Vacation

Ok, here we go. I’m just going to say if you don’t want a full-detailed account of our vacation, stop reading now. Or just skim through, I plan on remembering as much of our vacation as possible and writing it out. This is more for me than for those who do want all the details. I want to be able read this down the road and remember how great it was. In fact, I’ll probably print it out and put a copy in each one of the kids keepsake bins. Anyway…onto the story….

Friday, October 14- We planned on leaving Colstrip at 8am, I said this  meant we’d get out of town between 9-9:30…I was right. I think it was just about 9 when we finally pulled onto the highway, coffees (and hot chocolate for the kids) in hand. Not much detail on this day…lots and lots of driving. We stopped in Sheridan for a snack, Casper to buy Halloween decoration accessories (vampire teeth!) and lunch, Cheyenne for gas & a snack, and Loveland CO for outlet mall shopping…which we bought nothing, lol. Chris even offered to buy me a Coach purse at the Coach outlet, but I couldn’t spend that much money on myself again….something I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself for in a month or two. We grabbed McD’s drive-thru outside Denver and proceeded to our hotel. I have to say that drive was one of the longest of my life, even though it is about the same distance as from here to Missoula it seemed much longer. Eastern Wyoming is very, very boring to drive through…much like Eastern Montana I guess, lol.

Saturday, October 15- up bright and early to get ready for the airport. When we get to big city airports that’s when our kids small town-ness shows. They are so, so excited to see moving walkways and escalators, and Denver airport has plenty of them! We got to the airport in just enough time to grab a snack for the flight, go to the restroom, and get on the plane. The flight was good, I have to say I love Frontier airlines, with tv’s in the back of the seats (they do cost but so worth it for a 4 hour flight!) and fresh baked cookies! The kids did great on the plane, unfortunately we were separated, Chris & Landen sat together and us girls were a few rows in front of them. We got to Orlando around 4pm and Chris had booked a limo to take us to our hotel in Cocoa Beach. The kids thought this was the best thing ever (and surprisingly was significantly cheaper than taking a shuttle & the same price as renting a car). We got to our hotel and got settled, the hotel we stayed at was great, it was connected to one large store, had a restaurant & a Starbucks, was across the street from a Ron Jon surf store, and was only about 2 blocks from the beach. The restaurant had a large salt-water aquarium so the kids loved watching that while we ate. After dinner we all headed to the pool for a bit, then back to the room for dessert and went to bed.

