Day 3 - December 6 - Second Day at Sea

We find ourselves out at sea for the second straight day.

An overall strange day. First is the loss of an hour, as the clocks went forward last night. It appears that the Caribbean does not observe day light savings time. Second, yesterday we needed to be up early for the character breakfast, today there are no morning requirements for us, and third, everyone is generally tired from the last couple of days of hustle and bustle.

The results, brunch (actually closer to lunch) for the family instead of breakfast.

I think that it should be pointed out inside cabins are dark. It is quite easy to lose track of time in the mornings.

Trivia Fact #2

Disney makes a lot of eggs every day.

Blogger Side Note - Room Size

I was a little concern prior to the trip about the size of the room. I will say that the room is not large by any means, but is sufficient for anyone who is not planning on staying in their room their entire vacation.

Misadventures of Stitch

The afternoon, saw the children in kids club. Deb, Chloe and I spent time strolling throughout the ship, doing a little shopping. It should be noted that I was causing no trouble and minding my own business, I was attacked by a large blue alien. He moved quick and with a purpose. Unprovoked, he stuck his claw in my ear like a wet willy, and while distracted proceeded to steal the stroller and began to push the baby down the hall. Thanks to some fast acting Disney crew members, Stitch was quickly apprehended and Chloe was returned to her parents, much to her disappointment.

Blogger Side Note #2 - Disney Characters

Being a veteran of the Disney parks, we are familiar with Disney characters being surrounded by security and treated like rock stars. I also understand the need for this with the amount of people that only want one quick picture, or one quick autograph. The boat is a completely different animal. The lineups were smaller and more manageable. The characters appeared to be more interactive and I am sure that we were lucky in some situations like the Stitch story above, but we found characters throughout the ship.

Disney Trivia Question of the Day

How many cups of coffee are served on board per day?

Shuffle Board Game

With a little extra time on our hands, the kids challenged their dad to a little game of shuffleboard. A quick game to 50. It was my intention to go a little easy on the girls, and I shot from the regular line while letting the girls play forward of that position. I am glad that we didn't play for money, as the girls decided to give Dad a good old fashion whopping taking him 51 to 7. After the game, Chloe decided to give me a few tips for the rematch.

Evening Entertainment

Tonight entertainment was another Broadway show called Villains. The premise is a simple one, Hades needs to add more evil to the underworld or be replaced. As with Cinderella the previous night, the show was incredible and a must do on the cruise.

Abbey's Comments

On Friday we went on a plane. The plane ride took 2 hours and 17 minutes, to get to Orlando. I had pop and cookies on the plane and sat next to my Dad. I didn't like the plane because my ears hurt. My Dad and Mom surprised us with a limo ride to Port Canaveral. I like the limo because there was rainbow color lights on the inside. There were 4 movie screens inside the limo. The movie was Madagascar 2. There was free pop and water inside. On Saturday, we got on the Disney Cruise Boat. The boat has 11 floors. I like to order room service because you don't have to pay. I had breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale. I also met Stitch, Max, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderello, Snow White, Tiani, Belle and Alice. On Tuesday in St. Martins we went to a butterfly farm. My mom put a blue butterfly on my dress. On Wednesday, we were in St. Thomas, and I went snorkeling with sea turtles. I had a waterproof camera and I took a picture of two turtles, and a stingray. The temperature of the water was 83 degrees. I have two more days on the boat and then we are going to Disney World for a week.

Emily's Comments

When I was at the airport, I had to wait 4 and 1/2 hours to get on the plane. I finally got on the planeand I sat beside my mom. I liked it when we went up, and when we were above the clouds and the houses were really really small. We had no car so we had to rent one and it was a LIMO. It took us to the hotel. I liked it because it had a whole lot of lights. We did not arrive at the hotel until 10pm., I went to bed at 11 pm. The next day we boarded the boat. I liked getting on the boat, and my dad, and sister, Abbey, explored the boat. At night we went to the theatre and saw a live performance called The Cinderalla Story, A Twist. The next night we went back to the theatre and saw Villians. I thought Villians would be scary but it wasn't. We also went to a butterfly farm in St. Maartin. I didn't like it because it was outside and rainy. I did not get to feed any, but 4 butterflies landed on me. The next day, I went swimming in the ocean with stingrays, fish, and sea turtles. I wasn't scared, but I felt a little sick on the boat as it was rocky. The last stop was at Castaway Cay where I got to feed stingrays, but it was scary. My mommy and daddy said it felt like a vaccum. It was scary because they would swim all around me and I did not want to get stung. The last night we went to the theatre and saw A Dream Comes True, my favourite part was when Ariel performed. I am hoping my parents take me back again.  

