Experiment-627: A Caribbean Double with a Wilderness Chaser

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Experiment-627








A Caribbean Double with a Wilderness Chaser
(Summer 2011)

Sometimes you just need to try something new… take a chance… flirt with failure and/or disaster. Sometimes you just need to experiment with a different way of dealing with even those things you know and love. Some of these experiments will work… some will not, but try them we must. Even the image I’m using to welcome you into this adventure was the result of an experiment (which both worked and failed… spectacularly). This “testing of new experiences” will be a theme that runs through the pages that are to follow. Within these posts, my family will be heading back to Disney, a place we know and love, but we’ll be seeing it in a rather different light and on a completely different pace then trips of the past. I think that the slight little smile you see on my boy’s face (even when he thought no one was watching him) is a good representation of our experience this grand and wonderful summer. As for the trip report that I’ve started on here… I’ll be making this journey through the literary badlands one way or another, but you’re invited to travel along if you’d like.

Hay… what’s the worst that could happen?

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Table of Contents:


Chapter 1: The Players
- Part 1: Who Are You?
- Part 2: Signorinas and Fräuleins
- Part 3: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise…

Chapter 2: The Set-Up
- Part 1: Getting To Know You
- Part 2: What’s a “fish” and why does it need “extending”?
- Part 3: Details… Details…

Chapter 3: The Hook
- Part 1: The Journey Commences
- Part 2: Interstate Blues
- Part 3: Castillo de San Marcos
- Part 4: The Ramparts of Fort Marion
- Part 5: Welcome to the Rad

Chapter 4: The Tale
...(Day 1 - Sunday)
- Part 1: Shuttle Launch
- Part 2: Terminal Velocity
- Part 3: “Experiment 627”
- Part 4: A Room With a View
- Part 5: Navi-s & Mag-s (Day-1)
- Part 6: T minus 5… 4… 3…
- Part 7: “Please come back… I’ll give you five bucks!”
- Part 8: I ate What?
- Part 9: Turned Down

Chapter 5: more of “The Tale”
...(Day 2 - Monday)
- Part 1: Navi-s & Mag-s (Day-2)
- Part 2: Land Ho…
- Part 3: All Ashore (but not that way)
- Part 4: Beached
- Part 5: You must be hungry…
- Part 6: Mirror, Mirror…
- Part 7: Sea Turtles?... Aye, Sea Turtles…

Chapter 6: In the midst of: “The Tale”
...(Day 3 - Tuesday)
- Part 1: Navi-s & Mag-s (Day-3)
- Part 2: Swinging for the Green
- Part 3: Sizing Up the Competition
- Part 4: Caught in the Act
- Part 5: Inner Sanctum
- Part 6: Ad Victor Spolia

Chapter 7: The tail of: “The Tale”
...(Day 4 - Wednesday)
- Part 1: Navi-s & Mag-s (Day-4)
- Part 2: Taking time to smell the flowers
- Part 3: Where Forth Art Thou
- Part 4: The Calm Before the Storm
- Part 5: A Little Night Music
- Part 6: Highfalutin
- Part 7: Are you noticing a pattern here?

Chapter 8: The Wire
...(Day 5 - Thursday)
- Part 1: Navi-s & Mag-s (Day-5)
- Part 2: Alone
- Part 3: Dizzying Heights
- Part 4: Unknown Knowns
- Part 5: The Journey to Come
- Part 6: Trials, Triumphs and Bittersweet Rewards
- Part 7: Crossroads

Chapter 9: The Shutout
...(Day 6 - Friday)
- Part 1: See Ya’ Real Soon
- Part 2: Charting a New Course
- Part 3: A Room With a View… Sort’a
- Part 4: The Lay of the Land
- Part 5: Decisions, Decisions…
- Part 6: Rapid Oxidation

Chapter 10: The Sting
...(Day 7 - Saturday)
- Part 1: Are You Awake Yet?
- Part 2: Sometimes you win…
- Part 3: And…. They’re off!
- Part 4: A Shot in the Dark


Chapter 11: Denouement
...(Day 8 - Sunday)
- Part 1: All Good Things…



The Chapter 11 stuff is new and the Final Entry!!

