Back to the Island-Double Dip Delight!Western COMPLETE~Cruising with a baby w/PICS!

[anewmac]

Originally Posted by livingis2me

Please update!!!!

lol love how hubby is telling you to update LOL

how bout we get a hubbys perspective?

[MAGICFOR2]

Jen! Happy New Year! Hope you had a Magical Christmas! I'm glad DH asked you to post, cuz I totally missed your last update - loved the ornaments!
Brendan did a great job on his Goofy drawing!
Wow, the pool did look a little sparse - good timing!

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by livingis2me

Please update!!!!

Originally Posted by anewmac

lol love how hubby is telling you to update LOL

how bout we get a hubbys perspective?

I have to tell you, more of what I write is heavily influenced by his perspective than mine. LOL. But he will have a whole lot to say in the Cozumel installments. He had quite an...um...adventure. But i'll try not to make you wait as long as you have for the next one....

Originally Posted by MAGICFOR2

Jen! Happy New Year! Hope you had a Magical Christmas! I'm glad DH asked you to post, cuz I totally missed your last update - loved the ornaments!
Brendan did a great job on his Goofy drawing!
Wow, the pool did look a little sparse - good timing!

Merry (late) Christmas and Happy (also late) New Year to you, too! I've been slacking I know! More good stuff on the way!

I'm glad you guys didn't forget me. With the holidays and working (very busy) nights...I've gotten a little off track. I hate not getting the DIS email notifications because those really help me keep up with my subscriptions...without them I am lost. (Yes....I know I shouldn't forget my own thread)

BUT the good news is I am working on the next installment. It will be up tonight or tomorrow!

[anewmac]

Originally Posted by nenner1

I have to tell you, more of what I write is heavily influenced by his perspective than mine. LOL. But he will have a whole lot to say in the Cozumel installments. He had quite an...um...adventure. But i'll try not to make you wait as long as you have for the next one....

HAHA ohhh it sounds like he and E really had a good time while in Cozumel. Cant wait to compare. OH and dont feel bad Im slacken too!

[nenner1]

More thundershowers loomed ahead and as we passed out of one, we decided a cloudy rainy afternoon was perfect for…a Fish Extender delivery! We went back to the rooms to grab our bag ‘o booty and get Sarah all bundled up in her Baby Bjorn carrier (that we used once…just this one time!) Using the stroller through the narrow ship hallways was inconvenient, but this worked well. Plus she looked darn cute!



We headed up to deck 8 first. The penthouse. It was our first time to venture up there, and it was fun seeing the doors of the Walt and Roy suites. (Just the doors, sigh! ) The hallways up there were kind of weird, they jut in and out, not just straight halls, I guess to accommodate the large suites. We used our great Treasure Maps, made by Stella (FinallyBoughtDVC), that mapped out the floorplan of the decks and indicated the rooms with FE’s outside. It was a whole lot of fun to check out all the door decorations and magnets, and all of the FE designs. Folks were really creative and we saw everything from the fancy, embroidered variety to simple bags and even a huge flag with a pocket in the back (took a few minutes to figure that one out!) It took a bit longer than we anticipated, even to just finish one deck. At the end we had one “encounter” that sent us scurrying to the stairwell to avoid detection, before we realized doing FE drops didn’t necessarily have to be anonymous (especially since we identified ourselves on the gift tag!). Our gifts were fairly simple. I did not go into getting different gifts for different age groups like some did, we had a straight-scross the board gift that everyone could use. Pens. Personalized with our cruise date and a Pirate Mickey Head (that I had to design in Adobe Illustrator, which wasn’t easy!) They also said on them, “I sailed on the Double Dip Delight. September 27 – October 4, 2008”. They came in multicolors and we dropped them in bundles of two attached to a gift card with ribbon…lime green, of course. They weren’t very inexpensive to buy, but as we came to see, this group spared no expense in making and buying really cool (and obviously pricey!) FE gifts. Doing the deliveries was fun, but we realized since tonight was formal night, we had to hold off the rest of the decks for another time, and head downstairs and get ready.

Our first stop after getting all gussied up was John Charles’ family cabaret show down in Rockin’ Bar D. Folks were arriving in droves when we got there, but apparently we were a little early. We got a seat close to the front, and the kids sat in the first row with some other children. Behind us, the room quickly filled to standing room only. A packed house. Sarah enjoyed the opportunity for a nap.





