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

[jenseib]

Before Claire and Mom had left, I realized that the “gift” and “note” of the day had not been left out that morning. So I quickly just flopped it on the bed and told Claire I saw something. She was surprised to see it in the afternoon, but happy. Here’s the note.

I can’t remember for sure what the gift was, but I think it was a package of Disney Princess underwear. She’s very picky about her underwear. You have to have a Princess on your butt at all times! I think she even wore a pair after her bath that day.

While Mom and Claire were off solving mysteries I decided to turn my laptop on and try to upload some photos. While the laptop was starting up I went out on the verandah and took some pictures of Atlantis. This was another one of the “shots” I wanted to get. I played with some settings and then some editing too.

And this one is probably my favorite, though not perfect.

So I cropped it. And this is what I wanted to get!

And then I took a picture of these guys doing some work.

And remember that light house…you didn’t think I was going to give up getting a shot I liked, did you?

And then I turned back to Atlantis again.

And these guys again!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Oh, I love ALL of the pictures! They are terrific! I actually think I like the closeups of each building the best. I especially like this building with the bridge. It's all so beautiful though. I'm so glad you did end up with some pictures and didn't loose them all.

 

[MEK]

All caught up again. The princess meet pictures are wonderful. Claire's dress is so cute.

I really enjoyed all your pretty pictures of Nassau! It must be so wonderful to see such beautiful scenery up close.

Looking forward to more.

 

[jenseib]

Oh, I love ALL of the pictures! They are terrific! I actually think I like the closeups of each building the best. I especially like this building with the bridge. It's all so beautiful though. I'm so glad you did end up with some pictures and didn't loose them all.

I like that one too.

All caught up again. The princess meet pictures are wonderful. Claire's dress is so cute.

I really enjoyed all your pretty pictures of Nassau! It must be so wonderful to see such beautiful scenery up close.

Looking forward to more.

It is pretty. I wish I could look at it today!

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

YAY for princesses! Eliza ran over to look with me as soon as she spied a princess on the computer screen. LOVE princess Minnie too!

I agree with others that I prefer your pics to theirs too - with a few very rare exceptions, that's what I've always found with my own pics too. They either look nearly identical to the PP ones or I really dislike the lighting most times on theirs.

The little detective game looks super cute! And how fun that Claire and Grandma got to enjoy it together. I had to smile at the name Adda too - my mom is Baba b/c that's what Benjamin started calling her at about 18 months and you know a first time grandma isn't going to correct him or try and change it!

Gorgeous Atlantis pics. Sigh, it would be so lovely to be there right now!!

You guys had a nice day for Cedar Point, at least! (Although I don't know about you guys, but it's currently back to raining here! UGH!!) DH always wants to go to CP, but it would SO not be worth the $$$ for us - Eliza would want to ride a lot but probably be too short, I don't even know that Benjamin would like some of the tamer stuff, I don't ride big stuff, I keep telling DH he should go with friends!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

What gorgeous pictures of Atlantis! and the Lighthouse.

Love your trip report. Your pictures are wonderful.

 

[KatMark]

Great pictures on Atlantis and the Lighthouse, Jen.

 

[jenseib]

YAY for princesses! Eliza ran over to look with me as soon as she spied a princess on the computer screen. LOVE princess Minnie too!

I agree with others that I prefer your pics to theirs too - with a few very rare exceptions, that's what I've always found with my own pics too. They either look nearly identical to the PP ones or I really dislike the lighting most times on theirs.

The little detective game looks super cute! And how fun that Claire and Grandma got to enjoy it together. I had to smile at the name Adda too - my mom is Baba b/c that's what Benjamin started calling her at about 18 months and you know a first time grandma isn't going to correct him or try and change it!

Gorgeous Atlantis pics. Sigh, it would be so lovely to be there right now!!

You guys had a nice day for Cedar Point, at least! (Although I don't know about you guys, but it's currently back to raining here! UGH!!) DH always wants to go to CP, but it would SO not be worth the $$$ for us - Eliza would want to ride a lot but probably be too short, I don't even know that Benjamin would like some of the tamer stuff, I don't ride big stuff, I keep telling DH he should go with friends!

How cute of Eliza. Claire does that sometimes too. Or she wants to know who each kid is.
I did OK, but I am glad to have the ships photos as well...after all, I'm not in many pictures. I think my Mom thought I was nuts getting into some of them though.
My son started calling my Mom Adda when he was little too (he's 22 now). We have no clue why. Just one day he said, Hey Adda...blah blah blah...and it stuck. And now all the grand kids, including my sisters call her Adda. Paige does call her grandma more though now. Claire goes back and forth.
Cedar Point was fun, but I'm am not a thrill seeker like that anymore. The rides just got too tall for me. The tallest I ever rode there was the Magnum and it's been a LONG time since I last rode it. I might've rode a few bigger ones this time if I wasn't having such a problem with my neck and shoulders lately. I have had a bad neck and shoulders for about 15 years or so, but it comes and goes, and it's at its worst right now. About 12 years ago I took Michael and Paige to Kings Island for a weekend. One of the 1st rides Paige and I rode (Michael won't ride anything) was the beast and I swear it crunched my spine on the first hill. I was in so much pain and had to go to the chiripracter quite a bit afterwards. Since then I am selective on what I ride. I know what will kill me and what can be tolerated. I also don't like to spin or go up high much anymore ,so that really limits me.
At one time I had a season pass to Cedar Point...boy it sucks to get old.

