A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream!

[photographymom517]

Love the update Jen!!!

Also, Happy Mother's Day!!! Sorry its late, I didn't get on DIS yesterday! Hope you had a great day!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

You know I can sympathize with you on the lost pictures since I've had it happen to me a time or two. I agree with the other posters, though...the pictures that you do have a great and capture the memories well. I can tell that Claire is excited from the way she is smiling from ear to ear.

The dolphin enounter seems like a lot of fun. It was nice to hear that they don't make the dolphins do anything they don't want to do.

 

[JPFamilyMom]

All your pictures are great as usual. i think you got some really nice shots of the lighthouse.

How fun that dolphin encounter looks, can't wait to see more

 

[Woth2982]

Love the update! So excited you did the Blue Lagoon Island Encounter! I was going to do that this week, but I have had a crazy work schedule and no one would step up to the plate and book it, so I am going parasailing instead! Sometimes it stinks being the one who always organizes everything! Cannot wait to hear the rest!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Ooooo, so excited that you did the dolphin encounter, that's the one we have booked too! Can't wait to hear more about it!

I do have a question for you, did they allow you to wear sunscreen while participating in this excursion? It seems like I read somewhere that you couldn't because it wasn't good for the dolphins. I am very fair skinned however and I'm afraid I'll look like a lobster afterwards if I can't put any on!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Wow, Nassau looks beautiful. I can't wait to read more about your Dolphin encounter. It looks like so much fun.

 

[jenseib]

It's been such a buys day. We went on Claire's last feild trip of the year. It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a lot of fun, but Claire has that glassy, tired look in her eyes right now...and we still need to go to the grocery store.
I lent my spare car seat out to a child who didn't bring one....and the kid wet her pants in it! She didn't say anything to me or her driver (my friend) but I noticed something smelled not long after I put it in the car and then Claire said..."Yuck, that seat is wet!" So I knew what happened. I took the seat cushion off and it is in the washer as we speak!
I hope to get an update up today, but it might not be till tomorrow. I worked on it a bit yesterday and one part was time consuming and after that I quit for the day. If I can get the rest of the pictures edited tonight, I'll post it.

Ahh!! I can't wait for more!! Dolphins are truly one of my favorite animals, and seeing the pictures that you took made me teary eyed. I hope you were able to get a good interaction. Dot looks absolutely beautiful. Sigh.

More please!

It was really nice to do. Dot was very friendly.

Love the update Jen!!!

Also, Happy Mother's Day!!! Sorry its late, I didn't get on DIS yesterday! Hope you had a great day!!!

Thanks. It was just like any other day, except Claire had gone with my Mom to Columbus for the weekend, so little quieter. Till she came home and was a bit grouchy from being spoiled rotten and lack of sleep.

You know I can sympathize with you on the lost pictures since I've had it happen to me a time or two. I agree with the other posters, though...the pictures that you do have a great and capture the memories well. I can tell that Claire is excited from the way she is smiling from ear to ear.

The dolphin enounter seems like a lot of fun. It was nice to hear that they don't make the dolphins do anything they don't want to do.

I know you know that feeling. It's so awful. I am so glad I had 3 cameras going and that that wasn't my main one.
She was very excited about it. It was nice that they treat their dolphins well. I read about them prior to going and it sounded like they were one of the better places to do it. It appeared all the trainers were very passionate about the animals.

All your pictures are great as usual. i think you got some really nice shots of the lighthouse.

How fun that dolphin encounter looks, can't wait to see more

Thanks. Hope to post more soon!

Love the update! So excited you did the Blue Lagoon Island Encounter! I was going to do that this week, but I have had a crazy work schedule and no one would step up to the plate and book it, so I am going parasailing instead! Sometimes it stinks being the one who always organizes everything! Cannot wait to hear the rest!

You are brave!!!! When do you go?

Ooooo, so excited that you did the dolphin encounter, that's the one we have booked too! Can't wait to hear more about it!

I do have a question for you, did they allow you to wear sunscreen while participating in this excursion? It seems like I read somewhere that you couldn't because it wasn't good for the dolphins. I am very fair skinned however and I'm afraid I'll look like a lobster afterwards if I can't put any on!

I never heard anyone tell us not too. I brought some along, but dumb me, forgot to actually apply it before going on the dock, so Claire and I got a little red. But I put it on as soon as we got back to our bag.

