No Orcas, No Bears, No Fly! But Why?? Disney Wonder Alaska VIDEO/PICS/NAVS/MENUS/MORE

[midwestpat]

MidwestPat:
Aww, I am glad you like it! You guys were so lucky to get to see a bear! I was so sad that I never got to see any the whole time we were there What is so funny too, when I think about you, one of the specific things I remember about you guys is how you couldn't get any fresh carrots. I am not sure why that sticks in my mind, the crazy things I remember...LOL.

Well, that was one of the stories we shared with you while waiting for a character greeting one night.

Having been on multiiple Carnival cruises, we anticipated the food servers would go out of their way to keep us happy - as Carnival food servers always did. Our servers were less accomodating. Not that we were trying to be difficult, they were just unwilling to customize any plate or go off the menu at all for us or the family we sat with. I was more annoyed when I found out the raw carrot sticks we desired were available in the adult-only lounge, and served on random days in the Oceaneer's Club or Lab. Once we discovered that, she chose to eat in the Lab everytime we would allow it.

Don't get me wrong - Disney's cruise staff were superb, and overall the cruise experience was definitely better that Carnival. But if I could have had a kid friendly vegetable or a whole banana served to my kid in the dining room, I would have been that much happier. And Carnival would have done that for us.

 

[midwestpat]

Sorry to say it was not a typo, but I guess you do have to remember that we went in the 2nd week of June, so maybe it will get a little warmer? I really have no idea. I kept pretty comfortable with my beanie and north face shell, I did have on like a long sleeve shirt underneath and then gloves. We live in NC, so I mean it gets into the 20's, 30's, 40's here in the winter time, so I guess I am used to that? I was never "Cold", but it was Cold outside, some people were giving us crazy looks earlier in the day for wearing all of that, but then after they were outside for a while, quite a few of them went to get more clothes to put on...LOL But hey, you could always buy a Disney Alaska Jacket and stuff to keep warm if you do get cold right...LOL

It was that cold. I had packed a fleece jacket and another jacket I intended to wear over it as a rain-resistant layer. In the end we wound up buying an Alaskan coat that was much better suited to the cold temps than what I had packed. (And we're from Indiana - I'm also used to colder weather.)

The real surprise for us came after the cruise. We had a cabin booked on Mount Raininer for two nights. At a ranger station near the bottom, a ranger told us about "an easy trail - about 1.25 miles. You could take strollers on it" near Paradise Inn (roughly 4,400 feet elevation). They have about 3 feet of snow, but it's packed hard and plowed along the path, so we should have no trouble she told us.

The next day we got up early and headed up the mountain. Long story short - the trail was anything BUT level, and DD(8) and I gave up early on and waited in the car while DH made the entire trip and returned an hour later totally exhausted from climbing.

Oh. And her estimate of snow? Way the heck off! The rangers at Paradise said it was officially 11.5 feet of snow, but I have pictures that show it towering over parked vehicles more than twice as high as the roofs. Huge amounts of snow! Apparently they get 6 weeks of warm weather a year. If you plan to visit Mt. Raininer, dress like it's December in North Dakota.

 

[Timon]

I just found your report a few days ago and I am all caught up now!

Just wanted to say a few things...

You and your hubby are too darn cute I just love how Jeremy is always making a funny face in almost every pic

I am loving all your pics and your mad photography skills woman!

I know you're not there yet in your trippie but we were on vacation in Victoria when you guys sailed in Our hotel was only a few minutes from Ogden Point so we drove over and watched you come in. I spotted you guys WAY out, those red stacks are so wonderfully unique We've been on the Magic 4 times but never seen the Wonder before so it was kind of exciting even though we weren't getting on

I took some pics if you would like to see but I will wait until after your get to that part in your report

Looking forward to reading the rest!

 

[DisSarahK]

But if I could have had a kid friendly vegetable or a whole banana served to my kid in the dining room, I would have been that much happier. And Carnival would have done that for us.

Am I going to have to stop by the Lab and ask for "veggies to go" for my kiddos or something? My six year old is awesome with vegetables--but only if they are raw. I think a lot of kids are like that. You'd think Disney would realize this.

