Disney Fantasy Cruise 2014
Below is the link to our cruise report - we went on the Eastern Caribbean cruise back in February. We are planning another cruise in 2016 with friends!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3240675
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3240675
DISNEY FANTASY FEBRUARY 8TH – 15TH 2014 EASTERN CRUISE
Who we are:
Mom – Leanne (2nd time cruiser along with the kiddos, you can see the link to our first Trip Report in my siggy)
Dad – Gary (1st time cruiser)
Kiddos – Kevin (14), Ryan (12), Dylan (8.5) and Lauren (7) (all excited to have a week off school)
We were cruising with good friends of ours, Bobbi Jo and Allen, their two kids, her Mom, 95 year young grandma and sister + family. In all, we had a table top for 16
Pre-Trip
Our last cruise was on the Magic, we went on a Western in January 2012 – we loved it so much, we were hooked. We booked this cruise on opening day back in December 2012. It was a long time to wait, but having 11 months to pay it off really helped us to have more spending money. We had an amazing Facebook group of cruisers a few of which we got together with during the cruise for drinks and meals. We also had booked a private mixology class which was super fun and a meet n greet, this made our cruise so much better because we ran into ‘friends’ often Our plan was to fly out of Toronto on the Friday, stay near the port pre-cruise - since we didn’t want to chance getting stuck – we had enough of a buffer to drive if we needed to.
Who we are:
Mom – Leanne (2nd time cruiser along with the kiddos, you can see the link to our first Trip Report in my siggy)
Dad – Gary (1st time cruiser)
Kiddos – Kevin (14), Ryan (12), Dylan (8.5) and Lauren (7) (all excited to have a week off school)
We were cruising with good friends of ours, Bobbi Jo and Allen, their two kids, her Mom, 95 year young grandma and sister + family. In all, we had a table top for 16
Pre-Trip
Our last cruise was on the Magic, we went on a Western in January 2012 – we loved it so much, we were hooked. We booked this cruise on opening day back in December 2012. It was a long time to wait, but having 11 months to pay it off really helped us to have more spending money. We had an amazing Facebook group of cruisers a few of which we got together with during the cruise for drinks and meals. We also had booked a private mixology class which was super fun and a meet n greet, this made our cruise so much better because we ran into ‘friends’ often
Our plan was to fly out of Toronto on the Friday, stay near the port pre-cruise - since we didn’t want to chance getting stuck – we had enough of a buffer to drive if we needed to.Friday February 7th 2014
Our wake up time was 3am, we were on the road by 3:20am for the Toronto Airport. Check-in was easy since we pre-paid for our baggage – US customs and security didn’t take long at all so we had a bit of a wait at the gate for our 6:30am flight.
We took off on time, and arrived in Orlando to rain and grey skies
Wandered around the airport for a bit looking for Frozen toys for DD before heading to Hertz to grab our rental car.
Hertz was smooth and after a few minutes we were on our way out of the parking garage. We arrived in Cocoa Beach after a 45min drive and went to the ABC store for liquor (priorities, right, we were heading on a 7 day cruise with kids!) we tried to check-in to our hotel Days Inn Cocoa Beach, but the room wasn’t ready so we headed off for lunch. The kids were dying for Olive Garden since we don’t have them in Canada anymore – we indulged and left stuffed.
After lunch, we went to Walmart to pick up the remainder of the FE gift ingredients – we made sundae kits, with cups, spoons, hot fudge or caramel, sprinkles and smarties. We were joined my many, many retire-ees that gave me a little bit of shopping cart rage.
Back to the hotel we went and our room was ready. We had a 1 bedroom suite which wasn’t fancy, the bedroom had 2 queen beds, balcony and a bathroom, the living room portion had a full kitchen, pull out queen sized couch and balcony. It was spacious considering what our digs would be for the next week. This was our view
We hung out for a bit and then I took the kids for a swim. The pool was NOT heated and since it was cool and overcast the kids didn’t spend much time swimming.
We walked down to the pier and wandered around a bit, lots of people surfing and the bars on the pier were pretty busy, we watched the Magic sail out, excited that we would be next.
Dinner was domino’s pizza which was great because we could walk there and our room had plates to eat on. Everyone was pretty tired by this point so everyone got into bed while I got bags ready for the next morning and put together FE gifts.
Up Next… this place is hopping at 7am - it's cruise day!!!
Our wake up time was 3am, we were on the road by 3:20am for the Toronto Airport. Check-in was easy since we pre-paid for our baggage – US customs and security didn’t take long at all so we had a bit of a wait at the gate for our 6:30am flight.
We took off on time, and arrived in Orlando to rain and grey skies
Wandered around the airport for a bit looking for Frozen toys for DD before heading to Hertz to grab our rental car.Hertz was smooth and after a few minutes we were on our way out of the parking garage. We arrived in Cocoa Beach after a 45min drive and went to the ABC store for liquor (priorities, right, we were heading on a 7 day cruise with kids!) we tried to check-in to our hotel Days Inn Cocoa Beach, but the room wasn’t ready so we headed off for lunch. The kids were dying for Olive Garden since we don’t have them in Canada anymore – we indulged and left stuffed.
After lunch, we went to Walmart to pick up the remainder of the FE gift ingredients – we made sundae kits, with cups, spoons, hot fudge or caramel, sprinkles and smarties. We were joined my many, many retire-ees that gave me a little bit of shopping cart rage.
Back to the hotel we went and our room was ready. We had a 1 bedroom suite which wasn’t fancy, the bedroom had 2 queen beds, balcony and a bathroom, the living room portion had a full kitchen, pull out queen sized couch and balcony. It was spacious considering what our digs would be for the next week. This was our viewWe hung out for a bit and then I took the kids for a swim. The pool was NOT heated and since it was cool and overcast the kids didn’t spend much time swimming.
We walked down to the pier and wandered around a bit, lots of people surfing and the bars on the pier were pretty busy, we watched the Magic sail out, excited that we would be next.
Dinner was domino’s pizza which was great because we could walk there and our room had plates to eat on. Everyone was pretty tired by this point so everyone got into bed while I got bags ready for the next morning and put together FE gifts.
Up Next… this place is hopping at 7am - it's cruise day!!!
Saturday February 8th
I forgot to mention there were two specific things I set out to do on this cruise, neither of which happened.
