The Royal Castaways on the Disney Fantasy
April 28 - May 5, 2012
April 28 - May 5, 2012
- Rachel
- David
- Kara (3 turning four in 2 weeks)
- Roberta
- Larry
- Arl
- Wil
- Jeannie
- Paul
- Abby
- Mr. Big Ears
- Roger Rabbit
Note about the blog: This was written late at night during the cruise after everyone went to sleep. It is written very rough and off the cuff. There may not be correct grammar and spelling. No worries! This was written from the point of view of David and Rachel, so dont be upset if we missed something that happened while you were on the cruise. Helpful hint: Read from Day One and on...
Today we woke up early. This was the day to begin our Disney Fantasy Cruise!
Today we woke up early. This was the day to begin our Disney Fantasy Cruise!
Grandma Roberta and Grandpa Larry slept over in Kara's room and Kara got to sleep in her really clean playroom (that she cleaned herself for the very first time!)
Everyone got up like clock work and we were up and ready!
We packed up the car and Jeannie and Paul met us at the house to drive over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge where Arl and Wil were staying and the shuttle to the port picked us up.
The shuttle picked us up a little bit early and we had a nice drive to Port Canaveral.
The shuttle picked us up a little bit early and we had a nice drive to Port Canaveral.
We arrived at the Disney Cruise Line Terminal at about 10:40 am and we were whisked directly in to the terminal nice and easy.
We all checked in and waited for boarding group #1, thanks to our platinum Castaways Jeannie and Paul.
We easily got in when boarding was called at 11:25. We were within the first 30 people on the ship.
The fun began immediately with our boarding photos! The plan is to buy a CD of all the weeks’ pictures! We know we can fill it up very easily and get our monies worth. The goal is to take as many pictures as we can just because of the special. One caveat: one of the three of us needs to technically be in the picture as it is one stateroom only. But if we r in the pic with rest of the Castaways, it should be there. (of course we want to see how else we can work it...)
We took our group shot as we "rehearsed" and then single pics. They came out great.
We then boarded and headed to Cabanas for lunch.
We got a table easily. Rachel shared a funny story... As she was the first one to get food she noticed the sign still said breakfast and told the guy at the counter. He quickly went and changed it. You can easily see how fast they turn around the cruise guests!
Lunch was very good. Larry ate his $500 worth of shrimp! Lol
Rachel went to sign up the rest of the party for the Cabana in Castaway Cay.
The rest went to get to the staterooms to bring in their luggage and unpack.
On the way to the room we met up with Jeannie and Paul and walked. Went quickly through Europa and took great pictures on the Vespa!
Next stop: quick preview of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for Kara. OMG! She was in heaven. We figured we were in trouble this week when she saw a new released DCL video on YouTube about it. She also has seen the pictures and talked about it. What a cute boutique. It would have been the hardest thing all week to pass that place day in and out if we did not go. She practically started to cry when we went in and we told her she could only look because they were not doing appointments. Ouch. It really tugs at your heart as a parent.
We then headed to the room to unpack and gear up for the week ahead.
We all met up at the Minkins (7190) cat 5e Handicap Accessible cabin. Wow. What a great spacious cabin and verandah! Pictures just don't share the space.
We then had the lifeboat drill at 4pm. We were in The Tube at Europa with "Grandma and Larry" and the Banwers. The Minkins were on the promenade deck.
It was the time for sailaway. We headed to deck 12 as pre planned with our Royal Castaways Bon Voyage Banner hoping the Port Canaveral Webcam picks us up for our other Castaways not able to cruise this time.
At 5pm the Disney Horn blew "When you wish upon a star" And we were off. A beautiful sunny warm day. We held our sign in place as we learned The Martuscellis and Betz families got to see us! Yeah! Sail away was beautiful and we headed to Flos to grab a light snack so we can make it till dinner! We went back to the room to change into our evening casual wear.
We saw the Fantasy Begins welcome aboard show which was cute. It's an overview show of what to expect during the week with a family who re-bond through the cruise. Cute show with a few great songs. Not all, but for the most part a cute welcome aboard.
After the show, Grandma Roberta and Larry and the Banwers got changed and the rest went to the store to buy Kara a DCL autograph book and see some characters. We got to see Minnie and Cinderella! While waiting for Cinderella, Snow white was finishing up her appearance and when she left she walked by Kara and Kara actually said "hi snow white"! Mommy and daddy were so proud she actually spoke up as she was passing and Snow gave her a big smile and wave! Cinderella was great too because we got to add in the Minkins to the group picture!
We met up with the rest of the Castaways for dinner at 8:15. Tonight is in the Royal Court. While waiting we saw there was no line for the lifestyle portraits and jumped in there and took some amazing pictures of Kara! Simply adorable!
Dinner was very nice.
We had fun taking pics as we said we would do for the video for some new ideas (deserts to sugar pie honey bunch). And as we expected, Kara was just getting real tired. She ate incredibly well, of course. She was hungry. She had chicken fingers and a Mickey bar for desert and conked out on mommy. Rachel had the beef tenderloin and I did as well, but added on a side lamb shank to try it out. Both were good, but not spectacular. After I had the strawberry shortcake sundae and Rachel had a Mickey Bar (w Kara), we needed to get Kara to bed. She was tired.
We had fun taking pics as we said we would do for the video for some new ideas (deserts to sugar pie honey bunch). And as we expected, Kara was just getting real tired. She ate incredibly well, of course. She was hungry. She had chicken fingers and a Mickey bar for desert and conked out on mommy. Rachel had the beef tenderloin and I did as well, but added on a side lamb shank to try it out. Both were good, but not spectacular. After I had the strawberry shortcake sundae and Rachel had a Mickey Bar (w Kara), we needed to get Kara to bed. She was tired.
After getting Kara to bed we had such a laugh. We tried to turn all the lights out, but every time we closed the light on the entry way, the light over the bed turned on. Lol. We just could not get it right. We called maintenance who said to click three times. That did not do it. So they said they would send someone. Then, I held the switch down and they both dimmed. Somehow I got them synced and then I was able to turn off. Now I called maintenance and as I told them to cancel, the guy knocked on the door. Lol. I told him we fixed it. We got a good chuckle.
Now it is time for a day at sea. Click here for Day 2...
(Today's Navigators below:)
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