In a eastern fantasy turned western. Completed 10-17-19 Straight on till morning

KGmomoftwins

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 25, 2017
Hello All!
After consulting this page for a little over a year I think it's time I contribute to other peoples planning. This trip report will include a 3 night stay at GF and a 7 night "eastern" August 24, 2019 sailing on the Fantasy. Cast of characters myself, DH, and twin daughters who turned 7 2 days before sailing.

Day 1 travel
Due to our location in NY it usually requires 2 flights to get anywhere as direct flights are often much more expensive or aren't going to the airport you want. So this meant up very early, driving 45 minutes to the airport, and then 2 flights but we landed a little after 2pm at MCO. Were on the magical express at 2:55. I received a text at 3:00 saying that our room was not ready yet and was bummed as we were going to be there shortly. We stopped first at the Poly and while we were waiting I got the text at 3:38 that our room in Conch Cay was ready. I'm going to take a moment and back track and say that we never received our magical express tags and DH was worried about giving them our baggage claim tickets from Delta so we were slugging all 4 of our suitcases, 3 backpacks, and a briefcase. DH being stubborn refused bell services and we headed for Conch Cay (we have been to GF before for dinner and new the layout and where to go). What a hot walk from the main building to Conch Cay! We get there I tap my magic band enter the room and someone else's luggage is in there! Not to mention no sheets on the bed! We leave the room I left DH and children in Conch cay lobby with the luggage and head back to the main building. I explain everything to a CM about the room and having all our luggage and my family waiting there. She was not sympathetic at all and gets on the phone. I asked at this point for a quite room if at all possible. She gives us room 5327 3rd floor Sago Cay and that was it not that I was expecting anything but an apology would have been nice. I walk back get my family help drag all our stuff to the new room. It is a lovely room with a great view of the marina. It was very clean with a towel Mickey on the bed. Beforehand I had scheduled an instacart delivery to arrive between 5-6 it was 4:40 by this point and I got the text it was there. I had to go back to the main lobby and sign for it as there was alcohol. A bell hop brought me and the groceries back to Sago Cay in a golf cart. We all freshened up a bit and decided to head to Narcoossee a bit early for our 6pm reservation as we were starving and all grumpy after this ordeal!

Narcoossee was able to seat us immediately at a table over looking the castle. We had an amazing service and food! We started with calamari which was excellent! I had a filet that was cooked perfectly and food flavor, DH had the 2 lobster tails, we shared the signature mashed potatoes AMAZING worth the upcharge, DH1 got Mickey pasta, and DH2 got a burger which was good. The girls meals came with a dessert of make your own smores I was thinking they would come out with the fixings for 1 smore oh no it was 4 smores on the plate! DH and I split the cheesecake and chocolate coconut crème Brule both absolutely amazing! Our server Paula and the food was phenomenal! I know this restaurant has gotten some slack on here recently but our experience was excellent.

After dinner we headed to the pool and let me just say 2 years ago we stayed at the Poly and while we loved the pool there and the splash pad and our girls were so sad we were not staying there the GF pool was way better for a multitude of reasons. The lounge chairs super comfy and plenty of them! Not a million screaming kids running around. Very very clean no dirty towels or drink cups anywhere. No wait for the water slide and the little Alice and Wonderland splash pad had only 2 other kids playing on it. We ended the night watching the fireworks from the marina area and it was so nice to walk the 10 feet up to our room. We showered and got into bed and then about every 20 minutes until midnight I heard the damn honk of the boat very clearly and then a bunch of super loud people in the hallway. It seemed to only keep me up but was annoying. Up next a very early and magical day.
 
Day 2 a Magical Birthday X2
We were up early to start a magical 7th birthdays for our twins. I really liked the fact that our room had a Keruig and I brought k-cups from home to enjoy. We were on the monorail at 7:15am and waiting right outside the gates to MK at 7:30. The weather was perfect not to hot with a breeze. The CM waiting to open the gate was adorable she told the girls she was waiting for a call from Tinker belle to open them. Then as we walked through the gates at 7:45 she sprinkled us with pixie dust. There were old fashioned cars with drivers offering to drive you down Main Street but we wanted to walk. It was not crowded at all and we stopped with a photo pass photographer for some pictures. We proceeded to the right of the castle showed them our paper indicating our PPO breakfast at BOG. Our reservation was not until 8:45 but they let us in at 8:03 gave us a yellow rose indicating we pre ordered. We still had to confirm our preorder at a kiosk. A CM then lead us to a table in the ballroom right next to the snow falling window. You could not pick your own seat but we were super happy with this seat. I got our silver ware. All our food, drinks, and pastry platter came at once. We ordered 3 kids meals and the adult feast ala Gaston. The kids French toast was the best as well as well as the feast ala Gaston and pastries. The fruit was also great. BEWARE DO NOT ORDER the children’s crepes. They sound great filled with hazelnut chocolate filling. THEY WERE DISGUSTING!!!! All and all it was a good breakfast cost for the 4 of us 78.00.

