Spring Break 2024

This spring break Kate got to go to New Orleans for the first time with the H family for some tourist fun surrounding a volleyball tournament. They got to walk around the French Quarter, eat authentic beignets, take a ghost and vampire tour, visit the National WWII Museum and Audubon Aquarium, and attend H’s three day volleyball tournament.  It was so fun to hear about her trip when she got home!  Kate even bought Michelle a really neat birthday present: a penguin bracelet and app that allows Michelle to track her own penguin in the ocean.  Seriously, Kate should always be in charge of presents.  I got texted four photos from H’s mom and Kate said she didn’t like any of them but I had to include one here.  This is what she gets for not sharing any with me.  (:

Meanwhile, the rest of us headed to Orlando on our way to our 5th cruise and our first time on the Disney Wish.  Hubby and I had enough Southwest points to cover all our plane tickets and we realized it was cheaper to spend another night in Orlando than fly out a day later.  We opted to try things we’ve never done before like:

Pirate’s Cove mini golf — best mini golf place ever!  The theming and amazing design of the course was so much fun.

Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum — we couldn’t get over how realistic some of them were. Michelle thought it was creepy so she was good with just seeing the sample and not actually going in.  Lol

 

The Wheel at ICON Park was something that had interested me for a while but then I saw a Rix Flix video about it and really wanted to see the Epic Universe construction from the sky.  It was a very comfortable and relaxing ride with views that seemed to go all the way to Port Canaveral.  And if you bought tickets to the wax museum and the wheel it was only $10 more to see the aquarium so we went around there as well.  Well, Danny and Michelle shared one ticket because he didn’t want to go on the wheel and she didn’t want to go in the wax museum so Danny is the one who ended up going to the aquarium because both of them didn’t care on that one.  At least they were considerate enough to be honest and save us the money.

 

I cannot say enough good things about the restaurant we ate at that night.  I had made reservations a couple months in advance due to hearing so many good things about this place.  Tu Tu Tango is a Spanish tapas style restaurant where you order lots of little things to try and you can just keep ordering items as you go.  The service was great, the food was amazing, and at one point a Frida Kahlo impersonator came out and danced and sang around the restaurant to one song.  For dessert we got Freeze Your Brain shaved ice while we watched people ride Slingshot.  Danny and Michelle wanted to ride but I was too much of a pansy to let them. Watching strangers gave me enough anxiety that I wasn’t going to let half of my children on there together.  I did make sure to apologize and they took it well. All of our activities that day were within walking distance of our hotel and I was grateful we could cross so many new things off of our Orlando bucket list.

 

Then it was time for the main event: our Disney cruise out of Port Canaveral!  We wanted to experience the newest ship, the Wish, so that meant returning to the Bahamas since that is the only place the Wish sails right now.  It was soooo nice not to have to get Covid tested before getting on the boat!  There were many things we really liked about the newest ship such as how the pool deck was laid out in a way with lots of smaller pools and more levels, which made viewing the shows a lot easier.  The quick serve up there was great too with more & tastier options. Mickey’s Smokestack BBQ was the one we were most excited about but Donald’s Cantina ended up being the one Hubby and I liked best.

Since Kate wouldn’t be coming with us this time, we opted for a different stateroom room than we have ever had before — room for 5 and a verandah.  We enjoyed being able to have fresh sea air come into our room it may be hard to ever do anything else!

Our first night we got to help celebrate Anna and Kristoff’s engagement in Arendelle.  It really took us back to when Frozen was a very big deal at our house.  The theming was fun and super detailed, the food was really good, and the show had some impressively talented musicians performing songs from both movies.

I could not have asked for more, and then Olaf got carted around to all the tables.  Bonus points unlocked.

Day 2: Nassau

We decided to be brave and not make any reservations for excursions and see where the day took us instead.  Since so many people had been staying on board to explore the new ship we thought about doing the same but then went ashore and ended up paying a total stranger to take us around the city in his van.  Turns out Tyrone Wilson’s VIP Taxi & Tour Service has 4.9 stars on Google Reviews but we didn’t know that until we got home to write our own five star review.  Our first stop was the Graycliff chocolate factory and the chocolate we got to taste — included with our tour — was delicious.    

Then we had a cute little photo op before touring the John Watkins’s Distillery.  It was neat to learn a little about the history of the area and see the small operation at work.  I think my favorite line from the tour guide was, “We love Jesus and rum!”

Afterwards Tyrone had us all set up with yummy snacks and virgin drinks waiting for us to try when the tour ended.  We even got to meet one of his daughter’s who was working there that day.  Tyrone seemed to know everyone and was prepared for everything.

 

Next up was Fort Fincastle with its own tour and great views.  The family even got to push that cannon on the track.  And it was a good thing Michelle brought cash because I ran out of tip money fast with all these different tour stops.  lol.

 

Next up was the Queen’s Staircase with its impressive attempt to reach all the way to the port.  The best part was Tyrone dropped us off at the top of the stairs and then picked us up at the bottom so we didn’t have to climb back up.

After the staircase was a rum cake shop that made its own cakes on the other side of a window for you to watch followed by walking around the famous Atlantis resort for about half an hour.

 

Our last stop before being returned to the port was Cabbage Beach.  Oh, so beautiful and not crowded at all.  It was a bit windy and cloudy but it felt wonderful for me to put my toes in the sand for a little bit.  I could have stayed much longer but it was time for us to go eat lunch on the ship.

