An Outdated trip report but hopefully helpul . . . 2007 Med Transatlantic

[disneytwins1530]

6:00 PM Dinner @ Animator’s Palate (Golden Mickey’s)This dinner we had to be done by 7 PM because we had a flounder reef nursery reservation at 7:15 PM. Just ask the waiter they will be efficient as possible.

Our menu for the evening:

Mine:
Prosciutto with Chilled Honeydew ribbons of cured Ham over Sweet Melon
Broccoli and Maytag Blue Cheese Soup topped with crushed Walnuts
Rack of New Zealand Lamb with a Dijon Mustard Crust with Gratin Potato Cakes, Baby Mediterranean Vegetables with Mint-flavored Red Wine jurs
The Golden Chocolate, chocolate Award The ultimate Chocolate experience

DH:
Double Baked Aged Reggiano Parmesan Cheese Souffle with Gorgonzola Blue Cheese, Spinach and Mascarpone sauce with White Truffle Oil
Sangria Bisque chilled Fruit Puree lightly flavored with Red Wine
Roasted Fillet of Beef Wellington covered with Mushroom Stuffing in Puff Pastry, served with fingerling Potatoes, Baby Vegetables, and a Cabernet Black Truffle jus
Passion Fruit Napoleon Merrigue served with Passion fruit Mousse on a bed of Passion fruit Crile and Blackberry Port Wine

Kids:
Appetizer: Fresh Pineapple Wedges
Entrée: Boneless Grilled Bork Chop (fries and coleslaw)
Dessert: Strawberry Sundae Strawberry Smoothie over Strawberry and Juice de Loche ice cream with Chocolate and Strawberry Sauce, topped with Butter Crunch.

It was delicious as usual, and the staff was fast and efficient and we were out of there by 7:00 PM. They are absolutely amazing.

DH took the boys to the Lab and I took the girls to Nursery. (I got over my separation anxiety. . . and it was smooth sailing from there).

7:15 PM: Monstropolis Most Wanted (Oceaneer Lab) The Boys participated in a mystery game where the cast members set up puzzles and clues for the kids to solve to figure out which monster stole the children’s door. Based on the movie Monster’s Inc.

8:15 PM: Golden Mickey’s @ Walt Disney Theatre DH and I attended; we got our pictures taking with Mickey and his Gang before entering the theatre. I was a wonderful show, and I am actually sorry the kids missed it, they would of loved the singing and acts. It is based like an award show.

The boys stayed in the club until 9:15 PM, they also participated in:

Walk the Red Carpet (Club): They laid out a red carpet, put on red music, and they pulled a dress-up trunk out with accessories that would fit the theme of a Star.

I should note that we did send the kids to their activities in their formal outfits. At the Nursery, they actually changed the girls for me, which was nice. The boys were not doing anything to messy, and worst case scenario it could be washed out. That’s my philosophy anyways. We were saved those, they came back nice and clean.

DH went to pick-up the boys, and was going to meet us at the Nursery just in case they were sleeping, but to my surprise they were playing and making lots of noise I might add. They were playing with these musical instruments and having so much fun, but they did not look like they were going to fall asleep anytime soon. I said thank you to the cast members, and decided to head up to the Goofy’s Pool and relax and watch the movie. While they were playing Pirates of Caribbean, not at all appropriate for my kids, so we walked around a little bit more, until about 10:30 when we heard there was Karaoke going on in Studio Seas, so we joined in to listen.

10:30 PM Family Karaoke @ studio seas Go join and sing your favorite Disney songs. We had many talented singers on the ship. The kids danced and sang along to the best of their ability to most of it. The girls fell asleep in our arms around a 11, but we could not convince the boys to leave they were enjoying it way too much. It was over by 11:30 PM, and then we headed up to the staterooms.

The boys went straight to bed; we placed the girls in bed, and then followed. I remember looking at the alarm clock it said about 12:30 AM, when I shut my eyes.

Up Next: Day 4, Gilbraltar

 

[Perdie]

I love reading this!!!!
We leave for our 4 nighter on the Wonder on Sep 13th-so this is getting me really excited!

