Disney Cruise Part 4: Character Breakfast

Everyone is assigned a morning for a special "character breakfast".  Ours was our first morning on the ship.  Almost all the characters made their way around the tables to take pictures with everyone and interact a bit.

 

Another interesting thing about the character breakfast is the servers go around and make napkin hats for everyone.  Erin got a giant bow:

 

(yes, her teeth are covered in chocolate sauce)

 

Robbie got a Robin Hood hat:

 

 

And Rob got this:

 

 

I was lucky enough to be the photographer and didn't take a picture of my own hat!  It was a yellow TABLECLOTH ala Rapunzel and it was way too long & bulky for me to wear for the rest of breakfast anyway.

 

Minnie Mouse

Dale

Pluto

Mickey

Goofy

 

Chip



Disney Cruise Part 3: Around the Ship

We tried to take a lot of pictures of different places on the ship, but looking through tem now, I realize we didn't get as many as we probably should have.  Kids in windows...

You can barely see a dark spot to the left of this splash, but it was a whale!  Sadly, this was the best photo I could get of it.  We saw whales a couple of times, but never very close up.

The first sunrise from our veranda

The main lobby - a cool glass sculpture/chandelier thing and double staircase:

There was a phenomenal kids area where you can drop off the kids and they can run around a play and do their own thing while the parents go to a show or take a nap or whatever.  I wondered if the kids would get bored of it after a while, but they never did.  They weren’t there all the time, but they were always excited to go, and they never really asked to be picked up.  They can stay til midnight if they want to.  They have electronic wristbands (like house arrest monitors – ha ha) so only the right parents can check them in and out, and they have GPS in them in case a kid gets lost.  Each stateroom also had two "wave phones" - kind of older model cell phones that work on the ship so you can call or text each other if you're doing separate things and trying to meet up, or if the kids need you for something while they're in te kid's lab.  They came in handy.

They didn’t allow photos in the kids’ areas, but I got one from the drop off area.  You can kind of see all the crazy lights and big screens & stuff in there.  There are separate areas for younger kids and older kids, and then the teens and tweens have their own areas on a whole different deck.  There were all kinds of games, toys, computers, books, beanbags, movies, and a couple of play structures.  They also had organized activities like crafts, science experiments, cooking classes, games, character appearances… those kids kept busy!

Of course the whole ship is very family-friendly, but there are also some adults-only areas, like little night clubs and the spa, a little café, and one pool is only for adults.  Disney is one of the few cruise lines without a casino on board, so we liked that a lot.  There was plenty of alcohol flowing, but we really didn’t have to deal with obnoxious drunks or partiers.  It was a good environment.

There were two full-sized theaters where we watched some movies and some really good musical productions.  I thought these would be cheesy & wasn’t too excited to see them, but they’re full-on productions with very impressive stage props and effects, and the acting/dancing was really good.  It’s something we’d really enjoy even if we weren’t trapped in the middle of the ocean!  This photo is from about halfway up the rows.

There were a few small lounge areas where you can relax and listen to piano players or bands or play with board games, and some larger studio-type areas where they had comedians and game shows and karaoke.

This was fun - one night we planned to go to a karaoke thing with another family, and when we got there, they had ordered virgin drinks for Rob and me (strawberry daiquiri and banana colada...mmmmm) and Cokes for the kids!  Here they are fueling up...

One thing we liked about the adult entertainment - Not "adult entertainment" if you know what I mean... everything was pretty clean, the comedians didn't curse all through their acts, and even if something was a little racy, it would be considered "Disney Dirty".  Not sleazy or creepy.  This was from a little skit some of the crew members did on the last night.

On the top deck, they have a sports court with basketball hoops and soccer goals, all surrounded with netting so you don’t lose your ball into the ocean!  There were also foosball tables, air hockey, and ping pong tables.  There was an arcade that we never even used.

This is a little clip of us walking through the "Route 66" part of the ship. I thought it was a cool area.

There’s a shallow pool in the shape of Mickey Mouse, with a cute slide and a splash pad for the little kids, and there’s a four-foot deep family pool that they can slide a deck over when they do big parties.



