mississaugamom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2003
- Messages
- 1,066
Cast: myself, DH (Martin), our 7 yr old DD (Lara), and DHs Aunt and Uncle (both 81)
Mickey called us at 6:15 this morning, and Lara and I got up right away, eager to get on with our day. We hurried up to Deck 9 to get our tea and hot chocolate just after the sun came up, and took some photos while it was still so lovely and peaceful. We ran into Plutospup also walking around enjoying the early solitude. We then popped into Topsiders for a quick breakfast and to pick up some orange juice to take back to Martin. He was ready to go when we got back, so we headed down to the meeting spot for our Stingray City Snorkel tour group at 7:30 am.
After hearing wonderful descriptions of what we were about to see, the radios crackled and we were told to stand by there were some reports of rough water. Sure enough, Disney decided it was too rough for trips to Stingray City for the day, so both the morning and afternoon sessions were now cancelled. Lara began to cry, but Id done enough reading on the DIS-boards to know that an excursion cancellation by Disney didnt mean there were no trips available. After turning in our excursion tickets for a refund, we went to the Walt Disney Theatre and got tender tickets. Once ashore, we tried figuring out where the offices were for Nativeway or Captain Marvins. We ran into Mailman and his friend down at Eagle Ray Divers, but the dive shop told us Captain Marvins offices were about 6 miles away! (Turned out to be about 6 blocks, but they didnt know.) We saw a man with a Nativeway paddle on the street, so we asked him about getting on one of their excursions. He sent us over to a gazebo area to wait. The first excursion was full, but there would be another one in 30 minutes. Mamagriz and her family arrived, already booked on the excursion we were about to take. The girls took to each other immediately, and we happily passed the time chatting about our trips so far. We turned out to be the only passengers, so we hopped into a shuttle van to the boat. It was a beautiful, spacious boat, and the three kids got to ride uptop with Alan. (He and Mark were our two guides.)
Enroute to Stingray City, we found a small boat with at least 10 passengers on it drifting in a cove. The boats motor was dead, so we turned around and towed them back to the dock. Their passengers came onto our boat, but there was still space for everyone. We had our own masks and snorkels, so we were ready to go when we got to Stingray City. The experience was awesome!!!!! There were a lot of stingrays waiting to greet us as we got into the water, swimming around as if it was great fun to pet humans! One swam up my back, and Martin was trying to take a picture when he was startled by a large stingray trying to swim between his legs! Lara and I held one together, and Lara even gave it a kiss! Martin fed a couple of pieces of squid while Lara watched him, but she was afraid they would want her little fingers along with the squid.
After about 30 minutes, we climbed back on the boat for a quick trip to Coral Gardens. Lara was feeling seasick at this point and wanted to stay on the boat. We had a hard time convincing her she would actually feel better in the water, but we finally prevailed. Once she got in (and let go of me) she had a wonderful time snorkelling. With Mark dropping bits of squid from the boat, it was just like swimming in a salt-water aquarium!
Lara had a few crackers on the ride back to shore, and felt fine by the time we docked. The shuttle van was waiting to take us back to town, where we arrived by 1:30. Lara reluctantly left her new friends determined to visit the cool Del Sol store they had been to earlier in the morning and to get a stuffed stingray like Sammy was getting. We had to decide whether there was time to go back to the ship to shower and change before shopping, but finally decided that we didnt look that scruffy and the stores wouldnt mind taking our money. (LOL)
First stop was Del Sol, which wed never seen before. Everything changes colour in sunlight; from t-shirts to keychains and even nail polish! We bought t-shirts, nail polish, and keychains for Laras friends at home. Mamagrizs DH Jim was back in the store, so were able to find out where they got Sammys stuffed stingray. Over to British Outpost, where Lara needed two stingrays (the baby needs her mommy!) and I found a lovely stirling silver stingray on a chain for only $20! Lara promptly needed one of these too. Martin was looking at watches (inspired by "Papagriz" Im sure) and spent a long time deciding whether or not to buy the one he really liked. The price was right, but he finally decided that it was too wide for his wrist. We were all really hungry so we went back to the tender line. The cold water or fruit punch being offered was a very nice touch. We got back on the ship and headed up to Plutos Dog House for a burger and fries. After checking the Character hotline, we discovered both Mickey and Donald were going to be meeting guests on Decks 9 and 10 as we sailed away from Grand Cayman! This turned out to be great there was almost no-one upstairs and Lara had a nice visit with both of them.
