Learning to Walk (and Parent) on the Wonder: Cruising Alaska with a Mini-Mouseketeer. Ketchikan.

lunarsongbird

Disney Magic is a Must
Joined
Jun 12, 2016
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Salutations!

We just got off the Wonder two days ago- on Monday, June 27th, 2016 after a really wonderful, fun and productive week in Alaska. (William started to walk on the Wonder, cut his fifth tooth and learned how to drink out of a straw. We also had many firsts.... first family vacation, first time cruising, first time seeing an iceberg... and William had copious amounts of firsts: first time seeing the ocean, first train ride, first boat ride...first: seeing a whale, trying escargot, meeting characters... and so much more.)

As I mentioned, this was our first family vacation and our first cruise EVER.
Andrew and I (Deanna) went to Disneyland on our mini-honeymoon. We got to ride the Lilly Belle because of some magic-making cast members:
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(Is the Lilly Belle back open for regular park guests? Or is the rumor still floating around that it's only for Club 33 members?)

They even arranged for conductors to be at the end of the line to deliver us special treats. It was so memorable, delightful...and MAGICAL:
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I often wondered if our Disney Cruise would be as magical as our honeymoon and to be honest- at the beginning of the cruise, I was afraid that it wasn't even going to come close.

And could this trip even compare with a new little flounder on board? During the cruise, William turned 15 months.
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(Taken a few days before we left at Target...in search of more Disney outfits! ;) )

I often contemplated, maybe (okay...definitely) stressed a bit about the logistics of cruising to Alaska with a toddler. I couldn't find too many trip reports about traveling through the Last Frontier with a baby in tow.

What would he eat in the nursery? (He doesn't do cow's milk because of eczema) and I brought my pump...but what would that be like? Could he tolerate a week full of sit-down dinners? What about the shows? They were way past his bedtime. Would he cry in the nursery? Would he sleep well in the pack and play? How should I clean bottles? And what about diapers? Is the diaper genie really going to work?

And the luggage...oh my word...the luggage. We had so much luggage. How in the world are two people, carrying a baby, supposed to get all that luggage from Point A to Point B, to Point B to Point C... to Point C to Point D.... I may have lost some sleep over luggage.

And then there were things that many we should have thought about and didn't- like...how is a toddler going to do on multiple outings that are hours and hours long? What should we bring with us on these excursions?

Moreover, what expectations should we have for our first family vacation? Was I setting myself up for disappointment by comparing our last Disney vacation when we were "single" and totally in-love (I mean- we were on our honeymoon, for pity takes) to this first family trip, which included a stroller, two different types of baby carriers, a pump (that I didn't really use), bottles, sippy cups, baby food, baby snacks, dish soap for said cups and bottles, baby medications.... (Would I forget something important?)

(And ultimately, I knew I didn't need to be worried about any of these things, but I had been dreaming about a Disney cruise since I was in high school and they launched the Disney Cruise Line... I just wanted it to be as wonderful as possible.)

Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog. It's a brand new day. Whatcha waiting for?
What's to Come:



Day 1: Vancouver- "You want to drop us off where?" (Part 1) And babies probably shouldn't drink daquiris. (Part 2) Our First Dinner...not quite was I expected. (Part 3) And Sailing the Salish Sea during the best time to go to the hot tub. (Part 4)
Day 2: A Day at Sea- a chef's personal tour of the Palo brunch buffet and a laundry claw
Day 3: Endicott Arm- Fog Horns, a manicure...and "Please don't give me more seamed broccoli and cauliflower!"
Day 4: Skagway- Fantastic craft beer and the history of diamonds in Alaska.
Day 5: Juneau- "Oh my gosh...that whale.... oh my gosh"
Day 6: Ketchikan- the perfect time to go to the Totem Heritage Center. Local Shops. And the most incredible Wine Experience at Palo.
Day 7: A Day at Sea- Finally a Toddler Time. Skin Brushing. And learning about officers' families.
Day 8: Vancouver International Airport- Hey...My vacation isn't quite over yet. It's not over...until it's over!

