Cruising the seas

Whilst it was sad to be leaving DisneyWorld, it was exciting to be heading off on our cruises. Our luggage was collected at 8:30, and we had not much to do until the bus meeting time of 11:00. So lots of Disney Jr on the TV it was.

We met up with all the others at Jambo House and were soon on our way. We had a quick stop to pick up some more people at the Pop hotel and then it was full steam ahead to the port. 

Check in was painless, Charlotte was registered with the kids club, and we were then walking through the big ears to get our embarkation photo taken. Photo done, and we were being announced onto the ship to the applause of the crew. Yay! 

Important things first - Wayne, Joy, Charlotte, and James headed off for food, Michelle headed off to stand in line for tickets. The line was fairly long, but eventually she had tickets for meet and greets with the princesses, Anna and Elsa, and the Marvel characters in her hands. Then she, too, could go and eat. 

We found our stateroom after lunch and met our room host for the next 15 nights - Glenlyss. Then it was off to the Facebook group meet-up to collect pre-ordered tshirts, lanyards, and pins, and to meet the people we'd been talking to for the last several months. 

After the meet-up it was time for the lifeboat drill and then the Adventures Away deck party. This is when you REALLY feel like you're on holidays - the music is pumping, the characters come on stage to party, and then you do a big count down...5...4...3...2...1, and the horn plays the first 7 notes of When You Wish Upon A Star. The music keeps going, and all of a sudden you realise that the ship is moving, and you're off!!!

2 days before the cruise Disney announced that they were changing our itinerary for the Transatlantic cruise. Originally the ports had been New York, St John's, Reykjavik, Oslo, and Copenhagen. Unfortunately there was too much ice in the harbour at St John's,  so we were unable to call in there. Disney decided to switch their Canadian port to Halifax instead. The other side effect of the ice was that, in order to sail around it, we wouldn't have enough time to call at Reykjavik. Instead Disney decided to  replace that port with Stavenger in Norway. Whilst it was disappointing that we wouldn't get to those places, it was better than ending up like the Titanic (which wasn't that far from St John's when it sunk!)

Anyway...no matter what ports we were heading to, we were off and sailing. WooHoo! 

Our luggage had finally arrived in our stateroom by this time, so Michelle started unpacking - much easier to live out of drawers for 2 weeks than suitcases! Then we were soon headed off to dinner in Cariocas. 

Disney has 3 main dining rooms - all Disney  themed of course. Lumiere's is French, and inspired by Beauty and the Beast, Animator's Palate (or Palace, as Wayne keeps calling it) is based on the drawings and cartoons of Disney, and has screens all around the room which they use for great effect, and Cariocas is Brazilian themed - although I'm not sure which Disney link that is. 

As well as the three main dining rooms they have Palo - an Italian adults only restaurant, and Cabanas - a buffet for breakfast and lunch, and a sit down venue for dinner. There is also room service 24 hours a day, and tons of snacks up on deck - burgers, pizza, soup, wraps, ice cream, etc. 

Anyway, we headed up to dinner to meet our servers for the next 15 days. Bojan from Croatia was our server, and Maria from Brazil was our assistant server. Our dining room head server was Ronald from India. Dinner was yummy, as usual - a 4 course meal every night? We can do that!

After dinner we decided to skip the show and wandered around for a bit - checked out the Promenade Lounge where music was playing and a toddler play area was set up, looked at some characters, Charlotte went to the kids club, and then we eventually headed back to our rooms.

Charlotte was sharing a room with Joy for this cruise, and was very excited as she got to sleep in a bunk bed! It pulls down from the ceiling in the room. James was in our room on the sofa converted to a bed. We had a beautiful towel animal on our bed, and yummy chocolates for turn down. The chocolates have a picture of Sleepy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on it :).

Michelle continued unpacking, and then eventually our first day on the ship had to come to a close - looking forward to more to come!

Last day at DisneyWorld :(

All good things must come to an end right? 

Today started with Wayne deciding that the cold he'd had for the last few days had finally got the better of him, so he decided to stay in bed while the rest of us headed to the Magic Kingdom. 

