn’t really have time to ride it more than once. After the ride we walked into the Sunshine Seasons food court to get DH a little breakfast, which he ate very quickly and then we walked right on to Living with the Land. Now that I have my own yard, and am a little interested in plants and growing stuff, I really enjoy this ride and the information they give you. The growing techniques are really awesome.
After living with the land we headed over to Test Track. This ride opened in 1998 or 1999? I can’t remember, but anyways, my first trip to WDW in 1999 it was super crowded with 2 hour waits, lots of break downs and no fastpass yet. I did not get to ride this until 2004, so I had come to WDW 3 times (1 trip I didn’t come to Epcot) before I was able to ride this. I do not like roller coasters (notice there is no mention of me on one) but this ride I like. I think they call this a “thrill” ride. It had a 20 minute wait posted in the standby… we got in line, and then there was a breakdown. When we got in line, we had about 45 minutes until our lunch reservation in Canada, so I figured we would still be ok. This is the main thing that erks me when you are in the standby line… I know they must have a system and all for letting fastpass into the next area of the line, but when you are in the standby part and the ride has just been shut down for 10 minutes… and then for about 10 more minutes all they do is let fastpass people in (their line had also built up) and maybe 4 families from standby, you can feel frustrated. The lesson I learned… on some rides, just do the fastpass because you will automatically get priority! As an aside: when waiting at Jungle Cruise the day before we were in the slow moving standby line and just like test track above, they let ALL the fastpass people in before they let any standby into the next area to wait. People were grumbling because it seemed like for every boat that came through, approximately 1-3 families from standby were on it, the rest of EVERY boat was mostly all fastpass …. So I overhead a mother wonder out loud to her family.. “I wonder how much fastpass costs?” to which the father replied “too much!” I just couldn’t believe it! I was happy that someone in front of them turned around and informed them that all you needed was your park ticket that it comes with the price of admission!
Anyways, after a long stressful wait (we were trying to make a reservation here) we rode the thrilling test track (doesn’t the pre video sort of in a way remind you of Dinosaur’s pre video) and then we high tailed it over to Canda for our lunch at Le Cellier. Our reservation was at 11:30, opening time, and we got to hear all the servers sing their national anthem! We were soon after seated and then our orders were taken. I got the cheddar cheese soup, the mushroom filet with cream cheese mashed potatoes and the chocolate moose. I know DH got almost the same thing, but he got something different for dessert and I cannot remember what my Mom got. We loved the Mushroom filet so much!! Just like Narcosses steak a few days before it was like butter, it was so tender! It was such a stark contrast to the drier steak we had at California Grill that we told our server that the steak was better at Le Cellier than at California Grill. She told the chef and then came back and told us that the chef was thrilled!
After our delicious lunch my Mom went over to the old Wonders of Life pavilion to go to the Flower and Garden Festival classes. DH and I went over to the Kim Possible sign up area in between Future World and World Showcase. We were told to report over to Norway in 10 minutes so we made a pit stop at Mexico to ride the boat ride. After our lovely Mexico boat ride, we went over to Norway to receive our Kimmunicator (modified cell phone) to start on our first mission, which sent us back to Mexico. We absolutely loved this interactive experience! I don’t want to do a full report on this in order to keep some of the experience a mystery, so I won’t go into much more detail. I will say that the singing beer steins in Germany are just the best!! Also, other people do react to what the Kimmunicator sets off and it makes you feel like you are creating some of the Disney magic because you had to push a button to set off a reaction! We started with Mexico, and then went to Norway. We did ride Maelstrom after doing the mission (which had kind of a long line). Then we moved over to China and completed that Mission. Then it was time to meet my Mom. After her classes were done and she had bought some fun Flower and Garden Festival merchandise (a coffee mug that looks kinda like a flower pot) we took off back to China. We all went to see the circle vision in China which my Mom had not yet seen. One thing about all the movies and shows in World Showcase… don’t miss them! They are really very good and help you to feel immersed in “traveling the world… showcase”. China, America, France, and Italy all have movies or shows to watch. We saw China, then went to Germany to do another Kim Possible mission. (Like I said… singing beer steins!) I have to mention that DH and I are 28 and 25 and we saw many 20-40 year old couples along the way also participating in the Kim Possible missions without kids… so if you are not a kid, or don’t have a kid with you, so what! We skipped over the next few countries and stopped to watch the show in France, which I love more for the music than for the sweeping vistas… I wish they would film some new stuff because this show is about as old as Epcot! Yes, we skipped USA because of time (and also the Canada show), but we saw it twice last time. After this, DH and I did one last mission in France and then returned our Kimmunicator. My Mom had already made her way over to the UK for the bathroom and to talk to my Dad on the phone. We checked in for our dinner at Rose and Crown and proceeded to wait…. Important story! On this day, it was Norway Constitution day, which usually wouldn’t matter in America, right? Except for there are several Norwegians that work in World Showcase (and can get into Epcot free even when they are not working) and so the whole day the non working Norwegians walked around World Showcase sampling beer (or maybe just drinking a lot of it) and singing their national anthem or funny drunk songs or both, I’m not sure because I don’t speak their language. By the end of the day they all ended up at Rose and Crown pub! There were really drunk by then and drinking more… I mean falling all over each other, girls and boys sloppily making out in the UK pavilion, pulling flowers out of the flower beds to wear them! It was really embarrassing. And so when we finally made it in for dinner (we had to wait about an hour to be seated because their computer system went down) it was super loud in the bar area (they are barely separated) because of all the Norwegians celebrating. Plus, about 20 minutes before we were seated, it started to rain outside… a slow steady rain. I had a headache and rain is no fun, so my day had gone a little downhill by now.
I tried the fish and chips for dinner and they were ok, but not great. The sticky toffee pudding cake was pretty good for dessert, but other than that I was not overly impressed. At 9:00 they had illuminations, and they have a viewing area, but it was steadily raining by then and we didn’t want to get too wet, so we watched it from their porch. I have to say, because of the drunk Norwegians, waiting an hour to be seated, the rain, and my headache, the day didn’t end as I had wanted. After the fireworks we trudged out of the park through the rain and to the bus stop. DH was totally soaked because he had no poncho! We went back to All Star Music and crashed.
Up next-Travel Home

