Bahamas Cruise, Marco Island and Walt Disney World! Part 4

We unpacked our bags and settled into the villa whilst waiting for Rob’s parents to arrive. They sent us a message when they got through security and onto the Magical Express and we headed over to Saratoga Springs to meet them off the bus.

We took them back to the tree house to drop off their bags and then we popped to Wal-Mart to buy some food for the villa. We were also planning on getting something to eat but Paul and Tracey were tired so we went back to Saratoga and got some flatbreads at Artist’s Palate.

They went to bed and we watched some TV before going to bed ourselves.

1^st December

We were woken up by “the noisies” (Paul and Tracey) in the morning. They had woken up early (as expected) and Paul had already been to the pool for a swim....!

We got up and had breakfast in the villa before heading over to Epcot. Unfortunately despite their early start we didn’t arrive until a little while after opening and the lines for Soarin’ and Test Track were already much longer than we were prepared to wait (and fast pass times were well into the evening).

So, to Spaceship Earth we went – there was a short line but we were quickly onto the ride. Afterward we went over to Nemo for a quick ride and a little look at the fishes. We decided that we would return to Future World another day and so we headed over to the World Showcase for a wander around.

As we entered I saw Santa Duffy. As you may have noticed I quite like meeting characters so I joined the line. There were a couple of families ahead of me so it only took a few minutes and I got a photo with Santa Duffy :)

 

 

We continued around the World Showcase – stopping in Mexico for the boat ride but skipping the meet and greet with Donald due to his long line.

Into Norway for Maelstrom and oh my goodness what a line for the new Frozen Princesses! We carried on around for a little bit and then stopped at the refreshment outpost for some soft serve ice cream :)

Further around the World Showcase and Tracey and I went to see Pooh and Tigger in the UK :)

 

 

We finished off our visit to Epcot with a quick ride on Living with the Land. On our way back to the villa we did a little more food shopping at Wal-Mart and then we went back and had pizza at the villa before the Christmas Party later.

We tried to get our tickets linked with our Magic Bands – Paul and Tracey’s tickets liked fine but ours would not link :( We were told to try at guest relations to see if they could fix the problem.

 

 

Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

We headed over to the Magic Kingdom around 6pm (much too late but still!) and we then had to battle our way down Main Street which was extremely busy as party goers were entering and some day guests were heading to the exit....!

First task of the evening was to ride It’s a Small World – this was the last day the ride was open until after our trip was over as it was having a short refurbishment.

Once we were done with IASW we headed over to Frontierland where we took a quick ride on Splash Mountain – we got really wet :( The water seemed to hit us right in the face!

Then we took a quick ride on Pirates of the Caribbean followed by the Jingle Cruise (it’s fun to ride at night).

We headed over to the hub to try and find a spot for Celebrate the Magic and Holiday Wishes – unfortunately as we had now discovered the party was sold out this was quite difficult and we ended up in a less than ideal spot.

We could see Celebrate the Magic fine but had a tree blocking our view for some of the fireworks :(

Once the fireworks were over we headed towards Liberty Square to find a spot for the 2^nd parade – it was still much busier than I had expected but we found a spot behind a family with children who were sitting on the floor and there was a wall where we could sit while we waited.

Although not the best viewing spot we were able to view the parade without feeling squashed by people. My photos are not that great though due to a large light shining from the opposite side of the parade route.

 

 

Once the parade was over Paul and Tracey decided to catch the bus back to the resort as they were tired. I wanted to meet at least one of the special party characters so we headed over to see who was available.

The line for the 7 dwarfs had already been cut so we kept going to see if Scrooge McDuck and gang were still meeting. They were so we got in line :) They went for a break shortly after we arrived so it took a little while but eventually I got to meet them :)

 

 

By now it was approaching Midnight so there would be no time to meet anyone else, so we headed over to the exit. We stopped on Main Street to take some pictures of the snow and Christmas decorations before taking the ferryboat back across the Seven Seas Lagoon.

 

 

We were back at the villa shortly after 12.30 and headed off to bed after checking that Paul and Tracey had managed to successfully make their way back!

2^nd December

Breakfast in the villa again today and before heading to a park we decided to take a ride around Saratoga Springs on a Surrey Bike.