Wow, Nassau looks beautiful. I can't wait to read more about your Dolphin encounter. It looks like so much fun.

I think if you do an excursion, you can see some of the best of Nassau. There are some undesirables too. I've had a good time both times I've been there, but many don't like it. I would say that if you don't book an excurstion, have some plan, and most likely you won't stay all day in port. Atlantis is very beautiful too. I didn't shop this time around, but some places can be pushy...especially the straw Market.

 

[stephielela]

That dolphin encounter looks awesome! How fun!

 

[Caretames1]

The dolphin encounter looks like it wasn't too crowded. I suppose a lot of people at once would be a lot for the dolphins to handle. I'm wondering of Clarie was scared at all or did she just jump right in?


I know, wait patiently

 

[petals]

luvin the dolphin update

 

[jenseib]

Dot did a few tricks while our guy (I can’t remember his name, but he was really good and friendly) told us about her.
The photographer also told us about few options. One was a book and a CD of the pictures he took. No one wanted it. I asked about just a CD, and he didn’t know the price…which led me to believe that he didn’t take a lot of pictures unless you bought the book. I didn’t buy the book, but looking back, I wish I did.

Claire and I also wore water shoes, and they asked us to take those off.

We then took turns getting into the water by families. We picked one family member to get a kiss from our Dolphin and they shot a picture of it. That water was SOOOO COLD! The adults had to crouch down into the water and WOW!...Quite the shock.
Another thing, the platform you stand on is full of algae. Really gross feeling. And slippery too.

I handed off my camera to another family to take our picture. That’s what most of us did while in the water. We just asked some another family who was not in the water to take pictures. It worked out pretty good. I know I took a ton of one family with their camera. LOL!

Take note of the girl sitting on the right side in the background looking at her camera…….

After each family got a picture taken with Dot, we then got called back into the water in groups to interact with her. This is when I realized I hadn’t put sunscreen on. Luckily we didn’t get TOO burned, but we both got red. I was sitting with my back totally exposed to the sun, and I knew Claire was getting hit hard too. But the sunscreen was up in the locker, so we stuck it out.

Every so often Dot would swim away and we would have to wait for her to decide to come back. And every so often we would get some other rogue Dolphin coming in for a visit.

 

[jenseib]

That dolphin encounter looks awesome! How fun!

It was pretty neat.

The dolphin encounter looks like it wasn't too crowded. I suppose a lot of people at once would be a lot for the dolphins to handle. I'm wondering of Clarie was scared at all or did she just jump right in?


I know, wait patiently

They had several encounters and swims going on at the same time so they could keep the groups numbers down.

I just did a small update. I knew it was going to take me too long to go through the rest of the pictures yet and wasn't sure if I would even get to them tomorrow.

luvin the dolphin update

Just added a bit more!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I'm loving it! I have heard the water is very cold. I guess you get distracted though so it's not so bad. The water looks beautiful though. What time did you book your excursion for? I think I read the first one is at 9:30??? Also, did they allow you take your camera in the water? I thought I read on their website that you could, but now I am wondering since you had someone taking pictures for you.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

I was just looking at the BL Dolphin Encounters website and I found a place where you can enter the date and time of your excursion and it will pull up all the pictures that were taken of your group. I'm sure yours would be in there. They still have all the photos for sale, but even if you don't want to order them, it would be neat to see them. Here's the link:

http://www.printroom.com/pro/dolphinencounters/default.asp?

 

[jenseib]

I'm loving it! I have heard the water is very cold. I guess you get distracted though so it's not so bad. The water looks beautiful though. What time did you book your excursion for? I think I read the first one is at 9:30??? Also, did they allow you take your camera in the water? I thought I read on their website that you could, but now I am wondering since you had someone taking pictures for you.

I did the 9:30, which means you meeet at 9:30 in the Buena Vista Theatre.
Yes with Blue Lagoon you can take your camera in the water, but honestly it's too hard to do pictures of your own family in the water. You are all right next to each other. So it's better to pass it off. Atlantis doesn't allow the cameras.

I was just looking at the BL Dolphin Encounters website and I found a place where you can enter the date and time of your excursion and it will pull up all the pictures that were taken of your group. I'm sure yours would be in there. They still have all the photos for sale, but even if you don't want to order them, it would be neat to see them. Here's the link:

http://www.printroom.com/pro/dolphinencounters/default.asp?

