Saturday, December 20, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Cartagena, Columbia
Up at 6:30am and had breakfast. I read my book and snapped some pictures of the port. Cartegena looked like a pretty well developed town with lots of high rise buildings. Victoria got up at 8:30am and we headed our for our excursion at 10am. We were scheduled for the deluxe tour of the city. Our group held three busses. When we got off the ship we were greated by women dressed in colorful garb with bowls on their heads. We were offered fruits, candies and wind mills. We were each given a fan as we entered the bus. The saying cracked me up: Columbia, the only risk is wanting to stay. HA!
I really enjoyed our tour. It was hot, long and somewhat boring but I did enjoy getting to see the sites, old and new, and walk around the streets. There were many street vendors who called after you all saying, “Hey lady, one dollar, price is dropping.” It was great to be in a city where we did not see one Walmart or McDonalds. Our tour lasted about five hours. We tipped our driver and checked out the Juan Valdez café at the terminal. They had free samples of coffee. They had no milk or cream so I tried the coffee black with sugar. It was smooth, strong and delicious. I was a chatterbox all the way back to the ship.
I showered for dinner and we dressed in our most colorful outfits for the Tropicalifragalistic party. I had veal cordon blue sort of. I can’t remember what it was called. We heard the stories of the people who went on the Mangrove canoe tour. I was cracking up through dinner at the stories of people almost tipping over, having guides who spoke no English and a buffet where all of the food was gone. They did manage to see termite mounds I hear. The excursion was 110 dollars per person, and there were many people who complained about the excursion not matching the description. Later in the cruise, the folks who complained about the tour received 50% refund. We were never sure if everyone received the refund or only those who complained.
I really enjoyed our tour. It was hot, long and somewhat boring but I did enjoy getting to see the sites, old and new, and walk around the streets. There were many street vendors who called after you all saying, “Hey lady, one dollar, price is dropping.” It was great to be in a city where we did not see one Walmart or McDonalds. Our tour lasted about five hours. We tipped our driver and checked out the Juan Valdez café at the terminal. They had free samples of coffee. They had no milk or cream so I tried the coffee black with sugar. It was smooth, strong and delicious. I was a chatterbox all the way back to the ship.
I showered for dinner and we dressed in our most colorful outfits for the Tropicalifragalistic party. I had veal cordon blue sort of. I can’t remember what it was called. We heard the stories of the people who went on the Mangrove canoe tour. I was cracking up through dinner at the stories of people almost tipping over, having guides who spoke no English and a buffet where all of the food was gone. They did manage to see termite mounds I hear. The excursion was 110 dollars per person, and there were many people who complained about the excursion not matching the description. Later in the cruise, the folks who complained about the tour received 50% refund. We were never sure if everyone received the refund or only those who complained.
Monday, Panama Canal Day
Victoria told me she was not interested in getting up early to watch us go through the first lock of the Panama Canal. I let her sleep and headed up for breakfast at 6:30am. I ate my breakfast outside, aft. I sat outside for a few hours while we went under the Bridge of America and went into the first lock. When we got to the first lock, people were crowded all around the ship.
It was very hot and sunny and I left to bring Victoria breakfast at 9:15am. She was not awake yet!
Victoria put on her bathing suit and slathered up in sun screen. She headed up to deck 9 to go swimming with Sandy. It was so hot out on deck and all of the shaded areas were taken up by the set up for the bbq deck lunch preparation. We tried to find some shade but did not have much luck.
I had a pedicure in the spa at 11:45am. I enjoyed getting in from out of the heat and a different view. It was the best and longest pedicure I’d ever had. Ask for Salley if you ever get one on board. Salley from England has sailed on several lines and she’s been working in the spa for five years. We speculated where the Disney ships will be going in 2010. A woman sat next to me, also getting a pedicure, and believed the Magic will be returning to Europe in 2010. She said she has a friend who works for Disney Cruise Line.
After my pedicure, I checked on Victoria who was in Ocean Quest and wanted to stay. I headed out to deck 4 for a different view of the canal. One guy was out on that comfy chair sawing logs. Boy was he loud. He did have a ring on his left hand and I immediately felt sorry for his wife. Poor thing. After an hour, I went and checked on Victoria. The note on my door indicated she was with Sandy. I went and collected the girls, allowing Sandy’s mom an hour nap. The girls and I went to Diversions to play some board games.
While looking out the windows, we noticed how black the skies were. Soon it rained and we enjoyed a lightning storm. Sandy taught us how to play straws. After an hour and a half we headed back to the staterooms to prepare for dinner. Dinner included baked lobster, which most of the dining room ordered. Most people seemed a little crabby and tired from being in the sun all day watching the canal crossing. While dining, we went through the final lock and viewed it from the windows.
The show was Wall-E. It was great to have a movie to watch after a long hot day. I was looking forward to the movie, and we had resisted the temptation to see it pre-cruise. I didn’t like it at all. Blech. Enough said.
It was very hot and sunny and I left to bring Victoria breakfast at 9:15am. She was not awake yet!
Victoria put on her bathing suit and slathered up in sun screen. She headed up to deck 9 to go swimming with Sandy. It was so hot out on deck and all of the shaded areas were taken up by the set up for the bbq deck lunch preparation. We tried to find some shade but did not have much luck.
I had a pedicure in the spa at 11:45am. I enjoyed getting in from out of the heat and a different view. It was the best and longest pedicure I’d ever had. Ask for Salley if you ever get one on board. Salley from England has sailed on several lines and she’s been working in the spa for five years. We speculated where the Disney ships will be going in 2010. A woman sat next to me, also getting a pedicure, and believed the Magic will be returning to Europe in 2010. She said she has a friend who works for Disney Cruise Line.
After my pedicure, I checked on Victoria who was in Ocean Quest and wanted to stay. I headed out to deck 4 for a different view of the canal. One guy was out on that comfy chair sawing logs. Boy was he loud. He did have a ring on his left hand and I immediately felt sorry for his wife. Poor thing. After an hour, I went and checked on Victoria. The note on my door indicated she was with Sandy. I went and collected the girls, allowing Sandy’s mom an hour nap. The girls and I went to Diversions to play some board games.
While looking out the windows, we noticed how black the skies were. Soon it rained and we enjoyed a lightning storm. Sandy taught us how to play straws. After an hour and a half we headed back to the staterooms to prepare for dinner. Dinner included baked lobster, which most of the dining room ordered. Most people seemed a little crabby and tired from being in the sun all day watching the canal crossing. While dining, we went through the final lock and viewed it from the windows.
The show was Wall-E. It was great to have a movie to watch after a long hot day. I was looking forward to the movie, and we had resisted the temptation to see it pre-cruise. I didn’t like it at all. Blech. Enough said.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Sunday, day at sea
Victoria was not interested in attending the character breakfast on board. We ate with Darlene and Sandy outside, aft, at 8:30am. The girls went swimming and while Stan watched them me and Darlene went to our travel agent’s suite and had a chat. We wait listed a repositioning cruise for 2010. I booked two cabins, a category 7 and an 11. Very quickly Victoria spoke with my parents on the phone as we were sailing away and they said they didn’t want me to book them another cruise but what the heck, it’s two years away they can decide later. I chose a 7 navigator’s verandah and an 11 inside cabin with the thought of both cabins being able to take advantage of the verandah. I don’t have to name people now, I can do that later.
I like my travel agent. I like the fact most of my cruises, I’ve sailed with him. If anything goes wrong, he’s there to fix it. Usually he checks in a couple of times during the year. This year the shirts he provided were very comfortable, a great color and some great advertising. He has always treated people I refer to him very well, like VIPs.
After chatting, I went back to deck 9 - lunch time! Chicken fingers and german chocolate cake for lunch, mmm good. The girls had their Princess tea this afternoon so Victoria took took a shower at 2pm and put her gold Princess dress on. The girls were announced as Princesses at Lumiere’s and we were shown to our table. On the table were finger sandwiches and petite desserts. Snow White, Dopey, Belle, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Wendy, Alice and White Rabbit, and Suzy and Perla all posed for pictures. The girls are getting a little old for stuff like this, but it’s fun. The girls were indoctrinated to princess status, taught to curtsey and do the royal wave.
By 4pm we were done and I showered to prepare for semi-formal night. I put on clothes to be worn for three hours maximum. Dinner was in Parrott Cay and was the Prince and Princess menu. I had the fried ravioli, the sausage and potato soup and seafood stew. Mickey bar for dessert!
The kids wanted to see the show, Twice Charmed. I heard the cruise director, Christian, suggested not to bring valuables into Cartagena. I’m not sure what he meant since I was not there but it made a lot of people nervous about the Columbian port. Victoria went with the families and I took the opportunity to post to the blog. I haven’t been keeping up too well but mostly have not had the time to go online. The connection from my stateroom isn’t so good, as usual.
I walked around on deck 9. Most of the chairs and loungers were packed up in preparation for Panama Canal Day. I walked through the Cove Café area and spotted the Amandas! I had never met them before and had looked for them all week without spotting them. They introduced me to their husband and friends. I wandered off to the Spa to inquire about some treatments. I made an appointment for a pedicure for Panama Canal day at 11:45am.
I like Christian, our cruise director. I don’t usually pay much attention to the cruise director but he is a friendly fellow and who cracks a pretty good joke from time to time. I like his daily announcements and he always seems to be able to personalize the announcements, making them feel less announcy and more conversational.
I like my travel agent. I like the fact most of my cruises, I’ve sailed with him. If anything goes wrong, he’s there to fix it. Usually he checks in a couple of times during the year. This year the shirts he provided were very comfortable, a great color and some great advertising. He has always treated people I refer to him very well, like VIPs.