After-Thoughts: What it is like traveling with a toddler to Alaska, what we would have done differently, what we would do again, what equipment we had
 
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We just got off the Wonder two days ago- on Monday, June 27th, 2016 after a really wonderful, fun and productive week in Alaska. (William started to walk on the Wonder, cut his fifth tooth and learned how to drink out of a straw. We also had many firsts.... first family vacation, first time cruising, first time seeing an iceberg... and William had copious amounts of firsts: first time seeing the ocean, first train ride, first boat ride...first: seeing a whale, trying escargot, meeting characters... and so much more.)

Can't wait to read all of this!

And congratulations on surviving the first family vacation! I have 4 kids (all grown now), and I know the struggle is real.
 
A little (Maybe a lot?) of Planning
We booked our Disney Cruise well over a year ago. In fact, I was still pregnant. It was a VERY generous gift from my fairy-mother-in-law. (She loved to travel with us pre-baby and is looking forward to continuing to do so. I think this trip was to get our feet wet again to the idea of traveling with William.)

We originally planed for a June sailing, because the cost is so much cheaper than peak season. One of our bus drivers said that a lot of the snow on the Skagway peaks would be gone by mid-July, which I thought was so gorgeous. However, the salmon don't start running until August. Late June worked so well for us. Another thing about June- I didn't see or even hear any bugs. I came prepared with all sorts of bug repelling essential oils. On our excursions, we also didn't really need sunscreen. That was a nice perk.

Edited to Add: However- I will say that I just went camping in July 2016 in a very bug infested area. My husband and mother-in-law got bit quite a bit, but my son and I didn't, because we used the oils I brought for the cruise:
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So when we were a few months out and I started researching the cruise again, I couldn't even remember why I requested the stateroom I did, but once I googled it again- I was quite pleased with my original thought process.

First things, First- Stateroom
Our travel agent book us in Room 6128.
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It ended up being a great room. The proximity to the aft elevators was fantastic- and as you can see- there was only staterooms on top of us and below us. (That picture shows deck 7, deck 6 and deck 5). We were just one flight of stairs down to the nursery. (Easy peasy!) We loved being able to take the stairs to most everything, instead of the elevator. I did read a lot about aft cabins feeling a little less movement than forward cabins. We still felt some vibration, but overall, we didn't experience much movement. I'm also trying to figure out if you don't hear the horn as much in after rooms, because I didn't notice it at all when we were in our room. (Thoughts?)

We were on the port-side of the boat. I'm not sure if it's different in Tracy Arm, but when we arrived at the Dawes Glacier- our captain actually spent significantly more time facing the starboard side to the glacier (like...45 minutes v. 15 minutes). But to be honest...I thought the waterfall that we were looking at, while the other side of the boat was looking at the glacier was more beautiful. However, I would have loved to have seen the glacier calf, but I'm not sure how active Dawes is.
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Something that I realized when I was doing some research for my trip report is that on the last sea day- when you will be spending some time in your room packing and relaxing- the port side of the boat is facing this CRAZY beautiful scenery during the day. Those on the starboard side of the boat won't see the snow-capped mountains that I just couldn't get enough of. It makes packing a lot less painful.

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I once read that 6128 is close to a housekeeping closet. Meh. Wasn't a problem- it was a number of doors down. And to be honest, it looked like there are housekeeping closets up and down all the hallways.
Room 6128 is a Category 5C with a clear verandah, which you can only imagine is worth it's weight in gold on an Alaskan cruise. (hehe...I made an Alaskan gold joke).

I didn't get any pictures of the room when it we clean and beautiful, because I forgot- and to be honest, they look exactly like they do on the Disney website. Those Room Stewards and Disney crew really make sure the rooms are wonderful.
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(Oh- but ours didn't have a digital clock. Maybe after the reimagineering the Wonder will have clocks. I've thought about whether or not I would have liked to have had a clock, but I was really quite fine not knowing what time William was waking up in the night or what time we were getting up in the morning. I used the wave phone to keep time.)

But here is a picture of my little babboo sleeping:
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So you can see that it can you can keep either side of the room pretty dark for napping babies, while enjoying the other side of the stateroom. We would take our pack-and-play down in the morning and let William sleep in the bed, but it would work either way.

