Cass, Rob & Kira - UO & Disney Fantasy - Two Old Farts and a Teenager

Cass your Jack was amazing! We are originally from Phoenix and every spring and fall break we would travel to Disney Land and loved when they switched the Haunted Mansion into Nightmare before Christmas . Jack and Sally are our favorite.
 
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Now I see what you mean about how your fan folds. Oh well, they are so reasonable I might buy that one, too! :thumbsup2
 
Your Animators drawings were all so good!! Mine suck so hard lol Honestly I can barely draw a stick figure.

Raisins.....in cookies......are the devils' work. NO!!!!!!
 


April 1st, Part 1

Today was Castaway Cay day! The last time we were at Castaway Cay together was in 2017. Kira was only 10! 😯 It's been quite awhile for us. ::yes::

As gorgeous as it is, we're just not sun/beach/ocean people. I do love swimming and floating out in the ocean but the water is too cold for Rob and Kira is not into it and I can only handle the sun for so long. I would have liked to do the parasailing again, Kira has never done that before but it was sold out.

We pulled in, got tied on and then Rob and I went for breakfast. I knew we wouldn't be spending a lot of time on the island so there was no rush. We didn't want to have to deal with the virtual queue and crowds.


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Enchanted Garden was quite empty this morning. :goodvibes




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We got a nice corner, with a view of the pier and we enjoyed a lovely breakfast. :love: I really enjoy my breakfasts on the ship because at home, I rarely eat breakfast.

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Back to the room, I would say most people had gotten off the ship by now, so we grabbed our stuff, slathered on a bucket of sunscreen and off we went!

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I was actually surprised we even made it because it was still very windy! Many of the excursions were cancelled.

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I asked Rob and Kira if they wanted to take the tram or walk and we all agreed to walk.

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Here's me in my Aruba hat. :rotfl2: For those of you who read my last trip report, you'll get that joke. :p

For those that didn't, let's just say that I love this massive hat because it gives me a lot of protection from the sun and Kira wouldn't be caught dead in it. :laughing:

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By that time, there was only one spot that had characters greeting us.

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Look at those palm trees blowing!

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Looking back at our ship. 😍

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A quick photo or two at Mt. Rustmore. They really need to rename this. Mt. Rust-no-more? :scratchin I remember when these used to have rust on them, hence the name. It's just not the same since they cleaned them up. :rolleyes2

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We stopped in the shops first. I was hoping to get a blue and white dress that I've seen being sold just about everywhere, including Disney Springs. They had it, but only in small. Kira saw the matching lady's shirt and asked if she could get that. She's lucky I didn't have my glasses on because I didn't realize until way later that the shirt was $65 USD! :scared:

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There were some really cute shirts here but, again, the sizes were either xs or xxxl! :sad2:

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We walked down and noticed that none of the umbrellas were open.

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A little further down, we found out why. There was a sign out saying not to open them. Yikes!

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We hit up the second store but no luck there either.

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So, we headed to the beach near Pelican Plunge.

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We walked and walked and walked, no seats available! We walked most of the way down and back to the last rows and there was nothing available!! We grabbed a single, unused chair from the very last row and plunked it down in a tiny bit of shade at the end of a row and put our stuff on it. The umbrellas were all open here.

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We headed down to the ocean, it was super busy! Rob put his toes in and FROZE! 🥶

I stepped in and immediately just dunked myself. It felt so nice because it was quite hot out. Kira took a few minutes but eventually dunked herself and was just fine. We encouraged Rob but he just refused :rolleyes:

It was super crowded so we headed way out, as far as you're allowed to go.

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It was nice and quiet out there. I could have spent a couple of hours just swimming out there but Kira didn't want to stay long. Kira saw her dad with his phone and kept giving him peace signs, so I copied her. :rolleyes1:laughing:

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Kira and Rob headed for Pelican Plunge to do the slides. It was pretty busy, they only ended up doing one of them.

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I walked over to the lookout point to watch them, snapped this as I walked by....

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There they are! :sail:

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Kira said it was a one and done for her. Rob said he was getting old. :lmao:

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At my image limit, so I shall continue tomorrow. ::yes:::wave2:
 
April 1st, Part 2

I had to get one more pic of the ship, she looks so pretty at Castaway Cay! :love:

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We went back to the beach, Kira didn't want to come back in the water so she stayed in the chair while I finally convinced Rob to come in the ocean with me. After about 30 minutes, Kira came in search of us and snapped some pics of us enjoying our time with each other. Sneaky kid! :lovestruc

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She wanted to head back to the ship so off we went. We took the tram back.

