Disneyzellin through the Panama Canal,12/9 - 12/23 on the Wonder Updated 4/15/13

[iloverags2]

Oh my! What an awesome excursion you had! (I'm exhausted just from reading about it.)

Not sure what it is with everyone and Parrot Cay, but I love it. Love the colors and the tropical atmosphere. I'm convinced it has to do with the rattan style chairs...maybe if they update those, the place would have a more brand-spankin'-new look and feel to it.

[bbangel]

Originally Posted by iloverags2

Not sure what it is with everyone and Parrot Cay, but I love it. Love the colors and the tropical atmosphere. I'm convinced it has to do with the rattan style chairs...maybe if they update those, the place would have a more brand-spankin'-new look and feel to it.

My biggest issue with it is the noise. It can be hard to hear the people at your table over the background noise and it just gets worse as all the other tables start talking louder trying to be heard.

[jstkpswimming]

This might be a silly question, but did you and DW get any shots beforehand? My doctor recommended taking precautions against malaria, yellow fever, and a few other things. I'm just wondering if it's really that big of an issue... Thanks!

[dededisney]

Originally Posted by jstkpswimming

This might be a silly question, but did you and DW get any shots beforehand? My doctor recommended taking precautions against malaria, yellow fever, and a few other things. I'm just wondering if it's really that big of an issue... Thanks!

No shots beforehand and no issues for us. I haven't heard that there was an outbreak of any of those things, so I wasn't worried. Hopefully you won't be either...seems a little overkill to me, but that is just me

[WVURunner]

Originally Posted by DisneyZell

Rappelling was really neat. There is a clip that they use which forms an S with the rope. you then hold one hand by your butt and one hand above on the rope. The hand below you can stop you only needing for you to take something like 10-20% of your weight while the S clip holds the rest.



Eventually our pictures were ready so we took a look. They were pricey at $29/person. It included two videos as well. We decided to go ahead an buy them as we were not able to take our own pictures. And obviously we did buy them as you would not have seen them earlier!

Just an FYI: The S clip is called a figure 8, not sure if you noticed, but the guides figure 8s had little "ears" on them, they are called resue figure 8s.

You are lucky that they included the videos for the $30. Our guy wanted us to pay extra for them! I was still upset that they wouldn't let me use my go pro camera, esp. since they already had the mounts for them on the helmets! I ended up buying just my nephew's photos because it was his first time and he really wanted to show them to everyone. The guy was really pushing us to buy the rest of our group's pictures, so I kinda told him off and informed him that I had a ton of pictures/videos of me ziplining because I use to work at an adventure camp.

Thanks for the detailed report! I didn't keep a journal during the cruise and now I am trying to fill one out.

[QuiltTeddy]

Originally Posted by LindaBabe

If I hang around a little longer, will you put up another installment?

Being a "seasoned" follower of DZ and his TR's, I would strongly suggest that you do NOT hold your breath waiting for each installment. DZ often gets sidetracked and forgets all about those of us waiting for the next installment. However, if you offer to store him in a trunk, drag that trunk onboard, provide him with silk sheets and pillow, a private verandah on Deck 7 when you embark on your next cruise, he can be persuaded to post a little faster.

Originally Posted by tokyodisneydad

Thanks for another update and not making us wait so long. Although I am now on pins and needles with suspense over what happened with the M&Ms...but that's probably just me.

For someone who is afraid of heights your wife looked to be enjoying herself.
My wife would love this adventure, but will never get to do it as her husband is a chicken when it comes to heights. We have discussed strategy for Amazing Race...she does anything to do with heights while I eat all the strange food. And if we have to tandem bungy the race would be over for us.
Funny thing is I love a good rollercoaster, but will cry like a baby on a Ferris wheel. Japan has some of the highest Ferris wheels in the world. We rode one in Odaiba and of course she wanted to ride the all glass car. Well to show her I loved her I agreed...fool that I am. Well I got a grip on the seat and wasn't letting go. When we got to the top she wanted to change sides to get a different view. That wasn't happening as by this time my grip has sunk my fingers into the metal seats. They took a picture of us as we exited the ride. I was crying like a baby. I think I actually kneeled and kissed the ground.

