All Too Soon Our Cruise Drew to a Close :o(

(Friday, February 28, 2014)

Before we knew it we were packing our suitcases and preparing to leave the ship early the next morning.  Noooooo!!!!  We were having such a great time that we just wanted to grab the rest of our family and board the Fantasy again!  It seems like just moments before we’d been enjoying the ‘Sailing Away’ party and now it was time for the ‘See You Real Soon’ party.

The party began with a video featuring families on our cruise and then all of the characters came out.  They scattered throughout Deck 3 and were available for last minute pictures.  (We caught the show twice – once at 4pm and then again at 10pm) thus the change in clothing on Hannah)

I’ve watched this next video no less than 20 times and find myself tearing up every single time!!  We had THE VERY BEST time together on our cruise and it was SO hard to leave!!  I love to listen to Hannah’s screams in this video!  I love her outgoing personality and how much fun she had!!

NO!  Don’t make us go!!!

The Obligatory ‘Towel Animal’ Cruise Post

Hannah loved to come back to our room each night after supper to see what Miss Giesel had left us in the way of towel animal creations.  She never disappointed!  Mommy’s challenge was capturing a quick picture before Hannah began to play with Giesel’s creations.

Elephant

Sea Turtle

Monkey

Doggie wearing Nana’s sunglasses

Birthday Cake

Bunny wearing Hannah’s Rapunzel crown

And finally a stingray

Thanks Miss Giesel!  You made coming back to the room extra special each night!

A Fun Experience – Disney Fantasy Fish Extender Exchange

Another thing I learned on DISboards was about Fish Extender Exchanges. 

Outside of each stateroom there is a metal fish attached to the wall where Disney staff leave notices.   Guests have found a second use for these and oh what fun it is!

Before leaving home I chose to order a fish extender from Bullfrogs and Butterflies Boutique on Etsy.  (Thanks so much for your help with the shipping MaLeah!!)  I had thought of making one but when I found this one and the cost was reasonable the decision was an easy one.

When we unpacked our suitcases on the cruise I hung our fish extender outside our stateroom and the fun began!

A little background.  Before our trip I found a group on Facebook (using my Mom’s account as I have chosen not to get a FB account of my own) and signed up with them.  It was fun to get to know people who would be sharing our cruise a little bit before we left.  One of the options available was to sign up for a Fish Extender Exchange group.  In the end there were 19 staterooms in our group and 3 groups formed from our FB group.  Our family was responsible to take a gift or gifts for each of the other 18 staterooms in our FE exchange group.  I chose to make photo albums called ‘accordion albums’.  Norma came over one day and we spent the majority of the day making them.   Thanks for your help Norma!!

The finished albums.

We also took Smarties which are a (nut free) Canadian candy to give to the kids.

We made 1 accordion album for each stateroom in the exchange and took a box of Smarties for each child in the stateroom.  We took time on 2 different days to deliver our gifts to those in our group.  It was fun to tour the ship and Hannah had such fun looking for the stateroom numbers as Nana and I called them out.

Being part of the exchange also made it exciting to return to our stateroom!

I had to laugh one day when I couldn’t find Hannah’s sparkle shoes….until she told me to check the Fish Extender.  LOL!!

Here are just some of the great gifts we received!  I’ll admit some were tore into so quickly that I didn’t even have time to take pictures of them before they were gone!

Mater teeth were a big hit with Hannah!

Minnie Mouse hair accessories, the Minnie rectangle with the bow and skirt was wrapped around a chocolate bar, candies for the ice cream station, a notepad with pen, St Patrick’s day treats, book, crayons, activity book and picture of Mickey.

Tissues, Minnie Play Pack of activities, Princess candy, Pirate chocolates, a handmade dish cloth, Monsters University stuffed animal, pirate notebook and a Minnie Mouse paint brush to be used to brush the sand off our feet on Castaway Cay.

Colouring package with 3 homemade Mickey shaped crayons, Mickey flashlight, a trading pin, a couple of Pez containers, luggage tags, Tinkerbell face cloth, handmade luggage handle covers, handmade crayon holder,waterproof iPhone cover personalized with the date of our cruise and picture frames.

And two gifts that deserve pictures on their own.  A beautiful peg game.

A Disney Fantasy cruise line bag that we began to use immediately as did others in our group as we saw them around the ship.  It’s great and I love using it now to remind me of our trip.

I don’t think anyone on our cruise reads the blog but just in case someone does, THANK YOU!!!

It was such fun participating in this fun exchange and we’ll do it again in the future for sure!  If you have an option to do this I highly recommend it as it’s fun on so many levels!

Enough Already!!!

(I pause from the cruise posts to share this with you.)

This morning as we drove to Ange’s I glanced in my rear-view mirror and started to howl!  This is what I saw!

Yes, the date on this post is correct.  It’s March 26th but we’re still in ‘deep, deep, deep, deep snow!’  (Couldn’t resist the ‘Frozen’ reference!)

The good news is that temps are supposed to begin climbing tomorrow and I’ve convinced myself that we’ve seen the tail end of winter and spring is on it’s way!  (Yes, I’m in denial!) 

Anyway, Hannah and I will soon have an extra 10 minutes to ourselves each morning when she doesn’t have to put on: snow pants, her winter coat, hat, 2 scarves (the second is a Hannah addition as it’s really windy where she waits for her bus with Ange) and mitts.

So long winter.  Don’t hurry back!