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I already had a nursery closet organizer just like this one that I got off of Amazon for around $12. It folds up so nicely and fits into the side of a suitcase. It was great to hang in the closet for bathroom items and other random cluttery items. Since there were only three of us, there was plenty of storage in the stateroom itself, but it was nice having things located so close to the bathroom. The organizer just velcros to the bar. There are also bigger ones that you can get off of Amazon. I also liked to be able to shut it away in the closet so that I didn't have to look at it on the back of the door.

I suggest bringing extra magnets to secure important documents to the back of the door. It was so convenient to just look at the back of our door for the schedule for the week:
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Another thing that I brought, which was a silly indulgence, was my essential oil diffuser. It was nice to have pleasant scents join us throughout the cruise, but wasn't really necessary. I didn't notice any foul odors in our stateroom bathrooms at all.

Speaking of bathrooms- of course the split bathrooms was fantastic. William LOVED taking baths. And guess what? Mama loved taking baths too! I could squeeze myself in the bathtub (and was grateful of the 47 pounds I've lost this year) and it was quite relaxing. The hot water soothes tired muscles and the bathtub has a slanted back, which is something I don't even have in my bathtub at home. Grandma packed a bath toy- and those souvenir cups make great bath toys.
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Second things, Second- Time to Book Your Excursions, Newbie!
Being that I've been dreaming of going on a Disney cruise since 1998, you would think that as soon as my booking window opened that I would be ALL over it, but I wasn't too worried about the excursions we wanted to book filling up. So I logged in for the first time on April 13th- a week after our window opened. (I just checked my text messages to my mother-in-law to confirm).

I easily booked the Best of Juneau and the White Pass Railway and Trail Camp. I looked briefly into booking independent excursions, but at the time it cost just about the same. I was also a little bit nervous about the transportation to and from independent excursions, but in all the ports- it looked wicked simple- with many of the tour guides right outside of the gangway with clipboards.

I also booked a brunch at Palo on Tracy Arm day. I really wanted to do it on the first Sea Day, since I wanted to check out that Beach Blanket Salmon BBQ buffet on Tracy Arm Day, but it was completely booked- and as a newbie...I gladly took what I could get! I booked some nursery time, as well.

But about a month later- on May 16th- I logged back in to check out booking a Palo Dinner, at the same time I took a look at Brunch- and wouldn't you know it? Palo Brunch on the first sea day was WIDE open. Craziness?! I snatched that right up! I also booked a dinner and a manicure.

After the first Personal Navigators were posted for the 2016 Alaskan sailings, I booked some additional nursery time for an "Art of the Theme" tour I wanted to take and a Ketchikan Q&A (which we just went to have cocktails for instead). Although I was prepared for the Navigators to have changed for our sailing...they didn't- and everything aligned perfectly.

(I can't help it.... I'm a planner. I looked at all the navigators: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...7-night-alaskan-cruise-vancouver-may-23-2016/
and put textboxes over the items that I wanted to do. I still brought a highlighter for the navigators on our trip, but didn't use it it at all.)

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It was also SUPER fantastic that Disney started to let people book character appearances online a week before our departure, so I happily booked a Frozen Meet and Greet and Princess Gathering (which ultimately William slept through and we missed) and a character breakfast on Tracy Arm Day. SCORE!! :smickey:

Planning Some Magical Extras
Although I did join a Facebook Group for our sailing (the Disboards group for our sailing was awfully dead)- I didn't join a fish extender group. I'm not sure if I felt overwhelmed or what...but I ended up getting in a car accident about three weeks before sailing, which was really overwhelming, so maybe it all worked out for the best), but I just couldn't fathom going on the cruise without a fish extender; I had read about them for so many years. So I quickly put one together the week before our cruise:
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My husband totally made fun of me for making one "just because," but then was equally delighted when we received two different and AMAZING pixie dustings:
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We received two fantastic fleece scarves and a set of very very nicely sewn disney fabric coasters. What a treat!!

It took me quite a long time to work on our door decorations. Although they didn't look anything like other door decorations I saw on the internet or message boards, I still thought it would work well:
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I even made dozens and dozens of little Mrs. Potts' magnets to pixie dust with:
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And to put a cherry on top of the entire trip, I ordered some flowers for the room:
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And a one-day day pass to the Rainforest Room, since I read that you can only get the 1-day pass if you order it in-advanced; otherwise it's in a package of 3 days to 7 days, but to be honest, unless the rainforest room gets a pretty nice face lift- one day is plenty. :)
 
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After all that planning... I felt ready to go!