 

[AAshleySEG]

I just found your report a few days ago and I am all caught up now!
Just wanted to say a few things...
You and your hubby are too darn cute I just love how Jeremy is always making a funny face in almost every pic
I am loving all your pics and your mad photography skills woman!
I know you're not there yet in your trippie but we were on vacation in Victoria when you guys sailed in Our hotel was only a few minutes from Ogden Point so we drove over and watched you come in. I spotted you guys WAY out, those red stacks are so wonderfully unique We've been on the Magic 4 times but never seen the Wonder before so it was kind of exciting even though we weren't getting on
I took some pics if you would like to see but I will wait until after your get to that part in your report
Looking forward to reading the rest!

That makes me very happy to know you are enjoying my report! I am having a lot of fun doing it! Yay! Another person who likes my hubby's silly faces! Hopefully there will be more of those on my next TR! I think the camera has more to do with it than me, but I will gladly take that compliment!! That is so cool about Victoria! We were on Deck 4 as we pulled into port! I would love to see your pics! I should have some fresh stories up for you tomorrow! Not too much left in my TR now Oh well I guess I will just have to go on another trip!

Am I going to have to stop by the Lab and ask for "veggies to go" for my kiddos or something? My six year old is awesome with vegetables--but only if they are raw. I think a lot of kids are like that. You'd think Disney would realize this.

You would think they would have more, considering they are pretty much everywhere in the parks!

 

[RGirl]

I am loving your trip report!!!! We leave for Seattle on Sunday and set sail on Monday!

It is so fun to see everything and get a glimpse of the fun in store for us. Thank you!

I also really enjoyed your days in Seattle. I haven't spent time there since I lived there while in college, and I have never really experienced it as a "destination" since I grew up in Washington. I think I may have to consider a Seattle vacation at some point!

 

[AAshleySEG]

It is 6:00am on the morning of our 5th Anniversary! We should be able to get off the ship at 7:15am so we are getting ready! Still in the dark about what we are doing today, Jeremy is really excited and curious. I am more anxious than excited at the moment, because I have kept this secret for so long now! I stepped outside briefly while Jeremy was getting ready to find it really cloudy and raining, so I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would clear up by the time we were supposed to go! At first glance I thought Ketchikan looks like a quaint little fishing village, and it was lovely!

It wasn't nearly as flat and spread out as Skagway or Juneau from what I could tell, but still adorable and small like most Southeastern Alaskan towns. Although it was a little bit touristy for my tastes. We went up to Beach Blanket for breakfast, but it was full so we were turned away. So instead, we just grabbed some cereal at Goofy's Galley. Jimmy came on the system with the announcements about leaving the ship and mentioned that the Disney booked Flight-Seeing tours had been cancelled. I was a little bummed, but then I remembered something I read on the Island Wings website. It said that usually it was pretty rainy and cloudy in Ketchikan and most companies cancel for that reason, but that once you got out of the town it usually cleared up toward Misty Fjords. I checked my phone to see if I had any messages or missed calls or anything, because they were supposed to call us if they were going to cancel. I didn't have anything, so that kept my spirits up! We still had 45 minutes or so until we were to meet at the Ketchikan Rain gauge. We got off the ship and it was definitely raining. Jeremy had to keep my camera inside his jacket so it wouldn't get wet. We walked down the street, and under a covered awning, I took a picture of Jeremy at the Ketchikan sign!

I was so worried about my camera getting messed up, because it was raining pretty steadily, that I didn't take very many pictures while we were walking around unless I could find something to stand under. We made our way down to Creek Street. Nothing was open of course because it was still pretty early, so we pretty much had it to ourselves.

