Disney Fantasy Smith Family Trip
June 29-July 11, 2018
This was our first family vacation by ourselves since 2009! We also haven't been anywhere more than 1 day or so at a time ( and not together ) in over a year and a half so this was special!
We decided on the cruise because 1. It is relaxing 2. It takes us to multiple places that we haven't been before 3. The FOOD! With 3 teenager age kids and a husband with a hollow leg, someone is ALWAYS hungry so the unlimited and good food at their dispense is so helpful to not nickle and dime me all the time!
This was Megan's 18th birthday (1/3) and high school graduation present (6/9), Ethan's 16th birthday present (6/6), and Kevin's 40th birthday present (6/14). We also kinda threw in that we were celebrating our 19th anniversary (6/1) and my 37th birthday (5/29) and might as well count Allison's 13th birthday (12/9) too while we are going haha!
So with checked suitcases and 7 carry on's we started our trek from RDU (Raleigh) to MCO (Orlando) late in the afternoon on June 29 even though the cruise didn't leave until June 30. I was NOT risking my flight getting delayed and missing the boat!
Southwest airlines now has 'open seating' so we did not all get to sit together on the flight, but it is a quick hour and 15 minutes so no bother.
We landed in Orlando and none of our bags were misplaced or lost. THANK GOODNESS! Can you imagine trying to cruise for 11 days with one pair of underwear, one change of clothes and one swimsuit? The pictures sure would be redundant! OR someone would have an awful lot of mickey gear!
We have always looked at the hotel inside MCO airport so I had booked a room for Friday night here since the Mickey transport bus left Saturday from the bottom level of the airport, it just made sense to me. This hotel is the Hyatt Regency and let me tell you, it was gorgeous! You could see (but not hear) the runways, had ceiling fans in the hotel rooms and the typical amenities of hotels nowadays but with the foliage of Florida!
Kevin got a little excited in the airport and started taking selfies with all of the characters placed around the shops.
Saturday morning we went to the food court, picked up some food to go and went to get in line for the "Mickey Bus"
WHAT A LINE!!!! After about 2 hours of waiting we finally were called and got on board to transport to the ship!
SATURDAY
DAY AT SEA
They suggest to count the number of soft serve cones consumed in one cruise......we lost count the first day!
Our TV in our room 9624 welcomed us!
Of course we have to do the mantantory safety drill the first day.
Sailing away.... and every one is hungry..... again.......
THE RAINFOREST AT THE SPA....HEAVEN ON THE BOAT
I read on Pinterest right before leaving on vacation about this sweet little secret of the boat call the Rainforest at the Spa, so the first day, Megan and I went to check it out. We ended up purchasing a pass for the entire cruise to the Rainforest and oh it was sooooo worth it.
When you check in, they give you a sugar scrub of the day and a robe. My favorite scent was the tangerine, but lavender was nice as was vanilla, chocolate, and sugar cookie. Then you go into the dry sauna and look out over the water.
The first day view from the dry sauna in the Rainforest..... I think this is an omen of a good cruise come.
After the dry sauna, there are two steam room saunas to choose from and boyyyyyy these are not for the feint of heart. They are HOT. They burned our noses but here is where you do your sugar scrub. Needless to say we typically didn't dilly dally in here. I didn't get any pictures of these rooms. I guess the heat made me forget!
After the scrub, you have to wash it off so you can go to the rinse showers
Each one of these has 3 options, hot, cold, or a mix hot/cold and they each rinse with a different intensity. My favorite was of course the hot rainforest shower. I mistakenly did the hot/cold mix a couple times and it started out with a nice hot rainshower and then dumped a bucket-like cold water on my back from a different faucet. Talk about a shock!!
After using this one, there is a fourth shower that has a fine cool minty-mist. Megan loved this one!
Good mommy/daughter bonding time.