1. Eat breakfast or lunch in one of the restaurants
2. Order room service - there’s always next time right??
We woke up about 7am on Saturday morning, I knew no one would sleep in so I didn’t set an alarm. Went out on the balcony to sit for a bit and watched the sun try to come out and play. I was amazed how many people were out on the beach walking and surfing this early, it was hopping. The kiddos were “starving” so we went over to the lobby of the hotel into the breakfast room. It was a standard free breakfast, toast, bagels, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, juice, coffee etc. The seating area wasn’t too large but you’re not there having a leisurely breakfast so it worked. We went back to the room to pack up the van.
We checked out, gassed up the van and DH dropped us off about 10:30am in front of the terminal, he headed back to Hertz to drop off the rental. Took him about 15mins to return because he had to wait for the bridge but he was on the first shuttle back.
Security was quick and only a few minutes later we were on the escalator up into the terminal. There was no line for castaway members, and we got boarding #2!! While we were getting our cards printed, they announced family of the day followed by boarding group #1. By the time we got done and our lanyards on, they had moved onto group #2 – here we go! DH was amazed how little time we spent in the actual terminal. We didn’t do the photo since we weren’t planning to buy the photo package, so it didn’t take long before our family was announced and we were in the elevators upstairs heading to Cabana’s. We grabbed a table outside by the pool so that we could eat and watch the kids swim.
It wasn’t long after they had ice cream, then lunch (yes, in that order) that the pools and aquaduck opened, so up the stairs they went. We spent the next 1.5 hours watching the kids, eating and people watching.
At 1:30 we went down to deck 8 to check out our room, our luggage was already waiting for us. Our rooms were inside connecting 10A cabins, spacious, lots of storage and we met Made, who was going to take care of us this week.
I was surprised by a wonderful cruise mate, Janelle, with a bouquet of flowers as a ‘thank you’ for organizing the FE, meet n greet and mixology – it was all my pleasure
We unpacked, before heading out to explore the ship a bit. Our facebook group meet n greet was at 2:30pm I requested a private area for this and Disney was able to make it happen, one of the members was nice enough to resize an image that we slid into our lanyard pockets to identify ourselves during the week and it certainly came in handy.
We did our group photo and then everyone went off to get ready for the muster drill. Our drill was in the Tube which was pretty loud from people talking, so we couldn’t hear much at all.
After the drill, we headed down to the kids clubs to check them out and get the kids their bands for the week -
we headed up to deck 12 to scope out a spot for the sailaway party, grabbed the first of many drinks and before we knew it we were sailing away.
Then it was time to get ready for dinner. Our dinner rotation was ERAERAE – like I said before we had a table for 16, which was perfectly set up, 8 kids on one end and 8 adults on the other. Our servers were amazing - Erhan, who served our friends on their last Fantasy cruise and Juan who was the assistant server and fantastic as well.
Dinner was fantastic, I didn’t keep track of what we had but I was so proud of Kevin (14) who on our last cruise ate pizza almost every night, I explained this time, he could pick his lunches but for dinner it was something decent. He chose to order off the adult menu every night, tonight being Seabass, he’s the only one in our family who eats seafood (aside from halibut and chips and tuna) and really enjoyed it.
After dinner the kids were dying to go for a swim so they took a quick dip and then went to the kids club to play for a little while.
We took the bigger boys to their clubs to check them out, Vibe was very cool. They said they would go back for the ice breakers later that night. As it turns out, DS 14, preferred to do more of the hands on stuff at the Edge so that’s where he spent his week. The two older boys pretty much did their own thing during the week, they knew they needed to be back in the room for 5:15 to get ready for dinners but otherwise as long as they left a note it was fine to come and go as they pleased. We wandered around the ship checking out the adult areas, about 10pm we picked up Lauren and Dylan, knowing they would be exhausted – true to form both of them were passed out within 5 minutes of getting into bed. I think I fell asleep before the two older boys came in as well.
Next up, who has Silver Bullets? We do!
I forgot to mention there were two specific things I set out to do on this cruise, neither of which happened.
1. Eat breakfast or lunch in one of the restaurants
2. Order room service - there’s always next time right??
We woke up about 7am on Saturday morning, I knew no one would sleep in so I didn’t set an alarm. Went out on the balcony to sit for a bit and watched the sun try to come out and play. I was amazed how many people were out on the beach walking and surfing this early, it was hopping. The kiddos were “starving” so we went over to the lobby of the hotel into the breakfast room. It was a standard free breakfast, toast, bagels, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, juice, coffee etc. The seating area wasn’t too large but you’re not there having a leisurely breakfast so it worked. We went back to the room to pack up the van.
We checked out, gassed up the van and DH dropped us off about 10:30am in front of the terminal, he headed back to Hertz to drop off the rental. Took him about 15mins to return because he had to wait for the bridge but he was on the first shuttle back.
Security was quick and only a few minutes later we were on the escalator up into the terminal. There was no line for castaway members, and we got boarding #2!! While we were getting our cards printed, they announced family of the day followed by boarding group #1. By the time we got done and our lanyards on, they had moved onto group #2 – here we go! DH was amazed how little time we spent in the actual terminal. We didn’t do the photo since we weren’t planning to buy the photo package, so it didn’t take long before our family was announced and we were in the elevators upstairs heading to Cabana’s. We grabbed a table outside by the pool so that we could eat and watch the kids swim.
It wasn’t long after they had ice cream, then lunch (yes, in that order) that the pools and aquaduck opened, so up the stairs they went. We spent the next 1.5 hours watching the kids, eating and people watching.
At 1:30 we went down to deck 8 to check out our room, our luggage was already waiting for us. Our rooms were inside connecting 10A cabins, spacious, lots of storage and we met Made, who was going to take care of us this week.
I was surprised by a wonderful cruise mate, Janelle, with a bouquet of flowers as a ‘thank you’ for organizing the FE, meet n greet and mixology – it was all my pleasure
We unpacked, before heading out to explore the ship a bit. Our facebook group meet n greet was at 2:30pm I requested a private area for this and Disney was able to make it happen, one of the members was nice enough to resize an image that we slid into our lanyard pockets to identify ourselves during the week and it certainly came in handy.
We did our group photo and then everyone went off to get ready for the muster drill. Our drill was in the Tube which was pretty loud from people talking, so we couldn’t hear much at all.
After the drill, we headed down to the kids clubs to check them out and get the kids their bands for the week -
we headed up to deck 12 to scope out a spot for the sailaway party, grabbed the first of many drinks and before we knew it we were sailing away.
