"Grandma + 2" – 14-21 OCT 2007 – WDW/DCL - **Completed 3/7** About This Page:

[Grandmasam]

Who: Grandma – that’s me, Sharon Moore, 63, Disney nut
Plus One – Kathryn, 14, weighs the situation carefully before she jumps in
Plus Two – Lauren, 9, always in motion, even when she’s asleep

What: A variation on my annual pilgrimage to the World

Where: WDW and Disney Wonder

When: 14 – 21 October 2007

Why: It seemed like a good idea at the time !

How: Read on!!

“Grandma + 2” - The Genesis: How I ended up on a cruise ship with two grandkids

My first trip to WDW was in October 1994 with DD Teresa and her two – Samantha and Kathryn. The day after we arrived was the last day of a new week-long event, the International Food and Wine Festival . I became hopelessly in love with WDW, and with the Festival. It wasn’t long before I found myself making an annual pilgrimage to the World during late October (or, as the Festival expanded, sometimes in early November), ensuring that I’d have my Disney fix as well as be able to restock my wine cabinet. I even purchased a time-share in Kissimmee so that I could share the experience with the family . Most years I would stay at the condo, but occasionally I’d stay on-campus. Over the years I developed a routine – visit EPCOT and wander around sampling the food and wine; check in at MK for POC, Small World, and Carousel; go over to the Studios for TOT and RNRC; then to AK for a general look-see. If on campus and on a plan that would allow, take in Blizzard Beach for Summit Plummet. And, of course, DTD for major shopping . The only planned events would be ADRs at Crystal Palace and the Hollywood Brown Derby , and I would occasionally change them if I was involved elsewhere. All in all, a very relaxed week, and a very far cry from the usual hustle and bustle of my life.

This year I decided to break the mold and try a cruise . But I couldn’t give up the FWF, so I decided to do a “Land and Sea” package. I searched the cruise web site and checked the prices. I read about the various packages and explored the options. I settled upon a 4-night land and 3-night sea package, since it ran from Sunday to Sunday and would allow me more time off work with fewer vacation days.

Having decided that I really wanted to go, I got to thinking about the cruise itself. As an overweight, single, older female, would I have a good time on a family-oriented cruise? Deciding that the answer might be “No,” I called DD Teresa and asked when the kids were off for Fall Break, and if I could borrow Kathryn for the cruise part of the trip. Her answer was, “No, I think she has a volleyball game that week. How about Lauren?” My immediate answer was “NO WAY! ” Now, before you start throwing darts at me for refusing to consider taking Lauren, let me tell you about her --

Lauren is 9. She is energetic, and is on the go 24 hours a day. She wakes up with a bound and keeps it up all day. She goes to sleep when she can no longer hold her eyes open, and is known to appropriate all blankets and to take up the entire bed, thereby evicting anyone in bed with her. She wears me out ! That is, she USED to wear me out. Thinking about possibly being with her for several days, I realized that she was not nearly as rambunctious has she had been, and was paying more attention to directives she was given. HM-M-M-M. Would it be possible for me to actually be with her for the cruise and not have the urge to throw her overboard? It just might !

Further conversations with DD revealed that Kathryn did NOT have a volleyball game during fall break, therefore she could go. But there was no affordable direct flight from Indy to MCO – as an unaccompanied minor, she could not change planes. So much for having her fly down to join me! If I was to have company on the cruise, I would also need to have company for the land portion.

The more I thought about it, the more I came to like the idea of having both girls join me. DD decided that it would be OK for them to miss two days of school, so reservations were made and planning got underway. We were officially booked for 4 nights at the Walt Disney World Swan / Dolphin starting on 14 October, and 3 nights in stateroom 6594 on the Disney Wonder leaving Port Canaveral on 18 October. “Grandma + 2” had been born !

(Stay tuned for more, as I process the trip and try to condense a full week into something that will take less than a week to read! )

[lauriep]

Great start, Sharon! Looking forward to the rest.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Sharon

[retiredkid]

MORE, PLEASE

[mcc0313]

Great start Sharon....you are a cool grandma!!! I think you will have a wonderful time with the girls and sharing your love with them again....

Can't wait to hear more...

[jpod523]

great start! can't wait for more!!

[DyanKJ130]

Great start! Can't wait to hear more

[Kenny]

Great start! You stopped too quick, though. I was just getting comfy!

Kenny

[Grandmasam]

Getting ready for “Grandma + 2” definitely showed me many things I SHOULD have done before making the reservations! I had totally forgotten about Passporter.com , so had not had the benefit of talking with anyone about my decision. But I did reconnect with the site as the girls and I began to seriously plan for the trip.

So many questions to answer, on both the land and the sea sides! While on the land part, where would we eat? What parks would we visit? What additional things would we do? On the cruise, what excursions would we take? How would we decorate our door? And, probably much more importantly for the girls, how would they have enough money to buy things for themselves? We had all of six weeks to settle these!

The additional land venture was easy – I’d done MNSSHP the prior year with friends, and had a blast! I wanted to introduce the girls to the experience, so got tickets for MNSSHP for the one night it was on during our stay. Our first decision, finalized!