But of course...there is always more research that can be done...even until the last moment.
I read lots of Alaskan trip reports.
And I read over one of my favorite DISBoard Posts: (Seriously...it's 110 pages of goodness)
Cruise secrets that DCL doesn't tell you

So I busied myself with a few more things...
I found this great wooden frame for a $1 at Michaels for the characters to sign and I dutiful bought black, red, silver and gold sharpies. I thought there was no chance that I could get a signed photo matte home unscathed. Perfection! I forgot to get the first character to sign it...then the second....then..meh...this is stressful. So the frame stayed back in Vancouver unsigned. And that's okay.
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I still think it's a super fantastic idea though! Maybe next time...maybe when William is big enough to get his own signatures.

Toddler Tip: I took the time to figure out how to download Cars directly to our Google tablet. (Google Play, duh I should have known). It came in handy quite a few times. William also enjoyed the baby phone app.

We drove up to Denver from Colorado Springs to go to the Disney store to see if they had any cute outfits for William:
(He clapped as we walked around the store...mind you... I walked, because William wasn't walking at this point)
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And I started gathering up treats to give out to our servers, room steward and other cast members.

Day 1- Animator's Pallet- Lindt Popcorn Chocolate Bars- "What a show!"
Day 2- Golden Mickeys- Ferrero Rocher- "Thanks for your GOLDEN service."
Day 4- Freezing the Night Away Party- "Frozen" Jelly Beans
Day 5- Pixar Pals Party- Finding Dory Candies
Day 6- Lifesavers- "Thanks for being a LIFESAVER."
Day 7- Kind Fruit/Chocolate/Nut Bars- "Thanks for being so KIND"

And then I also had little random treats I gave out:
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I took almost two gallon size bags of treats, but they were a HUGE hit...the room service guys especially appreciated them along with their dollar bills.

As the cruise started getting closer, I started assembling bags of everything I thought we hopefully would never need. LOL.
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And would I bring it all again? Probably...

I pondered to my friends on Facebook, "Why do I feel the need to be so overly prepared? Is it the urge of a new mother traveling with her baby? Because I was raised me this way? Because I've been dreaming of this trip since 1998? I will gladly sacrifice a pair of pants for peace of mind. I promise you that cold medicine costs a fortune in Skagway. They have you in a corner, after all."

Did you feel differently preparing for your first trip with your first child?

Up Next: A clogged potty and accidentally packing a shank
(Don't worry...it wasn't a real weapon. This is a family friendly trip!)

And seriously...how are two people supposed to carry all of this luggage?
 
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Can't wait to read all of this!

And congratulations on surviving the first family vacation! I have 4 kids (all grown now), and I know the struggle is real.

I'm glad to have you along! :) I was hoping that some people might enjoy a rather detailed trip-report. Once I read that children loved reading their mother's trip reports of trips they took when they were younger- so when all is said and done- I think will print this out with William along with some pictures. :)
 
Enjoying your trip report. We booked Sept 2017 Alaska.

I am still on the fence about the trip. I have a special needs child in a wheelchair so that brings in a different set of obstacles and planning.
 
Joining in! :cheer2: We live in Vancouver and are taking the Wonder to Alaska in August 2017!:thumbsup2
 


Enjoying your trip report. We booked Sept 2017 Alaska.

I am still on the fence about the trip. I have a special needs child in a wheelchair so that brings in a different set of obstacles and planning.

Oh, it was a wonderful trip. I think it could be a very accessible trip. I was even reading today on the White Pass train that they have accessible cars. Maybe I can help alleviate some concerns? What questions do you have? I remember seeing a least a dozen or so wheelchairs last week.
 
Thanks for the door magnet! :-)

We were in 6110 and completely agreed about the waterfall. We ordered the All Hands on Deck Plate and watched that when the ship turned.

We also weren't big Rain Forest Room fans. We skipped it last time and did a day this time - won't be doing that again.
 