After chatting, I went back to deck 9 - lunch time! Chicken fingers and german chocolate cake for lunch, mmm good. The girls had their Princess tea this afternoon so Victoria took took a shower at 2pm and put her gold Princess dress on. The girls were announced as Princesses at Lumiere’s and we were shown to our table. On the table were finger sandwiches and petite desserts. Snow White, Dopey, Belle, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Wendy, Alice and White Rabbit, and Suzy and Perla all posed for pictures. The girls are getting a little old for stuff like this, but it’s fun. The girls were indoctrinated to princess status, taught to curtsey and do the royal wave.
By 4pm we were done and I showered to prepare for semi-formal night. I put on clothes to be worn for three hours maximum. Dinner was in Parrott Cay and was the Prince and Princess menu. I had the fried ravioli, the sausage and potato soup and seafood stew. Mickey bar for dessert!
The kids wanted to see the show, Twice Charmed. I heard the cruise director, Christian, suggested not to bring valuables into Cartagena. I’m not sure what he meant since I was not there but it made a lot of people nervous about the Columbian port. Victoria went with the families and I took the opportunity to post to the blog. I haven’t been keeping up too well but mostly have not had the time to go online. The connection from my stateroom isn’t so good, as usual.
I walked around on deck 9. Most of the chairs and loungers were packed up in preparation for Panama Canal Day. I walked through the Cove Café area and spotted the Amandas! I had never met them before and had looked for them all week without spotting them. They introduced me to their husband and friends. I wandered off to the Spa to inquire about some treatments. I made an appointment for a pedicure for Panama Canal day at 11:45am.
I like Christian, our cruise director. I don’t usually pay much attention to the cruise director but he is a friendly fellow and who cracks a pretty good joke from time to time. I like his daily announcements and he always seems to be able to personalize the announcements, making them feel less announcy and more conversational.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
I slept until 7:30am. Victoria took some prompting to get up. We had breakfast at Lumiere’s. I like the eggs benedict at Lumiere’s but it was not good. The Hollandaise sauce was cooked onto the eggs. Darlene said hers were the same but the staff suggested if she had eaten them earlier than 12 noon they would have been better. I ate my eggs at 9am and found the same deal. I did not bring my coffee press with me and I missed the good coffee. After breakfast we went to store and contemplated some purchases but nothing is really jumping out at us. We finished our fish extender gifts finally. Victoria walked down to Ocean Quest while I relaxed.
We enjoyed wine tasting of Italy and sat with Irv, Larry, Doris, Janet, Darlene, Lenny, Renee, Stan, Lynn and Peter. Magicale was revealed along with Tommy Lasorda wines. The Magicale is a sparkling red wine very sweet and tasty.
This might be a time to sing the praises of my Birkenstock shoes! I bought them about a month before the cruise and I have not wanted to take them off since. They were great in the Disneyland Parks, the San Diego zoo and waiting in lines. These are the shoes I’ve been looking for, and believe me, I have a lot of shoes.
Cassie, Jess, Victoria, Mary and Sandy all did Tea with Wendy at 3pm in Studio Sea. It’s not really a big deal but the girls bring their dolls/plush animals and have apple juice in tea cups. Who knows how long they’ll agree to do it. It makes for fun pictures.
Dinner was in Animator’s Palate and it featured the show. We were near a screen this time, and I go to watch the cartoons from a better vantage point. The evening show was a hypnotist. The entire cruise, all of the new shoes have been standing room only. Repeat cruisers definitely show up for the new stuff. The hypnotist went over well, but not many people truly believed the people were hypnotized. But hey, who doesn’t like to watch people make asses of themselves right?
We were all awake after the show and didn’t want to go to bed so we headed to Studio Sea and played TV Tunes Trivia. I had a mojito which only enhanced my TV Tunes knowledge. If it wasn’t for the geek next to us who knew the original name of the Jetson’s dog, we’d have won those really cool medals. After the game show ended, the girls danced around to a decades dance party. I don’t know how the cruise staff does it, Melita is constantly dancing with the kids, or arranging an excursion or up on stage dancing at a deck party. In bed by 11pm.
We enjoyed wine tasting of Italy and sat with Irv, Larry, Doris, Janet, Darlene, Lenny, Renee, Stan, Lynn and Peter. Magicale was revealed along with Tommy Lasorda wines. The Magicale is a sparkling red wine very sweet and tasty.
This might be a time to sing the praises of my Birkenstock shoes! I bought them about a month before the cruise and I have not wanted to take them off since. They were great in the Disneyland Parks, the San Diego zoo and waiting in lines. These are the shoes I’ve been looking for, and believe me, I have a lot of shoes.
Cassie, Jess, Victoria, Mary and Sandy all did Tea with Wendy at 3pm in Studio Sea. It’s not really a big deal but the girls bring their dolls/plush animals and have apple juice in tea cups. Who knows how long they’ll agree to do it. It makes for fun pictures.
Dinner was in Animator’s Palate and it featured the show. We were near a screen this time, and I go to watch the cartoons from a better vantage point. The evening show was a hypnotist. The entire cruise, all of the new shoes have been standing room only. Repeat cruisers definitely show up for the new stuff. The hypnotist went over well, but not many people truly believed the people were hypnotized. But hey, who doesn’t like to watch people make asses of themselves right?
We were all awake after the show and didn’t want to go to bed so we headed to Studio Sea and played TV Tunes Trivia. I had a mojito which only enhanced my TV Tunes knowledge. If it wasn’t for the geek next to us who knew the original name of the Jetson’s dog, we’d have won those really cool medals. After the game show ended, the girls danced around to a decades dance party. I don’t know how the cruise staff does it, Melita is constantly dancing with the kids, or arranging an excursion or up on stage dancing at a deck party. In bed by 11pm.
Friday, Acapulco
Woke up to a rainy day. The ship was cleared to go ashore at 6:30am. We had breakfast at Topsiders and waited for the rain to stop. Victoria went to Ocean Quest and loved it because it was empty. When it stopped raining at 9:30am, I went and picked her up and we went ashore. Walking outside and through a terminal full of merchants, we were approached by dozens of people offering taxi services. We walked across the street and went to San Diego Fort. While we did not tour the city, it pretty much looked like what I remembered from 2005.
San Diego Fort was directly across from the cruise terminal. We climbed the rock steps to the museum located in the fort. The cost was 4.00 per adult and children were free. Each exhibit was described in English and Spanish. We spent about an hour looking around, enjoying the view from the structure. We went back towards the terminal and saw lots of folks in the terminal area. Darlene and Sandy were shopping there and Irv and Larry said they had went to the market but the prices were very high. I didn't check the camera batteries and I couldn't take a picture from within the fort because the batteries were dead.
We were back on board by 12 noon and we headed to Parrot Cay for lunch. There was a taco bar which received lots of interest resulting in lines. The spicy tomato soup tasted like spice but not tomato. After lunch Sandy and Victoria watched the Canopy DVD on the laptop and did their nails in DEL SOL nail polish color. The DVD was pretty cute. I can't say I enjoyed seeing my fat ass in a sling, but it was fun to watch nevertheless.
Victoria and Sandy went with Stan and Darlene to finish the fish extender gifting, and I went out on deck 4 to read. The deck was crowded with people lined up to watch us pull away from Acapulco. We left more than an hour late because a Disney excursion did not get back on time. The water in Acapulco was visibly dirty. Still, it was nice watching the ship pull away. Typically we sail in the evening hours to visibility isn’t very good.
Darlene and I, along with the girls, went to Studio Sea to watch WHO WANTS TO BE A MOUSEKETEER. After the game show the girls participated in Disney Karaoke. After the karaoke, we went to our rooms to get ready for dinner. Victoria dressed in her most Mexican outfit and posed with Sandy with Mexican Donald and Mickey. We took pictures with Goofy and some other photos.
Dinner was in Lumiere’s and was the Mexican Rivera menu. It tasted better than it sounded though I was one of the few at the table who enjoyed it. We hurried along because the girls wanted to watch the premEAR of Cheetah Girls 3: One World (or at least I think that’s what it is called.) They put on their bathing suits and swam in the pool while the movie played on the Dumbotron. The ship has been rocking pretty good since we left port and the kids were enjoying the effects via a wave pool experience. After the movie the crew closed the pool and prepared the deck for the Minnie Fiesta Grande deck party. These deck parties crack me up. They put out a spread of food and people line up as if to say, “Look! Free food!”
Sandra’s sister, Gina, helped arrange for the kids to be in the deck party show. The kids all had Mexican hats on along with blanket-ponchos and were part of Goofy’s mariachi band. It was fun, a new activity for the kids. The kids danced and played games until 11pm.
San Diego Fort was directly across from the cruise terminal. We climbed the rock steps to the museum located in the fort. The cost was 4.00 per adult and children were free. Each exhibit was described in English and Spanish. We spent about an hour looking around, enjoying the view from the structure. We went back towards the terminal and saw lots of folks in the terminal area. Darlene and Sandy were shopping there and Irv and Larry said they had went to the market but the prices were very high. I didn't check the camera batteries and I couldn't take a picture from within the fort because the batteries were dead.
We were back on board by 12 noon and we headed to Parrot Cay for lunch. There was a taco bar which received lots of interest resulting in lines. The spicy tomato soup tasted like spice but not tomato. After lunch Sandy and Victoria watched the Canopy DVD on the laptop and did their nails in DEL SOL nail polish color. The DVD was pretty cute. I can't say I enjoyed seeing my fat ass in a sling, but it was fun to watch nevertheless.
Victoria and Sandy went with Stan and Darlene to finish the fish extender gifting, and I went out on deck 4 to read. The deck was crowded with people lined up to watch us pull away from Acapulco. We left more than an hour late because a Disney excursion did not get back on time. The water in Acapulco was visibly dirty. Still, it was nice watching the ship pull away. Typically we sail in the evening hours to visibility isn’t very good.