Today was Joy's first day at Magic Kingdom, so we had planned to revisit some of the kids' favourite rides with her. But first, Michelle and Charlotte had a date with Space Mountain! While they were on that Joy took James for a walk and watched the main stage show. 

We then all headed off to the Little Mermaid ride, followed by a ride on Winnie the Pooh. James loved Winnie the Pooh and kept saying "again, again" when he got off. 

We headed towards the parade, but stopped to watch the main stage show on the way - Charlotte had been asking to see it all week, and this was our last chance. 

Once that was over I t was almost time for the parade, and Wayne had arrived in the park. So he took James off to ride Winnie the Pooh again while Michelle, Charlotte, and Joy watched the parade. We didn't have the magical pixie dust this time, but it was still amazing. Disney do entertainment so well. 

Prefe over and it was time for Charlotte's favourite ride - Splash Mountain. Joy had said she would go on it, but wasn't fantastically keen :). Still, she went on, and even smiled for the camera when Charlotte told her to. 

It was almost time for our final dinner reservation, so we slowly made our way out of the park for the final time :(. 

Dinner was at the Grand Floridian hotel - dinner with Cinderella and the rest of the family - Prince Charming, Lady Tremayne, Drizella, and Anastasia. 

We headed back via the Magic Kingdom to get one last look at it all lit up, then on the bus to the hotel and the final packing up. Tomorrow - cruise time!!!

Enjoy, you will

The Today was a very early start. We had breakfast reservations for 8:30 at the Sci-Fi Diner at Hollywood Studios. But rope drop was at 8:00 for guests staying on Disney property, and we wanted to get there right on opening. 

So we jumped on the bus and headed off - getting there about 5 minutes to 8. Our first rope drop of the trip!

Once the gates opened we headed inside and lined up for tickets to...well, you'll find out later :). Once that was done we headed off for breakfast. 

In mid to late May, Hollywood Studios run special Star Wars weekends. So throughout May they offer special character meals. You can have dinner with the Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters (eg Minnie Princess Leia, Mickey Luke Skywalker, etc.) or you can have breakfast with some of the "baddies".

We walked in and got a photo with Darth Vader and Bobba Fett, then were shown to our table. At the Sci-Fi Diner all the tables are in cars, like a drive-in movie, with a big screen at the front. The screen was playing clips from various Star Wars movies, clips of interviews with directors etc., and the new Star Wars trailer.

While we are our breakfast we had some visitors - Greedo, some Storm Troopers, and some Jawas. Charlotte was a little scared of the Storm Troopers, but finally warmed up to them at the end. 

Breakfast over, we headed off to the Tower of Terror. Michelle and Charlotte headed on first. While they were in the queue the ride malfunctioned, so it took a little longer than planned to get on it. Once on Charlotte got very scared of the intro (a Twilight Zone type movie), and by the time they got to the top of the walk had decided she was too scared to go on the ride. Michelle and the woman in front of them in line convinced her that it wasn't scary any more, the scary bit was over, and she reluctantly got on. 

It was definitely the right move, as she loved it. She couldn't wait to go on it again with Wayne, but the delay meant that had to wait. We headed off to our next event - the tickets we'd queued for in the morning. 

Charlotte went to Jedi training! She was given a robe and a light saber and taken on a stage with a Jedi Master to learn how to be a Jedi. Half way through training though, Darth Vader appeared!!! All the trainees lined up on the side of the stage and took turns fighting Darth Vader. Charlotte was a little hesitant to go forward when it was her turn, but eventually fought him. Finally Darth Vader was defeated, and all the trainees were granted Padawan status! Yay Charlotte!!!

(Photos and video will come when I have proper internet connection.)

We split up from Joy at this point and the 4 of us headed off to Toy Story Midway Mania. Everyone loved this ride - including James. 

We then went to our last fastpass for the day - a Frozen singalong. A stage show where everyone got to sing with Anna and Elsa - and it even snowed at the end!!!

After that we decided that since it was so hot we'd be better off going back to the hotel for a swim before dinner. Wayne took Charlotte and James down while Michelle made a sort of attempt at packing. While swimming they played games with the staff, and Charlotte and James each won a little toy monkey. 

