"The Dapplebeans Rejuvenation at Sea" June 20, 2009 *TORTOLA/TONS OF PICS*

[RoyalVizier]

Originally Posted by Jennifer48

What a FABULOUS first day!! If the rest of your cruise is anything like that, I'm in for a great read!

Keep up the good work!

Thanks! More coming right up!

Originally Posted by DVC Mary

RV--The countdown's gone. It was making me depressed too, but I usually come home & try to plan another trip right away but we can't figure out whether to cruise in April or May for a 3 day Wonder w/ my Mom. We'll be kidnapping her.

We've cruised in both April and May and there really isn't much difference in the weather as far as we can tell.

Originally Posted by Disneykidsdad

What a great trip report. I can't wait to read the rest!!

Thanks for reading!

[RoyalVizier]

Day 2: A Frosty and Felindro's Surprise

I awoke the next morning to the same thought I had every single morning of the cruise... what time is it? The DIS is teeming with tips and tricks and suggestions about planning and packing for a DCL vacation, and one of the tips that I fully endorse is to bring some sort of GIGANTIC glowing clock that could be used as an S.O.S. signaling device from miles away. Maybe one of those clocks that projects the time onto the ceiling or the wall. Or maybe one that screams out the time every hour on the hour in a gruff crazed lunatic sort of voice. But it also helps if you actually follow the tips and tricks and suggestions that the wonderful DISers share and pack said clock, which we did not do. Somehow it never made it onto one of the 174 lists that were made in prep for this trip. All I brought was my Mickey dress watch, and it was over on the counter next to the closet, and unfortunately I have not yet developed telekinetic powers.

So there I was, sitting up in bed staring into the pitch blackness of the stateroom. In the early morning hours, with the divider curtain closed, the staterooms are black.

It looked like this.


The only light was coming from the hallway through the miniscule space between the stateroom door and the doorjamb, a perfect line of light from floor to ceiling. Just enough to make it safely to the bathroom without breaking a toe or a tooth or falling through the divider curtain on my soundly slumbering daughter. Now, if you’ve read my previous trip reports you have read my account of turning on the bathroom light when you have been behind closed eyelids for the last 7 – 9 hours so I will spare you the terror and the agony, so let me just say that you need to be very careful when doing this so as not to singe the retinas out of your skull or cause your rods and cones to wail.

Once the world came back into focus I saw that it was 6:20 am. Wow. Later than I imagined! For this morning I had planned a full video tour of the ship with the video camera so I threw some clothes on, brushed my teeth, grabbed the video camera and quietly made my way out the door. As I said before (I think), we’ve never brought a video camera with us so I was excited about getting video of certain things for my parents to see. So I started right there outside of our door and I wandered all over the place in one continuous recording stream, no stops.

I toured up the steps to Deck 3 which put me in the middle of Beat Street, where I visited my most favorite bathroom on the ship.


I love the Deck 3 aft restrooms because I'm a big nerd. I walked through Sessions, Diversions, and Rockin’ Bar D… through the Atrium, Promenade Lounge, Parrot Cay, Lumiere’s, then up the glass elevators to Deck 9… the whole length… looking at the pools, Goofy’s Galley, Pluto’s Doghouse… and then… as I was approaching the extreme forward of the ship I ran out of juice. Battery kaput! DRAT! Ah well… the view off the front of the ship was the same as the view off the back of the ship was the same as the view off the sides of the ship. Ocean.

Early morning is the most awesome time for me on the ship. It’s practically deserted! I think I ran into three people at most in my journey from the room to Deck 10. I felt as if I had the ship to myself, and I could just wander and enjoy to my heart’s content without having to dodge crowds. I actually forgot to do something that I’d always wanted to do through four cruises! There is a large DCL emblem on the floor in the hallway leading to the Walt Disney Theater on Deck 4 right outside of Treasure Ketch and Mickey’s Mates. I have always wanted to lay down on the floor with my head directly centered in the Mickey ears and take my picture. In the six o’clock hour of the morning this would have been perfect without a soul around… any other time in the day, especially sea days, not so much. I’d be embarrassed and would probably get something stepped on. Out of curiosity… has anyone done this or am I completely and totally more off my rocker than I ever imagined?

Anyway… I went back down to the room to check on the family and drop off the dead video camera. The family was still sleeping so I grabbed my journal and my iPod and headed right back up top. I got a great spot up on Deck 10 and just sat there in the breeze listening to Lady Gaga and writing and just being… there were crew members everywhere doing their morning routine, washing, and scrubbing, and painting, and hosing, and straightening, and smiling, and offering greetings, and holding doors open, and keeping that ship in tip top shape. They do a fantastic job! So after I lounged for awhile I was getting a bit antsy for companionship so I went back down to check on the family again and my wife was up. So I grabbed her and I took her up to Topsiders for some breakfast! Then we went to the Cove pool and enjoyed that and the hot tub. The weather was ridiculously amazing!