Then it was time to get ready for dinner. Our dinner rotation was ERAERAE – like I said before we had a table for 16, which was perfectly set up, 8 kids on one end and 8 adults on the other. Our servers were amazing - Erhan, who served our friends on their last Fantasy cruise and Juan who was the assistant server and fantastic as well.
Dinner was fantastic, I didn’t keep track of what we had but I was so proud of Kevin (14) who on our last cruise ate pizza almost every night, I explained this time, he could pick his lunches but for dinner it was something decent. He chose to order off the adult menu every night, tonight being Seabass, he’s the only one in our family who eats seafood (aside from halibut and chips and tuna) and really enjoyed it.
After dinner the kids were dying to go for a swim so they took a quick dip and then went to the kids club to play for a little while.
We took the bigger boys to their clubs to check them out, Vibe was very cool. They said they would go back for the ice breakers later that night. As it turns out, DS 14, preferred to do more of the hands on stuff at the Edge so that’s where he spent his week. The two older boys pretty much did their own thing during the week, they knew they needed to be back in the room for 5:15 to get ready for dinners but otherwise as long as they left a note it was fine to come and go as they pleased. We wandered around the ship checking out the adult areas, about 10pm we picked up Lauren and Dylan, knowing they would be exhausted – true to form both of them were passed out within 5 minutes of getting into bed. I think I fell asleep before the two older boys came in as well.
Next up, who has Silver Bullets? We do!
Sunday February 9th - At Sea
Another note: Our cruise group had pre-booked a Mixology class, to be in Meridian at 2pm today, just before bedtime last night I was checking out the Navigator when I noticed that there was also a public mixology tasting, same time, same place. A quick call to guest services, they said they would investigate – turns out they moved the public one to Skyline and left us up at Meridian which was awesome. So if you do this on your cruise, keep an eye on the schedule.
Woke up this morning about 8am and went up to Cabana’s for breakfast. The kids were very excited to swim so they were ready for the Aquaduck when it opened at 9am. We spent our morning in and out of the pools, it wasn’t too busy at all, but just before lunch it got crowded.
We had lunch and we had a 2pm Mixology class booked so we dropped them off at the clubs to play for a bit.
Like I said before, our class was up in Meridian which is a beautiful location. It was so much fun, I was actually kind of sad we didn’t plan more formal meetings with our cruise group because everyone was so much fun. We made 5 drinks – Mint Mojito, Godfather, Yellow Bird, Silver Bullet and a shot of something for the road. I had to make the Silver Bullet because it’s so me! LOL
We ended up going back to the room to relax, oldest DS grabbed the smaller kids so we could get ready for formal night. We really liked the early dining because our kids love to swim in the evenings. We were in the lobby early to grab drinks and we noticed captain Mickey up on deck 4 so we lined up to do a picture with him.
Dinner tonight was in Royal Court, which had my fave onion soup and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
After dinner we took the kids swimming until DD announced that she was tired and ready for bed. The two bigger boys went to do things at their clubs, they loved the freedom they had again on this cruise. I crashed again before they came in.
Another note: Our cruise group had pre-booked a Mixology class, to be in Meridian at 2pm today, just before bedtime last night I was checking out the Navigator when I noticed that there was also a public mixology tasting, same time, same place. A quick call to guest services, they said they would investigate – turns out they moved the public one to Skyline and left us up at Meridian which was awesome. So if you do this on your cruise, keep an eye on the schedule.
Woke up this morning about 8am and went up to Cabana’s for breakfast. The kids were very excited to swim so they were ready for the Aquaduck when it opened at 9am. We spent our morning in and out of the pools, it wasn’t too busy at all, but just before lunch it got crowded.
We had lunch and we had a 2pm Mixology class booked so we dropped them off at the clubs to play for a bit.
Like I said before, our class was up in Meridian which is a beautiful location. It was so much fun, I was actually kind of sad we didn’t plan more formal meetings with our cruise group because everyone was so much fun. We made 5 drinks – Mint Mojito, Godfather, Yellow Bird, Silver Bullet and a shot of something for the road. I had to make the Silver Bullet because it’s so me! LOL
We ended up going back to the room to relax, oldest DS grabbed the smaller kids so we could get ready for formal night. We really liked the early dining because our kids love to swim in the evenings. We were in the lobby early to grab drinks and we noticed captain Mickey up on deck 4 so we lined up to do a picture with him.
Dinner tonight was in Royal Court, which had my fave onion soup and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
After dinner we took the kids swimming until DD announced that she was tired and ready for bed. The two bigger boys went to do things at their clubs, they loved the freedom they had again on this cruise. I crashed again before they came in.
Monday February 10th - At Sea
Got up about 8:30am this morning (note, kids waking up later, score - or maybe I just couldn’t hear them lol) Today was going to be another relaxing day at sea, until I realized the clocks changed and it was really 7:30am - blech. Ah well, we were dressed so we went up to Cabana’s for breakfast, and then like yesterday, more swimming, slide and aqua duck aka relaxing in the sun time for Mom. Lauren was dying to go meet Princess Anna, so we lined up pretty early so we were #2 in line. True to her form, she cried when she met Anna
We also got the tail end of the princess gathering so Lauren could say "hello"
At some point hubby joined us (he doesn’t sleep in much at home so we had left him a note on the whiteboard where we would be) and we grabbed lunch from the buffet.
Kevin found all you can eat olives, lol
Next cruise, one breakfast/lunch in a restaurant will happen!! After lunch we dropped the kids off at the club, I was meeting some of our cruise group ladies for drinks. We had planned to meet in Meridian but they had a tasting so we moved down to LaPiazza - always fun to have beverages with friends.
After that we checked in on the kids, who were having so much fun, so we left them and went up to the adult deck to sit in Satellite Falls for a bit. It was sunny but windy up there so we didn’t stay too long, instead took our drinks down to the hot tub where we sat for a long time.
Once we turned into human prunes we went to pick up the kids and went back to the room to shower for dinner. We all rested for a little bit before heading to Animators Palette – yum.
Deadmau5
Lauren was pretty tired, so we went for a little swim, before putting the two younger kids to bed. One of the older boys stayed in tonight, working on homework while DH and I headed to see Lynn Trefzger doing comedy and ventriloquist and then for a drink at the Tube before turning in for the night.
Up next, how can a bald man braid his hair??? Thanks for asking!
