Out of order....

There is a Lego store in Downtown Disney, and outside they have this display of lego dogs and people. Every time we passed by Chase loved to go and sit on this one. These pictures are out of order, but I could not add them to my other post, and I thought this one of Chase was really cute.

Our view straight ahead. This year we were on the port side, aft. Last year, we were starboard, midship. We liked being in the aft much better.
If you looked out to the right of our balcony, you could see the other ship docked.
Our first stateroom #8090

We were lucky (or unlucky) enough to be able to upgrade our rooms from two connecting category 10 deluxe inside staterooms on deck 2 (next to lowest deck), to connecting category 4 deluxe family staterooms with verandahs up on the top deck 8. They were the only rooms that they had that connected together, and were really big rooms. They were located up on the deck with all of the suites, so it was really fun and SO convenient to everything.

We were a little worried being in the very aft part of the ship, but that is where everything was the next deck up. The drink station, the ice cream station, the buffet for the kids, the kids' pools, the pizza and hamburger restaraunts, etc. We never heard any noise from the buffet being right above us, and that was my only concern being in the aft....never a problem.
Our other stateroom that connected (you can see the door propped open) #8092
We were able to see the Carnival ship docked outside our verandah, and later watch it and the Norweigan ship set sail. We were the last ship in line to leave.
Getting ready for the lifeboat drill....It only took a few minutes and was not too bad.

DCL terminal and embarkation

The kids loved looking inside the big model of the ship....still no people yet.

First ones in the terminal! We were there for a little bit all by ourselves, which is not usual. Usually people are nipping right at your heels, but surprisingly, itt took awhile for the next ones to come.

Nick Hotel and Downtown Disney

On our second night, we went to Downtown Disney (I love that place) and went to Rainforest Cafe. It was Thanksgiving weekend, and most of the other restaraunts around Disney World were all booked up. We were very happy that they were taking walkups, and we didn't even have to wait that long. Just looked around stores for about a half hour until we were seated.
The Oasis waterslide and pool located just outside our room.
We tried to tell the kids that they would have PLENTY of time to get to play in the sand, but since the days were pretty breezy, only Courtney ventured into the pool for a little bit. Here they are playing in the sand by our room.




Before the cruise, we stayed at the Nick Hotel for two nights. We figured it was our only chance to stay there. The waterslides looked really cool, but our kids never wanted to go up in them since the weather in Florida at that time was particularly chilly and very breezy. They had more fun playing in the sand at the pool that was closer to our room.
The hotel itself, was ok....even though it was a 2 bedroom family suite, it was still a little cramped for us. At least our room location was by the "quiet" pool. The walls were still pretty thin. We heard people being noisy and going past the room alot during the night, of course we crashed early after a long travel day.
At one point during the night, I heard a baby crying and thought it was Chase and had Jared go in and check on him. It was a baby crying next door, but it sounded like it was right in the kids' room. It didn't last long at all, and we were so tired, we were not woken by it.