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After some showers, we headed to a wonderfully quiet Cabanas so that Rob could have some lunch.

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After we sat down, a few other tables filled in but it was still nice and quiet. And you can't beat that view!

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I decided I would taste a few things and they were all horrible. :crazy2: That was probably the worst mac and cheese I have ever tasted 🤮

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Kira eventually joined us after her shower but there was no grilled shrimp today so we waited until Rob was done and then we went to grab some Flo's for ourselves after they played some mid-ship. Here's her new CC shirt.

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This was a great time to grab a few shots with zero people in them. ::yes::

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Kira enjoys how much Rob loves the Muppets, they make him chuckle. :laughing:

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I think I ate another burger but I didn't take a photo. Please refer to the previous two :rotfl:

Gotta love technology :p

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Rob stayed out on the verandah while I got us all organized and packed up.

Then it was time to sail away, Bye Castaway Cay, might be awhile before we see you again. :wave2:

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Enjoying his last day of warmth and humidity on the high seas. :sunny:

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I got us all packed up. We decided to keep our big DCL suitcase and just roll that off in the morning, it's so much easier.

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Time for our last dinner with Ronny & Dean. :sad:


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Ronny took it upon himself to put an extra order of the potatoes on my plate, he knows how much I love scalloped potatoes. :worship:

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Kira got the same thing as me so I didn't take a pic.

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We gave everyone their tip envelopes (with extra 💵 because they soooo deserved it!) and said our final goodbyes. I thanked them for making my birthday cruise so awesome. :goodvibes

Dean tried to convince us to come back in the morning for breakfast. While we knew Rob was planning on it, Kira and I don't eat in the morning and Kira doesn't get out of bed until she absolutely has to so we declined. As we were politely but sadly declining, he said "Aw, c'mon, not even for me?" :rolleyes1 :rotfl2:

Our last towel animal of the cruise and the comment card.

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One last sunset...

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As I was filling out the comment card, I laughed because our table number was the exact same as the example. Geez that would be embarrassing if I got that wrong! :lmao:

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Kira and Rob went for one last round...

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While I enjoyed my final pool night. They ended up on deck 12 and then they came down to chat with me for a bit.

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Rob disappeared for a bit, guess he went up to deck 13 to take pics. :p

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They headed back to the room just as it started sprinkling on me in the pool. Nothing better than being in a pool on a ship while it's raining. :cloud9:

As I sat in the hot tub, I noticed that there was some lightning out in the distance. It wasn't 10 o'clock yet but I had enjoyed a lovely, quiet 90 minutes to myself in the pool already, so I decided to head to our verandah to watch the lightning.

We ended up getting a huge lightning storm for about 30 minutes! It was awesome! This was during the flash, it lit up the entire sky. 😍

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We put out all of our luggage by 10:30pm and then I went back to enjoy the last bit of the storm.


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It was an unforgettable finish to an amazing cruise! :woohoo:

Stay tuned for our last full day in Orlando, a possible time warp to the past and a rainy circus. :umbrella:
 
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Cass, I am sure you know this, but you can always talk to your head server before the Captain's Gala dinner menu night and they will make something else for you so you can dine with Rob and Kira (unless you like your alone dinner:rolleyes1). When I did my epic Norway adventure back in 2015, I was on the Magic for 34 nights - 4 cruises back to back so lots of repeat menus...my head server was amazing, I had chicken alfredo, mozzarella cheese sticks, spaghetti and meatballs and even a belgium waffle for dinner - he would ask me the night before if I liked the next night's menu or wanted something special. When we did our galley tour, I found out that they have a lot of special requests and they usually have the ingredients onboard for most items - he mentioned that they have a lot of UK cruisers who request bangers and mash for dinner.

Awww that's awesome that they did that for you! :cool1:

And yes, I know that they would make something for me and both Ronny and Tony did ask when I told them I wouldn't be there but I am more than okay having a nice quiet dinner all by myself. ::yes::

I am very introverted and love my alone time. Plus, it's nice not to spend 90 minutes eating a meal, means more pool time for me usually. ;)

wow...your drawing of Jack is AMAZING...Rob and Kira's were great too...glad to see that all 3 made it in the show.