What gorgeous pictures of Atlantis! and the Lighthouse.

Love your trip report. Your pictures are wonderful.

Thanks so much. I enjoy taking a lot of pictures of the same thing.

Great pictures on Atlantis and the Lighthouse, Jen.

Thanks. It was so nice to have a verandah to be able to shoot off of.

 

[jenseib]

After taking several shots of the same things over and over, I hooked the camera up to my laptop. I waited for the little light to turn blue on the camera, meaning I could do the simple upload. It never happened. My camera just kept saying it was busy. I don’t use the laptop much for photos, but I have given it a try at home to be sure it could do it. It wasn’t happening this time around. So I went to my computer and found the pictures on the camera. I tried to get them copied that way and again, I couldn’t get it figured out. The laptop is Vista, and it’s so much different than XP. I think since I have come home now, that I got the settings turned to the right thing to copy the pictures, but I will have to check it out again to be sure they stuck! LOL!
Anyways, I messed with this stupid laptop for WAY TOO LONG. I just couldn’t get it to work. I was supposed to be showering and getting ready this whole time, but NO, I was frustrated and trying to conquer the “Vista”.
Before I knew it, Mom and Claire were hopping back into the room. Wow, where did the time go…Oh yeah,…. it went with a lot of cussing at the laptop.

They said they had a ball doing the mission and I think they even started the 2nd one. Mom said she was very tired. There was a lot of walking to the front and back of the ship and up and down as well. She said she was very sore….but Claire was still hopping all around with excitement. The plan was to finish it up later on.

I jumped in the shower finally and got ready. All nice and pretty. We got Claire cleaned up as well.
This was pirate night, so Claire and I were going to join in the fun with all the other Buccaneers. So we had our pirate geer on. Mom declined the use of my extra pirate hat, but she did wear the bandana left in the room. I think she tied it around her neck.



It was time to head out to the show again.

We walked THROUGH pink this time, kind of by accident. I had wanted to come here one night and try out the special champagne, but I just never had the time. I also wanted to take more pictures of it, but again, I never did. I think this is the only one I took inside the whole time.

And I guess I took a quick shot inside of D Lounge too.

Claire wanted to sit in the balcony again, so we headed that way. We found a perfect spot, dead center in the balcony, but as we were going to sit, two young teens, quickly let us know they were saving 20 plus seats for their family. This irked me. There is no seat saving allowed at the shows, but rather than cause a scene, I just glared at them and turned around and told my Mom, “They are saving the seats…even though Disney doesn’t allow it”. So I’m sure they heard it, and hopefully thought better next time. We find a spot very close to where we had sat the night before and waited. That family, by the way, came in at the VERY last minute.

The show for the night was Villains Tonight. This was my least favorite show. It was OK, but in the future, I would personally skip it. This was Claire’s FAVORITE show however. …..Which is funny, because I debated going to it since she has such a fear of villains lately. The guy who played Hades was funny and good and I know he was ad libbing at times. I didn’t care for a lot of the music, nor did I really think the story line was very good. Great costumes again though!

I believe this is Pain and Panic, and I believe they are from Hercules….which we have never seen. Ok, I think years ago I might’ve watched part of it, and I think we have it on VHS somewhere, but I don’t know much about the story all.
Claire thought they were funny…I thought they were kind of dumb.

Claire does NOT like Ursala at all, so she was a little scared when she came out, but she did fine.

And then my card ran out of memory, so I fumbled in the dark to change it…but while doing that, the lights went on and an announcement came on. There was a technical error and the show would resume shortly. Hades then adlibbed a bit and he was so funny. He then went off the stage and Pain and Panic came back out and interacted with the audience for a few minutes till the show restarted.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Hmmm. Just from looking at your pictures, I'm not sue that show would light my fire. I didn't see many characters that I even recognize. We've never seen Hercules either and really don't have any interest in it. Do you think VT is worth seeing just once or would you recommend skipping it altogether. I'm wondering if this would be a good time to get some swimming in or do something else on the ship. Since we only have 3 nights, I'm paying close attention to anything that I can cut out in favor of doing something else. This may be it. Your pictures are still great though.

 

[KatMark]

Nice pictures, Jen. But besides Ursula, I don't recognize one of those villians.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I've gotta admit that the Villains show didn't look like something that'd rock my world either.

 

[jenseib]

I do have a few more pictures to post yet, some with characters you might recognize.

Hmmm. Just from looking at your pictures, I'm not sue that show would light my fire. I didn't see many characters that I even recognize. We've never seen Hercules either and really don't have any interest in it. Do you think VT is worth seeing just once or would you recommend skipping it altogether. I'm wondering if this would be a good time to get some swimming in or do something else on the ship. Since we only have 3 nights, I'm paying close attention to anything that I can cut out in favor of doing something else. This may be it. Your pictures are still great though.