At 10:00 am we met up with my daughter (who had decided to stay lounging around the room) in Shutters to check out our pictures from last night. They were awesome! So we started up one of the photo packages and got a few.




We went up to Treasure Ketch and Mickey’s Mates and looked around there for a bit. We went back up top and had some chicken fingers and some chicken ceasar wraps (one of our new discoveries on this cruise!) and some ice cream. We were just lazy and it was wonderful!

It was at about this time, sitting on Deck 9 to the side of Topsiders, a mouth full of luscious glorious ice cream, that I had a realization. The spoon was literally sliding from my lips when my eyes widened and a thought zapped like lightening straight into my cerebellum. The chocolate ice cream on the Disney Magic tastes exactly… EXACTLY like a Wendy’s Frosty!


After approximately 273 cups of DCL chocolate ice cream over four cruises I don’t know why I’d never had the thought before. That made the act of eating Disney Magic ice cream even better! Frosty’s are fab if you didn’t already know that! They are a curiosity, but they are fab. They aren’t really ice cream, but they aren’t really a milk shake either. They are just smooth luscious goodness.

So after we had sufficiently frozen our innards, we continued in the laziness by wandering some more, eventually ending up out on the Promenade Deck on 4 and lounged in the blue cushioned chairs for a bit. I’ve read that there are a lot of DISers that find the chairs on Deck 4 to be the primo suprimo location, but I am way way WAY partial to the Cove area on Deck 9. No offense against the Deck 4 chairs or those who love them, but I’ve claimed my spot and it’s up on Deck 9. I need to have a plaque made.

There were tons of joggers and walkers making the laps out there, and we just stared out at the water. It was so blue!

Here’s my view.


Like my new water clogs?

While we were out there, there was a bit of commotion to our left when Mickey and Minnie were taking a stroll.


After we’d had our fill of fresh air we decided to head back to the room for a bit. Well when we opened our door we were greeted with a wonderful surprise! Felindro had made up our room and left us with surprises! There was a giant glittery starburst congratulatory thingy surrounded by towel creations and a personalized postcard wishing us a Happy Anniversary and a Happy Fathers Day!

Isn’t it fun?




Does anyone know what this thing is?


It looks to me like some sort of Aztec Sun God… maybe to bless the bed?

I had a moment of confusion because, quite honestly, I don’t remember telling anyone from DCL that this cruise was in celebration of our anniversary. I must have, but I really couldn’t recall saying anything when we made the reservation. Magic aboard the Disney Magic I guess! So after we photographed our bed and examined our purchases for a bit, my daughter decided it was time to take her leave to the Stack, and my wife and I headed back up top, because don’t you know that’s what a DCL day at sea is supposed to be: from the room to the pool to eat to the pool to shop to the room to the pool to the room to shop to the pool to eat. I mean… right?

So there we sat in “our place” in the Cove area, as we deemed it the day before, with a plate of chicken fingers and pizza and ice cream.


But wait a minute, you’re saying… but wait RV… didn’t you just have chicken fingers and ceasar wraps and ice cream? Um… yes dear reader, I did… what’s your point?

Next Up: Three Minutes of Suffering and The Sink

[Smileneyes]

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

The chocolate ice cream on the Disney Magic tastes exactly… EXACTLY like a Wendy’s Frosty!

Wow...in five years, I've never thought to compare the two...but you're right!

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

Like my new water clogs?

Not as cute as the flip flops, but nice!

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

Smilineyes... insert said flip flop photo here.

And no, I haven't forgotten about the picture of them...they're on DS's camera. I've asked him for the picture twice, to no avail...so I'll get it when I pick him up on Friday for the weekend.

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

Dinner was in Parrot Cay thanks to the wonderful Yolande who had switched our dining rotation earlier in the day.

Okay, too freaky...we were switched over from PLAPLAP first seating to PLAPLAP second seating by Yolande! Proof positive that the ship is big...in seven nights of dining, I didn't see you in the rotation! However, we were on the opposite side of the dining room...with Putra as our head server (awesome!).

Oh, yeah:

Peekaboo back at ya!

[SSRJen]

Love reading everything. We loved the area next to the cove as well. The first time I tasted the chocolate ice cream I said, "WENDY'S FROSTY"! I have to have some of that ice cream almost every day on the cruise.

[anetnmike]

obviously the water clogs shot was a tease for the flip flops picture coming later right?

I LOVE the ship in the early morning-it is the best thing!