Thanks! :goodvibes Don't they all make it in the show?

great drawings. I have no artistic talent, so mine usually looks pretty crappy.

Your talents lie elsewhere my dear, and I am so thankful for that. :laughing:


:lmao::lmao::lmao:

It's so true!! :rotfl2:

Cass your Jack was amazing! We are originally from Phoenix and every spring and fall break we would travel to Disney Land and loved when they switched the Haunted Mansion into Nightmare before Christmas . Jack and Sally are our favorite.

We've been there during that period with the NBC layover, I'm not a fan. :lmao: I like my OG Haunted Mansion so I don't care for it but they do a really good job with it! ::yes::

Now I see what you mean about how your fan folds. Oh well, they are so reasonable I might buy that one, too! :thumbsup2
Ahhh, you got the new one, eh? :cool:

I ordered it too, it's not as good as the original one but it's way smaller and fits nicely in my purse for hot flashes on the go. :goodvibes

Your Animators drawings were all so good!! Mine suck so hard lol Honestly I can barely draw a stick figure.

Raisins.....in cookies......are the devils' work. NO!!!!!!

Hahaha, I've seen so many awesome ones, I love the unique ones.

Yes, evil indeed! 😈


Castaway Cay water is sooooo beautiful! :love:
It really is! So gorgeous!! 😍
 
Your love of cruising is infectious! :love: You have such a great family. The teens in our family growl when their pictures are taken. :tongue:

Castaway Cay is just stunning. Love the quiet moment Kira captured of you and Rob in the water. :love:
 
I finally had a chance to catch up on your trip report! I admit I squealed out loud and my husband was wondering what was going on when I saw the book Rob is reading! My son and I are going to see Jordan Peterson this next Monday in Seattle! He is talking about his book "12 Rules." I admit, I know very little about him, but my son is working on his doctoral degree in psychology and convinced me to go too. Sure hope he is as interesting as his books or I will be napping in the back.

I loved your creations on Animator's night. Kira's was super cool, but they all were very artistic. Mine will never win a prize, that is for sure. :)

I have to say Castaway Cay is our favorite stop. It is hard to picture a Disney cruise without it, but then I am a beach and sun and warmth person. But it does look like you all had some fun. ;)

The lightening show is awesome!

As usual, loved your report.

Lisa
 
End of the cruise already....but didn't you just board??!!!

Definitely sounds like some more intrigue to come though....... :magnify: :magnify:
 
I finally had a chance to catch up on your trip report! I admit I squealed out loud and my husband was wondering what was going on when I saw the book Rob is reading! My son and I are going to see Jordan Peterson this next Monday in Seattle! He is talking about his book "12 Rules." I admit, I know very little about him, but my son is working on his doctoral degree in psychology and convinced me to go too. Sure hope he is as interesting as his books or I will be napping in the back.

I loved your creations on Animator's night. Kira's was super cool, but they all were very artistic. Mine will never win a prize, that is for sure. :)

I have to say Castaway Cay is our favorite stop. It is hard to picture a Disney cruise without it, but then I am a beach and sun and warmth person. But it does look like you all had some fun. ;)

The lightening show is awesome!

As usual, loved your report.

Lisa
You are going to LOVE Jordan Peterson and he is very engaging. I highly recommend watching a few of his videos on YouTube and he is a fellow Albertan/Canadian actually!
Have a blast at the presentation, slightly jealous ;)

https://www.youtube.com/c/JordanPetersonVideos
 
I'm all caught up! I read three days worth last night, it was tremendous, like a great book that you don't want it to end. But as always, so very sad it is coming to an end. I loved your Castaway cay day! Perfection. And I LOVE Kira's CC shirt, its very similar to the CM's shirt, right? I always wanted one of those. Ok, we still have the journey home to look forward to read about, its not over till its over lol.
 
I hate it when trip reports go by as fast as the cruises do!! :crazy2: What a peaceful end to your last day aboard, and I agree, the ship on CC days is just awesome - we love to go onto the island for a couple of hours and then come back and enjoy the place to ourselves basically. :cloud9:
 
Hello!! I just found your TR and binge read it over the last two days. My husband and I are embarking on our rebooked cruise to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in June! We're doing the same sailing on the Fantasy with a Western Caribbean itinerary. I've really enjoyed your TR and glad I got to say hi before it's over!! :)
 
April 2nd, Part 1

I think I woke up around 6am, popped out onto the verandah to see if we were docked. We were, indeed! ::yes::

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Rob showered, then I showered, popped out again, the Carnival ship had now arrived.

