Heat, Humidity, and Our Favorite Disney Dog Was a Thug! LINK TO NEW PTR!!

[amandaw]

So glad you were able to get in one last meal @ Remy. It sounds phenomenal. The sea bass is one of my favorite things there. I think we've also had the pork before. YUMMY!!

When we had brunch there in March for my aunt's bday, we had the private room off to the side. It is so beautiful in there and we truly felt special. We had so much waitstaff for our family. And the chef came and chatted with us a few times. He is so funny and interesting. A lot of my family speaks cajun french so he was getting a kick out of us telling him the difference between some phrases in cajun french vs. parisian french.

That's great that your stateroom host was able to help with the luggage right away. We also tipped our host extra this past time. And one of servers but not the one who did drinks. He was soooooo slow. So I understand your pain about that.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Willow looks so cute in the pics on the veranda!

Although we do not eat seafood at our house (does the fish sandwich from McDonald's count?), your dinner sounds awesome. So beautiful and relaxing and a great way to end a trip. Im all over trying this champagne over ice. Just need to find a yummy champagne and I am doing that!

I'm a little sad that this TR is almost over.....

 

[jedijill]

Remy is fabulous! I'm so glad they were able to make magic around your gluten allergy. I ate at Remy for dinner twice last October on the Dream for my birthday...it was fabulous! I'm sad that there is no Remy on the Magic...I'll be missing it in September!

Jill in CO

 

[hstrickland]

Oh my heavens!!! That food looks divine! I totally said we weren't going to do Remy again on the next cruise (Palo instead) but now I'm second guessing my decision. And you had such a lovely table looking at the ocean. So glad you enjoyed your meal, Roni! Will you do Remy again next year?? How old do you have to be to do Palo and Remy? Is it 12?? Can't remember.

 

[courtneybelle]

Hi Roni! First of all, I'll go into more detail when I start my TR, but my sister absolutely LOVED her shirt! Her jaw hit the floor when I gave it to her! We both wore them today, travel day, to ease our post-Disney blues.

We did a stingray swim when we cruised with Royal Caribbean, it was so fun! Willow seems like such a natural in the water.

So sorry to hear you've been sick on the plus side, DISNEYLAND!!!

Ugh, so many character meets at once make a Disney cruise sound SO GREAT!

Your meal at Remy looks so classy and wonderful!

 

[JulieODC]

Catching up again!!!

GREAT CC day!! Although, there is nothing better than taking a shower after a beach day.

We LOVED, seriously LOVED, the See Ya Real Soon meet n' greet too. The lines were so short, and DD met about 15 characters in no time. It was so fun!!!

Glad you enjoyed Remy. Our meal wasn't fabulous there and I was disappointed -- but your dishes do look VERY tasty!

 

[RGirl]

So glad you were able to get in one last meal @ Remy. It sounds phenomenal. The sea bass is one of my favorite things there. I think we've also had the pork before. YUMMY!!

Oh, it was just perfect. I don't think I could ever skip it while cruising on the Fantasy - it is just such an amazing treat (in part because, in real life, I don't have a babysitter or anything, so I don't ever get out ).

When we had brunch there in March for my aunt's bday, we had the private room off to the side. It is so beautiful in there and we truly felt special. We had so much waitstaff for our family. And the chef came and chatted with us a few times. He is so funny and interesting. A lot of my family speaks cajun french so he was getting a kick out of us telling him the difference between some phrases in cajun french vs. parisian french.

Oh, how fun!!! What a neat experience!!! I loved the staff at Remy - the chef, the sommelier, the cheese girl (I seriously need to look up the right term of that position), and Niko - they were all just amazing. Oh, and the girls at the check-in desk - they were soooo great too!

That's great that your stateroom host was able to help with the luggage right away. We also tipped our host extra this past time. And one of servers but not the one who did drinks. He was soooooo slow. So I understand your pain about that.

Dang - I know they are busy, but the drink thing was so aggravating! I mean, it was hardly worth paying for the wine plan if he wasn't ever going to fill a glass. I think next time I may request that he leave the bottle!!

Willow looks so cute in the pics on the veranda!

Thanks! I really liked how those random quick shots turned out.

Although we do not eat seafood at our house (does the fish sandwich from McDonald's count?), your dinner sounds awesome. So beautiful and relaxing and a great way to end a trip. Im all over trying this champagne over ice. Just need to find a yummy champagne and I am doing that!