 

[disneytwins1530]

August 21st (Day 4) – Gibraltar.

Today was an excursion day, and the one I was most looking forward too. I had been to Gibraltar 6 years ago, with my high school. It was tradition in our home town that when you were in grade 11 to go on the Europe trip with the school. DH could not go his grade 11th year because of our blessing in disguise, so I was really appreciative this opportunity now. Unfortunately with travelling with the young ones we were not going to have the opportunity to see St. Michaels Cave, or Barbary Apes (what Gibraltar is famous for), but I was excited to see something that I have not seen before, in Gibraltar.

DH woke before me today; he was up at about 5:30 AM. I think he was more excited then I was, I talked Gibraltar up a lot. He had a shower, and brought food back to the room before; I even knew he was gone. I was up by 6:15 AM. (Goofy’s Galley opened at 6 AM this morning … crazy). I ate breakfast with DH on the verandah, while the kids still slept. We placed their fruit, cereal, juice in the little tiny fridge in the room. After that DH went to see if they were awake (they were still sound asleep). We debated, and debated if we should wake them, we really did not want to miss today… a decided we would. They were fine with it, once they were awake. I went for a shower and get ready while they ate breakfast, and DH slowly dressed them for the day.

We were doing the Dolphin World excursion today. It was only a 2 hour excursion, but it made the most sense with our little ones in tow. We had to meet at Diversions at 8:15 AM for excursion.

Dolphin World
We boarded a ferry called the Brixham Belle ferry at the heart of the Gibraltar marina, on a cruise through the Strait of Gibraltar (which they call here “the gateway to the Mediterranean”. This would have been the first time the kids were ever on a boat, beside the Disney Magic (but I don’t know if they even believed that it was a boat). They were excited and we told them we were on a search for some friendly dolphins like Flipper (Can you tell we watch a lot of movies).

The views were breath taking and absolutely amazing, you could see backdrops of Africa (probably the closes we will ever get) and Spain. The boat had exclusive seating for Disney Guest, in the sun and in the shade (you could take your pick). The tour guide was very informative, her commentary included about the history of Gibraltar, and the areas of marine life. We heard stories about the Battle of Trafalgar, the Pillars of Hercules (I don’t know if any tours went there, but it is really neat), the role of “the Rock” (not the wrestler, it is Gibraltar’s nickname) during World War II an the Great Siege of 1779 to 1783 ( I won’t ruin the story), you really have to go!!!

The best part, those more for the girls because they were too young for the story was the dolphins (Just to let you know they don’t guarantee you will see dolphins). We did those, which was exciting to see them in their natural habitat. It was like they were galloping in and out of the water. One of them even got quite close to the ship, and I think Emersyn thought it wanted her go for a swim, because after that all she could say was “swim”, “swim” my excited little girl. It was another treasured moment.

 

[disneytwins1530]

It was over too fast those, and we were back at the ship by 10:15 AM. When we returned to the ship, there was still not much going on, we did not rush back on the ship, we thought it would be a great opportunity to take some pictures, of the ship, and have the kids in the background. Well they all did not turn out as planned, what a surprise, have you ever tried to get four kids to smile at the same time, insane.

It was a quick, trip to Gibraltar and we craved for more, which means that we will definitely be back, but just have to wait until the little ones are older.

We headed back to our stateroom, to relax and wait for some activities to happen. I should tell you that we never did use the pool much on this trip; it was just very difficult with four little ones in tow, who would constantly need our help.

We actually sat down as a family, a watched a TV movie we had not seen before, the sword in the stone. The boys really loved it!!!! I actually just recently bought them a Kid in King Arthur’s Court (spin-off), which they love those magic type movies. After it was over we went to have lunch at Goofy’s Galley. Had the usual food (we were really adventurous), then thought the boys might like the activity in the club.

At 12:45 PM, DH took the boys to the Oceaneer Lab for an activity called Buzz Madness: based on the character Buzz Lightyear, they pretended to be space rangers and took on a make believe space mission in the Lab. The boys loved any make believe stuff (It was right at their age level).