We walked outside and I chatted with a CM about how fantasy land was not open yet. He noticed the girls birthday shirts and they were so excited to tell him they were finally 7 today. He told us our best strategy would be to line up along the rock wall there were 10 people ahead of us. We could hear and see them running an empty mine train. At 8:50 they let us walk to the mine train and we were riding it within 2 minutes! Upon getting off we encountered the same CM who told us to go get on again the park still had not opened. We walked on again no wait!!! Unreal! As we exited the ride we say SO MANY people running to the entrance I got worried grabbed both girls hands and waited for the stampede to pass. The poor CM was now yelling “come on people you are grown adults stop running”! DH2 then starts yelling yea running is not polite! A CM gave her a sticker and we were able to safely cross over to Winnie which was down :(. But the CM sent us off to ride Ariel’s under the sea and then we were the second family to meet Ariel as a Mermaid that day. Ariel was so cute and asked the girls if they were going to have sponge cake. We stopped off real quick for some photos at Gastons and no one was there. We then did enchanted tales with Belle and both girls were disappointed they did not get the parts they wanted but Belle spent extra time with them at the end so all was good.

It was now time for our 9:45 FP for PP always a pleasure followed by It’s a small world. Since we had rode 7DMT 2x I was able to swap our 5pm (all I could get FP) for a 12:30 jungle cruise. We rode BTM with a 20min wait and then got in line for pirates we waited 20 minutes and had to ditch the line because someone had to pee. It was ok last time we went they were really scared and even though they said they wanted to do it I had a feeling it would end badly. It was now time for our 11:15 Splash FP and for the first time I got to sit in the front!!! WOW I got wet! It was now time for some Aloha Isle I got the Pineapple Raspberry Swirl and the girls got the pineapple vanilla swirl we sat and watched the show in the enchanted Tiki room it was perfect timing! We then used our Jungle Cruise FP. Here is where it gets down right hysterical. We get on our boat and our skipper is the same one as 2 years ago! I say something about it and he goes how could I forget you guys! Skipper Michael you were awesome and truly made our day making us laugh! Since this was our 3rd FP I was able to score a 4 for Winnie starting at 3pm!
We headed over and did Dumbo and the Tea cups before our 2:20 reservation at CRT. Oh I also stopped and got a Cat Tail that I’ve heard so much about from the Cheshire Cat we did a 3 way split and it was good.

By this point we were super hot and tired. I said let’s try and check into CRT early and they let us! I mean 30 minutes early I think we looked disheveled and desperate and it was the princesses birthday after all. However, normally you meet Cinderella on your way in but she had stepped out for a tea party (AKA the parade) and we were promised she would return when we left. Our sever Tina was so wonderful she saw that we were moments away from a hangry hot melt down. I felt bad because we put them off their schedule of events and the princesses had to back track to see us. We saw Jasmine, Aurora, Snow White, and Ariel with legs. They were all super sweet especially Aurora and Snow White. We then made our wishes and it was so cute to see the girls close their eyes.

They recently changed the meu both girls started with the garden salad that’s was fresh and good. DH and I had the scallop dish. The scallops were delicious! I wish I had taken a picture of the dish because it’s presentation was really weird there were the scallops and then on one side of the plate a pile of mushrooms and on the other a pile of peas. DH and I both got the filets and asked for mashed potatoes instead of the celery root mash. DH steak was excellent mine not so much. DD 1 got Mac and cheese and DD2 got the steak both ate it all. Tina brought the cupcakes of to the girls and sang happy birthday to them both. She also gave them a really nice laminated birthday card signed by all the princesses. They even gave DH a sword. I got the clock strikes midnight delicious and DH got the lemon sorbet. On our way out we saw Cinderella and I must say this was a nice 1 and 20 minuet break from the heat.

After our late lunch we used our Winnie the pooh FP. I was able to score a fifth for 3:45 Barnstromer! In the meantime we meet Merida who was AWESOME! She made note of the girls being twins and asked them if they caused as much trouble as her brothers. She then asked if I ever turned into a bear. We then did the Barnstormer and made our way out of the park. Stopping quickly in the emporium and main street bakery I NEEDED chocolate covered mickey ear rice Krispy treats for later.

We took the monorail back to the GF we rested in the room until around 6 when our children became hungry. We decided to get something at gasparillas. DD1 got an uncrustable with fries and DD2 got a burger. DH and myself were not that hungry but got a flatbread to share. I liked that it was made fresh to order and they brought it to the table. In both our opinions it is way better than Captain Cooks at the poly. DH was exhausted and went back to the room for the night. DD’s and I hit the pool until HE. We got another dessert at Gasparillas (shhh don’t tell daddy it was their birthdays after all) and got an awesome seat and enjoyed the show I even cried! We went back showered and went right to bed. What a great day!!!
 