Yes, I did know that.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Yes with Blue Lagoon you can take your camera in the water, but honestly it's too hard to do pictures of your own family in the water. You are all right next to each other. So it's better to pass it off. Atlantis doesn't allow cameras.

So do you think if you had an observer you could get good pictures? My DH isn't sure that he wants to do it, so I'm considering that for him and thought he could take some video or pictures for us.

Discovery Cove doesn't allow pictures either which is what is causing me to go back and forth on which one I want to do (DC or BL). If I have to pay for those expensive pictures, then that really increases the cost. That is the main advantage of BL in my opinion.

 

[jenseib]

So do you think if you had an observer you could get good pictures? My DH isn't sure that he wants to do it, so I'm considering that for him and thought he could take some video or pictures for us.

Discovery Cove doesn't allow pictures either which is what is causing me to go back and forth on which one I want to do (DC or BL). If I have to pay for those expensive pictures, then that really increases the cost. That is the main advantage of BL in my opinion.

The obsever can not climb down to your platform, they have to stay on the main dock. I would say no, they can't get good pictures. Your back is to them for the most part.

 

[jenseib]

The obsever can not climb down to your platform, they have to stay on the main dock. I would say no, they can't get good pictures. Your back is to them for the most part.

THOUGH!! For the swim it would probably work, as they seemed to face the platform, But in the Encouter you didn't.

 

[jenseib]

We were not in the first group to interact with Dot, so I just took some pictures and watched. I believe we were the 2nd group though.

Here she is blowing out her blow hole.

Our turn!!! We got to run our fingers across her teeth and feel them.

Dancing with Dot! I make some of the weirdest faces!

Can you tell she liked it?

And this is the copied redneck version from the site.

And the redneck version of Claire’s kiss.

Claire and I were done with our turn with Dot. We told her goodbye and headed back up to the dock.

Claire and I went back to the locker and got our things. We dried off and wrapped up in towels.

I got a tap on my shoulder and heard….”that certainly isn’t the camera you had last night”. It was the couple from the show who had asked me about my settings/camera. They had done a dolphin excursion as well. I laughed and told them no, that one was left back on the ship.

While we were gathering our things they played the video that was taken while we had our excursion. I asked Claire what she thought. She kind of wanted it, I wasn’t sure. I told her we would go look at our pictures first and then decided.

Of course Claire spotted the gift shop! She instantly fell in love with a pillow with a dolphin on it.
I made sure this was something she really wanted and told her it would be coming out of her spending money and she was fine with that.

I snapped a picture of Claire with the pillow

and then put that camera away and pulled out the point and shoot. So all the rest of the pictures are lost…….

I took a look at our pictures…and WOW! How can you refuse. BE AWARE!!!! If you go in thinking you won’t buy, you will be VERY tempted. Luckily I didn’t go in thinking that! LOL! They had 3 pictures displayed and I wanted them all. We found out that if you got the DVD, which was on sale, the price wasn’t too bad…Ok it was bad, but not full price bad. LOL!
I decided on the DVD and 3 picture package. It also came with some magnets and key chains with our picture on them as well.
Claire and I headed off to the bathroom while we waited for the DVD to be made. Remember that girl I had pointed out earlier, well she was in there and she was dressed…..in Disney kids club CM clothes. I asked her if she had the afternoon off and she told me that when they do good things Disney rewards them with prizes. Her prize was the dolphin encounter.
Claire and I then stopped for a drink and some ibuprofen from the little store. I think Claire might’ve gotten an ice cream bar of some sort too. We walked around a bit in the area and I took several pictures. We didn’t wander to far though, as I wanted to get my DVD as soon as it was done and be on the next boat back which was at 1PM.

About 10 till 1 the DVD was ready and we paid for our purchases and headed to the dock.

Here is what we got.

This is the redneck version of the DVD. I can not find anyway to actually copy the DVD to my computer, so I recorded it with my camera off the TV and loaded it to youtube. Of course the quality is not great, but you get the idea. I am the one with the horrid laugh too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSMJSiqcqWQ

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

How wonderful! I'm so glad that you and Claire got to experience this. Seeing your pictures makes me want to do this all the more.

One question, were you able to observe the swim at all? If so, would you say it would be worth the extra $$ to do it? I really want to do an encounter, but the Discovery Cove option is close to $250 and this seems like the Bahamian option would be well worth the money. TIA!