Dinner that night was at Boma, the African buffet at Jambo House. The food was beautiful, and we were all totally stuffed at the end. 

 

Epcot

Epcot is the park that we really weren't sure about - in the past it's been the one that we didn't have a lot to do in, but we still wanted to do some of the rides, so we headed over this morning, leaving Joy to nap a bit longer. 

We had organised most of our rides in the morning so we could park hop if we wanted, so we quickly got going on the main rides. 

Charlotte's favourite was Test Track, where you got to design your own car and then race round a track while it lets you know how your car is going in terms of performance, speed, etc. Michelle and Charlotte went first, is anyone surprised that the car was pink? Charlotte was quite disappointed when she realised that they didn't actually build a real version of her computer design to ride around the track in. On the other hand, it cheered her up when her car came first overall of all the virtual cars in that group. 

That took a long time, and Joy had arrived by this time, so we went and grabbed some Mexican for lunch.

After lunch it started to rain, so Wayne and Charlotte thought it would be a good time to do their run on Test Track. Michelle, James, and Joy headed off to walk around the country pavilions and look at some of the topiaries that were out for the Flower and Garden show there. 

About halfway round they came across an A Capella concert, so stopped to watch it. James loved it so much that Michelle and James stayed there to wait for the next show while Joy kept walking.

After that they headed round to the main fountain to find Wayne and Charlotte. After they had finished Test Track (again, a pink car!) they started heading towards the concert but got sidetracked by a water play area. Given how hot it was that day, it was a nice place to cool down. 

After we all met up again the 4 of us headed back to the hotel for dinner back at the African cafe while Joy wandered off to keep looking around and use her fastpass for Soarin'. 

Harry Potter World!

WooHoo! It's Harry Potter day. 

We got up, ate some breakfast in our room, and headed on the shuttle bus to the other Animal Kingdom resort - Jambo House - to wait for our shuttle to Universal Studios. 

We headed in and went straight to the most important (only important?) part of Universal - Harry Potter World. We did get a bit sidetracked on the way though. 

We stopped at a ride called ??? (Disaster?) and jumped in the queue. It turned out to be a ride which had an interactive part at the start - and Charlotte was the first volunteer. We were all moved into a room where they were filming a new disaster movie - the director was Christopher Walken, well a hologram of him anyway. The director told us about the movie and then we moved onto filming. 

As everyone say and watched Charlotte and the other actors had to film their pieces. Charlotte went first. She had to stand on a ledge and stare up at a large rock hanging from the ceiling - they called that staring at the rock. Then she had to jump from the ledge and land on a large mat. The jump was about 3 inches - not high at all. 

After the others finished their filming we headed onto the ride itself - a train inside a subway station. Inside the train were tv screens and as the ride went and fire and water invaded the subway station, we saw the movie. 

Charlotte was jumping from a burning building - into the arms of The Rock - Dwayne Johnson! He then made sure she was ok - as she stared at him. Ha ha - staring at The Rock!

We then headed off to England - London to be precise. Or even more precisely, 12 Grimwauld Place and Diagon Alley. 

Diagon Alley was awesome. We had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, where Michelle had a Butterbeer - yum!

We purchased an interactive Hermoine wand which allowed you to spells at various portals around both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Some were quite clever, but many were hard to make work :(. 

We went and jumped in line next for the Gringott's Bank roller coaster ride. Michelle and Charlotte got all the way to the front when Charlotte realised it was 3D and didn't want to ride. Michelle convinced her she could close her eyes at the scary bit, and she eventually went on. She enjoyed the ride itself, but not the graphics. Once Michelle and Charlotte were off Wayne jumped in the single rider line and rode it too. 

Then it was time for the much anticipated Hogwarts Express ride. You sit in tiny train carriages and travel between the 2 Universal parks. Along the way you get to look out the window at the English countryside - and hear and see others having conversations in the train corridors. It was pretty awesome! 

