Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Our family waited over a year for the Disney cruise. It seemed to have taken forever to get here. But I guess if you want a Disney cruise you have to book a year or two in advance. We left on Saturday early in the morning for Victorville. It would have been too hard on the kids to drive all the way to LA in one day. We got to California in record time. With even a lot of potty breaks. The kids were so excited for Sunday morning. We packed up and drove the 2 hours to the port terminal where we got on the Disney Wonder. It was so cool to see all of our hard work paying off. The departure was delayed some, so we didn't leave until after 5. The kids loved looking out the window and saying good bye to California. Then the "fun" started! We took the kids to the first dinner on the rocky boat. Well, needless to say all the kids got sea sick except Courtney. We got through dinner, but not dessert and went back to the room gave the kids sea sick meds. That seemed to help. Later the waiter said that the first day was overwhelming because we have so many kids. Had to laugh at that. On the Disney Wonder there are 4 different kids clubs the kids can go to. But it just depends on the age of the child. Courtney was in the Edge, but could go to the Oceaneer Lab and Oceaneer Club with the other kids. Courtney loved the Edge!! She would wake-up eat breakfast and head off to the Edge until dinner and the 8:30 pm show, then it was back to the Edge until 12:30 or 1 am. The other kids were in the Oceaneers club and Oceaneer lab. Maliyah and Austin loved going, But Justin and Kendra had a hard time staying. So we were always getting text messages on the cellphones the ship let you use from the two of them. The activities were so much fun on the ship. The kids made flubber, the characters would come into the clubs and play with the kids. It was very hands on from the characters. Jake went to get Justin and saw that Mickey was teaching the kids how to march around. They kids also told us that Pluto came and took a nap on the beanbag with the kids. Of course the kids didn't take naps, but Austin did fall asleep on the floor of the kids club. When that happened, the counselors would get them a mat, blanket and pillow. Then we would receive a text to come and get the one that was asleep. Jake and I didn't really get much alone time. We always had someone that needed something. Which was fine, but I expected more adult time. We were never able to go and hangout in the adult pool. They were three different pools: Goofy pool, Mickey pool and the adult pool. The Mickey pool had a huge tube slide. Courtney and Austin both did the slide. The shows were incredible!! Of course it's Disney, so we wouldn't have expected anything less than that. There were also a lot of 3-D movies that kids could go to. We decided that we didn't want to waste time watching movies we could rent later on, or ones we had seen. There were a couple of movies that were not released in the theatre or we would be able to rent later that I went too. I've never been to a movie alone so that was interesting. Jake was to tired and Kendra was texting and calling, so he took care of her. The game shows on the ship were just like the ones you see on TV with all the lights, sounds and buttons to answer questions. The players were picked out of the audience. Jake and Austin were picked to be on the game show called How Well Do You Know Your family. One of the question that was asked to Austin was, how old is your parent, Austin's answer was 61 years old. Very funny! Another question he was asked was, what band/singer is your favorite, Austin first answer was whatever my mom listens to, his second answer was no one. Another question was "who is the boss in your family?", Austin answer was "my mom of course". He is such a cute kid. He made that game show fun to watch. He also had a chocolate face because right before he was picked to go on stage he was eating a Mickey bar. We didn't get off the ship at Cabo because we really didn't like Cabo when Jake and I went. So when we got to Purueto Vallarta we thought that would be easier to get the kids off the ship there. We got a taxi and went to Krystal Resort. There is a beach and pool there. Shortly after we got there my battery in my camera died and so did the camcorder battery. I was so mad!! The kids had so much fun playing in the water and finding crabs and other animal life. When Austin was digging something for the water to go into the tide came and took him out with it. Courtney came running over to us yelling that Austin was in trouble. By the time we both ran over, some locals had grabbed him and pulled him out of the ocean. I thought he was going to cry and not want to go back. But just as fast as they pulled him out he wanted to go back in. I'm so glad he reacted that way. It's always a huge deal to get in and out of the elevators on the ship because they are so small and narrow. So someone would have to hold the button so that everyone could get in and out without the doors closing. Well Austin was waiting for Kendra and Maliyah to get out of the elevator when the doors shut on him, so he couldn't get out. Kendra and Maliyah both started crying and Justin was crying "my brother, my brother, I want my brother". They all freaked out! We could tell what floor the elevator was on from the other side, but by the time you got there it was already gone. The doors finally opened and he got out. Courtney was the first to him, he was crying. Weird thing was I realized how close and how much my kids love and care about each other. It was really neat! But also realized how bad they freak out if something scary happens. Jake and I were able to eat at Palo, which was fun looking out over the front of the ship. And we laid out by the pool for a couple of hours together listening to our Ipods, and got sunburned. We also got to go and see a comedic show. Jake got roasted by the comedian, I was laughing so hard. But then the comedian turned on one of Jake favorite songs from his favorite movie. The comedian didn't have a chance then. Jake took it home!! It was so much fun! Around the pool the next day people came up to tell us how funny the whole thing was. The pirate night was probably one of the best nights on the ship. I got all the people in the family customes for a great price, so that was a bonus. We were one of the only families all dressed up. When we got up to take pictures with Jack Sparrow he even said what an effort we put in. We ate dinner and then changed into pants to go and watch the show by the pool. The pool was covered and there was an interactive game that everyone was able to play. It was a lot of fun! Then the characters came out and danced. There was a short firework show too. The last day was crazy!! The ship was rocking and I got very sick. The girls and Austin went to the last show. Austin almost threw-up and had to run to the bathroom. We got almost all the way through the trip when, and the last breakfast Maliyah threw-up. We were so close! :) Needless to say we had a great trip and hope to do it again soon. Or in the next 10 years. LOL No, I'm sure we will go somewhere before that. Have a great day! The Herrin's