Day 2 - December 5 - The Journey Begins

The adjustment to the ships movement has been a bigger transition than first thought. The only one who has made a seemless transition is the baby.

I swear that I woke up this morning thinking the ship was going to roll over. My legs seemed much higher than my head, and the ship just wasn't rolling, it was moving to one direction. The only thing left to do was rollover and go back to sleep.

Trivial Fact #1

The ship is huge, and we still need to take a couple of moments to figure out where we are. Our cabin in an inside state room located on the sixth deck at the front of the boat.

King Kong Moment

The kids decided that this morning we should attend a paper plane making sesson. Yes, there is a class. I guess if you can have basketweaving in college, than you can have paper plane making on a cruise. After an intense 15 minutes of making our planes they were ready for flight. Our instructor gave us last minute instructions, namely (1) not to fly the plane into the ocean and (2) not to throw your plane at another person. The countdown began, the green light given, and paper planes were being thrown everywhere. For the next few minutes I became the object of most airplanes. I realize that I am a little large, but was I trying to climb a building carrying a woman? No... I am beginning to understand why that ape kept swatting at those planes.

Rule #13

When participating in a paper plane making class, ensure you are in the back of the room when the planes go flying.

I thought I would include a picture of the planes. Any guesses on who constructed this plane??

We also went to our first origami class and learned how to make paper flowers. Dad, Mom, Emily and Abbey worked their magic, and attached is a picture of those flowers. For the record, Chloe has yet to master the art of folding paper. She has mastered crumbbling paper, and eating paper.

The other major event of the day was the character breakfast. Chloe had the following review:

           Eggs were good
           Pancakes were better
           Mickey and Minnie were neat and deserved a smile
           Goofy and Pluto were met with mixed emotions
           Chip and Dale - full meltdown, but in her defense they were a bunch of crazy chipmunks.
           Watching Dad and the girls have to wear funny hats, priceless.

Disney Trivia Fact Number 2

How many eggs are prepared daily on a Disney Cruise Ship?

Crazy News of the Day

At dinner, we were told that the clocks would move forward an hour. But not too worry at the end of our week we would move the clocks back an hour and recover that time.

Day 1 - December 4th - Departure

Day 3 was met with a lot of anticipation. We met in the lobby of our hotel, boarded our shuttle and off we went to the Disney Cruise Line Centre.

We had arrived a little earlier than expected but there was already a sizable line. I must admit that Disney has a way to keep a line moving and before we knew it, we were at security. Deb of course set off the metal detector, and needed to be ushered to the side for a metal wanding. The rest of us, tried to ignore her, in case she didn't make it through. It only lasted a couple of minutes, as Chloe kept saying MA.. MA...MA... Fortunately, Deb made it through security.

Interesting Kid Fact

Chloe now has two words... MA... and WHAZAT... they can apply to any situation and to understand her, you need to focus on the situation, and the her emphasis on the syllables.

Interesting Travel Fact

There were no Tim Hortons between the hotel and the Disney Cruise Centre, and therefore the journey was quite quick.

We than proceeded with our check in, and I decided to see about upgrading our rooms. It was a long shot, but upgrades were available. But with every bit of good news comes some bad news. The upgrade from our room, was to a master suite and Disney was not upgrading for free, so we passed on it.

We were given a boarding number and sent to the chairs to wait for the official boarding. With TV screens and leather type couches, the wait was not very long. Chloe took a few minutes to stroll the area looking for any large mice that may be there, and to her surprise found one.

