6/11/09 3 Night Wonder Trip Report-with 500+ Photos!!!

[pmama]

Great updates. You're right that is a beautiful view from your verandah. Good to know the Mickey pool was completely empty morning of CC.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

What???

 

[Tri-circle-D]

It took us a while to get our act together and get off the boat at Castaway Cay, but we finally made it onto the island a little before 10. The older girls were dragging behind, so Mrs. TCD and the younger girls headed out with the understanding that we would meet in our usual spot. Our usual spot is the beach in front of the play structure at the family beach. For some reason, that is where we have always set up camp, and it works for us.

So, we headed off the boat.

Our first visits to Castaway Cay were in November of 2004 and 2005. The island had been blasted by several hurricanes in that time frame, and a lot of the landscaping looked pretty bad. In the past few years, the island has been spared, and things look really good.

This is a little gas station that is set up right on the dock when you exit the ship. It is a fine example of the trouble that Disney goes to in order to create a theme when it builds something:

What other company would go to the trouble to create this much detail for something that is really nothing more than a prop?

I love it.

We head on down to the tram stop, and get our photos taken at this photo op. We always snap a photo or two here:

As I mentioned, the oldest DD and her BFF were left behind to catch up with us later, but we have her trained well, because the girls stopped on their own to take a pic:

Speaking of attention to detail, how can you not like this?:

The next obligatory photo stop is Mt. Rustmore. We always get pics here:

And, to show how well we have trained her, here is oldest DD’s pic, which she took independently while she was just a little behind us:

As soon as we got ourselves situated, it was time for a swim. I don’t know how they did it, but the older girls, who were not ready when we left them behind, joined up with us only a few minutes after we got our stuff set down.

The water was perfect!:

(I don’t mean any offense, but be sure to check out the specimen in the background of the photo posted above- yowza!)


I purchased a reusable underwater camera at CVS for this trip. It was only a couple of dollars more than a disposable one, and performed just as well (which isn’t saying much), see?:

Two of the girls wanted to go out to the play structure. We had commented last year, when the younger girls were 13, that this was going to probably be their last chance to play on it. But, who knew that we would be back a year later, and two of the girls were still legal. Actually, there were kids clearly older than 14 on the play structure. I even heard an older teen boy ask the lifeguard if he could play on the structure. The lifeguard said that as long as the tide was high, which it was, it would be OK, so despite the sign that you will see, we had permission to be out here:

Some kids could travel, hand over hand, down the entire length of this rope. And, they were lined up all day for a chance to do so. I think that they used to have something like this at River Country at WDW. For some reason, kids find this to be fun. The TCD girls could only make in a few feet:

Can you spot the other TCD girls in this crowd?:

How about now (look for waving arms, in about the center of the photo):

After playing around here in the water for a bit, it was time to go snorkeling. Three of the four girls were up for that, so we grabbed out gear, and headed over to the snorkeling area.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

As you might have heard, or already know, you have to wear a life vest in the snorkeling area of Castaway Cay. So, we grabbed our vests and headed out. Because the tide was in, we had to swim quite a ways until we got to our first stop, which was the buoy marking the location of the underwater Minnie. We found her for the first time last year. At the time, I heard that Mickey was out for repairs. I have since heard that Mickey is back, but we did not find him. We did find Minnie:

If you read my trip report from last year, you will see that my underwater photo taking skills have not improved one bit since last year. In fact, they may have gotten worse. But, where am I supposed to practice this?

Anyway, after getting the first two girls photos, I tried to get one of the third. She had a hard time getting underwater because of her life vest. So, I decided to get as deep as I could, and then try to get her photo with Minnie in the foreground, and her in the background. Check out this masterpiece!:

Sorry!

Here is the classic photo of the girls with the Wonder in the background:

From here, we looked for and found the underwater treasure chest. In the past, I have ceremoniously placed an object in the treasure chest for another snorkeler to find. One year, it was a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy (a Mr. Incredible figure to be exact), another time it was a Chicken Little figurine (anybody remember that movie?). This year, we had brought along a couple of rubber ducks wearing graduation hats. We filled them with water, and placed them in the treasure chest. I took photos of the girls posing next to them. Maybe those will look cute in a scrapbook some day.

So where are the photos, you ask?