Darlene and I, along with the girls, went to Studio Sea to watch WHO WANTS TO BE A MOUSEKETEER. After the game show the girls participated in Disney Karaoke. After the karaoke, we went to our rooms to get ready for dinner. Victoria dressed in her most Mexican outfit and posed with Sandy with Mexican Donald and Mickey. We took pictures with Goofy and some other photos.
Dinner was in Lumiere’s and was the Mexican Rivera menu. It tasted better than it sounded though I was one of the few at the table who enjoyed it. We hurried along because the girls wanted to watch the premEAR of Cheetah Girls 3: One World (or at least I think that’s what it is called.) They put on their bathing suits and swam in the pool while the movie played on the Dumbotron. The ship has been rocking pretty good since we left port and the kids were enjoying the effects via a wave pool experience. After the movie the crew closed the pool and prepared the deck for the Minnie Fiesta Grande deck party. These deck parties crack me up. They put out a spread of food and people line up as if to say, “Look! Free food!”
Sandra’s sister, Gina, helped arrange for the kids to be in the deck party show. The kids all had Mexican hats on along with blanket-ponchos and were part of Goofy’s mariachi band. It was fun, a new activity for the kids. The kids danced and played games until 11pm.
Thursday a sea day
We woke up at 8:30am and was at Topsiders at 9am for breakfast. I need to look at my personal navigator these days to know what day of the week it is. It's a nice feeling, knowing we aren't even one week into the cruise. We met up with Stan. After breakfast Victoria went into the pool and watched Peter Pan on the Dumbotron while swimming. After a time, other folks joined us.
Me and the posse hung around at our spots for most of the morning. We had no where to go, no appointments to keep and we just hung around, eating. And eating and eating. My goodness you can have dessert with every meal here. Cinnabuns for breakfast, cake at lunch and Mickey bars after dinner. We went to the Italian buffet at Topsiders for lunch.
The girls wanted to do Disney karaoke at Studio Sea at 2pm. There were a good group of kids there and they all supported each other’s singing. Victoria and Sandy helped me deliver fish extender gifts. While our group was not as big as it has been in the past, we were pretty well spread out through the ship. We had magnets with a Walt Disney quote for all the fools and bracelets for the kids.
We went to the Castaway Club party on deck 9 midship. They announced there were 2036 repeat passengers this cruise, the most ever. Pretty impressive eh? Absolutely nothing of importance was announced. We believe Captain Tom, from Norway, may have been hinting to a 2010 cruise near his homeland but we can’t be sure. There were know-it-alls around the deck insisting the Magic would be retuning to Europe in 2010. Later, Tom from Canada insisted Disney is contracted to remain in Port Canaveral for several years and neither the Magic nor the Wonder would be doing anything other than the Carribean. In any case, the new plans will not be announced until October. I wish they had leaked a little information, it would have made the members feel special if they had.
Dinner was at Parrot Cay. I enjoyed my favorite tropical fruit cup, lots of mango and pineapple. Crème Brule cheesecake for dessert and who cares what I ate between. I can’t remember. We saw a new show - a ventriloquist. Everyone seemed to like him. He was pretty good.
Me and the posse hung around at our spots for most of the morning. We had no where to go, no appointments to keep and we just hung around, eating. And eating and eating. My goodness you can have dessert with every meal here. Cinnabuns for breakfast, cake at lunch and Mickey bars after dinner. We went to the Italian buffet at Topsiders for lunch.
The girls wanted to do Disney karaoke at Studio Sea at 2pm. There were a good group of kids there and they all supported each other’s singing. Victoria and Sandy helped me deliver fish extender gifts. While our group was not as big as it has been in the past, we were pretty well spread out through the ship. We had magnets with a Walt Disney quote for all the fools and bracelets for the kids.
We went to the Castaway Club party on deck 9 midship. They announced there were 2036 repeat passengers this cruise, the most ever. Pretty impressive eh? Absolutely nothing of importance was announced. We believe Captain Tom, from Norway, may have been hinting to a 2010 cruise near his homeland but we can’t be sure. There were know-it-alls around the deck insisting the Magic would be retuning to Europe in 2010. Later, Tom from Canada insisted Disney is contracted to remain in Port Canaveral for several years and neither the Magic nor the Wonder would be doing anything other than the Carribean. In any case, the new plans will not be announced until October. I wish they had leaked a little information, it would have made the members feel special if they had.
Dinner was at Parrot Cay. I enjoyed my favorite tropical fruit cup, lots of mango and pineapple. Crème Brule cheesecake for dessert and who cares what I ate between. I can’t remember. We saw a new show - a ventriloquist. Everyone seemed to like him. He was pretty good.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Puerta Vallarta
Wednesday August 20th Puerta Vallarta
This is the day of the canopy tour with the Fools. I was up every hour on the hour. I did not sleep well at all. I finally got out of bed at 6:30am and went to Topsiders to grab some breakfast. Victoria ate breakfast in the room. We were ready by 8:30am. We met the Fools in the lounge at 9am.
We went outside at 9:30am. You could spot WALMART across the street. There was a WOOLWORTHs as well. After walking around the pier quite a bit, we found gate number 3, after gate 8, just where it should be. The taxi people would not allow us to load bus. We took taxis to the office of Los Veranos. I was surprised no one seemed mad, not the taxi drivers waiting around, nor the tour director who couldn’t get us on the bus sitting in the lot.
After a quick ride to the office, we loaded the air conditioned busses. We took an hour long ride up winding roads and arrived after 11am. We put our stuff in lockers and left the group of us who were ’observers’ at the restaurant. The guys geared us up and did a pep talk. The workers were very energetic and very funny.
We began the climb to the first line where they take your picture. You posed on the first short line. The climb to the lines was steep and there were two spiral staircases up to the platform. It was hot as hell in gloves and helmets. The phrase ‘sexy leg’ was used when you had to hoist your leg up so the pulley could be clipped on to the zipline. Some of the lines were higher than others. It was quite interesting to lift your leg up to be clipped in. Sometimes it was more of a timed hop to do it.
I was unprepared for the climbing. The altitude, the slippery step and carrying around all of the equipment made for a challenging feat. The fact was, I was too damned tired by the time I got to the platform to care about zipping down a damn valley. Give me wind baby I’m hot. At one point a worker cried out, ’watch out there is an iguana.” I was so tired I didn’t care what was in my way. Am I supposed to be afraid of one of those? I was too tired to care.
After a time, they told us it was all downhill. The best lines were in the middle because they were the highest and longest. You could really get a nice view. Every time Victoria was ready to zip, I could hear her asking the workers to push her hard so she’ll go really fast. The kids didn’t always make it across the lines because they were so light. I didn’t have much of a problem, go figure.
The tour ended with side by side, racing, over the river. You finished at the starting point and were offered pictures and a DVD. They did not have a DVD to view, so I didn’t buy one. Other people bought it so I may be able to view it later. The kids enjoyed seeing the tarantula and spider monkeys. We boarded the bus and got back to the ship by 3:30pm. Not surpringly, the taxi area would not allow for a drop off at the same area. The bus pulled in front of the ship which meant a shorter walk anyway. Since it was raining, that was ok with me.
Most of us did not have lunch. Some went to grab a bite to eat, but we headed for the showers. We took showers and prepared for dinner. We had some fruit while in the cabin. Nothing for dinner has been so delicious it’s been worth mentioning but the meals are definitely improving. After dinner the kids wanted to go the pool so we hung out until 11pm at the pool. At 1am the shipped pulled away from Puerta Vallarta.
This is the day of the canopy tour with the Fools. I was up every hour on the hour. I did not sleep well at all. I finally got out of bed at 6:30am and went to Topsiders to grab some breakfast. Victoria ate breakfast in the room. We were ready by 8:30am. We met the Fools in the lounge at 9am.
We went outside at 9:30am. You could spot WALMART across the street. There was a WOOLWORTHs as well. After walking around the pier quite a bit, we found gate number 3, after gate 8, just where it should be. The taxi people would not allow us to load bus. We took taxis to the office of Los Veranos. I was surprised no one seemed mad, not the taxi drivers waiting around, nor the tour director who couldn’t get us on the bus sitting in the lot.
After a quick ride to the office, we loaded the air conditioned busses. We took an hour long ride up winding roads and arrived after 11am. We put our stuff in lockers and left the group of us who were ’observers’ at the restaurant. The guys geared us up and did a pep talk. The workers were very energetic and very funny.
We began the climb to the first line where they take your picture. You posed on the first short line. The climb to the lines was steep and there were two spiral staircases up to the platform. It was hot as hell in gloves and helmets. The phrase ‘sexy leg’ was used when you had to hoist your leg up so the pulley could be clipped on to the zipline. Some of the lines were higher than others. It was quite interesting to lift your leg up to be clipped in. Sometimes it was more of a timed hop to do it.
I was unprepared for the climbing. The altitude, the slippery step and carrying around all of the equipment made for a challenging feat. The fact was, I was too damned tired by the time I got to the platform to care about zipping down a damn valley. Give me wind baby I’m hot. At one point a worker cried out, ’watch out there is an iguana.” I was so tired I didn’t care what was in my way. Am I supposed to be afraid of one of those? I was too tired to care.
After a time, they told us it was all downhill. The best lines were in the middle because they were the highest and longest. You could really get a nice view. Every time Victoria was ready to zip, I could hear her asking the workers to push her hard so she’ll go really fast. The kids didn’t always make it across the lines because they were so light. I didn’t have much of a problem, go figure.
The tour ended with side by side, racing, over the river. You finished at the starting point and were offered pictures and a DVD. They did not have a DVD to view, so I didn’t buy one. Other people bought it so I may be able to view it later. The kids enjoyed seeing the tarantula and spider monkeys. We boarded the bus and got back to the ship by 3:30pm. Not surpringly, the taxi area would not allow for a drop off at the same area. The bus pulled in front of the ship which meant a shorter walk anyway. Since it was raining, that was ok with me.