At about 7:40 we started making our way back to the meeting point to wait for the van to pick us up! We still hadn't gotten any calls, so I took that as a pretty good sign that we were still going! Jeremy was still clueless as to what we were doing, the van showed up right around 8:00! Todd with Island Wings hopped out and came to greet us and the other family that was going to be with us on the excursion! He walked in, and I heard the words that I had feared, our flight has been cancelled! I kept this Anniversary surprise this entire time for nothing. At least Jeremy didn't really have to be disappointed. I, however, had been so excited for months, and now I was just sad. Could something just not go right for us on this trip??? I had some postcards to mail, of course, so we stopped by the mailbox right outside the Visitor's Center, where we were at the time. We also had a Travel Bug we needed to get moving, so we did a quick cache by the dock at Rain Barrel. Since we saved $480 by it being cancelled, we decided to get some souvenirs for a few people. I think we got Jeremy's mom a shirt, a hat for my dad, and my mom collects pens, so we got her one. Of course we got 2 more postcards and a magnet for us! By 9:00 we were back on the ship trying to figure out what to do next. We ended up going to Cove Cafe to have some coffee, the perfect thing after being cold and wet. Plus we only needed one more drink on our coffee card to get a free one, so that was good. I made a few phone calls and checked messages and emails while we were getting dry. I made sure to call my dad and tell him Happy Father's Day for tomorrow, since it will be too late at home by the time I have a signal in Victoria. We decided to brave the elements and head back outside for a bit before the boat leaves at 12:30. We found another geocache not too far from the ship, it was up a steep hill, but we did go up there, still cloudy and rainy as it was earlier.

On our way back down, I had filled out those postcards at Cove Cafe, so we stopped by that mailbox and sent those on their way. It was also almost lunch time so we stopped at the little Fish Shack on the dock (formerly Alaskan Surf) just for the Halibut...haha...that cracks me up every time I say it. The fish was great, not greasy at all with a very fresh taste! We made our way back to the ship, and to the room to change out of our wet clothes and caught the end of Ratatouille on the Pixar Channel (We kept it on that in the room the entire trip). We decided to walk around a little and ended up running into Belle, Ariel, Snow White, and Cinderella. Jeremy even got a photo op with 3 of them!

At about that time we got a text on our wave phone from The Schindels!!, we decided to meet up at Diversions at 1:30 to hang out! Jeremy and I went ahead down there, and while we were waiting we played a little Connect 4!

We played to 10 and I won the first game! I'm not sure how I managed to do that though? We then moved on to playing Guess Who! They have all sort of games in Diversions, it is a nice way to spend a rainy afternoon with friends and your husband on your Anniversary...LOL DDG (Darren, Deanna, & Gwen) showed up, we sat for a while had some drinks, talked, and then they taught me how to play War! At about 3:00 or so we headed up to Pinnochio's to get some pizza, Goofy's for Panini's, and about got blown off the deck and frozen! We grabbed a table inside at BBB. After we ate the boys got some ice cream. I was way too cold for that. Daisy was scheduled at 4:45 and Goofy at 5:15 to be in the atrium in their formal attire since it was semi-formal night tonight. I wanted photos of them in those outfits, we were a little underdressed for our photos with them though. When the photo ops were complete, we parted ways with our friends, and made our way to the room to get dressed for our Anniversary Dinner at Palo. Unfortunately, we are having to miss the Captain's Gala Menu, which looked really good! Our Palo reservation was at 8:30. After catching the middle of A Bug's Life, we went up to the Walt Disney Theater to see Disney Dreams, then at 7:30 we went to Wavebands to see Rondell Sheridan! I couldn't believe he was going to be doing a show! I used to watch him on TV all the time when he was on That's So Raven and Corey In The House on Disney Channel! He was hilarious! We definitely want to check out his adult show tomorrow night! We made it up to Palo a little early but were seated right away! We had Toni again! Strangely enough, come to find out, he is the roommate of Mario our rotational server!! Right when we got seated a photographer came around and got a lovely photo of us together! Jeremy and another bow tie! I love it!

He ordered us a very nice bottle of wine. We had our plate of antipasti, plus Jeremy had the trio of Mushroom Polenta, Shrimp, and Calamari. I had the cioppino! For our main courses, he had the Tenderloin and I the Lamb and for dessert of course we both had the chocolate soufflé and since I love Panna Cotta so much, I got that as well! We talked to Toni for at least 45 minutes after we were done eating, even the staff started paging him to get him back to his duties. As we were going back to our room, we must have been in some rough waters because the boat was rocking a lot! I think it was going full steam ahead to try and get us to Victoria on time tomorrow! We got back to the room and saw our little long eared towel bunny!