In order to make our plans, and for the girls to earn spending money, it was agreed that they would stay with me on the weekends. This would allow us to make our plans, the girls to earn money doing chores around the house, and me to have some help! A great plan that worked for all of one weekend before DSonIL realized that they were not doing their home chores. At least we were able to decide on shore excursions during that week-end: glass-bottom boat in Nassau, and banana boat ride at Castaway Cay.

We also decided on eating “musts” while at WDW : 1900 Park Fare (Kathryn’s favorite – Strawberry Soup); Crystal Palace (none of us could fathom a visit to WDW without CP!); and Hollywood Brown Derby (the only DECENT Cobb Salad in the entire world – and I’m not talking just WDW). ADRs were immediately arranged, one for each of the three full days that we would be there. We would arrive on Sunday, have late breakfast at 1900 PF on Monday, early dinner at CP on Tuesday prior to MNSSHP, mid-day lunch at HBD on Wednesday, then leave for DCL on Thursday. And, of course, EPCOT for FWF as much as possible!

The door decorations were mutually agreed upon during a shopping trip to JoAnn, etc – inexpensive Halloween balsa wood cutouts caught the girls’ eyes, and leapt into the shopping cart. Fortunately I had paints at home, so our room would be identified with an assortment of Halloween cutouts.

I had checked the pricing of the cruise with an air package, and of the cruise without an air package, and it was actually cheaper to have Disney make the travel arrangements – probably since I was booking at a fairly late date. The major problem was that I had no control over when we would be flying. It wasn’t until about three-and-a-half weeks prior to the date that I gave up waiting for them to notify me and called the cruise line. The CM was very nice, and e-mailed me the itinerary without incident. That was when I found out that we were booked on the 8:15 a.m. flight out of IND – direct to MCO.

An 8:15 a.m. flight would mean that we needed to get to the airport by 6:15 or so. Living about 30 – 45 minutes from the airport, I’d have to leave no later than 5:30, which meant I’d have to get up by 4:30. YIKES! I only have to get up at 5:25 to get ready for work! I would be starting my vacation a whole hour prior to when I would normally get up. So much for having someone else make my travel arrangements!

The biggest problem with this early morning time was that DD would have to bring the girls to my house, passing right by the airport. Seems that the Mom-sitters couldn’t start before 7:00 a.m., so Teresa was going to have to stay with her Grandmother for a couple of hours. Since she lives about 45 – 60 minutes away, she and the girls would have to leave their house about the time I had to get up. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so put out with the timing, after all.

As soon as I decided on the trip, I told Mom about it. Her memory is extremely short, but she can remember things if they are repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated, etc. for several weeks. By the time we were ready to leave she had gotten acclimated to the fact that I was going to be gone for a week and that she would have “ladies” here all the time. She didn’t like it, but she had quit moaning and complaining that I was leaving her all alone!

Packing was an experience unto itself. I gathered things together as I thought of them and/or as I read about them in Passporter hints, piling them on a table in the office. I promised myself that I would pack no later than Friday, so that I’d have time to REpack, getting rid of what I really wouldn’t need. The girls had instructions to do the same. Needless to say, all three of us did the major portion of our packing very late on Saturday, ending up with scads more than was necessary. We had five pieces of checked luggage, plus one carry-on per person. I had packed things that would be needed only on the cruise into my snorkel bag, since I would not need the snorkel gear until we got to Castaway Cay. At least that would cut down on what we would need to unpack when we got to the Swan!

4:30 a.m. Sunday morning arrived way too early! DD had already left home when I got up, and I was ready for her when she arrived. We loaded the car with the five large and three small bags, surprised that they all fit! With only three of us heading to the airport, some of the luggage went into the back seat.

I woke Mom up to let her know that we were leaving and that Teresa was there with her. She acknowledged this, went back to sleep, and the girls and I hit the road.

I had checked in the night before and printed the boarding passes, so all we had to do when we arrived at the terminal was to check the luggage. We did so at the curbside check-in, and then drove to long-term parking so that the car would be available when we returned. Hopping a shuttle back to the terminal, the three of us were ready to begin our journey!

Our seats were separated – mine about five rows in front of the two girls. When the reservations were made the agent gave no attention to the fact that the two children, having a different address than mine, were really with me and needed to sit close! The plane was totally full (with many families heading to WDW), so changing seats was not an option. It was determined that Kathryn would sit by herself, while Lauren and I would sit next to each other. We were away from the terminal and in the air by 8:15, slept much of the way there, and arrived in Orlando a full 5 minutes prior to our scheduled time. Seems like “Grandma + 2” was going to be a success!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update!! Sorry you couldn't all sit together on the plane More please

[retiredkid]

and then?................
lovin' this report.

[mcc0313]

Great update...seemed like everything was off to a great start...

Can't wait to hear more.....

[DyanKJ130]

Nice update! about the plane. Can't wait to hear more

[Kenny]

Nice story so far... I'm lovin' it!! Waiting for more.......