The girls and I went for a nap. It was their nap time and I needed a nap too. It did not last long, either activity. The boys paged us at 1:15 PM, and the girls woke up shortly after. What to do, what to do…

Like I said, there was not much going on, being an excursion day and we had eight sea days, so most people took the time off the magic. We caved we went for ice cream and to Mickey’s Pool. We splashed around for about a half an hour, the boys tried the slide, and then we were done and back getting changed in the stateroom by 2:00 PM.

The boys went back to the club, and the rest of us did some activities on the ship. Here is the load down:

Boys (Oceaneer Club):

Under the Sea Crafts: They made these wonderful pretend shoe box aquariums, fully loaded with fish, sea weed, fish pebbles, etc. (Ours had dolphins from our excursion). They were pretty awesome.

*NOTE: We found out that our kids were making a lot while in the clubs, and we did not want to leave it behind so we bought another small suitcase (more like a carry-tote thing), to put their crafts in.

Fragile Forts: They built these huge forts out of building blocks, play in them, and smash them down. DH was privileged to see that part.

 

[disneytwins1530]

The rest of the gang:

DH wanted to go play some volleyball, on the Sports Deck, so we decided to tag along and be cheerleaders. He hasn’t played volleyball in a couple of years; it was good to see he has not lost it. Me on the other hand, am terrified of volleyballs and run the other way…. It has to do with small wrists, and having to hit with your hands.

From, there we went to a craft session at the Promenade Lounge; they were creating scrapbook pages, for your pictures. I started one and was quite impressive with it; it will be the only nice one in the whole binder. DH tried to teach the girls how to color with markers; it did not go over so well. I think he got more on him.

After the craft session, it was about 4:30 PM, we went to go pick up the boys, because we had agreed to let them go back into the clubs over supper again tonight, and wanted to make sure they had some food in them before they went to play again.

*Note: Kids can eat in the clubs, with the other kids, they do take them to Topsiders, and Animator’s Palate (Lunch), and we just really wanted to spend some time with them.

They had Pizza again for Supper; it was their choice so that’s what they had. I saved my appetite for Supper at Parrot Cay tonight.

We brought them back to the club @ 5:45 PM, just in time for them to Transition to Deck 7 Aft Overlook, for a story and circle games (It was called A Breath of Fresh Air).

We had supper at Parrot cay tonight, rotational dining:

I had:
Smokey Chicken Vegetables and Cheddar Cheese Fritters with Smoked Salt and Pomegranate Barbecue Sauce
Cold Cream of Mango and Papaya flavored with Passion Fruit
Island Roasted Rib-Eye of Beef Island Spiced Rub, carved to order and served with Double-baked Potato and Green Beans
Lemon Meringue Pie on Kumquat Sauce

DH had:
Baked Crab Martinique Jumbo Lump Crab baked in a Creamy Cheese Sauce
Cream of Sweet Onion Soup with a Cheese and Calamata Olive Crouton
Mixed Grill Grilled Beef Tenderloin, Lamb Chop, Bacon-wrapped Sausage, and Jumbo Shrimp with a Cabernet Mushroom Sauce
Chocolate S’More Vanilla Cake Crackling Marshmallow Crust on Vanilla Cake filled with Chocolate, served with Dulce De Leche Sauce

Girls:
Appetizer: Watermelon Slices
Entrée: Pasta Shells with a Mushroom Cream Sauce (no sides)
Dessert: Ice Cream Sundae Double Fudge Bar and Cookeries, topped with Whipped Cream and Chocolate Sauce

It was Yummy-yummy in my tummy.

 

[disneytwins1530]

Our girls had a 7:30 PM appointment with Flounders tonight. By the third night we were a pro; we finished dinner by 7:15 PM, and had the girls there by 7:35 PM (ok, 5 minutes late).

The boys were still in the club and we were going to let them be.

DH and I went to play some Bingo in Rockin’ D Bar it was the Disney Vacation Club Jackpot Bingo, we spent about $60, and came home with $0.

The show tonight was Michael Harrison (comedian and ventriloquist) at the Walt Disney Theatre, with our experience two nights ago, we did not pull the boys out of the clubs, and we went to watch just the two of us. He was actually really good. The theatre was not as packed as I thought it would be. Supposedly he did a show the night before, in one of the bars.