Oh, wow - no seafood? One of my most disappointing things right now is that Willow will not eat any seafood (not that she has tried it so I'm not sure how she knows she doesn't like it) - I love it so much, and I really only get to have it on vacation when we eat out. I have made her promise to at least try fish and chips soon - I'm hoping that she will finally see that it's not weird or gross.

I have no doubt that they can accommodate non-seafood eaters at Remy - I mean, they were just so accommodating and kind there.

I'm a little sad that this TR is almost over.....

Me too. But I have accidentally let it drag on too long. And we should have a new TR from you soon! And I truly hope you will join me on my road-tripping DLR report next month as well!

Remy is fabulous! I'm so glad they were able to make magic around your gluten allergy. I ate at Remy for dinner twice last October on the Dream for my birthday...it was fabulous! I'm sad that there is no Remy on the Magic...I'll be missing it in September!

Oh, Jill, I was just blown away! If I was cruising by myself, I would be tempted to eat there every night!

We loved our cruise on the Wonder, but if we did it again, I would really miss Remy. I did think that Palo was better on the Wonder though.

 

[RGirl]

Oh my heavens!!! That food looks divine! I totally said we weren't going to do Remy again on the next cruise (Palo instead) but now I'm second guessing my decision. And you had such a lovely table looking at the ocean. So glad you enjoyed your meal, Roni! Will you do Remy again next year?? How old do you have to be to do Palo and Remy? Is it 12?? Can't remember.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with Palo on my next Fantasy cruise - but I would consider TWO dinners at Remy!

I am almost certain that you can't dine at either place unless you are 18. I think it is totally adult dining.

I LOVED my cute little booth - it was out of the way but not hidden away, so perfect for a solo diner without being insulting. And the view was amazing. Ugh - wish I was there right now!

Hi Roni! First of all, I'll go into more detail when I start my TR, but my sister absolutely LOVED her shirt! Her jaw hit the floor when I gave it to her! We both wore them today, travel day, to ease our post-Disney blues.

Courtney!!! You're back already! I cannot wait for you to start your TR! Will you PM me when you do - I'm going to be on the road soon, and I may miss it.

Oh, I am so thrilled that you both liked the shirts. I love making things for others, but I do freak out a little that they aren't going to like them, they won't be good enough, etc. I hope you will post some pics in your report or here or something!

We did a stingray swim when we cruised with Royal Caribbean, it was so fun! Willow seems like such a natural in the water.

Willow is a little fish - she is a MUCH better swimmer than I am. It's such a blessing, because it is so nerve-wracking having your kid in a pool before he or she is a really strong swimmer.

So sorry to hear you've been sick on the plus side, DISNEYLAND!!!

Thanks. And yes, DISNEYLAND! And the coasts of Oregon and California! It's going to be an interesting trip! We leave in TEN DAYS!

Ugh, so many character meets at once make a Disney cruise sound SO GREAT!

We really managed to take full advantage of the character meets this time, and they were all great!

Your meal at Remy looks so classy and wonderful!

It truly was the best meal of my life to date. I can't wait to do it again (at least once! maybe twice!) next summer!

Catching up again!!!

Hey there! I'm always playing the DIS catch-up game!

GREAT CC day!! Although, there is nothing better than taking a shower after a beach day.

I totally agree! I'm not really a big beach person, although I definitely enjoyed our time at CC, so I REALLY appreciated that shower!

We LOVED, seriously LOVED, the See Ya Real Soon meet n' greet too. The lines were so short, and DD met about 15 characters in no time. It was so fun!!!

Wasn't it amazing???? Honestly, none of the characters descended for a meet-and-greet on the Wonder, so Willow and I looked like when they all started scattering all over the atrium. We were all over that!

Glad you enjoyed Remy. Our meal wasn't fabulous there and I was disappointed -- but your dishes do look VERY tasty!

Oh no! I'm so sorry. I wonder what happened. I honestly didn't have one bite of food that wasn't incredible. I wish you had the same experience.

 

[RGirl]

A Last Meal on the Fantasy​

We were up at 7 the next morning. (Another perk to the late dining was that our last-day breakfast was later.) It was really hard to get Willow up this morning - she obviously had a cold this morning and was just feeling sad to be leaving the Fantasy, I think.

