DVC Member Cruise and Walt Disney World, Part 1

LAX to MCO and Cruise Departure

Yes, our vacation was so amazing it's going to require separate (very detailed) blog posts! Since a big part of writing these posts (in addition to sharing with family) is for Joe and me to have a record to look back on someday, I wanted to include as much as I could about our trip, and I apologize in advance for all of the probably very boring details. It's helpful for us to look back on some of the travel stuff to see what worked and what didn't. So here it goes....

I'm sure you all know this already, but Joe was invited on the Disney Vacation Club 4-night 5-day Member Cruise to do a little bit of work. He was allowed to bring along up to three guests and since he doesn't have any friends, the girls and I got to come along! Joe and I had done a quick 2-night cruise on the Disney Dream (a new ship in 2011), but this was our first time bringing any babies along.

After packing EVERYTHING up the night before, we left the house in a Hyundia Santa Fe (hey Flemings!) rental car at 6am on Saturday morning for LAX. Side note: You need a lot of stuff to travel with 2 kids... not sure how you guys do it with 3 or more! Joe was kind enough to give me his seat in first class (1B) while he sat in the back with BOTH girls, and I have to say it was the most relaxing five hours I've experienced in a while. We bought Elizabeth her own seat on the plane and brought her car seat along, which was a God send. She is VERY rambunctious these days so it was perfect that she could be strapped in for most of the trip. Plus it gave her a nice place to fall asleep.  The girls both behaved extremely well and I received lots of compliments from passengers deplaning about how good they were, and how great Joe was with them!

And before I forget, here is what we brought:

• 2 car seats (checked one, brought one on plane)
• 2 small rolling suitcases (both checked)
• 1 giant duffel (checked)
• Joe's backpack (carry on)
• Mary's diaper bag (carry on)
• 1 double stroller (gate checked)
• Ergo carrier (carry on)

Catching a wink on the flight

Super-flier opening her airplane snack box

One funny blip - when Joe had to take Lizzy back for a diaper change (I must have been too busy in first class watching Battleship with my noise-canceling Bose headphones on whilst eating a delicious breakfast to notice what was going on back there in steerage), he left Annie buckled into her aisle seat watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When he returned, Annie had unbuckled herself, climbed over into Lizzy's car seat by the window, found Lizzy's pacifier and fallen asleep.

We arrived in Orlando around 4pm and checked into the Hyatt Regency Orlando Airport hotel to stay for the night since the cruise didn't leave til the next day. Joe used a Diamond confirmed suite upgrade and we received an amazing suite with a bedroom, huge living and dining area, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen. Probably larger than our house.

Didn't take any good pictures of our room, but it was great! 

We had a delightful Chick fil a lunch, naps, and a walk around the airport. Oh, in our brand new double maclaren! A purchase mainly for the trip. Really loved it. Super easy to fold and compact. Anyway - after our walk the girls had their baths and we had a quick room service dinner of pepperoni pizza, hummus and veggies, and spaghetti and meatballs for the girls.  Shortly after, the girls went to bed and I used the hotel gym (would be 1 of only 2 times on the vacation that I worked out.) It was small but nice with views of the terminal and had all the essential equipment.

Orlando Airport = almost as good as Disney World!

Eating dinner! Annie now thinks she can make food appear by picking up the phone and "ordering it."

We all got some good sleep that night and the next morning Joe went to get the rental car, a 2012 Toyota Sequoia which was so large he could barely park it, brought down the luggage and installed the car seats while I stayed with girls. We had a really good breakfast at one of the Hyatt restaurants, Hemispheres. It was extra good because it was free for Diamond members. Let's be honest, we all know that if it wasn't free we would have been eating sausage biscuits off the dollar menu. Now that I think about it, that is an equally delicious option.

Only people in the restaurant!  

All of this part of the trip was particularly fun for me to experience because I got to see what Joe does on a regular basis on his business trips to WDW (tough life, Joe!) I got to sit in his seat on the plane, stay in the hotel he frequents, and eat his favorite breakfast (scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, ham and a bowl of berries).  Nice to be able to see that part of his life! And I think equally fun for him to be able to share it with us.

We then loaded everyone up into the car and did the quick 40 minute drive to Port Canaveral to get on the ship! After checking our bags with a bellman, Joe parked the car/truck in the garage ($75 for parking) and I brought the girls into the cruise terminal where we got in line to see Minnie. Since the state rooms aren't ready immediately when you board, they take your luggage before you board so you don't have to haul it around the ship for the first few hours. When the rooms are ready, your bags are waiting for you there. After we got our picture with Minnie, we proceeded to the check in line which was empty by that point. I think we were the last wave to board. At check in they collect all the proper paper work and signatures, check your passports and take your picture for you room key card, called your "Key to the World Card".  In addition to being used as a key you can use it for charging and you need it to get on and off the ship at any ports. Annie's picture was a real gem as she was throwing a temper tantrum at the moment. Every time her card was scanned during the trip the employee would laugh at the picture of a screaming toddler that popped up on the screen.