Interesting Travel Fact #2

Disney cruises are an exciting affair for many people and when they call a boarding number, 50 or so people are admitted to the line to go on the boat. Some do not always have the class to calmly walk to the staging area, but rather run like buffalo. Chloe narrowly escaped injury. It also appears that knocking over a baby to get on a cruise ship does not require a look back or an apology. This may be a new trend, and I welcome others to run like a zebra being chased by a lion to the nearest lineup and try taking out a small child.

After escaping possible trauma or death, our number was called and we boarded the ship, having our family name called out to all, with mild applause. Apparently, the new Tim Horton's travel system has not caught on, and my fame has not been assured.

Interesting Disney Cruise Travel Fun Fact

Which item is longer from tip to tip, the Eiffle Tower or the Disney Cruise Ship.

We spent the majority of our afternoon unpacking, and exploring the boat.

Slight Interruption

Our blog has hit a slight road bump. Due to satelite problems on the ship, we were left without internet for most of the cruise. The girls and I have taken notes and I will start to post again later this evening and into tomorrow. It is my intention to finalize the cruise portion of the blog over the next little bit.

Greg

December 3 - Flying Far Far Away

Today is the day - the trip is officially beginning.

We have conned my parents (thanks guys) to help us bring stuff to the airport, and we are ready to go.

Learning from yesterday's fiasco, I told everyone that we needed to be ready to leave for 9:30, with the true intention of leaving for 10:30. It is now 10:15 and we are on our way. Rule #11 is a success, and will be carried forward from this day forth.

Interesting Travel Fact

1) Number of Tim Horton's between my parents and the Buffalo airport that we went by, four. Its becoming a new travel game, or it can be a way to measure the distance from one place to another. If channel 4 can measure the amount of snow by the size of a person, who to say that you can measure distance by the number of Tim Hortons that you drive by. Anyways, number of stops 1. It appears the last stop before crossing the bridge from Canada into the US has a duty free shop, a McDonalds, and a Tim Hortons. Should put a sign out from. If you want Timmy's coffee, go back the way you came, or stay here, cause this is the last stop for it.

2) I may not have a math degree, but when the current going exchange rate is $0.98Cdn to $1.00 US, and you decide to purchase something in Canada with US currency the price should not really go up. Buying apple slices from McDonalds, I had the choice of paying $1.04 Cdn or $1.09 US. Really?? What the h? McDonalds needs to make $0.05 on the going exchange rate. It appears that Super Size has had an inpact on the industry.

The Story Continues....

We crossed over the border waiting to be humbled by the fury of the "storm". This just in, a recalculation of snow fall on the american Fort Erie side of the border. It is no higher than the ankles of an albino alligator. (I am beginning to like this measurement style). The results, an immediate arrival to the airport. Not bad, if you want to spend 4 hours waiting in chairs for your plane, with only 2 stores, and 4 food locations to keep you occupied. However we did find the Fisher price gate, this is where Fisher Price has donated some of their toys to keep children occupied while waiting for their flight.

Kid Facts

How many times can a kid run across the playground, jump over the toys that have been firmly attached to the ground, before taking a header, that wil require immediate medical attention. For this young boy, the number is 7 times, before trying to fly across a Fisher Price kitchen, just nicking the top and banging into a row of steel chairs, that also did not move. Medical attention was not required, but a small break of 10 minutes was needed before the next show. Parents reaction, minimal.

The Story Continues....

We finally began to board the plane, and I learned that either bring a bunch of small children, or pay the early boarding fee, cause if not, and the plane is full, your not sitting with your family.



Interject

I first want to go on record as saying that our flight with SouthWest was the best flight I have been on. The staff was very professional, trying to be funny, and very competent. Yet I was surprised by only one thing. When checking our bags (and by the way traveling with 4 girls) tends to bring out a lot of bags, I was told to put the heaviest bag on the scale first. We had 4 significant size bags and I picked the one that appeared to be the heaviest. It hit the scales at 42.5 lbs. The lady tagged it, and put it on the belt. When bag number 4 hit the scales it registered at 44.5 lbs, and I was told that this was your heaviest bag. I am not sure why you need to define which bag is heavier, but if someone can tell the difference between 42.5 and 44.5 lbs by lifting a suitcase.... "your the man", unless your not a man, than your mostly likely "the woman"

Kid Facts #2

Our middle child, Abbey, decided that she would neither chew gum, or drink water as the plane descended to help with her ear popping. Kids can be stubborn, but science doesn't lose. Update to rule #3, you can negotate with anything but hunger, fatigue, and science.