Sunday October 16- CRUISE DAY!! We woke up, got ready and went down to eat breakfast. Our shuttle to the ship was going to leave at 12:20, so we had time to kill. We browsed through the two stores, then Chris walked the kids down to the beach while I went back to the room to get everything packed up and organized and ready to leave. On our shuttle there was a family that hadn’t told their kids what they were doing. So we had to tell the kids that they couldn’t talk at all on the shuttle ride. We knew if they started talking one of them would slip and say something they weren’t supposed to! They did awesome! That is the longest any of them have gone without talking I think! As we got closer to the port you could see the ship and we were all in awe…it was massive. I was so proud of our kids for staying quiet because I know how badly I wanted to say something! It became obvious that we were going to the port so the mom of the other family said something about dropping us off there first, then they’d head to the airport. Those poor kids just looked so deflated. When we pulled up Chris says to them “You guys have a safe trip home” and we got out. Then the mom told the kids that they were actually going too…the screams that came out of that van were so loud! It made us all smile! This is where the amazing Disney service starts…when you get out you leave your luggage in the appointed area (there are tags on all the bags with your name and stateroom #) they bring the luggage right to your room for you. There was security to go through and we checked in. We registered the kids with their kids program where they each received an electronic wristband and we had to give the Disney people a password. This was so when the kids went into the kids area they checked in with their wristband (it never came off and was waterproof) , then when we wanted to check them out we had to give them our “key to the world” card & the password. It was a GREAT security measure! (Btw, the key to the world card was a little credit-card looking thing that we each had one of. This opened our door, allowed us to charge things (drinks and purchases at the shops), and was our entry back onto the ship from the ports. ) Then we made our way onto the ship. As you get ready to walk through the doors onto the ship there is a crew member standing there that announces your name “Disney Dream welcomes the Scheese family” and all the other crew members standing around applaud and cheer…it was pretty cool. Walking onto the ship was breathtaking…it was so beautiful. It was shiny and fancy and elegant…amazing. So we got onto the ship and were shown how to get to our room. By the time we got up there our luggage was already waiting outside our door for us…they move quick! The room wasn’t huge, but we never felt cramped or anything. There was a queen size bed for Chris & I, a couch that flipped over to a bed, a bed that came down from the ceiling, and a captains bed that folded into the wall. It also had a long dresser/desk area and two closet areas. There were two bathrooms, one with a sink and a toilet, and another with a sink and a shower/round bathtub. The shower was ah-mazing…best shower ever! Our room also had a veranda with two chairs and a little table on it, each side was blocked off so it was nice and private…although we had a smoker around us and every once in awhile you could smell the smoke from their veranda…yuck! After we checked the room out we decided to go eat lunch. We went upstairs to where “Cabanas” was, which was the buffet place. Omg…the buffet was crazy! It was huge and there was everything from regular sandwiches to more exotic foods…there was so much food on the trip I can’t even remember what they had, lol! We ate and went to go look around the ship. Being so big it took us quite awhile! It was amazing…so much detail and artwork and just everything. Then we decided that Chris would take the kids swimming while I unpacked. I’m an organization freak and I couldn’t stand the thought of living out of the suitcases for 4 days, so I needed to unpack and get our room set for the cruise portion of our trip! By the time we got all done with those things it was about time to get ready for dinner. We had left port by that time too and it was interesting trying to get the feel of the slight rocking of the boat. It wasn’t enough to make anyone feel sick, but it was enough that you noticed it. Even though dinner attire was “cruise casual” (no shorts or tank tops) we decided that we’d use these four nights to get to dress up. Living where we do, there isn’t much opportunity to dress “fancy” as the kids called it. We got to our restaurant for that evening, The Animators Palate, where we met our dinner companions and our waiters. On all four nights, you dine with the same people and have the same two waiters. We hit it off with the other couple and their son really well. The Animators Palate had a lot of drawings and pictures of the different Disney cartoons. There are large screens, that look like pictures, that shift throughout the meal. Then Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo, comes onto the screens and talks with different guests. I’m not sure how they do it, but he asked them questions and then responded to the answers. It was pretty neat. Dinner was amazing and right away we loved our waiters, Naya and Kevin. They did magic tricks for the kids after dinner and the kids promplty nicknamed them “the magic men”. Dinner was four courses, appetizer, soup/salad, main course, and dessert…all of it excellent! After dinner we were all exhausted (it was about 10pm) by this time so we headed back to the room and crashed out for the night.

