December 10, 2006 - 12/10/06 Wonder

[disneyfan'ole]

Just finished packing, the dog is with the sitter and Alexis is in bed! I am so excited!! It is finally here!

 

[iankh]

If anyone is still reading ... this is it. We're off.. We're packed. The bags are stacked. The dogs are at the boarder. At 8:15 this morning the taxi will be here and we're off to the airport.

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

Well, we are at home. We had a wonderful time I enjoyed meeting everyone and I hope everybody got their magnets and goody bags. I really wanted to meet Nanc and so did Howard because she was so good at cheering Him on. I later found out that her husband was sick. Nanc, Is he ok now? Was it your entire cruise? I am so sorry that happened. We saw Andrea more than anyone and we enjoyed our time with her family. Would we do another Disney Cruise? Absolutely positively Yes!!!! We loved it and the children loved it. I didnt get to meet Monica or Ian although they both wrote notes on my door. I wish I could have met yall too. Ian I apologize for not getting with you but I had to pack. We only used maybe a fourth of the clothes I packed. cant wait to hear from everyone!!

 

[BabyBird]

I really wanted to meet Nanc and so did Howard because she was so good at cheering Him on. I later found out that her husband was sick. Nanc, Is he ok now? Was it your entire cruise? I am so sorry that happened.

I met Howard when I delivered the goodies. I handed him the Albuquerque pin. How cute he is.
I'm so sorry that we missed pretty much everything. Joe got sick and they locked him away. I spent most of the trip going and getting stuff for him/us to eat and do. We had Palo dinner in the cabin on Pirate night. God is good and the fireworks were right outside our veranda. Wasn't that spectacular??? The party sounded very fun. Joe encouraged me to go but I didn't want to leave him because by then he was feeling better and was super bored with being sequestered.
More later - our house/dog sitter is here and we need to review the kids behavior while we were gone!
Suffice to say the trip was amazing. Blessings to you all...
Nanc

 

[SILLYANDI]

we're home too! EXHAUSTED THOUGH! We made it safe and that's all that matters (story to follow). I had such a great time and it was nice t meet the few of yu that I got to!
I'll have to write more later, but wanted to check in and let everyone know we made it home!

 

[BabyBird]

We made it safe and that's all that matters (story to follow).

Sounds like we weren't the only ones with interesting events on our trip!!! I can't wait to hear. Hey, are we going to post here or on the trip reports board? Or both?

 

[mishoe01]

I can't believe the cruise is over! I unfortunately never got to meet Nanc, Andrea or Shari. Nanc - sorry that your cruise was not what was expected. Hope Joe is feeling better.

I ended up meeting Ian (and Suchi-hope I'm spelling that correctly), Neal and his family, Rina and her family, Jennifer and her daughter, Kristen and family, and James and Charlotte from the UK.

Thank you to everyone who "adopted" me for meals - greatly appreciated, and I had a blast meeting everyone. I posted my pictures already, and will try to get a trip report done up soon.

Am I the only one who is going to go through withdrawl by not having the planning, and reading this board every day? I can't believe we're already off the ship.

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

Monica - I posted one hour after I got home. I miss it already.

Nanc - I hope Howard was on his best behavior, bless his heart, he was on a major disney high. everything was "awesome Mom". He stayed at the club until 1:00 in the morning. I asked him about you and he said he was nervous because he didnt know you. He says that but we bought pictures of him and other little boys that we dont even know because they would decide to get their picture made. When I told him who you were he was like ahhhh. If he had known he would have talked your ears off. Steve at the club wanted to know if he had an on off switch. So do yall want to try disney again?

Surprisingly William is ready to go back. We enjoyed the cruise and each other and the very little time we had with the children.

Rina came and met me while I was packing. No telling what she thought of me with all of my luggage. Our stateroom host wanted to know where else we were going. he was great.

 

[ktpool]

Hi everyone!

We just got back tonight. I am so exhausted - the last 2 days at Disney pushed me over the edge!

It was nice meeting everyone we got a chance to - Monica, Shari and kids, Nanc, Shawn, Rina. I missed Andrea and Ian completely, saw Neal only in passing in Shawn's cabin. I can't believe we had 5:30 dinner - it made most things rushed.

Nanc - I hope Joe didn't completely hate his cruise! That bites - my daughter thought you looked very pretty when we saw you dressed for Palo

Emilee is upset she didn't get to meet any of the girls except Christie (and Sam briefly in the club, I think!). She and her cousin hit it off better than I expected and they were inseperable.

Well, I am going to bed! Will check in later!

Was anyone else sick the first rough night? Emilee was miserable and kept crying "Why me, Mom". This is the same girl that didn't flinch on Expedition Everest the day before while I was brought to my knees for 2 hours. But I didn't get motion sick at all on the ship. Isn't that crazy?

