Day Two - It's Magic Time!

We had a rental car to return in the morning, so we decided to forego breakfast. Besides, we'd be having lunch at Parrot Cay in a few short hours, so we knew it'd be worth the wait. Bev had to return a car as well, so we dropped everyone at the terminal along with the bags, and we traveled together to the rental center. After returning our cars, we jumped into a cab back to the Terminal.

Since it was early, the terminal was still empty. It wouldn't be long, however, before the crowds would be rolling in and getting on the boat. We got on, got our embarkation pictures taken, and headed over to Parrot Cay. By this time we were pretty hungry, so we were looking forward to grabbing some lunch while they readied our cabin.

Lunch at Parrot Cay was great, as it always is, and we ran into Terry and John once again. Terry brought along some nifty green leis which she had made for the DISers on this trip, and she gave them out to everyone as they came in.

Here's Maura, Melissa and Taryn with the DISer leis from Terry. They're also wearing their 'Sweet 16 Cruise' T-shirt that Mary Rose had made up, but you can't really see 'em. At first, she didn't want to wear it (she is sixteen, after all), but she gave in once Melissa and Maura said they were cute.

We finished lunch and went up to the cabins. We found, to our surprise, that we had gifts from the Castaway Club - a 'memory box' that looks like a photo album, and a carryall bag with the Castaway Club logo on the front. There was one in both cabins, and we had an additional 'Happy Birthday' centerpiece put in Taryn's cabin.

After settling in and getting some of our bags unpacked, we headed down to the DISmeet in the Promenade Lounge. Everyone brought stuff to give out - name tags, glow necklaces, even bubbles! - and while the adults got a chance to put some names to faces, the kids got a chance to meet each other as well.

After the meet, we all headed over to the Sail Away party to send the cruise off in style. We had a blast, and that set the tempo for the week. Later that evening, we had dinner in Animator's Palette, where we were seated with Chuck and Tina.

We were all very much looking forward to tomorrow, and our first day on Castaway Cay!

Day One - Destination: Radisson

We left Friday morning at 5:30 - Mary Rose, John Jr., Taryn and her two friends Maura and Melissa, and me - all packed into the Trailblazer along with our 11(!) bags for the 1.5 hour drive to Philadelphia International Airport. After parking in the farthest corner of Long Term Parking (and I mean the farthest - the other side of the fence was the entrance to I-95) , we trudged our bags onto the shuttle and checked our bags in at the Sidewalk Check-in. After that, we were ready to get on the plane.

That's Maura and Melissa being escorted away by security for having gallons of alcohol in their bags...just kidding - that's them on the way to the plane, still smiling because they haven't yet dragged their bags around for the umpteenth time that day.

The flight went smoothly, which is good because it was the first ever for Maura, and the first in a long time for Melissa, Taryn and John. Taryn snapped these two pics while up at 15,000 feet - one of the terrific view from the plane, and the other of Melissa and her.

After getting off the plane, getting the rental car (with no problems - they knew how to take the reservation AND keep the reservation) we made the 2-hour drive to Cocoa Beach and arrived at the Radisson. Woo hoo!

We got our affairs in order and headed over to Grills to meet all the other DISers. If you haven't seen them already, Andy has some great pictures from that meet on his blog at http://www.verandahman.com/mydisneycruiseblog.htm. There was a pretty big bunch there, and a good time was had by all.

So, the punchline to this day happens here. On the shuttle to the flight, I'd realized I'd forgotten to pack dress shoes - urgh - but I'm thinking there has to be a Target or a Wal-Mart or something in Cocoa Beach. I'll just zip out after dinner and get myself a pair of shoes, no problem. We asked at the Rad front desk, and after conferring with a co-worker about which was closer - Wal-Mart, Target or the mall - were told "there's a Wal-Mart out that way (points with finger) just before the Ron-Jon's". Okay, we hop in the car and proceed in the direction that we thought the desk person had pointed. 'Thought' being the key word here. After passing the entrance to I-95 we think, oboy, we either got bad directions or misunderstood what we were told. Let's turn around and go back. The first opportunity to turn around, about twenty-five minutes later, came when we started seeing signs for Orlando - sheesh - I half expected to see signs for New Jersey. We got back to the Radisson at dusk and when we explained to a different Front Desk person what had happened, they explained how we had gone in the wrong direction, and set us off in the correct one. Twenty minutes later, I had shoes in hand, along with a few additional T-shirts, socks, snacks, etc. You know the Wal-Mart drill. The moral of this story? Dress shoes - don't leave home without them....

The evening ended happily, with us running into Terry and John down by the pool and heading to the bar for a drink. All's well that ends well.

The Very First Post

This is a test post to see how this whole thing looks. Here's a pic of the dog