The McSparklesons Sail the Magic... AGAIN! $500 Potato Chips! 3/13

[karajeboo]

We had a family at our table who wore jeans and wrinkled T-shirts to semi-formal night. She was all over the DIS, and even organized our FE exchange. I'm thinking they got back from an excursion late and just flew in for dinner. I would have gone to the buffet or asked for another solution.

I just don't get it.....

I totally missed the send off...hope you had a great time.

What? You didn't set your alarm and drop EVERYTHING to see us go? Sheesh!

593

That's too long, Peas!!!!

Did you ladies rebook? No, that would be too far - unless you are doing land next time, then sea the next?

That's our date for our NYE cruise December 2013. It'll go by just like THAT!

And I agree- it IS too far!!!!!!

I agree.... as I sit here trying to figure out if I can swing a 3 night Dream cruise when Ally has fall break and Jeff has his golf weekend in October..... I cannot wait until next spring break for our Freedom of the Seas and then another 9 months after that for our NYE Fantasy cruise!!!! I've got it baaaaaad!

 

[karajeboo]

I'm working on uploading some video from Day 2 right now.... Once I get that where it needs to be I'll be back with an update!!!!

 

[karajeboo]

Well, Jeff woke up the first morning as he usually does on vacation.... at 530am! I have no idea why, but he doesn't do this at home.

So for those who said you oversleep in an inside stateroom? HA!

I woke up about 630 - again, HA! - and when I didn't see him, I got dressed and went up on deck and sure enough, he was out on deck drinking coffee and taking photos.

Apparently the funnel vision has the same internal alarm clock as Jeff...

This is the calmest you will EVER see the Goofy Pool!

And the Quiet Cove Pool is REALLY quiet at this hour!

We wandered around for a bit before heading back to get ready for our character breakfast, followed by our first port of the cruise!

Oh, and did I mention?

Happy 11th Birthday to my favorite daughter Ally!!!!!

As it turns out, LAST YEAR we also celebrated her birthday (Disney math.... 11 this year, minus 1 year ago = her 10th birthday!) at the character breakfast, too! How cool is THAT?

Now the really tough part was that Jeff, Tammi and I all had Palo brunch scheduled for today, and we talked about changing our character breakfast, but really, why bother? We could go and drink our coffee, say "hey" to Mickey and friends, and then turn the girls loose while we go and gorge ourselves, right?

I just LOVE Parrot Cay, and we would only have one meal in here this trip, so I was glad we came.

Before long, they came round one by one....

Character Breakfast - Minnie - VIDEO - click to play!

Oh, and Jeff's FAVORITE part of this breakfast!

Don't worry honey, your turn will come!!!!!

Character Breakfast - Mickey - VIDEO - click to play!

I was totally shocked that Chip n Dale were not there, like they were last year, especially since they are Tori and Ally's favorites! In fact, they were hard to find this entire cruise!

Maybe those squirrels were being chased by the rats around our cabin? Oh yeah, when you do see them? Call them squirrels, they REALLY like that!

Continued next post

 

[karajeboo]

Once Tammi and I finished our coffee, the girls finished breakfast, and Jeff finished his 1/2 breakfast ("gotta prepare my stomach for Palo buffet!"), and all the characters were gone, we headed out to go get ready for some adult time!

I mean, we'd already been gone for over 12 hours..... how much family time are we expected to endure??????

Heading back to our cabin, Jeff was careful not to work off too much of his breakfast, after all, it was "preparing his stomach" for brunch.... Need that expansion brother!

After we got changed, Ally wanted to show us the secret aft deck on 7, so we followed her and lo and behold.....

We tried to come out here a couple of other times and it was either locked, or filled with teenagers..... and I just don't wanna know.

So we took advantage of a late port day to make our Palo brunch reservations, and it was the perfect time!

Palo Entrance - VIDEO - click to play!

This was the first time we'd tried Palo for brunch, and I'm sooooo mad at missing it last year! Soooo much food, and all of it sooooo yummy!

Of course we started with mimosas.....

And then our incredible server, Mo, took us to explain the buffet.

Are you ready? Cause we all know Jeff's stomach has been prepared....

Palo Brunch Buffet - VIDEO - click to play!

After he showed us the buffet items, he took us to the special order section where we could choose from various breakfast items, eggs florentine, benedict, fritattas, or heartier lunch fare like chicken parm, veal saltimbocca, and of course their incredible pizzas!

Mo insisted we try the gorgonzola and grape pizza, which was already on my radar even before he ordered it for us.....

Continued next post....

 

[karajeboo]

To that man I say....

Just a few platefuls up close....

Then Tammi asked me a question we have yet to answer.....

Is this made of sugar?

I told her if she'd go and lick it I'd buy her brunch.... but she's chicken!

Mo was such an excellent server and he spent a lot of time at our table chatting with us. I was giving him a hard time about this being our captain's first voyage, and watching out the windows as we approached Key West.

I was asking Mo if our captain was really qualified, or if we were just guinea pigs? And of course the language barrier had poor Mo defending the captain (his boss!) and assuring me that we were in good hands, while I just giggled and giggled at all my own stupid jokes! So much so that Mo started giggling right along with me and grabbed my camera to take MY picture!

Once we finished our meal and waddled out of Palo, we all headed to our cabins to get changed for the day, and I wondered the whole way why oh why I didn't bring a wardrobe in the next size up..... ugh.

Up next, Freakville!!!!

 

[hardingk]

Thanks for the great update!!

We bought DH's nephews the same Buckeye Mickey shirts for Christmas! I didn't know they had them in adult sizes! My dad would have loved one!!!