This was an interesting experience....Rob was steering most of the way and doing a good job of keeping us on the path and out of danger. Then Paul took over and he almost tipped us over while cornering too fast on 3 separate occasions! We demanded that Rob take over the steering!

The ride of terror over we decided to take the boat to Downtown Disney to get some lunch and see if our passes could be linked with our bands.

We headed straight to the Earl of Sandwich for lunch and then popped across to Ghirardelli for a chocolate sample.

We then got in the ridiculous line at guest relations to try and fix our bands. The cast member who eventually helped us just had to reissue our annual passes and then the new ones linked easily.

Unfortunately it took us about 30 mins to see a cast member and Toy Story Mania FP+ were unavailable on all days during our trip!

We took the boat back to the tree houses and took the short walk to our villa. We stayed at the villa until around 5 when we headed back across to the Magic Kingdom.

I had managed to book us some FP+ for this evening. We had dinner booked at Be Our Guest for 7.15 so we first went to the Haunted Mansion at 6.15. Then we took Paul and Tracey to see Storybook Circus as this was new since their last trip.

Over to BOG and I was hoping that as a table of 4 we might be seated in the West Wing as last time as a twosome we were seated in the ballroom.

 

 

We were taken to our table and it was in the West Wing! Yay! I was the most excited – nobody else was really interested.

 

 

For some reason the restaurant gets some very mixed reviews, I’m not sure why as both times we have eaten here we have enjoyed the meal and the service has been very good.

 

 

I had the steak followed by the Grey Stuff for dessert :)

 

 

Then Tracey and I went to meet the Beast before we left. He had only just returned from a break so there was a short line but we left the restaurant just in time to see Wishes.

We watched from Fantasyland which gives a different perspective than watching from the hub but it’s much less crowded and you get the feeling that you are in the middle of the display :)

I had booked a FP+ for Buzz Lightyear but because we had been watching the fireworks we were too late. Instead, we waited until 9.25 to ride Space Mountain. We had a short wait because I think everyone was waiting for their FP+ window to open....

After riding Space Mountain we headed out of the park and took the Ferryboat back to the parking lot.

Bahamas Cruise, Marco Island and Walt Disney World! Part 3

30^th November cont.

The drive from Marco was straightforward, we stopped briefly for a snack and arrived at Saratoga Springs around 3pm. We checked in and our tree house was ready :) We got our Magic Bands and parking pass and off to the villa we went. The parents would be arriving later by Magical Express.

The Tree House

Before our trip I had looked online for photos of the tree houses and was disappointed as I couldn’t find very many. So on our arrival I tried to take photos of each of the rooms :)

 

Master Bedroom

 

Master Bathroom - shower and tub

 

Master Bathroom - sink area

 

I made sure to turn all the lights on as otherwise the photos would be a little dark. I didn’t think this was an issue but I know some people would complain that they would like more light.



2nd Bedroom



The other bathroom

 

The other tub

We had requested a tree house near the water (for Rob’s dad) and we were granted this request.

 

The 3rd bedroom

Kitchen area

Another angle of the kitchen area

Living room/Dining Area

An attempt at a panoramic living area shot

We liked this location but anyone considering this location should be aware that the boats tend to sound their horns quite often which could be annoying. We were aware of this before we made our request and so it was not a problem.

The deck area

Our villa from the ground

The view of the water :)

The other common complaint with the tree houses is the remoteness of the location. We had a car and did not plan on using Disney transport and so they were a fantastic location – a nice peaceful place to relax after a day at the parks.

If not using a car then I can see that the buses would be tedious due to the need to take an internal shuttle before boarding a main bus.

Overall, we like the tree house for 4 adults – we each had a bedroom and a bathroom – so no sharing :) I would also think adding a couple of children would still be comfortable but anymore and I think the villa would feel crowded.

Bahamas Cruise, Marco Island and Walt Disney World! Part 2

28^th November cont.

The drive to Marco Island took around 5 hours and was a relatively straightforward trip. We stopped at a McDonalds on the way for a quick lunch and then continued our trip.

We spent a day at Marco Island a few years ago and booked ourselves 2 nights at the Hilton. We got to the hotel and decided to self-park (slightly less expensive than Valet!)