The Story Continues....

Our trip concluded with a small surprise for the children and that was using a car service to transport us from the airport to the hotel.

After a relaxing drive, we are now calling it a night.

Kids Thoughts (this will be the last time, I paraphrase for them). Starting tomorrow each one will write their own paragraph or two discussing the good and bad of the trip.

Emily

Good - Limo Ride and First Airplane Ride.

Bad - Long wait at the airport

Abbey

Good - Limo Ride, Trying to negotate with George on a purchase price for the vehicle (she offered him a $50 Disney Gift Card), there working out the details, and trying to convince Dad to have a limo instead of a plane bring us home.

Bad - Wait at the Airport, Airport Pizza,

December 2 - Voyage Home

It's tough to be a blogger. I sit here at the end of day 2 recapping day 1 events as no family members had a WI-FI connection. Who doesn't have a WI-FI connection. Public schools who are broke have a WI-FI connection.  Santa and his technically savvy elfs may need to make a stop this Christmas season.

The start of the vacation began with much anticipation and a plan (see rule #1). The plan was simple pack a vehicle and be on our merry way by 11 am. Actual departure time 12:30. I have forgotten how many rules I have, but I will start with Rule 11 - when traveling with Women - lie about the departure time. If you need them for 11, tell them 10, you now have a fighting chance to making 11.

Crazy Travel Fact

(1) Between our home and our parents home (approx 200 km), there is 14 Tim Horton locations along the way. We stopped in 8 of them. It would have been 9 but I felt the kids could hold it for the extra 1 and 1/2 blocks to their grandparents house.

(2) To travel 200 km on a stretch that is mainly 80km per hours, it took us just short of 4 hours. Extrapolating that for a driving distance of 2200 km (trip from home to Orlando), adding in various stop breaks, eliminate the crazy amount of Tim Horton stops (good thing they are not all over the US). It would take us a week. We suck.

Learning about my Children

Last year after telling my two girls we would be driving for 2 days, I learned that it takes about 40 km from the boarder to hear "when are we stopping for the day". Today, I learned that approx 70 km from the house, is the appropriate time to say "Dad I forgot the charger to my DS and it is low on batteries."

New Rules

Rule #12 - Regardless of the age of the children or the number of times your wife says, yes we packed them. Do a double check of the bags. Aggravation is worth years on your life.

End of the Day

As the day began to end, news travelled quickly that Buffalo (our departing city) was having a snow storm. Accounts varied, from 6 inches (approx. 15 cm to those that follow the metric system), to 18 inches (approx 45 cm) to the armpits of a man (thanks channel 4). On a side note, is measuring snow by the size of a man really an accurate measurement. Has the scientific community accepted another form of measurement.

This just in from the weather network, it has snowed in Buffalo, we calculate the level of snow as approximately 12 inches, 30 centimeters or the knee level of man that is the size of an Ewok.

I must admit that it did bring out the crazies, with their phone calls and emails trying to figure out what we were going to do... I was heading to bed, we weren't leaving until the morning. There was no need to figure out what we were going to do. The city's public work department was going to figure out what to do. (By the way they did an excellent job).

November 7, 2010 - Pin Trading

My favourite topic when discussing Disney. If a Disney vacation is a bowl of ice cream, pin trading is adding in the hot fudge and sprinkles. 

I still remember researching online for our first trip and coming across a small article relating to pin trading. I was intrigued. It talked about the fun of collecting and trading disney pins for other disney pins. I dug a little more and found the disney's site of  pin trading rules and etiquette (http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/page?id=getStarted). It sounded like fun.

I decided to buy 60 pins from an online store and thought we would give it a try. Considering our children were five and three, and barely talked to family let alone someone they didn't know, sixty pins seemed to be alot. I was wrong. They lasted two days, and the rest of the vacation was spent deciding on which pins we would keep and which ones we would retrade.

