DAY 2 Going On... On The Boat!

My title comes courtesy of my husband's favorite book as a child "Inside, Outside, Upside Down" by Jan Berenstein.


We got our Key to the World cards in hand and headed off...  to the first of many Disney photographers waiting to capture our jet lagged, hungry smiles before being announced on the boat.

The first few hours on the boat are a bit of a blur.  We were tired... but managed to get to Parrot Cay for brunch.  We checked out our room & headed to the pool with the munchkins (somehow having neglected to get our swimsuits in to our carry on bags) before heading to the mandatory (for anyone on the boat) drill. 

This was done immediately before setting sail when we were on the Wonder last year, but since we didn't end up leaving Barcelona until about 9pm, it was done midday, when you may or may not be on the boat.  High commendations for the staff who dismissed families with young kids about 5 minutes in to the drill.  We got the same infant jacket for our daughter this year that we did last year...  this year, she put it on willingly.  Last year, not so much.  Again, kudos to the staff who saw us last year and said "Take her out!  It's okay..."


Disney Wonder- 2009                                                         Disney Magic- 2010

And Mommy & Daddy got our drinks to start the vacation off right :)

Then, there's the Anchors Away Show.  I cry.  Not ugly cry, but those happy, I'm about 4 years old and Oh My Gosh, there is MICKEY MOUSE, RIGHT THERE!!!!  (This is when the characters debut folks.  Amazing.)  The kids...  just wow.  DS was dancing and so happy when the paper streamer erupted, running around collecting what he could.  DD... as soon as she started seeing them- Goofy, Daisy, Donald, Minnie... and MICKEY.  Her face just did me in!

We checked out the Oceaneer's Club to give the kids a chance to play. 

This was the first year we had participated in the Fish Extender gift exchange.  My gift was a folded journal for each day we were on the cruise, so I wanted to get them passed out quickly.  We wandered about the ship a bit to find ones that were already hung out after we'd gotten our luggage.  I loved looking at all the different FE's and through the cruise, finding goodies stuck in ours, too!  Here are some that I got pictures of the first day:

We got some photos- DS was adorable with Daisy Duck (who completely ROCKED it the whole cruise!).  DD actually crashed pretty fast after the drill. 

So, we changed her..

And pushed her around the boat in her stroller... 

Pictures with Daisy:

We occupied ourselves until our seating for dinner was getting close. I only chose the late seating because the agent I spoke with on the phone pointed out that the boat left late on our port days in Italy so we'd miss the dinner shows if we ate early.  In hindsight, we should've just dealt.  We were standing outside Lumiere's at 8:15 waiting for the late seating to open and the kids were both passed out.  We looked at each other, said "Not worth it" and went back to the room.  We put the kids to bed, got pizza from the Pinocchio's then called it a night.  We didn't even bother with a wake-up call, knowing the kids would get us up bright since they both crashed, DD way before 6 local time.