TDD, be advised that it is highly probable that DZ is still working on those M & Ms and thus, that is why he is unable to give an update quite yet in this TR. After all, the fact that they have not been fully consumed would easily extend this TR.

You and my DH can sit below and miss out on all the high action fun!!

[tokyodisneydad]

If it is the M&Ms that are causing the delay I have an idea to help:
STEP
1. Make an impressive label that says Magic Diet Pills with some fake company name on it and fake nutrition/diet facts.
2. Tape that label to a large ziploc bag
3.Fill the bag with said M&Ms
4.Mail to Japan.

Not sure if it is going to fool the wife and get by, but hey it's worth a try.

[LindaBabe]

Originally Posted by tokyodisneydad

If it is the M&Ms that are causing the delay I have an idea to help:
STEP
1. Make an impressive label that says Magic Diet Pills with some fake company name on it and fake nutrition/diet facts.
2. Tape that label to a large ziploc bag
3.Fill the bag with said M&Ms
4.Mail to Japan.

Not sure if it is going to fool the wife and get by, but hey it's worth a try.

[DisneyZell]

Originally Posted by tokyodisneydad

Thanks for another update and not making us wait so long. Although I am now on pins and needles with suspense over what happened with the M&Ms...but that's probably just me.
For someone who is afraid of heights your wife looked to be enjoying herself.
My wife would love this adventure, but will never get to do it as her husband is a chicken when it comes to heights. We have discussed strategy for Amazing Race...she does anything to do with heights while I eat all the strange food. And if we have to tandem bungy the race would be over for us.
Funny thing is I love a good rollercoaster, but will cry like a baby on a Ferris wheel. Japan has some of the highest Ferris wheels in the world. We rode one in Odaiba and of course she wanted to ride the all glass car. Well to show her I loved her I agreed...fool that I am. Well I got a grip on the seat and wasn't letting go. When we got to the top she wanted to change sides to get a different view. That wasn't happening as by this time my grip has sunk my fingers into the metal seats. They took a picture of us as we exited the ride. I was crying like a baby. I think I actually kneeled and kissed the ground.
I on the other hand would have been happy just to go into Walmart...non here in Japan. Everytime we get back to the states we go to Walmart 4 or 5 times. Last time we were there at 3 in the morning because of Jet Lag. The funny part was I had forgotten which side of the rode to drive on and drove halfway there on the wrong side. Thank goodness there were no cars on the road.
Looking forward to the next update. Did you do any tastings this cruise...wine,champagne, mixology?

Funny you mention ferris wheels...if you ever get out to California Adventure you might want to avoid the Sun Wheel... it has two types of ways to ride...one is regular and the other is swinging, as you go up your car is on rollers like a roller coaster on it's own track. So you get quite a ride. DW enjoys it but always gets a funny look on her face and holds on for dear life. The Kids and I, of course, never give her a hard time about that.

tastings...seems to me if I answer that question I will be giving away the TR. You know I can't do that!

Originally Posted by pharmjenn

We only had a few people do the rope bridge in our groups. I knew the climb up would be exhausing, so chose the hike up the hill to the next zip. Let me tell you, that climb was not much easier. It was the hardest part of the tour!

Anytime someone offers that kid a game on a "phone" he is all over it, since he doesn't get many opportunities at home. And hey, it kept him content while we heckled Steven

Billy was cute. He gave us our kid fix on the cruise. OK, my kid fix since I'm like a 10 year old at heart. Dw will back me up on that!
None of the climbs were easy. There is a weigh limit of 250 pounds, I wonder if part of why they have that is that they figure if you are over 250 you might not be able to do the hikes. Again there were times I wasn't sure I would make it. yikes!

Originally Posted by iloverags2

Oh my! What an awesome excursion you had! (I'm exhausted just from reading about it.)