He was over by 9:30 PM, and we were exhausted, we went to pick up the girls first, who of all nights were sleeping, then the boys. We hit the hay stack by 10:00 PM, all of us. That concludes our adventure in Gibraltar.

This is what the boys participated in while at the clubs.

Dumbo’s Circus: While the kids were on Deck 7, they transformed the Club into a Circus top; they attached a circus top to the roof, to make it shape like a circus. They participated in circus activities, they learned to juggle, got their face painted (hard to wash off the next morning), and made pictures of clowns.

While they took down the circus top, the kids played Spanish Memory Wall, just like the game earlier, except they were Spanish pictures, and the kids learned a few Spanish words (the boys next day kept saying Ola to everyone and giggling. I thought it was cute).

From there they had a Fiesta Party; they brought out Mexican instruments, played Mexican music. They Broke a Piñata with toys and candy, and even played Mexican Golf. A lot of fun!!!

Tomorrow . . . Cadiz

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Really enjoying your updates - and now looking forward to Gibraltar as this is our first port of call on our WBTA next year!

 

[disneytwins1530]

August 22nd (Day 5) – Cadiz

This day would the first of the two most challenging days for us. We had planned an excursion that would last all day 8:00 – 5:30 PM. It was challenging because this would be the first time ever that the girls would not take an afternoon nap. We were hoping that with the long bus rides that they would squeeze one in with all their excitement.

I should note, that Disney did not offer a lot of young children friendly excursions, on this trip. We chose this trip mainly because I had been to some of these places before, and loved to share it with my DH since he missed out so not long ago, so we had to compromise.

We woke at 6:00 AM, this morning both of actually, had a quick shower, and did the usually on excursion day, someone ran down to Topsiders grabbed food and well the other gently woke up the sleeping angels. Too, my surprise they were all awake, just chillin’ in their beds, except the boys who I saw were playing with some toys on the floor. (They actually scared me… because I saw the empty bed first, then I saw them on the floor). My boys are actually quite independent, meaning they know how to entertain themselves, maybe because there are two of them). I think it was because they had an early sleep yesterday, that we were all wide awake (Is this good … lets find out). We all got dressed quickly and ate our yummy food. Then it was off to Rockin’ Bar D

We were taking the excursion Seeing Seville. We chose it because it was one of the only few that did not have a lot of walking, and did not have an age limit on it. The downside to it was that it was 9.5 hours long. We debated with it for a long time, but the excursion won out in the end.

Side Note: The ship was docked on the inland side of Cadiz, which is essentially an island connected by a bridge to mainland Spain, rather like the Florida Keys. The docks were quite close to the old town and the Ayuntamiento de Cádiz.

Seeing Seville:

We met our excursion group at Rockin’ Bar D at 8:00 AM and from there we boarded an air-conditioned tour bus (hence, the length and opportunity for naps), for the 90-minute drive to Seville. The drive had many picturesque landscapes; we drove along the Guadalquivir River, past many seaside vistas, sherry wine groves, and wheat fields. Nothing that really interested the kids, they were more interested in their magic erase books, that we brought a long for trip. It was beautiful none the less.

Our first tour was the Alcazar, a 14-th century, royal palace. Wouldn’t you love to live there? Actually, it was originally built as a Moorish fort. It had outstanding architecture.

 

[disneytwins1530]

Then we did some touring on foot. I think the kids were excited just to be off the bus (they boys anyway). The girls had to be carried which they did not like so much, but we wandered through the narrow, winding cobblestone streets on a walking tour of Barrio Santa Cruz. The tour was a myriad of whitewashed houses, until we came upon the quaint Callejon del Agua, where we got to spend some free time at the Plaza Alfaro. We basically relaxed and let the girls experience their legs for a little while, but there are shops you are welcome to look at. We also, snacked on some wonderful grapes (from buffet) and goldfish there also. This area was also the inspiration for the balcony scene in “Romeo and Juliet.”