Most of us did not have lunch. Some went to grab a bite to eat, but we headed for the showers. We took showers and prepared for dinner. We had some fruit while in the cabin. Nothing for dinner has been so delicious it’s been worth mentioning but the meals are definitely improving. After dinner the kids wanted to go the pool so we hung out until 11pm at the pool. At 1am the shipped pulled away from Puerta Vallarta.
Cabo San Lucas
Tuesday August 19th Cabo San Lucas
I was excited about going to Cabo San Lucas since a hurricane prevented us from visiting it before. We anchored out by 8:30am. Tenders began soon after. From our porthole view in our room, we could see los Arcos. It was pretty nice to see it after all of the pictures and videos I had seen.
Disney does the tender routine pretty well. I was surprised we did not have to wait for a tender. We went to deck 5, the Buena Vista Theater and got our tender tickets. We were escorted to the tenders. We were at the pier by 9:45am. We took a water taxi for a tour of Pelican’s Rock, Medano Beach, and Los Arcos. One armed Juan was our driver. You guessed it, he only had one arm. He did a nice job of pointing out the sites. It was a glass bottom boat and we stopped to see the tropical fish. He fed the fish and they were jumping out of the water. It was definitely worth the 10 dollars per person for the hour tour.
After tipping One Armed Juan, we started to walk into town, with our VIP coupons. It was over 100 degrees. I wasn’t sure how long we would last. Every five feet someone was selling jewelry, turtle whistles, and offering hair braiding. Even the natives were hot.
We walked over to Cabo Wabo. I was hoping it would be more impressive. It’s a pretty hip bar in the middle of town, right up against street vendors and shops. Victoria spotted an area just outside of Cabo Wabo which offered pedicures, manicures, or foot massages for 20 dollars. Victoria insisted on a pedicure and why I said yes I’ll never know. She sat in a shaded area with a fan for the next half an hour while I waited. She got a French pedicure and loved it.
We took some pictures and headed back to the ship by 4pm. Victoria went to Ocean Quest and I napped for two hours. I was completely zapped by the heat. Dinner was at Lumiere’s. The physical comedy show was pretty good. The kids did karaoke in Studio Sea. It could be the first of many nights in karaoke. The next day was the canopy tour and I was a wreck about it and ordered a mojito. Deeelicious! My new favorite drink is a mojito.
I was excited about going to Cabo San Lucas since a hurricane prevented us from visiting it before. We anchored out by 8:30am. Tenders began soon after. From our porthole view in our room, we could see los Arcos. It was pretty nice to see it after all of the pictures and videos I had seen.
Disney does the tender routine pretty well. I was surprised we did not have to wait for a tender. We went to deck 5, the Buena Vista Theater and got our tender tickets. We were escorted to the tenders. We were at the pier by 9:45am. We took a water taxi for a tour of Pelican’s Rock, Medano Beach, and Los Arcos. One armed Juan was our driver. You guessed it, he only had one arm. He did a nice job of pointing out the sites. It was a glass bottom boat and we stopped to see the tropical fish. He fed the fish and they were jumping out of the water. It was definitely worth the 10 dollars per person for the hour tour.
After tipping One Armed Juan, we started to walk into town, with our VIP coupons. It was over 100 degrees. I wasn’t sure how long we would last. Every five feet someone was selling jewelry, turtle whistles, and offering hair braiding. Even the natives were hot.
We walked over to Cabo Wabo. I was hoping it would be more impressive. It’s a pretty hip bar in the middle of town, right up against street vendors and shops. Victoria spotted an area just outside of Cabo Wabo which offered pedicures, manicures, or foot massages for 20 dollars. Victoria insisted on a pedicure and why I said yes I’ll never know. She sat in a shaded area with a fan for the next half an hour while I waited. She got a French pedicure and loved it.
We took some pictures and headed back to the ship by 4pm. Victoria went to Ocean Quest and I napped for two hours. I was completely zapped by the heat. Dinner was at Lumiere’s. The physical comedy show was pretty good. The kids did karaoke in Studio Sea. It could be the first of many nights in karaoke. The next day was the canopy tour and I was a wreck about it and ordered a mojito. Deeelicious! My new favorite drink is a mojito.
Busy Busy Busy
Day of departure
I got out of bed at 6am and did the duty of repacking. Somehow my luggage doubled despite the fact I’ve thrown away a shirt, outgrown Croc shoes of Victoria’s and paperwork no longer needed. I checked my Disney rewards and transferred the reward dollars to my card. My plan was to transfer those dollars to on board credit. The credit can be used for on board purchases, tips for the staff or for excursions. I have 400 dollars in credit wait for us when we board. That is pretty much spoken for between staff tips and our Cartegena excursion.
We have met some nice people this time. We met a family traveling from the Anchorage area who was having a hard time breathing due to fog. Another family we met up with was from Austrailia. They were doing a world tour. She was from Madagascar and he was from the Barrier Reef area.
We packed up our things and went outside of the hotel to meet the group for the bus at 8:30am. The bus was due to depart at 9am. I quickly checked out and stood with a large group of people staring at several empty buses. None of the busses were for our group and the other group seemed to be confused. After moving some busses over, we quickly loaded the luggage in the storage, rather than expecting the driver to do it, and boarded the bus.
We picked up another 9 people at the Grand California hotel and made our way to the port at San Pedro. We arrived to the port by 10:30am and went into the terminal. When we got to the terminal, there were people waiting for us to ask if we had filled out our paperwork. After heading into the building, we were given boarding cards. I was given boarding card 11. I was surprised to have such a number in the morning. I asked the woman how I could possibly be in boarding group 11 at such an hour. The woman told me there were people waiting since 6:30am. They let people into the terminal at 6:30am? I didn’t believe her. Lynn had checked in at the hotel the day before and was given boarding group number 2.
We marched into the area and met up with folks. We were directed to a long line in order to check in. After waiting in line for fifteen minutes, we went to a window and handed over passports and authorization forms. The woman behind the desk gave us our Castaway Club lanyards and said, “you must have quite a few of these.“ I didn’t like her tone. Someone told me later, “We’re not in Florida!“ \So I suppose these aren’t your typical Disney Cruiseline employees. She handed me a paper with the day’s activies and a ship’s map and sneered, “You probably know the ship better than I do.“ Geeze. I’m on vacation and she is not going to get to me.
We dragged our carry ons over to a seating area and I was surprised there were so many seats. After we sat down I realized I had passed a sign indicating the area was for concierge guests only. Oh well. Mysteriously I had a boarding card number 3 in my hand. It’s good to travel with a group. We met Lynn and company at Parrot Cay and enjoyed lunch.
After lunch we all went up to the kids’ club to try and move one of our party’s 10 year old into the 11-13 year old group. The 11 - 13 year old group is based out of Ocean Quest on deck 2 rather than the Lab. It’s convenient to our deck 2 stateroom but there is no checking in or out. You must tell your child they are not allowed to leave. Disney changed the 10 year old with no problems. Our rooms were ready at 1:45pm as promised.
We unpacked and went to the life boat drill at 3:30pm. The sail away party kicked off soon after the drill and we quietly set sail at 5pm. Our dinner rotation is 5:45pm and is APL (Animator’s, Parrot Cay, Lumiere’s dining rooms). Our first dinner was a comedy of errors. We were surprised not to have the dining team we requested. We made no other requests other than our group and servers. Lynn was not notified her requests were not granted and we met our new serving team: Chintana the server, Gaspare the head server and I still can’t remember the assistant from Serbia.
The chef’s recommendation was the beef steak. It was tough. None of us liked it. Drinks were not served properly and coffee never delivered. When we were asked how it went, we were honest but polite. My only comment was that I would like to be offered coffee each evening. The server said to me, “you can drink coffee this late?” and I told her yes, I could drink Nescafe coffee this late, it’s not very strong. She suggested I have coffee from the Cove Café. We were shocked at how bad everything was. We all agreed to give it another chance.
We went to the opening night show and enjoyed it. It was a good way to start the cruise. We went to bed soon after the show.
Monday August 18th Day at Sea
We woke up fairly early. It was the first of our sea days. Victoria put on her bathing suit and we headed to the Goofy pool on deck 9. We had a quick breakfast at Topsiders and relaxed by the pool for the morning. I tested out my travel coffee press. It works great. While it’s a bit cumbersome to lug it around, it provides for a good cup of coffee in the morning. I can deal with yucky coffee at other times but the first cup of the morning must be good.
I went to the shopping talk at 1pm while Victoria stayed at the pool with the kids and parents. The shopping talk was pretty boring, but I bought the shopping VIP card. I knew better but I thought of it as a 25 dollar excursion.
We had dinner in Parrott Cay. It was formal night. None of us felt like dressing up but we did anyway and ate a better meal than the night before. The service was improved and I got coffee without begging.
The show was the Golden Mickeys, my least favorite show so we skipped it. Victoria went to Ocean Quest to hang around after changing out of her clothes (which she spilled a Shirley Temple on). I went to deck 4 and read some of my book. I was pretty tired and we retired to the cabin at 9pm. I slept ten hours!
I got out of bed at 6am and did the duty of repacking. Somehow my luggage doubled despite the fact I’ve thrown away a shirt, outgrown Croc shoes of Victoria’s and paperwork no longer needed. I checked my Disney rewards and transferred the reward dollars to my card. My plan was to transfer those dollars to on board credit. The credit can be used for on board purchases, tips for the staff or for excursions. I have 400 dollars in credit wait for us when we board. That is pretty much spoken for between staff tips and our Cartegena excursion.
We have met some nice people this time. We met a family traveling from the Anchorage area who was having a hard time breathing due to fog. Another family we met up with was from Austrailia. They were doing a world tour. She was from Madagascar and he was from the Barrier Reef area.