Monday, October 17- Nassau, Bahamas! We woke up pulling into Nassau…amazing. We got up fairly early and headed to breakfast, again the buffet at Cabanas was out of this world. The food was outstanding and you had more choices than you could ever need. My favorite breakfast food through the entire trip was their jelly donuts though…omg…I have never, ever had a donut so good! And I ate a lot of them…hey it was vacation! After breakfast we headed up to our room to get everything we needed for our trip to the water park at the Atlantis resort. As we got off the ship Brooklyn said “it’s so hot I can’t breath” it wasn’t so much that it was hot as that it was very humid. We had a short walk from the ship through the port area to where our shuttle was waiting to take us to Atlantis. The drive to Atlantis was crazy…lol they drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and they go fast…very fast, around cars, cutting people off…crazy, but fun! So we get to Atlantis and it is as amazing to see in person as it is on the commercials. It was huge and very pretty. We walked through part of it to get out to the back and the artwork is amazing. Outside we walked past the outer part of their aquarium and got to see sting rays, manta rays (omg they’re huge), sea turtles, and all kinds of fish on our walk to the water-park area. I do have to say we were a little dissapointed when we got to the water park and realized that Brooklyn was the only one of the kids tall enough to go on most of the slides. I’m not sure how we missed that when we decided to do it, but we did. There was one part that we could all go on called the lazy river…which wasn’t ‘lazy’ at all. There were tunnels and rapids and it was so much fun! They also had a good sized kid area that Landen & Chloe were able to play on. Chris & Brooklyn were able to go on several of the large waterslides, including the one that was featured in the Amazing Race a few years ago (and is in a lot of the commercials) that is almost straight down and goes into where sharks are swimming. I wasn’t able to go on any of the big slides b/c there just wasn’t enough time. Purchasing the water park tickets also gave us access to the amazing aquarium they have. It goes underground and has glass to look through along the way. It was crazy! So many beautiful fish and we got to see the manta ray up close…it was so large that I couldn’t even get the whole thing in one picture! All of our favorite part of it was the jelly fish though…to get to see them up close like that…breathtaking! After the aquarium we headed back to the ship. We could have stayed longer at Atlantis, but we needed to allow ourselves enough time to get ready for the show that night and dinner. When we got to the port there were some Bahamian ladies braiding hair, we decided to get the girls hair braided there. They had someone on the ship doing it too, but we figured if they were going to get it done, they were going to get it done on the island. The girls were great, I know it had to hurt (good thing they have tough heads!) but they sat there and didn’t fuss at all. I think they knew those Bahamian women meant business! Brooklyn was very excited when I told her I could do the same thing, I’ll need some practice to get it as tight and small as they did, but I’m sure I can get it eventually. We got back on the ship and got ready for the show and dinner. The show was called Villains Tonight, and was all about the villains from the Disney movies. It was spectacular! We all loved it. After the show we had about an hour to kill so we dropped the kids off at the kid area then Chris and I went roamed around a bit. Then we picked the kids up and went to dinner. Dinner on this night was at The Enchanted Garden, which is exactly what it sounds like, a beautiful garden setting where the colors in the ceiling and walls change throughout dinner. Once again, the food was great and the service was incredible.  After dinner we went back to the room and got our swim stuff on (again at like 10pm) and took the kids up to the pools. Chris & I took the older two on the Aquaduct (Chloe was too little) and they got to swim until around 11:30. Then we went and crashed out for the night.

Tuesday, October 18- Castaway Cay! (which is actually pronounced key not cay) Disney’s own private island! We woke up a bit later on this day since we didn’t have to be off the ship at any certain time. After breakfast we headed out to the island & bought some sand toys for the kids, then headed to beach.  The water was fantastic, we were in a ‘bay’ area so no waves and the water was the perfect temperature to cool us off but was comfortable to get in right away. We swam for awhile and played in the sand. They had a big bbq buffet set up for lunch, which again was outstanding. Chris & I dropped the kids off at the kid area on the island and went snorkeling for a bit. We saw a sting ray (which was a little creepy!) and lots of beautiful fish. After we picked the kids back up Chris took Brooklyn out to snorkel. Landen had the stuff to go too, but it freaked him out too much. That surprised me b/c we had bought them a snorkel set this summer to practice and he took right to it in the pool. I guess the ocean was a different story though! Brooklyn absolutely loved snorkeling and probably would have stayed out there all day if she could have! Landen, Chloe & I built a sandcastle and played in the water while they snorkeled. There was an off-shore storm that started causing quite a bit of wind on the island so when Chris & Brooklyn came back in we started packing our stuff up. I did a little shopping on the island then we headed back to the ship. We went back to the room and got ready for the show and dinner. This nights show was a ventriliquest, I wasn’t really wasn’t all that excited to go, but am so happy we did. He was hilarious! Dinner on this night was at The Royal Palace, which was the ‘fanciest’ of the three restaurants. On this night it was ‘pirate night’, in our rooms we each received a Mickeys Pirates in the Carribean bandana. It was crazy…there were so many people in full pirate costumes! Idk if they had brought them with them, or if they bought them on the ship, but it was crazy how many there were. I think our kids were the only ones that didn’t know much about Jack Sparrow or the Pirates of the Carribean movies…because we don’t let them watch PG-13 movies,  but they didn’t seem to mind, or even notice that they didn’t know anything about them. Anyway, after dinner there was a “pirate party” on the deck so we headed to that. There was a small skit/play w/ Mickey and his crew and another one with Jack Sparrow and Black Beard. They were both great! Then after all of that they had fireworks from the ship. Disney is the only cruise line that can shoot fireworks from their ship so that was pretty cool. It was amazing to watch them out over the ocean like that.

