All The Details

This trip was both completely wonderful and the vacation from hell, depending on which day you were asking me! The Disney experience was, as usual, amazing. But three of us also got a 24 hour flu bug that put a severe crimp in our fun levels. By the time we got on the plane to come home, however, we had forgotten about the flu and were sad that we had to leave. So, here are the details:

We flew out on Saturday and stayed at the hotel at the Orlando airport. This gave us time to play around a bit, relax, and get some sleep so we could get to port bright and early. On Sunday morning, we took the Disney Cruise Line bus to Port Canaveral, with our trip narrated by an overeager bus driver who kept us watching for alligators, ospreys, and some manatees that failed to appear. Check in at the port was smooth sailing, and we spent about an hour waiting in the terminal to board the ship, entertained by Disney cartoons and visits by Donald Duck. Once on the ship, our arrival was announced over a loudspeaker and we were greeted by clapping Disney employees. We headed to lunch, and then Chris and the girls went swimming while I got everyone registered for kids clubs, etc etc etc. Supper that evening was in Triton's, and we met our servers, George from India and Simona from Romania. The servers you get are vital to a good cruise and we weren't disappointed - they were fabulous! After supper, Natalie was gone to the kids club and we wandered the ship a bit with Anna before heading to our room.

This is where things went downhill a bit for me. I woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach flu :( I was sick all night and most of the next day. Monday was our day in Nassau, which I hated to ruin for everyone else, so I stumbled off the ship and managed to do a little shopping in the Straw Market with Natalie. We were going to go to the Pirate Museum, but it was closed for the holiday. Evidently, any excuse for a day off. Since I was miserable and our primary reason for getting off the ship wasn't open, we headed back. I promptly went back to bed, while Chris took the girls up to the pools. Natalie made her way back to the kids club and Chris took Anna to see some princesses. I tried making it to supper, but only managed about half an hour before I went back to the room. This is where I can insert a story about how great Disney service is - I obviously didn't want anything from the menu for supper, so I asked George for some toast. He looked a little confused, but said he'd be happy to check for me. A little bit later, the head server came by and said the kitchen staff was making me toast and it would be out soon. When George brought the toast to me, he said that the toaster had been turned off and the kitchen staff had to warm it up again, so that's why it had taken so long (maybe ten minutes tops). They turned the toaster on, just for me :) And later, when Chris and the girls came back to the room, they brought Ginger Ale and crackers. Simona had heard I wasn't feeling well and went to the kitchen to scrounge up something to make me feel better. The crackers, toast, and ginger ale did the trick and I was able to go with the rest of the family to see Hercules, the Muse-ical (my favorite of the shows).

Tuesday, everyone was healthy, which was fabulous because Tuesday was our day at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. I can't say enough about how beautiful and peaceful it is there. The girls collected sea shells, chased fish in the water, and built sand castles. Everything about the day was perfect, perfect, perfect. The weather was gorgeous with just a bit of a breeze to keep us cool. The water was just warm enough. I'd go back again in a second! That night was Pirate Night, so we wore our pirate bandanas to supper, danced in the dining room with the servers, went to see another show, The Golden Mickeys, and then went to the Pirate Party on the upper deck of the ship. Lots of music, lots of dancing, lots of Disney characters, and fireworks to end the show. Of course, Nat went back to the kids club and partied with friends until midnight! Good thing she had fun, because...

Chris and Natalie were both sick on Wednesday. They stayed in the room all day, watched Disney movies, and slept. That left Anna and I on our own for the day at sea. We took pictures with princesses, went to see a movie (Meet the Robinsons - cute!), played at the pool, and sat on the deck in the afternoon, watching the water roll by. We had to have our luggage packed that evening, so we were back in the room early to get everything ready. Chris and Nat weren't feeling well enough to go to the show that night, but Disney runs it on the stateroom televisions so Nat and Anna watched it while I packed. We put our stuff outside of our door a little after 10:30 and didn't see it again until we got off the plane in Kansas City. I LOVE Disney service :)

The next morning everyone was healthy again. We went to breakfast, said goodbye to George and Simona (I wish we could have brought them both home with us!), zipped through customs, and were on the Disney bus back to the airport by 8:30. We made it home around 8:00 on Thursday night and we were exhausted!

So, it wasn't quite the enchanted vacation we had hoped for. But we made the best of it and still had a great time. We're already talking about going back in another two years... this time with the newest member of our family :)