We woke up the morning of October 12th, 2008 in a twitter of anticipation. We’d been waiting for this day for so long! The kids were dressed and ready and the car was ready to be packed so it didn’t take us long to be on the road and on our way to Port Canaveral to meet the Wonder.
After our excruciatingly long 2 hour drive complete with about thirty “Are we at the Disney Cruise yet?” questions from Goober, we finally got our first sight of the beautiful Wonder docked at the port.
The kids were practically shaking with excitement! Before long we were pulling into Port Canaveral and The Man dropped Goober, Munchkin, and me off with the baggage and took Bug to park the van in it’s home for the next 4 days. The ship awed us all with its beauty sitting there in port next to Royal Caribbean’s ship. We could barely wait to board her!
Squirming with anticipation!
The Disney Wonder is RIGHT THERE!
Finally The Man and Bug crossed the street so we could enter the ship’s terminal together. After a quick baggage scan we were cleared to enter the terminal (even with our plastic containers filled with rum) and we proceeded to check in.
Entering the terminal
The Man got all our affairs in order at the Castaway Club Member’s check in while I took the little monsters over to the kids club check in to get their bracelets. There was no line at either spots and we were done in minutes.
Who's that over there?
We took some time looking over the model of the ship in the lobby and then Goofy came out for pictures! We quickly jumped in line to get a picture with him and that’s when we noticed Bubby and Granddaddy, Aunt and Uncle B2, and Shwinks coming up the escalator. The kids were so happy to see them all and I grabbed Shwinks so she could get her picture taken with Goofy, too!
After meeting Goofy (he was super friendly!) I took Shwinks over to get her kids club bracelet, too. At this point the line for the bracelets was much longer but she and I had a great time talking about what we were going to do and I was happy to get to spend some time with the niece I don’t spend nearly enough time with. J
Before long B2 came and joined us in the line and in just a few minutes Shwinks was all set to go with her bracelet and our number was called to board the ship.
This was the moment we had been waiting for! We all walked up the gangway, stopping to have our picture taken, and into the beautiful atrium of the Disney Wonder.
The first thing on our itinerary was lunch! We made our way to Parrot Cay for a delicious buffet lunch amid a tropical setting. There was more delicious food than we could ever even try! The kids were thrilled to get to eat whatever they wanted. Bug ate an entire plate of peel and eat shrimp! It was our first taste of what would be a four day festival of food.
Dessert after every meal!
After our bellies were beyond full, there were a few details that we had to iron out about our dining arrangements and then it was on to see our stateroom. There’s just something about opening up the door to our home aboard the Disney Wonder that brings a tear to my eye. We’ve only ever sailed upon the Wonder so I can’t compare the staterooms to any other ship, but from what I hear, the rooms aboard Disney’s ships are more spacious and welcoming than any other ship. Our room had ample space for the five of us, including a split bathroom so two people could get ready at once, and a veranda that provided a peaceful space for us to take a moment to reflect on how lucky we are.
Munchkin can't wait to go to the pool!
Because we’re a family of five our stateroom had an extra few feet of space at the end where a twin Murphy bed could be pulled out. Though it doesn’t seem like much, compared with the standard staterooms, that extra few feet really seemed to make a difference when the bed was put away.
The kids were itching to get in the Mickey pool and slide down the infamous Mickey slide about 100 times so we wandered to deck 9 (just one flight of stairs from our stateroom) to let them play. They were thrilled that they could swim to their hearts content and eat as much soft serve ice cream as they could hold practically all at the same time! I was thrilled to be able to sit in a comfy spot and have as much Diet Coke as I could hold.
Mickey's Splash Zone!
All the self serve ice cream the kids could eat!
Before we knew it we had to head back to the stateroom to don our life jackets for the mandatory safety drill on Deck 4. I was pleased to see that our luggage had arrived so I began to unpack as The Man got the kids their jackets. We didn’t rush out once the alarm sounded since we knew that getting to the drill first is only rewarded by standing out on the deck in uncomfortable life jackets until every single guest arrives in their designated spot. No fun at all. So we took our time and only had to stand out on the deck for about 5 minutes.
After the drill we headed up to Deck 10 to watch us pull out of port. The party was in full swing up there with music and dancing and drinks galore!
See that rainbow? No photo editing required... it was really there.
The beautiful sound of the “When You Wish Upon A Star” horn rang through our ears as we all watched for dolphin and waved goodbye to Florida.
Granddaddy & Shwinks
Bye Florida!
Looking back at the coastline
Royal Caribbean & Carnival off ahead
Finally the kids wanted to go have fun with their clubs so we dropped them off and The Man and I had a few moments to ourselves to enjoy the adult Jacuzzi. It was raining out, but the hot tub is covered and we were pleased to be able to sail the seas and have the tub to ourselves. Time went by too quickly and we had to go on to get dressed for dinner at Parrot Cay.
We got acquainted with our server, Sheldon, who would rotate with us from night to night at all the different restaurants. He showed our exhausted children magic tricks to keep them entertained and we loved him for it. :)
Our bellies were full to the brim and it was time to head back to the room to delight in our first turn down service. I think turn down service may possibly be my favorite part of the cruise. Our stateroom host was Lorenzo and I wanted to stuff him in my suitcase and bring him home. Our room was so welcoming and cozy every night, complete with towel animals and delicious chocolates.
Our constant companions
And we were rocked to sleep by the soothing Atlantic Ocean.
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing! We are taking this same cruise in two (yes, we do believe in planning ahead!) years so I was glad to hear all about it. I would love even more details!! We feel very lucky because we managed to book one of the two bedroom suites for our trip. There are only two on the entire ship, so I was thrilled when my travel agent called this week!!
I'm really starting to think that's the best way to 'do' Disney. I'm not sure I could deal with all the lines and heat in the parks, but a hot tub and a plate load of shrimp I think I could manage.
This looks like so much fun! I wish we could;ve done it when the boys were younger. WOW!
you didn't take me... snif.
looked like fun! i am begging hubby right now for us to go next year.
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