We packed up our things and went outside of the hotel to meet the group for the bus at 8:30am. The bus was due to depart at 9am. I quickly checked out and stood with a large group of people staring at several empty buses. None of the busses were for our group and the other group seemed to be confused. After moving some busses over, we quickly loaded the luggage in the storage, rather than expecting the driver to do it, and boarded the bus.
We picked up another 9 people at the Grand California hotel and made our way to the port at San Pedro. We arrived to the port by 10:30am and went into the terminal. When we got to the terminal, there were people waiting for us to ask if we had filled out our paperwork. After heading into the building, we were given boarding cards. I was given boarding card 11. I was surprised to have such a number in the morning. I asked the woman how I could possibly be in boarding group 11 at such an hour. The woman told me there were people waiting since 6:30am. They let people into the terminal at 6:30am? I didn’t believe her. Lynn had checked in at the hotel the day before and was given boarding group number 2.
We marched into the area and met up with folks. We were directed to a long line in order to check in. After waiting in line for fifteen minutes, we went to a window and handed over passports and authorization forms. The woman behind the desk gave us our Castaway Club lanyards and said, “you must have quite a few of these.“ I didn’t like her tone. Someone told me later, “We’re not in Florida!“ \So I suppose these aren’t your typical Disney Cruiseline employees. She handed me a paper with the day’s activies and a ship’s map and sneered, “You probably know the ship better than I do.“ Geeze. I’m on vacation and she is not going to get to me.
We dragged our carry ons over to a seating area and I was surprised there were so many seats. After we sat down I realized I had passed a sign indicating the area was for concierge guests only. Oh well. Mysteriously I had a boarding card number 3 in my hand. It’s good to travel with a group. We met Lynn and company at Parrot Cay and enjoyed lunch.
After lunch we all went up to the kids’ club to try and move one of our party’s 10 year old into the 11-13 year old group. The 11 - 13 year old group is based out of Ocean Quest on deck 2 rather than the Lab. It’s convenient to our deck 2 stateroom but there is no checking in or out. You must tell your child they are not allowed to leave. Disney changed the 10 year old with no problems. Our rooms were ready at 1:45pm as promised.
We unpacked and went to the life boat drill at 3:30pm. The sail away party kicked off soon after the drill and we quietly set sail at 5pm. Our dinner rotation is 5:45pm and is APL (Animator’s, Parrot Cay, Lumiere’s dining rooms). Our first dinner was a comedy of errors. We were surprised not to have the dining team we requested. We made no other requests other than our group and servers. Lynn was not notified her requests were not granted and we met our new serving team: Chintana the server, Gaspare the head server and I still can’t remember the assistant from Serbia.
The chef’s recommendation was the beef steak. It was tough. None of us liked it. Drinks were not served properly and coffee never delivered. When we were asked how it went, we were honest but polite. My only comment was that I would like to be offered coffee each evening. The server said to me, “you can drink coffee this late?” and I told her yes, I could drink Nescafe coffee this late, it’s not very strong. She suggested I have coffee from the Cove Café. We were shocked at how bad everything was. We all agreed to give it another chance.
We went to the opening night show and enjoyed it. It was a good way to start the cruise. We went to bed soon after the show.
Monday August 18th Day at Sea
We woke up fairly early. It was the first of our sea days. Victoria put on her bathing suit and we headed to the Goofy pool on deck 9. We had a quick breakfast at Topsiders and relaxed by the pool for the morning. I tested out my travel coffee press. It works great. While it’s a bit cumbersome to lug it around, it provides for a good cup of coffee in the morning. I can deal with yucky coffee at other times but the first cup of the morning must be good.
I went to the shopping talk at 1pm while Victoria stayed at the pool with the kids and parents. The shopping talk was pretty boring, but I bought the shopping VIP card. I knew better but I thought of it as a 25 dollar excursion.
We had dinner in Parrott Cay. It was formal night. None of us felt like dressing up but we did anyway and ate a better meal than the night before. The service was improved and I got coffee without begging.
The show was the Golden Mickeys, my least favorite show so we skipped it. Victoria went to Ocean Quest to hang around after changing out of her clothes (which she spilled a Shirley Temple on). I went to deck 4 and read some of my book. I was pretty tired and we retired to the cabin at 9pm. I slept ten hours!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Our last day at the parks
I woke up at 6:30am and did two loads of laundry. Victoria slept and was watching television when I came back to the room. We decided to do our favorites in the park. We arrived at Disneyland at 9:30am. We went on the Jungle Cruise because Victoria was asking to. We stood in line for Indiana Jones ride for 30 minutes. While we could see the ride, it broke down and they emptied the venue. We received a fast pass good for up to six people on any attraction. Victoria wanted to do Splash Mountain. I think we spent the equivalent of one full day on Splash Mountain.
After Splash it was 11:30am and we were both hungry. We ate at a take out spot near Splash. By the time we finished our lunch our fast passes for Splash were ready so we went a second time. Victoria was thrilled she did the last fall with her hands in the air.
We got fast passes for Buzz Lightyear and went to the picnic area to meet some of our group. Darlene, Stan and Sandy were there as well as some new folks. We chatted for about an hour then went back into Disneyland. We rode Buzz Lightyear, did some shopping and posed for pictures. It was nice to do Main Street at a leisurely pace. We watched some old Mickey movies in the cool theater as well as the 50th anniversary show near the entrance. We said goodbye to Disneyland at 5pm. We were both sad to see it end.
We walked through Downtown Disney and ate dinner at Rainforest Café. Victoria and Sandy were texting each other. We got back to the hotel after 6pm. The girls played on the Splash pad and then the pool. Carol came over and chatted with me and Darlene and we headed over to the pool where we sat until 9pm.
We said goodnight and went back to the room where we watched the fireworks. I packed up some, but not as much as I wanted to. Slept fairly well but kept looking at the clock.
After Splash it was 11:30am and we were both hungry. We ate at a take out spot near Splash. By the time we finished our lunch our fast passes for Splash were ready so we went a second time. Victoria was thrilled she did the last fall with her hands in the air.
We got fast passes for Buzz Lightyear and went to the picnic area to meet some of our group. Darlene, Stan and Sandy were there as well as some new folks. We chatted for about an hour then went back into Disneyland. We rode Buzz Lightyear, did some shopping and posed for pictures. It was nice to do Main Street at a leisurely pace. We watched some old Mickey movies in the cool theater as well as the 50th anniversary show near the entrance. We said goodbye to Disneyland at 5pm. We were both sad to see it end.
We walked through Downtown Disney and ate dinner at Rainforest Café. Victoria and Sandy were texting each other. We got back to the hotel after 6pm. The girls played on the Splash pad and then the pool. Carol came over and chatted with me and Darlene and we headed over to the pool where we sat until 9pm.
We said goodnight and went back to the room where we watched the fireworks. I packed up some, but not as much as I wanted to. Slept fairly well but kept looking at the clock.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
San Diego Zoo
Friday, San Diego Zoo
Up at 7am with a proper alarm. We ate breakfast in the room of cold cereal and instant oatmeal. I prepaid for a bus trip to the San Diego Zoo. Our bus picked us up at the hotel at 8:30am sharp and brought us to the bus depot where we checked in and paid another 2 dollars per person for fuel surcharge. We boarded the bus for San Diego Zoo and Legoland. I had planned to read my book. Victoria had my Zune player and planned on watching the Camp Rock movie I put on there for her.
Adnon, the driver, had other plans for us. Hello Hello? He was determined we’d all learn our bus number, his name, and what time pick up was. I entered the details into the phone but not before he made it a huge twenty minute production. Hello Hello? He said Hello Hello if someone was talking. We took a detour to see the oldest building in the area. It was a quick drive by.
We dropped off half the bus at Legoland and continued to San Diego Zoo but not before looping around a bridge to see a bridge and water. We arrived at the zoo at 11:30am, collected our tickets and headed to the guided tour bus. The guided tour bus did a loop around most of the park and gave a glimpse at the animals. The tour took about 40 minutes. We got off the bus and walked around the park, heading toward the gorillas. When we got to the gorillas, we stayed there for about 45 minutes. After the gorillas we headed toward the pandas. We stopped at various spots throughout the park. We spent some time looking at the pandas. The viewing is much better at the San Diego Zoo than I saw at the National Zoo in DC. We had lunch and did some shopping.
There are a lot of hills at the zoo. We were doing quite well until we made a mistake at the end of the day. We climbed a very steep hill. We spent some time at the koala bear exhibit and saw one Wildlife show. We boarded the bus at 7pm. We arrived back to our hotel at 9pm. It was a long day. We watched the Disneyland fireworks from our balcony and went to bed.
Up at 7am with a proper alarm. We ate breakfast in the room of cold cereal and instant oatmeal. I prepaid for a bus trip to the San Diego Zoo. Our bus picked us up at the hotel at 8:30am sharp and brought us to the bus depot where we checked in and paid another 2 dollars per person for fuel surcharge. We boarded the bus for San Diego Zoo and Legoland. I had planned to read my book. Victoria had my Zune player and planned on watching the Camp Rock movie I put on there for her.
Adnon, the driver, had other plans for us. Hello Hello? He was determined we’d all learn our bus number, his name, and what time pick up was. I entered the details into the phone but not before he made it a huge twenty minute production. Hello Hello? He said Hello Hello if someone was talking. We took a detour to see the oldest building in the area. It was a quick drive by.
We dropped off half the bus at Legoland and continued to San Diego Zoo but not before looping around a bridge to see a bridge and water. We arrived at the zoo at 11:30am, collected our tickets and headed to the guided tour bus. The guided tour bus did a loop around most of the park and gave a glimpse at the animals. The tour took about 40 minutes. We got off the bus and walked around the park, heading toward the gorillas. When we got to the gorillas, we stayed there for about 45 minutes. After the gorillas we headed toward the pandas. We stopped at various spots throughout the park. We spent some time looking at the pandas. The viewing is much better at the San Diego Zoo than I saw at the National Zoo in DC. We had lunch and did some shopping.
