Testing one, two, three….is this thing still on? It turns out that we have not had enough adventures to merit a blog post, but as Jennifer’s favorite musician says, “the times they are a changing!”. Months ago Lindsey and I started to look for a enjoyable family vacation destination which we can all be a part of. I guess we felt a little guilty with all of the fun we had in Ireland without the little one tagging along.
The first place that came in mind for me was Disney World. As a kid I was blessed enough to visit Disney World quite often, and to this day still have fond memories of our time there. Lindsey on the other hand only went once and had much more fun playing in the off-site hotel rather than her time in the park. For those that do not know, while Lindsey is one of the most caring person I know, she does lack a little bit of patience (this is the nicest way I could phrase this). From the immortal words of Paula Abdul opposites must attract, as my patience is one of my strong suits. To that end, we are divided on the desire to stand in line after line at Disney World.
Lindsey mentioned the idea of doing a Disney cruise, bridging the gap between my desire for Disney and her desire of lounging around drinking pretty drinks with fruit on the top. It turns out that Disney was just planning on coming back to Galveston on the date that we were looking on taking the vacation. For full disclosure it turns out that having the word “Disney” in the name of the vacation means that it is several thousand dollars more expansive than other cruise options. We had to really dig into how Disney stands above the others.
It is no surprise that Disney Cruises have an exceptional kids program. We are certain that our social butterfly of a kid will be right at home with their program. On the ship there are two kids “clubs” which are in her age range. For each club she will be given a wrist band which will let them know where she is at all times on the ship. The kids area is a kids-only area, we are basically only able to drop her off and then are “forced” to go relax on the deck or in the adult areas. I know, it will be awful. For her age group the kids area is open from 9am till midnight. They are able to provide her both lunch and dinner if need be, however I suspect that she will eat with us most times as the selection of food will be a bit better (and the desserts plentiful). Each day we will be given a Personal Navigator which will have a schedule of all events on the ship, both for adults and kids. From this, Jennifer can plan her day around which club she wants to hang out in. I have seen copies of these from other ships, and I will say that she will have a blast and I will not have to worry about any guilt of handing her over while Lindsey and I lounge.
As if the pot was not sweet enough there is another wonderful facet to the Disney cruise which I tip my hat to (seriously I need to class it up and really tip my hat more often), the dinner service. There are two dinner services, one at 5:30 and one at 8:30. We have chosen the late service, which at first I regretted. Through my research I have discovered that this is actually the best service to go with for no other reason than Dine and Play. Oh heavens do I want to kiss the person that thought of this idea! Parents, what is the worst part of any fancy family dinner? You can say it….that impatient kid(s)! They are like piranhas, devouring their food and once it is all gone they either want more or to run off and do something else. For some reason Jennifer can not seem to enjoy a nice conversation about diversifying our 401k and just wants to go off and play. In steps Dine in Play! For this we just simply inform our server that we will be participating in the program. They will bring Jennifer’s food out ahead of ours (including dessert) and once she is done a counselor will come by to collect all of the kids like the wonderful lady in Hansel and Gretel and check them into the kids area. We are then left to enjoy our dinner, and drinks, at our own pace while Jennifer gets to run off her dinner!
As a result of the wonderful children programs we have decided to go on a Disney Cruise aboard the Disney Wonder. The best part, we sail in four days! That rights, on November the 6th, we will be heading on a 7 day cruise which will visit Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Falmouth Jamaica. The main purpose of this blog is to get back in the swing of detailing my thoughts, but also test out how much data blogging will require. While the ship does have internet, it is charged based on the data usage. This means that I need to be careful with how much data I actually push out to the internet. Normally I would do this all on my laptop, however I have promised that no laptops will be brought on the trip to prevent even the possibility of dealing with work. So I must do all of this on the IPad which will include writing the offline version of the blog, transferring images from iPhone to iPad, and beaming it all up to the internet so that the updates go live. Hopefully it all works like a well oiled machine, but it is good that I have a good understanding on how to limit our data use.
I end this post with troublesome image, one that I do not easily admit to. I, Jeff Drouet, am the owner of a selfie stick. Whew, it feels good to get that off my chest! For weeks if feels like I have hidden in the shadows with this little secret. Yes, Lindsey, wanted us to have one. However, I was the person to actually order it; a transgression that is not easily forgotten. Please forgive me, and do hold my family accountable for my actions.
“Selfie Stick of Shame”