The biggest surprises were (1) the three year old had a full understanding of pin trading within the first hour in the parks, (2) the number of employees (the majority) were pin trading throughout the park (Florida), (3) the reduction of souvineer requests as the kids were busy trading pins rather than mulling through the shops, (4) the time spent by the Disney staff when trading pins with the kids and (5) instead of down time (waiting for rides, waiting on food), it is now filled with pin hunting.

Since our first trip, our pin collection has grown substantially (approximately 1200 pins) and pin trading is now a staple of our vacations.

Tip: From our experience the best place to purchase pins for trading is through E-bay. Stay away from buying a few pins here and there and purchase a grab bag of sorts. Remember the key is not what DISNEY pins you are buying since the goal is to trade them at the Parks. A fair price to pay is about $1.00 a pin (including shipping).

Tip: I would also recommend having at least 25 pins person who will be trading.   

 

October 24, 2010 - Prior Vacation Thoughts

With a little under six weeks to go before we depart on our disney vacation I thought that I would begin to get in the swing of 'blogging" by send out a few blogs of our past Disney experiences.

Greg's initial 7 Disney rules to live by:

1) Have a plan. Do the research

In most cases I would recommend not only having a plan A but also having a plan B, a plan C and even a plan D if needed, improvise only when absolutely necessary. There will always be someone in your group that will say a plan isn't needed. They're wrong. These people will walk aimlessly throughout the parks, who see and experience very little, and come back to tell everyone what a terrible time they had.

There are a variety of websites out there that can be used as a resource. A couple of sites we have used in the past http://www.mousesavers.com/ and http://www.wdwinfo.com/.

2) Remember whose vacation this is.

I comment as a father. Going to Disney is for the kids, not the parents. I understand the cost of taking a family to Disney, however trying to explain that cost to a 4 year old, is like telling your mother-in-law her opinion doesn't count. It's just useless, they just can't comprehend what you are telling them.

3) You can negotiate with any type of circumstance except Hunger and Fatigue

A simple fact, children de-age when they become tired and hungry. Its similiar to having a pet bear. They look neat when sleeping, they are playful when fed,  but poke it with a stick and you may be lucky if you only lose the stick. Remember Rule #1 (that's why it is rule 1) - have a plan. Stick to a schedule 

4) There is a "wall" and you need to be prepared.

I also like to refer to it as "Four parks in Four Days your nuts".

Speaking from experience, the mythical "wall" is not that mythical. Simple facts, (1) the parks are huge, (2) when busy its like being in a mall the Saturday before Christmas, and (3) young children do not have the stamina of an adult. Dragging your children from attraction to attraction and telling them they will enjoy it, doesn't work, trust me I've tried.

It seems that planning (See Rule #1 - again that why its rule #1) a break day will go a long way to reducing the stress of the trip.

5) Disney World can be an amphifier to your family dynamic

Not such a rule, as an observation. Although Disney is deemed "the happiest place on Earth", the parks will amphify your family structure. In my opinion Disney, is not the place to mend a disfunctional families. The level of stress (yes stress) the overall cost, the knowledge that this is a "special" type of trip, the desire to have a perfect vacation, can be the start to the perfect storm. Now add, a factor that can be outside your control, a child getting sick, the weather taking a turn for the worst, a favourite attraction not being opened, and fireworks can commense. The key is remembering that not everything is in your control, and with a little understanding and some patience anything can be tackled. (See rule #3 for the exception).

6) Less is More

Like most things in life this rule was learned through experience. Our first trip to Disney and I tried to ensure that anything that sounded like fun was booked. Special tours, character meals, consecutive days at the park were only a start to this vacation. It hit home during the fourth day of our vacation. We had just spent three very good days at the parks, but the kids were fading and I knew it. However, I had booked a "Disney Magic Family Tour" and nothing was going to stop us from attending and having fun. So we arrived at the Magic Kingdom to go on an interactive tour, with two children under 5 after three days in the parks (See Rule #4), who are normally interverted, and for good measures, the weather was not looking too good. Here is the general recap of events:

9:00am - arrived at the parks, looks like rain, the three year old looks a little tired, better rent a stroller, might also need some rain gear.