Thanks for the door magnet! :-)

We were in 6110 and completely agreed about the waterfall. We ordered the All Hands on Deck Plate and watched that when the ship turned.

We also weren't big Rain Forest Room fans. We skipped it last time and did a day this time

Oh, you're welcome! Are you going to do a trip report? Would love to read it! I actually enjoyed the heated loungers quite a bit, but my husband was disappointed in the lack of tubs.

We also ordered a cheese plate. I also ordered hot chocolate and was disappointed it was just Swiss miss. Lol. Didn't the sun feel relaxing? It was so warm and gorgeous that day.
 
Enjoying your report so far, thanks! Did you keep copies of your navigators? Would enjoy seeing scans of them uploaded if possible!

Aby
 
Enjoying your report so far, thanks! Did you keep copies of your navigators? Would enjoy seeing scans of them uploaded if possible!

Aby

No- you would have thought that an uber-planner like me would have kept them, right? I was learning to streamline on this trip...anything to make the trip easier while traveling with a baby. They were very similar to the ones posted on the disneycruiselineblog. However...I can tell you that the Golden Mickeys were on the second night, instead of the last- for formal night. Made a lot more sense that way in my mind. :)

We also got to seeing Finding Dory in 3D in the Walt Disney Theater (instead of the Jungle Book). And The Magic & Illusion of Kyle Knight and Mistie and the The Michael Harrison Show flip flopped.

I'm hoping someone else also submits them to the Disney Cruise Line Blog, because now I'm kind of sad that I don't have them. But I do have to admit that I used the app A LOT.
 
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Argggh. The luggage. So much luggage.
For about two days before our departure, I literally lost sleep over the logistics of luggage. We knew what we wanted to bring, but how were we supposed to carry it all? I mean...we only have to hands each, after all.

We definitely wanted to bring our Osprey child carrier. It's great for walks, hikes and outings. It even has all that storage in the back so we didn't have to take any extra diaper bag or anything. Since we knew we were going to check it at the airport and that we lovvveeeeee it... We also decided to purchase the travel bag for it.
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But as you can see from the picture above, William doesn't always LOVE the carrier, so we picked up a cheapie cheapie umbrella stroller at Walgreens.
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We also needed to bring a bucket car seat for William since we were driving from Seattle to the airport (and around Seattle) with Andrew's Aunt. Hmm.... How do we get the car seat to the airport and such? We decided to attach it to a rolling carry-on bag that already came equipped with a luggage strap.

The Baby Hawk Mei Tai wouldn't take up much space. And was ultimately required to get all the luggage AND baby to and fro from the airport.
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And then of course we had to bring clothes...
In that aspect, I think I was quite reasonable.

From my research, Skagway is warmer than Juneau, and Juneau is warmer than Ketchikan. This is what June looks like historically in Juneau:
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So no big jackets required... It's quite similar to hiking and living in Colorado. It's all about the layers.
I brought two long sleeve shirts. A vest. A waterproof jacket. A scarf. A pair of gloves (that never saw any action) and a winter hat. Five other shirts. Three pairs of pants. One skirt. One pair of capris. Undergarments and jammies. And my two indulgences... I packed slippers, and a vacuum sealed bath robe, which I used often at the pool. And I only packed two other pair of shoes- walking shoes and dress shoes. And of course- two semi-formal dresses and a formal dress.
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(As a responsible mother, you can see I brought William's snow suit that he wore all of...hm...40 minutes...and about 3 hours later it was so warm that he was in the splash area. Alaska's weather is weird.)

With clothes, we had two more bags... a rolling duffel and a garment bag. I would have liked to have maybe had another rolling bag, but again...hands...not enough hands.

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:eek: Look at all this stuff!! ARRGH! How are two people supposed to haul all this stuff AND a non-walking baby to the airport terminal?!

I made myself a packing playlist of classy/jazzy Disney songs, so packing wasn't quite as painful as it could have been. I also played it the morning of our depature: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZZphnRxM7R7biDwzhhLEkxRae-LoQuBW


We had three bags to check (garment bag, rolling duffel, and the osprey), two carry-ons (the rolling Disney bag with car seat and an osprey day pack), and three personal items (William's backpack, my disney bag, and the diaper bag)- and we bungeed the stroller to the rolling duffel (which was a solution I came up with when I should have been sleeping, because I really just don't think my husband thinks of these things).