Day 3 Eating Around the World
Well another night of not a lot of sleep due to lots of noise in Sago Cay! Tonight it woke up my husband. Around 5 in the morning we started talking about a plan of attack for the day. I also put in another Instacart order for some more bottled water for the ship and ear plugs. Our girls recently had ear tubes put in and I had swim caps but wanted the wax ear plugs as well and the publix instacart had them when our local NY stores did not! I left a note to leave it with bell services as we would be at the EPCOT. We had a 7:50 reservation at Trattoria Al Forno and I decided to use the LYFT app for the first time I got a discount for a Minnie van. Here’s a tip I saw arrival time as 7:25 and thought awesome I did not realize that this meant arrival at our destination! The poor driver had to wait for a good 10 minutes for us. I gave her an excellent tip and she was so amazing about the entire thing!

We arrived at 7:45 at the boardwalk and were seated immediately. This was our second time doing this breakfast and it was even more amazing this time!!!It is a must do for us as Rapunzel is a favorite of ours. The food is out of this world! DH loves the two eggs poached underwater the polenta is wonderful, the pastries, and bacon were delicious and fresh. DH also had a great bloody Mary here. The characters were amazing. Flynn and Eric had a little tit a tat at our table and Prince Eric and Ariel even rubbed noses in an Eskmo kiss right at our table! The girls kept talking to Eugene and Rapunzel and I felt bad and said girls I think they need to get going and Flynn goes we have all day! Absolutely great time worth every penny!
When planning this day I kept going back and forth with which park to do or maybe even to get a hopper. I settled on EPCOT because of Frozen we were unable to get tickets for the ship and it was important to the girls. We took the boat over to the IG. We walked through security no problem no line and then bee lined it to Soarin. At 9:19 we were walking on Soarin and did it 2x no wait! I seriously love this ride! We then rode living with the land walk on. I loved this being a science teacher. We then met Joy and Sadness this was the longest we waited for anything today 20 minutes. My husband was like I don’t even know who they are! We then used our 10:00 FP for Nemo and spent a great deal of time watching the dolphins and other tanks.

We then headed to the World at 11:14 we were enjoying chips with guac and salsa and churros. DH got a margarita. Perfect first snacks. We then went and rode the Donald ride in the Mexico pavilion our girls love this even though it is kind of lame. We headed to Norway and met Anna and Elsa with NO WAIT! They spent forever with the girls Elsa even leaned over to join the conversation they were having with Anna. In China we tried to meet Mulan we were waiting she came out we were the next family and it started to sprinkle and they whisked her away under an umbrella. DD’s were upset but happy she waved to them as she left. Onward to Germany I loved this pavilion. We listened to some music on the way in and hit up Karamell-Kuche this place as heavenly! We got a big chocolate caramel square and a caramel marshmallow roll (similar to a cow tail but way better). I thought it was very helpful at the checkout they had knives so you could cut things and share. DH got beer and we shared a pretzel. We spent a great deal of time looking around the shops here. I really regret not buying a tiny crystal Tinkerbelle.

I’m going to digress for a second and give a bit of back story this trip was a total surprise for our girls they thought at this point we were just doing WDW and nothing about the cruise. We have never been away from home this long and when we are home we are very strict with schedules and bedtime. They were now going on day 3 with none of these. They were excellent this entire trip except for 2 moments the first occurring in the crystal shop. One girl kicked the other for I can’t remember the reason (they would never have done this at home!). I’m in the middle of squatting down and talking to them about this behavior when a CM comes up and asks if they want to try on tiaras and I said no that they weren’t being very good. Well the 3 looks I got made me feel soooo bad but I held my ground and the girls hugged it out and were fine with it.

We skipped over Italy (for now), used the bathrooms in America, and headed for Japan. We were admiring the coy pond and landscaping when it started to pour! We hung out in the store and did the pick a pearl. This was awesome me and DD’s each picked an oyster and a ceremony happened including the beating of a drum. At 16$ a pearl this was an excellent souvenir. We then went to the kidcot station and I sat with the girls and DH did a sake flight. He even bought a bottle. The girls stuck up a conversation with the CM at the kidcot station and she gave them an origami swan and a plastic bag that looked like a suitcase to hold their treasures. The rain had stopped and it was just about time for our Via Napoli reservation.
The Italian pavilion made me feel as if I was there. We checked in and were seated immediately. Our waitress was from a town by where my grandparents and mother were from I mentioned this and she was very excited and we chatted. I was a little worried based on reviews of this place and being from NY where we can get really good pizza from multiple restaurants. I got the individual margherita and DH San Gennaro Pizza – Individual. DDs shared a kids spaghetti and meatball as well as the pizza. DH follows one bit everyone knows the rules on sports center and rated this pizza an 8.3. It was really good pizza and the Italian Cabernet we had was also excellent. Our service was excellent and we were done in an hour.