That’s a good question. You know that camera I bought from CVS? Well, I had to remove the film from it. The rather vague instructions told me to hand crank the film back into the film canister before opening the camera. As far as I could see, there was no way to tell, other than by feel ,when the film was cranked back into the canister. So, when I was home and ready to take the film in to be developed, I cranked it. It felt like it was rewound back into the canister, so I opened the camera. And I saw that the film was not all the way rewound. So, I closed the camera back up, and wound the film in. I lost about 10 photos as a result. Dang. I’ll do better the next time. I promise.

We finished our snorkeling a little sooner than I would have liked, but we had to get back to base camp and drop off our gear so we could get to the gazebo to sign up for the crab races. I don’t know why we like to participate in the crab races. The whole thing is truthfully kind of dumb, but we like it, so we planned on participating, and we did.

After hustling back to drop off our gear, the girls hurried over to the gazebo to sign up. As I lagged behind, look who came walking up the beach!:

This guy was good. Really funny! And totally in character. Too bad the girls missed him.

After my brief Jack encounter, I hurried to catch up with the girls.

Next up- crab races!

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

You will never guess who was in charge of the crab races!

Well, actually, I bet if I gave you three guesses you would guess. Maybe even one. It was good old Pikey. Does this pour guy ever get a break?

Here he is signing the girls up for their crab:

They named their crab Miley , and listed themselves as “Team Pikey.” Pikey liked that:

Do you see Frankie back there hamming it up for the photo?

I said to the girls that we needed to show Frankie some love. He was a nice guy, but when he was around, so was Pikey, and the girls gave Pikey all the attention. Do you remember the photo from yesterday where one of the DD’s posed with Pikey and they made a heart by each holding up one of their hands? I suggested that one of the girls do that with Frankie, but they all refused. So, I had to do it:

Here is Team Pikey getting ready for the race:

From what I could determine, these two guys’ sole job on the island was to draw the circles used for the crab races and to bring the crabs out:

I would like to know who these guys know in order to get this job. And, why did it take two of them? Tough work, but someone has to do it, right?

One of the DVC representatives that I met on the ship was set at a table right near here with a bunch of DVC member hats. I asked him if I could have one. He said I could have as many as I liked. I asked the girls, and we had two takers. Here’s one (its the red hat). You’ll see the other a little later. Nice hat. And free. That makes it even nicer:

A small crowd gathered as the race was about to begin. Pikey worked the crowd. Have I mentioned that Pikey is actually very funny? He could easily make a living as a stand-up comic. The guy is very entertaining. Here he is interviewing one of the contestants:

And, this young man apparently fancied himself to be a bit of a comedian. Look what he named his crab:

LOL! (as my kids say)

And, the race was about to begin! Pikey noticed a lady with a video camera, and mugged for the camera as the race was about to begin:

And, here they go!:

They have several heats. The crabs that win each heat are removed, until four crabs win. The winners of each heat are listed on this board:

Miley from Team Pikey won a heat, so we would be in the finals!

Hooray!

Coming up, will it be the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat for Team Pikey?

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Love your trip report! Did you have to have passports to go on your trip?
Time for you to go back to camping board.....Looks like you all had a ball!Can't wait to read more!

No passports required. Just an official (with a seal) copy of your birth certificate. I believe that this is still true for all DCL cruises originating out of and finishing in Port Canaveral. As long as it's a "closed loop" you don't need a passport.

I'll be back on the camping boards as soon as I get this report finished.

As you can see, this one is getting a bit long, even by TCD standards.

Great updates. You're right that is a beautiful view from your verandah. Good to know the Mickey pool was completely empty morning of CC.

Yes, I didn't realize how empty the Mickey pool would be, but it makes sense. Folks with young kids are probably more inclined to want to get on to Castaway Cay early, so they can get back for naps and such. This could present a nice opportunity for any one looking for an uncrowded pool experience.

What???

You don't know spaghetti cat? Look for him on youtube. I wanted to post that photo and then stay away for a day, but I am pushing to get this trip report done. But, that is still funny, if you know spaghetti cat. We in the TCD gang are big fans of the TV show, The Soup. Spaghetti cat shows up there quite a bit.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Speaking of finishing this trip report . . .

We are still at the crab races. While I was walking around the crowd to take pictures, I noticed this fruit stand outside the Cookie’s BBQ area. I am sure it has always been here, but I never noticed it before:

Looks pretty nice if fruit is your thing.