Kenny

[Grandmasam]

I have always wanted to approach the “Disney Cruise Line” greeter at the airport and let her tell me that my vacation is underway ! Finally I am able to do so. But it wasn’t quite as dramatic as I had envisioned – she simply told me which DME line to stand in! Nevertheless, it is GREAT to not have to worry about the luggage! But I was rather disappointed to find that we were going to be on Mears bus, not even a DME one. But the driver was nice, the trip smooth, and we arrived at the Swan in no time.

Checking into the Swan, we were surprised to find that the room was ready – it was only mid-morning. While I checked in with the cruise ladies, the girls checked out the Gift Shop and the lobby (see Lauren’s “Swans” picture ). I had to get them corralled when I realized that the Bahamas immigration paperwork had not been completed! We spent a few minutes in the lobby filling out the papers, and then the girls returned to their exploring while I finished checking in. I was tickled to find out that we would leave for the cruise at noon on Thursday, and we could leave from AK if desired. Plus, we would not have to make a decision until Thursday!

Checked into the hotel and the cruise, we deposit our carry-ons in the room and go in search of food – it has been almost 8 hours since breakfast. Although one of my prime reasons for the trip is the FWF, EPCOT is just too far away. We check with the concierge to see what restaurants are available in the hotels. He is wonderful, not only giving us directions but also showing and discussing the menus! We explore several of them, opting for the Picabu Buffeteria: it is close and we are too wiped out at the moment to look any further.

Each girl has her own idea of what constitutes a decent meal. Neither idea matches mine! So the cafeteria-style choices are a big plus. Lauren chooses a kid’s Chicken-Finger Plate, complete with French Fries and Chocolate milk. Kathryn opts for a chicken salad sandwich and chocolate milk. I, on the other hand, have a side salad and green beans. By the time the meal ends the girls have consumed about ½ their own meals and ½ their sister’s!

After exploring the first floor we head for the water taxi dock. Lauren had been intrigued with the swan fountain in the lobby and gotten her first photos of the trip. At the dock, Kathryn gets her first pictures – ducks resting on the rocks. AND – I capture Spaceship Earth from the walkway! Life is good.

We enter EPCOT through the International Gate. It is old hat for the girls, since they have stayed at Boardwalk several times. But it is a new experience for me. The only question – which way do we turn? Right will take us over the bridge and to France and the rest of World Showcase, AND to the majority of the FWF kiosks. Left will take us through United Kingdom and Canada to Future World. We take a vote – WS – 1; FW – 2. We turn left. But Grandma is NOT to be totally out voted. I have come all the way from Indiana and will not be thwarted! I issue a proclamation that although we will head to FW now, we will be back to WS for dinner at the kiosks! The girls agree, and we are off to Soarin’ and to Test Track.

I soon discover that “Fast Pass” is not in their vocabulary. Suggesting that we get a Fast Pass for the one with longest wait time, I am met with blank stares. We head to Soarin’, where they are thrilled to find that the wait time is “only” an hour or so. So we wait, and wait, and wait, working our way up the ramp. As we get closer I discover that the large murals on the wall are alive! That is, they change based upon audience input. Instructions appear on the screens, and we find ourselves madly waving our arms and jumping up and down as we build worlds, get critters lined up on trees, and race through canyons.

Finishing Soarin’ we head immediately to “Imagination!”, where I realize that I haven’t been through the new version of “Journey into Imagination with Figment”! I always catch “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” but I have not gone back around to see Figment. We get several mementos in the gift shop, and then head over toward Test Track. On the way we pass dangerously close to MouseGear and are sucked in through the doors – I need new socks (I only wear Mickey socks that I buy at WDW). The search for socks and a whole lot more ends an hour later with the purchase of several pins and my very own Mickey Crocs!

We head out the door intending to head to TT, but see Pin Central out of the corner of our eyes. We are once again sidetracked. A half hour and $100 later we finally turn to TT, only to realize that it is after 6:30 – FW will be closing in ½ hour! Promising ourselves that we’ll take it in another day, we head to WS and FWF. Finally!

The girls are not too excited about having to eat something with which they are not familiar, so we look over the choices and decide on the menu – Coconut Flan from Dominican Republic and Cheddar Cheese Soup from Canada. And, for Grandma, ICEWINE! This quickly became one of my very favorites after I was introduced to it 6 – 7 years ago while at the FWF and is NOT available in Indiana. After stopping by the FWF Gift Shop to pick up a T-shirt and shot glass for me, we get dinner and head for the IG, but are once again sidetracked.

The last time I’d been to WDW Off-Kilter was not performing. Since they were getting ready for a performance, I pull rank and we sit down to enjoy some “Grandma” music. I am delighted to find out that the girls enjoy the music, too. We are so tired that we leave part way through the show, when Lauren has finished her New Zealand Lamb Slider – minus the mustard sauce and minus the bun!

Catching the water taxi back to the Swan, we sit in the back and discover that diesel is not one of our favorite smells. By the time we get back to the hotel our bags are in our room. Unpacking takes up the rest of the evening, and we collapse into bed, wondering if there is any possibility that we will be ready to tackle day two by morning.