The show started, much to our delight with another Buffet tune. I think this guy can do Buffett better than Buffett himself. Just sayin’.



After Buffett came the Beach Boys, and it was here that the peanut gallery got a little rowdy. The girls, mainly Savannah and her partner in crime next to her, a little girl named Molly were the main offenders. They hooted and hollered, cheered loudly and danced enthusiastically. Here is a little example:



Of course John Charles noticed their mania, and made a comment about the apparent easy availability of sugar onboard. And Savannah began a routine of jumping up and dancing crazily behind his back as he turned to face the other side of the crowd. Ron had to stand up, lean over there and tell her to calm down, which was only marginally effective.

The show was fun enough, as John Charles took requests from the crowd and played any and every song people could think of. It was pretty impressive, though most of the songs were pretty mainstream. The peanut gallery of kiddos finally calmed down a bit, and at then end of the show, they were invited up onstage to help perform the song “Cleanest Hands in the World”.


Here it is:




I don't know who the girl on the right in the black corset dress is. I can tell by the lanyard she is part of our meets thread, I just don't know who she belongs to. She's a good little dancer, though!

After the show, we entered the atrium and found one picture line marginally short. We hopped in line, and the kids occupied themselves while we waited.



The picture wasn’t the greatest ever taken of us, but since it was the only one in the Formal Night outfits, we bought it.




Afterwards we occupied ourselves taking porthole pics down in Beat Street.









Then it was time for the Golden Mickeys. We headed to the Walt Disney Theatre and got our seats in front of the big aisle, towards the left of the room. As the kids watched the red carpet interviews, they realized since we did not arrive via the red carpet and therefore did not see the hoopla, they decided they wanted their shot at the big screen. They ran outside to the interview area and Brendan was actually the last one to show up on the screen to be interviewed before the Captain arrived. They scooted back into the auditorium and we enjoyed the performance, as always.

Afterwards it was time for dinner. Tonight was the new highly anticipated Golden Mickeys Menu, in Lumiere’s. We started with crusty French rolls and spiced olive oil dip.

Clowning around at the dinner table:





For appetizers, Ron chose the Grilled Bay Scallops with Grapefruit Glaze, which were unremarkable. I had the Prosciutto with Chilled Honeydew (which also included cantelope), which was fine, but not spectacular. For the soup/salad course, Ron had the Salad of Mixed Baby Greens with Gorgonzola Dressing, again unremarkable. I had the Sangria Bisque, which was a cold mixed-berry soup with sangria. Yum! It was by far the best cold soup onboard. Creamy, rich, raspberry flavored and booze to boot.

For Entrees, the kids chose the usual Minnie’s Mini Burger, nothing new there. Both Ron and I selected Beef Wellington, which I highly anticipated. It came out looking fabulous, with the crust scrumptiously browned. My beef, however was quite a bit undercooked…rare I’d say. Ron’s was much more well-done. Mine also seemed slimy between the meat and the crust, which his did not. Our Entrees obviously had come out of two different pans. The flavor of it was still very good, and had mine been cooked just a tad more, would have been fantastic. Besides the not-as-good-as-it-could-have-been-Beef Wellington and aside from Palo, it was my favorite meal of the cruise.

The best was yet to come however, and each and every one of us selected the Golden Chocolate, Chocolate Award. Simply described in the menu as “The ultimate chocolate experience”, it was two decadent layers of dense chocolate cake, sandwiching chocolate mousse, decorated with a gold-embossed ticket.

We’ve got the Golden Ticket!







It was every bit as good as it looked, and in hindsight we should have ordered four more to go. (Next time.) It topped off an overall great meal, with very good food and our usual outstanding service by our private serving team. I really enjoyed every course of the Golden Mickeys Menu and I eagerly anticipate our next opportunity to sample from it!

Back upstairs, we got the kids settled in. We were greeted by a trumpeting Elephant in the kids’ room, and kissing swans in our room!