Got up about 8:30am this morning (note, kids waking up later, score - or maybe I just couldn’t hear them lol) Today was going to be another relaxing day at sea, until I realized the clocks changed and it was really 7:30am - blech. Ah well, we were dressed so we went up to Cabana’s for breakfast, and then like yesterday, more swimming, slide and aqua duck aka relaxing in the sun time for Mom. Lauren was dying to go meet Princess Anna, so we lined up pretty early so we were #2 in line. True to her form, she cried when she met Anna
We also got the tail end of the princess gathering so Lauren could say "hello"At some point hubby joined us (he doesn’t sleep in much at home so we had left him a note on the whiteboard where we would be) and we grabbed lunch from the buffet.
Kevin found all you can eat olives, lol
Next cruise, one breakfast/lunch in a restaurant will happen!! After lunch we dropped the kids off at the club, I was meeting some of our cruise group ladies for drinks. We had planned to meet in Meridian but they had a tasting so we moved down to LaPiazza - always fun to have beverages with friends.
After that we checked in on the kids, who were having so much fun, so we left them and went up to the adult deck to sit in Satellite Falls for a bit. It was sunny but windy up there so we didn’t stay too long, instead took our drinks down to the hot tub where we sat for a long time.
Once we turned into human prunes we went to pick up the kids and went back to the room to shower for dinner. We all rested for a little bit before heading to Animators Palette – yum.
Deadmau5
Lauren was pretty tired, so we went for a little swim, before putting the two younger kids to bed. One of the older boys stayed in tonight, working on homework while DH and I headed to see Lynn Trefzger doing comedy and ventriloquist and then for a drink at the Tube before turning in for the night.
Up next, how can a bald man braid his hair??? Thanks for asking!
Tuesday February 11th - St Maarten - Pirate Night!
We had no excursions booked for St.Maarten, our plan was just to explore and grab some chairs by the beach and that's exactly what we did! We knew it would be another late night for the pirate party so we wanted to take it easy.
Woke up about 8am, it wasn't long after that when they let us know people could disembark, it was sunny, warm, blue skies - gorgeous day ahead! We had a quick breakfast at Cabana's and then walked off the ship with no wait at all. We wandered around the port area before heading into downtown Philipsburg.
We had decided to walk into town, about halfway there I regretted it as there's nothing to look at and it's very crowded (and lots of people selling water, asking you if you want a taxi) we should have taken the water taxi.
We shopped a little bit, I was on the hunt for a new ring as a Valentine's day gift but didn't find anything I liked. It was nice to pop into the stores for their air conditioning, kids were already whining about heat so I knew my time was ticking. Walked up the boardwalk looking for chairs to rent, they have plenty of people bartering asking if you want chairs - feel free to ask them for a better price.
We ended up getting two chairs, wifi and an umbrella for $15.00. It was just down from a restaurant that had a bathroom we could use too, 6 pops and ice/cups cost me $10. I realized after that bartenders come around and could have gotten them for us.
The kids had a blast swimming, there was a steep drop off and plenty of waves for them to jump around in. The one thing we hated, was the vendors who came by every 20 minutes asking if we wanted a wrap or hair braiding, massage, it was the same people over and over. At one point, one vendor asked DH if he wanted braids (hah he has no hair) he took off his hat and said "good luck" they also approached DD (7) at one point and asked if she wanted braids, so just keep an eye out.
About 12:30pm we decided we had enough of the beach (er, the vendors) and made our way back to the ship via the water taxi.
We got back on board and had lunch at Cabana's, kids headed into the pool for a little bit, there was barely anyone on board. At 2:30, DH took DD to go to the Frozen sing-a-long in the theatre, apparently she loved it, it's her fave movie so any chance to sing along to it works for her. Once they took off, DS decided he wanted to go check out the kids club for a bit - so I took advantage of the kid free time and had a nap. Dinner tonight was in Enchanted Garden, pirate menu - I love the short ribs, so that's what I had tonight. After dinner, kids went to the club to pirate party prep so we went and hung out up on deck 13 enjoying the breeze and warm air.
We picked up the kiddos in enough time to secure a great spot on deck 12 for the party, the two older boys stayed with Edge friends to watch with them. Fireworks were great as usual, then we grabbed some buffet snacks to take back to our room. The kids knew we'd be in bed early tonight since we had a 7:45am meet up time for our excursion in St Thomas, so showers and bed for everyone without arguing - great day!!
Up next, swimming with turtles and closed for 5 minutes - island time.
We had no excursions booked for St.Maarten, our plan was just to explore and grab some chairs by the beach and that's exactly what we did! We knew it would be another late night for the pirate party so we wanted to take it easy.
Woke up about 8am, it wasn't long after that when they let us know people could disembark, it was sunny, warm, blue skies - gorgeous day ahead! We had a quick breakfast at Cabana's and then walked off the ship with no wait at all. We wandered around the port area before heading into downtown Philipsburg.
We had decided to walk into town, about halfway there I regretted it as there's nothing to look at and it's very crowded (and lots of people selling water, asking you if you want a taxi) we should have taken the water taxi.
We shopped a little bit, I was on the hunt for a new ring as a Valentine's day gift but didn't find anything I liked. It was nice to pop into the stores for their air conditioning, kids were already whining about heat so I knew my time was ticking. Walked up the boardwalk looking for chairs to rent, they have plenty of people bartering asking if you want chairs - feel free to ask them for a better price.
We ended up getting two chairs, wifi and an umbrella for $15.00. It was just down from a restaurant that had a bathroom we could use too, 6 pops and ice/cups cost me $10. I realized after that bartenders come around and could have gotten them for us.
The kids had a blast swimming, there was a steep drop off and plenty of waves for them to jump around in. The one thing we hated, was the vendors who came by every 20 minutes asking if we wanted a wrap or hair braiding, massage, it was the same people over and over. At one point, one vendor asked DH if he wanted braids (hah he has no hair) he took off his hat and said "good luck" they also approached DD (7) at one point and asked if she wanted braids, so just keep an eye out.
About 12:30pm we decided we had enough of the beach (er, the vendors) and made our way back to the ship via the water taxi.
We got back on board and had lunch at Cabana's, kids headed into the pool for a little bit, there was barely anyone on board. At 2:30, DH took DD to go to the Frozen sing-a-long in the theatre, apparently she loved it, it's her fave movie so any chance to sing along to it works for her. Once they took off, DS decided he wanted to go check out the kids club for a bit - so I took advantage of the kid free time and had a nap. Dinner tonight was in Enchanted Garden, pirate menu - I love the short ribs, so that's what I had tonight. After dinner, kids went to the club to pirate party prep so we went and hung out up on deck 13 enjoying the breeze and warm air.