Not sure what it is with everyone and Parrot Cay, but I love it. Love the colors and the tropical atmosphere. I'm convinced it has to do with the rattan style chairs...maybe if they update those, the place would have a more brand-spankin'-new look and feel to it.

Maybe that's it, I don't know. I think it's also the uniforms the CM's wear. They seem outdated to me for some reason, and they always have so it's not that the time has passed or anything.

Originally Posted by bbangel

My biggest issue with it is the noise. It can be hard to hear the people at your table over the background noise and it just gets worse as all the other tables start talking louder trying to be heard.

Good point on the noise. I agree it is very loud in there!

Originally Posted by jstkpswimming

This might be a silly question, but did you and DW get any shots beforehand? My doctor recommended taking precautions against malaria, yellow fever, and a few other things. I'm just wondering if it's really that big of an issue... Thanks!

DW already answered this, but thought I would give my two cents. While I agree with DW it may be overkill...do whatever makes you comfortable. if you would feel better with the shots knowing you are covered just in case then do it. I firmly believe you do whatever you need to make everything relaxingand not worry about getting sick, etc. That being said, we did not do anything.

Originally Posted by WVURunner

Just an FYI: The S clip is called a figure 8, not sure if you noticed, but the guides figure 8s had little "ears" on them, they are called resue figure 8s.

You are lucky that they included the videos for the $30. Our guy wanted us to pay extra for them! I was still upset that they wouldn't let me use my go pro camera, esp. since they already had the mounts for them on the helmets! I ended up buying just my nephew's photos because it was his first time and he really wanted to show them to everyone. The guy was really pushing us to buy the rest of our group's pictures, so I kinda told him off and informed him that I had a ton of pictures/videos of me ziplining because I use to work at an adventure camp.

Thanks for the detailed report! I didn't keep a journal during the cruise and now I am trying to fill one out.

that's too bad. I wonder if different people demand different things. I would have thought it would not matter. Did you go on one through DCL?

Hopefully my TR will help you with your journal. it might take a while though

Originally Posted by QuiltTeddy

Being a "seasoned" follower of DZ and his TR's, I would strongly suggest that you do NOT hold your breath waiting for each installment. DZ often gets sidetracked and forgets all about those of us waiting for the next installment. However, if you offer to store him in a trunk, drag that trunk onboard, provide him with silk sheets and pillow, a private verandah on Deck 7 when you embark on your next cruise, he can be persuaded to post a little faster. :

I resemble that remark for one reason....just because you brought me in a trunk on your cruise did *NOT* make me post faster.

Originally Posted by QuiltTeddy

TDD, be advised that it is highly probable that DZ is still working on those M & Ms and thus, that is why he is unable to give an update quite yet in this TR. After all, the fact that they have not been fully consumed would easily extend this TR.

again, no way I'm telling you about the M&M's. of course when you find out what happened it will be a big letdown. But it is what it is.

Originally Posted by tokyodisneydad

If it is the M&Ms that are causing the delay I have an idea to help:
STEP
1. Make an impressive label that says Magic Diet Pills with some fake company name on it and fake nutrition/diet facts.
2. Tape that label to a large ziploc bag
3.Fill the bag with said M&Ms
4.Mail to Japan.

Not sure if it is going to fool the wife and get by, but hey it's worth a try.

I like your plan TDD. But stop trying to jump ahead in the story!!

Thanks everyone for the nice words and playing along...and not falling asleep. Or rather not telling me that you are falling asleep.

I meant to post another episode this weekend but forgot and I'm travelling this week..so unfortunately it will likely be Friday before the next one. sorry about that!

DZ

[dededisney]

Originally Posted by DisneyZell

I meant to post another episode this weekend but forgot and I'm travelling this week..so unfortunately it will likely be Friday before the next one. sorry about that!

DZ

And the excuses just keep coming, don't they

[DisneyZell]

Originally Posted by dededisney

And the excuses just keep coming, don't they

Hey, um you kinda know I'm gone.

