Bon Voyage

I LOVE surprises! I love everything about them. We have pulled off some pretty great ones (I think) over the years and it was so fun to get to do it again. Scott and I talked so many nights about how fun it would be to watch her reaction. He has a really hard time keeping secrets and almost blew it a few times but managed to quickly recover. Thank heavens because we had come too far to blow it at the end. And let me tell you, it was worth it! So...

ONE.....TWO.....THREE.....
I am still giddy about this moment! And yes, I cried. When we asked her if she knew where we were going, she was quiet for a minute and then said, "a Disney Cruise?" Like, she wasn't quite sure and couldn't believe it. When we said, "yes", she gave us a hug and told us we were "the best parents ever!" (In a week, we'll be back to worst status, I'm sure :)
It was quite the adventure getting her to the surprise point. I had it all planned out. We put a blindfold on her when we got into the cab. We told her we were going to a cool hotel but we had a little surprise for her before we got there. She wasn't too crazy about wearing the scarf - "I can't see" - "It's itchy" - "It's falling down". But we finally made it to the port.
In Miami, you can see the boat when you pull up, but in LA, the boat is blocked by the buildings. I had envisioned her stepping out of the cab and pulling her blindfold off to unveil the big ship. When it was apparent that that plan was a no go, Scott thought we should just hurry and tell her in the parking lot before going into the building. Uh, no way! What fun is that?! So, we checked in our suitcases and headed inside, pulling a blindfolded Ella behind us.
We were greeted by a couple of sweet Disney ladies. One excitedly asked us if this was our first time sailing with them. Scott quickly gave her the be quiet sign and that is when she noticed Ella. Everyone around us got so excited that she didn't know where she was. We were taken upstairs to the check in desk. They had to take Ella's picture for her security card but they were careful to remove anything Disney from the counter and then they quickly removed her blindfold, snapped her picture, and put it back on. All the while, word was spreading amongst the workers that we were doing this surprise and they were all so excited for her. Apparently this doesn't happen often. As we headed for the security checkpoint, we passed a room with pictures of the ship and Mickey and decided it was time to tell her. That, and Disney music was blaring in the background so we figured she was probably getting a little suspicious. It was super fun to watch her reaction and to watch all of the workers who had gathered to see the surprise.

We knew it wouldn't be long before we saw a Disney character. Pluto would become our first of many character encounters.

The look on Ella's face as we started to board the ship was wonderful! As we stepped on, they said, "Welcome aboard, Murphy Family". She thought it was so cool that they knew our name. From then on, everyone called her princess.

Since our room wouldn't be ready for a couple of hours, we decided to take a tour and get Ella's wristband for the Oceaneer Lab. Everytime we turned a corner she was yelling for us to"Look". She couldn't believe there were two pools, and one of them had a waterslide. She couldn't believe that they had a movie theatre outside so you could watch movies while you were in the pool. She couldn't believe that they had a special play area just for kids her age that she could go to anytime she wanted. She couldn't believe that they had all you can eat pizza and ice cream cones!

After getting settled into our room, we headed to Wave Bands for a dance party and then to Triton's for dinner and the Walt Disney Theatre for the Welcome Aboard show.

It was a pretty awesome and overwhelming day for all of us and we were happy to get back to our little space for some sleep. But not before one last pic with our first towel animal. Who doesn't a cruise ship towel animal? Tomorrow...we are at sea.