Our “Wonder”ous Adventure To The Mexican Riviera About This Page:

[ilovedisney0_0]

This vacation is long overdue. The last time I had a day completely off from both of my jobs was August 9th… 201 days, in case you were wondering! (And that was for a long weekend trip to Disneyland! ) I am definitely ready for a break, and I can’t wait to spend some quality, relaxing time with my daughter. Just 8 more days, and we are off to experience the WONDER of the Mexican Riviera!

I am a single mom, and have raised my daughter alone since she was 18 months old. She is now 18 YEARS old (!!!) and is in her second semester of freshman year at Arizona State University. I wanted to plan something fun, exciting and DIFFERENT to celebrate her graduation and entry into adulthood. We are huge Disney fans, because, ya’ know, who isn’t?? So a cruise seemed like a perfect fit – I get my fix of Disney, but we are doing something different from visiting the parks. A cruise seems so grown up, somehow. The only problem…my DD is afraid of boats. So, talking her into taking a cruise took some doing. I mean, it took A LOT LOT LOT of talking into. As in 5 years of bugging her, nagging her, begging her, before she finally agreed. Now that I read that over, it sounds kind of bad. I gotta be honest – the movies ‘Titanic’ and ‘Poseidon’ did me no favors. I am hoping that this cruise helps her overcome her fear. So, to sweeten the pot, I have bribed her with … err, I mean, booked a dolphin swim for her and I. She has ALWAYS wanted to swim with dolphins, and she is really looking forward to that. I think – between her love of, and comfort level with, all things Disney, combined with the dolphin swim and all of the other fun things we have planned, she will be fine. Otherwise, we will be flying home early from Mexico!

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Amy (me) – I will be celebrating my 41st birthday while on board! I grew up in San Diego, and have been to Disneyland too many times to count. Literally every school trip, family weekend or break I get is spent at Disneyland. My excitement NEVER goes away. I am still like that guy on the commercial, that can’t sleep the night before because he is too worked up and excited to go! I have been to WDW 3 times, and am planning our 4th trip in December. This is our first cruise ever, and of course I would not consider anything other than Disney!

Kaitlyn (DD) 18 yo – This trip is Kaitlyn’s celebration of the start of college / ‘welcome to adulthood’ trip. She loves Eeyore, which always makes me giggle because her personality is so polar opposite of his. She is the most amazing child anyone could ever ask for, and I am always so awed that she is mine. She is studying to become a teacher. She works, and maintains a crazy-busy school load with straight A’s. She could definitely use a break!

Everyone knows how crazy things are in the world right now, so for safety’s sake Disney has pulled Mazatlan from our itinerary. I am a little sad about this, as I have never been to Mazatlan before. But, if I am honest, when I was researching the possible options for port excursions, Mazatlan was the one stop I didn’t find anything to do that knocked our socks off. Instead, we have we will enjoy a stop in Puerto Vallarta and two stops in Cabo San Lucas. Our itinerary looks like this;

Sunday, February 27, 2011
The only thing I really have planned for this day is the ship tour, which I read on some Navigators that were scanned (thanks Sue! ) starts around 2:30pm the day of embarkation. My FE group from The DIS is having a meet at 3:00pm, but I would rather have a good ‘lay of the land’, so that’s what we are going to do. Then I think we will just spend the evening getting comfortable in our cabin, attending the Sail Away Party, eating dinner and relaxing.

Monday, February 28, 2011
This is an At Sea day. I have a Swedish massage scheduled for Kaitlyn, and a facial booked for me. These are firsts as far as spa services go for both of us. I am really looking forward to a little pampering! It seems like the perfect way to kick off our vacation!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011
This is also an At Sea day. I was lucky to score a Palo brunch! What I am HOPING happens this day is that we are able to sleep in a little, then enjoy ourselves at Palo. I am really looking forward to this reservation!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Puerto Vallarta. This day we have The Puerto Vallarta City Tour planned at 8:15am. Although there were some excursions that looked a little more adventurous and exciting than this one, Kaitlyn and I chose this for one simple reason – SHOPPING. Neither of us have ever been to Puerto Vallarta before, so I wanted to do something where we would actually be able to see the city. In this excursion, we will be able to stay in Puerto Vallarta proper, and have enough time to do some serious shopping. I know this isn’t everyone’s ‘thing’, but Kaitlyn and I could seriously enter a competition for marathon-shoppers. So needless to say, we are looking forward to some time to part with some hard-earned cash.

