Celebrating 30 Years by Cruisin’ with Mickey and the Gang About This Page:

[NanaTink]

Wow! I can’t believe that in just 3 weeks, we will be boarding the Magic for a cruise we’ve been dreaming about for over 18 months! How did we get to this point? There-in lies the tale of our adventurers, Sulley, 50, and your’s truly, NanaTink, also 50, …
Our story begins 30+ years ago, when as a young Hospital Corpsman stationed in Iceland, I became injured. I was medivaced to the National Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. There, spaced out on pain killers, I flirted with the cute young corpsman taking care of me, Sulley. Egged on by the older lady sharing my room, I might add! Time passed and I recovered, but not enough to remain in the Navy, so I was sent on terminal leave to await a medical discharge with disability. Things progressed between the two of us, until we married on December 8th, 1978.
Time passes, as is its habit, Sulley stayed in the Navy and we moved all over the world, hither and yon, adding two sons along the way. Fate placed us in Northern Virginia when in 1997 Sulley was offered a job he could not refuse, so he retired after 22 years of dedicated service to his country and the United States Navy. I, too, had found a job I loved, so we stayed although this is not where we planned on spending our lives. :
During our lives together, vacation always meant going to visit family, either mine in Georgia, or his in Arizona, Texas, Maryland or New York. Our “big” vacations were spent at Old Tucson, or the Alamo, or Niagara Falls! So, after the boys had grown, I had progressed in my new career and Sulley was also doing well, we decided it was time for a vacation. Where should we go? Sulley found out there was a military lodge at Disney World, why not? Why not, indeed! So we booked our trip but found the lodge was under renovation and had no room! :shock: Not to worry, there was a plan to put overflow at a moderate Disney hotel, which is how we ended up at Port Orleans, Riverside. He booked the trip and our plans were laid…we were going to WDW! Oct 6-11, 2001! Yup! Our first vacation ever almost didn’t happen! I was working 18 hour days 7 days a week after 9/11 and didn’t know if I was going to be able to get away. Luckily, my supervisor said “Go, get out of here! Just come back rested and ready to start again!” So off we went, and a love affair was born! For the first time since 9/11, we relaxed. We slept, we played. WDW became our place. Our place, where we can leave the cares and worries behind. And we’ve never looked back.
I can hear you asking, but what does this have to do with a cruise??? Well, I had to go there to get here. When Sulley and I married, we went to the courthouse in Rockville, MD on a Friday afternoon. The date, picked by Sulley because he wanted a date he could remember, and the 8th of December was the day he signed his enlistment papers in 1975. So for many
years, he got a pay raise on our anniversary, and he never forgot it either! (He often forgot what day his oldest son’s birthday was on, but that’s another story. So after a few trips to Disney World, I found out about Fairytale Weddings, or more correctly, Vow Renewals! Could we do that? Could we have a ceremony on our 30th anniversary? Would I look
silly in the big poofy dress and veil I missed out on all those years ago? Yes, yes, and probably so! but why not? So I began investigating and planning. We continued traveling to Disney and taking cruises. The boys were grown and on their own, the oldest following his father into a career with the United States Navy, but following my career path in Intelligence. He married and 11 months later made us grandparents. We joined DVC to ensure many grandparent-grandchildren trips in the future. But into our well-laid plans, the Navy decided DS would be of better service in Iraq. We decided we were going to have our big family trip when he came home. I set aside the plans for our vow renewal and started thinking of January 2008 as the big celebration I REALLY wanted. My baby home safe and sound.
Then, Disney did it. They came up with the cruise Sulley wanted more than anything…through the Panama Canal! Now, he had convinced me the Med cruise was too expensive, and he’d rather do a trip to London and Paris, but he was really excited about this cruise! So, January 31, 2007 found me sitting in front of my computer watching the clock….I had to take the day off because I have a morning meeting every morning and knew that is where I would be if I was at work. The clock dinged and I commenced to typing. Shoot! I couldn’t get cabin 7112, our most favorite cabin of two cruise! Shoot! I couldn’t get cabin 7112, our second most favorite cabin! But I ended up with GTY category 5 cabin so I was happy! We were in like Flynn! Yep, the cruise is in August and our anniversary is in December, but hey, we were going through the Panama Canal!
Up next: and now we wait,,,,what’s that they say about idle hands?

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Stephanie It's going to be a great trip

[Earkid]

Great start to your TR. I feel like I'm there with you already.

[chezp]

What a wonderful start - and what an amazing voyage awaits you!

[HeatherD]

I can't wait to hear about what's happening on the way back! Are you planning to do live updates or will we have to wait?

[NanaTink]

Originally Posted by HeatherD

I can't wait to hear about what's happening on the way back! Are you planning to do live updates or will we have to wait?

I haven't decided that yet. My gut is telling me you might have to wait, but we will see! I don't know ifwe are taking the laptop or not.

[DrDolphin]

I can't wait to read all about your adventures!!! (And I will try my hardest to update my TR from the PC cruise).

[Kenny]

A wonderful start! What a story! I am enjoying it a lot! The PC cruise should be awesome!

[OffKilter_Lynn]

Nice start, Stephanie! So how have the plans been coming along?!