We gathered our carry-ons and headed to Shutters to collect our photo CD and prints.

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It was very crowded at Shutters, of course. And the set-up they had was not efficient. Each line was for something different, but no one knew what each line was for. So everyone would end up waiting in a line for a long time only to realize it wasn’t the right line for what they needed. Pretty annoying! We also noticed that some of our photos were missing from the print-outs. They said they would send them (and, if I remember correctly, some time later, we did get a new CD with some of the missing pics).

By the time we were done at Shutters, it was past 7:30, but our breakfast wasn’t until 8. Willow REALLY wanted to go to this breakfast for some reason - not sure why since she didn’t really eat anything. But it did give us a chance to see our serving team one more time and give them their tip envelopes. It also gave us an opportunity to dine in Enchanted Garden, since we had missed our dinners here and had only done the buffet breakfast one time.

*sigh*

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At least the restaurant is pretty.

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Willow was happy to have a final chocolate milk.

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It appears that I chose the Route 66 today - scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled sausage, grilled ham, and hash browns. I guess I was feeling meaty?

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Willow had scrambled eggs and bacon.

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And she waited a looooooong time for someone to go somewhere and retrieve more donuts after serving the pastries to all the tables around us.

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I was treated to a lovely surprise of a gluten-free muffin and gluten-free donut myself!

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Ugh - it really wouldn’t matter if this food was the greatest food on earth. When you know that you are just going to get up and drag your stuff and yourself off that beautiful ship, it just can’t really seem all that wonderful.

Up Next: An Afternoon and Evening at MCO

 

[RGirl]

An Afternoon and Evening at MCO​

And before we knew it, we were seeing this.

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We managed to disembark by about 8:50. They really do know how to move people around quickly when they need to!

Luckily, Willow was still looking pretty happy.

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We found someone to help us with our tons of luggage, and were back on the Disney bus at 9:05.

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Good-bye Fantasy - thanks for the great time!

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And then we were off to MCO! Now, because there are only two flights a day into our town, we were not able to get a flight home for today. Instead, we were going to spend the night at the MCO Hyatt (INSIDE the airport - can you say, “convenient”?) and then get the early, early flight the next morning.

At MCO, we found a porter to help with our bags, and he walked them all the way to the Hyatt and up the elevator into the lobby for us. That was very nice. (After checking in and having our bags brought to our room, we arranged with the bell services gentleman for someone to pick them up and take them to the airline in the morning as well.)

Willow seemed pretty pleased with the Hyatt.

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From the hotel, you look right down into the bustling airport.

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Our room was spacious and clean.

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We had a balcony of sorts - it looked down into the airport.

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We were beat, so we didn’t do a whole lot today. We rested for quite a while, went downstairs and did some last Disney shopping at the Disney store. Willow bought some of those little polly pocket-type princess dolls and played with them for ages in the hotel room. We didn’t even go out for dinner - ordered from room service instead.

Up Next: Home We Go

 

[jedijill]

Boo! The final breakfast is the worst meal (literally and figuratively!) on the ship. Poor Willow looks miserable.

Jill in CO

 

[RGirl]

Home We Go​

Not many pictures of much note for our travel day. Willow was in good spirits as we started our journey home.

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We had a relatively long lay-over in Seattle, so we did some walking after our day of rest the preceding day.

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Willow wanted her picture taken with this art…

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And then this whale.

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Due to the time change, we were home by early afternoon, which is so nice. My dad picked us up at the airport, and we were both so glad to see him after two full weeks away. And we were equally glad to get back into our house and sleep in our own beds that night.

This trip was really a HUGE vacation for us. Disney World in August was rough and there are things I would do differently, but our time there was fun, and we enjoyed trying the DxDDP. I would definitely do that again and plan more down time should we return in August, which we likely will based on the school calendar. The Fantasy was absolutely AMAZING. We will definitely do it again - hopefully, in 2015. Only question is whether we will do WDW prior to that cruise, just that cruise, or somehow find a way to spring for back-to-back cruises! Stay tuned for 2015 adventures.

Thank you all so very much for reading along and taking the time to comment. I know what a huge commitment it is to read an entire TR (especially one recounting a two-week trip) and comment regularly. It really does mean so much to me that you have put in that commitment for my little TR. Some of you have had TRs going at the same time, and I have loved following along with your TRs as well - I feel like I know you! Of course, as most of you know, this really isn’t the end of TR’ing for me for 2014…….