We met with Auntie and Uncle to hear about their bus tour of the island. Unfortunately, it had not gone as well as our experience with the stingrays. They felt very rushed and found it difficult to keep up. By the time they would catch up to the group at the Turtle Farm, it was time to move onto something else! The fear of being lost or left behind spoiled any enjoyment in what they were seeing. We were sorry to hear that, as we had assumed that a tour described as leisurely and all ages would have been okay. This was the only excursion we had planned for them. When they got back to town, they looked around the shops for a bit, but decided to wait until Cozumel for shopping. (They did get some rum cakes, though!) They went back to the ship for lunch and a rest after the tour.
Dinner was in Lumieres tonight. It was the Best of Master Chefs menu and everything was once again delicious. (Well, almost everything I didnt know what pappardelle pasta was and wasnt prepared for it to be black; not something Id order again, but I enjoyed all the seafood served with it and just left the noodles.) Claudio was very distressed and kept wanting to bring another dinner, but I was already comfortably full and assured him that Id save the room for dessert. I thoroughly enjoyed the Chocolate Decadence cake instead of another entrée.
After Lara did some pin-trading with the officers of the ship, we went to see Hercules the Muse-ical. This was another wonderful show. Lara just loved it, and laughed and laughed at the jokes. Who knew Hades could be such a funny guy?!?
After the show,we hurried over to Studio Sea to play Mickey Mania! There was Plutospup and his family already seated at the front! We took seats and waited for the Contestants selection. Lara jumped up and down, waved her arms, and insisted that I do the same so we would be chosen. It worked, and we got to be the Red Team. I can only imagine what I looked like in my Minnie hat, but it was a lot of fun. We did pretty well and finished second by only one question! (The third part was recognizing blurred photos not our strongest category!). We got special Mickey Mania coins for participating.
A quick trip to Deck 9 for some drinks (and fries for Martin) ended another perfect day aboard the Disney Magic.
Mickey called us at 6:15 this morning, and Lara and I got up right away, eager to get on with our day. We hurried up to Deck 9 to get our tea and hot chocolate just after the sun came up, and took some photos while it was still so lovely and peaceful. We ran into Plutospup also walking around enjoying the early solitude. We then popped into Topsiders for a quick breakfast and to pick up some orange juice to take back to Martin. He was ready to go when we got back, so we headed down to the meeting spot for our Stingray City Snorkel tour group at 7:30 am.
After hearing wonderful descriptions of what we were about to see, the radios crackled and we were told to stand by there were some reports of rough water. Sure enough, Disney decided it was too rough for trips to Stingray City for the day, so both the morning and afternoon sessions were now cancelled. Lara began to cry, but Id done enough reading on the DIS-boards to know that an excursion cancellation by Disney didnt mean there were no trips available. After turning in our excursion tickets for a refund, we went to the Walt Disney Theatre and got tender tickets. Once ashore, we tried figuring out where the offices were for Nativeway or Captain Marvins. We ran into Mailman and his friend down at Eagle Ray Divers, but the dive shop told us Captain Marvins offices were about 6 miles away! (Turned out to be about 6 blocks, but they didnt know.) We saw a man with a Nativeway paddle on the street, so we asked him about getting on one of their excursions. He sent us over to a gazebo area to wait. The first excursion was full, but there would be another one in 30 minutes. Mamagriz and her family arrived, already booked on the excursion we were about to take. The girls took to each other immediately, and we happily passed the time chatting about our trips so far. We turned out to be the only passengers, so we hopped into a shuttle van to the boat. It was a beautiful, spacious boat, and the three kids got to ride uptop with Alan. (He and Mark were our two guides.)