We checked in and were upgraded from a garden view room to a sea view – this was a relief as Rob wanted a sea view but I booked him the garden view as normally Hilton upgrades Gold card members and I didn’t want to spend any extra if I didn’t need to ;)

So we were all checked in and we had a little rest in the room. We face timed home and let them have a look at the view :)

We had thanksgiving dinner booked and decided to pop down to the bar for a little while beforehand. They had ‘happy hour’ for 2 hours and so we each got 2 cokes!

Off to dinner and we were seated at our table. Dinner was a buffet so we headed up for turkey, yams and all the trimmings. This was our first ever thanksgiving dinner :)

 

 

After the main course I had some cake and then some pie then coffee :) Too much food and we headed to bed for the night.

29^th November

We had breakfast included in our room rate so we headed down to the buffet. We each had an omelette then some pastries and some toast.

As I still had no swimming costume we decided to go for a walk up the beach. As it had been rumoured to be chilly I wore my jeans – we didn’t get very far up the beach before we had to turn around so I could go back and change!

Quick change and we were off again. We walked a couple of miles before turning back – we decided to dip our toes in the water – it was quite warm! We did experience a few sharp shells as we walked back but it was quite lovely.

 

 

Back to the room for a while and then we headed out to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. We wanted to pick up a few bits and pieces for when we got to the tree house.

On our way back we decided to look and see if there were any restaurants nearby – and it seemed like there were none.

We took our shopping back to the room and got showered and changed. We decided to cross over the road as there seemed to be an Irish pub – as we got closer we discovered that there were actually several different restaurants staring us right in the face!

We decided on an Italian and I think we both had pizza followed by a chocolate cake! It was a really nice meal and not too expensive.

 

 

30^th November

Breakfast at the buffet again today and then we finished packing up our stuff. We checked out just before 11 and started the drive back to Orlando.

Some people say that it is too far for just a couple of days but we really love it down at Marco Island. Maybe next time we’ll stay for longer.

Bahamas Cruise, Marco Island and Walt Disney World! Part 1

Our latest adventure took us on a Bahamas Cruise followed by a short visit to Marco Island and then a week at my favourite place – Walt Disney World!

22^nd November

An early start in the office today as I had to complete the forecast before heading off on our trip :(  Rob stayed at home to get the dog ready for the kennels and to sort out some last minute bits and pieces. I managed to get everything done by 2 and headed home.

We tidied the house (which seems odd but it is nice to come home and not have to do any cleaning) and then did the packing. Shortly after 5 and we headed off for the airport.

We stopped along the way and grabbed a bite to eat. We arrived at the Hilton Gatwick around 8pm and checked in before dropping our bags in the room. Then we took the car to the long stay car park and took the bus back. As we were a little bit later arriving we decided not to bother with twilight check-in.

We had been upgraded to the executive floor so we popped in for a quick drink before bed.

23^rd November

Unfortunately when we woke up in the morning we discovered that there was no hot water :( We called and were told that an engineer was working on it but it was not fixed before we left. The front desk did adjust our room cost to apologise for the problem but not the best start to a morning.

We took the monorail across to the terminal for our flight with BA. We had checked in online but needed to drop off our bags. We were able to print our own bag labels and the bags were gone in a few moments. Security was fine and we were quickly through so we went to Frankie and Benny’s for breakfast.

Not too long a wait before our gate was announced and boarding started. We actually left a few minutes early I think. The flight was fine – I watched Planes, Turbo and most of Monsters University :)

Immigration took a little while at the other end but I had successfully retrieved the bags before Rob was done. Straight down to Avis to pick up the car and had no wait. The guy was friendly – no hard sell and we were on our way to Cape Canaveral.

About an hour later and we arrived at the Radisson. We checked in and got a voucher for our transfer to the cruise terminal. We found our room which was in a building quite far from the lobby and were immediately puzzled by the Jacuzzi tub in the corner!

 

 

 

 

We were hungry and tired so we got some food from McDonalds across the road and then went to bed. At this point we realised that we had left our swimming costumes at home!

24^th November

We woke up this morning and decided to pop to Ron Johns at Cocoa beach to try and buy some swimming costumes. We had some time before our transfer and it was only a short drive down the road.