Wednesday, October 19- at sea. This was a rough day and therefore won’t have much detail. There was large storm that wasn’t actually hitting us, but was causing major waves. I was sick, took some Dramamine, and went to bed for most of the day. It was too windy to swim so Chris and the kids went to a movie on the ship then he took the kids to the kid area while he hung out. I’m not sure what all went on b/c I was in bed.  I woke up in enough time (barely) to get ready for the show and dinner. The show was called “Believe” and it was about a father/daughter. The daughter wanted her logical-thinking dad to believe in magic. Throughout the story different Disney magical characters (Genie, Fairy Godmother, ect) came and showed the father that magic is real. It was a great story and had a very happy ending. Idk how those actors/dancers were able to move around how they do when everyone on the ship walked like they were drunk from the waves, lol! Dinner was again at the Royal Palace. We had an early morning ahead of us so we went back to the room and packed as fast as we could. We were supposed to have our luggage outside our room by 10:30 so they could take it and have it waiting at the port for us in the morning.

Up until the last day I thought we’d for sure do another cruise someday. After being sick & sleeping the day away, I don’t know if we will. I feel like I lost a whole vacation day. Idk why I didn’t think to go get a prescription of some kind for naseau. I get carsick, so Idk why I thought I’d be ok. We got those sea-band wrist things but they didn’t do anything for me.

The service was unbelievable. You are treated so incredibly good that it’s pretty much unimaginable. When you sign up for the cruise they tell you what the ‘normal’ gratuity is for the room host & waiters are. I talked to a friend shortly before we left, who has been on a Disney cruise, and she told me that before the trip the amount seems high (it does!) but after the trip you are more than happy to give them that money (we were!). The room host, Benny, was amazing. He met us once, and after that knew our names, and he had like 5 other rooms! I said he must have gone down to his room and studied who everyone was, lol. Our room was made up twice a day, in the morning he’d put all our beds away and get everything ‘day-ready’ and at night he’d do turn-down service and get the beds ready to sleep in. Each night there was a towel-animal on the bed w/ a chocolate for each of us, and he’d put the kids stuffed animals/blankies on their beds all cozy and waiting for them. Seriously, anything you want at anytime is available. Chris thought two different dinners looked good, so he ordered both “no problem” he was told. (he make me say that they are small portions so it isn’t like he ate two huge dinners, lol) You never heard any of the crew bitch or complain about anything, they always had a smile on their faces. Now I know behind closed doors they probably bitch about stuff, but it was never, ever in front of the guests. The food was ridiculous…not just the taste and quality, but the amount! For breakfast you had your choice of room service, 3 restaurants, or the buffet; lunch was buffet; dinner was one of 3 restaurants; but during the day they also had a pizza place, a burger joint, or a sandwich shop, you could go get whatever you wanted at anytime. They also had an ice cream bar open where you could get yourself soft-serve ice cream anytime. At one point when I had told Landen we were getting a snack he said “not ice cream, I’m tired of ice cream” lol…that’s when you know a kids had a lot of ice cream! And holy cow…that boy ate some hamburgers on this trip! He had at least one everyday, lol!!