Back to the races. At one point, Pikey encouraged everyone to make a claw, and cheer for the crabs, so the girls obliged:

Pikey kept on referring to himself as Pikey McClaw. The girls were thrilled. They thought they had a last name so they could stalk him on Facebook when they got home. But, I pointed out that this was a joke. McClaw? At the crab races, get it? I told you this guy was funny.

The heats were completed and it was time for the finals.

Here is the leader board:

And, then the finals were run.

The crab that won the very first race blew away the competition. I demanded a drug test, but no one listened. Team Pikey came in second.

But not all was lost. As the second place winners, the girls each received a sheet of Easter themed Bolt tattoos. Yes I said Easter. This was June 13. But, who am I to complain:

We were standing right by the Conched Out Bar when the crab races were finished. I don’t think I ever took a photo of it, so I did. More great attention to detail:

Our plan was to go ahead and get lunch after our crab race, so that’s what we did. We ran into our server JoJo in the serving line. Those pour guys don’t get a break, either. We also saw a bar server that we met on board walking up and down the beach all day. Cruise ship employees work hard. Even the crab wranglers.

We had a great lunch, and then it was back to the beach for some more swimming before the next item on our agenda. The bike path. We always take a bike ride on Castaway Cay, and that is something that we planned to do that afternoon as well.

But first, it was back in the water:

This was a new thing for Mrs. TCD and I. Usually, the girls get bored at the beach. But, with this group on this trip, they were content to just hang out in the water and chat away. Lord knows what they were talking about. Some of it was scheming on how they would stalk Pikey that night. The rest of it, who knows. But, the good thing was that it allowed Mrs. TCD and I to just sit and relax, and enjoy some of the ice cold beer that I rolled off the ship in my rolling cooler. See, I told you this was paradise!

After a bit of swimming, it was time for the bike ride. I have noticed a lot of folks ask questions about the bikes. So, I took photos of what they had to offer. The bikes cost $6.00 per hour to rent. Never pay for more than an hour. Every time we have been, the employee who takes your KTTW card for the charge never leaves the hut to help you pick out your bike, and no one writes down what time you leave, and there is no one there to check you in when you return. You just sign the rental agreement and go, and bring the bikes back when you want. That said, I don’t think you would want to ride a bike for more than an hour anyway. It is usually hot on Castaway Cay, and an hour is more than plenty.

Here are the photos of the bike selection:

You begin your ride by riding down the old runway on the island. This is a real runway. Here is another detailed prop:

If you ride all the way to the end of the trail past Serenity Bay, this is where you end up:

About half way back to Serenity Bay, there is a little turn off. There is a sign there that says castmembers only, but we need to see what they are keeping us from, right? Well this is it:

It’s a really nice private beach. We just stopped here for a minute, and then continued on.

This is a second plane that is parked at the entrance to Serenity Bay, near the massage cabanas. I don’t remember this being here. I only remember one plane:

On the way back, we stopped at the game pavilion, which was deserted. We played with a few of the offerings:

Next up, we hang out in the game room some more, and I pump an employee for some information about a construction project going on right next to the game pavilion.

TCD

 

[Narnia_girl]

I have a question: I thought they didn't like you bringing bottled beer on board? (cans or metal bottles only)? (Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me since you can bring bottles of wine, but anyway.....) isn't Mrs. TCD drinking a bottle of Corona on page one?

Just wondering because my husband prefers some of the microbrews that only come in bottles and we might want to buy a few to bring onboard.

thanks!

 

[Tri-circle-D]

I have a question: I thought they didn't like you bringing bottled beer on board? (cans or metal bottles only)? (Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me since you can bring bottles of wine, but anyway.....) isn't Mrs. TCD drinking a bottle of Corona on page one?

Just wondering because my husband prefers some of the microbrews that only come in bottles and we might want to buy a few to bring onboard.

thanks!

Well, the only beer Mrs. TCD will drink is Corona in a bottle (with two limes, thank you), but having a bottle out on deck by the pools gets everyone in a tizzy. The bar servers will come over and ask you to pour your beer in a plastic cup. Same thing on Castaway Cay. Of course, you can enjoy your beer in a bottle in your cabin, on your veranda, and elsewhere, but not around the pool or on the beach at Castaway Cay. So, that's why I said to bring aluminum. And, I don't think they discriminate against beer drinkers. I'll bet if you were drinking out of your wine bottle next to the pool, they would ask you to put that away, too.