[QuiltTeddy]

Originally Posted by DisneyZell

I meant to post another episode this weekend but forgot and I'm travelling this week..so unfortunately it will likely be Friday before the next one. sorry about that!

DZ

Sureeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.........................


*rolls eyes*

[Relaxin']

Hi Drew,
Not sure when you are going to get to the day you learned "Euchre", but I have done some research for you. First I learned that the origins of Euchre is Europe, South Africa and Canada. Not sure how it originated in three different countries, but Canadian's should know the rules vs. Zach who lives in Michigan, and it sounds like the bartender knows it all:
Another regional variation, especially popular in Canada, and therefore sometimes referred to as 'Canadian Rules', is that if the partner of the dealer orders him/her up (forcing the dealer to pick up the turned card) during the initial bidding, then the dealer is automatically forced out, and the dealer's partner plays a lone hand. This variation is also popular in Croydon, Australia and is referred to as 'bonchre'. It is considered to be fair, since otherwise the makers (specifically the partner of the dealer) would have an unfair degree of knowledge about the distribution of the cards, as well (in the case of the dealer) knowing which card to discard (see voiding).

[DisneyZell]

Originally Posted by QuiltTeddy

Sureeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.........................


*rolls eyes*

what is this, pick on Drew day? here I thought I had a perfect acceptable excuse....apparently not! note that everyone else is waiting patiently.

Originally Posted by Relaxin'

Hi Drew,
Not sure when you are going to get to the day you learned "Euchre", but I have done some research for you. First I learned that the origins of Euchre is Europe, South Africa and Canada. Not sure how it originated in three different countries, but Canadian's should know the rules vs. Zach who lives in Michigan, and it sounds like the bartender knows it all:
Another regional variation, especially popular in Canada, and therefore sometimes referred to as 'Canadian Rules', is that if the partner of the dealer orders him/her up (forcing the dealer to pick up the turned card) during the initial bidding, then the dealer is automatically forced out, and the dealer's partner plays a lone hand. This variation is also popular in Croydon, Australia and is referred to as 'bonchre'. It is considered to be fair, since otherwise the makers (specifically the partner of the dealer) would have an unfair degree of knowledge about the distribution of the cards, as well (in the case of the dealer) knowing which card to discard (see voiding).

I haven't gotten there yet, but I supposed adding in South Africa and Europe as other potential originators or Euchre makes it harder for me to sell my idea that some Canadians lost the other cards so had to make up a new game using only some of them!

And always fun to needle Zach, but he *does* live in Michigan so I suppose we should give him a break. Eh?

DZ

[DisneyZell]

Apparently on all the special cruises Disney will create some special trading pins. This cruise was no exception. I'm sure this is all for the benefit of those on the cruise...not to make money. They only make a limited number and we got notified that they would be offering these pins on the 13th (which happened to be today). You could start getting wrist bands at 8:30am, and if you get a wrist band that allows you to purchase two full sets of pins. There were 6 pins I think, one for Los Angeles, Cabo San Lucas, one for Puerto Vallarta, one for the panama canal, one for Costa Maya, and one for Miami. Apparently they didn't like the quality of the Cartehena pin. We all saw that as a pretty funny thing because…well, more on that later. Foreshadowing. or something.

Anyhooo, DW wanted to get a couple of the pins, no not a couple of sets, we aren't like that. But she did want to get the Panama Canal pins to give to our kids. At least I think those were the ones we wanted, she will correct me if I was wrong. So she had Mickey call us and wake us up at 7:15. Well, ok, wake her up. I was lazy and stayed in bed!

Audrey also wanted the pins so she and DW met outside the stores. In fact Audrey got there at 6:45, and saved DW a spot in line. In true DCL fashion they had coffee available and were passing out pastries. So at least they didn't go hungry. At about 7:45am a CM came around to tell everyone they would hand the wrist bands out at 8am instead of 8:30. That was nice. I wish they had done that on Black Friday! But that's a whole other story that you don't need to be bored with!!! DW got her wrist band by 8:05, about the time I was waking up. Oh wait, no that's not true.