Day 11-Travel Home and Final Thoughts

Here I am at the end of my trip report. The last day we woke up late, about 9:30 and finished packing everything. By 10:30 we left our room with our suitcases and joined my Mom. We quickly checked out and stored our luggage for about an hour. During that hour we shopped a little and I got a few last minute souvenirs (like a coffee mug and a change purse) and we went to go find some food. We all wanted lunch instead of breakfast, and so we had to wait about 10 minutes before they switched over, so we found a seat and waited. At 11am we went up there and waited some more… it can be a rough transition for them in the food court at All Star Music to go from breakfast to lunch, especially when some people still walk up and want breakfast. Anyways, after a long time DH and I got our burgers and my Mom got her taco salad and we had a nice last lunch in WDW as it started to rain… again. Soon it was almost noon and time for our Magical Express bus and so we retrieved our luggage and waited with some other people for the bus. We took our short ride back to the airport and watched the goodbye video they play on the bus.
When we got to the airport we checked our bags (for free thanks to my Mom’s Continental Chase Visa card) and waited for our plane at the gate while reading, watching the ipod and playing the Nintendo DS. We took off in that steady soaking rain in Orlando and landed in Houston at 4:30pm to beautiful sunny, cool, low humidity weather. DH and I got home and started laundry and unpacked some stuff. Then we made a trek out to get some yummy tex-mex food (which we had been missing) from our local Chuy’s. The day ended and I was not looking forward to my first day back at work after such a long vacation!
This trip was really wonderful! I finally got to go to Kennedy Space Center, then I got on the lovely Disney Wonder for a too short 4 night cruise, then I topped it all off with a 4 night WDW trip loaded with my favorites.
Notes:
Take a Cruise if you haven’t before… DH and I are still considering getting the money together to take a less expensive 7 night Royal Caribbean Cruise out of Galveston (which we don’t have to fly in anywhere to get to it) in January. If you haven’t taken a Disney Cruise then take one!! They are really magical and so relaxing too!

The price of a Disney Cruise to Bahamas/Caribbean is worth it for Castaway Cay alone, even if you think you don’t like the beach (like I did)

We loved the Kim Possible missions in World Showcase-do this, no matter how old you are, it’s like exploring World Showcase in a whole new way!

The Flower and Garden Festival is beautiful! If you ever make it to WDW during this time, make sure you take pictures of the topiaries they have created.

The Crystal Palace Breakfast is the best! If you haven’t done it or haven’t done it in awhile, add it to your list of ADR’s

A 10 night trip was good for us, long enough to feel good when we came back but not too long that we got “homesick”. I think that we might have settled in more if we had actually slept in the same place every night.

I am so sad to end this report… I am listening to subsonic radio to get me through my Disney blues! (of course it kinda makes me want to just get on a plane and go back right now)