After that wine and walking around in the rain, we were both worn out, so our interesting, completely unplanned, 5th Anniversary day came to a close...Now we could be rocked to sleep by the boat as it makes its way into the night and into tomorrow, our last full day on the Disney Wonder.

 

[Linda67]

Great updates

I am in two minds as to booking either the whale watching excursion or the float plan and taku lodge excursion so it was interesting to see your review

I would be over the moon if we saw a bald eagle, we don't get too many in London

Shame about your float plane excursion but it looks like you still had a lovely day

I love the picture of you both a Palo

 

[Skylarr29]

Aww, I'm so sorry your excursion got cancelled No wonder you want to go back to Seattle more than Alaska, lol. It looks like you still had a wonderful time despite all the mishaps Last time I was in Alaska my glacier trek was cancelled so I feel your pain, I was so looking forward to it. We have two flight seeing excursions this time and I'm very nervous about them being cancelled. I'm going to have to look into this geocaching thing I keep hearing everyone talk about.

 

[AAshleySEG]

Ok, seriously now, when the boat is going from Ketchikan to Victoria, it rocks! If you can't feel it, you must live on a crab boat in the Berring Sea or something. I'm not sure how, but we managed to sleep in until 9:00am! We looked over the Navigator and Jeremy decided he wanted to go see Avengers at 11:00. We just dilly dallied in the room getting ready and watching the Pixar channel until we headed over to Buena Vista Theater. This one happened to be in 3D. Sidenote: If you happen to wear glasses like I do, the type of 3D glasses that they give out on the ship are a little dodgy to see out of at the same time as glasses. But if you can get them just right, they will be fine! Avengers is 2 1/2 hours long, so we were in there until 1:30. By that time I was starving! We left the movie and had a little time to stop by Shutters one last time, we had one extra photo credit from our package, so we decided to use it for another copy of the photo from Tracy Arm to give to the Schindels since we have had such a great time hanging out with them during our time aboard! It was also so nice of them, because yesterday on our Anniversary they gave us a Disney Seattle Pin, because that is where we met them, along with an Anniversary Card!! It was so thoughtful! As I was standing in line to get the photos marked off our package, Deanna called me on my wave phone. We planned to meet at the 2:00 Matinee of the Remember The Magic show! Darren and Gwen were in the pool, so it was just going to be her. Another funny thing that happened was this, which requires a little random story to go along with it.

So, when you are on a Disney cruise, you find yourself standing in a lot of different lines, Dining Room Lines, Character Lines, Shutters Lines, Food Lines, all sorts of lines. It seems to be the thing to do, to ask people standing in line with you where they are from to pass the time, no matter how small of a time frame it may be. So we were standing in line at Shutters, and the lady in front of me asks us where we are from. I said North Carolina, and she said, "Ok a little bit more", so I said right outside of Charlotte, and she said, "Ok a little bit more", so I said Stanley, and it turns out that she was from Cramerton, which is only about 10 miles from the small town that we live in! It is so funny the people you meet on a cruise ship on the other side of the country!

So with Shutters taken care of, we head for the Walt Disney Theater to meet Deanna. That theater was so crowded. Luckily her mom had some seats beside her, that we popped into to! After the show she headed back to her room and we went up to Deck 9 to get some food, Finally!! I was a strange time of day so we had to get Pizza from Pinnochio's and Chicken Fingers from Pluto's

I again had a coke for some reason, I think that was the 2nd time on the ship, shame on me for doing that! At least I knew I wouldn't do it anymore once we got home. While we were standing in line for Pluto's we saw Darren and Gwen, they were just getting out of the pool to head back to their room! After we ate we went down to the room to get our packing started, a few minutes later we heard a knock at the door! It was Deanna and Gwen! She had brought me some blister pads (because of the hiking in Skagway). We sat in the room and talked for a good long while and Gwen watched Monsters Inc, which happened to be the Pixar movie on at the moment. They had an excursion to go to in Victoria and needed to eat before they left. Goofy & Max were scheduled to be in Promenade Lounge today since it was Father's Day and they were going to miss it, so I told Gwen that I would gladly take her autograph book and get is signed by them for her. We went back to packing and boy that was a real chore considering how much extra stuff we acquired through FE and just buying a few souvenirs. We eventually did get everything ready to go. Our luggage tags were for the Minnie Group, but we had decided to take our own bags off the ship. Not a moment after we had finished packing there was another knock at the, they had come back to drop off the autograph book. They needed to get going to meet for their excursion, so Jeremy and I watched a bit of Ratatouille, before heading down to Deck 4 to watch the docking process in Victoria.