ON TOP of all this luggage ridiculousness- I got to stress about whether or not all of this stuff and the carseat with the baby and three adults would fit in a Honda Civic that Andrew's Aunt owned. I actually tried to not worry too much about it- because what would be the worst thing that could happen?

So here is how we did it- I wore William (in the baby hawk), the osprey day pack, and carried my Disneyland bag along with William's backpack- and pulled the small rolling carry-on. Andrew rolled the duffel and wore the osprey and the garment bag.

Onwards to the Airport!

I can't believe we did it without me losing my mind. LOL. Not to mention- that rolling duffel weighed 49.8 pounds.
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Once we got to the airport, I ran inside to check and see if they had luggage carts, but they only had them downstairs for arrivals and they were $4; so we passed and lugged everything in ourselves. Although Colorado Springs is a rather tiny airport, the line to check-in was so long. :( Apparently all the flights going to Seattle were overbooked- so they were offering vouchers to everyone in line- and processing them right there- so it took...sigh...a long time. Maybe she knew by the look on my face, but we were not offered a voucher.

William might be the only person (small person...but person, none the less) ever to cry because he didn't want to leave TSA. He was having so fun as I pushed him around in one of the TSA bins:
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I had time to entertain him, because TSA flagged one of my bags and it was taking quite a long time... I figured if any of the bags were going to be flagged it would be by my osprey day pack, as it contained my pump, essential oil diffuser and a random bag of white powder (which was Be Calm Magnesium), but of all bags...it was my little purse. Really?

He ran it through the x-ray at least three times...I kept asking him what shape he was looking for so that maybe I could help. He didn't volunteer any information. I started pointing out the random and somewhat obscure pockets in my purse. And then it finally hit me...

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...a Christmas ornament that I got on my birthday in February of the Denver Art Museum that slipped into the depths of my purse to be forgotten. We left the ornament in Seattle to be shipped with other Christmas stuff, because I simply didn't want this thing haunting me the whole trip.

Whew. It was such a relief to unload all that luggage and tuck William into his stroller. We totally got our $25 worth out of it.
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Wooohooo! We finally get all boarded. Got to love family boarding.... We start taxing, so I start nursing William to prepare for the change of pressure...AND...
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..the Pilot gets on the intercom and says that we are being delayed on the tarmac for 30 minutes because of a delay at SeaTec. Sigh. C'mon...C'mon. But honestly, we took it in stride. I was also a bit surprised to see that we were on a plane for 3 hours that didn't have any entertainment or wi-fi to support their entertainment app. It also had only two seats on each side of the aisle, so William and I were by ourselves on one side.

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Did you know that Alaskan Air gives out free local beer and wine on their flights? Oh, yes please. And I got to enjoy both, because about 10 minutes after we took off, William fell asleep for about 2 hours. The lady sitting next to William said that we were flying masterminds. Ha. It was more like some strategic nap manipulation, luck and a bit of hope.

See that "Try-Angle" toy? It's a Discovery toy that I saw in my chiropractor's office that I knew would be great for flying. So we acquired it and didn't let William play with it until the trip. We used it all the time. We brought it to dinner almost every night. It's a bit pricey, but has 5 "different hands-on exploration areas!"
https://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Toys-1451-TRY-ANGLE-by/dp/B0055LNK1U

And by golly...we fit all that luggage into the Honda Civic.
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I just want my vacation to start. But first...Seattle.
I'm not going to lie. I was moderately bummed that we had to go to Seattle before getting on the boat. It would mean another three hour drive, on top of the three hour flight we just took. But...I tried to make the best out of it. See? Here are the pictures to prove it:
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(Oh Hey- Look...Proof that this baby was really still crawling by the time we boarded the boat)

But at this point, I was starting to get my Mother-in-laws cold. I'm not a very good traveler (My body just doesn't like adjusting to different altitudes and time zones) and it takes me a few days to get used to watching William ALL day again. On the first night, the downstairs toilet also clogged after I used it. Of course, it had to be me. We tried the plunger. It didn't work. We went out the next morning and bought a snake. It didn't work. Everytime we flushed the upstairs toilet- the downstairs toilet overflowed. And Andrew's Aunt insisted on moving forward with her party for 11 people that night with broken toilets.

