Our Voyage on the Fantasy Begins

We got up about 7 that morning.  Anticipation had set in. We signed up for an Owner's update at our timeshare before leaving for our hour drive to the port.  We learned some interesting things and definately worth the $75 gift card they gave us.  We then headed to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast before the drive and realized we forgot to turn in the pool towel cards.  So back to the resort to turn them in to avoid the $30 charge.

We then headed out on our hour drive to Port Canaveral.  We arrived just about 11am and breezed through the check in process.  We got Katelin all checked into the kids club and got her bracelet.  We were boarding group number 5 and were on the boat before 11:45am. We went by guest services and applied all of our disney gift cards to the account and then headed down to Enchanted Garden for lunch.  It is a more upscale buffet at lunch.  Katelin settled on some lunch meat, sliced French bread and some garbanzo beans.  We all finished our lunch with homemade ice cream.

After lunch, we headed to the pools.  Katelin hit the mickey slide about 20 times and played some in Nemo's reef.  Tom and I cooled off in both the Mickey and Donald pools.  We spent about 90 minutes on deck before we decided to see if our room was ready.

We then headed down to see if our room on Deck 5 was ready.  Sure was, but the luggage was not there.  We rested for a few and then headed to the Midship Detective Agency to play a game before the mandatory safety drill. 

Last time we were in one of the lounges and we sat the whole time.  This time we were outside on the deck and stood in lines for about 45 minutes.  Try to tell a 4 year old to stand still and quiet for 45 minutes.  Good luck with that.  We then went back up to see if our luggage was available and not yet.  We then headed to deck 11 for the sailing away party.

After the party, we headed down to the room again and no luggage, so we decided to clean up and get ready for 5:45 dinner and what do you know, our luggage showed up.  So we changed and headed off to Enchanted Garden for dinner. 

We were at a table for 6 so we knew we would have table mates.  We lucked out and got a couple with their 4 year old son.  Katelin and Jordan became fast friends.  It worked out great.  Dinner was good.  Not great and our assistant server was a little slow the first night.  I was hoping improvement was around the corner and it was, thank goodness. 

Katelin wanted to go to the Oceaneer's Club, but only the Lab was open, so we dropped her off in there.  Tom and I headed to the spa to get our rainforest passes for the week.  The rainforest has two private hot tubs, some heated lounge chairs, some saunas and some showers.  So relaxing.  Wish we had used it more than we did.  Tom and I did some shopping and decided to get Katelin from the kids club so she could meet Ariel and Sleeping Beauty.

Overall it was an amazing day, but it was time for some sleep....

Our Fantasy Vacation Day 3

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom

Another rope drop day. We headed out bright and early to Animal Kingdom. Our plan was to get Fast Passes for the safari ride and ride the water ride while waiting. We accomplished just that.

Katelin loved the water ride, until she got wet. We got some really great pictures of animals on the safari ride. They even removed the cheese factor from the ride. We were no longer chasing poachers.

We then headed to Camp Minnie Mickey so we could meet a few characters and then see the Lion King Show.  Was a great show.  After that, it was time for lunch at Rainforest Cafe.  It was so nice sitting in a nice air conditioned space and being waited on.  And it was not much more than eating quick service at the parks.  Katelin loved most of it until the gorillas went off and starting hooting and hollering. 

After that, it was time for Dinoland to ride the only ride she was big enough for, Triceratops Spin (kind of like Dumbo, but with dinos).  On the way, we stopped to meet Pooh, Tigger and Eyeore.  No Piglet, which makes me mad, but a whole different story.  After this, we decided we were done with the parks for the day and headed out for some rest and swimming at the pool.  Katelin took a 3 hour nap that afternoon.  Boy was she tired.  We then headed to target for some last minute supplies before the cruise and to find some dinner.  Katelin really wanted a hot dog, so our search for that began.  We ended up at Fuddrucker's which was good, but took us about 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot.  Whoever designed putting a whole bunch of restaurants together with only one way out was an idiot.  We headed back to the condo to pack and get ready for boarding the Fantasy the next day.

Our Fantasy vacation - Days 1 & 2

So I thought I would blog about our trip and how things went since we were gone for two weeks.  I know, I know....forever.  Now thinking about it, I will never do that again, unless heading to Europe or Australia. 

So on the morning of June 27th we had a 5:45 am flight.  I will rethink that one again too.  Katelin was sleeping when the car service arrived.  As we were loading the car, she came out and asked us what we were doing.  Told her we were going to Disney World and on a cruise and she was shocked.  Over all the morning was uneventful.  We had a four hour layover in the Atlanta airport and did lots of people watching and walking to keep ourselves busy. 

We arrived in Orlando early afternoon and went to get our luggage when we noticed that Delta had ripped the handle off of one of the bags.  They do not cover damage to handles or zippers.  So in otherwords, unless they lose your luggage you are lucky it gets there even if it is not in one piece. 

We decided to do a little shopping and grab an early dinner before checking into our condo.  Got checked in and settled and headed to the pool.  Then it was off to downtown Disney for a little more shopping and seeing. 