There were 1500 crew members on the ship, and I think around 3000 guests. So there were more people on that ship than in our entire town! But you never really felt that way, it wasn’t crowded at all. There was so much to do, almost too much! We never did see or make use of the adult area, there was just no time. I’m sure there were parents that did, there were many kids that were dropped off at the kid area in the morning and picked up right before dinner. But this was a family vacation for us, so we wanted to be with the kids. One of my favorite parts of being on the cruise was that we had no access to computers, phones, facebook, video games, nothing..and I never missed it We were able to just focus entirely on each other…it was great. I do have to say if there was one thing I’d do differently it was getting so ‘done up’ for the show & dinner. This take an extra 1 1/2-2 hours to get everyone ready, time that could have been spent swimming or something.

Thursday, October 20- back to Florida. We had an 8am breakfast time, that was actually at a restaurant, then after breakfast we headed directly to the port. We said goodbye to our room host and our waiters (who all got hugs from the kids!) Goodbye, Disney Dream! Our luggage was waiting for us, with a Disney crew member to take it to the shuttle area for us. We headed back to the same hotel we had stayed out the night before we got on the ship. We got there and headed down to the beach right away. We spent the afternoon on the beach, swimming in the ocean, playing on the beach, jumping the waves. Chris rented a body board and Brooklyn took to that immediately. If we lived by an ocean I’m sure she’d be surfer in no time. The rest of us spent about equal times on the beach and in the water, but not her. She was in the ocean the entire time we were there…literally. When she was playing in the waves, the rest of us happened to be on the beach, there were 5-6 dolphins swimming not 50 feet from her! What an amazing thing!! It was so cool to watch them! The whole time we were really good about keeping sunscreen on all of us, and on this day we were really good about putting it on the kids…but Chris and I fried ourselves. Ouch! Idk why we didn’t put it on, just forgot I guess. After the beach we went to the room and showered and took a taxi to the pier for dinner. It was good…but nothing compared to the food and service on the ship!

Friday, October 21- still in Florida. Breakfast and the beach again. We left the beach in the late afternoon and headed to our hotel at the Orlando airport. Once we got there we went down into the airport mall area (the hotel is attached to the airport) and did some shopping and ate dinner. Then we re-packed the suitcases to meet the 50lb weight limits for the flights home and went to bed.

Saturday, October 22, on our way home. Long flight, longer drive. We left Florida at 8am their time, and got home at midnight our time. So basically about 18 hours of travel. The kids did fantastic with it though.

The trip was truly a dream vacation. It was fantastic and I am so, so glad we did it. I do have to say that I’ve heard of people saying “how can they afford that?” (really that’s none of your business) or “I wish I could afford that”, and it wasn’t that we just had the money laying around. Chris worked 12 hour night shifts for pretty much 3 months straight. In those three months he had 5 days off, not consecutive, just random days. That’s how we could afford it, we all sacrificed for him to work that much, because it wasn’t just him that it affected. It was hard on the kids and myself too. But it was so, so worth it! I don’t think we could have made it through those 3 months sane if we hadn’t had this to look forward to. And I am so thankful that he has a job that does allow him to pick up those crazy shifts to we can do stuff like this. All in all it was worth the money and worth Chris working so much.

Anyway, I know this is insanely long, and I know there are things that I probably left out that I had previously thought to put in. Maybe I’ll add those things later. Oh, I did want to list what characters the kids were able to see: All the princesses & princes, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Chip & Dale, Captain Hook & Smee, Hades, Pain & Panic, Evil Queen, Malaficent, Ursula, Genie, Fairy Godmother, Jack Sparrow, Black Beard. That’s all I can remember off the top of my head, there very well could be ones that I’m forgetting.

I was going to add pictures onto this blog but I’ll have to do them in a separate one. This is already way too long, and I don’t have time right now.

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