She came back and went out on the balcony to wait for me to wake up. She saw dolphins out there jumping around and got a few pictures of them. Then she decided rest was a good thing so she came in and laid down for a while.

Dolphins are awesome. funny how they love to play around ships.

Obviously one picture was not enough

I like this one because you can see the sun coming up.

No breakfast this morning because we had our group Palo lunch…so I viewed that as meaning there was no reason to get up early!! We got dressed and headed up around 10, looking forward to stuffing ourselves on Palo brunch, generally one of our favorite things on the ship. There were 12 Disers in our group, Audrey, Doug, Jennifer, Jim, Linda, Terri, April, Michael, Rochelle and her husband…we didn't get his name (Sorry!!! We will try to look it up, if not hopefully someone else can chime in with his name).

Our brunch group. Note Doug and Audrey with the cool Santa hats. These were awesome and it made them easy to spot. In fact there was one point when, apparently, Doug walked right past me and I ignored him. When he didn't have his hat on I didn't recognize him and apparently became rude!

Our server was Sasha and he did a nice job corralling all of us. We were in the private room which we had never done before (yup, chalk that one up!). Brunch was good, but I don't know if I would go as far as great. They had some excellent cheeses which is usual, I had Eggs Julia, and I think the hollandaise sauce on this ship just isn't good because the flavor issues remained even in Palo. One huge thing that was missing was Stolen Bread which we have always really liked, but it wasn't there. I asked Sasha about it and was told the recipe was stolen. Ha! Get it! But that was very disappointed! The Smoked Salmon and Smoked Trout mousse was very good as usual, as was the blue cheese and grape pizza. So given all that why am I saying it was only good? Not sure to be honest, but again I think it sort of goes with the whole cruise…ie. that the food just wasn't up to the level we expected There have been a lot of theories kicked around about this…and I'm hoping it is just a temporary thing.

One of the frustrating things about this is that we cannot mark Disney down for their food quality as they have somehow managed to tie food quality to the servers. The theory as I understand it is that the servers should get you something else if what you got the first time wasn't good. But they don't cook the food and I won't hold them accountable if the kitchen can't cook a steak. That was one of our biggest issues, I don't think a single person at our table had a steak cooked perfectly. That should be one of the easiest thing to do…but it's not. So basically Disney gets feedback that the food quality is excellent...which is isn't...because we are all too guilty to mark it down because it hurst the servers. AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH! More on that later as well.

Dang, I better stop doing that, you guys have to keep me honest if I forget to actually talk about the various things I claim I'm going to talk about!

So after brunch we headed back to our room and sent a couple of e-mails out. OH! funny story about e-mail. one day we were out on deck with my computer sending out and receiving e-mails. We were in port and a woman asks if we have wifi. I said we didn't , but that I was using the ships internet. Holy cow, you would have through we were worshiping satan the way this woman recoiled, like "why would you do that" as she turned her nose up at us. Very strange. We pointed out that our kids were not on the ship and this was how we were maintaining contact with them…and she walked away. Funny how people have to get all up on everyone's business like that. Strange stuff! Frankly if I was working while on the ship that's up to me, isn't it? And it's not like we were bothering anyone.

Since DW waited in line for the wrist bands we had to go pick them up…mainly so she could get the black wrist band off of her wrist. As I said before they had several options, but the ones we got were Costa Maya (which had Chip and Dale on it which is Nick's Favorite), and Panama Canal which had Pluto. Connor's favorite is Stitch, but as Stitch didn't make the group no luck. Maybe he was the reason the Cartagena one was rejected! In fact we spent a good chunk of the rest of the cruise trying to trade for Stitch pins, but apparently those get snapped up really quickly. We finally found one….but are still looking for one more. The funny thing is that a few years ago you could not find a single Chip and Dale pin…but now they are everywhere in every form…kind of funny how the characters ebb and flow.