Magnetic Memories

As I prepared for our cruise I did a lot of reading on DISboards – Disney Cruise Line Forum.   It’s a purely Disney Cruise Line chat board!  One of the many things I learned there was about how some people decorate their stateroom doors with magnets.  It was one of the things I prepared quietly and didn’t tell either Hannah or Sharon about them.  I’d ask questions like, ‘Who is your favourite character?’ or, ‘Who is your favourite princess?’ but they had no idea why.

On DISboards I found a number of people who create personalized images that I was able to print, laminate and then add magnetic tape to the back of them.  I changed up our door fairly regularly and it was fun to find that others added magnets to our door too! 

Here are a few pics of our various door decorations.

Day 1.  Hannah was super excited when she saw our door decorated with ‘Frozen’ magnets!!!

This pic was taken about half way through our cruise.  By this time a Minnie Mouse series had been added as well as some princesses.

On Hannah’s birthday I switched the door entirely and it became a door of birthday wishes for my sweet girl!

I already shared this video but for those who might have missed it here it is again.  Also, it shows you how much Hannah enjoyed finding the new magnets.  This was special because of her birthday but she was excited each time she discovered new magnets on our door.

Our door the final 2 days of our trip with all decorations together.

If you decide to go on a Disney cruise I highly recommend doing this as not only will your family enjoy them but so will others walking by your stateroom!

Castaway Cay

(Friday, February 28, 2014)

Friday morning we woke to our first cloudy day since our trip began.  Thankfully it was still dry as today was our day at Castaway Cay (pronounced Castaway ‘Key’), Disney’s private island.  After breakfast we prepared for a day of beach fun!  I’ve heard a lot about this beautiful island and was excited to see and experience for myself!

We popped back to the room to get our beach stuff and Hannah took the opportunity to hide on Miss Gisele so she came in and found her.  I love that my clever little girl still thinks she’s ‘hiding’ when she’s under the covers.  So sweet!

We met up with Tonya’s family and made our way off the ship ready for a day of beach fun.

The characters headed off the ship too!

We stopped for a few pictures with our beautiful ship in the background.  We are so thankful for the friendships that were formed this cruise and we continue to keep in touch.

When we arrived at the beach I asked Hannah if she wanted to try out Pelican’s Plunge and she was all for it!  That’s my girl!!

Go Hannah!  Go Hannah!!

Our ship from the top of Pelican’s Plunge. I still love the look of the Disney ships!

After Pelican’s Plunge Hannah and I headed into the water to play with Jacob and his parents.

Unfortunately soon after that the skies opened and the rain didn’t stop for a long time.

We decided to head to Cookies to enjoy a BBQ lunch and hope that the rain would pass.  Lunch was delicious but the rain continued so we, like many others, chose to return to the ship.  Hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to return to Castaway Cay someday and enjoy all that it has to offer!

A quick shower for our feet and then we got in line. 

This was one time that there was longer lines to board the ship but it only made sense as hundreds of people decided to board at the same time.   After we’d been in line for a few minutes Hannah told me she had to go to the washroom so we left the line and quickly headed towards some buildings I could see close by.  Unfortunately when we got there there weren’t any washrooms.  Uh oh!  One of the crew members took a look at Hannah’s little potty dance and quickly ushered us up the gangplank reserved for crew members only.  After scanning our Key to the World cards we went through security and the kind crew member ushered us to the nearest washroom.  Thank you!! 

As we were in the washroom I could hear Cruise Director Clayton announcing a number of changes they were making on the spur of the moment to accommodate the extra passengers onboard.  ‘Frozen’ would play in the main theatre (yes, we were tempted!) and characters would be appearing around the ship greeting guests. 

Hannah and I were walking to our stateroom when suddenly Goofy was there with nobody but his companion with him.  Hannah was thrilled as Goofy is her favourite character!!  He immediately began interacting with her as you can see here.  A wonderful moment for sure!!

‘Hannah Red Riding Hood’ with ‘Wolf Goofy’!

Yes, these are the moments that make our Disney time so special and truly they happen often to us and to others!  It’s these little, unexpected moments that cause me to fall in love with Disney over and over again!

And The Birthday Celebrations Continued!

(Thursday, February 27)

Unfortunately as supper began Hannah had a bit of a sore tummy but thankfully she turned the corner after a bit and was able to enjoy the rest of her birthday.  Poor pet not feeling well on her birthday.

This evening we were dining at Animator’s Palate and it was going to be a wonderful new experience for all of us.  We were asked to arrive at the dining room 5 minutes earlier than normal and each of us were given a place mat and marker and asked to draw a figure.  Hannah’s cute little gal.

This is what they did with out pictures.  So cool!!

Jacob and his family gave Hannah a couple of beautiful gifts and even though at the time she was pretty subdued due to her tummy, she’s played with them often and always talks about Jacob giving them to her.  Such a sweet friendship these little ones share!

Poor little Jacob, he was so concerned when Hannah wasn’t feeling well.  When she perked up he perked up too.  Sweet boy!!

I didn’t take a lot of pictures of our food but had to capture this amazing lobster tail!  It was huge and oh so delicious!!

My sweet birthday girl on the mend.

Birthday wishes for my sweet girl.  She was absolutely glowing!!

On our way back to our stateroom we stopped to capture some special pictures.  Priceless treasures of this most amazing trip!!  We love you Hannah!!

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  I love you more than words can express!!! xoxoxo