The ship was supposed to be into Victoria at 6:30, but we weren't cleared until almost 7:00. So Jeremy and I just decided to forego it and stay on the ship. He did take the time to snap a pic of me while we were outside though

After the crowds calmed down from trying to make a mad dash off of the ship to get into Victoria, Jeremy and I went to Guest Services to do a check on our balance, then get an Adventures By Disney brochure. In 2014, we are thinking of going to Peru to Macchu Picchu and also we just wanted to see what other places were being offered. We did his Dream Vacation this year, which was to Alaska. My 2nd is to go to Macchu Picchu, I guess technically it should be considered my first, because I am pretty sure that one is never going to happen. My number one is to stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite at Magic Kingdom. We walked down the hall to the Promenade Lounge to wait on Goofy & Max who were supposed to be there at 7:45, we grabbed a seat by the window

Jeremy was thirsty so he ordered one of the Alaskan White Label again, and I just got a water, as usual...LOL

While we were waiting we started looking over the brochure for a bit, we got a lot of trip ideas from it, but we need to pace ourselves on vacations. We already booked that other Disney Cruise while onboard and I have a trip planned in October to go to Disney World.

The character appearance kind of turned into a random dance party which was kind of cool! (Have video no photos) Luckily, we were able to get the autographs for Gwen and then we needed to go up to dinner for our last evening meal with Mario & Tricia. We were in Animator's Palate and the dining room was really empty, I guess lots of people decided to go to Victoria. For my courses tonight I had the Trio of Salmon (which looked like a duo to me), the Potato and Leek Soup, and the Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington.

Jeremy ordered the Dungeness Crabmeat Stuffed Tomato, the Potato and Leek Soup, and the Roasted Half Cornish Hen. Everything was really good tonight! We ordered our dessert and then the whole gang came over and sang Happy Anniversary to us since we missed being in the dining room yesterday. For dessert we had actually ordered the Till We Meet Again Sweet Temptations

But they brought us that, plus Baked Alaska, and an Anniversary Dessert as well! I am glad this 'If You See It, Eat It" thing is almost over because I don't know how much more I can handle of it!

We knew we were going to miss them when we left, so we changed our minds about carrying our own luggage off the ship and just decided to go ahead, put the tags on and come to the last breakfast in the morning. Before we left we took a group photo with them in their world vests!

When we left dinner, Jeremy ran up to the room to put the tags on the bags and put them outside of the door because they needed to be out in like 10 minutes. I went ahead upstairs to find a good viewing and video spot for the Till We Meet Again Party in the Atrium. It was sad saying goodbye to all the characters, but I know I will see them again very soon, at the time it was going to be in October, now it is going to be in August...LOL When that was over we made our way down to Wavebands for Rondell Sheridan's adult show, which was followed by the pub skit! It was hilarious, and definitely worth the watch if you happen to find yourself on a cruise in the future! Deanna called me during Rondell's show and I told her we would call them as soon as we were out of Wavebands! We ended up going to their room to say goodbye We gave Gwen her autograph book back and talked to them about their excursion at Butchart Gardens, which they LOVED! It was getting late so we headed back towards our room. Its really great when you meet such wonderful people on the Disboards and then in person. We became good friends with The Schindels and really would never have met had it not been for this site! We made it back to our room to see our very last turn down.

We made it to bed by 12:30 with A Bug's Life in the background, falling asleep on the last night of our WONDERful Cruise...

 

[Luv_Tink]

I can't believe your trip report is almost done! I look forward to checking for updates every day, now what am I going to do?