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Rob was about 10 minutes away from heading down to breakfast, he had to be there by 7am since we were the early seating. I asked Kira one final time if she wanted to go with him. She kind of hummed and hawed until I mentioned that Dean would be happy to see her one last time. The thought of having one more meal with him, stirred her awake and 10 minutes later, she was ready to go. :teeth:

I told Rob to tell Dean thanks for getting my kid out of bed this morning (it makes it easier to pack up and check our room one final time when no one else is in there) and to tell him one last goodbye for me.

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Rob got his chocolate croissants one last time, he was happy!

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They had a good last meal with Dean and Ronny and then said goodbye. :wave2:

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It was just after 8am when I had us all packed and ready to go. I didn't hear any announcements for luggage tags so I wasn't sure if we could even get off the ship yet. I put the TV on so I could hear them call them but I never heard a single tag called. Okay, this is just cruel, taunting me with "tomorrow" on the ship. :lmao:

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We were ready so we figured we would just try and see if we could disembark now. There were TONS of people, just waiting around, for breakfast I guess. I asked the CM if they had called all the tags and he just mumbled something that sounded like yes. :laughing:

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As we got closer the Guest Services, I could see that all of the luggage tags were on the screen, not sure if they had actually called them but we were allowed to leave.

Sadness. :sad:

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Look at all those luggage carts just waiting for new bags. :rolleyes:

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It's been so long since we've been to this terminal, they had decorated it up, I loved it! :lovestruc

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We found our bags, breezed through customs and then back out to reality again.

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We walked over to the garage, got in our van and off we went! Man, that was super convenient! :worship:

Kira was already studying for her Psych midterm, she was running out of time.

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As we drove closer to Orlando, we hit some pretty dense fog.

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I brought the last of my US quarters so we made sure to use them at all of the tolls. :thumbsup2

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Just as we were nearing the airport, I had found a radio station with some good tunes playing. It was 80's stuff, which we obviously love. When the commercials came on, I would flip to another station so we didn't really notice for awhile that, in between the songs, they said they were doing Top 40 songs. It was kind of odd since we had heard at least two 80's songs by then. :confused:

I thought to myself, maybe I heard the song wrong, maybe this was a new song that just sampled part of the old song, that seems to happen a lot lately, so I kind of brushed it off.
Then a familiar voice came on, stating this next one was number 11 on the charts, or somewhere close to that anyway, and then they played Culture Club's Do You Really Want To Hurt Me.

I shook my head, like WHAT?! I looked over at Rob and he also had a confused look on his face. I said to him "You heard that too, right?" :laughing:

I recognized the voice instantly, it was Casey Kaysum and I was fairly sure he died awhile ago. :confused3

We waited for one more song, another 80's hit and then I said "Okay, what year did we disembark into? Did the fog transfer us back into the 80's? Good Lord, I hope not!"

Check it out.... :rolleyes1


I had gotten a notification on my phone at 7:30am that our room was ready! Wow! I did not expect that! In fact, it changed our plans since we were going to stop off at the Keke's for breakfast in Hunter's Creek to kill some time. Instead, we drove straight to the JW Marriott Bonnet Creek. I had booked this hotel about a week before we left, found a great last-minute rate and it was in the perfect location for us.

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It was a gorgeous hotel, very swanky joint ! :groom:

Rob pulled into the valet while I ran in to grab our room keys.

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Back to the van and then we parked in the garage. You had to take an elevator from the garage to the very large main floor lobby area and then walk down to get another elevator to the guest rooms.

Check out the swankiness. :goodvibes

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The room was gorgeous, very fancy but our view was lackluster. Oh well, for the rate I got, I was happy. This sucker is normally about $500+ USD per night and I did not pay anywhere near that so I didn't care about our view.

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For a luxury resort, they sure used a cheap hair dryer. :rolleyes2

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Once I got photos and videos and we sanitized everything, it was time to head to breakfast. Not Keke's though. :scratchin
 
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I recognized the voice instantly, it was Casey Kaysum and I was fairly sure he died awhile ago. :confused3

They do that sometimes on the weekends. Just pick a year..like 10-20 years ago or so....same week and play the countdown. I always like it when I find it on a channel.
 
Wow, what a nice hotel! Glad you found an excellent rate 👍 Nice to end the trip on a high note!
 

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