Willow and I are heading out in 10 days on our first major road trip together - from Eastern Washington down the Oregon and California coasts culminating in a 6-night stay at DISNEYLAND!!!! I will post a link to the TR when we return! I truly hope that you will all make the possibly unexpected and heretofore unknown journey over to the Disneyland TR board and join us! (And, of course, my TR from Willow’s 7th birthday trip to DLR in January is still going on over there, although hopefully not for much longer so I can concentrate on the next one! )

Again, thank you so much for reading and commenting - I had so much fun sharing our biggest vacation to date with all of you!

 

[RGirl]

Boo! The final breakfast is the worst meal (literally and figuratively!) on the ship. Poor Willow looks miserable.

Yeah - Willow had definitely been crying that morning. I hate that trail of tears that is the lat breakfast and exiting the ship. It's soooooo hard. I hope to one day find a big pile of money so that I can book back-to-back 7-night cruises! Maybe then, I will WANT to get off the ship???? I doubt it......

 

[amandaw]

I'm sad it's over! But, you know I'm still reading the DLR TR. And I definitely can't wait to hear all about y'all's upcoming adventure. By the way, Ed told me he got on the DIS the other night & found your DLR TR. And he read everything you've posted so far. I can't believe how much research he's doing on his own for DLR!

Anyway, back to the ending of this TR. It is so sad leaving the ship, right? I was so surprised when Reid started crying this last time we left the ship. It's just so hard to leave a beautiful place that caters to your every need.

Breakfast does look yummy that morning! We have never stayed for breakfast since we've always had relatively early flights out of Orlando.

The Hyatt is so nice & convenient. I am really glad we stayed there for the 2 nights before our cruise this year. It was perfect!

I'm happy y'all had safe travels home after a great adventure! Thank you for sharing these beautiful memories with us!

 

[shan23877]

Ugh! I'm so sad that it's over! What a wonderful trip you two had!

I always read that the last DCL breakfast is incredibly hard. One day I may find out... I can sort of relate, Maddie always cries when we watch Wishes for the final time on a trip. Leaving any Disney bubble is hard.

 

[dizneeat]

You got off the ship WAY ahead of me! I think I still have Castaway Cay to do ......

First off ...... thank you for sharing all of your adventures. I am so sad your trip has come to an end. It was so fun to read along and look out for ourselves in your pictures.

Isn't the Hyatt just such a nice hotel to stay when you need to be at the airport early or arrive late. We stayed there too one of our trips, just at the beginning of the trip.

Oh, and I hope this time I posted on the correct TR!

 

[JulieODC]

That last breakfast is just so sad....as was walking off the ship down that hallway.

Willow seems to be an awesome traveler!!

Thanks so much or such a fabulous TR!! I really enjoyed it! It was fun to read while planning our cruise, and even more fun to read after coming back and comparing experiences!

Can't wait for your next TR!

 

[hstrickland]

In all seriousness, Roni... it is sad that you're done We've been following each other's TRs for a long time now Maybe one day we'll actually get to meet! I feel like I know y'all so well. People not on the Dis would think that was the oddest thing ever.


Ok...enough sappy stuff Yep! Love late dining for that very reason...last to get off the boat!!!! Funny that the dining room was empty. And poor Willow did look down, but I don't blame her.


And to an MCO Hyatt stay! That kinda made me homesick. I was a flight attendant for Delta and that was my home base. (Remember Bill's from Orlando ) I've always thought MCO had a beautiful airport. Just for future info, the restaurant there is really good....great cobb salads and crawfish bisque (or at least it was 10 years ago ) Even though vacations come to an end, it is always really nice to get in your own bed!!

Now...let me just add that I'm very excited about your upcoming trip!!!!! Especially since you will be sharing it via the Dis With LOTS of pics for our viewing pleasure. Are you going to post pics of the entire trip??? Please!!!

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful family with all of us! Always a pleasure to follow along, Roni

Heather

 

[jedijill]

I sailed the Magic for 11 nights and I swear they needed a crowbar to pry me off the ship.

What a great wrap up. Can't wait to hear all about your epic road trip and DL stay!

Jill in CO

 

[BeckyEsq]

Looking forward to the road trip report!