4. Welcome to the Wonder!
When I last left you, we were leaving our less-than-stellar hotel and starting our Disney Vacation!!!
Finally, we caught sight of this!
And, before we knew it, we had spotted Mickey-gloved CMs directing traffic. Soon, we had unloaded our bags and tipped someone to take the non-carry-ons away. We were all hoping that we would see them again onboard! My party was busy trying to get to the terminal, so there wasnt much of an opportunity for pictures. (This will be an ongoing theme - not the lack of pictures but me worrying too much about everyone elses good time; DD and I do better when we take trips by ourselves; its no ones fault but mine.
) Anyway, I fell behind because I couldnt resist snapping at least one shot!
Soon, we were inside the terminal. DD had already high-foured any number of Mickey-gloved CMs just looking for someone to give them a little Disney love.
DD and I took the escalator upstairs and then waited for The Judies who had taken the elevator (Judy 1 has some pretty serious mobility issues). We went through security and then filled out little cards swearing that we werent sick.
We then got in line to check in. Once DD and I were done (it was very quick) and standing around waiting for The Judies, I snapped a couple of pics of the check-in area. Not at all crowded! (We had arrived about 11:30, I think. Our check-in times were 12:00 and 12:30, but no one seemed to care.)
We had a 9 for check-in. I knew that was pretty high. But who cares? I didnt think it could make much difference, and it really didnt, as you will soon see.
DD and I needed to head in this direction:
So, once The Judies joined us, I let them know that we would be going to check DD into the kids club. They went to see if they could find a seat - there was not nearly enough seating up there.
Of course, DD and I soon spotted someone we HAD to meet! Captain Mickey was out! So we detoured from our kids club route to get in line to meet Mickey. While we were in line, I said something like the following to DD, Look, can you peek around these people and see Captain Mickey up there??? Suddenly, I felt this finger poking into my side. This kid (probably a year or two or three older than DD) on the other side of the rope (it was one of those snake-around-the-ropes queues) was poking me and looking very upset. He said, That is Mickey. He is NOT Captain Mickey. Dont call him that! Um, okay, kid! He was funny - I didnt want to upset him with my inaccurate name-calling, so I quieted down with my Captain Mickey talk!
DD finally met The Mouse who really liked her shirt.
After our celebrity encounter, DD and I got in line for the kids club. And there we stayed. For a VERY long time. I had checked DD in on-line, so we were just waiting in line to get her Mickey bracelet. But the line was moving VERY slowly. People must have had a lot of questions and/or been really confused, because, when we finally did make it to the front of the line, it took us approximately 22 seconds to get our transaction complete.
Anyway, while we waited in line, they started calling groups to board the ship. 1. 2. 3. Um, yeah, we were up to 7, and still nowhere near the front of the line. But far enough from the back that there was no way I was getting out of that line! (I am pretty darn sure that you can get the Mickey bracelet on the ship, so that is definitely what I will do next time - as soon as I confirm that fact.) As we entered the last loop in the queue, they called 9 to board. I saw The Judies looking lost and tried to wave to them - I know that I told them where we would be, but they never looked over. Then I watched as they made their way to the line to get on the ship. GAH!!!! Off they went, and then began the million questions of why is Nini getting on the ship without us? etc. Blerg! This was kind of sucking!
Willows input here is: I thought they were leaving without us.
Finally, we were front and center for a Mickey bracelet, and, like I said, it took us about 22 seconds tops. We left there and got in the line to board. As we were going up the ramp to the gangplank, I saw The Judies ahead of us and finally caught their attention. I thought they would step to the side and wait for us so that we could board together, but, well, um, no. They just kept going.
DD was having a cow, and I kept explaining that they would surely wait for us inside, etc.
Im sure you have figured out why I have no pictures of the boarding process.
I apologize nonetheless.
Anyway, we made it onboard, semi-frazzled and, at least for me, feeling like I was herding cats, but we were on the ship!!! A CM asked our last name and then announced us as we entered the atrium area on deck 4 (one deck above the atrium but looking out onto it). We made our way around that area and finally caught up with The Judies. All the hectic stuff aside, wow! This ship was beautiful. I grabbed a very quick (and quite blurry) pic of the beautiful light fixture in the atrium.
Willows input on what she thought when we finally got on the ship:
and I cant believe I was walking on the ship. I never walked on a ship before.
Up next: 5. What? Food already?