 

Robbie watching a bit of Toy Story and eating ice cream by the family pool.  This is the one they can cover with the deck.

 



Every night with turndown service, they leave a "navigator" in your room - a sheet outlining all the activities for the next day.  You can be as busy or as lasy as you like!

 

Disney Cruise Part 2: Our Stateroom

We booked one of the larger rooms with a veranda, so that was pretty nice.  I think it would be rough in an interior room, so that was probably money well spent.  Here’s our room – we learned that people like to put magnets on their doors, so we came prepared with some cool ones.

Entering the room, the closet is on the right and the bathrooms are on the left.  Pretty narrow coming in:

They have one small bathroom with a sink and toilet and a second one with a sink and shower with a cute mini tub.  Having the two separate rooms was helpful with all four of us. You can see some shelves reflected in the mirror above the sink - those are to the right of the toilet when you walk in.

And you can see the closet doors reflected in the other sink mirror.

We had a queen bed and the kids sort of had bunk beds.  The couch turns into a bed, and the top bunk comes down from the ceiling.  They loved it!  They took turns on the top bunk, and whoever slept up there usually work up with their pillow on the floor.  The best part is that we didn’t have to mess with setting up the beds because they crew does that during turndown service.

This is from the veranda door looking in toward the stateroom door.  That's the kids' couch/bed on the right.
 

And this is from the queen bed looking toward the veranda, with the bunk beds set up.

We actually had quite a lot of room to store stuff, and we didn’t feel cramped.  One more view - this is from the bed with the couch on the left.  You can also see the  room divider curtain to the right of the TV.
 

Every night we found a different towel animal on the bed after turndown service… Here they are:

Elephant

Bunny

 

Bear

 

Monkey (with chocolate gold coin eyes on pirate night)

 

Dog (they put Rob's shades on him)

 

Lobster with chocolate eyes

 

Disney Cruise Part 1: The First Day

We’ve been planning and saving for a Disney cruise for a year, and last week we finally went!  It was awesome!  Where to start?

Last Saturday, we drove to L.A. (about 5 – 6 hours).  We stopped along the way to have lunch with Rob’s uncle J.B. and his wife Carol.

We stayed the night at the Crowne Plaza, because they have a “stay and sail” deal where they drive you to and from the cruise center and keep your car in their underground garage while you’re gone.  Not bad!  That night, we walked across the street to see some cool guns and torpedoes outside the Navy museum.  We also saw the U.S.S. Iowa and some cool dancing fountains.

 

We brought nail polish so Erin and I could do our nails in the hotel.  Never mind my wrinkly E.T. fingers - we made little Mickeys with black polish  :)

 

 

We woke up early the next morning and watched for the Disney Wonder to show up in the harbor…

After breakfast, we headed over to the cruise center and checked in.  Disney knows their stuff, and they’re super-organized!  While we waited, Mickey came out and the kids got their picture taken with him.  It wasn’t long before it was time to board!

 

Heading down the gangway…

 

When you board the ship, they have a little reception line of crew members and they announce your family’s entrance like it’s a big deal.  It’s pretty cool.  Here’s a little clip of that:

We knew we wouldn’t be able to access our room for a couple of hours, so we took our time at the buffet and checking out the rest of the ship.  We ran into several characters along the way:

 

That evening was the sail away party on the top deck.  All the characters come out and perform for a little bit.  There’s lots of music and dancing and lights & it’s pretty fun.  Then there’s a countdown and we got to hear the Disney horn – it plays “When You Wish Upon a Star”… here’s another clip:

 

And before we knew it, we were headed out to open water on our way to Mexico!

Halloween 2012

This year, the kids were the martians from Sesame Street.  They weren't on the show very often, but they're our favorite!

 

If you don't remember them, search "Sesame Street Martians" on YouTube - you won't be sorry!  I gathered up some crushed velvet, old baseball hats, ping pong balls, and pipe cleaners and voila - Costumes!

The kids got to trick-or-treat twice this year.  Once at the trunk-or-treat and then again in the neighborhood on Halloween.  We have plenty of candy at our house!