We decided to make our drive it Florida in one shot. Having an extra driver meant that we could all take turns and sleep in between. Our plan worked perfectly. We arrived in Winter Park on Friday before lunch and had the rest of the day to rest, visit and celebrate. As you can see, from the moment of our arrival, the party was on!
The morning of our cruise dawned with sunshine and high expectations. We enjoyed a celebratory breakfast with Mom and Dad before they drove us to Port Canaveral. You can see we were already in the Disney spirit.
With a little creative stuffing and by holding some things on our laps we managed to squeeze eight people and twelve bags into the van for the drive to the ship.
Within minutes of our arrival at Port Canaveral our bags were whisked away and we were moved quickly through the first security check. Everyone around us was as happy and eager as we were. Upon entering the terminal, we got our first glimpse of Mickey Mouse.
Disney organization didn't disappoint us at all during the check in process. The terminal was clean and beautiful. Lines moved quickly. There was lots to look at while we waited. Before our boarding time we all had our Key to the World cards, our pictures were taken and we were able to use the rest rooms take a good look around. Our boarding group was called and we were on our way to the ship.
Upon our entry to the Fantasy a Disney cast member announced our arrival..."Welcome to the Johnson family!" while others applauded. We felt truly welcomed.
We made our way immediately to the deck 12 to enjoy the pools, buffet, and most importantly to ride the Aquaduck. Thanks to good advice and advance research, we knew where to sit for a good view of the ride and those that were excited about riding the water coaster were dressed appropriately. The sun continued to shine as we slipped further into the wonderful world of Disney and took our first Aquaduck ride.
The Aquaduck didn't disappoint and neither did our first meal on the Fantasy. Everyone found something to love. That first few hours flew by as we visited the kid clubs, got everyone registered, settled into our staterooms and then made our way to the meeting point for the required safety drill.
Even the safety drill had a measure of Disney fun. Immediately afterward we all made our way to deck 11 to bid Orlando farewell and enjoy some more sun.
We returned to our staterooms to dress for the evening show and dinner. Our luggage had arrived so we took a moment to decorate our stateroom doors. Our fish extenders were a perfect fit and we were excited to see what gifts they received over the course of the cruise.
After decorating our stateroom doors and unpacking we dressed and made our way to the Walt Disney Theatre for the opening show. We followed the show with dinner in the Animator's Palate. We met our servers for the week, Christian from Romania and Daniel from Portugal, and enjoyed a delicious meal. Crush and Squirt joined us for dinner along with some of their friends. It was a fun way to spend the evening.
After dinner, M9 and S11 headed to their kid clubs while the rest of us went to the Buena Vista Theater to see The Lone Ranger. We met back at the cabins shortly after midnight to enjoy a snack of cookies and milk.