We then headed to FE for our FP. We were sharing our story of how we were not impressed with the GF to someone in line and a woman in front of us introduced herself as a manager of concierge services for WDW resorts and asked us to please go see a front desk manager and tell them our story of check-in and the noise issues. I hate complaining but told her I would. We had a great time on the ride and we started heading out of the park hitting up so photo pass magic shots hint a cute one with Olaf in Norway. We stopped and saw Daisy across from refreshment port. Walked on Spaceship earth (time of my life I will never get back but have to do it). We go to get on the monorail and surprise it is down. We had to get on a very crowded bus to TTC. Then if we wanted to get on the resort monorail we had to go through security again and the line was ridiculous because the Halloween party was starting! I checked with a guard real quick who confirmed it was quicker for us to walk to the POLY and get the monorail there. So we did. When we got there we collapsed on the couches, smelled the smell, and ate a dole whip. We shopped at the shops and hopped right on a monorail.

I took the girls swimming and DH rested. The girls even did the s’more roasting at the fire pit which was so adorable. It was another great day up next embarkation!
 


Saying Goodbye to GF
Forgot to write that after swimming and marshmallow roasting we went and hung out on our balcony. We also received our letter saying to leave suitcases by the door inside the room starting at 8:00 and our meeting place was by the grand piano in the lobby at 11am. I also happened to look at our room phone and there was a message stating this same information from Eileen who was a DCL employee that would be there waiting. The girls and I went out to the marina and watched Hallowishes. They were ok maybe because we weren’t in the park but we really enjoyed HE from our watching spot. Also on a side not while we were out DH called housekeeping and asked for more shampoo and shower gel. Housekeeping was spectacular here!!! However, they did not replace any of these items after the originals were used. We got shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, mouth wash, bar of soap, facial soap, a grooming kit with Q-tips, cotton balls, and a little nail file. No lotion L! Housekeeping brought him a huge bag filled with all of this he gave her a tip and he said she acted like she never got one before. Also I mentioned previously we had a second instacart delivery I had put into the notes to leave it all bell services. While we were at EPCOT I got a text with a picture showing our delivery at bell services. When we walked back through the main lobby coming back from EPCOT I asked for it to be brought up to our room. We had just finished getting ready to go to the pool when the knock came. The guy was so nice and even brought us to the pool in the golf cart. We gave him a tip and he was appreciative. Also a note I thought the GF would charge me a convenience fee of 5 dollars as that’s what’s listed but they never did.

Okay so our last night was TERRIBLE so noisy all night long and this time it work everyone up at 4am. After DD’s used the bathroom I was able to get them back to bed for about an hour before the stampede happened outside our room at 5:30. We all gave up at that point. I got up and packed all our bags up and DD’s watched some TV. I told them this morning we were going to have a very special breakfast with Mary Poppins, Winnie, Tigger, Alice, and the Mad Hatter. They were sooooooo excited. Once again thanks to the wonderful people on here who told me to do the 1900 Park Fare breakfast on embarkation otherwise we would have gone to Ohana.

Our 1900 Park fare breakfast was not until 8:20 but by 7:45 they were so restless and hungry we headed down. The woman at check in was unbelievably friendly she said the doors would open soon and we could be seated immediately. They did a parade into the restaurant and the big organ was blaring music. It was us and 3 other families. A server came by gave us POG juice yum and took DH order for a bloody mary. We then were the first people to get to the buffet. I’m going to put it out there I HATE buffets but this was really nice. Being that we were first everything was fresh and piping hot. Some of our favorites were eggs benedict, Mickey waffles of course, bread pudding, bacon was crispy, red velvet pancakes (I dream of these), and the cheese potato casserole. Our server was great and kept refilling juice and coffee. The characters are really the show. Mary Poppins was outstanding although her visit seemed very quick. Alice, MH, and Pooh lingered and spent a good deal of time with the girls. We then went out and met Tigger and DD’s were so excited! The picture is of her bouncing to Tigger. I teared up seeing this.

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We then went to the Basin and GF store upstairs. Also we did the new photopass set up on the second floor and this was awesome some of my favorite pictures came from this. It is open 8:30-3:30 if you are at the GF. DH and DD’s went back to rest in the room until 10:45 and I went to speak to the manager. I started off by saying all the great things about our stay because lets face it no one likes to just hear the bad housekeeping, the pool staff was awesome, as were the recreation staff, and the meals we had on site were great. I then told him about our check-in experience (I knew the CM name and mentioned it) he said she had made no note of the room switch or it not being ready and should have offered to help move our stuff. I then showed him the text messages. I also said I know the noise level is not your fault but our room was so loud and I explained the boat honking and the human stampedes. I said I just wanted to share these experiences so those are aware and it can be bettered in the future. He said I truly appreciate how kind you are but I’m going to give you either a check or a gift card for the rack rate for 1 night stay. I mentioned we were leaving for a cruise and he said I can do a gift card now so you don’t need to wait. My response thank you so much the mouse is going to get it anyways.
My review of GF was it was very convenient to get to MK would have been great for EPCOT had the monorail not been down that day. We loved the pool, food, and activities. The biggest tip I can give for parents with little ones to be on the monorail loop and watch fireworks every night from your hotel totally worth. Not sure if we would stay here again maybe if I got the same deal I did for this stay. I think as a family we like trying out different places for the different themes.