Sarah was tuckered out and was quickly asleep. Savannah watched TV in their room and Brendan watched TV in our room, and kept watch over sleeping Sarah while we hustled down to catch John Charles’ adult cabaret show. We did not arrive as early this time, and the joint was almost full. We did snag a table back by the bar, which was lucky, because in minutes the seats were gone and folks were standing in the back of the room. And we were packed in like sardines, too. The show was ok, certainly not “adult” by any means. It was pretty much the same as the earlier show, audience-requested songs, I guess the only “adult” part of it was the AM Gold type of songs requested. Oh well. I had a creamy cinnamon martini that was really tasty but I forget the name of it. About 15 minutes into the show, Ron ran up to check on the kids. The girls were both sleeping, and Brendan was holding down the fort watching endless loops of Drake and Josh (that one is on the Disney Channel, right?) and Wizards of Waverly Place. He came back down and we relaxed and enjoyed the show. The final number was a deconstruction of the song , “A Horse With No Name” by America, and while still squeaky-clean was pretty funny. Don’t ask me why I was expecting something raunchy out of an “adult” show, it was still a Disney ship, after all.

After strolling Deck 9 and getting drinks, we went downstairs to call it a night. Tomorrow we would be in port, our first time in beautiful Grand Cayman.

Up Next: Carnival World

[TammyNC]

Have enjoyed reading your TR so far...will be back for more.

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by TammyNC

Have enjoyed reading your TR so far...will be back for more.

Thanks....I promise to finish.....well, before my next cruise!

[ibouncetoo]

John Charles really packed them in our our WB Panama cruise too! In fact, they kept him on the ship longer that his original engagement. They finally did his final 'adult' show in the Walt Disney Theater...SRO.

.

[livingis2me]

FINALLY!!!! Put the Wii down and write some more.

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Yay and update! I love the pictures! I'll have to watch the videos later!

[anewmac]

Sounds like we didnt miss much not going to the adult part of the show (I was in tequilla/martarita/martini-vill still LMAO)

Love your formal pics and your dress is adorable.

Ron leave her alone about the wii, im right there with her, put the kids to bed and getting ready to have some guitar practice LOL

Oh and Jen I thought of you the other day. My neice let me know she is throwing her dh a 30th bday party and its 80's prom theme... I so thought of our 80s talk we had while we all were shopping for formal and 80's party attire. I will take pics and let you know how it goes... not to june so i have plenty of time to lose weight and find the most awesomest dress, teal is coming to mind with really puffy sleeves LOL

[Buckeye Gal]

I hope you were sitting down! I'm FINALLY getting around to reading TR from my Double Dip Delighter friends!

Now my newest addiction, Facebook, is under control, I'm ready to read IMPORTANT stuff! I'm through page 4, which takes me through installment #3.

....In fact I worked very hard to create a spreadsheet with all this information on it to have at hand to help out with the planning....

You did, too! Thanks again!! I added a couple of other things that were specific to us, and it was up on the back side of our cabin door every day. We referenced it frequently!

....And when I say plan, I ain’t joking around folks. This group is made up of some serious planners (me included)....I wanted to crawl under a rock in RBarD when all of us were in the line party and people were pulling it out and showing the CM's... Like "WE have the spreadsheet. YOU are wrong, DCL!"...

HA HA! Indeed we planned, but I seriously think that made our trip! It was worth every second of planning! I'm laughing at all the stats from Post #1 you put in there!

I'm totally cracking up at the visual I have of your embarassment! (sorry!) You should NOT be embarassed! That's absolutely hilarious that we indeed treated it like the traveling reference guide!

...Hadley and Erik heard me from the other line and said “They changed Pirate night. It’s now Tuesday. We’re staying in Cozumel until 1 AM”. Awwww, MAN. All the hard work I did sifting through all the Navigators…calling DCL. All the people who posted asking, and PM’ed trusting ME as the rotation guru, and I misled them all....

Awe....I'm sorry you felt like the hard work was wasted, but it certainly was not! Besides...like we all don't know Disney changes things up!

...the folks in line ahead of us (who were now up at the table talking to the CM), well the gentleman was trying to make his point, and to my chagrin he pulled out of his pocket – of all things, my spreadsheet...

OMG that's so funny! Did you ever find out who the gentleman was? I wonder if he was a DH of a DISer or a DISer himself!


I can't wait to read the rest, Jen, but I must get back to work!

[Buckeye Gal]

Jen, after the months of "harassment" (hehe) to get with it and read the TRs, I spent the afternoon with this tiny little window open at work to finish reading because you got me hooked! Yet you're not even finished?!! Like I can talk! I haven't even started mine, and I indeed want to write one. (OMG after reading yours, I'm scared I can't remember all the great details! I'm going to really have to spend some time outlining my story!)