Enroute to Stingray City, we found a small boat with at least 10 passengers on it drifting in a cove. The boats motor was dead, so we turned around and towed them back to the dock. Their passengers came onto our boat, but there was still space for everyone. We had our own masks and snorkels, so we were ready to go when we got to Stingray City. The experience was awesome!!!!! There were a lot of stingrays waiting to greet us as we got into the water, swimming around as if it was great fun to pet humans! One swam up my back, and Martin was trying to take a picture when he was startled by a large stingray trying to swim between his legs! Lara and I held one together, and Lara even gave it a kiss! Martin fed a couple of pieces of squid while Lara watched him, but she was afraid they would want her little fingers along with the squid.
After about 30 minutes, we climbed back on the boat for a quick trip to Coral Gardens. Lara was feeling seasick at this point and wanted to stay on the boat. We had a hard time convincing her she would actually feel better in the water, but we finally prevailed. Once she got in (and let go of me) she had a wonderful time snorkelling. With Mark dropping bits of squid from the boat, it was just like swimming in a salt-water aquarium!
Lara had a few crackers on the ride back to shore, and felt fine by the time we docked. The shuttle van was waiting to take us back to town, where we arrived by 1:30. Lara reluctantly left her new friends determined to visit the cool Del Sol store they had been to earlier in the morning and to get a stuffed stingray like Sammy was getting. We had to decide whether there was time to go back to the ship to shower and change before shopping, but finally decided that we didnt look that scruffy and the stores wouldnt mind taking our money. (LOL)
First stop was Del Sol, which wed never seen before. Everything changes colour in sunlight; from t-shirts to keychains and even nail polish! We bought t-shirts, nail polish, and keychains for Laras friends at home. Mamagrizs DH Jim was back in the store, so were able to find out where they got Sammys stuffed stingray. Over to British Outpost, where Lara needed two stingrays (the baby needs her mommy!) and I found a lovely stirling silver stingray on a chain for only $20! Lara promptly needed one of these too. Martin was looking at watches (inspired by "Papagriz" Im sure) and spent a long time deciding whether or not to buy the one he really liked. The price was right, but he finally decided that it was too wide for his wrist. We were all really hungry so we went back to the tender line. The cold water or fruit punch being offered was a very nice touch. We got back on the ship and headed up to Plutos Dog House for a burger and fries. After checking the Character hotline, we discovered both Mickey and Donald were going to be meeting guests on Decks 9 and 10 as we sailed away from Grand Cayman! This turned out to be great there was almost no-one upstairs and Lara had a nice visit with both of them.
We met with Auntie and Uncle to hear about their bus tour of the island. Unfortunately, it had not gone as well as our experience with the stingrays. They felt very rushed and found it difficult to keep up. By the time they would catch up to the group at the Turtle Farm, it was time to move onto something else! The fear of being lost or left behind spoiled any enjoyment in what they were seeing. We were sorry to hear that, as we had assumed that a tour described as leisurely and all ages would have been okay. This was the only excursion we had planned for them. When they got back to town, they looked around the shops for a bit, but decided to wait until Cozumel for shopping. (They did get some rum cakes, though!) They went back to the ship for lunch and a rest after the tour.
Dinner was in Lumieres tonight. It was the Best of Master Chefs menu and everything was once again delicious. (Well, almost everything I didnt know what pappardelle pasta was and wasnt prepared for it to be black; not something Id order again, but I enjoyed all the seafood served with it and just left the noodles.) Claudio was very distressed and kept wanting to bring another dinner, but I was already comfortably full and assured him that Id save the room for dessert. I thoroughly enjoyed the Chocolate Decadence cake instead of another entrée.
After Lara did some pin-trading with the officers of the ship, we went to see Hercules the Muse-ical. This was another wonderful show. Lara just loved it, and laughed and laughed at the jokes. Who knew Hades could be such a funny guy?!?
After the show,we hurried over to Studio Sea to play Mickey Mania! There was Plutospup and his family already seated at the front! We took seats and waited for the Contestants selection. Lara jumped up and down, waved her arms, and insisted that I do the same so we would be chosen. It worked, and we got to be the Red Team. I can only imagine what I looked like in my Minnie hat, but it was a lot of fun. We did pretty well and finished second by only one question! (The third part was recognizing blurred photos not our strongest category!). We got special Mickey Mania coins for participating.
A quick trip to Deck 9 for some drinks (and fries for Martin) ended another perfect day aboard the Disney Magic.