Before I get into the cruise journey I just want to give a little bit of a background on DH and myself. This is our first big vacation (other than a 6 night trip to WDW in 2017) since our cruise honeymoon 10 years ago on RCL Serenade of the Seas. I booked opening day specifically the eastern for st Thomas as I wanted to re-create a bit of our honeymoon. A lot of this TR will be based on a first timers experience with kids. I did all the planning and research DH just said tell me where you want me. He does not like to be away from home and I really wanted to make sure this trip was great for him. Also PS I’m really bad about have a phone on me so not many pictures but I did take some from DH.
 


Embarkation
I hate being late so we were at the piano by 10:45 met Eileen she had a clipboard took down our info and asked if we had any questions. At 11:15 we were still waiting for 1 family. Finally they came and we got on the bus. I sat right behind the driver and he was so pleasant to talk to. He said at 4am he had driven new performers and staff to the boat pretty cool. The rest of my family nodded off a bit. We arrived at PC a little after 12:30. Security was a breeze they never even asked to open our carry-ons with all the water, 7 beers(shhhh don’t tell anyone), bottle of wine, and bottle of sake from EPCOT. At check-in CM Sue believe it or not from the small town next to ours in upstate asked if we wanted to pre-check our bags with the airline. Yes please! Just beware I wasted some time as I needed to look up our airline reservation confirmation number and the internet was so slow in the terminal. We walked through the Mickey ears at 1:05. The girls and I sat on the chairs outside of Bon Voyage DH sat at the bar we clapped for families and someone got us good when they used the alias Mickey Mouse. We waited there until 1:30 when the stateroom opened.

Our stateroom 6084 port side was midship deluxe family with veranda. We did not have a murphy bed but rather a leather arm chair. The rooms seemed in good order there were a few things like sunscreen on the leather chair, a stain on the back of the curtain(you could only see this on the veranda), and the shower curtain had a whole that had been pulled through where the hooks go. As the week went on we seriously loved this location and would book this room again. Also yes the lifeboats were directly below I could jump of them if I wanted but did not bother us at all. In our room were invitations to PALO, BBB, and our port adventure tickets. Since this was our first cruise I did not participate in an FE. However, a week before the cruise I started to worry that the girls might see others and feel left out. I ordered the in stateroom gift the nautical family gift package that included a FE, bag, and game set for 64.00IMG_1223.JPGIMG_1228.JPG. It was waiting for us on the bed with a note from tinker belle. We hung up the FE in our room on the hook across from the bed. I then put a little something in each night saying it was from Tinker belle.

First thing we did was visit open house and go on the guided tour of the kids club this was important to us as we wanted to make the girls feel comfortable. We spent a long time here and had a lot of fun! We went back to the room had a quick snack and then headed to our muster station G. We were the second family there and thank goodness in the shade on deck 4. Now here is probably the most annoying thing ever the drill went until almost 4:30. We had to wait for 1 family! My girls did so awesome and the teenagers next to us were so sweet they kept encouraging them and being like not much longer. The family said in 14 cruises this is the longest it had ever taken. Painful! I asked after if they wanted to go up to the sail away party and they want to go up to our veranda and facetime Mema and show here before we lost service. So that’s what we did and it was wonderful.
 

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Our dining rotation (for now) AERAERA. Table 59 server Surtana, assistant Raymond, and Head server Deniz. I’m not going to lie dinner service was rough tonight I thought oh no but you will read how it goes later on. The quote of the trip came from DH as he looked at the menu “there are no prices listed”. UMMMM yea it’s covered honey! The bread service tonight was so good not sure if it was because we were starving or that good lol. DH started with the salmon Tartare and I the truffle purseittes. DH raved about his mine were delicious but could have been hotter. DH got baked potato soup said it was good. DH got the marinated angus beef and I got the chicken on Surtana's recommendation it was ok. Now our service was super slow. So slow the girls put their heads down on the table they were so tired. They perked up a bit when Raymond brought out a bowl of French fries for them. They ate a really good dinner since we skipped lunch. They perked up even more when they heard they could get dessert each a mickey bar. I got the lemon icebox and fudge cheesecake both were out of this world good. I ate almost all of both DH helped me with the cheesecake as we don’t waste food at home. He’s not a dessert guy and he could not believe how good it was.

We were so tired after dinner but we had promised the girls we would go up and check out the pool deck. It was a good thing we did because I was the only one who had a lanyard. Some very lovely people saw the girls and commented on how they loved their skirts saw they did not have lanyards or DH and gave the 3 of them their castaway ones. So very nice and made DD’s happy they go mommy now we can start a pin collection! The girls were in awe of the pool deck and the fact that we were moving but they were so tired. We headed back to the room and got ready for bed. DD’s were asleep as soon as they got in. I got in bed and was like wow this bed is comfy but it felt like it was vibrating DH said so too. I looked at our FE on the wall and it was swaying back and forth but I closed my eyes and was asleep in seconds!
 