We got there and were very puzzled by the apparent lack of swimming costumes for me – there were a few on sale but very limited sizes and colours. We did manage to get some shorts for Rob but I left with nothing. Rob’s parent’s were joining us for the 2^nd week so we asked them to collect mine and bring them out.

Back to the hotel and we got a subway next door for a late breakfast/early lunch. Then we parked the car in the cruise area and headed to the lobby to catch our bus.

Whilst I had been researching our trip I had read many horror stories about the massive lines that we would find on arrival at the cruise terminal.....

We got to the terminal and the porters took our bags and we headed across to the terminal. We walked in and there was no line at all for check-in! We saw a lady who took a quick look at our passports, scanned our cards and told us to head to a 2^nd line to get our keys.

There were about 2 people in front of us at this point. We had a photo taken and were given our sail and sign cards then we had to have our photo taken in front of a picture of a boat.

Up a big escalator and we waited I think about 5 minutes before being allowed to board the ship.

I think our total time from arrival was 15 mins!

Once onboard we went to the Lido deck to get lunch and a drink. Everyone had the same idea as it was packed! We found a table and got some lunch and then a short while afterward headed down to our cabin.

We were in U22 – which had a picture window. The cabin was much bigger than our first cruise experience – and the bathroom was much nicer than the last time :)

 

We had a quick wander around and then went to the spa as they were offering a tour of the facilities (and also a raffle)! Shortly afterwards we had to go for our muster drill – this was held in the theatre and we didn’t have to go outside as it had started to rain a little :(

After the drill we went back to the spa for the raffle but we weren’t lucky :( We then found out about another raffle later in the day at the art gallery so we decided to go there after we had left the port.

We headed up to the deck to watch the ship leave Cape Canaveral. We were escorted out by the coastguard (who was visibly armed) which seemed very odd to us! They did wave when they were finished escorting us out though.

 

 

We went to the art gallery for the next raffle and we were unsuccessful again :( We did get a free picture though to take away.

We stopped to buy the soda package at one of the bars and to have a quick drink before dinner. It was a little bit rough on the way out and it was quite funny to watch people wobbling their way around the ship.

We were starting to get tired again now so we went to the main dining room for dinner before bed. The food was good – we were a little bit surprised by the wait staff doing a conga as part of ‘showtime’!

Dinner finished and we went off to bed.

 

 

25^th November

We docked in Freeport this morning and the weather was a little overcast, we had breakfast in the main dining room. We had originally planned to book an excursion but hadn’t been able to make up our mind what to do. As it turned out several of them had been cancelled due to the weather.

We decided to go for a wander around Port Lucaya so we joined the line for a ‘taxi’. We were squashed into a 12 seater van as part of a group of 14 people...! The motto seemed to be add 2 more people than there are actually seats!

We got part of the way along our trip and the van pulled over and the driver swapped with another guy....we assume there was some licensing issue that they were avoiding!

We arrived in Port Lucaya and paid for our return journey and were issued a ticket. Return journeys were available from 12 – which means this service should really be called a shuttle rather than a taxi!

We wandered across the road to the shops and took a look around. Most of the stores were selling jewellery, watches etc.

The beach was a short walk away so we headed over to take a look. The route to the beach was a pathway past what appeared to be a junk yard! The beach itself was fine and we walked a little way along. It was quite windy but not cold and if the weather had been better would have been quite nice.

 

 

 

We walked a little further and were yelled at by some guy – we eventually worked out that he was telling us the beach we were walking toward was private. Why there wasn’t a sign informing people of this was beyond us!

Back to the shops and we found a boat which suggests that the local sheriff was misappropriating funds!

 

 

We also found a telephone box on our travels...!

 

 

We took a seat in a bar for a while and got something to drink. We were a little gobsmacked when a woman and her daughter ordered tequila shots – for the daughter who appeared to be about 13 years old!

We popped into the casino across the road for a quick look around and then took the ‘taxi’ back to the boat!

We decided to have lunch at the Lido again – I think we might have had burgers today. Once we were done we went to have a rest in our cabin before the art auction later.

We fell asleep but luckily woke up in time for the art auction. We headed up and handed in our raffle tickets.....guess if we won anything?

There were a couple of pictures which we quite liked – one of Mickey Mouse as a fireman which was quite big and probably way too expensive.