I hope y'all had fun...
I sure did

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Bonus Features

These are links to anything off topic that ended up being tossed in here
(And believe you me… I certainly have a knack for going OT)


01: Retreat
02: Paper Dream
03: The Big Red Boat
04: Blow That Horn
05: Vexillology
06: A DCL Cruiser’s Tipping Primer
07: DCL Beverage Management
08: Nathanael Greene
8.5: Sub Addendum???
09: I’m on a Boat
10: Now how’d I get here?
11: The Wreck of the Flying Dutchman
12: Turkey Surprise
13: Nassau – Part 1
13: Nassau – Part 2
13: Nassau – Part 3
14: Duodécimo de Mayo
15: Shamless Plug
16: O Sole Mio
17: In The Bag
18: Dragon’s Breath
19: Darn! That’s the end




:

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

One more (just in case )

[petals]

joining in first!!!.. I rock!

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Originally Posted by petals

joining in first!!!.. I rock!

Yes you do! Congrats and…



I guess the first update will just have to be in you’re honor.
Sooooo…. Here goes.

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Chapter 1: The Players

Part 1: Who Are You?

"Who am I? Why am I here?" - James B. Stockdale
(Vice Admiral USN retired)

Earlier this year I took one of those chances I was talking about. I started writing up my first TR (something most of y’all are already experts at). Even thought I consider myself to be a Disney veteran, I’d never thought that my opinions (or worse yet my experiences) were worth bothering anyone else with. For that matter I’d never considered that I might even for a moment, have the ability to put more then two words together in the form of a decent readable sentence. Certainly my various English teachers were convinced of this apparent fact.



I finally broke through that oppressive wall by writing about my family’s adventures during our 2010 Christmas time travels around WDW. Quite the risk for me, I tell you. Low and behold… the world didn’t come to an end. In fact some folks actually chose to follow along. A few of these misguided soles went so far as to offer up encouragement and even a smattering of praise for my meager efforts. That may have been a mistake on their part as I’ve now decided to keep at it. If you’d like to see an example of the kind of foolishness that you will be forced to edure on this ride, then here’s a link back to my first Trip Report (enter at your own risk):


You’re writing a TR? Really? (Christmas at POR, 2010)


If you can survive that one, then just maybe you’ll be able to tolerate this one. At least you’ve been fairly warned. If you do decide to read this nonsense, please feel free to chime in with any thoughts, questions or comments (I’ve also found that sarcasm can be quite useful). You can lurk if you’d like (as if I could actually prevent that), but I’d appreciate knowing who’s reading along to at least offer up a little bit of thanks (or pity as the case my be). Besides, if you follow along and then change your mind, you can always just close out your browser or hit the “back button”.



Heck… I’ll never know about it if ya’ do, so who could possibly get hurt ehhh?




So anyway… I suppose it’s about time I got this freight train out of the yard and on down the rails. The question has been asked: “Who are you?” Well… come on over and meet part of my Ohana:

Me: Rob (Code Name: GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes)



Current owner of near a half century of memories (both good and bad… but mostly good) and unabashed Disney freak. I’ve seen “mouse world” many times since my first trip in 1974, and have been graced with the luck to be able to visit just about annually for the last decade.


DW: Tamara (Code Name: Southern Giselle)
…and I’ll tell you about the other bloke in the picture in a minute



A true Southern Belle if ever I’ve met one. She is the person who holds our house together and makes it possible for me to just survive the next day. Sixteen years a mother… twenty years my wife… the driving force behind most of my good memories… and for the rest of eternity, my best friend…


DS: Max (Code Name: Goofus Maximus)



Tamara’s baby boy… my young man… all around good kid (and obviously the other bloke in the last picture). He’s very similar to other young people in some ways, and very much unlike the expected stereotype in many other ways.