TCD

 

[Tri-circle-D]

There is actually a lot to do here at the game pavilion. I believe this game is called Connect Four. They must not have had this back in the day, because I don't remember ever playing it:

There are basketball hoops galore:

And giant checkers. In this photo, DD is showing that she can still turn the board over is she is losing and wants out of the game (like she has been known to do)(again, I say, I don't know where this kid gets these character flaws) :

There is a good sized area cleared right next to the game pavilion, and some heavy equipment on site. There was a castmember here keeping an eye on things, so I asked him what this was all about. He said he didn't know, just some kind of expansion for the bigger ships. He said in the past, when both the Magic and Wonder have docked at the same time, things have been crowded, so they figured they needed to expand. Come again? This guy should be a bus driver at WDW with that type of misinformation. For the record, even I, a relative DCL newbie, know that the Magic and Wonder have never docked at Castaway Cay at the same time. They can't. There isn't room for both ships at the same time. Heck, it is rare for the two ships to even be near each other let alone dock at the same time at Castaway Cay.
Anyway, here's the photo of this unknown project:

Here is a shot of the view from here back toward the ship:

And a couple more shots of the game pavilion:

From here, the girls took the bikes back, and we agreed that they would swim for a bit before we headed off to our next activity, which would be a visit to the Head's Up bar.

I kept my bike for a little longer, as I had a mission to accomplish. I was going to look at the backstage area at the opposite end of the runway from Serenity Bay. You get there by turning right on the air strip instead of left. As I rode back there, though, a golf cart with a security guard type was riding right toward me. Bad timing. I turned around, and snapped this photo over my shoulder. Doesn't show anything, though:

Epic Fail (as the kids say)

But, I was able to get this shot showing the whole length of the air strip:

We met up back at base camp, and then headed over to the Head's Up bar. The girls were going to get a smoothie and, Mrs. TCD and I were going to get a cocktail. On our cruise last year, we went here specifically to get a Conch Cooler, and got there to find that they were getting ready to close, and that they couldn't make me one. Today, we would get there a bit earlier.

Along the way, we enjoyed this view of the ship, and some empty hammocks:

We made it to the bar, and got our drinks.

You can get an incredible view of the ship from here:

In fact, we usually will have the girls line up on the dock here, and get some shots with the ship in the background. When everyone was finished with their drinks, I asked them to line up for the photo.

And, my battery died!

Well, I guess the camera had a workout today.

So, I did not get any more photos on Castaway Cay. My DD's BFF snapped a few, that I will share in my next post.

We closed down Head's Up, and made it back to base camp at just around 4. It was about then that the lifeguards began to make periodic announcements through their megaphones that the swimming area would be closing at 4:30. The beach really started to empty out. As 4:15 came along, the TCD girls and a few other kids were the only people still in the water. And then the other kids left. So, on the entire family beach, we were it. At 4:30, the lifeguards announced that the swimming area was closed, and the girls triumphantly exited the water. They were the last out of the swimming lagoon! Bragging rights.

So, it is 4:30, and we need to be back on the ship by 5. We will make it, won't we?

Remember, I said we wanted to be the last aboard from Castaway Cay. I wasn't kidding. Would we have these bragging rights too?

Check back to see.

TCD

 

[TonytheWop]

Speaking of finishing this trip report . . .

We were standing right by the Conched Out Bar when the crab races were finished. I don’t think I ever took a photo of it, so I did. More great attention to detail:

Our plan was to go ahead and get lunch after our crab race, so that’s what we did. We ran into our server JoJo in the serving line. Those pour guys don’t get a break, either.

TCD

500 pictures and no pictures of the BBQ ???
Great TR ..love your writing style..very entertaining !!

 

[daveyc150]

500 pictures and no pictures of the BBQ ???
Great TR ..love your writing style..very entertaining !!

I thought that was strange too, where is the food!!!

Great trip report though.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

500 pictures and no pictures of the BBQ ???
Great TR ..love your writing style..very entertaining !!

I thought that was strange too, where is the food!!!

Great trip report though.