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Can't wait to hear more

[NanaTink]

Celebrating 30 Years—Pretrip Pt 2
After booking, we sat back and waited. Boy, anticipation drives you ! But we continued on, tripping on down to WDW in May for our very first stay as DVC members in a one-bedroom villa! Welcome Home! We loved it and decided this indeed had been a wise purchase on our part!
I began to plan the grand homecoming trip that included both boys, their significant others, our granddaughter , and Sulley’s brother, his wife and their three kids! It would take a year and a half’s worth of points, but hey, what better use? For sure we could not have done this without DVC, and is the best selling point that I can think of! The only question was when! The return date was a floating target and driving me insane!
In July, we received word that DS would definitely be returning home from Iraq in October! But when in October would not be known for a while. We had a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean we had booked the year before while on the Western Caribbean cruise already scheduled for the first week in October…would we be going on that? I, for one, did NOT want to be in the middle of the Caribbean when he came home! All was well, and two weeks after the cruise, we went to Little Creek to greet his unit’s return to the U.S.! It was a joyous moment.
Plans for the cruise were tossed to the back burner as I threw myself into the planning for the homecoming Grand Gathering. We had a wonderful time, it was well worth the points, but I don’t think I will plan another any time soon! Trying to get 8 adults, 3 teens and an infant to decide what they wanted to do, where they wanted to eat, WHEN they wanted to eat…UGH! The baby was the easy one! She went where we went and didn’t complain.
After the Grand Gathering has concluded, I focused once again on the cruise. Now, I know there is no way I want to fly out to California from the East Coast on the day the cruise sails. Do I want to stay at a hotel at the airport? Hmmmm, you know, Disneyland is RIGHT THERE! How can we go all that way and NOT go to where it began? “Just for fun,” I went to the online Disneyland site and begin to play. Hmmm, not a bad price! We can fly out really early on Friday morning and arrive at LAX at 9….we could actually spend a couple of days in the park and then transfer to the ship from the resort! I call DCL and ask if this option was available! Why, yes indeed! Now HOW can I pass this up? You are right, I cannot! So a few minutes later, I have booked a stay at the Grand Californian at the concierge level with two-day parkhopper tickets!
Once we settled this, I began to plan for the cruise in earnest. Well, I TRIED to plan, but both Sulley and I were having great difficulty choosing excursions. On all of our other cruises, we have snorkeled at every port. We love the snorkeling and have a great time, but I really wanted to do something different. I wanted to actually see some of the countryside. I was excited to see the Zip Line adventure and thought that would be great fun! However, I have a bad knee and was afraid the climbing associated with it would be too much strain on my knee. So we sadly put that to the side. I tried to get Sulley to go on his own, but he declined. He wanted to do the excursions with me!
Finally we made our selections and they look like this
Cabo San Lucas: Coastal Highlights Tour—a bus tour of various highlights, including a glass-blowing shop and the town of San Jose de Cabo and a visit to a cliff top restaurant. We’re staying away from the snorkeling here because Sulley is allergic to bee stings and didn’t want to chance the jellyfish.
Puerto Vallarta: Exclusive Adult-only Beach Getaway—a quiet beach getaway at a resort. We may cancel this...it’s undecided at this time. We also have our Palo dinner this day.
Acupulco: Nothing planned since we are in port for such a short time, most of it early in the morning. Probably off the ship for a little shopping.
Cartagena : Deluxe Cartegena and Fortress with folklore Show—I’m really looking forward to this tour out of all of them!
Aruba: Sailaway Beach and Snorkel—This is Sulley’s favorite!
Now that we had FINALLY decided what activities we wanted to do, all that remained was to wait for our date. May 19! Now, that is a tiny bit of a problem for me…I get up for work at 4 AM, so staying up until Midnight then going to bed and getting up at the normal time for work…not a good idea. Getting up at Midnight and then going to work, also not a good idea. Guess I will have to take the day off! I decided the smart thing to do is take a nap the day before. As Midnight drew closer, I got very excited! My first goal…I want brunch at Palo’s! More than dinner, even! It’s Midnight, and I began to type. The website tells me I cannot make any reservations because I am not paid in full! SAY WHAT??? I try again and I’m booted out! OH NO! In another open window, I’m communicating with Lynn (Off-Kilter Lynn) and others. They received the same message originally, but they are soon allowed access. I remain on the outside. Finally, I manage to wiggle my way in and immediately head to the Palo, reservations. Of course, all the teas and brunches are gone. I manage to book dinner for the Puerto Vallarta port day. Without knowing what day is the special days, I am pretty sure that this day is safe as we are in port until 11:30 PM on that day. I booked a 6:30 reservation but again, not sure we want to keep it. We like Palo’s but we really enjoy the brunch at Palo’s much more. (don’t shoot! You can still book dinner reservations at Palo’s on our cruise so we are not keeping anyone out!
All of this out of the way, and we begin the long, last wait!
Up next: OMG! We might have missed our flight!!!!

[DyanKJ130]

WOW! Great update!! How exciting that you will be able to spend some time at DLR prior to your cruise! Your plans/excursions look wonderful! Can't wait to hear more

[chezp]

Sounds like everything's coming together - I hope you're able to get brunch or tea at Palo. I don't like the sound of the next installment though...

[SouthernBelle]

Finally, the TR has begun!!!! I have been on the sidelines just waiting for this trop to begin!!! I am so excited, can't wait to read the next chapter!!!! So hurry back!

[Big Baloo]

This is so suspenseful! Hope you made your flight!!!