We picked up the kiddos in enough time to secure a great spot on deck 12 for the party, the two older boys stayed with Edge friends to watch with them. Fireworks were great as usual, then we grabbed some buffet snacks to take back to our room. The kids knew we'd be in bed early tonight since we had a 7:45am meet up time for our excursion in St Thomas, so showers and bed for everyone without arguing - great day!!
Up next, swimming with turtles and closed for 5 minutes - island time.
Wednesday February 12th - St.Thomas
We woke up at 7am, the kids were so excited they bounced out of bed. We went up to Cabana's for breakfast and then loaded everyone up with sunscreen, it was at this point I had to grab a 3rd can of sunscreen since we were going through it like crazy. I love the coppertone spray on, gets you everywhere. We had to meet our excursion group for the Sea Blaster in D-Lounge, we were the last group to leave since we didn't need to take a bus to get on our boat. A short walk down the pier and we got right on board, you couldn't beat the location.
We got off the ship about 8:15 and were down the pier and on the excursion boat by 8:30, they passed out masks, flippers, gave us "high tech dry bags" for our stuff aka, garbage bags and off we went. Lots of people got wet, so my advice is to wear your mask so you don't get salt water in your eyes, it's not too pleasant, so look funny and wear them. We arrived at Turtle Cove, and while they took a few minutes to explain how to use the gear, we spotted turtles coming up for air. Then it was time to jump in, we saw lots of turtles - took the kids a bit of time to get used to the gear but they had a blast.
After about 45 minutes we got back onto the boat and moved to our 2nd location to snorkel near great st.james island. Another quick, wet ride but this time most people didn't care because we were already wet. This time we got to see coral reef, stingray's, turtles, various fish, eels, sea urchins - lots to look at. We were there for about 45mins again, and then got out of the water, rinsed off with their showers on the back of the boat and then had a few cups of rum punch. The 'problem' was they made enough punch for 130 people and only 84 were on board, so we had to drink up, they had juice for the non-drinkers and kids. We didn't take many photos in the water but Gary got a ton of cool video on his GoPro camera!
We were back to port just after 12pm, which for us was perfect. We took the kids back on the ship, instructing our oldest to feed the kids lunch and take them to the club - and then we headed to the shopping area right beside the port.
The shopping in St Thomas was decent, I didn't want to stray too far from the kiddos so we stuck close to port and shopped for souvenirs. I found a nice ring, cover up, keychains for friends but didn't get to the cigar shop, why? It was closed sign said "be back in 5 island minutes" the lights never went on in the store
I saw lots of people walking around with Senor Frog's frozen drinks but didn't get all the way down to the end to partake in the fun. We got back on board about 2pm, headed to grab some burgers and wraps for a late lunch and then grabbed some drinks from the bar. We picked the kids up from the club and took them to swim for a little while as the pools weren't too busy and the aquaduck had a smaller line. Cars was playing on funnel vision and we love this movie, so it was fun to watch it while they were swimming.
It wasn't long before I felt the engines start up so we walked up to deck 13 to watch us sail away before heading down for showers before dinner.
Tonight we ate in Royal Court, Prince and Princess menu which is Lauren's fave because she loves turkey. We had the steak and Kevin the turbot which he said was fantastic - the seabass from earlier this week remained his top fave though.
After dinner we went up onto the pool deck to walk off some of our dinner, we had planned to take all four kiddos to go see Buckets and Boards but the oldest two decided to go swimming with some friends and Dylan wanted to go to the club so it was a date with Lauren only. She was so tired from our big day that she barely stayed awake, so after the show we rounded up the boys, dropped them all off in the room and once the younger two fell asleep we left them with Kevin who was doing some homework. Lauren passed out in no time -
We decided to go up to the tube for a bit to have some beverages, watched the scoring of 80's music challenge and then went up to sit outside of Meridian for a while. It really was one of our fave places on the ship. We got back to our room about the same time Ryan was rolling in from edge karaoke
Up next, Valentine's crafts for everyone...
We woke up at 7am, the kids were so excited they bounced out of bed. We went up to Cabana's for breakfast and then loaded everyone up with sunscreen, it was at this point I had to grab a 3rd can of sunscreen since we were going through it like crazy. I love the coppertone spray on, gets you everywhere. We had to meet our excursion group for the Sea Blaster in D-Lounge, we were the last group to leave since we didn't need to take a bus to get on our boat. A short walk down the pier and we got right on board, you couldn't beat the location.
We got off the ship about 8:15 and were down the pier and on the excursion boat by 8:30, they passed out masks, flippers, gave us "high tech dry bags" for our stuff aka, garbage bags and off we went. Lots of people got wet, so my advice is to wear your mask so you don't get salt water in your eyes, it's not too pleasant, so look funny and wear them. We arrived at Turtle Cove, and while they took a few minutes to explain how to use the gear, we spotted turtles coming up for air. Then it was time to jump in, we saw lots of turtles - took the kids a bit of time to get used to the gear but they had a blast.
After about 45 minutes we got back onto the boat and moved to our 2nd location to snorkel near great st.james island. Another quick, wet ride but this time most people didn't care because we were already wet. This time we got to see coral reef, stingray's, turtles, various fish, eels, sea urchins - lots to look at. We were there for about 45mins again, and then got out of the water, rinsed off with their showers on the back of the boat and then had a few cups of rum punch. The 'problem' was they made enough punch for 130 people and only 84 were on board, so we had to drink up, they had juice for the non-drinkers and kids. We didn't take many photos in the water but Gary got a ton of cool video on his GoPro camera!
We were back to port just after 12pm, which for us was perfect. We took the kids back on the ship, instructing our oldest to feed the kids lunch and take them to the club - and then we headed to the shopping area right beside the port.
The shopping in St Thomas was decent, I didn't want to stray too far from the kiddos so we stuck close to port and shopped for souvenirs. I found a nice ring, cover up, keychains for friends but didn't get to the cigar shop, why? It was closed sign said "be back in 5 island minutes" the lights never went on in the store
I saw lots of people walking around with Senor Frog's frozen drinks but didn't get all the way down to the end to partake in the fun. We got back on board about 2pm, headed to grab some burgers and wraps for a late lunch and then grabbed some drinks from the bar. We picked the kids up from the club and took them to swim for a little while as the pools weren't too busy and the aquaduck had a smaller line. Cars was playing on funnel vision and we love this movie, so it was fun to watch it while they were swimming.It wasn't long before I felt the engines start up so we walked up to deck 13 to watch us sail away before heading down for showers before dinner.