Wow! You're right! What's up with that? I got pictures of the men's room floor (I actually have another one coming up), backstage areas, more pictures of Pikey than anyone could ever need (and a few more of those are on the way, too), but no pics of the BBQ. You can see it in the background of the fruit stand that I took a photo of it. Otherwise, I got nothing. The only explanation that I can give is that my hands were full as I went through the chow line, and then I had to eat, and then I had barbecue sauce all over my hands, and around my mouth (l looked like Heath Ledger's Joker), and I just didn't get around to photos at the time. Sorry. I promise I'll get you some next time. OK?

TCD

 

[DMMarla07860]

Wow! You're right! What's up with that? I got pictures of the men's room floor (I actually have another one coming up), backstage areas, more pictures of Pikey than anyone could ever need (and a few more of those are on the way, too), but no pics of the BBQ. You can see it in the background of the fruit stand that I took a photo of it. Otherwise, I got nothing. The only explanation that I can give is that my hands were full as I went through the chow line, and then I had to eat, and then I had barbecue sauce all over my hands, and around my mouth (l looked like Heath Ledger's Joker), and I just didn't get around to photos at the time. Sorry. I promise I'll get you some next time. OK?

TCD

more pictures of pikey than anyone could ever need, when I went on my b2b cruise Pikey was on and the second week the college group was seeing how many pictures we could get with pikey or of pikey, never found out who got the most, but it was really funny and pikey didn't know we were doing this so when we told him on the second to last night, it became a running joke the next day whenever we spoted him

 

[Tri-circle-D]

more pictures of pikey than anyone could ever need, when I went on my b2b cruise Pikey was on and the second week the college group was seeing how many pictures we could get with pikey or of pikey, never found out who got the most, but it was really funny and pikey didn't know we were doing this so when we told him on the second to last night, it became a running joke the next day whenever we spoted him

Well, it's been * * * cough-cough-choke * * * 30+ years since I was in college, but I'll bet I could have beat you college kids in that challenge. Have a great time on your cruise! AS a FOP (Friend of Pikey), you are bound to have a blast!

TCD

 

[TonytheWop]

Wow! You're right! What's up with that? I got pictures of the men's room floor (I actually have another one coming up), backstage areas, more pictures of Pikey than anyone could ever need (and a few more of those are on the way, too), but no pics of the BBQ. You can see it in the background of the fruit stand that I took a photo of it. Otherwise, I got nothing. The only explanation that I can give is that my hands were full as I went through the chow line, and then I had to eat, and then I had barbecue sauce all over my hands, and around my mouth (l looked like Heath Ledger's Joker), and I just didn't get around to photos at the time. Sorry. I promise I'll get you some next time. OK?

TCD

We forgive you but that means you will have to go on another cruise and SOON !!!

 

[DMMarla07860]

Well, it's been * * * cough-cough-choke * * * 30+ years since I was in college, but I'll bet I could have beat you college kids in that challenge. Have a great time on your cruise! AS a FOP (Friend of Pikey), you are bound to have a blast!

TCD

haha, well you beat me since when I went I dropped my old camera before stepping foot on the ship so the camera would work sometimes and other times not work, till I bought a new camera on the ship. And I will have a great time on my trip, this will be the 6th time I'll get to see Pikey on the ship lol

 

[gfolchick]

"There is a good sized area cleared right next to the game pavilion, and some heavy equipment on site. There was a castmember here keeping an eye on things, so I asked him what this was all about. He said he didn't know, just some kind of expansion for the bigger ships. He said in the past, when both the Magic and Wonder have docked at the same time, things have been crowded, so they figured they needed to expand. Come again? This guy should be a bus driver at WDW with that type of misinformation. For the record, even I, a relative DCL newbie, know that the Magic and Wonder have never docked at Castaway Cay at the same time. They can't. There isn't room for both ships at the same time. Heck, it is rare for the two ships to even be near each other let alone dock at the same time at Castaway Cay.

You didn't mention that you were fortunate to witness the two ships at Castaway Cay. November 2005 Turkey Day Cruise had the Wonder pull up to shore and the two ships did a horn battle. We were on the same cruise. I had pictures of you from the Crazy Legs contest but our Storage Media Vault died so I don't have access to them. Great trip report, BTW.

 

[lucky1]

more more more please. You photos are wonderful. I love that you showed the bikes and confirmed that the do bikes with Training wheels.

I know that this trip report will sadly come to an end as you only have the rest of day 3 left and then you are off the ship

 

[pmama]

Great tip w/ the bikes. One hour. I think reading your post helped convince me to go ahead and rent bikes. It really is a fair price.