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From: pezgirl on 25 Jan 2010 02:44
Hi, It's Ange, adding things Paul might not remember or have seen,
since i have a tendency to SPAZ or just plain run off on my own. Did
a lot on my own this trip since he had his siblings and because it was
a cruise. No i won't do my own TR.

> I really
> should have kept daily notes.
*with what time, Paul? as soon as you returned to the hotel rooms,
you pretty much flopped onto the bed until early the next morning and
it was time for next morning. Just like Tiana.
Oh well.

> Now, I get the point of this. They're worried about an outbreak on such
> a confined area. I get it. In theory. But in reality? This is
> idiotic. It's been between 20 and 35 the last couple days. EVERYONE
> has a cough or a runny nose.
*yeah, that was incredibly stupid and pointless.

> We just stood in the lobby for
> quite a while, waiting for our bus to arrive, and congratulating all the
> marathoners and goofys returning.
*i pin traded! of course. spoke with the gentleman at the DVC
counter who had been on 13 cruises, (most or all of them disney) and
he even started looking up what movies would be on board, it was
great. Paul and i saw people with sashes stating "perfectly goofy"
and wondered what it meant. my being the much more people friendly of
the two of us, (and the more likely to be able to run at this point)
he sent me after someone wearing one. we discovered that anyone
wearing this sash had run all of the Goofys from its conception.
>
I was amused that it retained the "storyline" of Captain Hook
> boarding the ship to find Peter Pan, from the Magical Express video.
*i liked stitch, and daisy, and chip n' dale, but that's nothing new.

> We get to the Port and go through security. I'd completely forgotten I
> was still wearing my Donald medal as I went through the metal detectors.
*how can you forget that thing, it's humongous, and we never stop
talking about the race or congratulating runners, that's hilarious.

>Longest wait was maybe a 5 minute wait in the line to get our
security pictures taken
i thought these cards were fantastic. i liked that there was NO WAY
they were gonna leave without me on the ship, and also, that they
weren't constantly going to be looking at me incredibly ugly passport
photo- and that this photo was up to the minute up to date. also, on
board they were our 'plastic'- our credit cards, but without giving
away credit card info or any privacy info at all. i liked that a LOT.

>Here we experienced our first of seemingly
> endless sanitization checks, with crew members handing out handi-wipe
> things. This would continue for the next four days, before and after
> entering a restaurant, getting on or off the ship, etc.
*with a small area being very crowded, i'm glad that disney was doing
this. it was quick and not a hassle at all, and actually very
reassuring. i did NOT like that there was no pin trading among the
crew members. i can understand it, but would rather that they insist
on cleaning the pins all the time. i feel as though i lost on a
socializing opportunity among the CMs.

>The first one asks me, softly "Hi what's
> your last name?". I tell him, and then I hear one of them shout out
> "NOW WELCOMING THE LALLI FAMILY!!!!" and everyone starts applauding.
* ok, that actually freaked me out. a lot. now, usually when i go to
the park with paul, i get signed under the name Lalli, and i like it.
He's my best friend and i can't think of anyone closer to me than
him. however, this time, his siblings were there- his actually blood
family. and several times during the trip and on the cruise,
including just a moment ago, they had had "family" pictures. which
was a constant reminder that i am not a member of his family. Here's
this man shouting out something that made me feel really bad.
i also have anxiety issues and PTSD. i DON'T like surprises, and
suddenly there's this guy yelling and i'm surrounded by people staring
at me when i'm unprepared and out in the open in an unfamiliar place
and there's lots of noise. did NOT like. i wish they had asked,
"what should we announce you as?" be specific, please tell us what's
going on. that would have made me happier. it was magical for paul,
but i felt like i was ambushed and i hated it.

>
> My travel agent, Stephanie from MEI, had booked us the "secret porthole"
> rooms, 5522 and 5524.
*OMG, the rooms were beautiful!! they were HUGE, SO much larger than
the dinky squished cabins that i expected, with LOTS of storage space,
shelves, even a closet, a safe and the bathroom separated in 2, which
we liked. The shower had its own sink, shelf and mirror and the
toilet had its own sink mirror and shelves as well. also, there was
space UNDER the bed, which is unusual for a hotel room, however since
we were on a ship it was probably "use all available space" mindset.
there was even a mini-fridge which we didn't have to request. the
sofa, when we tried to pull it out, simply turned over and was
completely made. if we wanted another person in the room,
housekeeping would have come to unlock a pull-down bed from above the
couch. oh, and there were even curtains between the bed and the sofa
for privacy, and light switches everywhere. this room was nicer than
the rooms we usually get at pop century, or pretty much any room i
stay in except for top-of-the-line suites. Our rooms were made twice
a day, once in the morning, and then turned down at night while we
were at dinner. Paul never saw Semma, our housekeeper because he left
so early in the morning (he's a sweetie, he'd grab me a bagel for
breakfast!) but i usually did, and she was very very nice. At night
we'd get a towel-gami animal with chocolates for eyes. Sleepy the
dwarf was on the wrapper.