 

After lunch Hubby, Natalie and I explored the ship some more and met a couple characters Natalie didn’t have the autographs of on our pink pillowcase while Danny hung out with his teen club friends and Michelle rested in our stateroom.  Of course we went to see any show they had going when it was available and every single dinning meal.  That night we got to eat at 1923 and had the fancy pants meal of the cruise with filet mignon and everything!  We decided to take some pictures of us in our nice clothes before we ate.  Most of them were magic shots with things like Pascal on Michelle’s head but I absolutely loved this one of the kids and had to grab one of just Hubby and I since we don’t have a lot of those.  

One thing that was different about this cruise was that since we were a party of five, we got to eat dinner with another family of three in order to fill up a table of eight.  We have never had to share a table before and that first night all of us were a little confused, especially since the other family had been on other cruises before but not a Disney one and we had only been on Disney cruises.  But it turned out to be a really great thing.  We could tell each other about our adventures and enjoy these new restaurants together.  Their daughter is only a month younger than Natalie so they ended up becoming friends and going to the kids club together and having a great time.  Here Natalie is going down the slide to get there!

The next day was a very special day — Michelle got to have her 14th birthday on Castaway Cay!  First up, feeding stingrays and getting to snorkel with them.  We had been hearing good things about this experience for years and were so glad we chose to do this.  I had opted for first thing in the morning so that we didn’t have to stop what we were doing to get there on time but I must say: wait for the water to warm up a bit!  At 9am the water was still quite cold and I think we would have enjoyed it even more if we had chosen a later start time.  Still neat and I don’t know how easy it would have been to find Danny hanging out with his new friends at a later time.  We would see him once in a while but for them most part he was off getting sunburned with teenagers since mom wasn't around with her sunscreen timer going off.  I am proud to say that the rest of us did not get burned at all the entire trip. You’re welcome, people I pestered to lotion up.

We got in line to meet Chip & Dale  — Michelle’s favorite characters — in their new Castaway Cay outfits and got a bonus of meeting Goofy as well.  While waiting in line we also got to see newlyweds who had just got married that morning.  I’m so glad the weather was perfect for all of us that day!

I kept referring to Michelle as the birthday girl and it turns out she likes her first name better and politely asked me to stop calling her that.  She was willing to wear the birthday button Disney left for her in our stateroom that day but only while we sung to her at dinner and only so that we could get a video to show Grandma Karyl.  She knew my mom would want to see that when we got back from our trip.  Awwww

Since we are unsure of when our next Disney cruise will be, we wanted to do things we had never done before.  One of those things was renting bikes for us to ride around the 5k path and by the cabanas to the Serenity Bay area.  It was so fun and relaxing and just made me feel lucky to be alive.  

After our bike ride and some time on the beach Michelle and Natalie chose to get a hair wrap and they turned out so cute.  Very Bahamas but also not in your face screaming “I went to the Bahamas for spring break!”

By this point most of the family was ready to get back on the ship but Natalie and I still had things to do.  The great part about staying late enough to watch other people get back on the ship is that they leave their tubes and floats behind and you get to play with them.  We had a grand time enjoying the water with the discarded toys and stayed in it until the lifeguard said the beach would be closing in ten minutes.  We decided at that point we should probably find our stuff at the beach chairs while we still could since things were getting cleaned up all around us.  Soon we were taking the tram back to let Pirate Night begin!

While Danny tried to nap off his sunburn we drew Captain Hook at the gorgeous Bayou Lounge and tried fancy sodas and most of us ate beignets.  It was the one time we were willing to pay extra for food on the ship and well worth it.  Such a neat place to be in.

Before our pirate themed dinner we watched the Mickey and Minnie pirate show and after dinner we watched the more Pirates of the Caribbean themed show before the fireworks. I wish I had gotten a better picture of Michelle’s entire outfit because she had a belt and chain and everything to go with her dress and really looked amazing.  You’ll notice the pirate bandanas are bigger and better now but the show was more of a mini live rock concert than the full movie tribute we had seen on previous cruises.

Happy 14th Birthday, Michelle!  We are so glad you are a member of our family.  You amaze us with all that you are.  It is a privilege to watch you grow up and see what you choose to do and be.  Here is to the beginning of another trip around the sun.  I hope this next year will be filled with many adventures and good memories.

We aren’t done yet!  We slowly made our way back to Florida with an entire At Sea day.  This is when we got to experience the Aqua Mouse — turns out we like the Aqua Duck better even though this one was much more efficient — all sorts of shows and activities on the ship, Hubby and I got to meet lots of grown ups in the adults only hot tub and decided Grandma Karyl would have loved being there, Michelle and Natalie tried out some things together without us, and Danny continued to hang out with his new cruise friends.  That night all five of us watched the Broadway style show Aladdin and ate at Worlds of Marvel before saying goodbye to our new friends and exchanging phone numbers.  We knew the Ant Man and Wasp show was going to be cheesy and we loved everything about the restaurant, including the food.  After getting the girls settled for bed Hubby and I decided to participate in an adults only scavenger hunt and we actually won!  It was so so fun.  I hope I never forget Hubby’s impersonation of bacon cooking.

We even got to spot Danny and his crew on our way back to our stateroom and let him know his parents were winners — and then Hubby snuck this photo for me as we headed up the stairs.  Thanks, hon!

And before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to our cruise ship, wait for the rental car shuttle, spend some time at the Disney Character Warehouse and Disney Springs (complete with a meal at Chef Art Smith’s Homecoming), head to the airport, and come home.  Getting off the airplane and going from warm and humid to cold and dry is always a sign we’ve been to our favorite place and come home again.  As we walked through the airport my daughters announced that their lips were already getting chapped before we even made it to baggage claim.  It felt a little harder to breathe and that weekend we found out it’s easier to get sun burned at this altitude as well.  lol