There were quite a lot of items available for sale and the auction went on for a couple of hours. It was quite interesting though and we found out a little about some of the artists.

Most of the pictures did not appeal to us or were too expensive but we did decide on impulse to buy the item at the link below:

http://www.parkwestgallery.com/artwork-detail/?ArtworkID=19250

We are still awaiting it’s arrival – having said that we think that UPS attempted to deliver it today (Christmas Eve) whilst we were out shopping!

Art auction over (and no we didn’t win any raffle prizes) and we headed out on deck for a little bit. We had an appointment at the art gallery to finalise our purchase so we went there before dinner. Tonight was formal night on the cruise so we decided to skip the main dining room as we couldn’t be bothered to dress up.

We were a little disappointed by the selection available at the Lido – we eventually decided on pizza which was just ok :(

Another quiet night and we were off to bed.

 

 

26^th November

Today we docked in Nassau, I had unfortunately heard nothing good about this port and we debated booking an excursion but decided against it.

We got off the ship and braved the many many people trying to persuade us to rent a scooter. There had been quite heavy rain before we arrived and several of the roads were slightly flooded. We took a wander around some of the shops and then made our way toward the beach.

 

 

The beach was quite small but the sun appeared and it was quite nice. We had passed a McDonalds on the way and headed back there to grab a drink and borrow their wifi for a short time.

Worryingly there were 2 security guards in McDonalds – reassuring in the sense that they were there but not great that they were needed :(

We sat for a while to send a couple of emails and then decided that we didn’t really need to see any more of Nassau. So we finished our drinks and headed back to the ship.

We did pop into Senor Frogs for a quick look on our way back and we stopped to look at some souvenirs but decided against any cheap tacky t-shirts.

I have to say that we weren’t overly impressed by either of the ports we visited. I’m sure the Bahamas are nice enough if you visit a resort and stay there but if not you can find nicer beaches in Florida!

So, back to the ship and we had a little rest in our cabin. We were planning on going to an art seminar in the afternoon but we were being too lazy and so didn’t bother.

We headed out on deck to watch the ship leave the port, then we went to the bar for a little while before dinner.

 

 

 

There was a singer/guitar player called Chris Miller who was quite entertaining.

Rather than having a set dining time we were on ‘My Time Dining’ – which means you can arrive during the opening hours (6 – 9.30) and be seated as soon as an appropriate sized table is available. For some reason though a large number of the guests decided to queue up before opening time – at one point the line was all the way around the balcony level!

 

 

We eventually wandered up a little later when the line had gone. Tonight’s ‘showtime’ was the wait staff performing Gangnam Style :) This was so funny....!

 

 

27^th November

Today was our ‘fun day at sea’.

We got up late and headed to the main dining room for brunch, it was quite odd to have breakfast followed by dessert!

The rest of our day was spent being lazy – we watched a couple of movies on the TV in our cabin and I think we played a game of mini golf. Aside from that we didn’t do much else!

 

 

Back up to the Main Dining Room for dinner and ‘showtime’ tonight was the wait staff singing to us! We had a visit at our table from the Maître d' who was interested in how our experience had been – we were glad to be able to tell him that the wait staff had been one of the highlights of our cruise :)

We were also visited by a magician who did a card trick that still has us confused after several weeks!

Back to the cabin to pack and then to bed!

 

 

28^th November

Today was Thanksgiving and our day to disembark the ship. We had chosen to self-debark which meant taking all of our bags off the ship on our own – but which meant we could leave at about 8.30 and start our trip to Marco Island.

We woke fairly early and sorted all of our stuff and then waited for our deck to be called. It was a little later than scheduled but not by much. We walked our bags off and were sent down in a lift – even though we would have managed fine on the escalator.

We joined the immigration line and had all of our documents ready – one guy actually thanked us for following the instructions!

There was a short wait before we saw an immigration officer – he glanced at our passports and sent us on our way! Quite different to our experience at the airports where we are normally asked questions about our plans!

Outside the terminal and we went to find the bus back to the Radisson – just as we arrived so did the bus! We handed over our voucher and off we went – we were back at the hotel a few minutes later and set off to find the car.

We loaded up the car with our luggage, set the sat nav and off we went!