>while Ange started decorating the door. She'd been collecting
> (and creating) magnets for about a year in preparation for this.
i heard from housekeeping that people enjoyed the magnets. We had
read that you can decorate your door, but not with tape or anything,
so i made magnets. for a year. still have some left, though i left a
few for Semma to deal with.

> Got lost up here too. I didn't think much of the
> signage pointing out where to go, actually.
*i always get lost, but i found the signs easy to follow. the ship
has 3 parts- forward mid and aft, and then 10 decks. there are signs
EVERYWHERE, and directories placed in key locations also. so as long
as you know if you're in the front, middle or the back of the ship,
you're golden. find a sign if you're lost, it'll tell you where you
are (you are 'here!') and where you want to go. very helpful. by the
end of the trip, i knew that ship. now of course, it's leaving for
LA. of course...

> My memory gets a little hazy here. I know we had the mandatory safety
> procedure thing.
that was simple. they were smart and they kept families together.

>So I returned to the room, and found the door
> *covered* in magnets. Top to bottom, corner to corner. Not an inch of
> door left. Like I said, for a year she'd been preparing for this.
goal achieved. magnets to spare. need another cruise...

We got through the
> briefing thing and returned to the room, I think. My memory is hazy
> again here.
*i think we changed clothes into more ship appropriate clothing. but
i don't think you're forgetting anything, maybe we wandered the ship a
little. i think i was looking for some food at some point... going
to Pluto's and trying to figure out who to pay, only to remember that
you _Don't_ was an interesting experience.
oh yeah- just checked my pics of the trip- the Cast off party!!! how
could i forget?? i danced (of course) and paul took pictures for me.
Pluto even did a cartwheel, which was VERY impressive. neither of us
felt the ship begin to move as it cast off. Unfortunately, i believe
it may have been here that i either turned my ankle dancing or i hit
my ankle/foot on something. we spent quite some time that night and
the next day looking for first aid... more on that tomorrow...

>We saw the show _The Golden Mickeys_ Very *very* cool show.
>There were a lot of
> characters in the show that you don't usually see in the parks,
> including Tarzan and Mulan in her armor.
*squee* and captain li shang, though he was pretty hefty. trying to
remember who else was in it... i wish i could've taken pictures, there
were SO many!! oh yes- Stitch dressed as Elvis!!! *Squee again*

>my sister
> Megan would tell me she never realized that there were people in the
> world worse than me. :-)
*why is this girl not into disney? i don't understand it... :p

> Dinner was very good, I thought.  Of course, at the moment, I couldn't
> possibly tell you what I had.
*you had a lot of fish. especially shrimp and lobstah. so did your
siblings. i wish i was into that. all of the food was fantastic on
the ship, but i was good and didn't eat a lot. i do that when i'm
excited, though.

> I remember what Ange had as an appetizer,
> but I think I'll let her fill you in on that story if/when she
> comments...  
*thanks. so paul tried to get me not to ask for a kids' menu, and the
server looked at me kinda funny when i asked for one, with crayons,
but after i asked for it the second night, he managed to procure one
for me after that. (it wouldn't be waiting for me, because that would
signal where the 1 child of the party would sit.) throughout the
cruise, i would order off of both menus, the adult's and the
children's. so i might eat mac n' cheese with prime rib, fresh
cantaloupe and a chocolate shake. just whatever came to mind or
sounded good. the first night at triton's, i had the lamb. i tried
to order a Vanilla coke, and got some sort of coke with a scoop of
vanilla ice cream...
*For the famed appetizer story... on the adults' menu, there was bacon
wrapped shrimp. well, i don't like seafood. (and Triton's
sacrificing of his people is a bit abhorrent to me) but i do like me
some bacon! so i asked if i could have some of that. our server made
no promises but said he'd ask. he succeeded. i received a plate of
bacon. i was surprised. it was a lot of bacon. and everyone just
kinda looked at me askance. not for the last time....

