Our last morning in Orlando started with an early wake up call, with a rep from the cruise company picking up our luggage by 8 am.
Here's a shot of a butterly Lis was fascinated with that morning.
After a quick breakfast we headed over to the gift shop where we splurged on some necklaces for the girls (the Ariel locket and a Minnie Mouse Belle one for Lu). We went back a few times for stuff we missed or debated over (a magnet for the house, for instance) and while Lis briefly went back in I played Zombie Tag with the girls in the bright sunshine outside.
Lisa then took the kids over to the play area.
The only other kids there were a boy and girl from England. The little girl and LuLu seemed to take an instant dislike to one another, and at one point I caught the whole kit and kaboodle facing off against one another under the slide.
"What's going on?" I asked YaYa.
"They're having a STAREDOWN!" she said ever so dramatically.
"Whatever," I said amused and annoyed at the same time. "This isn't a prison yard."
On the way out we stopped to pose for some pics outside the pool. The group shot was done by a . . well, not the brightest woman. It took her several minutes and two tries to get a pic that required some serious tweaking on the computer.
On the way back to the room we saw some lizards darting into the bushes, and took a few minutes to examine some snails on the sidewalk. We'll come back to snails later.
We passed the last few minutes before boarding the bus to Cape Canaveral in the hotel lobby. While we were there YaYa struck up a quick friendship with a girl from IL. More on her later too.
From there it was an hour bus ride to Cape Canaveral, with Lu (as always on this trip) at my side.
Our first glimpse of the Disney Wonder - all 964 by 106 feet and 83,000 tons, larger than the Titanic - was very surreal; I was awed by its size and its beauty, but still feeling regret over having to leave DisneyWorld in the midst of our fun.
After you pass through security at the terminal you go upstairs and pass through a Mickey Ear doorway and onto the ship itself.
[At that point we were handed our first antiseptic wipes of the trip. They were downright pushy in handing out the things throughout the cruise. I realized their purpose, but only grew to appreciate it once we returned and heard Carnival had 700 people fall ill on a cruise while we were at sea]
"And what is your family name?" a greeter on the ship asked as we entered after having our pic taken on the gangway.
We told them.
The woman promptly picked up a microphone. "Please welcome the Slapinions Family" she said, and the people around us began to applaud.
It was darn neat, and what's more the woman got our name right - and after hearing it pronounced only the one time!
[I suppose this is as good a time as any to describe my impressions of the ship itself.
Beautiful, top to bottom (naturally), from its traditional two funnels down to the stateroom levels. It's done in an updated Art Noveau style with subtle tips of the hat to Mickey throughout. Overall the ship is stunning without feeling cold or untouchable, and it has an easy to navigate layout that feels like home after a day at sea.]
Before we went to our stateroom we went up to the 5th floor and registered the girls for the Oceaneer's Club, the ships onboard daycare/kids entertainment area.
Most of the registration had already been done online, including listing the girls by their everyday nicknames, which I thought was cute.This quick process upon boarding was mainly a chance to verify the info and receive the pager that would be used to contact us in an emergency (#1406)
From there it was one deck up to our stateroom, #6607.
I must admit, the size of the room through me. It was big by, say, the standards of a Tokyo apartment, but for four people to spend 4 days there . . well, it was certainly gonna take a diligent effort to keep the clothing organized.
With our stomachs grumbling we made our first of many trips to the 9th deck, home of the ships pools, 24 hr beverage center, two great dining places, and some really outstanding views.
We grabbed a quick snack of fruit and some sinful bakery. I had an inkling the cruise would give our diet some hiccups the minute I laid eyes just a fraction of what the ship had to offer.
Since we'd been pushing on since early that morning it was time for a quick nap for the girls.
[Much as I'll welcome not having to cut the day in half years down the road, I'm gonna miss being able to catch some z's and use the kids as an excuse. Oh, and by the way, there was a top bunk that had to be unfolded by the room attendant Dalton each day; he just hadn't gotten around to it in time for the nap]
A short while later the intercom chirped "When you wish upon a star' and Christian, the cruise director alerted us to the upcoming lifeboat drill.
We'd known this was coming and had prepped the kids for a week or so, so it was no frightening surprise. Even so it was a little awkward putting on the bulky life jackets and marching down to the 4th level (site M) and just waiting there looking for the imaginary iceberg in the distance.
[Funny story: as you can see from the photo Lu was obsessed with blowing the attached whistle. We didn't care. When we were on the 4th deck another mother angrily stopped her son from using the whistle "Do you have any idea how many germs are on that thing?" she said. Oopsie]
We followed that up with the embarkation party back up on the 9th deck.
There was music, there were introductions of the ship staff, there was dancing and there was the Mouse of the Hour, Mickey himself!
[it was also the first and last time we had a drink on board; bleep spending $7 for a small drink]
We even found ourselves featured on the mega-screen behind the performers - here's a shot where I'm featured among the crowd with YaYa on my shoulders - the kids had solo moments but I missed the shot.
At the end of the party the crowd counted down to zero and the ships' horn sounded, streamers went off, and we were on our way!
With only a short time to spare we headed back to the room and changed for dinner.
On Disney ships you rotate restaurants nightly, but the same waitstaff follows you each day so that your every preference and wish is acted upon before you're even aware of the need.
Our first restaurant was Triton's, named after the Little Mermaid's Dad and featuring French cuisine in the most formal of the ships restaurants with a tiled Mermaid mural on one wall.
We met our crew - Kecha and his assistant Veronica -and from Kecha learned a simple but cute disappearing crayon trick that had Lu amused and amazed!
On the basis of the fact that I would never, ever actually pay to try it, and our recent encounters with snails, I went the daring route and ordered escargot in a garlic and butter sauce.
Kinda chewy, but quite tasty too.
For desert YaYa was presented with an exquisite cake in honor of her 5th birthday.
After dinner we took the kids to the Oceaneer Club for the first time, stopping on the way to get autographs from Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and YaYa took a photograph with Captain Hook, a guy she grew fond of over the course of the trip.
Nice eyes LuLu, huh? lol
We had designs on exploring the ship ourselves but Lis wanted some time to freshen up. So we split up; I hit the promenade deck, explored the ships interior, and picked up some sea sickness pills from the customer service desk for her.
[It wasn't that she was seasick per se; she just felt a little ill at ease with the ship's motion. I had always assumed a ship of that size negated any sense of movement. On the contrary, you always have the sensation of motion; some times more than others, some places on the ship more than in others. I liked it and actually I got a kick out of it]
After a short time I noticed that Snow White, LuLu's favorite Princess, was signing autographs. I went to the Club and took Lu out to meet her, then had the fortune of stumbling over Ariel and dang near walking right into the Mad Hatter who stopped to say hello.
I took her back to the Club, wandered some more
then went back to pick up both girls.
And our first day on the ship was over.
The Bahamas lay less than 12 hours away.
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