Disney Merrytime Cruise - Day 1

12/21/2019 9:45 am

Every wanted to sleep in this morning after a busy day and a long fun night but the stormy night made for a restless sleep for me. I got up early and explored ship. It was so quiet, and still dark outside.

The ship was rocking and rolling this morning.

I went to the upper deck to get coffee and almost slipped and did the splits on my way inside.  An old man was sitting with friends and saw it. He saw that I was okay and then said, "I give it a 9.5". It was pretty funny. I wonder if they are veteran cruisers who know all the good people watching spots.   

  We went to the Disney Junior character breakfast.  It was fun but The Impossibe Girl was super tired. 

She met Vampirina (high five), Pluto (high five), Goofy (hug!), and Fancy Nancy. We rested back in our room and sat on the Verandah while finishing some coffee. 

1:35pm

Today we had an early lunch of 'deck food' - Pizza (My sailor loves me and ordered a special gluten free pepperoni pizza for me.) 

My little shutter bugs. My Sailor taking a photo of The Impossible Girl taking a photo of the Gingerbread house in the Atrium.

We used the chocolate chip cookies from one stand to make ice cream sandwiches. The Impossible girl prefered her ice cream (strawberry) in a cone. I prefered the mango ice cream. 

 The day turned out beautiful. The Impossible girl loved meeting the princesses. She met Belle (in her beautiful holiday gown), Cinderella, Ariel, and Tiana.

All dressed up like Anna from Frozen II and ready to go! 

 No tears were shed this time when she went into the Kids Club to go play after lunch. She couldn't wait! It gave My Sailor and I a chance to walk around the adults only part of the ship and have a specialty coffee (shared - the prices are similiar or cheaper than Starbucks).

Next we are going to pick up The Impossible Girl and head to a Frozen Gathering. While the pools look like a lot of fun, I think we are saving that for a different day.

12:16am 12/22/2019

The Impossible Girl was exhausted so the Frozen Gathering was a bust. We all went to see The Golden Mickeys show and  LOVED it, depsite the cheesey premise. Everyone was so talented and Disney did an amazing job of color-blind, size inclusive  casting! It was fabulous. 

We went to Tiana's Place for dinner and had a great time to start - we met Tiana and Louise but The Impossible Girl couldn't take the noise and was very tired, so we went back to the room. My Sailor brought our food from the restruant (which as saddly disappointing) and we had room service desserts. 

It wasn't what we had planned, but the Gala was fun and I really enjoyed the bits of downtime connecting with My Sailor. 

Towel Animal #2

Disney Merrytime Cruise - Embarkation Day!

***These are actual journal entries from a handwritten journal J keeps of all travels. Every entry is written in the moment.***

Don't mind us. We'll lounge here until you bring back coffee. ;) 

We got 1 king bed, and we weren't going to insist on a roll away at 2am... soo... 

Good morning world! Today is a great day for a dose of Disney Wonder!

10:18pm 12/20/19

  We made it!

It's not a vacation until the pig tails come out! 

Someone is excited!

We walked about 5 blocks with My Sailor heroically shleping our stuff yet again. (Okay, so I carried a roller bag, my sling bag, and the car seat, and made sure the kiddo, who was carrying her own heavy backpack, wasn't hit by cars- so there's that.) We got to the port about an hour early, but check-in took us right away. It wasn't stressful at all! The computers went down for a few minutes, so while I waited to dot the i's and cross the t's, My Sailor took The Impossible Girl upstairs because the Cast Member tipped us off that Mickey 'might be' out and about up there. The Impossible girl has never met Mickey, so I wasn't sure how she'd take it. It turned out she warmed up to him a little bit (which is a huge change over her pulling away and hiding from any of the bigger characters). She actually got her first picture with him! I almost cried. Seriously choked up. And moments like that have been happening all day. This whole experience is downright surreal. 

 After exploring the ship, grabbing lunch at Cabana's, we checked out our room and LOVED our decor package! I pre-ordered the holiday package to be set up in our room before we arrived. I am really glad I sprang for that. Completely worth it. It includes a super soft pillow and blanket, hanging decorations and a fish extender. All that we get to take home (including a big bag so I can pack it all away to use for at-home decorations some other year).

The pillow from our decor package.

Our Sail Away party got rained out. :( It seems like all the shows in the Atrium are packed so we skipped Sail Away all together and rode the glass elevator up and down later in the evening to watch the tree lighting after we gave up trying to find a spot. It was worth the ridiculous amount of riding the elevator though. The Tree Lighting was truly magical. 

The Impossible Girl's Princess Tea Invitation

We had lunch at Cabana's upon boarding the ship. The buffet was BUSTLING. It was hard to find a table, but once we did, the food was delicious. My Sailor enjoyed the lobster and I enjoyed the veggie stirfry noodle dish and the carved turkey breast. The Impossible Girl was too overwhelmed to eat much. 

The Impossible Girl is enjoying the kids club. Not loving that we don't play with her (no adults allowed) but she worked through her fear and went - the staff was awesome. A cast member named Lizzie helped engage her immediately and she was playing like a champ when we came to pick her up. 

Discovering Slinky Dog's Slide at the Kids Club Open House

All changed and ready for dinner!

Towel/Blanket creation #1

Animator's Palett is AMAZING. The perfect ay to end the first day. I'd request it ever time. It was like Fantasmic at dinner time. The food was great. The service is quick and friendly but feels a little rusehd when it comes to interactions. But still very good.  My Sailor liked the beef entree. I really enjoyed the tomato tarte and cashew cake for dessert. The Impossible girl loved the Seared Salmon and discovered her first Mickey Bar experience. 

We saw the new Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I missed the first hour but it is still my favorite Star Wars movie ever. The theater is huge and well appointed. 

Sporting my Star Wars gear while we reset before dinner and the movie.

I feel the motion of the boat, but it doesn't seem to bother me at all. I enjoy being at sea. 

Tomorrow is looking busy.

Disney Junior Breakfast - 8am

Princess Gathering - 12:15pm

Frozen Meet- 2:30pm

Golden Mickeys - 6:15pm

Formal Night and dinner at Tiana's Place! I can definitely tell we'll be doing a lot of stairs and walking on board.