My thinking was to try each show at least once. It wasn't that great, but Claire LOVED it, like I said. If we do go again, I will send Skip with her to see it, since he hasn't seen it yet. Claire loves to watch shows though. You can look for videos of parts of it on youtube and watch a bit to see if you like it. I didn't think it had a lot of music that I enjoyed. It does have Cruella DeVil again and that was the best part of the show, for the most part. Very toe tapping there.
This is a perfect time to ride the Aqua Dcuk though. We went to the pirate party after the show and the Auqua duck basically had no line. But we had dressed as pirates, so I didn't want to get undressed and redressed for dinner.

Another perfect time for the Aqua Duck in on CC day. We went to the island, then came back when it opened and rode and played a bit and then back to the island.

It sounds like you decided on the 3 night one then?

Nice pictures, Jen. But besides Ursula, I don't recognize one of those villians.

Yeah, I'm not aquainted with a lot of the characters they had either. The evil queen/hag from Snow White was posted though and Malificent, but those pictures weren't that great.

I've gotta admit that the Villains show didn't look like something that'd rock my world either.

There were parts of it that were great, but for the most part, I wouldn't mind missing it in the future. I am glad I did see it though.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

It sounds like you decided on the 3 night one then?

Well not exactly. I'm sooooo indecisive. I still actually have both cruises booked, but I "think" the 3 night cruise is "probably" going to be the one. I'd prefer the 4 night, but there are some factors to my decision that haven't been worked out yet. I'm still waiting on some things that are changing with DH's job that could effect our vacation dates. I'm also waiting for the fall discounts to come out from WDW. The discounts may have restrictions, and I want to be flexible enough to change dates to get the discount if need be. So I've paid the deposit on both cruises and I'm just waiting to see what's going to happen. I'm basically planning for the 3 night, and if we get 4, then it's a bonus! If I was rich.... I'd just book the 7 night cruise, then spend a week at the Beach Club and say, screw the discounts. But for the foreseeable future, that's not happening!

Have you decided what cruise you want to take next?

 

[jenseib]

Well not exactly. I'm sooooo indecisive. I still actually have both cruises booked, but I "think" the 3 night cruise is "probably" going to be the one. I'd prefer the 4 night, but there are some factors to my decision that haven't been worked out yet. I'm still waiting on some things that are changing with DH's job that could effect our vacation dates. I'm also waiting for the fall discounts to come out from WDW. The discounts may have restrictions, and I want to be flexible enough to change dates to get the discount if need be. So I've paid the deposit on both cruises and I'm just waiting to see what's going to happen. I'm basically planning for the 3 night, and if we get 4, then it's a bonus! If I was rich.... I'd just book the 7 night cruise, then spend a week at the Beach Club and say, screw the discounts. But for the foreseeable future, that's not happening!

Have you decided what cruise you want to take next?

I've decided on all of them. It's just talking Skip into it. I would REALLY like to do the 5 day next March on the Dream. I'm gonn have to bring it up pretty soon and see what he thinks. I'll remind him about the deposit too. Since he now Knows that the prices DO go up as the time get closer...something he didn't beleive me about before. If we do that though, I highly doubt we'll go to WDW. The price is high, but maybe I can get him to go 1 night to Universal.

 

[bubba's mom]

We wouldn't know the characters either...then again, we didn't see ANY shows.

Oddly enuf tho, Hades remindes me of a blue/green colored Heat Miser from the Miser Brothers

 

[jenseib]

We wouldn't know the characters either...then again, we didn't see ANY shows.

Oddly enuf tho, Hades remindes me of a blue/green colored Heat Miser from the Miser Brothers

Thats so funny, because I kept thinking that too! I like shows, but I wish we had more nights so I could've skipped a few smaller ones. Claire LOVES shows. I take her to musicals every so often. I think it's in my blood as my Aunt (Dads sister, the one he was visiting while we were cruising) was actually my music teacher in grades 1-8, and my other Aunt (Mom's sister) was in a bad for awhile, gave and stil lgive guitar lessons abd has wrote a ton of songs, some of which have sold, but never to anyone very popular....but Whitney Houston contempated using one of there songs for a long time. She passed and someone else bought it.

I just wasn't thrilled with the Villains theme as it seemed kind of scary for little ones. Though it ended up funny and cheesy.

 

[Caretames1]

I like Claire's pirate pose

I wouldn't have know that the character was Hades. I've seen Hercules, but I guess the resemblence is off for me.

I love going to shows, I went to Wicked this year and WOW is all I can say. Kadence was mad she couldn't go, but maybe the next time it comes around.

 

[aamove]

Love your trip report and all of the pictures are great. Can't wait until next March to be on the Dream

 

[Stefy]

That's a shame you didn't like the Villains show (DF is looking forward to that one most).

Claire looks so cute in her Pirate outfit