Tonight we ate in Royal Court, Prince and Princess menu which is Lauren's fave because she loves turkey. We had the steak and Kevin the turbot which he said was fantastic - the seabass from earlier this week remained his top fave though.
After dinner we went up onto the pool deck to walk off some of our dinner, we had planned to take all four kiddos to go see Buckets and Boards but the oldest two decided to go swimming with some friends and Dylan wanted to go to the club so it was a date with Lauren only. She was so tired from our big day that she barely stayed awake, so after the show we rounded up the boys, dropped them all off in the room and once the younger two fell asleep we left them with Kevin who was doing some homework. Lauren passed out in no time -
We decided to go up to the tube for a bit to have some beverages, watched the scoring of 80's music challenge and then went up to sit outside of Meridian for a while. It really was one of our fave places on the ship. We got back to our room about the same time Ryan was rolling in from edge karaoke
Up next, Valentine's crafts for everyone...
Thursday February 13th - Day at Sea
I was very excited about our last sea day, I love having lazy mornings on the ship with coffee and breakfast but today was going to be different because we were going to Palo brunch! Took the kiddos up to Cabana's for breakfast while I snacked on some fruit. Like most other mornings they wore their bathing suits so once food was done, they got some sunscreen on and headed for the pools and aquaduck.
They only got about 45 mins to swim before I dropped Dylan and Lauren off at the Lab so I could go get ready with a promise we'd return to get them right after Palo. Our reservation was for 10:30am and we loved being in an aft room because it took us all of 2 minutes to get from our room to deck 13. They weren't quite ready for us so we went into meridian to wait for a few minutes until they came to get us. I had requested a window seat but since they were pretty busy that morning and all they had were 6+ table seating by the window, we took a booth seat. I know everyone loves Palo, and the food was fantastic, as was the service but I don't think we would go again. I'm pretty easy to please, so I think a breakfast in one of the regular restaurants would be fine for us. I did take a large plate of chocolate covered strawberries back to the room for us to snack on - that was my special Valentine's day treat.
After brunch, we went to pick up the kiddos for lunch, they had chicken and pizza before heading back into the super crowded pools again. Lauren had requested to go do Valentine's day crafts in La Piazza so we went to do that while the boys hung out and rode the aquaduck. Once crafts were done, we got back into our bathing suits and headed up to deck 12 where we met up with our friends and the boys, who were not letting us down and continuing to eat their body weight in ice cream. We had brought up all our sundae toppings, soooo yummy! I set up camp, just in time for the server to come around with happy hour 2 for 1 drinks - talk about awesome timing. We made a few trips downstairs to grab some food to snack on, we needed something to soak up the liquor
I'm not sure if it was all the fun we were having, but suddenly the sky was very dark, sun had disappeared and before we knew it - the skies opened up. There was a mad rush of people heading down to deck 11 under some form of shelter, we thought of it as a sign to sober up and get ready for dinner.
Tonight would be our "show" night in Animators Palette, I had Fettuccine with Parmesan-Crusted Chicken and Warm Chocolate Lava Cake which I loved on our last cruise. Kevin tried the lobster tail but didn't love it, so he had something else - I was still proud of him trying it. The show was super cute, the kids really loved it and crush spoke to Ryan, who out of all our kids is the quietest and most reserved.
I tried to get the kids to go see the show after dinner, but they wanted to swim of course. So tonight I decided to hit up the aquaduck with them. There was no line up because of course everyone was either at the show, or having dinner still.
After swimming, the bigger boys took off for their club with a promise to return at 10:30 so we could go see the adult version of Buckets & Boards which didn't disappoint. We all had showers, got the two younger ones into bed and they crashed very quickly. Once the boys came back and got started on homework, we took off for some adult time. The show was really funny, we really enjoyed them this cruise. After that, we headed to the Tube for some drinks with our friends - kind of our last chance to have late night fun because Friday night would be packing After quite a few drinks and dancing, we went up to Meridian, it's so beautiful and quiet up there. Once in a while you'd spot lights from an island or another ship but it's so cool to be the only ones out there in a gigantic ocean.
Up next, Castaway Cay and the big surprise!!
I was very excited about our last sea day, I love having lazy mornings on the ship with coffee and breakfast but today was going to be different because we were going to Palo brunch! Took the kiddos up to Cabana's for breakfast while I snacked on some fruit. Like most other mornings they wore their bathing suits so once food was done, they got some sunscreen on and headed for the pools and aquaduck.
They only got about 45 mins to swim before I dropped Dylan and Lauren off at the Lab so I could go get ready with a promise we'd return to get them right after Palo. Our reservation was for 10:30am and we loved being in an aft room because it took us all of 2 minutes to get from our room to deck 13. They weren't quite ready for us so we went into meridian to wait for a few minutes until they came to get us. I had requested a window seat but since they were pretty busy that morning and all they had were 6+ table seating by the window, we took a booth seat. I know everyone loves Palo, and the food was fantastic, as was the service but I don't think we would go again. I'm pretty easy to please, so I think a breakfast in one of the regular restaurants would be fine for us. I did take a large plate of chocolate covered strawberries back to the room for us to snack on - that was my special Valentine's day treat.
After brunch, we went to pick up the kiddos for lunch, they had chicken and pizza before heading back into the super crowded pools again. Lauren had requested to go do Valentine's day crafts in La Piazza so we went to do that while the boys hung out and rode the aquaduck. Once crafts were done, we got back into our bathing suits and headed up to deck 12 where we met up with our friends and the boys, who were not letting us down and continuing to eat their body weight in ice cream. We had brought up all our sundae toppings, soooo yummy! I set up camp, just in time for the server to come around with happy hour 2 for 1 drinks - talk about awesome timing. We made a few trips downstairs to grab some food to snack on, we needed something to soak up the liquor
I'm not sure if it was all the fun we were having, but suddenly the sky was very dark, sun had disappeared and before we knew it - the skies opened up. There was a mad rush of people heading down to deck 11 under some form of shelter, we thought of it as a sign to sober up and get ready for dinner.
Tonight would be our "show" night in Animators Palette, I had Fettuccine with Parmesan-Crusted Chicken and Warm Chocolate Lava Cake which I loved on our last cruise. Kevin tried the lobster tail but didn't love it, so he had something else - I was still proud of him trying it. The show was super cute, the kids really loved it and crush spoke to Ryan, who out of all our kids is the quietest and most reserved.