Stopping for a quick pic with Minnie Mouse in the terminal before boarding the ship

We then boarded and set sail for Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas. More to come soon!! Please try to keep your anticipation under control. :)

Also, I will be putting a ton more pictures on Picasa and Facebook soon.

Elizabeth's Birthday and Grandma Alice's Visit

Can't believe my little Elizabeth is ONE year old already! Hard to imagine that she was a tiny newborn last summer, this has definitely been the fastest year of my life so far. Since we were planning on trip to Disneyland with Grandma on Sunday and Monday (Lizzy's actual birthday) we did a small celebration at home on Saturday with Auntie JuJu.

See food, open mouth. Classic Lizzy.

Big sister Annie was nice to help Elizabeth open her presents, and then claim them as her own. 

Just a few more pictures of the birthday girl :)

Not quite a walker yet

Lizzy's new trick: fish face

On Sunday Grandma arrived and we headed down to Disneyland for the night. We took in a few attractions at California Adventure that night and returned the next morning for Disneyland. 

Sisters ready for a day at the park!

We hit the jackpot and had a Minnie Mouse sighting as soon as entering the park on Monday morning! Annie has NO fear when it comes to characters.

The day turned out to be very hot and crowded, and I don't think poor Lizzy had a very good time on her first birthday. I don't think we'll be back to DL until the temperatures get a little cooler and the crowds thin out in the fall.

Joe had to head out of town the next day for a quick trip to Japan, but luckily Grandma was in town for a week to help us out! We had lots of fun visiting the zoo and Kidspace Museum in Pasadena.

Annie would spend ALL day at the petting zoo if I let her! She was lying on top of the goats at one point saying "I love him so much!"

Having fun in the toddler room at Kidspace!

Learning about Bugs with Grandma

Check out Annie on that hog

Sisters playing

Sweet Lizzy

Hope to have more exciting adventures to share soon!

A Nice Little Sunday

Whilst driving by WB Studios on the way home from the Grove this morning we saw 2 guys driving a funny old car. After we passed the car Annie yelled "I want to see the funny car, roll down my window!"  So Joe started going really slow and tried to hit all the red lights so she could see it.  The car finally caught up to us right before we were about to turn onto our street, honked and waved...

Hi, Jay! He seemed happy to honk and wave to the babies.

Oh heyyy Jay Leno!

Roadtrip to Scottsdale

We took a last minute road trip to Scottsdale over the 4th of July holiday. We packed up the car and headed out on Tuesday afternoon, after naps. To break up the 6+ hour drive we stopped in Palm Springs the first night, where we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Suites Palm Springs in downtown Palm Springs. Loved that that all the rooms are suites so we didn't need to worry about being upgraded to get some extra space. Since we were only there for a very short amount of time we didn't get to do much exploring, but it seemed to be in a great location with lots of shopping and restaurants.

After our 11 month old alarm clock woke us bright and early the next morning, we had breakfast in the restaurant downstairs (included as a  Hyatt Diamond Status amenity for hotels that don't have a lounge) and headed for Scottsdale. Nothing like a free breakfast to start the morning off right!

Stopped for a quick picture with "Marin Mroe"  (Annie's pronunciation).  This was the 4th of July, by the way - Happy Birthday America!

Got a great rate at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, and booked through American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts Program through the Platinum card to take advantage of a "complimentary 3rd night" special. Since the Amex package also includes a free room upgrade (when available), and because we came during a low occupancy time, we got upgraded to an AMAZING and enormous suite.  We have had some nice upgrades over the years, but this one was right up there! Suite had a huge bedroom, living room, dining room and a giant balcony. Nice. Room 2040 in the main building. Had a doorbell and a TV in the bathroom mirror, aw yea.

Annie LOVED swimming in the pools at the resort - there were 11 in all. In total we think Annie spent at least 18 hours in the pool during our visit. Elizabeth got in on the fun, too!

And now onto one of best details of the trip... the food! First of all, we had $80 for breakfast every morning from the Amex package, as well as an additional $100 food credit for other meals. The best part was that we could use the breakfast credit on ROOM SERVICE, which is unheard of. And sadly, even though $80 seems like an extravagant amount of money to spend on breakfast, it's actually not too difficult! Especially once you add in all the service fees and taxes.  Picking up the phone and ordering breakfast in the morning may have been one of the highlights of my life thus far. And then having someone come and clean it all up afterwards?? Heaven.

To make things even better, kids 3 and under eat free at The Phoenician. Anything they want, whether it's off the kids menu, regular menu or special order. There were a ton of restaurants to choose from and there is an ice cream parlor inside the resort, where Annie got free ice cream all three days and we enjoyed 2 delicious root beer floats.

Sharing some ice cream

All in all it was a great and relaxing trip, even with a toddler and a baby! In large part because of the extra space - it's so nice to be able to have the girls nap and sleep peacefully while we can relax in another room and not sit silently in the dark worried we might breath too loud and wake them. 

It definitely was hot but it didn't bother us too much - as long as you were in the pool or the shade it was perfect, and after lunch we would come up to the room for ice cream and naps. Would highly recommend visiting places like this in the off season like we did.  Hope to make this an annual trip, would love to have some of you join us next time!

These girls love hotels!