You may or may not have noticed that I was off the radar last week. There were no new posts, no social media updates and complete silence on my end. I had intended to syndicate some of my old posts, but I just finally decided that I needed to take a complete break and enjoy a week with my family, free of technology, social media and work. We sat sail last Sunday on an amazing family getaway through the California and Baja Mexico coastline. It was awesome and you can be sure that I will be sharing a TON of posts about this. However, for today, I am going to give you a quick overview of our trip!
The Journey to the Ship
Our morning started early, arriving at the airport at 5:00 AM. The kids were excited because neither of them remember being on an airplane before. They just looked out the window for a large majority of our 2 hour flight.
When we arrived in San Diego, we were greeted at baggage claim by Disney Castmembers who arranged our magical express ride to the ship.
The ride was short, which was awesome, but it was even more amazing to see all the old ships and history in the bay of San Diego. You can see the Disney Wonder on the left side of the photo above, but all around it were these amazing ships and we were just in awe.
The bus dropped us off and we checked in, they had all our luggage all ready to be loaded onto the ship, so the next time we would see it would be later on that evening. We took the time waiting to board to do some photos.
A nice couple offered to take our first family photo of the cruise in front of this little backdrop. Disney had a TON of these set up. I really loved it because there was always something to do and it kept the kids busy until we were able to board.
We met Captain Mickey while waiting and Pluto! It was really fun. The check in process was pretty easy as well. First you got in line to have your passports checked by customs, then they sent you to the Disney Cruise check in where the kids were given the red magic bands you see in the photo above and we were all given our keys to the world.
Halloween on the High Seas
We were sailing on their “Halloween on the High Seas” cruise. The ship was decorated for the Halloween season and although I was expecting much more as far as the decor went, it was still beautiful and fun to see!
The ceiling of the main common area had this beautiful red glass flower art and of course the bunting with pumpkin Mickey’s on each of the balconies.
This spooky tree would transform later on in the cruise and “grow” pumpkins. There was a little spooky storytelling event and something about caring for the pumpkin tree that we could have attended, but you would not believe all of the events and happenings going on at once. It was definitely a bit overwhelming trying to decide what to do!
Checking Out the Ship
There are 4 pools on the Disney Wonder. The one pictured above is the kid pool area. It has the fun waterslide, some splash pad areas and a pool that is about 1.5-2ft deep. Each area has life vests for the kiddos and VERY active lifeguards on duty. There is also a pool midship, where you can watch movies and swim. It is about 4 ft deep and always full! Finally there is the quiet swimming adult pool (which we never visited) and at the front of the ship is the crew pool. Plenty of water to swim in for sure!
The kids (and husband) had to try out the waterslide immediately. We threw on some life vests and sent them on their merry way. The kids had a blast and their faces were so funny to watch as they hit the water at the bottom.
I eventually went down the slide myself and was surprised at how fast I felt like I was going. They have a stop light system with a life guard watching a camera at the top to help guests know when it is safe to go down the slide. When you are at the top it feels like it takes forever for someone to go down…when you are going down, it seems so incredibly fast! What fun!
Once we were done swimming, we headed back to our room to shower up and get ready for the Sailing Away party. Never one to miss a chance to decorate, I had to join in on the door decor! We made these magnets and our fish extender. It was awesome to see all the doors on our floor decorated and how different everyone’s was.
Sailing Away
When it was time to leave port, we headed up to the top deck to join in the party festivities and watch the ship leave port. It was really fun and a big dancing celebration with all of our favorite characters there to help send us off!
We said goodbye to San Diego and hit the big open ocean! Once the party was over, we headed down to our dinner and met our awesome servers (Noel, Felix & Deniz) and enjoyed a really nice and calming dinner.
We had planned to check out the first big show of the cruise, “The Golden Mickey’s”, but as soon as we got back to the room, the little girl threw on her PJ’s and they both crashed out in our bed as we tried to unpack a bit. We turned in early that evening and were ready to face day 2 (Yes, this was all DAY 1)!
Day at Sea Experiences
We woke up on Day 2 refreshed and excited to really check out the boat and have some fun. We grabbed breakfast at the buffet and then headed up to the Bippity Boppity Boutique, where we had reservations for the kids to get a little makeover! We did classic princess with our little girl and our son went full fledged knight!