After the rinse, you can get some water or water with lemon and a towel and go out onto the open air deck and get into the hot tubs overlooking the ocean or lay on the hot stone recliners. (I WANT ONE OF THESE FOR MY HOUSE!!!!)
We typically spent about an hour in the rainforest everyday from start to finish. You can of course make it longer or shorter. They also have showers in the women's locker room with complimentary face care products and showers with the high end shampoo and conditioners. We took showers in here while the others got ready in the room to save time.
BEAUTIFUL AND RELAXED!
Getting ready for dinner on the first evening of the cruise.
Trying to teach me how to selfie in the mirror.
First dinner was in the Enchanted Garden
DRINK SPECIAL :)
Fried Calamari
Celebration cakes!
More desserts!
And more!
After dinner entertainment
The centerpiece in the lobby
Allison's absolutely favorite thing to do on the boat in KARAOKE!!! I have been trying to get the rest of the family to do Karaoke with her for years and I FINALLY succeeded. BUT! I also made a name for myself by being super silly the first night.
A SWAN!!!
and we brought home
lots and lots of
GHIRADELI
CHOCOLATE!
SUNDAY
DAY AT SEA
(random worker who took a selfie on my phone lol)
Crafts, relaxing, eating, relaxing, detective work, relaxing, eating, and relaxing.
And again, Allison and I were selected for a 'game show' SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW YOUR FAMILY..... if I didn't make a name last night, I definitely did tonight, and Ricky (game show host) called me out for the remainder of the cruise any time he saw me wandering around!
Second night dinner- Royal Court
Princess Tiana
Allison was old enough to come and go from the teen lounge 'EGDE'
I'm not sure what this animal was? A snake?
The ship is beautiful at night when the lights are on and no one is around. The aquaduck lit up and one of the pools illuminated.
MONDAY
DAY AT SEA
Breakfast with Mickey Waffles!
OHANA means family.
Chilling out, riding the aquaduck, eating more ice cream, having a great day!
Day 3 dinner: Animator's Palate
And our nightly animal a CUTE Elephant!
TUESDAY
Oranjestad, Aruba
Low 78/High 82
Independent country 18 miles north of Venezuela! It is a constituent of the Netherlands. Main exports are gold, black gold, and aloe. Aruba has a dry climate and is dotted with cacti.
We had an excursion to De Palm Island which was all inclusive for eating and drinking and entertainment. We 'walked' underwater on the sea trek with HEAVY helmets that had oxygen attached. No water got in and we could breath and walk normally on the floor of the ocean. It was surreal to be able to do this and hard to not breathe irregularly. We were not allowed to take our cameras below water but it was an awesome experience. We saw and fed all kinds of fish and sea life. We held sea urchins and a sea cucumber and came face to face with 100's of floating fish staring at us like in the movie Finding Nemo!
Bamboo fence
De Palm Island
The water in aruba.... Crystal clear
A kids water park on De Palm Island. Allison said it was Cold!
A blue iguana
Turtles everywhere
GORG!
Lots of hermit crabs running around too.
Ahhhhh the torture of being a redhead trying to enjoy the sun.
Allison got an airbrush elephant tatoo
I think this was a government building
Seriously........ why don't NC beaches and water look like this???????????
A turtle.... CRUSH!!!
WEDNESDAY
JULY 4, 2018
INDEPENDENCE DAY!
DAY AT SEA
Ethan and Kevin met Thor!
He and the kids also got to see ANT MAN AND THE WASP and INFINITY WAR on the ship!
The ship was decorated in red, white, and blue for the 4th and they had the first of two sets of fireworks on this cruise (the other standard for pirate night). It was a good show with lots of pride for the USA!
Day 5 dinner, back at Royal Court. Allison and I stayed in the room for dinner as she wasn't feeling well. She had caught a little cold or something and the dining room brought our selections to us! No problem! No extra charge! We did not get a towel animal friend this night since we stayed in the majority of the evening but our Fairy Godfather (our housekeeper) Vench, said we would get 2 tomorrow :)
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