There are a lot of hills at the zoo. We were doing quite well until we made a mistake at the end of the day. We climbed a very steep hill. We spent some time at the koala bear exhibit and saw one Wildlife show. We boarded the bus at 7pm. We arrived back to our hotel at 9pm. It was a long day. We watched the Disneyland fireworks from our balcony and went to bed.
California Adventure
Thursday
Remember my issues with the alarm clock? Well they sort of haunted me.
I set the alarm for 5:30am. Our plan was to do Disneyland during the magic morning to be able for the girls to do the new FINDING NEMO ride. The new ride has no fast pass, and a 2 hour wait is common. The only way to do the ride is to do it first thing, on a day when we get into the park an hour before opening.
Getting up was very difficult. I realized I was doing very little resting. Victoria was even slower to get up. We decided to eat breakfast in the park. We headed out the door at 6:45am. When we got outside we saw Larry sitting on the bench. It was great to see him. He said he was meeting Janet for breakfast at 6:30am. I told him he was late. He disagreed and pointed out it’s only 6am. ACK! No wonder we were so tired! We got less than 6 hours of sleep and I screwed up the time on the alarm! We went back to the room and waited until 6:45 to leave.
We met up with Lynn and Sandy in line at 7am. The entire park headed over to Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo is the 20,000 Leagues ride reincarnated. I did not want to do submarine-like clausterphobic ride. Sandy did the ride with the girls while me and Lynn waited. We had breakfast at Tommorowland Terrace which was a great deal. We saw Larry, Irv, Janet, Tanya and Tom.
Our plan was to be at California Adventure for opening at 10am for the new Toy Story ride. We walked by the Soarin Over California ride at 9:40am and got into a massive line for Toy Story. The line wrapped around the park. The ride is pretty nice. It’s a 3D Buzz Lightyear with all the stakes even. They do a countdown and line everyone up to face the video screen. It was a good ride.
Victoria said she did not want to do California Screamin’. She had talked about this ride chronically, and watched a dozen You Tube videos. I pressured her to do the ride because I knew she’d regret not doing it. Victoria, with the promise of 10 bucks, got into line and did the ride with the girls. She loved it. We had gotten them fast passes so they were able to go twice more. She was glad she did it.
Unfortunately it was a hot day and that part of the park was all in the sun. After doing the ferris wheel and some other carnival rides, we decided to take a break. Sandy and her daughter decided to do their own thing so we headed over to Mimi’s for lunch and to the HOJO for a pool break. We bumped into Erica, Benita and Belinda on our way back to the hotel. Carol Sherman was heading back to the HoJo and we chatted for a bit. I thought the girls would enjoy the splash park/pad but they went in the pool instead. We went back to California Adventure at 6pm. We had unused Soarin’ over California fast passes and did that ride first. Resisting the girls requests to repeat rides, we headed to the other side of the park. We did the Monsters Inc. ride. It’s a ride thru of the storyline, pretty unimaginative. We did Muppets 3D. I just love that one.
We watched the Main Street Electrical Parade at park closing. I haven’t seen that parade in years and I saw it in Disneyworld sometime in the 90s. I love the music. After the parade, we headed back to the hotel. There is a channel on the television which shows old Disneyland clips including Walt Disney and early celebrations. It was pretty neat watching Disneyland’s 10th birthday celebration. All of the character costumes were pretty crude. In bed by 10:30pm.
Remember my issues with the alarm clock? Well they sort of haunted me.
I set the alarm for 5:30am. Our plan was to do Disneyland during the magic morning to be able for the girls to do the new FINDING NEMO ride. The new ride has no fast pass, and a 2 hour wait is common. The only way to do the ride is to do it first thing, on a day when we get into the park an hour before opening.
Getting up was very difficult. I realized I was doing very little resting. Victoria was even slower to get up. We decided to eat breakfast in the park. We headed out the door at 6:45am. When we got outside we saw Larry sitting on the bench. It was great to see him. He said he was meeting Janet for breakfast at 6:30am. I told him he was late. He disagreed and pointed out it’s only 6am. ACK! No wonder we were so tired! We got less than 6 hours of sleep and I screwed up the time on the alarm! We went back to the room and waited until 6:45 to leave.
We met up with Lynn and Sandy in line at 7am. The entire park headed over to Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo is the 20,000 Leagues ride reincarnated. I did not want to do submarine-like clausterphobic ride. Sandy did the ride with the girls while me and Lynn waited. We had breakfast at Tommorowland Terrace which was a great deal. We saw Larry, Irv, Janet, Tanya and Tom.
Our plan was to be at California Adventure for opening at 10am for the new Toy Story ride. We walked by the Soarin Over California ride at 9:40am and got into a massive line for Toy Story. The line wrapped around the park. The ride is pretty nice. It’s a 3D Buzz Lightyear with all the stakes even. They do a countdown and line everyone up to face the video screen. It was a good ride.
Victoria said she did not want to do California Screamin’. She had talked about this ride chronically, and watched a dozen You Tube videos. I pressured her to do the ride because I knew she’d regret not doing it. Victoria, with the promise of 10 bucks, got into line and did the ride with the girls. She loved it. We had gotten them fast passes so they were able to go twice more. She was glad she did it.
Unfortunately it was a hot day and that part of the park was all in the sun. After doing the ferris wheel and some other carnival rides, we decided to take a break. Sandy and her daughter decided to do their own thing so we headed over to Mimi’s for lunch and to the HOJO for a pool break. We bumped into Erica, Benita and Belinda on our way back to the hotel. Carol Sherman was heading back to the HoJo and we chatted for a bit. I thought the girls would enjoy the splash park/pad but they went in the pool instead. We went back to California Adventure at 6pm. We had unused Soarin’ over California fast passes and did that ride first. Resisting the girls requests to repeat rides, we headed to the other side of the park. We did the Monsters Inc. ride. It’s a ride thru of the storyline, pretty unimaginative. We did Muppets 3D. I just love that one.
We watched the Main Street Electrical Parade at park closing. I haven’t seen that parade in years and I saw it in Disneyworld sometime in the 90s. I love the music. After the parade, we headed back to the hotel. There is a channel on the television which shows old Disneyland clips including Walt Disney and early celebrations. It was pretty neat watching Disneyland’s 10th birthday celebration. All of the character costumes were pretty crude. In bed by 10:30pm.
Getting used to California Time
Wednesday
I set the alarm for 6:30am. Our plan was to meet Lynn and Sandy with the girls in the Disneyland Park at 8am. We had breakfast/coffee in the room. Victoria and I were at the gates at 7:40am. The gates opened promptly at 8am, and we headed up Main Street. For some reason, we hopped on the double decker bus for a ride up Main Street. This was silly of me because as we waited for the bus to fill, people poured into the park.
Lynn and Sandy ended up at IHOP for breakfast. Sandy’s daughter has particular tastes about food. Lynn sent me a text message they were running late. Victoria and I went to Splash Mountain and rode it twice. Our party joined us by 9am where the girls rode Splash Mountain again before heading over to ride Matterhorn, Autotopia, and Space Mountain. Victoria bought purple Tink ears with her name on them, and I got my nephew Xavier his first Mickey ears. Too cute! The girls had a good time together. We headed over to the Grand California for some pool/down time. The pool is nice there. The cafeteria food can be delivered by the pool staff, very nice. The chairs were comfy with big, thick cushions. We spent a few hours there.
Sandy invited all of us to join her for dinner. Her brother drove up from San Diego to meet us. He brought his friend along. We had dinner at the Jazz Kitchen, which was pretty nice. I had beer battered catfish which came with fried eggplant fries. Good food, too much fried stuff too late.
Victoria wanted a Tinkerbelle sweatshirt and was getting wacky about it. I was trying to encourage her not to be impulsive but after a long day I was short with her. After dinner we walked through Downtown Disney and found some nice things, including a Tink sweatshirt. We were back at the hotel by 10pm. I tried to set the alarm properly, as the alarm is different than one I’ve ever set - the dot indicates AM and I had set the time wrong.
I set the alarm for 6:30am. Our plan was to meet Lynn and Sandy with the girls in the Disneyland Park at 8am. We had breakfast/coffee in the room. Victoria and I were at the gates at 7:40am. The gates opened promptly at 8am, and we headed up Main Street. For some reason, we hopped on the double decker bus for a ride up Main Street. This was silly of me because as we waited for the bus to fill, people poured into the park.
Lynn and Sandy ended up at IHOP for breakfast. Sandy’s daughter has particular tastes about food. Lynn sent me a text message they were running late. Victoria and I went to Splash Mountain and rode it twice. Our party joined us by 9am where the girls rode Splash Mountain again before heading over to ride Matterhorn, Autotopia, and Space Mountain. Victoria bought purple Tink ears with her name on them, and I got my nephew Xavier his first Mickey ears. Too cute! The girls had a good time together. We headed over to the Grand California for some pool/down time. The pool is nice there. The cafeteria food can be delivered by the pool staff, very nice. The chairs were comfy with big, thick cushions. We spent a few hours there.
Sandy invited all of us to join her for dinner. Her brother drove up from San Diego to meet us. He brought his friend along. We had dinner at the Jazz Kitchen, which was pretty nice. I had beer battered catfish which came with fried eggplant fries. Good food, too much fried stuff too late.