But seriously, a question for you. As far as clothing, what did you find you were really glad you had packed and was there anything you wished you had packed but didn't. Being from Western Washington I'm used to dressing in layers so I'm sure I have everything I need, I just don't want to pack it all!

Oh and, which North Face jacket do you have? I love the look of it from your Tracy Arm pictures.

 

[rogattdm]

Darren, Gwen and I truly believe our tirp was more fun because of meeting you guys. At first, our "meetings" which came in 3's were funny and random, but as we talked more it was apparent to me that we wanted to run into you guys more often. You two made our trip even more special! Thank you again for getting Max's autograph for Gwen - she talks about you guys quite often!

 

[Timon]

This is such a cool photo!! It almost looks photoshopped because you see deck 4 but absolutely zero water anywhere, just the town!

 

[Timon]

It's too bad you didn't get off in Victoria, it is such a beautiful city!!! One day, I will live there

That Sunday, it was sooooooo windy, we were supposed to drive around and explore but at our first stop, I got out and almost got blown over LOL! By the time we made it over to the pier, it was also really cold!

I had really wanted to walk out onto the sea wall to watch you guys come in but it was too windy and it wasn't safe. We weren't sure which pier you were coming into so I walked around a bit and figured it out. Then just before you pulled in, I dragged my husband and daughter out of the warm car

We had watched the Star Princess and the Norwegian Pearl sail in the evening before and the first one in had backed in, so I was really hoping you guys would back in too to get some good shots but you didn't

All the other sane people stayed in their cars but we found a bench right in front of the ship and enjoyed this very special and unique perspective of a Disney ship docking!

I was Facebooking at the time, I posted that I was wishing that I knew someone on that sailing so they could bring us some chicken tenders and chocolate croissants We joked that you could even throw them down to us

I guess because of the winds, you took a loooong time to dock but it was fun to watch!

Here's some pics...

Me and my girl on the other pier closer to the seawall.

When we stood on the bench, we could see you over the seawall

Then we ran across to the other terminal just in time to watch you come in...

Hubby and DD...

Okay, sorry to interrupt your thread....

And now back to your regularly scheduled trip report....

 

[AAshleySEG]

I can't believe your trip report is almost done! I look forward to checking for updates every day, now what am I going to do?

But seriously, a question for you. As far as clothing, what did you find you were really glad you had packed and was there anything you wished you had packed but didn't. Being from Western Washington I'm used to dressing in layers so I'm sure I have everything I need, I just don't want to pack it all!

Oh and, which North Face jacket do you have? I love the look of it from your Tracy Arm pictures.

Well, pretty soon I get to start a new TR...LOL We are going on a Disney Dream cruise to the Bahamas in August...ROFL. I was really happy I packed my gloves and my beanie hat! I wore those a lot when we were outside on the deck and well as in the ports! My NorthFace jacket, the exact one they don't make anymore, but it is the snowboarding type jacket that has the vents under the arms, and you can also zip a fleece inside of it if you get too cold. I never used that though, just the rain shell part of it with the hood!
This is the closest thing to it the North Face Kira Triclimate Jacket

Darren, Gwen and I truly believe our tirp was more fun because of meeting you guys. At first, our "meetings" which came in 3's were funny and random, but as we talked more it was apparent to me that we wanted to run into you guys more often. You two made our trip even more special! Thank you again for getting Max's autograph for Gwen - she talks about you guys quite often!

Awww...tear, you are so welcome about the autograph! Our trip would have definitely been worse without you guys! I am even watching the video I shot on Tracy arm day and it is so funny to hear you guys, every minute or so Darren would be like, "WOW, That is so beautiful!" Then ofcourse all of the seal poo conversations...HAHA

This is such a cool photo!! It almost looks photoshopped because you see deck 4 but absolutely zero water anywhere, just the town!

I promise it was totally not photoshopped! I was so proud of myself when taking photos this trip, I didn't even crop or adjust anything in ANY of them!! I couldn't believe some of them when I was looking through!

 

[Calfan]

Deanna called me during Rondell's show and I told her we would call them as soon as we were out of Wavebands! We ended up going to their room to say goodbye We gave Gwen her autograph book back and talked to them about their excursion at Butchart Gardens, which they LOVED!