[Jillpie]

Ok you got me, I'm now completely and utterly addicted. Your writing is amazing and oh so funny, we can ALL relate to every word. Our last cruise was in 2006, but you put me right back there, I'm lovin every minute. And that beautiful photo of your family, just awesome! Oh please, give us more, and quickly!

[TotallyAngelic]

Loving it, loving it, loving it! Your comments are so funny but so true!
beautiful photos with the white background - I really regret not having had that done on our cruise!

[RoyalVizier]

Originally Posted by Smileneyes

Oh, yeah:

Peekaboo back at ya!

Nice pic! Thanks for sharing that!

Originally Posted by SSRJen

The first time I tasted the chocolate ice cream I said, "WENDY'S FROSTY"! I have to have some of that ice cream almost every day on the cruise.

And multiple times a day!

Originally Posted by anetnmike

obviously the water clogs shot was a tease for the flip flops picture coming later right?

You know... I'm starting to wonder if I have a photo of the famous flip flops. When I said one was coming, I was thinking of that pic I just posted of me and my view from the Deck 4 chair. I was surprised when I went to post it that I wasn't wearing my flippies. Although the water clogs are a first for me as well!

Guess we'll have to rely on Smileneyes to get his photo of me and my flippies from his son's camera. The wait continues...

Originally Posted by Jillpie

Ok you got me, I'm now completely and utterly addicted. Your writing is amazing and oh so funny, we can ALL relate to every word.

Thanks so much! Writing the trip report is a continuation of the therapy for me. It helps to prolong the experience and makes me actively think about the fantastic week away more than I would normally!

Originally Posted by TotallyAngelic

Loving it, loving it, loving it! Your comments are so funny but so true!
beautiful photos with the white background - I really regret not having had that done on our cruise!

More photos like that one to come... we bought lots!

[firstmickey]

Oooh, I love the early morning ship part too!

Great pictures also! Love the black room one..that cracked me up!


I'm so stealing your lay on the floor with the Mickey ears thing!

[princess22]

Great installment! I am loving your TR.

Weird question. My mom and I watched the DCL show on the travel channel last night (I DVR'd it from a while ago). And this lady comes on and I was like, she looks so familiar. So I come back here and pull up that beautiful picture of your family and ask my mom if it looks like the lady from the show. My mom said oh yeah, it looks like her. So, was your wife on the show? If not, it could pass as her sister!

Can't wait for the next update!

[RoyalVizier]

Originally Posted by princess22

Weird question. My mom and I watched the DCL show on the travel channel last night (I DVR'd it from a while ago). And this lady comes on and I was like, she looks so familiar. So I come back here and pull up that beautiful picture of your family and ask my mom if it looks like the lady from the show. My mom said oh yeah, it looks like her. So, was your wife on the show? If not, it could pass as her sister!

No, my wife hasn't hosted any Travel Channel shows, not that I know of anyway, but wouldn't that be the best job? I want to be Samantha Brown! I would love a job where I get paid to travel the world and go on cruises and stay in fabulous rooms in fabulous hotels and talk on camera about how wonderful and beautiful everything is. *sigh*

Thanks for reading! If you ever see me on TV let me know!

[disnutz]

You would be a great Samantha Brown!! loving the report!!!

[anetnmike]

Your commentary is easily as entertaining as hers is though RV! Have you ever seen Samantha's Disney shows? They are great!
She has one of the best jobs EVER!

(note to the Ollie merchandising team- Ollie shaped nightlights for dark staterooms- they will sell like hotcakes!)

[Jennifer48]

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

Out of curiosity… has anyone done this or am I completely and totally more off my rocker than I ever imagined?

Can't say I have but I might just try

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

The chocolate ice cream on the Disney Magic tastes exactly… EXACTLY like a Wendy’s Frosty!

I realized this on our last cruise. Then they shut down the machines on me. I think I was black listed

Originally Posted by RoyalVizier

because don’t you know that’s what a DCL day at sea is supposed to be: from the room to the pool to eat to the pool to shop to the room to the pool to the room to shop to the pool to eat. I mean… right?

Right!

[RLccweems]

You know those staterooms are very dark...but i learn early on to bring a night light. I put it in the bathroom so you don't have to hurt your eyes and wake anyone up when you go in the middle of the night.


As for the ice cream...your not going to beleive this but I have never had it. But then I have never had a Frosty either.


Also...I love the pics of the family together...it's so cute!! Celina has the same pose as your daughter with Tinker.


And I have no idea what that towel thing is....LOL!! But it's cute.....

I wish you would have shared that logo idea with me on the ship....I would have so done that!! Because of this idea I now have to book another trip just to take that shot!!