Cruise Installment Nine

October 4 - Day 8 : Disembark and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

"All good things must come to an end." Really?? Do ALL good things have to end?? I suppose that, technically, the cruise was ending and we were ending our vacation, but I knew that the 'high' from this trip would last for a very (very, very) long time to come.

We had to be up early for breakfast on the ship. For breakfast, we were assigned to go to the restaurant that we were in the night before for dinner. For us, that would be Animator's Palate. Breakfast was at 7:45, and we had to take all of our carry-on luggage with us. We were suppose to be off of the ship around 9 AM.

None of us were quite as cheery - or awake - for breakfast as we had been for dinner. We were greeted by Sasha and Malwyn and they took care of us for the meal. We shared departing hugs and smiles. Our memories would never fail to include them.


Breakfast for the family ....









Wake up boys.









Ok. At least SHE seemed to be awake.










Breakfast lasted as long as we could make it ... and as long as we could handle the little ones stuck at the table. Then, all 9 of us gathered our gear and started toward the atrium lobby and the gangway. Gathering our checked luggage and going through customs took less time than I imagined The customs agent never even looked at our papers or asked our kids questions as we expected him to. That was odd to me.

Our luggage handler got our bags to the curb - after dumping the entire load before we got through customs - and we packed all of the bags in the trucks. We got on the road headed for Orlando and Downtown Disney. It was pretty easy to get there from Port Canaveral, and once there, we knew exactly where to go. It felt like home. :)

One of the beautiful trees in Downtown Disney.









The 9 of us got together and decided to try getting in at the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. They weren't taking reservations that day, so we'd have to head over there right around 11:30 if we wanted a seat. Before lunch we went through the Lego Store - always fun - and the World of Disney. While in the World of Disney, Mom bought Becky and me bracelets for momemtoes of our trip. Becky's bracelet is white gold and has swirly Mickey heads on it. Mine is like a charm bracelet with many different Mickeys on it. It's a mix of white and yellow gold. Also in that store, I found some fun scrapbooking things and a bracelet that actually FIT Jaydin! She's been soooooo hard to fit with bracelets because her wrist is so small. She's thrilled with it, too, because it has a little Mickey head dangling from it.


We finished right in time to get over to the Rainforest for lunch. As always when we are in there, my kids get cold. Mark has it figured out, too .... they really just want an excuse to get a new shirt. :) But ... the plow works (once again), and we all get shirts. We had a great meal and a great time. Jaydin loved the animals, but she wasn't very thrilled with the thunderstorm in the restaurant. She kind of freaks about noises, anyway. We finished our meal - and did NOT get dessert (that's right ... no volcano ....), and we headed out for a little more shopping. When we got out of the restaurant, they were having some kind of bird show with exotic birds. All I could think was "Could they have found any NOISIER birds?!" Wow. Just get me out of there. Those birds were obnoxious .... beautiful, but obnoxious.

Outside the Rainforest Cafe.










Jaydin posing with the animals.











A gorilla in the Rainforest with us.










Jaydin under the rainbow. Just look at those hands. Think she's been posing a little too much this week?!











Worth the trip. We don't go to Disney or Orlando without stopping. Of course, we don't go to Orlando without going to Disney, either .....








Yeah ... they were pretty, but .......








The next stop was the candy store. Oh ... somewhere in there, we all worked in a trip ... or 2 ... to the potty. :) Jaydin bought a few things in Once Upon a Toy, and I found that the scrapbook store that was once in Downtown Disney was no longer there. :( I was really bummed out about that.

I think that they really just wanted to get right back on the ship.









My Jonah.









Mom in Downtown Disney.









We had finally gotten pretty worn out, and we set out for our hotel. We checked in early, but I was not thrilled with our rooms. I requested adjoining rooms, but they said that they didn't have any available. The room that my mom got smelled like cigar smoke, and that's really unacceptable. In general, I wasn't thrilled with the hotel at all, and I doubt that I will go back there. Unfortunately, I've not had exceptional experiences at the last few Marriott hotels that we have stayed at, and I will probably not stay there unless that's my only choice in the future. That's a shame. I like having a place that I can count on. I thought that Marriott was it.

Anyway, Becky and Dusty brought the baby over to our rooms. While we were all just hanging out in the room, a hotel employee knocked on our door. He had a fold-away bed with him. I told him that I didn't request it, but that I did request a bed RAIL for our room. I thought that he understood (sort of ... didn't speak a lot of English) and that he took the bed away. Instead, I found out that he had taken it down to Mom's room, too! LOL!! He tried to give that bed to us a couple of times, but FINALLY came back with a bed RAIL a little while later. I think that he tried to give a rail to Mom's room, too. Oh well. Such is life. I've found that having a rail on the bed really gives me some peace of mind when Jaydin is sleeping with me in a big bed. I am always paranoid that she's going to fall out of the bed during the night, so I don't sleep.

At about 5, Jared, Jonah, Jaydin, Mark and I started toward the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MSNNHP). We had heard that we could get in at 4, so we thought we'd give it a shot. We rode the tram to the monorail and the monorail to the park. Jaydin was full of wonder when she saw Mickeys all over the park and saw the castle in front of her. She was so excited about 'trick-or-treating' in the park. We were able to ride several rides and to get treats around the park. We also saw Buzz Lightyear, Timon (from Lion King), Terk and Tarzan, and King Louie (from Jungle Book). She enjoyed seeing the characters. We decided to head out of the park before the parade went through, but I needed to stop at the Emporium for a MSNNHP shirt ... or 3. :) As I was checking out, the cast member said that we should walk right out of their door and watch the parade. It was the perfect place for it, and we were right beside the street. It was a very unique parade - the Boo to You Parade, and it was a lot of fun. We got a couple of bags of candy and had a lot of fun at the MSNNHP.

The train station when we went into the park. It looks a *little* different after dark. :)









After dark with kids in the picture ....










And after dark without kids ....








The castle changed colors hauntingly through the night. :)










Jaydin got to see it before the dark of night hit, too.









The 3 kids waiting in line. Don't you love their tie dye shirts?? Jared has one on, too. They have tie dye Mickeys on them - can you see it on Jonah's shirt?








Space Mountain just as the sun was beginning to set. I really like this picture.








Oh ..... we were back in the country, so I'm sure that you KNOW what Jared was doing .....








Back at the room, Becky and Dusty got prepared to head home. They like to drive at night with the baby sleeping. If I had known that when I looked at getting tickets for the MSNNHP, we wouldn't have gotten them. I didn't like leaving Mom back at the hotel alone. When we were done at the party, we called and found out that Mom had not eaten anything. We hadn't eaten supper, either, so we ran by the hotel to get her and then found something to eat. It was a quick supper, but it filled us up for the evening.

Then, it was back to the hotel to sleep and prepare to drive back to Georgia the next day. I guess that all good things do have to come to an end ......





or not. :)

This was from one of the very special rides at Magic Kingdom -and that says it all. :)

This is the last of my cruise installments, but hopefully, all of you will join me for a few other fun things that happen in our wonderful life. :) Next week, I will share a little about our Family Fun Day in October. We went to Callaway Gardens and had a photo scavenger hunt. It was great fun, and I can't wait to tell you all about it.


Live the life, and live it well.