>Maybe Ange can fill in the blanks here,
*Ok, after dinner we went to the shops, tried to get to medical since
my ankle was hurting, to find that it was CLOSED- it's operated by an
outside service and they were only open for certain hours of the day.
also, they're on the 1st deck and were difficult to get to. We ended
up borrowing a wheelchair (i asked permission) that was sitting
outside the door and paul pushed me around for a bit.
*oh, this was neat- pretty magical for me, really.... we wandered the
upper decks to get the lay of the land when suddenly... there's a
dessert cart. full of desserts. yummy scrumptious pastries and
delicacies and goodies... they had one chocolate strawberry. i made
them hand it over, and they let me know that a little bit further down
there was another cart. paul and i went further down to behold that
cart, and it was FULL of chocolate covered strawberries!!! i was very
very happy. we retreated to our cabin and collapsed.

for me:

The good- the photocards, the cabin space and storage, the food, towel-
gami animals
the bad- hurting my ankle, entering the ship, First Aid being closed
and difficult to get to.
the Magical- Mulan and Li Shang, Stitch as Elvis, desserts out of
nowhere, chocolate covered strawberries

Thanks again,

Ange


From: Paul Lalli on 25 Jan 2010 08:36
On Jan 24, 10:13 pm, "Michelle in Atlanta" <m...(a)you.com> wrote:

> So excited to read this part of your TR! We are getting our passports in the
> next month or so and hope to book a DCL trip, but like you, I'm a bit
> apprehensive about NOT knowing anything. I'm most concerned with
> logistics-how do you know where to be when, how far ahead do you schedle spa
> treatments, dinners, excursions? How do you find out when the buffet
> closes?!

Hi Michelle. I'll try to help you out as best I can with what I
learned during this trip...

1) Dinners. You don't schedule dinner. You list your preference for
first or second seating (5:30pm or 8:15pm, iirc). Then when you get
on the ship, there's a ticket waiting in your stateroom that shows you
which restaurant you're dining in each night. Now, what I'd like to
know is if it's possible to find out your rotation before you board,
so that you can better know which one you want to skip and book Palo
instead. I don't have the answer to that yet.

1A) Palo Dinner. This one you do schedule in advance. You can book
it either through your TA or on DisneyCruiseLine.com. You can try to
wait until you're on the ship, but as my siblings found out, don't be
surprised if they're completely booked by the time you try doing that.

2) Spa treatments & Excursions. You can book them starting something
like 75 days in advance for first time cruisers - but only after
you've paid in full. Depending on how many previous DCL trips you've
taken and whether or not you've booked a concierge room, you may be
able to book them earlier than that. Again, you do it through your TA
or DisneyCruiseLine.com, which will also give you the exact day that
you can begin booking. Ange did manage to book/change a spa treatment
on the ship, on our first day, so you *might* be able to hold off on
that, but if there's something you really want to do, book it in
advance.

3) When the buffet closes. The first day, I didn't. At least not in
advance. But every evening you'll receive a "Daily Navigator" in your
stateroom, that shows you what's happening when throughout the next
day. On the back of this navigator is listed each of the dining
options (both the sit down restaurants you eat at each night, as well
as the buffet and the three counter-service locations on the top deck)
along with their hours of operation for that day.

4) Where to be when. Again, your Daily Navigator. It lists
everything happening on the ship that day, broken out into half-hour
time blocks, and separated into categories of Adult, Family, Teen, and
Kid. Also, when you get on the ship, you should find tickets for all
your excursions you've booked waiting in your stateroom. Though as I
said, ours weren't there and we had to go to Guest Services to reprint
them. These tickets tell you where to meet when for each excursion.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask me any questions as a fellow first-
timer. :-)

Paul Lalli
From: Paul Lalli on 25 Jan 2010 08:49
On Jan 25, 2:44 am, pezgirl <pezgirl...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi, It's Ange, adding things Paul might not remember or have seen,
> since i have a tendency to SPAZ or just plain run off on my own.

Yeah, this is the first Disney trip during which we weren't together
24/7. :-P

> > I really should have kept daily notes.
>
> *with what time, Paul? as soon as you returned to the hotel rooms,
> you pretty much flopped onto the bed until early the next morning and
> it was time for next morning.

You make a fair point.

> Just like Tiana.

hahahahah. :-)

> > We just stood in the lobby for
> > quite a while, waiting for our bus to arrive, and congratulating all the
> > marathoners and goofys returning.
>
> *i pin traded! of course. spoke with the gentleman at the DVC
> counter who had been on 13 cruises, (most or all of them disney) and
> he even started looking up what movies would be on board, it was
> great. Paul and i saw people with sashes stating "perfectly goofy"
> and wondered what it meant. my being the much more people friendly of
> the two of us, (and the more likely to be able to run at this point)

heyyyy. I'm very people-friendly when at Disney! :-) My legs just
didn't so much work at that point is all. :-)

> he sent me after someone wearing one. we discovered that anyone
> wearing this sash had run all of the Goofys from its conception.

Ah yes. This was the 5th year of the Goofy Race & A Half Challenge,
and these insane sash-wearing folks had done all five of them.

> > We get to the Port and go through security. I'd completely forgotten I
> > was still wearing my Donald medal as I went through the metal detectors..
>
> *how can you forget that thing, it's humongous, and we never stop
> talking about the race or congratulating runners, that's hilarious.