 

[neckhardt]

Was anyone else sick the first rough night? Emilee was miserable and kept crying "Why me, Mom". This is the same girl that didn't flinch on Expedition Everest the day before while I was brought to my knees for 2 hours. But I didn't get motion sick at all on the ship. Isn't that crazy?

Just got back, a quick note:

Yes, my son got sick on Nassau day, and 7 hours after Palo dinner my wife prayed to the stainless steel God.

Neal

 

[disneyfan'ole]

HELLO!!! We are back and ready to go again!! I did bring back a free disney souviner! A cold! Too many kisses from the mouse!

We had a great time and the only ones we didn't get to meet were Andrea and Nanc. Nanc, I am so sorry that Joe got sick. I do hope he is feeling better.

We missed so much on the boat because there was a lot to do! Alexis loved the kids club and didn't want to leave!

Shari, I didn't mind all the clothes!! I was so nice talking to you both!

Kristen, we had the 5:45 seating and we also felt a little rushed. We would have like the 6pm one.

Monica, we will have to do palo's again!! I hope my family wasn't to crazy for you!

Ah, well back to work. YUCK!

 

[mishoe01]

HELLO!!! Monica, we will have to do palo's again!! I hope my family wasn't to crazy for you!

Ah, well back to work. YUCK!

Rina - I loved your family - you guys made me feel like I was part of it. Thanks a bunch. I will join you again ANYTIME!

Hope everyone is doing well. I started my trip report yesterday - embarkation day is done. Will try to do more today.

I'm holding out for the rest of the 2008 itineraries before I decide what I'm doing - but anyone up for a reunion??

When every anyone comes over to see the Mouse and if you want to meet up, let me know. If I can do it, I'M THERE!

Can't believe Christmas is next week! I'm not ready!!!

 

[AlexandNessa]

Hi everyone, sorry I didn't get to meet you all! I only met Shari and William because I saw their bracelets when we were shopping.

Mike and I had a great time, and we rebooked onboard for 2008. We picked February for now, but will probably change to fall for a bit warmer weather. We'd like it to be just a bit warmer next time! Of course, we booked a 7-day. We knew the 4-day would be too short, and it sure was. The girls thought about rebooking onboard, but didn't, and I'm disappointed. My sister was very ill the first night from the swells. I had given her a dramamine just after sail away, but not enough time to get into her systerm. She was soooo sick that first night, but did feel a little better after she "prayed to the stainless steal God" as Neal would say! I have learned to take a Bonine the night before I sail whether I need it or not. That way, it's already in your system when you need it. By the time you need it and you take something then, it's way too late. Hopefully, my sister learned this lesson, as Mike ate her dinner that night and he didn't want to have to do that again!

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

I wanted to make sure we thanked everyone for our goodies. If not, Thank you all soooooo much. I also have leftover magnets, so if you didnt get yours let me know and I will mail it. I dont need an abundance of elvis magnets. Williams party was last night and it was great. Everything went really smooth and the place was wonderful. We get to go to a party tonight which will be alot less stessful and more fun!!!! I am sure the week after Christmas I will be so bored. With the trip preparations and now the holidays I have been so busy I will have so much extra time it is unreal. I dont know about yall but my children are still tired!!! We got our pictures back and they are great great memories. We had one made with Andrea and her family and Everyone is like who is that, we didnt know yall went with family. When I explain they think it is really cool. For yall that didnt meet her, She is a very sweet and organized mom. She handles her large group much better than I do my two!!!!!!

 

[SILLYANDI]

We got our pictures back and they are great great memories. We had one made with Andrea and her family and Everyone is like who is that, we didnt know yall went with family. When I explain they think it is really cool. For yall that didnt meet her, She is a very sweet and organized mom. She handles her large group much better than I do my two!!!!!!

Well for such a sweet and organized mom (thanks Shari! ) I haven't had time to properly thank everyone----Thank you all for the wonderful gifts (my son asked if it was Christmas already) and the neat magnets.
I'm sorry we didn't get to meet ANY of you-we really had a good excuse (see below) and after that I could hardly get my own family together for a picture let alone organized enough to go meet the rest of you. We were busy from sun up to sun down EVERYDAY! We had such a blast, we rebooked for Feb 2008 (7 day western) also. We are going to look at Early Dec rates when they come out, so we may be changing dates.