I tried to get the kids to go see the show after dinner, but they wanted to swim of course. So tonight I decided to hit up the aquaduck with them. There was no line up because of course everyone was either at the show, or having dinner still.
After swimming, the bigger boys took off for their club with a promise to return at 10:30 so we could go see the adult version of Buckets & Boards which didn't disappoint. We all had showers, got the two younger ones into bed and they crashed very quickly. Once the boys came back and got started on homework, we took off for some adult time. The show was really funny, we really enjoyed them this cruise. After that, we headed to the Tube for some drinks with our friends - kind of our last chance to have late night fun because Friday night would be packing
After quite a few drinks and dancing, we went up to Meridian, it's so beautiful and quiet up there. Once in a while you'd spot lights from an island or another ship but it's so cool to be the only ones out there in a gigantic ocean.Up next, Castaway Cay and the big surprise!!
This is the most anticipated day for us, we love spending time on Castaway Cay! We got up around 8am, got dressed and headed to Cabana's. Once we got the kids settled eating, we took off upstairs for Meridian to see the island and take some photos - it was pretty busy out there already with others wanting a peek of the island.
Just as we started to head downstairs they announced that we could head to the beach - so we hustled to get back to the kids. We were smart this time around and brought an extra beach bag just to carry towels in, much easier than trying to juggle them on the way to the beach. We ended up walking over (much to the kids whining!) to where the slide is and set up shop for the day. Just wanted to point out we're family of six, we grabbed two loungers - that's it! No need to have one each for the amount of time the kids will be in them. We ended up sitting right near our friends and also our 'new' cruise group friends too. The kids instantly took off for the slide, the younger two putting on life jackets to be safe. They can swim but I know sometimes they get disoriented coming off the slide, we had told them before the cruise so they had no issue with safety first. I realized I was starving and started the countdown to 11am when cookies too opened for lunch.
Our bartender came around for his first of many visits - we ordered a konk cooler and a tropical depression to start - both were yummy and we were sure to remind him to come back often especially during happy hour. I went over and rented the kids a floatie, they loved being able to switch between that and the inner tube for playing in the ocean. DH went and grabbed snorkel equipment and was gone the rest of the morning.
Just after 11 I grabbed more beverages, myself, the kids and walked over to Cookies Too for lunch, there was no line up and the selection was great. As you can tell with our report, we're not a picky family - so a burger, ribs and salad was perfect island food for us. By the time we got back to our chairs, DH had finished snorkeling and he was starving so I held down the fort while he brought back lunch. Kevin decided to go try out the snorkeling area, while the 3 smaller ones swam and took turns grabbing drinks and ice cream.
By the time Kevin came back, I was ready to get into the water - so off I went over to snorkel for a bit as well. It took a few minutes of swimming before the water became clear but I saw tons of fish, a small stingray (I just swam near a large group of people pointing) and all the fun 'buried treasure' I wish I had brought an underwater camera, we had tons of video from DH's GoPro but no still photos After swimming, I called the kids over to sunscreen them all up again and to take a walk for ice cream. I miss the food so much! Around 2pm, happy hour started and we were the recipients of many drinks - cheers to Castaway Cay. About 3pm we started our long walk back to the ship, more like the sad walk because we knew this was the last time we'd be getting ON the ship.
DH took the kids to the pool to swim, while I began packing up. I had used the bottom of one closet for dirty laundry so it didn't take too much time to get things organized. What I had to keep in mind, was that we had our bonus day at Disney tomorrow and then flying home to snow on Sunday so I had to pack strategically. By the time they came down at 5pm to get cleaned up, I was packed and had their clothes for the evening all laid out. We waited until the kids were all showered (we LOVED having the two showers, such a time saver) and surprised them with the news we would be spending tomorrow at Magic Kingdom - it was their first visit. The three boys were thrilled, DD burst into happy tears which made *some* of us cry too. I wish I had filmed it, she collapsed to the floor with excitement.
Kiddos last dinner
Our last dinner was at Enchanted Garden, of course bittersweet because we had to say goodbye. I can't remember what we had to eat but Kevin had the red snapper - loved it. After dinner we all got changed into our suits and swam for a good long time. The air tonight was a little bit chillier but we ignored it soaking up the last hours of warmth
We crawled into bed just after midnight, probably the earliest we had all week. Up next - day at Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary Hotel
Just as we started to head downstairs they announced that we could head to the beach - so we hustled to get back to the kids. We were smart this time around and brought an extra beach bag just to carry towels in, much easier than trying to juggle them on the way to the beach. We ended up walking over (much to the kids whining!) to where the slide is and set up shop for the day. Just wanted to point out we're family of six, we grabbed two loungers - that's it! No need to have one each for the amount of time the kids will be in them. We ended up sitting right near our friends and also our 'new' cruise group friends too. The kids instantly took off for the slide, the younger two putting on life jackets to be safe. They can swim but I know sometimes they get disoriented coming off the slide, we had told them before the cruise so they had no issue with safety first. I realized I was starving and started the countdown to 11am when cookies too opened for lunch.
Our bartender came around for his first of many visits - we ordered a konk cooler and a tropical depression to start - both were yummy and we were sure to remind him to come back often especially during happy hour. I went over and rented the kids a floatie, they loved being able to switch between that and the inner tube for playing in the ocean. DH went and grabbed snorkel equipment and was gone the rest of the morning.
Just after 11 I grabbed more beverages, myself, the kids and walked over to Cookies Too for lunch, there was no line up and the selection was great. As you can tell with our report, we're not a picky family - so a burger, ribs and salad was perfect island food for us. By the time we got back to our chairs, DH had finished snorkeling and he was starving so I held down the fort while he brought back lunch. Kevin decided to go try out the snorkeling area, while the 3 smaller ones swam and took turns grabbing drinks and ice cream.
By the time Kevin came back, I was ready to get into the water - so off I went over to snorkel for a bit as well. It took a few minutes of swimming before the water became clear but I saw tons of fish, a small stingray (I just swam near a large group of people pointing) and all the fun 'buried treasure' I wish I had brought an underwater camera, we had tons of video from DH's GoPro but no still photos
After swimming, I called the kids over to sunscreen them all up again and to take a walk for ice cream. I miss the food so much! Around 2pm, happy hour started and we were the recipients of many drinks - cheers to Castaway Cay. About 3pm we started our long walk back to the ship, more like the sad walk because we knew this was the last time we'd be getting ON the ship.DH took the kids to the pool to swim, while I began packing up. I had used the bottom of one closet for dirty laundry so it didn't take too much time to get things organized. What I had to keep in mind, was that we had our bonus day at Disney tomorrow and then flying home to snow on Sunday so I had to pack strategically. By the time they came down at 5pm to get cleaned up, I was packed and had their clothes for the evening all laid out. We waited until the kids were all showered (we LOVED having the two showers, such a time saver) and surprised them with the news we would be spending tomorrow at Magic Kingdom - it was their first visit. The three boys were thrilled, DD burst into happy tears which made *some* of us cry too. I wish I had filmed it, she collapsed to the floor with excitement.