 

[marciemouse]

We didn't have Chip and Dale for our character breakfast on the Wonder in March either. I LOVED Palo brunch. So yummy!

 

[pinkxray]

Wow, Palo looks incredible

I can't wait to hear about Key West. Is there much to do there?

 

[anewmac]

food looks so yummy, and its so cool that Ally gets to celebrate her bday on the ship TWICE!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Oh my...that buffet looks amazing! I don't think I have seen up-close pics and videos before!

I need to edit my packing list: "Bring your eatin' pants."

 

[MAGICFOR2]

That's our date for our NYE cruise December 2013. It'll go by just like THAT!

And I agree- it IS too far!!!!!!

Oh I forgot about that one! I don't know how - DBIL wants to do a DCL together in 2014 and I was thinking about talking them into doing that one with you instead because the celebrate their anniversary on NYE! I have to "test the waters" first! They are alot of fun! Funny how fast those 592 days will go by!

I just don't get it.....



What? You didn't set your alarm and drop EVERYTHING to see us go? Sheesh!



That's too long, Peas!!!!

Cute



I agree.... as I sit here trying to figure out if I can swing a 3 night Dream cruise when Ally has fall break and Jeff has his golf weekend in October..... I cannot wait until next spring break for our Freedom of the Seas and then another 9 months after that for our NYE Fantasy cruise!!!! I've got it baaaaaad!

That's the problem with these cruises - the more you cruise, the more you want to be on a cruise. Who wouldn't want to just be catered to and waited on hand and foot all the time while being entertained and visiting interesting ports all over the world?

That's probably what the Navy recruiters tell prospective squids when they are trying to "sell" them!

Now back to read the update - looks delicious!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Oh, I am drooling now! Def want to do the brunch next time! So funny about Mo taking you so seriously. How did he react after you got the giggles?

Love Jeff's breakfast hat - especially the earrings!

 

[tony64]

We love Palo, we prefered brunch to dinner,how about you?
Can't wait to try it again on our Med. cruise next year.

 

[karajeboo]

Thanks for the great update!!

We bought DH's nephews the same Buckeye Mickey shirts for Christmas! I didn't know they had them in adult sizes! My dad would have loved one!!!

I got it at the shop right next to Casey's on Main St in Magic Kingdom 2 or 3 years ago.....

We didn't have Chip and Dale for our character breakfast on the Wonder in March either. I LOVED Palo brunch. So yummy!

I just checked out your Wonder TR - the MR looks beautiful!!!! So funny to see the little differences in the two sister ships.....

Wow, Palo looks incredible

I can't wait to hear about Key West. Is there much to do there?

Well, did you notice the "up next" title? Freakville? That was what Ally called Key West.....

food looks so yummy, and its so cool that Ally gets to celebrate her bday on the ship TWICE!

And next year when we are on RCI Freedom, she gets to celebrate it the day we get off the ship! Jeff had that luxury LAST year and said it was his worst bday EVER!

Oh my...that buffet looks amazing! I don't think I have seen up-close pics and videos before!

I need to edit my packing list: "Bring your eatin' pants."

Oh, yeah, Eatin Pants are MUST!!!!

Oh I forgot about that one! I don't know how - DBIL wants to do a DCL together in 2014 and I was thinking about talking them into doing that one with you instead because the celebrate their anniversary on NYE! I have to "test the waters" first! They are alot of fun! Funny how fast those 592 days will go by!

That's the problem with these cruises - the more you cruise, the more you want to be on a cruise. Who wouldn't want to just be catered to and waited on hand and foot all the time while being entertained and visiting interesting ports all over the world?

That's probably what the Navy recruiters tell prospective squids when they are trying to "sell" them!

Now back to read the update - looks delicious!

Oh, I am drooling now! Def want to do the brunch next time! So funny about Mo taking you so seriously. How did he react after you got the giggles?

Love Jeff's breakfast hat - especially the earrings!

I don't think poor Mo knew how to take me.... but he requested us (and we requested him) to be our dinner server later in the week. He was awesome!

We love Palo, we prefered brunch to dinner,how about you?
Can't wait to try it again on our Med. cruise next year.

I actually told Jeff that if I could only do one it might be brunch. I LOVE Palo dinner, but I love a good brunch, and just the relaxing atmospher of the brunch is almost better than dinner for me.....

 

[Beth D]

Wow! Love the brunch pics! DH and I did dinner first night there, and I took pics of the antipasta spread. They are so awesome up there!

Love the hats! They gave one fella at our table the ones where the ears are the plate covers, it was huge!

Happy Birthday Allie! 2 more years until teenager!

 

[hardingk]

I got it at the shop right next to Casey's on Main St in Magic Kingdom 2 or 3 years ago....

no way....I never saw them there. I got theirs at the Disney store online.

 

[Simba22]

Wow! The food at Palo looks amazing! I can't WAIT to finally take a Disney Cruise!

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

Can't remember if I have commented before, but I have been following along with your report. We just went on our first Disney Cruise (4-night Bahamian on the Magic). We went without our children, but I didn't book Palo because I didn't want to miss any of the dining experiences in the MDR on our first trip. I am now kicking myself for not booking the brunch! It would have been PERFECT. We are going as a family in December on the Dream, but I am afraid it will be much more difficult to secure a reservation then. Our Magic cruise was not full, and the Dream cruise has few rooms left. I guess I'll try at the 90 day mark and then try again when we first get on board if I don't have luck online. WHY did we not do this? So jealous!

 

[jenseib]

brunch looks fabulous...I'm gonna be t rying for that in Nov.!

 

[pinkxray]

Well, did you notice the "up next" title? Freakville? That was what Ally called Key West.....

I didn't notice that part. I guess that must mean there is some good people watching at least.