Victoria wanted a Tinkerbelle sweatshirt and was getting wacky about it. I was trying to encourage her not to be impulsive but after a long day I was short with her. After dinner we walked through Downtown Disney and found some nice things, including a Tink sweatshirt. We were back at the hotel by 10pm. I tried to set the alarm properly, as the alarm is different than one I’ve ever set - the dot indicates AM and I had set the time wrong.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
We have arrived!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Our room was not ready when we arrived. We went next door to Mimi’s and had some lunch. I had a cranberry/walnut/blue cheese salad, vegetable soup and a pumpkin muffin. The food was fresh, tasty and hot. Victoria had corn dogs, off to a healthy start. Our room was ready at 3pm and we tossed our stuff in the room. We are on the sixth floor of the hotel, facing the Disneyland Park. You can see the fireworks outside nightly.
We met Lynn and her friend Sandy at the lobby of the Grand California Hotel. The lobby reminds me of the Wilderness Lodge and Lynn’s room reminds of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Sandy’s daughter, Jessica, is as tall as Victoria, though a year younger. Victoria was very nervous about getting along with the girls. She was thrilled to see Mary and her worries for nothing. The girls all got along wonderfully! We headed over to Disneyland Park and rode Pirates of the Carribean first followed by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, screaming our heads off for fun. We toured more of the park, dragging our feet. We received a message from Sandra wishing us well.
The girls had pizza and we headed back to our hotels. We took showers and Victoria was in bed by 9pm. I heard her say, “mama I’m not going to stay awake for the fireworks” and she fell asleep.
Our room was not ready when we arrived. We went next door to Mimi’s and had some lunch. I had a cranberry/walnut/blue cheese salad, vegetable soup and a pumpkin muffin. The food was fresh, tasty and hot. Victoria had corn dogs, off to a healthy start. Our room was ready at 3pm and we tossed our stuff in the room. We are on the sixth floor of the hotel, facing the Disneyland Park. You can see the fireworks outside nightly.
We met Lynn and her friend Sandy at the lobby of the Grand California Hotel. The lobby reminds me of the Wilderness Lodge and Lynn’s room reminds of the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Sandy’s daughter, Jessica, is as tall as Victoria, though a year younger. Victoria was very nervous about getting along with the girls. She was thrilled to see Mary and her worries for nothing. The girls all got along wonderfully! We headed over to Disneyland Park and rode Pirates of the Carribean first followed by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, screaming our heads off for fun. We toured more of the park, dragging our feet. We received a message from Sandra wishing us well.
The girls had pizza and we headed back to our hotels. We took showers and Victoria was in bed by 9pm. I heard her say, “mama I’m not going to stay awake for the fireworks” and she fell asleep.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Take Off!
Monday, final day at work
I woke up on Monday, fairly calm and finished up getting ready to leave. The dogs saw the suitcases and went nuts. How do they know? They were jumping up and down and causing havoc while I tried to load the car. When I got the leashes, all hell broke loose they were so excited.
I dropped the dogs off to the kennel and headed to work. Work was a little on the nutty side but things seemed to be in control so I didn’t worry about things getting out of hand. I worked a full day pretty much knowing I wouldn’t be there the next day so it was all good.
My Cokes Rewards Subway gift certificate arrived at the office just in time. I picked up a couple of subs and then picked up Victoria from my parents. We headed up to the Crowne Plaza in Enfield. As I drove by the airport, I wondered if I had made a mistake in booking the room. The room included the parking so it was a good deal.
We arrived at the hotel, after hitting some traffic, at 6:30pm. I arranged to be on the 4:30am transport and asked for a 3:30am wake up call. We went to our room and found it to be lovely. King bed, desk and easy chair, wing chair, ottoman and all sorts of goodies. In addition to the usual soap, shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash was lavender linen spray, a sleep CD with soothing sounds, ear plugs and an eye mask. Coffee and tea were provided. The mattresses seemed of the Heavenly type. It really reminded of a Westin Hotel.
We ate our subs and I took Victoria down to the indoor and outdoor pools. She splashed around for awhile. The hotel was clean and smelled good. I would stay there again. I started my book, Glass Castles, and tried to relax. In reality, I wouldn’t relax because I was worried we’d oversleep.
We showered and prepared for bed. I read the book until about 10pm. At 10:30pm, just as I was falling asleep, There was a knock on the door, housekeeping with a cot. He had the wrong room. Ugh. I slept off and on until 1pm. At 3:30am the hotel alarm went off, my travel alarm, and the wake up call came. No chance of oversleeping! We were ready by 4am. We went to the lobby and joined three other airline employees for the twenty minute ride to the airport.
We arrived at the airport and already had our boarding passes. We checked luggage and headed to the gate. I was worried about having less than a hour between flights. We took off from Hartford on time and arrived 10 minutes late in Ohio. We had to go from Gate B2 to Gate B25. It was the length of the concourse. The next plane wasn’t as comfortable but we had free movies in the seat-televisions. I started to watch Nim’s Island but I shut it off after an hour. I watched an episode of House and Office. Victoria watched Horton Hears a Who. I finished my book, disappointed it was over already.
We arrived, collected our luggage and arrived to the hotel by 12:30pm.
I woke up on Monday, fairly calm and finished up getting ready to leave. The dogs saw the suitcases and went nuts. How do they know? They were jumping up and down and causing havoc while I tried to load the car. When I got the leashes, all hell broke loose they were so excited.
I dropped the dogs off to the kennel and headed to work. Work was a little on the nutty side but things seemed to be in control so I didn’t worry about things getting out of hand. I worked a full day pretty much knowing I wouldn’t be there the next day so it was all good.
My Cokes Rewards Subway gift certificate arrived at the office just in time. I picked up a couple of subs and then picked up Victoria from my parents. We headed up to the Crowne Plaza in Enfield. As I drove by the airport, I wondered if I had made a mistake in booking the room. The room included the parking so it was a good deal.
We arrived at the hotel, after hitting some traffic, at 6:30pm. I arranged to be on the 4:30am transport and asked for a 3:30am wake up call. We went to our room and found it to be lovely. King bed, desk and easy chair, wing chair, ottoman and all sorts of goodies. In addition to the usual soap, shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash was lavender linen spray, a sleep CD with soothing sounds, ear plugs and an eye mask. Coffee and tea were provided. The mattresses seemed of the Heavenly type. It really reminded of a Westin Hotel.
We ate our subs and I took Victoria down to the indoor and outdoor pools. She splashed around for awhile. The hotel was clean and smelled good. I would stay there again. I started my book, Glass Castles, and tried to relax. In reality, I wouldn’t relax because I was worried we’d oversleep.
We showered and prepared for bed. I read the book until about 10pm. At 10:30pm, just as I was falling asleep, There was a knock on the door, housekeeping with a cot. He had the wrong room. Ugh. I slept off and on until 1pm. At 3:30am the hotel alarm went off, my travel alarm, and the wake up call came. No chance of oversleeping! We were ready by 4am. We went to the lobby and joined three other airline employees for the twenty minute ride to the airport.
We arrived at the airport and already had our boarding passes. We checked luggage and headed to the gate. I was worried about having less than a hour between flights. We took off from Hartford on time and arrived 10 minutes late in Ohio. We had to go from Gate B2 to Gate B25. It was the length of the concourse. The next plane wasn’t as comfortable but we had free movies in the seat-televisions. I started to watch Nim’s Island but I shut it off after an hour. I watched an episode of House and Office. Victoria watched Horton Hears a Who. I finished my book, disappointed it was over already.
We arrived, collected our luggage and arrived to the hotel by 12:30pm.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Just Keep Swimming
It's amazing how much stuff you pack other than clothes. I thought I was all set until I remembered the travel hamper, flat iron, more shoes, little gifts and stuff for the kids. I just kept shoving the stuff in there. Those cases are packed! Wow!
In the car, Victoria asked, 'how many planes are we taking Tuesday?' I told her two planes.
"Two planes to go across the world." She said.
"No, across the country actually."
"I was never very good at Geometry"
Geography!
"Yeah, that"
I decided I did not have enough 'stuff' on my Zune so I added some audiobooks and a video or two. I have more chargers, wires and other gadgets than I know what to do with.
In the car, Victoria asked, 'how many planes are we taking Tuesday?' I told her two planes.
"Two planes to go across the world." She said.
"No, across the country actually."
"I was never very good at Geometry"
Geography!
"Yeah, that"
I decided I did not have enough 'stuff' on my Zune so I added some audiobooks and a video or two. I have more chargers, wires and other gadgets than I know what to do with.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Panic sets in
I finished my last work week before vacation. Since some people took the day off, it was fairly quiet. I cleared my desk so Monday is all set to finish up some odds and ends. My plan is to drop the dogs off before going to work on Monday.
I know I canceled an excursion some time last week. I checked my reservation yesterday to see it was still there. Given Disney's policies on cancellation, this is something I want to be sure is done before boarding. I printed my confirmation to be sure.
My luggage isn't large enough. I should probably pack another bag. I don't want to. I don't even remember what I have packed. Delta has released a statement indicating anyone who purchased tickets prior to April 9th are eligible for refunds for extra baggage fees. Why don't I just pack another case?
Whatever possessed me to book a friggin' canopy tour? What the hell was I thinking? It seemed like a good idea six months ago. Six months ago I thought zipping through trees and over rivers was a great idea, now not so great. Why didn't I opt for some land-cruising tour of the town? I'm going to harness my fat ass to a line and zip across the sky without a net?
I know I canceled an excursion some time last week. I checked my reservation yesterday to see it was still there. Given Disney's policies on cancellation, this is something I want to be sure is done before boarding. I printed my confirmation to be sure.
My luggage isn't large enough. I should probably pack another bag. I don't want to. I don't even remember what I have packed. Delta has released a statement indicating anyone who purchased tickets prior to April 9th are eligible for refunds for extra baggage fees. Why don't I just pack another case?
Whatever possessed me to book a friggin' canopy tour? What the hell was I thinking? It seemed like a good idea six months ago. Six months ago I thought zipping through trees and over rivers was a great idea, now not so great. Why didn't I opt for some land-cruising tour of the town? I'm going to harness my fat ass to a line and zip across the sky without a net?