Kiddos last dinner
Our last dinner was at Enchanted Garden, of course bittersweet because we had to say goodbye. I can't remember what we had to eat but Kevin had the red snapper - loved it. After dinner we all got changed into our suits and swam for a good long time. The air tonight was a little bit chillier but we ignored it soaking up the last hours of warmth
We crawled into bed just after midnight, probably the earliest we had all week. Up next - day at Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary Hotel
I completely forgot to update our day at Magic Kingdom, but more important our day of travel. We had one day at Magic Kingdom, our flight left MCO at 6:30am on Sunday morning. Hindsight, later flight!
7:00am we woke up, had quick showers and tossed everything into our carry-on. I had packed up one backpack with park necessities the rest I'd sort out that night before we left for the airport. We went up to Cabanas for breakfast, restroom stops and first layer of sunscreen. Debarkation was super easy, grabbed the liquor we purchased in St Thomas and walked off the ship. It must have been between dining times because the line up for customs was SO long. We used a porter which helped so much with four kids, juggling bags. It was about 8:20 that we got through customs, 8:30 we were on the bus pulling away from port. Keep an eye on what time breakfast is served and try to get off before the 2nd one starts if you can,
We made 3 resort stops before arriving at Contemporary, just before 10am. We picked this hotel specifically because of the location - we could walk to MK without worrying about added bus travel on our already packed full day. There was no front desk line, one of our two connecting rooms were ready so we were able to go in, drop our luggage and head out for our day at Magic Kingdom! My plan B was to just leave our luggage at the front desk but taking a gamble on leaving our electronics wasn't one I wanted to take. By 11am we were in the park, grabbed their first time visit buttons and off we went. I'll admit, I got a little teary walking up Main Street, seeing the castle - yay for sunglasses, no one noticed.
Kids had an amazing day, we had the counter service dining plan, so there was plenty to eat. At one point, maybe 3pm we went back to the room for a little break, a few of us had naps (me included) and we were back at the park just after 5pm for our evening fast passes. Because it was president's day weekend, it was SO busy. My kids had little interest in waiting in line, so they missed out on fun things like dumbo, who goes to WDW and doesn't ride DUMBO! Our three fast passes were used on Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain. All of them had a huge lineup so we were thankful for that.
We watched the electrical parade and then decided to head back to the hotel. I was full of energy but everyone else was starting to lose steam about 10pm and we had a 3:30am pickup! Got back to the hotel, looked outside just in time to see Electrical Water Pageant (the kids loved this!) finished up snacks and drinks, showers for everyone and then into bed.
I don't think I slept too well, was worried about missing our wake up call (we had one set with front desk, one on my phone, one on DH's phone... but still) I was wide awake at 3:10, got myself ready and then woke everyone up one by one. We were downstairs waiting for our bus along with one other family who were on our flight back to Toronto. The bus did a few pickups from other hotels and we got to the airport about 4:30am, we grabbed breakfast (including krispy kreme to take home!) and checked in for our flight. We left Orlando on time, kids slept all the way back home and then again once we got into the car at home. We were home by lunchtime, went grocery shopping and had a nap before even thinking about tackling mount laundry or luggage. Thanks for reading, so excited to start planning our 2016 cruise, we found using DCL transfers to the resort super easy and group friendly!
7:00am we woke up, had quick showers and tossed everything into our carry-on. I had packed up one backpack with park necessities the rest I'd sort out that night before we left for the airport. We went up to Cabanas for breakfast, restroom stops and first layer of sunscreen. Debarkation was super easy, grabbed the liquor we purchased in St Thomas and walked off the ship. It must have been between dining times because the line up for customs was SO long. We used a porter which helped so much with four kids, juggling bags. It was about 8:20 that we got through customs, 8:30 we were on the bus pulling away from port. Keep an eye on what time breakfast is served and try to get off before the 2nd one starts if you can,
We made 3 resort stops before arriving at Contemporary, just before 10am. We picked this hotel specifically because of the location - we could walk to MK without worrying about added bus travel on our already packed full day. There was no front desk line, one of our two connecting rooms were ready so we were able to go in, drop our luggage and head out for our day at Magic Kingdom! My plan B was to just leave our luggage at the front desk but taking a gamble on leaving our electronics wasn't one I wanted to take. By 11am we were in the park, grabbed their first time visit buttons and off we went. I'll admit, I got a little teary walking up Main Street, seeing the castle - yay for sunglasses, no one noticed.
Kids had an amazing day, we had the counter service dining plan, so there was plenty to eat. At one point, maybe 3pm we went back to the room for a little break, a few of us had naps (me included) and we were back at the park just after 5pm for our evening fast passes. Because it was president's day weekend, it was SO busy. My kids had little interest in waiting in line, so they missed out on fun things like dumbo, who goes to WDW and doesn't ride DUMBO!
Our three fast passes were used on Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain. All of them had a huge lineup so we were thankful for that.We watched the electrical parade and then decided to head back to the hotel. I was full of energy but everyone else was starting to lose steam about 10pm and we had a 3:30am pickup! Got back to the hotel, looked outside just in time to see Electrical Water Pageant (the kids loved this!) finished up snacks and drinks, showers for everyone and then into bed.
I don't think I slept too well, was worried about missing our wake up call (we had one set with front desk, one on my phone, one on DH's phone... but still) I was wide awake at 3:10, got myself ready and then woke everyone up one by one. We were downstairs waiting for our bus along with one other family who were on our flight back to Toronto. The bus did a few pickups from other hotels and we got to the airport about 4:30am, we grabbed breakfast (including krispy kreme to take home!) and checked in for our flight. We left Orlando on time, kids slept all the way back home and then again once we got into the car at home. We were home by lunchtime, went grocery shopping and had a nap before even thinking about tackling mount laundry or luggage. Thanks for reading, so excited to start planning our 2016 cruise, we found using DCL transfers to the resort super easy and group friendly!
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