Because it was a part of me by that point. :-P


> >The first one asks me, softly "Hi what's> your last name?". I tell him, and then I hear one of them shout out
> > "NOW WELCOMING THE LALLI FAMILY!!!!" and everyone starts applauding.
>
> * ok, that actually freaked me out. a lot. now, usually when i go to
> the park with paul, i get signed under the name Lalli, and i like it.
> He's my best friend and i can't think of anyone closer to me than
> him. however, this time, his siblings were there- his actually blood
> family. and several times during the trip and on the cruise,
> including just a moment ago, they had had "family" pictures. which
> was a constant reminder that i am not a member of his family. Here's
> this man shouting out something that made me feel really bad.

Well... I guess that's at least partially my fault then. I should
have given the guy both of our last names when he asked. I'm sorry,
it caught me by surprise and I didn't think about it. It was just
"hey someone asked me a question, answer it".

> > My travel agent, Stephanie from MEI, had booked us the "secret porthole"
> > rooms, 5522 and 5524.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it - if you want just one of these rooms,
request 5522. My siblings had that one, and their "obstructed view"
was really really not. There was a single chain hanging down in front
of their window, while we had a big white canister blocking most of
ours.

> *OMG, the rooms were beautiful!! they were HUGE, SO much larger than
> the dinky squished cabins that i expected, with LOTS of storage space,
> shelves, even a closet, a safe and the bathroom separated in 2, which
> we liked. The shower had its own sink, shelf and mirror and the
> toilet had its own sink mirror and shelves as well.

Yes, the separated bathroom with both halves having a sink was
probably my favorite part of the room. Very very nice.

> >while Ange started decorating the door. She'd been collecting
> > (and creating) magnets for about a year in preparation for this.
>
> i heard from housekeeping that people enjoyed the magnets. We had
> read that you can decorate your door, but not with tape or anything,
> so i made magnets. for a year. still have some left, though i left a
> few for Semma to deal with.

..... a "few". riiiiiight.

>
> > Got lost up here too. I didn't think much of the
> > signage pointing out where to go, actually.
>
> *i always get lost, but i found the signs easy to follow. the ship
> has 3 parts- forward mid and aft, and then 10 decks. there are signs
> EVERYWHERE, and directories placed in key locations also. so as long
> as you know if you're in the front, middle or the back of the ship,
> you're golden. find a sign if you're lost, it'll tell you where you
> are (you are 'here!') and where you want to go. very helpful. by the
> end of the trip, i knew that ship.

Well sure by the end of it, I finally started finding my way around.
But those first couple days? I turned a 180° so many times I made
myself dizzy.

> now of course, it's leaving for LA. of course...

And if we do manage to make the cruise in 2011, it'll be on the Dream,
a completely new and larger ship. We'll be lost all over again. :-)

> oh yeah- just checked my pics of the trip- the Cast off party!!! how
> could i forget??

Ohhh yeah. I forgot about that completely too. That was fun, and the
Crew Members were insanely energetic throughout the whole thing.

> > my sister
> > Megan would tell me she never realized that there were people in the
> > world worse than me. :-)
>
> *why is this girl not into disney? i don't understand it... :p

I am the only Disney fan in my family. The others were just there
because they were proud and shocked I'd registered for a half-
marathon. :-P

> > Dinner was very good, I thought. Of course, at the moment, I couldn't
> > possibly tell you what I had.
>
> *you had a lot of fish. especially shrimp and lobstah.

Uhm, no. I may have had seafood, but not fish. I don't eat cooked
fish. Blech.

> i tried to order a Vanilla coke, and got some sort of coke with a scoop
> of vanilla ice cream...

You got a vanilla coke float. It was almost what you asked for. He'd
probably never heard of a Vanilla Coke before. :-P

> *For the famed appetizer story... on the adults' menu, there was bacon
> wrapped shrimp.  well, i don't like seafood.  (and Triton's
> sacrificing of his people is a bit abhorrent to me)

heheheh. It's about as bad as the seafood restaurant in Epcot, in the
"Seas with Nemo and Friends" pavillion. :-)

> >Maybe Ange can fill in the blanks here,
>
> *Ok, after dinner we went to the shops, tried to get to medical since
> my ankle was hurting, to find that it was CLOSED- it's operated by an
> outside service and they were only open for certain hours of the day.
> also, they're on the 1st deck and were difficult to get to.  We ended
> up borrowing a wheelchair (i asked permission) that was sitting
> outside the door and paul pushed me around for a bit.

Was that all the first night? I thought that happened later in the
cruise. Eh, I could be wrong. It all kind of blends together in my
head.

Paul Lalli
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