And I have to tell you- I have a thing about toilets. I have irritable bowel disease- crohn's disease, to be exact. It's almost entirely controlled with diet. Neither of my parents have their colons anymore; they have ulcerative colitis. I unconsciously know where restrooms are around me without really being aware of it. I like working bathrooms. (On our honeymoon, The Grand Californian turned the water off in the middle of the night and I filled up the trash can with water so that I could flush the toilet if I needed to. It was totally unnecessary....but I need my potty!)

So here is something that you have never really seen in a trip report before...

Here is where some of the bathrooms live in Alaska:
For being such a tiny place, Skagway has a ton of clean public restrooms! I didn't even really use them- I was just aware of them. Perhaps it's my super magical power...Potty-detection.

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The History of the Mollie Walsh Park is kind of strange: http://www.explorenorth.com/library/weekly/aa051001a.htm
-All train cars of the White Pass have restrooms on board. The coach we had for the ride back down was equipped with a toilet. Liarsville's restroom is on the other side of the trail camp behind the "saloon."

In Juneau, we were doing excursions all day, but the whale watching boat had at least two restrooms. Orca Point had plenty of potties. And the visitor center at Mendenhall glacier had wonderful facilities. (Over a year ago, I throught to myself, "OH MY WORD. What if I'm stuck on a glacier and have to use the loo?!""- It's not like that...at least on the excursions where you aren't ON the glacier.)

We used the restroom at the Salmon Landing Market in Ketchikan. And at the Tatsuda's IGA grocery store, because we were there to pick up candy for the lovely ladies in the nursery. IGA has been a "family owned neighborhood store for four generations, since 1916" (I learned this after a local told me that it had been there "forever.") The Totem Heritage Museum actually had really weird accordion doors in their bathrooms, but they worked just fine. Ketchikan gets oddly excited about their bathrooms- http://www.krbd.org/2014/06/16/20236/ A couple of years ago they celebrated the opening of a public restroom with "plungers, poo cookies, and toilet-paper-for-napkins on hand."

So perhaps I'm not TOTALLY weird for being into bathrooms. Hey...our bus driver in Skagway even had a toilet joke:

See that there? That's an international bathroom. Not only is it close to the Canadian and United States Border, but when you are on your way in- your Russian, European inside the bathroom, and Finnish on your way out!

Maybe some parents with young children will appreciate knowing where the bathrooms are. Lol. :)

Next Up: Oh Thank Goodness...We finally can start this Disney Cruise!
 
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Great start! Looking forward to reading more. We are booked for the Memorial Day cruise next year.
 
Oh, you're welcome! Are you going to do a trip report? Would love to read it! I actually enjoyed the heated loungers quite a bit, but my husband was disappointed in the lack of tubs.

We also ordered a cheese plate. I also ordered hot chocolate and was disappointed it was just Swiss miss. Lol. Didn't the sun feel relaxing? It was so warm and gorgeous that day.
I might if I can get moving on it soon! :-)
Never did drinks for room service, but the spiked hot chocolate drinks at the Cove Cafe were awesome!
 
I might if I can get moving on it soon! :-)
Never did drinks for room service, but the spiked hot chocolate drinks at the Cove Cafe were awesome!

I love the idea of reliving my trip through the eyes of another. So neat. We got three adult coffee drinks from the Overlook! Lol.
 
Your trip report is hysterical! And, as the mother of a 3 1/2 DS, I totally appreciate knowing where all the loo's are :tongue: A couple of years ago, we were on a DCL med cruise and DS was 18 months old- we purchased an Osprey Poco backpack and toted him all over Europe in it. Best purchase ever!! I highly recommend it for excursions with toddlers that you don't want to leave behind on the ship.
 
Great start! Looking forward to reading more. We are booked for the Memorial Day cruise next year.
Oooh...In alaska? Is that one of their first in the season? I so can't wait to see pictures of the Wonder after Dry Dock.
 

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