Just before lunch (a buffet with a wide range of foods), we went to the 12th-century, gothic Cathedral of Seville, the third largest church in Europe, home to the tomb of Christopher Columbus. This church is out of this world, very breathtaking massive structure with 65-foot tall Capilla Mayor altar with its Gothic, gold-emblazoned retablo of 45 wood-carved scenes detailing the life of Christ, Toy can also stand in the shadow of the towering Giralda.

The kids were too young, for most of it, but they could see that mom was truly enjoying, probably because she would not stop talking, taking pictures of them, near artifacts (No flashes), they complied. I recently just graduated with my Geography / History Degree, so all this was breathtaking for me.

We actually had 90-minutes for lunch at a local restaurant (Can’t remember the name). This was really nice, we got to chat a lot with other from the cruise, and the girls actually fell asleep on dads lap. Both of them actually, he looked like he was being stranded by both of them. It was so cute, and I didn’t want to move them, because I was afraid they would wake. A least after lunch the rest of the tour was done on the bus, so we still got to take in the sights. The boys even fell asleep half way through the tour. We drove by the famous and impressive Plaza de Espana and the 18th-century Plaza De Toros De La Maestranza building, just to name a few, then headed back to the ship, which took approximately 90 minutes, long enough for a nap.

We arrived back at the ship around 5:30 PM, but a least the girls got a nap, so they were wide awake again, and the boys napped today too so they were wide awake. The parents did not, they were exhausted.

*I forgot to mention: That I knew we were going to miss our dinner at 6:00 PM, so we asked to be changed to the late dining at 8:30 PM. We knew the kids would not eat that late, so we also booked Flounders from 8:15 – 10:15 PM, and were hoping the boys would enjoy the clubs.

When we got back on the ship we went to unload our stuff in the stateroom and went for a snack / dinner at Goofy’s Galley. Hot Dogs, Hamburgers yum, yum.

The boys went to the clubs, or the Wide World of Sports Deck @ 6:30 PM, for any activity called Goofy World Records. They did Wacky relay races and got a chance to meet Goofy. DH stayed around for a little bit to catch a picture with Goofy and the boys.

This evening’s entertainment was called On the Nose, unfortunately like a lot of people could not attend. There was only one showing of it at 7:45 PM, and it did not end until 8:45 PM, which would overlap with Flounders and Dinner, so we were unable to attend. This was disappointing, because we would have loved to see what it was all about.

We just hung out in our stateroom, until about 8:00 PM, when we took the girls to Flounders. Guess what we watched??? Fantasia 2000, did you guess right

 

[disneytwins1530]

I was getting really exhausted, from here and here comes the lack of Note taking, I didn’t write down what we had for dinner. The menu was called Flavors of Mediterranean, which was a special menu only for this cruise. I did not even take a menu home with me. It is a missing piece in my Scrapbook, please share!!!! All I can remember is that I looked over to the table next to me, and all of sudden I was craving fries, so the wonderful waiter brought me fries. I think I had a red meat dish, and have no idea what DH had.

We were only in the dining room for about an hour when one of pagers went off. It was the boys, they were ready to leave. I could not believe they spent a whole 3 hours in the clubs, without seeing us. That was impressive, and they must have been having fun.

Other activities they participated in were:

Wishing Upon a Star (Club): They got to dress-up as their favorite Disney characters. I have no idea what costumes they had for boys, and the boys would not say either.

Glow Party (Club): They turned off all the lights, had glow things stuck to all the walls, and gave each child glow sticks (numerous I might add, they left the club with like 4 each), and had a dance party.

The boys were not really tired, even after our eventful day. We went to go get the girls a little bit early (ok, it was an half an hour early), they were still awake, so we decided that the boys could go get in their pajamas, and we could go watch the special screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End in the Walt Disney Theatre.
I
know it is not appropriate for the kids, it is rated PG-13, but we really wanted to see it, and the kids would probably fall asleep, the girls did about a half an hour into it, and the boys did about half way through.

The movie, was better then the second one, but not as good as the first. It was just a little bit too long for me, oh well. We woke the boys up and headed back to our stateroom for a nice long sleep.

Sea Day Tomorrow…

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Great trip report! Can't wait for more!