We headed off to the main Harry Pottwr ride, walking through Hogwarts in the queue. Charlotte was too small to ride, but she and James loved the rider switch area where they got to watch Harry Potter movies. We then went on the dragon roller coasters - another one Charlotte loved. James could have ridden it, but after his experience on the Seven Dwarfs Mountain Ride where he cried almost the whole way through, we thought we wouldn't subject him to it. :)

We headed off to the lolly shop, as Charlotte had Wizard money to spend (you could exchange money at the bank in Diagon Alley), and bought some chocolate frogs and a massive lollipop. Then it was time to say goodbye to Harry Potter World (unfortunately, without the return train journey, which has different views) and we just had enough time to do a few rides on The Cat in the Hat. 

We then caught our bus back to the hotel and headed to the restaurant to eat. Charlotte was excited by the build your own cookie desserts - plain cookies with frosting, M&Ms, sprinkles, etc which you decorated yourself. James was just excited by the M&Ms. 

It was then time for bed for the kids, with another big day ahead tomorrow...and a special visitor!

Michelle's Mum, Joy, arrived about 10:00 that night. It was good to see her, but as everyone was tired it was pretty much lights out immediately. 

Animal Kingdom

We got up in the morning and, after lovely Mother's Day cuddles and surprises, packed up - very sad to be leaving such a beautiful hotel. Once the luggage was collected we jumped on a bus to Animal Kingdom. Even before we headed into the park we met Tarzan - very cool. 

Our first fastpass was for the safari, but we were able to wander slowly to get there. Charlotte found a Junior Safari station and signed herself up. She got a book and had to go and find different station  and perform activities or answer questions there to get "badges" (stickers) for her book. 

The safari was pretty amazing - we saw so many different animals and birds. Hippos, rhinos, giraffe, zebras, special types of cattle, elephants, lions, ostriches, flamingoes, and more. Once we get the photos sorted we can see exactly what we saw. The safari had different vegetation along the way, and it was amazing seeing the HUGE ant hills on the Savannah plains. 

After the safari we went to the Festival of the Lion King. This was an awesome show - phenomenal singing, great acrobatics and dancing - well worth seeing. 

Next up - Expedition Everest. A roller coaster ride set in the Himalayas with the Yeti. Charlotte loved the roller coaster bit, but wasn't thrilled with seeing the Yeti. However, the enjoyment of the roller coaster won out, so she went on a second time, with Michelle this time. 

By then we were hungry so headed off to dinosaur land for lunch. It was packed, but we found a table quickly and sent Michelle off to stand in line for hours for food. Well, really only about half an hour, but it felt like hours to everyone :)

After lunch it was time to get wet at the Kali River Rapids. James didn't like this ride very much - he didn't like the water - but everyone else appreciated the opportunity to cool down. 

We then walked through the tiger sanctuary and saw a beautiful tiger, before heading back to the bus stops. On the way Charlotte stopped at the Junior Safari station and showed them all the badges she'd earned. She was sad that she hadn't completed the book, but they told her it never ran out and she could do it next time too. They gave her another badge for telling them what her favourite animal was that she'd seen (the giraffe of course) and that made her happy again. 

We jumped on a bus and headed back to the Magic Kingdom where we had reservations to eat at the majestic Beauty and the Beast castle. The decorations on the restaurant were absolutely beautiful - it was even snowing outside the window. The food was yummy - and although we really wanted to "try the grey stuff" which apparently was "delicious, if you don't believe me ask the dishes," we were just too full. 

After dinner we were able to go and meet our host - the Beast. Charlotte was a bit scared and wouldn't have her photo taken with him, but changed her mind as we walked out the door, so we went back in and saw him again. 

We left the park via Liberty Square where we did a few more interactive portals, this time we were chasing Cruella de Ville!

We then went to the bus stop to head to our new hotel - Animal Kingdom Kidani Village. We arrived there in the dark, and found our way to reception. After checking in we walked to our room - and walked, and walked, and walked some more. We seemed to be an awfully long way away from the lobby :)

The room was beautiful - a one-bedroom apartment, with 2 bathrooms. It was decorated with Lion King motifs - carved animals in the backs of the chairs, bathroom tiles with the Savannah and animal shadows, etc. The couch folded out into a double bed, and the comfy chair folded out into a single bed - just perfect for James. 