As I was reading, I just kept thinking "How did you get all of that into your day?" Oh yea. I was SICK darnit! I crashed "early", slept in, and found myself cranky more often than I cared to be. I missed sooooo much social time, particularly at night, it still makes me sick thinking about it! So, it's great to hear what all was going on out there through you guys!

As expected, it's been a great story thus far! I do have to go back and look at the pics, because photo/video sites are blocked here at work, so I can't see your pictures here. With the several comments made, I'm anxious to see them!

[nenner1]

Originally Posted by ibouncetoo

John Charles really packed them in our our WB Panama cruise too! In fact, they kept him on the ship longer that his original engagement. They finally did his final 'adult' show in the Walt Disney Theater...SRO.

.

Yes, we really did enjoy him. I had some songs I thought I could stump him with, but I didn't get picked. Oh well! A couple of them might have been too risque, anyway!

Originally Posted by livingis2me

FINALLY!!!! Put the Wii down and write some more.

Ummm...who's playing NOW?

(You know I bust your chops cause I love ya!)

Originally Posted by TheDisneyGirl02

Yay and update! I love the pictures! I'll have to watch the videos later!

They aren't as good as the videos I posted on the meets thread.

Originally Posted by anewmac

Sounds like we didnt miss much not going to the adult part of the show (I was in tequilla/martarita/martini-vill still LMAO)

Love your formal pics and your dress is adorable.

Really? The pink nightmare?!? Actually I DO like it. It would have looked better if there was less of me filling it out, but, eh.

Ron leave her alone about the wii, im right there with her, put the kids to bed and getting ready to have some guitar practice LOL

Oh and Jen I thought of you the other day. My neice let me know she is throwing her dh a 30th bday party and its 80's prom theme... I so thought of our 80s talk we had while we all were shopping for formal and 80's party attire. I will take pics and let you know how it goes... not to june so i have plenty of time to lose weight and find the most awesomest dress, teal is coming to mind with really puffy sleeves LOL

YES! And bright garish sequins with the puffy satin sleeves. Dye to match shoes and purse too, of course!

Originally Posted by Buckeye Gal

I hope you were sitting down! I'm FINALLY getting around to reading TR from my Double Dip Delighter friends!

YAYY!!! I'm so glad you made it by!

OMG that's so funny! Did you ever find out who the gentleman was? I wonder if he was a DH of a DISer or a DISer himself!

No...I didn't. I know he is somehow connected to us, unless someone was passing out the spreadsheets in the terminal...

I can't wait to read the rest, Jen, but I must get back to work!

Originally Posted by Buckeye Gal

Jen, after the months of "harassment" (hehe) to get with it and read the TRs, I spent the afternoon with this tiny little window open at work to finish reading because you got me hooked!

Once you pop, you just can't stop, eh?

Yet you're not even finished?!! Like I can talk! I haven't even started mine, and I indeed want to write one. (OMG after reading yours, I'm scared I can't remember all the great details! I'm going to really have to spend some time outlining my story!)

I genuinely hope you will write one! They are time consuming, although most of it for me is uploading the pics. I am already starting to get fuzzy on the details a bit, since I didn't take any notes. FOr instance while I remember what I ate, I now have to ask Ron what he ate, etc. But even if you are forgetting tiny details I know we all would love to read even just an outline of what you did! Especially after seeing your scrapbook!!

As I was reading, I just kept thinking "How did you get all of that into your day?" Oh yea. I was SICK darnit! I crashed "early", slept in, and found myself cranky more often than I cared to be. I missed sooooo much social time, particularly at night, it still makes me sick thinking about it! So, it's great to hear what all was going on out there through you guys!

Oh my gosh, yes...you POOR THING. You were such a trooper, though. I know you had to have been feeling miserable but you hardly showed it!! Really!!!

As expected, it's been a great story thus far! I do have to go back and look at the pics, because photo/video sites are blocked here at work, so I can't see your pictures here. With the several comments made, I'm anxious to see them!

Aww, gee! Thanks! After all you were my first big fan, right?
There are some good pics and the meat of the story (Cayman and Cozumel) is coming up...both of those days will probably be about 5 installments each, no kidding!

So glad to see you onboard!

[fairfax]

I just found your TR and am enjoying it very much. You are a great writer and the pictures are fantastic -- it brings back so many great memories. We were on the same cruise. Looking forward to more!