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Check off: Hair done
Another quick day at work and feeling fairly productive. Things seem to be coming together and most situations appear to point to a favorable outcome. It will be nice to leave on a good note. (for a change)
Got the hair done today. One less thing off the list to do before vacation. I'll probably run around most of the vacation with a hat on or a scrunchie in my hair, I don't know why I bother.
Got the hair done today. One less thing off the list to do before vacation. I'll probably run around most of the vacation with a hat on or a scrunchie in my hair, I don't know why I bother.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Money Money Money
Vacations cost a lot of money. I pretty much spend all year pinching pennies to be able to go on vacation. Bargaining is my hobby I suppose. Mary from Mousesavers.com announced on her web site ticket prices for Disney would be going up today. I had thought about what type of tickets to buy for Disney for our upcoming year. We have plans to do Disney for Christmas this year and an August vacation. We are taking a group of folks at work in April of 09. Knowing work would have to purchase a ticket, and being unsure of how many days we'd need for the year, I went ahead and bought annual passes for me and Victoria.
The cost of annual passes is pretty steep and they expire in a year. What I like about annual passes is the freedom you have to come and go from all four of the parks. When you have park hoppers, you have to plan your days carefully. Buying a ticket which never expires can be a smart move for someone who isn't sure of their vacation plans. But with the annual passes, we will have the freedom to hop into a park on arrival day, if only for a couple of hours, and not fret over 'wasting' a day. By buying my annual pass vouchers last night, I avoided the 50 dollar increase which begins today.
The cost of the annual passes were about the same price as a ten day park hopper with no expiration. We probably could have managed with a ten day pass for our two trips but it would have meant work buying a ticket for April, and planning the days carefully. You park for free in the parks, which at 11 dollars a day can add up if you stay off site like we do. I was able to use 235 Disney Reward dollars to reduce the sting a bit.
The cost of annual passes is pretty steep and they expire in a year. What I like about annual passes is the freedom you have to come and go from all four of the parks. When you have park hoppers, you have to plan your days carefully. Buying a ticket which never expires can be a smart move for someone who isn't sure of their vacation plans. But with the annual passes, we will have the freedom to hop into a park on arrival day, if only for a couple of hours, and not fret over 'wasting' a day. By buying my annual pass vouchers last night, I avoided the 50 dollar increase which begins today.
The cost of the annual passes were about the same price as a ten day park hopper with no expiration. We probably could have managed with a ten day pass for our two trips but it would have meant work buying a ticket for April, and planning the days carefully. You park for free in the parks, which at 11 dollars a day can add up if you stay off site like we do. I was able to use 235 Disney Reward dollars to reduce the sting a bit.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
10 days to lift off
We are in the home stretch. Two weekends and one work week before vacation. Victoria finished up her volleyball camp this week. She really enjoyed it. I don't know how many opportunities there are in town for kids younger than middle school to play. Next week she is going to a different town to participate in a basketball camp. She has participated in our town's basketball camp for several years but there was some problem with the one this year so we signed up in another town.
Today I'll finish up laundry and prepare to pack the clothes. It's a week early but I really want to get the clothes and toiletries packed. Next weekend I'll pack the shoes. This way I won't be a maniac next weekend packing and preparing to leave. We'll see how my plan works out.
I bought a travel coffee mug/french press combination. I love Disney Cruise Line, but I don't like the coffee they serve. I'm going to give this little baby a shot and see how it works. The hotel room at the Howard Johnson Anaheim will have a coffee maker, refrigerator and microwave in the room so it won't be necessary there. It does insulate so it might work as a pool mug as well.
Today I'll finish up laundry and prepare to pack the clothes. It's a week early but I really want to get the clothes and toiletries packed. Next weekend I'll pack the shoes. This way I won't be a maniac next weekend packing and preparing to leave. We'll see how my plan works out.
I bought a travel coffee mug/french press combination. I love Disney Cruise Line, but I don't like the coffee they serve. I'm going to give this little baby a shot and see how it works. The hotel room at the Howard Johnson Anaheim will have a coffee maker, refrigerator and microwave in the room so it won't be necessary there. It does insulate so it might work as a pool mug as well.
Friday, August 1, 2008
TGIF!
It's a good feeling, knowing it's Friday and I have plenty of time to pack but leaving very soon. Two weeks from today we'll be going to the San Diego Zoo for the first time.
I went ahead and canceled an excursion this week. We had plans to do a canopy tour and an evening excursion in the same day. Because of Disney's restrictions with canceling on board, I decided to just go ahead and cancel it now. I think we made the right decision.
I went ahead and canceled an excursion this week. We had plans to do a canopy tour and an evening excursion in the same day. Because of Disney's restrictions with canceling on board, I decided to just go ahead and cancel it now. I think we made the right decision.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Getting closer
This week I finished a long overdue investigation at work. I really did not want to go on vacation knowing it was overdue. The investigation itself was done, actions taken, but the darn paperwork was waiting. I feel a whole lot better knowing it is done. YAY!
Having a bat in your house is very unsettling. I'm worried after having my first bat in house episode that I'll return from vacation having been evicted by a bat family. I haven't seen any further signs of bat activity. I can't stop singing "NA NA NA NA NA NA BATMAN NA NA NA NA NA NA BATMAN"
Yesterday I printed out all sorts of lists. I have all of Victoria's clothes chosen and believe we are doing quite well. This weekend I'll get some of my clothes in order and pack one suitcase combination of our clothes. The thought is if one piece of luggage gets lost, one of us won't be without clothes. My luck will be both will be missing. I'm determined to take less toiletries this time.
I bought plane tickets for my work group yesterday. It was a little bit of a chore, booking 7 people's airfare, insurance, printing, writing out checks for payment from each person's account. We're going to have such fun though.
I keep thinking in terms of "in two weeks I'll be..." Two weeks from today we'll be deciding which Disney park to do 'again'. I'm excited about the leisurely pace before the cruise. Last time we were maniacs in California.
Tonight is the last night of Summer Hoops, the summer basketball league. It was a good summer and it went by fast. I think the 7:45pm games are late and will be glad when it's over because it means another step closer to our vacation.
Having a bat in your house is very unsettling. I'm worried after having my first bat in house episode that I'll return from vacation having been evicted by a bat family. I haven't seen any further signs of bat activity. I can't stop singing "NA NA NA NA NA NA BATMAN NA NA NA NA NA NA BATMAN"
Yesterday I printed out all sorts of lists. I have all of Victoria's clothes chosen and believe we are doing quite well. This weekend I'll get some of my clothes in order and pack one suitcase combination of our clothes. The thought is if one piece of luggage gets lost, one of us won't be without clothes. My luck will be both will be missing. I'm determined to take less toiletries this time.
I bought plane tickets for my work group yesterday. It was a little bit of a chore, booking 7 people's airfare, insurance, printing, writing out checks for payment from each person's account. We're going to have such fun though.
I keep thinking in terms of "in two weeks I'll be..." Two weeks from today we'll be deciding which Disney park to do 'again'. I'm excited about the leisurely pace before the cruise. Last time we were maniacs in California.
Tonight is the last night of Summer Hoops, the summer basketball league. It was a good summer and it went by fast. I think the 7:45pm games are late and will be glad when it's over because it means another step closer to our vacation.
Friday, July 25, 2008
We're getting there!
I made reservations for the dogs to be kenneled. The cost is going to be outrageous but I have peace of mind they'll be ok. Today we received our cruise documents. I don't know why I feel the need to constantly check our passports but I do.
I'm just happier when I'm planning Disney vacations. I really am. We are planning to take some folks we support to Disney next year and I made tentative plans for some homes to rent. Immediately it was a better day knowing I was making plans for Disney.
I'm just happier when I'm planning Disney vacations. I really am. We are planning to take some folks we support to Disney next year and I made tentative plans for some homes to rent. Immediately it was a better day knowing I was making plans for Disney.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Counting down the days
I found my Rainforest Cafe member card. I knew it was somewhere and refused to pay the five dollar fee to send away for a new one. I do have two gift cards for use while in downtown disney but we may use one next week when we go to the Mall for a pre-cruise/birthday/celebration shopping spree. I think the West Farms Mall may hold the only Disney store left in Connecticut.
We really do have enough clothes for the summer and for the trip. If Victoria grew, and I got smaller, we'd both have even more.
We really do have enough clothes for the summer and for the trip. If Victoria grew, and I got smaller, we'd both have even more.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Vacation Planning
Less than 90 days until our next vacation. April vacation was nice, but since it was only an hour away, it was relaxing minus the adventure part.
We are doing a repeat cruise of our 2005 adventure. We will be sailing with our vacation-cousins again and are looking forward to it.
Our plan includes a California stay before embarking on the Disney Magic in San Pedro and sailing for fifteen days through the Panama Canal. Disney made some nice changes to the ports, so it won't feel like exactly the same cruise.
Some pre-planned excursions include a canopy adventure in Puerto Vallarta, snorkeling in Aruba, and exploring a bit in Accapulco, Cabo San Lucas, and Cartagena. While in California, we'll be visiting the mouse but hope to spend a day at the San Diego Zoo.
We are doing a repeat cruise of our 2005 adventure. We will be sailing with our vacation-cousins again and are looking forward to it.
Our plan includes a California stay before embarking on the Disney Magic in San Pedro and sailing for fifteen days through the Panama Canal. Disney made some nice changes to the ports, so it won't feel like exactly the same cruise.
Some pre-planned excursions include a canopy adventure in Puerto Vallarta, snorkeling in Aruba, and exploring a bit in Accapulco, Cabo San Lucas, and Cartagena. While in California, we'll be visiting the mouse but hope to spend a day at the San Diego Zoo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