Bedtime, ready for our big day tomorrow. 

Haircuts and hairdos and princesses and things

This morning started early with a quick breakfast before heading to the Magic a Kingdom for James to get his hair cut. We were one of the first bookings for the day - and Wayne jumped into the "standby" line to get his hair cut too. The barber asked Michelle how much she wanted cut off James' hair - she dithered so much that the barber turned and said, "we only have 10 minutes to do the cut, how much do you want off?"

So, all his curls are now gone and he looks like a proper little boy. Michelle was a bit sad, but it's growing on her. Wayne managed to get most of the grey trimmed off. :)

Both James and Wayne had pirate treasure sprinkled in their hair - nice and glittery!

We had a little bit of time before our next appointment, so we headed off to Fantasyland to finally defeat Ursula in the Sorceror's of the Magic Kingdom...which was the end of our quest. But, of course, there are always more villains to defeat, so we were offered the option to head to Liberty Square to continue. Not today though!

Charlotte had a very special appointment with a fairy-godmother-in-training to be transformed. She chose an Anna dress, and had her hair done in the newest colour streaked style. We then had photos taken before heading off for lunch. 

Whilst this was all going on Wayne and James headed off in search of food - and some rides on the carousel. 

We were lucky enough to have reservations to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table - right in Cinderella's castle. Although we were the third in line to check on, we somehow ended up as the first in line to meet Cinderella. Charlotte was then chose. As the Princess of the Day and was announced to everyone as she led them into lunch. 

We were given a window seat, with a fantastic view of the carousel. Shortly after they took our order they announced the arrival of some very special visitors - Snow White, Ariel, Merida, and Jasmine.  They all came to our tables and took photos and signed autographs. 

After lunch we jumped on the Peter Pan ride and Autotopia, and then to the parade. Charlotte was upset that her new gloves got dirty holding the steering wheel - clearly the cars aren't that clean :)

James was asleep by this time so Wayne and James stayed on one of the paths by the castle while Michelle and Charlotte went to find a good spot to watch. When they found somewhere Charlotte said she couldn't see, so the couple next to them let her in front. 

Charlotte kept asking when the parade was starting, and the guy was telling her when it was going to come, and how she would know. It turned out that the couple both worked at DisneyWorld, Michelle didn't find out where, but given they were saying they never got to see the parade, but knew every single song and dance move, it was a fairly good bet that they were part of the entertainment cast. 

It was absolutely amazing standing with them for the parade. They also seemed to know every single person in the parade, and they called out to most of them and pointed out Charlotte. Anna said something to Elsa like "there's out other sister," and told Charlotte she wanted her crown. Flynn Rider pointed at Charlotte and winked. Minnie Mouse drew a love heart with her hands and pointed at Charlotte. Those was truly one of those one-in-a-million, money-can't-buy experiences. Michelle only wishes she had gotten their names to let guest services know how wonderful they were. 

After the parade Michelle and Charlotte went to the Stitch adventure on the way back to the Buzz Lightyear ride. Michelle got her highest score ever and actually managed to beat Wayne!!! Somewhere in there (or a previous day) we also did It's A Small World. 

Our final ride for the day was Space Mountain. Although we had a fastpass for Wayne, he hates the ride and didn't want to use it. So Michelle and Charlotte went on first. Charlotte was pretty nervous, because Wayne had said how awful it was, but Michelle convinced her she should try it. 

Guess who was right? Charlotte LOVED it and wanted to get straight back on. Since the photos weren't working Michelle convinced her to wait until we came back again. 

By this time everyone was getting a bit tired, so we headed back to the hotel for dinner. Michelle stopped at guest services to let them know about the awesome parade experience, and to buy stamps, then we jumped on the ferry home. We had dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe, then back to the room. 

The movie showing on the beach that night was Tinkerbell and the Legend of the NeverBeast, so Charlotte and Michelle headed out to watch that as an early Mother's Day celebration. They didn't get to see the end though, as they headed down to the pier to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks in the distance.  There were quite a few people watching...and mosquitoes biting! Although you couldn't see the castle light show, it was still amazing.