Tuesday, June 28th - EPCOT

I am definitely a rope drop girl.  I like to be there when the park opens (or before) and beat the crowds and in this case the heat.  We got to EPCOT about 8:30 and the park opened at 9.  We got to meet Daisy and Stitch (even though Katelin would not go near him) and then we headed for the greatest place ever - The Character Spot in Epcot.  It has Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald all together in an air conditioned space where you go from one character to another and they photo pass photographers will take your pictures and store them on this little card for you to go view later online. 

We then headed to the Nemo and the Living Seas ride and then off to the Land.  There were rode the little boat ride about disney's goal to conserve and then scored fast passes to Soarin for later in the afternoon.  We then headed to Figment and his journey into inmagination.  Katelin loved it and the little play area afterwards.  It was just barely 10:45 and we had already done so much.  Crowds were not near what we expected.  There were a TON of travel groups from Brazil and Argentina there.  Lots of young people with little to no adults.

We headed to the world showcase and got to participate in the Highland Games.  There is a cool playground for the kids and a shaded seating area for adults.

Once Katelin won the highland games we headed to France so Katelin could meet Marie and Belle.  Also found a giant chocolate chip cookie and chocolate croissant for us to induldge in while waiting for the character greetings.  We continued our way through the world showcase.  Katelin found an awesome fan in Japan. The salesperson even wrote her name in Japanese on the side of it.

We had some lunch in America (of course).  Disney has the best kids meals.  Katelin had chicken nuggets with yogurt, grapes and a bottle of water for $5.69.  I think I will start ordering me the kids meals.  After some much needed food and air conditioning, we headed around to more of the world showcase.  By this time it was about 2 and Tom and I were winding down fast.  We made it to meet Mulan and then headed to the front of the park to use our Soarin' fast passes.  Katelin LOVED this ride.  I will say that if you are afraid of heights do not sit in the front row and look down.  The other two rows behind you and actually below you when they start the ride.  A little unnerving.  We then decided to head back to the condo for a much needed break.

We all ended up taking a nap and then headed to the pool for a bit.  After that we decided to head out for some Mexican food and then to Mgic Kingdom for the nighttime festivities. We really did not think that one through.  It was crowded from the tram from the parking lot to the walkways where the parade took place to tram back to the parking lot.  We got to ride a few things and managed to catch the Electrical Parade as well as the fireworks.  Katelin got to see Tinkerbell "fly" from the castle.  Too cool.

After the festivities, we headed to the car.  Took 30 minutes to catch a monorail and then another 30 minutes to get a tram to the car.  We probably could have walked to the car faster, but we were all tired and worn out.  We finally made it back to the condo, just before midnight.

Bad Sam....Cute Katelin

Ok...I admit I am really bad about posting on here as often as I would like. I try, really I try.

So here is what we have been up to the last couple of weeks. Work, of course...It sucks, but its a paycheck. Home...been trying to get organized and throw stuff out we don't need. Got Katelin's closet completely cleaned out and organized. The computer room is clean and we can actually see the tops of our desks and the floor again. The guest room closet is almost completely void of my crafting crap. And we have thought about finishing the painting we have started in various rooms of the house. Baby....She is growing by leaps and bounds. She has her first tooth and is close to getting her second. Any day she will be crawling. She is able to prop herself up on her knees and elbows, stays like that for a few seconds and then she is back flat on her belly. I really need to put those baby leg warmers on for her to get more traction and move. Tom....is getting ready for warrior weekend Oct 10th. He is trying to talk our friend off the ledge about testing for her black belt. She needs to put her big girls panties on and just do it. Other than that not much going on just trying to make it through the month and then just a little bit closer to Thanksgiving and a week off of work and a visit to Mom & Dad in Vegas.

Some new pics of Katelin....here she is wearing her new Aggie onesie. It must be good luck, the Aggies pulled out a victory against New Mexico.

Here she is trying to eat the dog. She will stick anything in her mouth that she can get a hold of. I really need to break her of this habit before she is a teenager!

Back....

Well I haven't posted since I originally started this blog, so I thought since I have some time I would post a few pics of Katelin and mine's trip to El Paso that we took a couple of weeks ago.

Here is Katelin meeting her Great Grandpa for the first time.

What a big girl sitting up in the chair in the hotel room.

This has to be the most interesting picture of the trip. Mom and I were on our way to meet my Aunt Kathy, Uncle Ray and Papa at the club for lunch and this is what we saw on the back of a truck at a stoplight.

Not only is a Gift and Flower shop, but you can get permanent makeup done too. Wow! One stop shopping.

Well Here Goes....

My first attempt at blogging. I thought this would be a good way to post pictures and notes for my family to see.

I took Katelin to the doctor this morning. She got to meet Dr. Michaels for the first time. She is really nice. So after a thorough exam, Katelin does not have an ear infection, just a little cold. The doctor did say that is was going to be awhile until we see teeth. Probably a couple more weeks. Ugh! Poor Katelin. I cannot imagine having to deal with that for another couple of weeks. When I dropped her off at school today, she seemed to be ok and really lit up when we told her Miss Apple would be there soon. Boy does she love Miss Apple.