It was so fun to do this and the ladies that were doing the makeovers were about the sweetest women ever! I was also surprised at how many little boys got the knight package. The Bippity Boppity Boutique was the place to be for sure and we were extremely glad that we had made those reservations! The lighting in the boutique was pink, so please forgive my horrid editing skills, this was about as good as I could get them.
The kids looked great and walked away with a ton of souvenirs. It was a bit windy on the upper deck but we did get a few little photos done.
We walked around the ship for a bit and realized that in the Buena Vista theater, they were playing Cars 3! We had to grab some popcorn and take in the show! It was the husbands first time seeing it and he totally loved it.
Trick or Treat!
That evening, before dinner, we enjoyed the Halloween on the High Seas party, complete with costume contests and trick or treating! You guys my kids and everyone else’s on the ship walked away with full bags of candy and memories they will cherish! You can also see the pumpkin tree in the photo above!
Our family went as Mouseketeers. It was something that was easy to make, easy to pack and didn’t take up a ton of space. There were AMAZING and lavish costumes, but we soon realized that probably 90% of the people on the boat were actually from California, so most did not fly and packing was not an issue for them.
After trick or treating, we grabbed dinner and then watched the sunset from the deck. It was so calming and relaxing. Again we had hoped to take in a show, but our busy day got the best of us, so we settled for some milk and cookies and watched a movie in our room as we all drifted off to sleep.
CABO!
Day 3 we arrived in Cabo San Lucas Mexico! We had pre-arranged a port adventure to have a little beach break. We nearly missed our time to get off the ship because we were eating breakfast. We made it, just in time to take the tender to the docks and a bus to the beach. The tender boat ride was really breathtaking. I had never seen water so blue before. The landscape was gorgeous and the weather was perfect!
We hit the beach for some swimming, sand castle building and lunch. I have so much to tell you about this port adventure, but I plan on writing a post to give people more details. Let’s just say it was not exactly what we expected and I am not sure we would even do that again.
The beach area was crowded and you can see how crowded the waters were as well. We did make the most of it and the kids swam in the ocean like champs! I was thankful that we had floatation devices, sand toys and goggles for them or I am sure the trip would have been a million times more frustrating. Once we were done at the beach we took the bus back to the docks, grabbed some beer at one of the stores in the shopping area and headed back to the ship.
Pirate Night
It was Pirate night and you can bet we were ready for an awesome evening. All showered up and ready to take on the evenings events, we grabbed dinner, went to an awe inspiring magic show, and then went to the Pirates in the Caribbean show which we inadvertently ended up with awesome seats for the on ocean fireworks!
Day 4 we were at sea and we were TIRED. We saw a few characters, did some swimming, took some naps and the kids enjoyed some time in the amazing Oceaneers Club. This club has everything, and even though getting the kids to go took some coaxing, once they were there, it was tough to get them to leave. You can see why below.
The Oceaneers Club
Yup, that is Andy’s room. There were also arts and crafts, games, video game challenges, iPad games, and SO much more for the kids to do. The Castmembers working in the club were phenomenal and the kids truly had a great time! We did have an awesome dinner and we were able to see Frozen the musical, which was fantastic!
Ensenada
Day 5 was spent in Ensenada, Mexico. We did not book a port adventure here as our little one was too young for most of them. We did however decide to get off the ship and do some shopping. For just $3.00 a person we were able to take a bus to and from the shopping district and purchase some fun souvenirs to take back home. Once back we enjoyed some more family time, the kids went to the Oceaneers club again and we all met back for dinner, a fantastic show and then the adults sent the kids back to the club so we could take in the amazing magic show and an 80’s flashback party that we will NEVER forget!
Frozen Meet and Greet
Our Disney Cruise was really a wonderful experience. It has been fun listening to the kids tell our family and friends about their vacation and the memories that they have made. We have not decided if the cruise life is the life for us, but we definitely are entertaining the idea of booking another cruise aboard one of Disney’s awesome ships. The service was fantastic (as is to be expected) and the memories are unchallenged. We are so fortunate to have been able to experience this as a family.
Do You Like Magic? Champions of Magic Comes to Denver! - We Got The Funk
Tuesday 8th of May 2018
[…] October, we sat sail on our first family cruise and our family was treated to some incredible fun, but one of our favorite aspects of the cruise […]