The three of us will be taking you along on a trip that includes a fair amount of driving…




…a very old fortress…




…a fine new ship…




…a stunning resort…




…and a number of new experiences. In terms of people, we’ll encounter folks from all over the US, and have considerable dealings with individuals form such exotic locals as Iceland, Slovakia, and Wales. We’ll see things familiar all scrambled up with things entirely new, and experience things that we’ve long known of, but never gotten around to taking part in. We’ll return once again to the “happiest place on earth”, and yet we won’t set foot on even one of the attractions. As it turned out, it’s the trip itself that was the attraction
(and I can’t wait to be able to do it again).



Well that’s the basics.
Now all that remains is the actual telling of the story.

[FreezinRafiki]

Originally Posted by GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes

Chapter 1: Who Are You?

[CENTER]
"Who am I? Why am I here?" - James B. Stockdale
(Vice Admiral USN retired)

We're going to play a wonderful game called... "Who is my daddy and what does he do?"


I've fallen behind on your other TR (what with vacation and all that), but I'm ready for this one! We sail on the Dream at the end of October and we can't wait!

[IamTrike]

Originally Posted by GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes

Chapter 1: Who Are You?

…a fine new ship…

I'm looking forward to following along too.

I notice there is no one in the teen club in your picture. During our trip we never saw anyone in there. I wonder if your son visited it?

[Captain_Oblivious]

Ha! You thought you could escape from me, but I'm here, too! BWAHAHAHahahahaha...

Oh, wait, you're not my nemesis. Well, um, I'm looking forward to the TR.

And hey, is that Castillo de San Marcos? I was just there in May!

[afwdwfan]

Originally Posted by GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes

Chapter 1: Who Are You?

[CENTER]
"Who am I? Why am I here?" - James B. Stockdale
(Vice Admiral USN retired)

Gotta say, you took me by surprise here. You being the music enthusiast, I thoroughly expected to see a picture of Pete Townshend somewhere after you titled the update "Who are you?"

Originally Posted by GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes

If you’d like to see an example of the kind of foolishness that you will be forced to edure on this ride, then here’s a link back to my first Trip Report (enter at your own risk):

Well worth reading.

Originally Posted by GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes

…a stunning resort…

I've got to admit, I can't wait to read about the resort... especially since I'll be calling it home for a week in a few months.

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Originally Posted by FreezinRafiki

We're going to play a wonderful game called... "Who is my daddy and what does he do?"


I've fallen behind on your other TR (what with vacation and all that), but I'm ready for this one! We sail on the Dream at the end of October and we can't wait!

To our resident TR Jedi Master (not planning on being “the party pooper” are we)

I’m glad to have you along and I anticipate that a healthy dose of “de-constrictive criticism” will now be heading my way. I surmized there had to be a reason that I took so little grief from the gallery on my first TR. I figured that y’all were just being nice to the noob, but now I suspect that I’ll be fair game for every conceivable pot shot. Bring it on (I probable deserve the beating that will follow).

Originally Posted by IamTrike

I'm looking forward to following along too.

I notice there is no one in the teen club in your picture. During our trip we never saw anyone in there. I wonder if your son visited it?

And thanks for joining in. As a fellow Dream veteran, I’d love to see you add a bit of your perspective into this little effort (I’m pretty sure the other readers wouldn’t mind hearing an opinion other then mine as well).

In that image, we were just getting under way form the dock and the teen club wasn’t really operating at capacity. Now that being said, I can’t supply a lot of incite into how well the concept works, because Max just wasn’t interested in the teen club.