Hello All!
After consulting this page for a little over a year I think it's time I contribute to other peoples planning. This trip report will include a 3 night stay at GF and a 7 night "eastern" August 24, 2019 sailing on the Fantasy. Cast of characters myself, DH, and twin daughters who turned 7 2 days before sailing.

Day 1 travel
Due to our location in NY it usually requires 2 flights to get anywhere as direct flights are often much more expensive or aren't going to the airport you want. So this meant up very early, driving 45 minutes to the airport, and then 2 flights but we landed a little after 2pm at MCO. Were on the magical express at 2:55. I received a text at 3:00 saying that our room was not ready yet and was bummed as we were going to be there shortly. We stopped first at the Poly and while we were waiting I got the text at 3:38 that our room in Conch Cay was ready. I'm going to take a moment and back track and say that we never received our magical express tags and DH was worried about giving them our baggage claim tickets from Delta so we were slugging all 4 of our suitcases, 3 backpacks, and a briefcase. DH being stubborn refused bell services and we headed for Conch Cay (we have been to GF before for dinner and new the layout and where to go). What a hot walk from the main building to Conch Cay! We get there I tap my magic band enter the room and someone else's luggage is in there! Not to mention no sheets on the bed! We leave the room I left DH and children in Conch cay lobby with the luggage and head back to the main building. I explain everything to a CM about the room and having all our luggage and my family waiting there. She was not sympathetic at all and gets on the phone. I asked at this point for a quite room if at all possible. She gives us room 5327 3rd floor Sago Cay and that was it not that I was expecting anything but an apology would have been nice. I walk back get my family help drag all our stuff to the new room. It is a lovely room with a great view of the marina. It was very clean with a towel Mickey on the bed. Beforehand I had scheduled an instacart delivery to arrive between 5-6 it was 4:40 by this point and I got the text it was there. I had to go back to the main lobby and sign for it as there was alcohol. A bell hop brought me and the groceries back to Sago Cay in a golf cart. We all freshened up a bit and decided to head to Narcoossee a bit early for our 6pm reservation as we were starving and all grumpy after this ordeal!

Narcoossee was able to seat us immediately at a table over looking the castle. We had an amazing service and food! We started with calamari which was excellent! I had a filet that was cooked perfectly and food flavor, DH had the 2 lobster tails, we shared the signature mashed potatoes AMAZING worth the upcharge, DH1 got Mickey pasta, and DH2 got a burger which was good. The girls meals came with a dessert of make your own smores I was thinking they would come out with the fixings for 1 smore oh no it was 4 smores on the plate! DH and I split the cheesecake and chocolate coconut crème Brule both absolutely amazing! Our server Paula and the food was phenomenal! I know this restaurant has gotten some slack on here recently but our experience was excellent.

After dinner we headed to the pool and let me just say 2 years ago we stayed at the Poly and while we loved the pool there and the splash pad and our girls were so sad we were not staying there the GF pool was way better for a multitude of reasons. The lounge chairs super comfy and plenty of them! Not a million screaming kids running around. Very very clean no dirty towels or drink cups anywhere. No wait for the water slide and the little Alice and Wonderland splash pad had only 2 other kids playing on it. We ended the night watching the fireworks from the marina area and it was so nice to walk the 10 feet up to our room. We showered and got into bed and then about every 20 minutes until midnight I heard the damn honk of the boat very clearly and then a bunch of super loud people in the hallway. It seemed to only keep me up but was annoying. Up next a very early and magical day.
Thanks for sharing, I love the combo Disney World trip and cruise. I love GF. I have not stayed at the Poly, but I like your comparisons. We love the pool complex, and there are more common areas for the guests to enjoy.

We love the quick service for relatively cheap and good food, but we want to go to 1900 Park Fare. We have eaten at Victoria and Alberts, but not Narcoossee. When is your next trip? It is hard to budget for Disney because of price inflation!
 
Thanks for sharing, I love the combo Disney World trip and cruise. I love GF. I have not stayed at the Poly, but I like your comparisons. We love the pool complex, and there are more common areas for the guests to enjoy.