Thursday, March 3, 2011
My birthday! Today we will be in Cabo San Lucas. This is the day Kaitlyn is waiting for – today we get to swim with dolphins! We have the Cabo Dolphin Swim booked at 11:45am, and then I scored and was able to get Palo for dinner this evening! Amy (iamgrumpy) wrote such good reviews, and I just couldn’t decide between brunch and dinner at Palo! I am really excited we get a chance to experience both meals during this trip. Plus, between the dolphins and dinner at Palo, I think this is going to be our most exciting day of vacation!

Friday, March 4, 2011
Cabo San Lucas, take 2. I love Cabo, so I am not in the least bit sad about getting to spend 2 days here! Today we have the Coastal Highlights Tour planned, which includes a stop at a glass blowing factory. This looks so neat! I am excited about checking it out! The tour also includes a stop at a cactus garden, which I am not looking forward to quite as much, since I live in Phoenix and all . But it’s a short stop in Cabo this day, we have to be back onboard fairly early in the afternoon.

Saturday, March 5, 2011
The only thing we have planned on this day are pedis. Oh, and bingo! We are looking forward to fitting some bingo in somewhere.

Sunday, March 6, 2011
Home - today, after the ship docks, we will drive to my sister's house in Apple Valley CA to pick up our dog (she is dog-sitting during our trip!), and head home to Phoenix. Kaitlyn is very stressed out about spending so much time away from her boyfriend, so I am sure she will be ready to get home as soon as she can!

I won’t bore you with the details, but there was quite a lot of planning, then shuffling, then re-shuffling that went on after Mazatlan was pulled and the second day of Cabo was added. I am very satisfied with how everything eventually worked out, and am really looking forward to all of our excursions!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start and plans Amy! I hope you and Kaitlyn have a great time!

[sueh818]

Great start!

I can't wait to read about the trip from someone else's perspective.

Cabo Dolphins is excellent! You'll love it!

[ilovedisney0_0]

Thanks Marnie!

Sue, you have helped SOOOO much in my plans! I am really excited, and can't wait to post my trip report. Hopefully it will help someone as much as you have helped me!

[lauriep]

Sounds wonderful, Amy! Looks like you've done a stellar job of raising your daughter and it's great that you can celebrate her graduation in this way. I'll just add that they often (always??) give a free pass to the Rainforest Room when you do a spa treatment, so be sure to ask about this on your first spa day. Rainforest room is an amazing way to relax--just don't do it right before you have anything important planned. I slept my way through the Pirate Party on one of the heated lounges!

[pristinegem]

Wow! You are SO organized! Your itinerary looks WONDERful! Congratulations to your daughter's graduation AND Happy Birthday to you! Hope you both have an amazing time and see you on board!

[chezp]

Great start - what wonderful plans!

[B.M.]

Great start!!

[pamcarey]

Great start! Your plans look wonderful! I can't wait to read all about it!

[dwonderz]

Great Start! Can't wait to read more !

[lazanya]

Great start and great plans!

[DawnDenise]

How exciting for you and Kaitlyn! You both deserve it! Sounds like some great things planned for your excursions and looking forward to reading all about them!

[ilovedisney0_0]

Almost time! Just 5 more days!! We are just making final preparations. I am in the process of doing laundry, and I still need to pack.


When I am at WDW, I like to have baskets of goodies delivered to my DD to make the trip extra-special. I am very disappointed that I haven't been able to find anyone to do that at DCL in LA. So, taking advice from DawnDenise, I have started to put together my own little goodie basket for my DD. I hope she is suprised! I found a cute little silver fish with diamonds, and a pretty little chain. So she will have that necklace.

It looks similar to this...
http://www.zales.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3315933&clickId=171107364&affi liateCustomId=&affiliateId=3578

That's ocean-y, right?


Then, I went to Things Remembered and had a pretty star keychain engraved with some mushy stuff about how much I love her & our cruise information.

http://www.thingsremembered.com/product/Star-Key-Chain/157180.uts?keyword=star

My $20 keychain turned into $75, after all of my engraving.


I found some ADORABLE jammies that are Arizona State-themed. I know, I know - that has nothing to do with the cruise. But she goes to ASU, so I think she will like them!


Then, I found these cute cruisy nail polishes from China Glaze -

http://chinaglaze.com/products/index.php?coll=49


I REALLY REALLY wanted to get something DCL themed to give her. I have checked the Disney Store and online, and can't find anything DCL-specific.


If you have any other suggestions for her gift basket, I am open to them! I want her to have the time of her life, considering the fact that I KNOW she is afraid about this whole cruise-ship thing.

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you were able to get some great stuff for your DD! Sorry you can't find DCL stuff, and that no one has picked up the bag on the LA end of things!

[B.M.]

Sounds like everything is coming together!
Have a great trip!!