That question gives me a chance to toss out a disclaimer about the TR to follow:

There just aren’t any salesman type personalities in my family, and we don’t play social games very well. Max has very close friends, but doesn’t make them quickly or easily (something he inherited honestly from both sides of the family). As such he just was not attracted to the clubs on this trip or any of our prior cruises with DCL. For this reason, those of you who follow along looking for info on the clubs will not find much (at least not in this thread). The various kids clubs on the ships are a wonderful plus for the majority of young’ens that are the more “normal” social butterflies, but the more shy folks generally stick with their families. Of course, Disney is designed from the get go as a family entertainment destination, so that method of travel works just as well. That being the case, I will be talking about the things we got into as a family unit, but not so much about the stuff that is set aside specifically for kids (or specifically for adults for that matter).

Originally Posted by Captain_Oblivious

Ha! You thought you could escape from me, but I'm here, too! BWAHAHAHahahahaha...

Oh, wait, you're not my nemesis. Well, um, I'm looking forward to the TR.

And hey, is that Castillo de San Marcos? I was just there in May!

Welcome aboard Mark.

I’m glad to have you along for the ride.
As of yet, I haven’t acquired a proper nemesis. I guess that makes me fair game for every one (unless someone wants’ to apply for the position outright)

And as for the question:
Yes… Yes that is the Castillo de San Marcos. I figured the best way to deal with a long day of driving, was to get in a little time at an amazing historical edifice. Heck, it was on the way so why not. Feel free to chime in when I get around to that part of the adventure.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

Gotta say, you took me by surprise here. You being the music enthusiast, I thoroughly expected to see a picture of Pete Townshend somewhere after you titled the update "Who are you?"

Ohhhhhh... I thought about it, but you never want to be too predictable.
By the way… Now then… where was I… Oh yah…
I also figured that the more obscure reference might send at least a couple of folks on over to Google to figure out what I was on about. As I also like to study history (and am more then old enough to remember that moment very vividly), it seemed like a “teachable moment” to me.


But since you brought it up… Here ya’ go.



Now that’s Rock n Roll!

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

Well worth reading.

Thanks much (not sure I deserve that bit o praise, but I’ll take it).

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

I've got to admit, I can't wait to read about the resort... especially since I'll be calling it home for a week in a few months.

And love it you will I’m sure. I’ll make an effort to keep up with this report so that I can get the Wilderness parts well before you set off on your adventure (so that gives me about f months to finish this up).

Did I just paint my self into a corner there?

[petals]

Originally Posted by GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes

Yes you do! Congrats and…



I guess the first update will just have to be in you’re honor.
Sooooo…. Here goes.

First post in honor of me?! I double rock Can't wait to read more

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Originally Posted by petals

First post in honor of me?! I double rock Can't wait to read more

And more is on the way

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Bonus Feature 1:

Retreat



I’m not really sure that this should be considered a bonus feature. My real intention here is just to ensure that the next section of the TR shows up at the top of the next page. It aint necessary that I do so… I just like the aesthetics of the idea. So if I’m bound and determined to waste everyone’s time with a completely nonsequitur post, then the question becomes: just what should it be? Well I like this idea:



During one of our trips to The World, we just happened to be arriving at the MK right around dinner time on Memorial Day. As we walked into the square in front of the train depot, we encountered the Flag Retreat ceremony just getting under way. Now the folks at Disney do this every day (it’s just part of the magic), but it seemed particularly special on this time around. They look for a veteran among the guests that day and invite them to assist with the ceremony. The Main Street Band plays along with a full quire and once the flag has been properly lowered and folded, it is given to the guest of honor to be carried out of the square. I believe that the CMs will then take some pictures and present the guest with a certificate signifying the event. If you ask me… not only in that a very patriotic (and really cool) gesture, it’s also perfectly Disney (and it’s stuff like that that makes us all love the place).









Well OK… I guess you can consider this to be a “Bonus Feature”. It’s certainly off topic. So be warned that this is the first of many such tangents that I’ll be flying off on during this voyage.