So here it goes- We woke up late on the 10th and when DH went to pick up the rental van the lady in front of him got into a fistfight with the worker (who happened to be the only employee there at the time) and after the cops and everything it ended up taking him about 3 hours to get back to our hotel and pick us all up. We had planned on eating lunch on board, but by this time the kids were starving so we had to stop for food (another 30 mins) then when we got to the port Matt had to drop off the rental van which took another 30 mins. We FINALLY boarded at about 2:45 (no crowd though!!) and the kids were so wiped out that they went to our room and napped until dinner at 5:30 while I took care of shipboard credit issues and our room keys which didn't work (our cabin attendant had to let us in to nap-I think he felt bad for us because all 4 of the kids were crying and laying on the floor!).
After dinner we all went back to our room and slept.
I did get to meet Shawn when I went to pick up all the goodies that were left for us (thanks again everyone).
The cruise was incredible too many magical moments to recount them all-our trip home was as bad as the rental car thing. We were late to the airport but we managed to get to our gate before the plane left without us (picture the shoeless Egan's running through the terminal with 4 kids, 4 blankets, 1 stroller, a hugh monster truck that wouldn't fit in the luggage and 5 backpacks). We get to Atlanta for our connection and another plane is parked in our terminal so we have to sit for 45 mins waiting for that plane to push back so we can de-plane. Our connection left without us (it was the last flight for the night to ONT) and we were stranded in Atlanta. By the grace of God a plane flying into LAX was delayed for the same reason as ours and we were able to sob story a group of people into letting us have theirseats so we made it home, although it was 2 am our time and none of our luggage made it.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Shari and I have a wonderful story to share of how we met up...Here it goes

I flew in to WDW on the 6th with all 4 kids by myself (remember DH had to work in the am and caught up with us really late on the 6th). My 6 year old was absolutely set on seeing Spectromagic and that night was the only night we would be able to do it. As you can imagine, I was at wits end after 8 hours on a plane with 4 kids and really wasn't feeling the Disney love at that point but I humored them. We took the monorail into MK and could hear the music starting as we were going through security checks. DD6 starts crying "IT STARTED we're going to miss it all!". We walk in to a packed parade crowd and I figure we are screwed. I look in the crowd and see the only possible opening and tell the kids "ask this nice lady right here if you can stand in front of her". They do, she lets us and we are all happy campers.
I start to tell the nice woman about our journey from California to see this darn parade and how much I appreciate her letting my kids block her view then she asked me the strangest question..."Where in California-Is it San Dimas?" WOW-she's nice and reads minds was my first thought. Then I looked at who she was standing with and realized "there's a girl Christie's age standing right next to Madison, there's a boy Howard's age right next to the nice woman-SHOOT-IT'S GOT TO BE SHARI AND HER FAMILY!!!"
Can you believe it?? Of the tens of thousands of people watching that parade-I pick the nice woman who happens to be Shari out of the crowd!!
That was when I knew this was going to be a totally incredible and magical trip!

 

[iankh]

Perhaps I'm the straggler here? Technically, we're still on vacation, although sitting in MCO waiting for our delayed flight to Chicago. This is the first internet access I've had since we left (I refuse to pay the silly charges on the Ship and WDW).

Sorry I missed most everyone, though I did meet a few. Thanks Monica for a great on-ship interview (Did you feel like a star with the microphone?).

The cruise was great! It was a snooze-a-thon, with us falling asleep on different parts of the ship. Now I know how our dogs feel. We slept on deck 9, deck 10 but our favorite were the ultra comfy deck chairs on deck 4.

We did not really care for Nassau and will probably just stay onboard the ship on our next cruise.

We booked on our next cruise on board to take advantage of the discount. Now I need to see if I can get my travel agent to do some switching for us, so we can keep the secret porthole rooms we booked with her and the price we got onboard.

Our cruise was followed by 8-nights in WDW. Our first 4 nights were at the Boardwalk Villas in a 1-bedroom, boardwalk view. The room and the view was great. We could see the fireworks from Illuminations from our balcony. The Boardwalk does have some very loooong hallways, and we were at the end of one of them, it made for a terrific view but a long walk. I kept joking that I thought our room must techincally be in the Dolphin!

The next 4-nights we stayed in the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, our favorite property onsite. Had a great 1-bedroom on third floor, with only a view of the trees. It was wonderful to sit on the balcony in the early morning sipping coffee and listening to the dawn chorus.

We had a great time in the parks too. It was not a commando trip at all, but very leisurely. So, now we will see how long it takes us to get back to Chicago.

 

[mishoe01]

I hope everyone is having a great Holiday season - can't believe Christmas is done and next week will be 2007.

 

[MINNIE OF TWO MICE]

I actually posted on the day they took the dis boards down to do whatever they had to do. Evidently they lost it. It was a story of our first morning with the taxi company. Obviously turned out ok but the whole family was upset before takeoff. I will post again later in the week. We had a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to a great new year.

 

[HappyLawyer]

Hi, all just got home today, the whoe trip in all was nice, we had a few ship issues but all were resolved eventually, not sure if we will do anoter DCL i think i would like to expereince different places but Florida in 2008 is a definite must, every two years.

It was great to meet everyone, Shari, i think you are a gem and Crisite is sooooo sweet.

Take care all