So glad to hear that that Deanna and family liked the Butchart Gardens tour. We are signed up for the Butchart Gardens and short city tour for our Aug. 6 cruise. I read another review that complained of the short time actually at the gardens, and I was wondering if we should reconsider this excursion. Deanna, if you happen to see this post, would love to hear more about your experience on this excursion.

 

[Luv_Tink]

Well, pretty soon I get to start a new TR...LOL We are going on a Disney Dream cruise to the Bahamas in August...ROFL. I was really happy I packed my gloves and my beanie hat! I wore those a lot when we were outside on the deck and well as in the ports! My NorthFace jacket, the exact one they don't make anymore, but it is the snowboarding type jacket that has the vents under the arms, and you can also zip a fleece inside of it if you get too cold. I never used that though, just the rain shell part of it with the hood!
This is the closest thing to it the North Face Kira Triclimate Jacket

Thanks, I didn't have hats and gloves on my list yet! Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[midwestpat]

Am I going to have to stop by the Lab and ask for "veggies to go" for my kiddos or something? My six year old is awesome with vegetables--but only if they are raw. I think a lot of kids are like that. You'd think Disney would realize this.

It's a texture thing I think; some kids don't like soft or mushy foods. When I first discovered raw veggies weren't going to happen in the dining room, one woman nearby suggested maybe they didn't have fresh veggies to serve (all frozen veggies?). Okay... I was scratching my head, but accepting of that - until the day they served them in the Lab.

In another forum someone said we could ask for to-go meals from the Lab, which I never thought of! Great idea!
In all fairness to Disney, raw veggies may have been available in the buffet, but DH does not like buffets so we avoided it at all costs. Raw veggies were not an option on room service either (although the pizza from room service was wayyyyy better than the slices we got at the quick serve place).

Yes, if I were you, I'd ask for a to-go order at the Lab. Can't hurt to ask! My daughter ate no veggies for over a week - from the tiem we left home, all through Seattle, and up 'til the first night she ate dinner in the Lab.

 

[rogattdm]

So glad to hear that that Deanna and family liked the Butchart Gardens tour. We are signed up for the Butchart Gardens and short city tour for our Aug. 6 cruise. I read another review that complained of the short time actually at the gardens, and I was wondering if we should reconsider this excursion. Deanna, if you happen to see this post, would love to hear more about your experience on this excursion.

Hi! How funny that I am replying to you in this TR! Our family did the Butchart Gardens & Butterfly Garden Tour. Yes, we don't have much time in this port, but it was highly worth it! I believe we finally got on the bus on the pier at 7:30pm and was getting back on the bus at the gardens at 9:55pm. I actually would recommend just doing the Butchart Gardens tour by itself, with no other excursion - butterfly garden or your city excursion. The reason I say this is because the gardens are 55 acres and are absolutely mind blowing. My husband took over 300 pictures just of the garden. When the bus picks you up at the pier to drive you to the gardens, which is 40 minutes from the pier, the driver will give you a whole run down of the city. You drive right through the city both on the way to the gardens and back from the gardens. Of course, on the way back it is dark, however you still get to see the city all lit up. Our driver even stopped the bus in front of the Empress Hotel for anyone who wanted to get out and take a picture. The driver narrated the whole time there and back. My DH, DD (7) and I raced around the gardens for the 1 1/2 hours were there. We did see almost all of it, however we didn't get to really take our time and admire our surroundings.

I just asked my husband if he would get off and do the tour again because of the short time, and he answered, "Yes most definetely!" The gardens were the most beautiful place I had ever seen and I have been to some beautiful places. The smell was incredible by all the flowers. I had commented like it smelled like Bath and Body Works plugins, since there are millions of blooming flowers. Bring a camera that can take pictures at night; the gardens are gorgeous when it is dusk and their little garden lights turn on. I will try my best to upload some pictures of the garden so you can get a feel for the beauty!

 

[Chilly]

We had the Pixar channel on all the time as well. And I love Panne Cotta as well!

What a shame your surprise was cancelled. The pub skit was too funny.