1st Family Vacation

Posted on October 20, 2017 Updated on October 13, 2017

While this is a little behind–September 2017 marked the first Richter Family vacation as a family of three. Since Austin’s arrival August 2016, we have not been on any overnight trips with him– not even an attempt to stay in a cabin in Idyllwild for my birthday (we left mid-night because it was TOO hot.)

But as it was planned before–we decided we would introdruce our little munchkin to the world of Disney Cruise Line. Shawn found a cruise leaving San Diego (yay for no toddler flight plan) for a 5 day cruise to Baja California. I was thrilled because honestly, if I could live on Disney Cruise, I would. I love their ship designs, the theming, the food, the staff, you name it. I was probably more excited than anyone else to be sharing this finally with our little guy. Here are our adventures cruising the High Seas with Disney.

DAY 1: SAN DIEGO

Our day started our very early. You see–instead of flying somewhere and getting a bus to the port–we had the option and decided it would be fun to take the train down from Fullerton to San Diego along the coast. It is a gorgeous track. The only down side?–the train was leaving at 8:30a in Fullerton, an hour drive away from our house (approximately.) But we made it, with kid and trinkets in tow. I had to wear my pirating hat I was bringing for the costume parties (pirate and halloween) since it didn’t fit in the suitcase (or moreso because I didn’t want it squished.)

I had not been on the train in years. We spurlged and bought business tickets… which not only gave us more leg room for Austin to walk around in but also comfy seats with foot rests. We sat at the window on the sea side and watched the neighborhoods going by–it was unique. Of course–a 2 1/2 hour train ride with a infant/toddler is not an exact science… so we had snacks, drinks, toys and i ended up walking thru three train cars to keep him occupied. Let’s just say it was tiring.

When we arrived in San Diego, we walked (yes-walked) from the train station to the peir. It wasn’t long, but when you’re carrying three suitcases, two backpacks each and a kid in a carrier, it was another strain. Luckily we arrived at the time we were scheduled to board the ship, so we zoomed through the security lines, the check in line and the photography lines with the welcoming of us onto the Disney Wonder for the next 5 days:

First stop: guest services. to make sure we were taking advantage of all the freebies, assistance and details for infants (or so they called austin since he was only 1yr old.) Then we went to eat and eventually arrived at our room around 2-3ish (suitcases still pending–which meant door decor still pending)  It was exciting because when we arrived, there was a crib to be set up with Mickey bedding and we set Austin down on the big bed where he had tons of fun playing around. For the fire drill Austin was fully asleep and that worked out because by the time we got up to the deck/sail away party, he was mostly out.

However, that didn’t last for long since Mickey started talking and he woke up excited that he was seeing the Big Mouse Himself!. Then we started MOVING on the water!– Austin clearly is a water child…hardly noticing we were moving and wanting to walk all around the back of the boat. We kept him occupied until dinner (which was extremely late the first night) and learned that there was a little play area in the promonade longue (a good meeting/longue-y type spot next to our first night’s restaurant.) Once eating I felt a lot better– it was a relief to know that for dinner, the chefs are always willing to make purees for babies and so Ausitn i swear had some of the best food in his life. Also, there was always milk available (whether it be in ice cream or warmed form.)

Austin managed to get to sleep the first night no problems… (oh the night to come) We were tired from all the excitement and i was just giddy being on my favorite ship.