9:32am - arrived at the gates, starting to spit, $30 for four rain covers, reminds me of garbage bags with a hood, trying to figure out number of garbage bags that we could buy with that type of money, head starts spinning on the calculation. Now need to get a stroller.

9:33am - wife tells me she ripped her rain gear, quietly swore

9:34am - it wasn't that quiet, got a look.

9:36am - found out that Disney will replace damaged items even if they were your fault. Will keep that in mind for future.

9:39am - was told a double stroller is $29 for the day, swore again, asked if it was a magical stroller, got another look, this day is not going very well.

9:44am - checked in and paid the $120 for the family (getting more expensive by the moment)

9:55am - starting to rain a little harder, hoping it is a passing shower, but the entire sky is gray.

10:00am - met with our tour guide, and given the premise of the tour, Capt Hook may take over Disney World if we don;t find his sword in the next two hours. Guide wants everyone to introduce themselves.

10:01am - three year old is sleeping in the stroller (no refunds), five year old is hiding behind mom... raining even harder.

10:06am - on our way to the first place, rain is now coming down sideways, the tour guide is unfazed.

10:15am - Five year old, is now hiding out in the stroller. The weather is taking a turn for the worst, I am thinking we are in a monsoon.. I want to give the park to Capt hook, its not like he can change anything. He still needs to get proper building permits. It appears that is not an option. Wife is giving me the look.

We did finish the tour, and there was no permanent damage done. If there was anything I learned, it was do the research, figure out the extras that you may like to do, pick an item or two, rather than doing many different things.  Quality over Quantity.

7) Have a Budget.

A budget is necessary, but an unreasonable budget can be the first step to a disastrous vacation.  The major costs would be finalized prior to your departure (travel, room and tickets). Now the next step is to budget for meals, souvineers, and other park expenses (parking (budget $15 a day), stroller rental (budget $30 a day) to name a few.

A reminder that almost every ride empties out into a gift shop. Telling a young child that they can look but can't get will only last so long before a complete melt down will take place. A strategy is needed for this as well.

We have countered this issue with pin trading (to be discussed in another blog). By prebuying pins (we save on the cost of buying them at the park) and having them available for the children to trade, has reduced the number of requests for purchases as they are to busy trying to trade pins.

September 19 , 2010 - Preamble

On the eve of our final payment for our upcoming disney cruise (our first), we (the context refers to the family but really it is me) has decided to keep a regular blog regarding our upcoming vacation. My (see it has already changed to the singular) thoughts were to document the joys and headaches, the adventures or more likely the misadventrues of our latest disney experience. Truth be told, I am expecting more of the misadventures, I mean adventures (need to stay positive), but traveling with three kids (8, 6 and 1) may tempt fate more often than not. My final reason is that maybe I can be a guide to a future traveler who will find this information useful., heck I may win the lottery too... but I doubt either will happen.  I have also "conned" the two oldest to write a paragraph or two on the blog  (see I have already made it a 'we' again) during our trip of their greatest highlights. 

Disney experience: Although my wife and I have both been to Disney a couple of times as children, we have as parents decided that this is a place we like taking our children on our annual vacation. Over the past three years, we have gone on three separate yearly trips to Disney in Florida. We are slowly (according to some not that slowly) becoming Disney addicts. We have stayed twice off site (our first and third trip) and once on site at the Carribean resort. Although not an expert but any means we have experienced the good and the bad of both. I do intend to post a future blog (hopefully brief) on our previous trips.

The vacation: 18, possibly 19 days, leaving Decmeber 2, and arrving back either the 19th or 20th.

The particulars: December 2: Leaving to go south and visit the family for the day.
                        December 3: Arriving in Buffalo and flying to Orlando
                        December 4: Departing on an Eastern Cruise for 7 days
                        December 11: Arriving back from our cruise and heading to Disney World
                        December 19: Departing Orlando, flying back to Buffalo, and visiting family
                        December 20: Arriving Home

Although most of the planning has been completed, my intention is to write down individual aspects of our planning process over the next couple of weeks.

Thought / Rule #1 - If you should ever decide that one parent should fly with the new born, and the other parent should drive 2000 plus km (1300 miles) alone with two children under 7, either (1) be the parent on the plane, or (2) have your head examined because you are insane.