We love the quick service for relatively cheap and good food, but we want to go to 1900 Park Fare. We have eaten at Victoria and Alberts, but not Narcoossee. When is your next trip? It is hard to budget for Disney because of price inflation!
Thank you! We REALLY liked the combo trip as well and honestly I think if we were to ever do WDW again it would be like this. I was really impressed with GF quick service and the pools. I think once the bar is done it will be really nice there. You should definitely do Park Fare was a highlight for us! No travel plans as of yet :(but hopefully within the next 2 or 3 years :cool1:
 
Day 2 At Sea Who stole the props and where are we?
We all got the best night sleep EVER!!! We heard no noise the beds were comfy it was great! I even slept until 7:00 which NEVER happens. I got ready quickly and quietly everyone was still snoring when I left. Before the trip I had read an article about things you want to have and a drink carrier was on there. This is the one I got and let me tell you it was amazing. Over the course of the week several different CMs as well as passengers commented on how cool it was. I could fit 2 large coffees, 2 chocolate milks, and 2 yogurts with spoons comfortably. It was also insulated and great for waters at the beach.

https://www.amazon.com/Brandzini-Reusable-Insulated-Lightweight-Detachable/dp/B07PRMN1VW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1L7HOL0ZR1RA2&keywords=portable+drink+carrier&qid=1568235926&s=gateway&sprefix=protable+drink+carrie,aps,185&sr=8-3

I’m a big coffee drinker and always make it at home. I stopped by deck 11 first gave in a whorl and nope nope nope. I swung into Cabanas to check it out and grabbed 2 chocolate milks. I figured why not I’m on vacation so I headed to the Cove. It was so nice in here I loved the pictures of Walt and this morning no one was in there and both Tabatha and Jesse were awaiting someone. I ordered a large vanilla latte and a large regular for DH. I also got 3 of the mini cinnamon buns for little girls and mommy. I got back to the room and everyone was just waking up. The adults had coffee on the veranda and little girls sitting at the desk. This is where it was nice having the larger room each one had a chair to sit in. At 8:30 we made our way up to Royal Court for breakfast. We were seated right by a window and the girls were excited to see another ship. The severs were so sweet and we enjoyed breakfast here it was quiet and it truly is a beautiful restaurant. DH got eggs benedict 1 salmon 1 Canadian bacon and said they were the best he has had in a long time. DD1 got chocolate chip pancakes and DD2 and I got mickey waffles with bacon and hash browns. All was delicious and I’m glad we had breakfast here. The servers were great about refilling our orange juice which surprisingly was good.

After breakfast we decided to try out the midship detective. We picked the Muppet case with the missing props. Let me just start by saying our girls loved this activity and was very cool but I think we were the first family ever to mess up this and not solve it. I have no idea what we did but we goofed up bad. Also a little tip take a picture of Pepe’s door! DH was out the second time we walked all the way to Pepe’s door from deck 9 forward I think. He went up to adult deck 11 to hang and the girls and I botched it bad! The girls have still been asking who I think did it! We took a break and went and saw Donald and then Woody. We then ran up to our room had a quick bathroom break for our next activity BBB! Our room had been made up and we still had not met our stateroom host.

I debated if I was going to do this because we did BBB at WDW in 2017 our girls looked cute but it was so loud and did not feel very personal or special. DH of all people talked me into doing it. Our appointments were at 12:00. The boutique on the ship was adorable and quiet there was only 1 other girl in there. Each girl got their own fairy godmother and they were seated next to each other! At WDW they were at opposite side and even though the appointments were at the same time 1 started 10 minutes before the other. Okay back to the ship both fairy godmothers were lovely. DD1 picked the Disney Diva with the pink hair and 2 mickey hairclips similar to fancy bobby pins. DD2 picked the classic princess with the tiara. I did not feel rushed and the girls had a great time. Total cost for 2 129.00. Also as a note we tried to tip the fairy godmothers and they were very sweet saying fairy godmothers cannot accept. It was great that today was formal night so well planned. I was upset that I was unable to get princess tickets on the same day as this but it all worked out since we saw 2 princesses just roaming around and a ton of other characters all done up. I would not hesitate to do BBB again on a ship but not in MK.

We decided to go check out the pool deck and grab some late lunch. As we walked by the pool the girls go ewww there are a lot of people in that pool! We got food from Maters. I’m going to start this next part by saying we are very healthy at home in what we eat and I thought to myself this is not good we should just go to cabanas. However, I dream about that spicy chicken sandwich that I would eat every day for lunch. We got the girls some chicken tenders and big plate of fruit so amazing not to have to cut it up. At home I spend what feels like 3 hours a week cutting fruit. The only thing we did not like was the cookies they were a bit disappointing. The ice cream was good.
 
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The afternoon was spent seeing characters since the girls were all dolled up! We did Olaf, Stich, and Belle was out wandering around which was such an amazing interaction! The best was we ran into Peter Pan on his way to the kids club he stopped to talk to the girls and the girls go Peter can you tell Tinker Bell thanks for the Flip Flops she left in our holder. Pan was great he goes oh Tink she is great with her pixie magic. This was very magical unplanned meeting. I asked the girls if they wanted to go to the club. They said yes.

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DH and I went back to the room to enjoy the quiet on the verandah. I was reading and about 20 minutes later got a text through the app DD1 wanted to be picked up. She was upset that there were so many kids there, it was loud, and she couldn’t drive the ship. I said oh that’s ok and big shout out to Jessica from Canada in the club you were awesome. I said maybe we can try and do an activity tomorrow. I brought the girls back to DH in the room as I had an appointment of my own at the spa.

