It’s been about 4 weeks since our Disney cruise and I’m still suffering from PVD .. Post Vacation Depression. It’s a real disease .. with doctors and medicine and everything. Also .. My hubby is TDY which basically stands for Mom Is An Emotional Basketcase True Dat Yo. MIAEBTDY was just too long so the military shortened it to TDY.
For the months leading up to our cruise, we really didn’t know if Stefan (my husband) was going to be able to come with us. Because of the “up-in-the-air-ness” of the Air Force, we had no idea until basically a week before we left that he would be able to go. Having him with us truly made it the most magical place on earth. (Corny corny corny, I know, but I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows!!) A few months ago when we went to Mexico – we found out about 2 weeks before we left that he woudln’t be able to go and it broke my heart. What’s a family vacation without 25% of our family?? I was terrified the same thing was going to happen to our Disney Cruise. BUT … and a big butt (my hubby has a honkytonkbadonkadonk ? ) .. Daddy was able to come with us! Thank you Uncle Sam! I’ll forever love you for that Christmas miracle!
The whole trip was amazing. Just – wow! The only cruise Stefan and I had been on was the .. drum roll please .. Carnival’s Baja Mexico Cruise. So you KNOW we had the bar set high. I truly didn’t know if Disney could beat that experience guys .. (note the heavy sarcasm). They totally exceeded my expectations! Sorry Carnival.
First of all, the pools are heated guys. So, on those windy at-sea days .. you know what I’m talking about? Those days that you think will be perfect for laying out and gettin’ your tan on but in reality you can’t even wear your swimsuit because it won’t conceal your … high beams? On THOSE days, the heated pools come in handy! Especially because you know your kids will want to swim whether it’s 82° or 28°. And thus, YOU will be swimming whether is 82° or 28°. So, yeah, that heated pool is gonna come in handy. Note the lifeguard in his parka here. Nora chose to swim on a 28° day. Cheers!
The most amazing thing about a Disney Cruise, in my opinion, is how above and beyond Disney goes for the kids. And what goes hand-in-hand with kids was …. well, it wasn’t me. Because somebody else was holding my kids’ hand the whole time. HA! But because of that, there was lots of free time for Mommy and Daddy activities! The beauty of the whole process was that the kids wanted to go to the Kids’ Club. So I didn’t have to feel guilty for leaving them for 3, 4, 5, 6 hours at a time. The club was so interactive and so fun for the kids that they asked to go. It wasn’t like a church nursery drop off experience. No prying, sneaking, or peeking to see if they’ve stopped crying yet. It was nothing like that. The kids were VIP’s up in that joint. And because of the GPS locating wristbands, I felt totally safe leaving my babies there. They basically used a retina vulnerability scanner to check your kids back out to you. I give them a grade A++ in the Security Measures Department. And I give myself a grade D- in the Good Mom Department.
One morning we were able to have a VIP breakfast and meet several Disney characters! I think I was more excited for the character breakfast than my kids. Nora was pretending she was like, 13, and too cool for them. She rolled her eyes when they came up for a photo op and then she would start to blush. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
All the activities planned, all the opportunities to meet characters, all the Disney fun made this a once in a lifetime experience. Part of me is sad that Gwen isn’t old enough to remember everything from our “Disney Boat Ride”. I’m still going through 24/7 FREE room service withdrawals. I keep picking up my bedside phone and pushing “0” in the middle of the night with no answer. It’s like my worst nightmare come true. And don’t even get me started on the fact that I can’t get ice cream before breakfast, after lunch, or at midnight anymore. I scream, you scream, we all scream because we cannot get ice cream whenever we want anymore. (depressed emoji x10) The only one happy about the never ending ice cream coming to an end is my hubby because now, lucky for him, my lactose intolerant self isn’t having IBS episodes anymore from the copious amounts of dairy I was consuming. #HusbandWinning.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of our fun trip!
I’m getting back to my bowl of cereal with milk folks. I’m not driving.
Thanks for reading!