I had a pedicure appointment scheduled I checked in a bit early as instructed. That morning the spa had left an invite in the fish outside our room. I had to fill out a form and it was awkward as the only place to really sit and do this was by senses juice bar but hey I had a great view. I forgot to mention almost all day we were in view of land. I asked the CM at senses if she knew what land it was she said Cuba. I did some quick geography in my head and thought it was odd we were over by Cuba. This should have been my first clue. I get called back for my pedicure and the woman goes this comes with a complimentary eye treatment and I’m funny about putting stuff on my face and politely declined and she got huffy with me and said something to the effect well it will reduce your bags under your eyes. I loved that the chairs had an amazing view but everything in there seemed kind of old also it is where hair is done so it was loud in there. They only had about a dozen colors to choose from. The pedicure was nice especially the massage with the hot stones. I also will say I’ve had it now almost 3 weeks and my first toe just chipped yesterday. However, it totaled 94.00 and I don’t think I would do it again the least they could have done was offered a complimentary mimosa or wine like the place at home. Not sure what DD’s and DH did but they followed my directions and were dressed and ready to go for formal night. I did a quick change.

We headed to the atrium met goofy and Minnie all dolled up. Then we got some photos with our family. DH got a drink he thinks it was Budweiser. Dinner was enchanted garden tonight. After last night I was really worried. I did not mention but I noticed that Suratana was busting his butt over a table with 6 adults so I have a feeling that’s why it was lacking for us a bit. We walked in and Raymond was waiting for us to bring us to our table. Let me say for a first timer this restaurant is beautiful I loved it. Raymond brought us to the last booth on the right side and I know after stalking these boards for 18 months this is a big deal. I said oh Raymond what strings did you have to pull to get us seated here! We had ordered the 3 bottle premium package to supplement the J-Lohr we brought on. Tonight the opened a red for DH and white for me to match what we were going to eat based on Surtana’s recommendations. DH started with the mushroom tartlet I the lobster ravioli both amazing! DDs had a salad and loved it. DD2 had steak and DD1 mac and cheese both had mickey bars for desert. DH had the prime rib cook medium rare he ate every bite and I had the scallops which I cannot say enough of how amazing this dish was and I don’t usually care for cous cous! Wish I had a picture of it. DH not a desert guy but could not turn down the pecan tart and I the chocolate garden torte both were again out of this world. Raymond also remembered the tea I had picked to go with desert the previous night and brought that over Decaf Earl Grey by twinnings so sweet of him. Poor Surtana was running around again. I did manage to stop him real quick to let him know tomorrow we would be in PALO.
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We were all enjoying lingering over our food coma when Deniz head server comes over and asks if we had any new plans with the change. DH and I were like what?! He then tells us they made an announcement that we were switching itineraries and going to Grand Cayman on Tuesday and Cozumel on Wednesday. All I could think ok was NO DH has an aversion to Mexico! I will say he handled it well. He then headed to Bon Voyage to meet his new friend Vilda from Serbia (the bar tender) and I went to guest services to inquire about some free internet to cancel our privately booked excursion and to do a little research on these ports. The CM was not very friendly and a little curt no they would not give me any internet but I could use their phone once I told him the name of the company and said oh they already know as we run port adventures through them. He then told me I could send imessages while connected to the DCL. Perfect I could imessage my parents and that’s what I did and they got to research the ports. DH was tired and felt like resting I took the girls to go see Aladdin. Before the show started Captain Marco got on the stage and explained the weather situation and did a phenomenal job. The CD Leslie also explain the time change and how there would be Port Adventure information packets in our staterooms tonight. Here is my 1 of 3 big complaints this week. We got to the show early and the 3 of us sat down in the balcony on the aisle. They did not offer a 2pm showing this cruise. Big mistake there were NO seats left people were sitting in the aisle. I made one of the girls sit on my lap so that an elderly gentleman could have a seat. I wrote this on the comment card. We absolutely loved the show the girls were in awe. I loved the genie and did not find him overboard. I loved when he got frustrated with Aladdin he goes I’m going to the adult pool! The set, the costumes, and the voices were amazing. Kudos to the magic carpet we loved watching the scenes. Then it was up to do baths and bed!
 
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We were on this cruise too... we weren’t happy about the itinerary change but due to the circumstances, it was a no brainer.... we got really lucky with the weather all week.... as we shall see in the rest of your report 👍😁
 
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We were also on this cruise, so I'm excited to follow along. We actually prefer the western itinerary, so we were pretty happy with the change. We also had the same dining rotation at table 79, so we probably passed each other a number of times without even knowing it.
 
We were on this cruise too... we weren’t happy about the itinerary change but due to the circumstances, it was a no brained.... we got really lucky with the weather all week.... as we shall see in the rest of your report 👍😁
I’m a big time planner and researcher so this threw me for a loop! The weather was great and the seas much calmer once we made the shift to the western side.
 

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